This story is the sequel to emotional response, read that first, its only short. – It will be KIRK/SPOCK SLASH, you have been warned.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek; I make no money from writing this story.

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The Captain was avoiding him. Spock had come to this conclusion over the past 5.43 days. Days full of turning to speak to the Captain at the end of shift only to find his chair vacated, days of attempting to find him in the mess or the recreational room or his cabin. Nothing, Spock rather suspected that the Captain was hiding out in the medical bay. He had on a couple of occasions considered going to fetch him. However, considering there was still a 32.34% chance that the Captain was somewhere else; Spock was slightly unwilling to instigate an alteration with Dr McCoy.

The Doctor, whilst being a sufficient chief medical officer, had made it clear to Spock, and everyone else in hearing range, that he desired no interaction with the Vulcan outside of what was required professionally. A sentiment that was returned, it is not logical to be in the presence of someone who displays open dislike for you.

Normally being avoided would not bother Spock, it was not logical to be bothered by such a thing as long as it wasn't affecting professional interactions. But Spock found he was strangely reluctant to allow this distancing of interactions between him and his Captain. He had come to the conclusion that they were (by Terran standards at least) friends. Not to mention it was particularly hard to carry out the series of experiments that he had designed to investigate the strange emotion he had sensed from the Captain previously, if the captain was dodging him.

Instead of letting their interaction, and therefore his experiment, fade back to professional only, Spock decided to resort to a tactic that was slightly unprofessional. But no more so then the Captain's illogical avoidance of him, he reasoned. He was going to carry out his experiments on shift. After all, as the science officer it was his duty to carry out social experiments as well as investigating the new worlds they encountered. So he began.

Data log on human species interaction to multiple physical and mental stimuli.

Subject: A 26 year old terran male, with significantly higher intelligence and ESP and sexual drive then most of the species, slightly above average sensory receptors and physical strength. Position in social hierarchy – leader, notable protective instinct to those perceived as weaker physically or mentally, aggressive disposition to those of higher power/ perceived as abusing power.

Aim: To catalogue and analysis the subject's physical and (if contact is possible) emotional reaction to a number of normal human standard social behaviours with a hybrid species (Vulcan/Human) in comparison to reaction to members of own species.

N.B: To choose unbiased scenarios for my experiment I will use behavioural examples from: Getting to Know You: 101 easy interactions with the Terran Species. A data pad my father gave me before I came to earth so I would not be offended by strange Terran customs. I have of course during my time working with humans formed my own observations on what is the social norm, however should I create my own social acts, I believe the experiment would be compromised by my own knowledge of my Captain.

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Spock was tormenting him, Jim was sure; it was some kind of weird Vulcan/human hybrid practical joke. Except for Spock didn't joke, or at least as far as Jim knew. Any attempt at tomfoolery or camaraderie on the part of the bridge crew tended to result in a raised eyebrow and a remark on illogical behaviour. But there was no other explanation for Spock's behaviour.

He had quite successfully avoided Spock for a week after the crying incident (as he referred to it in his head). He wasn't quite sure what was more mortifying, the fact that Spock had found him crying (a perfectly natural response to the onions he had been chopping) and assumed that he was having an emotional breakdown, or the fact that to remove said erroneous assumption he would have to explain to his first officer that he had a secret love of cooking.

But he couldn't possibly avoid his first officer on the bridge, it was not professional, and could result in an accident. At first Spock had remained at a distance during on duty hours carrying out is designated tasks with usual meticulous attention to detail. Then, after a week of only seeing Spock during work hours, Spock's behaviour inexplicably changed. He still completed his work to the highest of standards, but something was different. Something to do with the odd brushes of physical contact Spock was initiating and the weird questions. It was not normal vulcan behaviour. It certainly wasn't normal for his prissy, stick up his ass, I-will-recite-everything-in-grammatically-perfect-standard vulcan. For example this morning they had a particularly confusing interlude:

"Captain, I believe that it is common for individuals to partake in a hot beverage part way through a work shift to refresh them. As a Vulcan I do not need such a respite, but perhaps you require one? I understand that it is customary for it to be sweet and with far more caffeine then is good for a human."

Jim took a moment to scrape his jaw of the floor, as he took in what Spock had said to him, vaguely registering the soft brush of his first officer's hand against his arm.

"Mr. Spock are you offering to get me coffee?"

"I believe that is the usual beverage of choice, yes."

Not quite sure want to make of this (had Spock finally decided that Jim was unsuited to being captain and planned to poison him?), Jim floundered for a moment before answering.

"Thank you . . . but, no. I am not currently needing a . . . . beverage."

Spock nodded serenely.

"I see Captain, perhaps later."

Without waiting for an answer Spock turned sharply and strode back to his work station, leaving not only the captain, but Uhura, Sulu and Chekov all staring after him, mouths agape.

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So just what is Spock doing? Has he found out what he wants? Will poor Jim ever figure out what is going on? Who knows? Well I do :)

Lintila