Kirk placed a hand on the sealed casket, knowing that even now he couldn't touch him, Spock hadn't… his body hadn't been cleared of the radiation, the massive dose would persist on his system for years to come, making it dangerous to even attempt to transport him back to be buried, so he would get the burial of the explorers of old, released to the vastness of space to forever drift, or until he was caught in some gravitational force and burned in an atmosphere or by getting too close to a star, a fitting end for someone who had dedicated his life to going where no man had gone before.

"Thank you, Spock," he said aloud, fighting back the tears, although he didn't know if he meant for giving his life to save the ship one last time, or for all the years of companionship, that he hoped would have lasted so much longer.

In this situation, it would be easy to simply be angry for what he lost, but he was too tired to be angry, tired of the anger and desire for vengeance that caused this situation, so all he had was sorrow, and gratefulness for having been lucky enough to find his other half, even if it had been taken from him.