Disclaimer: Kirk, Spock, and everything Star Trek isn't mine, though I do have some left over Turkey Bacon if anyone is willing to trade me that for Spock.
Authors Note: I'm on Spring break, and while I could be reading one of the three books that need to be read by the end of this week, I have instead been reading and writing copious amounts of Trek fiction. Oh, and running on the tread mil and rowing on the rowing machine for an hour and a half while watching the second season. So please review, it gives me even more reason to procrastinate!
When Kirk told Spock to bring warm clothes for the nights, the half Vulcan had sighed inwardly, wondering once again just how Kirk had managed to convince him to accompany him on shore leave. Coming from a desert planet, Spock had brought thermal underclothes to compensate for the lower temperature of the ship, but the only other clothes he had in the form that Kirk had specified were two sweaters, one from his mother, the other from the captain himself.
Tucked away in the warmth of his quarters, Spock found himself lethargically packing his bag, reluctant to leave the comfort and calm, wishing Kirk would just allow him to meditate when shore leave arose. But humans were illogical, as Spock well knew, as he knew that Kirk was quite incapable of grasping the idea that Spock would actually want to stay aboard and recuperate the way any normal Vulcan would.
Unfortunately for Spock, he was soon finished packing, despite his pace, and just as he was lowering the flap, the buzzer to his cabin cut sharply into his ears.
"You ready Spock?"
"Yes captain."
Kirk watched as Spock carefully sealed his bag and donned a jacket, struck by the fatigue that had settled into his features. The past month, Kirk realized, had been hell for his first officer and friend. Two landing parties had gone wrong, ending with the deaths of several of the science officers under Spock's command, one of the record rooms for the science labs had been destroyed in a confrontation with a Romulan ship, leaving the first officer to complete several months worth of paper work in a matter of days before they reached there destination, planet Gamma Phyod VI, for a briefing at the newest Starfleet branch. A briefing and some well earned shore leave.
"And his mother", chastised a small voice in Kirk's mind, "She is quite ill"
Indeed, Amanda had suddenly become dangerously anemic, and while the healers on Vulcan were quite efficient in their boosting of the woman's iron levels, she had contracted a high fever she was having difficulty fighting. She was now in her second week of bed rest.
Spock had not told Kirk of this, and, had McCoy not brought him down to Sick Bay with a report on the "through the roof" stress levels of his first officer, Kirk would not have known that, really, anything was wrong. But now, watching Spock slowly lift his bag and walk with a gait that was slightly…hunched, Kirk felt himself fighting down the urge to simply hold Spock, rock him to sleep and tell him that all would be alright. He resigned himself to the next most tolerable thing, a hand laid gently between Spock's shoulders as they exited his quarters, the murmuring of
"I promise, you'll like camping"