"Mind your business, Mister Grayson! I'm sick of your half-breed interference! Do you hear me?"
For once Spock was struck speechless, but not the ship's chief surgeon, Leonard McCoy. They had come upon Kirk in the deck five corridor and followed him into the captain's quarters to discuss the situation on the planet below.
Now McCoy bristled with anger. "Jim, that was uncalled for. Spock is only trying to—"
Kirk cut him off. "I suggest you mind your business, too."
"Spock is my business," McCoy countered, red in the face. And then blurted, "For your information, he's my brother!"
Kirk's face went blank. Recovering his composure, he now spoke with the utmost courtesy. "Your brother. Well, of course, I should have realized. If you'll excuse me, I have to take these mission orders down to Doctor Korby and adjust our destination schedule. He'll be bringing a lot of cargo aboard."
The captain walked out and the door hissed shut behind him.
Spock looked at Leonard, brow raised high.
"Fascinating," they said in unison
"Hardly the reaction I would expect from Jim," Leonard drawled. "Sorry I spilled the beans about us."
Deep in thought, Spock quietly admitted, "I have found that keeping our relationship private was…rather amusing. But though I was obligated to list my biological father on Starfleet's application, it was only a matter of time before someone discovered that my mother later married your father."
"True enough. Well, Bro, Captain Prickly is all yours. I'm due in sickbay."
And then Spock was alone, with Jim Kirk's insult echoing through his thoughts. Mind your business! I'm sick of your half-breed interference! Do you hear me?
Oh, he had heard each word with painful clarity. But he could not "mind his business". Having been appointed first officer soon after Gary Mitchell's death, it was his duty to advise the captain. Setting aside his emotions, he attempted to analyze the situation.
All had been well when Kirk first beamed down to icebound Exo III. Though feared dead, Nurse Chapel's fiancé, Roger Korby, had been found living deep in a cave system. Soon after meeting Korby, the captain's behavior began to change.
Some of Doctor Korby's papers on archeological medicine were required reading at Starfleet Academy, where Spock had at times acted as instructor to then Cadet Kirk. Now that Kirk was his superior officer, Spock knew he must step very carefully. One by one, he compiled a list of procedural irregularities that were unlike the meticulous captain. Failure to report from a landing party at predetermined intervals, sharing command orders with a civilian, angry outbursts and use of a racial slur.
All this passed through Spock's mind in an instant. Whether or not he acted on his concerns, there was bound to be trouble.
Reaching a decision, he walked over and pressed the cabin's intercom button. "Spock to Security…"
oooo
It turned out to be the right decision.
Later than same day, Spock stood beside Nurse Chapel as Doctor McCoy completed his examination of the captain. The real flesh and blood Kirk, not the android duplicate sent aboard the Enterprise by an android Roger Corby. Though Spock maintained an appropriate distance from the bereaved nurse, the intensity of her grief seemed to fill the space between them. Having lost his own fiancé, he understood her pain. Yet he could not bring himself to express his regret. Or his hopes. She was a comely, intelligent woman. Perhaps, when her heart healed, she and Leonard would take an interest in one another.
Looking her way, he merely said, "Lieutenant, I'm glad you have decided to remain aboard the Enterprise."
Chapel glanced up at him, tears welling. "Thank you, Mister Grayson." A moment later, she left the room.
Given a clean bill of health, Kirk rose bare-chested from the examination table and reached for his black undershirt. Biting back a smile, he said, "Well, Spock. What tipped you off that the other Kirk wasn't me? That…uh…annoying little jab I programmed into him?"
"Jab?" Spock feigned ignorance of the captain's meaning.
McCoy cleared his throat. "That android was unusually polite. So much so , that it made me damned suspicious. I thought maybe your brains got scrambled when you beamed up."
Kirk frowned. "Unusually…polite?"
Eyes downcast, Spock busied his mind with tomorrow's schedule lest innate Vulcan honesty spoil the moment.
oooOOooo