For Lulu. I still miss you, you green-eyed trouble.

Disclaimer: In real life Star Trek belongs to Paramount and Eugene Wesley "Gene" Roddenberry RIP. However when I am sleeping, sometimes I dream that it belongs to me! And that's my only profit.

This story was originally written to be included in Hopefuladdict's "Tales of Captain Sparrow" after chapter 3. However as my muse led me in a slightly different path, Hopeful was kind enough to allow me to post it as a stand alone AU inspired by the original. I recommend first to read "In Memoriam" the first ever story which features our beloved and now gone Captain Sparrow followed by "Tales of Captain Sparrow". I promise they are both excellent.
The absolutely magnificent character of Lieutenant Commander Archibald was created by Linstock who I want to thank profoundly as she first invited me in writing this tale.
With this simple story I wish to show how our pets affect us even in the small amount of time we spent with them. And I definitely do not consider myself a writer. Please forgive my simple vocabulary - English is not my native language.

A/N: Dear readers, I have corrected some mistakes, with the help of pezzyaltoid and LadyFangs, who I wish to thank for their comments and kind assistance. However I also must thank all those who offered to help. All remaining mistakes are entirely mine. Additionally, I enabled anonymous reviews.

Summary: He was not just a fat and adorable, yellow, fellow (albeit furry) officer, he was a plan shifter. A group of friends toast the dear departed Captain Sparrow.

This Is All Your Fault

Spock walked down the corridor leading to his dorm. It was 02:00 in the morning when he finished his night shift in the communications station. He considered his schedule. After a sonic shower he would meditate for an hour, sleep for two hours, awake and meditate again for an hour. Then he would work on his personal project that nowadays occupied most of his time. The "Kobayashi Maru" was expected with great impatience from Starfleet and he was the unique project's main programmer.

However to keep himself concentrated on his work and his responsibilities as a Starfleet Commander, he discovered that lately he needed to meditate more frequently than usual.

Although he originally dismissed those thoughts as illogical, the image of a cadet came to distract him more often than it should. A female cadet. With skin like intoxicating chocolate, eyes that burned like a pair of charcoals, and lips he often wondered what they taste like…

He stopped abruptly in the dimly-lit corridor as he once again caught himself. Not again… Maybe tonight he should meditate for two hours.

Suddenly a small figure came out from a near bush.

Mew…

Spock recognized the image instantly. After checking up and down the corridor to make sure he was not seen, he approached, bent down, and caressed the creature on the head.

"Good evening, Captain Sparrow"

The big, fat cat begun to purr to show its affection and at the same time came closer so as to rub itself at his legs.

Mew… mew… mew…

Spock stood up again and looked down. "Are you hungry?" Mew! "Follow me" he said with a quiet voice and continued down to his path, thankful for the distraction the feline provided.

Captain Sparrow not only followed the tall Vulcan but continued ahead of him, thus leading the way.

"So typical of him" thought Spock amused as he watched the cat's round figure ending with the stood up tail.

The Captain knew all the way to Spock's dorm. Living in the campus for many years the feline was familiar with all places, known and secret ones.

Upon arriving at his door, Sparrow sat on his back legs and looked up to him. Spock pressed the code for the door to open with a low hiss and the cat run inside.

From the day Spock and the Captain met the cat instantly run to him. It was against Starfleet regulation for cadets to keep animals and Spock knew the regulation so well, he could recite it backwards if needed. Yet he considered that Vulcans also evolved from a felinoid species and… made the fateful mistake to offer Captain Sparrow a cookie. It was a most illogical action which Spock regretted the next minute. However the damage was already done. The feline had eaten the big cookie with exactly five bites and then jumped into his lap. Spock's roommate Matthew burst out laughing.

"Hey, I think he likes you! Congratulations! You've made a new friend. A very useful friend" Matthew said with a grin and blinked his right eye. Most illogical.

"Yep, ladies love him", Matthew continued "and you dear roomie can be lucky like myself IF you want to. All you need to do is take good old Captain here and …"

"No, Matthew. Although I came to appreciate your continuous efforts to provide me with female companionship, I must remind you that I have no desire to engage in such activities." Spock decided in a nanosecond that he had had enough and ended the conversation abruptly.

Once inside his apartment, Spock commanded "lights" before he continued on his way toward his bedroom. He noticed things were not proper and stopped to look around the room. His family holo-photos and a few paper-books he owned had fallen on the floor, and there was sand just outside the bathroom. Sand. Cat litter. Again. Where was his temporary guest? Spock put the pictures and the books back on the shelf and then looked at Captain Sparrow, who went straight towards the kitchen and stood just outside the refrigerator.

Mew! Mew!

"Not now, Captain. I need to find your offspring".

However after 4.34 minutes of search inside the apartment, the only evidence of the small kitten Spock had found was a small amount of vomit under the kitchen table, near its plate.

"She still has digestive issues" he thought to himself and resumed the search. Finally the small creature was found. In the closet. His closet. His clean closet. With his clean clothes, his Starfleet uniforms and his polished shoes. Inside a shoe.

"How did she fit there?" he wondered taking the shoe in hand. True the kitten was not very big yet. In fact it was just weaned but still drunk milk from a small plate he had placed under the kitchen table. Spock carefully removed the sleeping kitten from inside the shoe and held it gently in his hands. Of course it awake. "Of course."

"What next?" he thought, as the small creature looked him through half-opened eyes.

It opened its mouth as if to meow but no sound came.

"It needs nutrition to maintain its strength". Spock took the kitten in the kitchen only to find that Captain Sparrow had already drunk the remaining milk from the plate. Spock sighed. He looked sternly at Sparrow who now was licking his whiskers looking satisfied. Now he could not estimate how much milk the kitten actually drunk and how much it vomited. He would have to feed it again and be near while it ate, so as to make sure it consumed enough.

And then suddenly Spock became angry.

"This is all your fault" he said to the large cat that now started licking its right paw and cleaning its head with it.

If somebody else was in the room he would not do anything as illogical as address an animal that could not communicate with him empathically. Yet he did. Perhaps his lack of proper meditation was already affecting him. But now his anger rose once more to claim him. Vulcan anger. He was well acquainted with the fierce emotion since his childhood.

"If you had not engaged into sexual activities with Miss Kitty, none of this would have happen".

Even Spock recognised the illogical statement the minute he made it. Sparrow was not responsible for his nature no more than himself. And he knew that one day his own biological imperative would lead him in the same path.

However he firmly believed that this situation was indeed Captain Sparrow's fault.

If he had not agree to adopt one of his offspring, he wouldn't need to spent a sufficient amount of his time nursing the small, fragile creature at least until he visited his grandmother and leave it in her care.

Spock had seen the woman twice in his life and this weekend would be the third time. The first time he was 10 years old and traveled to Terra with his parents for one of his father's diplomatic assignments. The woman had hugged him very tight and burst into tears. Spock just stood there completely unaware of what to do or how to react. His mother had interfered then and gently broke the embrace, grateful his father was not present. Nevertheless the rest of his visit was quite pleasant as his grandmother had two small cats and Spock had enjoyed their company.

Spock sighed again. His grandmother was as emotional as his mother or perhaps even more and that made him more uncomfortable. However he went to see her again when he arrived on Terra to enlist in Starfleet. It was his duty as she had given life to his mother. He found out that his grandmother only had one of her cats still and it was quite old. The other had passed away several years ago.

He had not thought of the woman in years, yet now he found himself in need of her assistance. The minute the little kitten looked at him it brought back a memory from his childhood he would always treasure. Himself in his parents' house laying on the floor, playing with I-Chaya, his father's sehlat. Such a warm memory. He had … liked the little creature and upon learning it had a fragile health he immediately showed interest in it.

After speaking that evening with his grandmother, who assured him that she would be more than willing to take the kitten with her, he decided to "adopt" it, as humans said. It would stay with him for a few days and then he would take it to leave with his grandmother the following weekend. Spock had duties and did not wish to keep the animal all day long locked in this room. He took her in, for just a few days and after that … his grandmother had a big house, a garden and a much bigger embrace. The cat would be happy.

It was during these last days when he realised the difficulty of not only caring for an animal but also living with it. The kitten had a desire to explore every corner in his apartment and every day Spock returned to find his things thrown down, mingled and scratched, not to mention that the cat litter often found its way out of the sand box…

Spock wouldn't mind caring for the animal but these last weeks were … difficult to say the least. He had three classes to teach, lab shifts, assignments to grade, the Kobayashi Maru and … meditation problems. And at that thought he sighed. Again. Cadet Uhura had asked him a question yesterday after the ending of the lesson. However as she turned to leave he couldn't resist looking at her smooth hair and the way she wore them. Then his gaze had traveled lower… and lower.

Mew…

At this moment Captain Sparrow came closer and rub itself again at his legs.

"Captain, I inform you that close contact will NOT improve my opinion of yourself at this moment". And the second these words left his mouth, an idea formed in his mind.

He carefully placed the small kitten in the kitchen floor and reaching from the refrigerator took a bottle of milk and poured some in the small plate. After the kitten started drinking, Spock went to his office and took his PADD.

Soon he found it. The announcement he would post tomorrow requesting a senior cadet as an assistant. Spock contemplated for 10 seconds. The application addressed only to third or fourth year cadets. However first year Cadet Nyota Uhura was at the top of her class, never delayed her assignments and not just in his lessons. All of her professors spoke highly of her. And she had expressed vivid interest in getting involved in more projects.

Spock erased from the announcement the "Senior Cadet" reference and replaced it with "Cadet". If she applied, he would accept her. She was after all a logical choice and nobody could accuse him of favoritism. Then he could spend more time with her and estimate her character. If she was like most of the cadets Matthew used to "date" as he called it, then he could easily and quickly forget about her. She would become one more pretty face among others.

This plan however had one weak point. What if the opposite occurred? He had found himself weak enough when she was concerned. But at that time the kitten would be at his grandmother's house and he would return to his normal meditation, insensitive of all disturbances. He was after all bonded. And as non-existed as his bond has been, T'Pring was his bondmate. There was no logic is seeking another as T'Pring had not yet expressed any desire to dissolve their bond either.

No, this is what had to happen. He had to end this and there was no other way. Spock put the PADD down and went to the kitchen. The kitten had drunk a good portion of the milk and was cleaning itself as dictated by its nature. "Aren't we all?" he thought amused and picked it up carefully to put it in its basket under the kitchen table.

It would leave of course and come to his bedroom, plead until he picked it up and let it sleep curled on top of him, like every night. And although he did not wish to admit it… he would actually miss the little creature with the fragile nature, so very different from his enormous sehlat. He remembered himself lost inside I-Chaya's powerful and tender four-leg embrace. Yet as things always change, now he was the enormous figure and the kitten was big enough to fit in his hand.

Mew… mew…

Spock decided to alter his schedule. After all he already had. After taking a quick sonic shower he slept for one hour and a half, then awoke for a two hour meditation. He was extremely careful not to awake the two felines sleeping in his bed. Father and daughter were so alike in appearance that Spock smiled to himself at their sight. Then stepped out of his bedroom in the lightest step possible. A compliment to his own Vulcan nature.

Spock looked around at all the people that were present in the bar. There were people laughing and yet there were tears in some eyes. Both officers and cadets, some with shoulders heavy from responsibilities, others with shoulders light as feathers. Yet everyone had a story to share, a memory to recall. Captain Sparrow, that big, fat, lazy, yellow cat, which would appear at the most unexpected times and places, had touched the lives of so many people in various and sometimes extraordinary ways.

He turned and saw his lover sitting next to him. Archibald's latest story had her laughing again and Spock took a moment to contemplate on her laugh. She threw her head back, exposing her long neck. Her eyes were closed and a most beautiful smile was formed in her lips. An alien expression but also a most welcomed one.

She… completed him in a way he never thought possible. When they were not together he was… sated. And when they were, he could not get enough of her. It was a balance he never thought he would achieve. Certainly not with a reluctant bondmate as his previous one had proven to be. And in the future, when he would ask her to bond with him, her presence in his mind would be everything he ever hoped for.

As for the near future, he had a surprise for her. A visit in his grandmother's house to meet Kis-ka-veh, in the coming weekend. Spock smiled to himself, always from within. Yes… she would be happy to see Sparrow's offspring, not to mention their striking resemblance. Both in appearance and in… character, as his grandmother often informed him during their frequent calls.

His grandmother… She would be the first member of his family Nyota would ever meet. Certainly an unexpected one. Yet he was confident the two women would instantly like one another. A… hunch his mother would say.

Then suddenly Spock recalled a statement he had made a few years ago and re-evaluated his logic. He had been right all along.

All of this was Captain Sparrows fault...

And for that he was grateful.

The End

Story soundtrack

Spock playing with I-Chaya: Evanthia Reboutsika – The Little Prince

Spock watching Nyota: Mesa apo sena - Evanthia Reboutsika (Me through you)

And for all of us who are missing a beloved: The Star and the Wish by Evanthia Reboutsika (voice by Elli Paspala)