"Some days my strength walks out
Some days I can't go out
It is for real
We can walk about
We can work it over and over and over...

I've got a good mind to throw it all away.."

-Frou Frou

"I am, and always shall be, your friend."

It had been two Earth months since he last heard that, but it had taken that long for those words to hit the Captain of the Enterprise fully. Back then, it had only struck him as a greeting between long lost friends, at least from Spock Prime's point of view. Jim still couldn't understand how himself and his, overly logical, close to emotionless, First Officer could ever build a relationship even close to that of their counter parts'. He didn't even understand how to go about it.

Spock and he had not been at each other's throats, or even close to it, ever since they saved Earth together. Their interactions were quite peaceful compared to that of Spock's dealings with Leonard. Bones enjoyed poking at the Vulcan with any chance he got; may it be a tease about emotions, or the differences of the human anatomical structure to a Vulcan one. Even so, it was clear that the Doctor was kidding most of the time, and Spock knew it. Jim honestly enjoyed watching them bicker. Even that showed that his First Officer and his Chief Medical Officer could build a reasonably nice friendship. For him and Spock on the other hand, it was more of a professional relationship; curt greetings and down to business conversations. Sure, Jim had poked his own fun at the Vulcan from time to time, but he never got the same reactions as Bones did. Jim always got a, "I fail to see your reasoning behind this inquiry," or something like that, and that comment from Spock would always force him not to let his smile fade as he dropped the conversation all together.

It was aggravating, he didn't know why, and it didn't help that they were stuck in warp and then shore leave for a few weeks, leaving the Captain to his thoughts. Jim closed his eyes, blocking out the view of the bridge for a moment. He heard echoes just the night before, and it bothered him deeply. He knows who the voices came from, and it wasn't that it scared him, it confused him. It was getting in the way of his must needed rest. Why did he keep having these dreams, or even just the echoes of lost, and never had, conversations? Where they even real or was he just overworked?

"Jim…," Leonard's voice called from off to his side, though the captain didn't look at him, "Jim!"

Jim jumped slightly at the exclamation, and turned to the flustered looking doctor next to him with wide blue eyes. Bones' was giving him an extremely annoyed look, even if that seemed like his default expression lately.

"What's the matter with you, Bones?" the captain relaxed back in his chair, legs crossed, his elbow resting on the arm rest as he leaned into his hand. The upper part of his fingers pressed into his jaw.

"Oh don't you even start with that, Jim," McCoy snarled, "I was in the middle of havin' an important conversation with you, but it seems that you would rather go to sleep."

Jim tossed an apologetic expression on his face before his smirk could get a hold of him, "Sorry, man," The younger man said as he tried to blink the drowsiness out of his eyes. Had he really fallen sleep and forgotten the whole conversation with the Doctor he was having earlier? "How long was I out?"

"Long enough for me to doubt my sanity," the Doctor said as he watched his captain rub the bridge of his nose with both hands. "You normally don't doze off like that. Also you look like shit, have you been sleeping at all?"

Jim brought his hands from the bridge of his nose to down below his eyes, pulling the skin slightly as he drug them into his hair as he stifled a yawn. Ah yeah, he remembered what the conversation was about now. They, apparently, needed to be more cautious when going onto unexplored planets. Jim noticed Leonard messing around with the medical bag he had at his side, and before he could even say anything McCoy pulled out his scanner.

"Hey. Hey! You don't need to scan me I'll just tell you!" Jim said trying to smack the scanner away from the older man, "No, I haven't been sleeping at all--well that's not true I have--but it's like I've been tossing and turning all night."

McCoy's eyebrow rose slightly, and by some phenomenon his frown seemed to grow with worry, or deeper annoyance; Jim couldn't really tell. All he could do is stare at his friend, an odd urge to back away from him settled in as the silence grew. He jumped again as an inhumanly hot hand rested on his shoulder; he turned quickly to see who it was. He mentally kicked himself for being so jumpy, it was only Spock.

"Captain, I believe the Doctor will agree in my saying that you should go to your quarters," the half-Vulcan said in his usual monotone fashion, as his hand behind his back, "you are of no use on the bridge when your judgment is impaired by lack of rest."

Jim looked away from Spock, there was no way his fist officer could have even reached him from that distance, let along move his arms behind himself without the movement being noticed. He agreed with himself, he was clearly over worked. With a sigh the worn-out man stood, looking forward to the offer of rest, "Well, you have the Conn then Mr. Spock. Wake me if there's any trouble."

"The odds of a dilemma occurring in this sector are very unlikely, Captain," Spock informed coolly, moving to take the Captain's place.

"Good to hear," the shorter man mumbled as he walked over to the turbo lift, Bones following him.

Jim allowed Leonard to call in the numbers to both the Medical Bay and to the floor where the Captain's quarters were located. The dusty blond leaned into the wall yawning loudly and shaking his head in a failed attempt to wake himself up. It took him a while to notice but Bones was staring at him curiously. Jim swore that if his friend wasn't careful his eyebrow would get stuck like that.

"So," the doctor began, "are you gonin' to tell me why it is you're not sleepin' normally, or do I have to start havin' you use the sleep monitors?"

Jim laughed slightly and shook his head, "Nah, I just keep thinking I'm still on Delta—freeze your ass off—Vega."

Bones rolled his eyes and then ended on glaring at his Captain. He was not easily deceived by his friend's lies; their three and a half year friendship was enough time to learn how the younger worked. "Kid, I'll give you a week before I turn those monitors on, and if you so much as think about reprogramming them behind my back say good-bye to your captain's chair."

The turbo lift's doors opened with a swish and Jim laughed with light heart as he stepped out, "Thanks for looking out for me, buddy," he clapped Leonard's shoulder as the man grumbled a 'whatever' and then made his way down the hall to his lodgings.

A/N: First fic up....kinda. This is more of a start of a fic I've been trying to poke into life. Sadly, unlike this chapter, I'm having some troubles continuing the next one. I'd love to hear some ideas and even some critques. :3 L.L.n' P.