"Captain, as of right now I fail to understand the purpose of your actions, or the exact significance of our destination," Spock said while being manhandled out of the car by Jim's warm hands. Upon arriving at what appeared to be their destination (Spock was still as of yet unsure), Kirk parked his rental car in a shaded patch of dry dirt Spock presumed was reserved for vehicles before excitedly making his way out of the car.
"Come on, Spock, I have someone I want you to meet," Jim hurriedly slammed the car door shut and jogged towards the front door of the small cottage in the middle of nowhere. "And none of that 'Captain' business either, we're not on duty."
Indeed, Starfleet Academy had held its annual graduation ceremony for its cadets recently, many of whom received early graduation status due to the sudden lack of cadets in the program after the destruction of Vulcan. Furthermore, the campus and much of San Francisco needed repair work done thanks to the damage caused by Khan. Strangely enough James T. Kirk requested a three month leave of absence immediately following his graduation. Furthermore, he invited Spock to spend the summer with him, insisting that Spock "go on an adventure" with him to "surprise someone." Spock, having terminated his relationship with Nyota and completed the preliminary study on the components of Khan's blood, had no immediate plans for the upcoming summer and obliged, only to find himself being driven through the monotonous green plains of Iowa on a warm summer day with no destination in sight.
"Jim, we are at least fifteen miles from the closest town, and the nature of this building does not indicate-" Spock was cut off by Jim, who had apparently jogged back to grab Spock's hand and haul him into what looked like a slightly decrepit house. Clearing his throat and looking down pointedly at their conjoined hands, Spock raised an eyebrow at Jim, who hastily let go of Spock's hand and knocked on the front door before leaning against the doorframe and twiddling his thumbs in his particular brand of aloof excitement.
Spock, who at this point was growing rather skeptical of Jim's sanity and pointedly ignoring any feelings of fondness, looked up sharply when the door creaked open to reveal a small brunette boy who excitedly exclaimed, "Jim!" before leaping onto Jim, catching him in a furious hug. Grinning broadly, Jim hugged the child just as enthusiastically for a few minutes before releasing him and turning to his guest.
"Spock, I'd like you to meet my little brother, Kevin Riley," Jim stated with pride, gently nudging the young boy forward. In a moment of sudden bravado, the small boy stepped forward and held his hand out to Spock, looking steadfastly up at him.
"Kevin Riley, ten years old, on track to become a Science Officer for Starfleet, sir," he said officially, his hand stiff and his voice forcefully lowered an octave in at attempt at maturity. Spock observed the child momentarily before folding his hands behind his back, nodding curtly, and proceeding with his response.
"Commander Spock, twenty-nine years of age, currently Instructor at Starfleet Academy, previously First Officer and Science Officer of the Starship Enterprise," Spock responded just as formally, unsure how to behave around a human child.
Jim looked back and forth between the pair through the exchange and a grin found itself on his face; he stifled a laugh when he heard Spock's exceptionally prim tone addressing one so young. Kevin hadn't yet put his hand down, however, and was looking both slightly offended and very determined. Looking up at Jim, Kevin gestured for him to come closer. Leaning down, Jim looked questioningly at Kevin, who responded by leaning into Jim's ear.
"How come he isn't shaking my hand?" he whispered quietly, sounding confused and slightly dismayed. Before Jim could say anything, Spock spoke up.
"I apologize, Kevin; Vulcan anatomy is different from humans," Spock began, glancing at Jim, who had suddenly developed a keen interest in the dying and drying flora near the vicinity of the house. "Therefore, we do not tend to favor the sense of touch as readily as humans, as it can often lead to, er, compromising...situations, as well as unintentional telepathy, given that Vulcans are touch telepaths."
At this point, Kevin nodded vaguely, looking up at the tall man with pointy ears using all the big words. He opened his mouth to ask another question when Spock interrupted him.
"Have I answered your question sufficiently?"
"Er, I suppose so. Um, sir."
"Additionally, calling me sir is not necessary. I will willingly respond to Mr. Spock or simply even Spock," Spock attempted to reassure the child as best he could.
"Um, also, how did you hear me? That was my quiet voice."
"Additionally, I was able to hear your inquiry due to my keen ability of hearing, which is also directly correlated to my Vulcan heritage. To put it simply, Vulcans have superior hearing relative to humans."
Still wary, Kevin let his hand drop and stared at Spock curiously for a moment before nodding solemnly and mustering a brave smile. Grabbing Jim's hand, Kevin guided his brother inside the house and began jabbering excitedly about his exciting school year. Spock stood outside for a moment, unsure of the human customs involving entering one's home. As soon as the thought came to his mind, Jim poked his head back through the doorway, and gestured for Spock to follow.
Spock did.
The house was surprisingly stable from the inside, all orderly and uncluttered; the floors shone with wax and the counters were free of dust. However, it still did not carry within it the air of being lived in, the settling scents that make a house a home. Kevin and Jim both seemed very familiar with the home, as Kevin had plopped down on the kitchen counter as Jim was reaching into the fridge, presumably to grab something to drink.
Spock entered the kitchen last, observing his surroundings momentarily before sitting down at a stool by the counter, resting his arms on the table upon which Kevin was seated, his lively conversation filling the small kitchen with his excitement.
"...and then my teacher announced the awards for the science fair and I won first place! And it was awesome, all the kids came up afterwards and gave me high fives, and Akhil even gave me a hug," Kevin said excitedly before trailing off and blushing a bit at the end. Pouring out three glasses of apple juice, Jim looked up when Kevin finished telling his story, a knowing gleam in his eye.
"So, this science project, was it a solo effort or did you get any, er, assistance or inspiration from anywhere?" Jim asked keenly, not wanting to startle or confuse the kid.
"Well, like I said, I got the idea from Akhil while we were having lunch together one day, and he seemed really interested in the experiment part so I let him be a proctor for the trials. He's really good at public speaking," Kevin explained, smiling softly.
"Sounds like a good influence on a worrywart like you," Jim chuckled, ruffling his brother's hair before placing a glass of apple juice next to him on the counter. When Jim leaned over to offer Spock his glass, he glanced up at Spock in a way that somehow inspired the latter to join the conversation. Based on the affection in Kevin's tone while speaking about his friend, Spock endeavored to elucidate exactly what kind of relationship the two boys had.
"Kevin, is it possible that you harbor romantic feelings towards your friend and partner, Akhil?" Spock asked straightforwardly before picking up his glass of juice and taking a sip.
The unprecedented question received an unprecedented response; Kevin choked on his apple juice and began coughing loudly, while Jim gave Spock a reprimanding wide-eyed look before reaching over to soothe Kevin by patting him gently on the back. Looking slightly alarmed, Spock moved forward to help when Jim closed his eyes and softly shook his head, gesturing for Spock to remain seated. Eventually, while Kevin's coughing had stopped, the furious blush that had blossomed across his face had not.
"Mr. Spock, why- how did you- where did you get that from?" Kevin asked nervously, avoiding looking up and staring into his glass of apple juice instead. Spock did not want another reaction like his first question received, so he looked at Jim for assistance, who simply bit his lower lip, smiling, and shook his head.
"Nothing, Kevin. I apologize for startling you," Spock replied, looking at Jim to gauge whether his response had been appropriate. When Jim rolled his eyes and leaned over the counter, placing his hand on his forehead, Spock opened his mouth to determine the impetus for Jim's actions when Kevin spoke up.
"What do you mean, nothing? There's no way you would have just asked that out of nowhere! Why did you ask me that? Was I being obvious or something? Is it bad?" Kevin asked, his tone half argumentative and half concerned.
"It's no big deal, Kev. Mr. Spock here is a science officer after all, he's got a keen sense of observation. Of course you're not obvious or anything, Kevin. Though by saying what you just did, you kinda did make it obvious," Jim interrupted, looking up at Kevin from where he was leaning on the counter. Blushing, Kevin turned back to Spock, his eyes demanding.
"I wanna know why you said that, Mr. Spock," he demanded. "How did you know?"
Clearing his throat, Spock replied cooly, "I merely extrapolated from the evidence I was presented with. Based on your elevated heart rate and emotional projection while speaking about your friend, I simply hypothesized that you may hold this particular friend in higher regard."
"Emotional projection?" Kevin scrunched his eyebrows.
"Yes. Apart from being touch telepaths, the Vulcan species as a whole has a higher psi-rating than the average human, often making us susceptible to emotional interference, especially when coming from a psi-null human such as yourself, unable to create the shields necessary to prevent projecting your emotions too strongly," Spock explained as simply as he could, so as not to confuse the young mind.
"So...you read my mind? And found out?" Kevin asked, scrunching his eyebrows even closer together.
"Not actively; the principles of Surak by which all Vulcans abide insist that all and any abuse of telepathic abilities is illogical and immoral. While I have erected shields in order to prevent such unintentional transference, it appears that your capability for emotional projection is much stronger than the average human, either because your emotions run deep or because you are so young," Spock tried to be as concise as possible; Jim had rolled his eyes for the third time from behind Kevin, right outside his peripheral view.
"So...you accidentally read my mind and figured it out?" Kevin insisted, baffled at all the big words being used like "telepathic" and "transference."
"Yeup, that's exactly how it happened. You gotta tone down your crush there buddy; if Spock is able to pick up on your emotions then you'll definitely scare Akhil away," Jim interrupted again, clearly growing bored with all the discourse.
"Hey!" Kevin protested, face flushing adamantly. His mouth opened and closed momentarily. However, after this initial exclamation, it appeared that he had run out of things to say, so he slid off the table, snatched his glass up, marched over and placed it in the dishwasher, and then dashed away up the stairs, clearly indicating that the conversation was over.
"Whew, boy, you sure dodged a bullet there," Kirk chuckled, downing the last of his juice. "Well, I'm not quite sure you dodged it, exactly..."
"Captain, I fail to understand the cause and effect patterns that caused the series of events I seem to have triggered in the past forty-seven minutes and thirty-one seconds," Spock stated, looking at Jim with an eyebrow raised in confusion, looking as perplexed and innocent as a Vulcan is capable of looking.
Just then, heavy footsteps were heard descending the staircase, and both individuals seated in the kitchen stood in alarm. There was no way Kevin could produce such a noise at his age and weight, Spock immediately concluded. The sun had at this point set, and the likelihood of an intruder at this time and location were less than 1%.
Gesturing for Spock to move behind him, Jim quickly grabbed a pair of tongs and crept up to the doorway that the individual would have to go through in order to enter or exit the house.
The hallway light flickered on and a man stood there, eyes bleary with sleep, looking mildly conscious.
"Oh. Looks like you showed up...with a plus one. Nice," he said, moving closer down the hallway. Still on his guard, Spock grabbed Jim's wrist, holding him back defensively. Surprised, Kirk looked back at Spock, his eyes filled with something unrecognizable by the dim hallway light. Their eyes connected and Spock was about to warn his captain of the potential threat when the threat in question spoke again.
"That bulb needs to be replaced. Eh, I'll do it tomorrow before I leave," the man continued, breaking the moment. Spock released Jim's arm in order to turn around and grab something defensive from the kitchen drawer. Thinking a rolling pin was at least more prudent than tongs, Spock turned back to find that Jim had stepped out into the hallway.
"George? How are you- Why- What are you doing here?" Jim spluttered in confusion and what Spock recognized as very well suppressed anger.
"How do you think Kevin got here? Someone had to drive him, and it was me. Don't mind me, I'll be out of your hair by noon tomorrow, latest," George went on, shuffling down the hallway past Jim, moving towards the kitchen. "Look I'm just going to grab a bite to eat then hit the sack okay? Night."
And with that, George Samuel Kirk, Jr. trudged his way into the kitchen, leaving behind a shocked and dismayed younger brother and a bemused, slightly alarmed first officer in his wake.
Jim looked at Spock and then back into the empty doorway, as if doubting that the exchange that just occurred was real. After a moment he dropped his arms in defeat and gestured for Spock to follow him up the stairs.
"Captain?" Spock inquired, "Am I correct in assuming that the individual located in the hallway approximately 27.83 seconds ago was none other than your estranged brother, George Samuel Kirk, Jr.?" Jim stopped mid step and turned to look at Spock, his eyes searching. Finally, he nodded and turned away, looking towards the doorway once more before shaking his head and moving towards the stairs once more.
"Captain?" Spock inquired once more.
Jim sighed, partially in exasperation and partially in exhaustion. It was certainly going to be an long evening.