In a hot tub, Kirk and Spock watched bubbles rise to the water's surface, join into larger bubbles, and pop.

"It's like our bond," murmured Kirk. "At first, each bubble is isolated, but then it finds another... and they become one. Each is made of the same water as before... each contains the same air... but now they share everything. And when they've gotten as old as bubbles get, they'll pop and disappear into the water, joined until the end."

"You are too romantic," Spock replied.

But he still let Jim pull him down and kiss him underneath the bubbles.