Disclaimer: I do not own any characters or settings. Everything belongs to the writers and producers of Star Trek.

6 months, 5 days, 22 hours, 17 minutes and 51 seconds. That is how long I have been friends with my captain. With Jim. It took 4 days and approximately 3 hours for us to reach this point. It began with a game of chess.

After our incident with the Narada, I found it unlikely that the now official Captain Kirk would accept me as a First Officer. Despite my doubts, I was accepted. Welcomed. Wanted. This would be the first of many surprises from Jim Kirk.

During the first three days of our 5 year mission, I was unsure how to behave when in proximity to my captain. In fact, I was still ashamed of how I had reacted to his words on the bridge during the Narada incident. As a result, I kept my distance.

On the fourth day, Captain Kirk approached me with what I can only imagine was a determined look on his face. I was in the hallway outside of my room at the time.

"Commander, a word?"

"Of course, Captain," I had answered, and invited him into my room.

Jim marched in as I waited for him to begin. He had looked at me intently, opened his mouth, and abruptly closed it. I waited 37 seconds before choosing to begin the conversation myself.

"Captain, is there something you wish to discuss with me?"

Relief had passed over his face. "Sort of. Do you play chess, Mr. Spock?"

I had been surprised and, illogically, happy at this question.

"I do play chess occasionally. May I enquire as to why you wish to know?"

He had laughed then. It had confused me at the time.

"Because I want to know if you wanna play."

I had answered without thinking. "That would be agreeable."

Jim had smiled. "Great!"

During that game, we did not engage in much discourse. That is, until Jim brought up a difficult subject.

"Spock?"

"Yes, Captain?" I had responded.

"Jim. It's Jim when we're off duty."

I had to fight back a sigh. "Yes, Jim?"

"I, uh, wanted to say...well, I'm sorry." His eyes had drifted away from mine.

"For what are you apologizing?"

"For that stuff I said to you. You know, after Vulcan...after Nero…"

I had been shocked. Logically, I hid this emotion as I hid all of the others.

"Jim, it is I who should apologize." To my horror, my voice almost broke as I continued. "I almost killed you."

At this, Jim's eyes had widened. He had risen from his seat and started pacing. "For good reason! Spock, what I said was unforgivable. I would have done the same thing if someone said those things to me! I probably wouldn't have stopped...you did."

"Yet I have forgiven you. It never occurred to me to hold it against you."

"But how?" He looked so weak, so vulnerable. Jim hung his head and refused to look me in the eye. "How can you forgive me?"

"It was not difficult. You only did what you thought necessary at the time. There was not much to forgive."

"Spock…" And then he did look at me, and the expression in his eyes almost took my breath away. If I had been fully human, I do not know how I would have reacted. There was so much affection and gratefulness in those eyes. "Thank you."

From that moment on, I knew that I had a friend in my captain. In Jim Kirk.

A.N. I wrote this to be a oneshot, but I'm thinking about continuing it. If I do, it will eventually be slash. I'll do one chapter for each definition of T'hy'la. Let me know if you guys would want to read more of if I should just keep it as a oneshot. Thanks for reading, and remember, us writers get paid in reviews.