Title: Frozen

Disclaimer: Look, I don't own Star Trek, though I wish I did own Patrick Stewart. The only thing I own is my own little version of it. :) If you have any preconceived notions about Spock and Kirk, you'd better not read this. I plan on making them a couple. And not just two, I mean.... COUPLE.

Rating: M

Pairing: Kirk and Spock definitely. Possibly others.

Two weeks earlier

Newly minted Captain James T. Kirk strode down the hallways of Starfleet command, grinning and winking at all of the young ladies that he saw. He turned and wiggled his eyebrows almost commically at one particularly attractive raven haired woman. She rolled her eyes at him and kept walking, tossing her long hair over her shoulder and sending a whiff of Orion pheramones his way.

Grinning, Kirk turned to look at the stoic figure of his first officer, reaching out to slap the slightly taller man on the shoulder. "Come on, Spock, lighten up! It's a beautiful day, we've saved the Federation, and you're not dead. Enjoy the day!" he said jovially, holding his arms open to encompass the whole compound.

The tall Vulcan rose one elegantly slanted eyebrow as he observed the antics of his companion. With an infinitesimal shake of his head, he looked forward again. "As I have told you twice already today, I am enjoying the day. I do not feel it necessary, however, to make such amorous displays," he replied stiffly, reaching for the handle of the door that lead to the inner chambers of Starfleet.

Rolling his eyes and sighing loudly, Kirk followed the Vulcan into the room full of Admirals. "You could have fooled me," he muttered, glancing over at Spock's askance glance.

A tall, stately black man motioned the two officers to an empty conference table. He gave them a nod of recognition before he turned back to a console and manipulated a few controls. As the two officers took their seats, he lit up one of the screens on the wall to their right.

"This is a depiction of our ships and resources as of now," he began without preamble. "As you can see, Nero's attack did far worse damage than we could have imagined. The loss of those ships was cripling to our fleet. Now we're getting word that there might be a Klingon fleet hiding in the Codian system. It's remote, but it needs to be investigated."

Blinking, Kirk sat forward slightly and rested his hands on the table top. "Excuse me, Admiral, but wouldn't the Enterprise better serve Starfleet if we were posted to the front lines?" he asked, his tone just barely bordering on insubordination.

The Admiral rose his eyebrows as his comrads looked back and forth between themselves.

It was Admiral Pike who shook his head and leaned forward. "Look, Kirk, your crew has proven themselves more than capable of handing themselves in a combat situation, but you have to give them a chance to have a shakedown cruise. Besides, you're one of the only ships that we can send out there without an escort that's not occupying a key position on the front lines. If you think you're not capable of taking care of one simple fleet of Klingons, let me know. I'm sure there are other Captains out there chomping at the bit to get out there and prove themselves," the crippled man said, leaning back in his chair and shrugging nonchalantly.

At the implied challenge, Kirk's eyes narrowed and he folded his hands together to keep them from balling into fists. His blue eyes snapped with challenge as his lips pursed slightly.

When he man was just about to reply to the Admeral, Spock inclined his head. "We will retrieve the necessary intelligence, Admirals. If you'll excuse us, we shall recall the crew and begin making the preparations for our journey," the Vulcan cut in smoothly, standing and resting a hand on the cloth of his Captain's shoulder. With the closer contact, he could feel the anger and irritation rolling off of the man that was supposed to be in charge of him and he mentally sighed. His captain was like a young Vulcan child, all wild emotions and no control over themselves.

At the thought of his master's expressions as they beheld the fully grown male practically dancing in place as they waited for the transporter pad to be cleared, he had a brief flash of amusement followed by a ripple of pain and sorrow. He would never be able to compare his Captain to the Vulcan masters of his youth. He'd never be able to study on the buring sands of his home planet again.

It was gone.

He pushed the anguish back as he walked sedately down the corridor, concentrating on his gait, his breathing, the sounds of the compound that his acute Vulcan hearing detected. His face remained impassive as he kept his heart rate steady. Spock was so caught up in his emotional control that he didn't notice when the human male next to him stopped and started to say something to him. He didn't notice anything until the man grabbed his hand.

A burst of emotion rippled over him as he came into contact with the human's skin. Kirk was what he refered to as a 'loud broadcaster'. All of the human's emotions were close to the surface, and therefore easier for his race, being touch telepathic, to overhear when they were touched. Concern washed over him before he pulled his hand away. "My apologies, Captain," he said, turning and looking at the sandy haired man. "If you would repeat that?"

Kirk's eyes narrowed on the Vulcan as he studied him intently. The intelligence that the man normally hid behind his playboy exterior pushed to the forefront as he analyzed the alien in front of him. "Never mind that, Spock. Are you sure you're up for this? I'm sure we could delay this a few days, let you have a little time to yourself," he said quietly, stepping to the side of the corridor as a yeoman with a data padd hustled past towards the admiral's chamber.

Spock rose an eyebrow, slightly uncomfortable at being held under such close scrutiny that the man didn't even glance at the slightly attractive blonde's rear end. "I assure you, Captain, that I am fit for duty in every respect," he replied calmly, forcing the nervous twitch that wanted to start up in his jaw to subside before it had a chance to blossom. He would never shame his race by letting anyone outside of his immediate family know of his grief.

It just wasn't the Vulcan way.

Kirk stared at him for a few more seconds before he nodded, seemingly appeased with what he saw there. He clapped the tall Vulcan on the shoulder before he grinned at him. "Come on, Spock, we've got some shore leave to ruin," he said as a mischievous twinkle glittered in his eyes.

The Captain paced the bridge as they came up to the planet, his inveterate first officer was as he always was. Hunched over the science station.

"What does the readout say, Spock?" he asked, drumming his fingers on the back of his chair and staring at the immovable first officer.

Taking a deep breath, the Vulcan kept his face impassive as he looked back at the Captain. "It says the same thing that it said forty four point three minutes ago," he replied, his voice neutral.

Our of the corner of his eye, he saw Uhura roll her eyes as Chekov and Sulu glanced back and forth between each other, smiling broadly at the Captain's antics. He was like a three year old trapped in the back of a car, asking over and over when they were supposed to get there. Spock's patience were legendary, but even they were wearing thin at the Captain's constant questioning.

Kirk sighed softly as an attractive Yeoman handed him a padd to sign. He blinked as he saw the supplies that his Chief Engineer requested, but signed it anyways. He tried not to ask about what Scotty wanted, trusting the Scotsman not to blow up his ship. He just hoped that the peanut butter wasn't for his personal use, otherwise the man was going to be in big trouble with the mess hall.

After four more hours of fruitless scanning, Spock blinked when a hand was rested on his shoulder and he felt the brush of a familiar psyche against his own. "May I see you for a moment, Commander?" Uhura asked softly, her ponytail swinging as she tilted her head.

"Of course, Lieutenant. I believe that we're both due for lunch anyways," he replied, standing and moving towards the lift. Once the doors were shut, he turned to the young lady and looked at her expectantly, keeping his face carefully neutral.

Once they were in the elevator and headed towards deck three where the cafeteria was, the dark skinned communications officer turned and slapped a control on the lift. Her face was flat, but Spock could see the emotions swirling beneath the surface of her beautiful eyes. She crossed her arms underneath her well defined chest and cocked one of her hips out in angry defiance. "Why have you been avoiding me, Spock?" she asked, raising one eyebrow.

Spock took a deep, silent breath as he stared at the woman that he'd been seeing for over a year now. "I haven't been avoiding you. I've been rather busy with the memorial service for my mother as well as numerous Fleet duties," he replied, clasping his hands behind his back and staring her in the eye. It was true, up to a point. He had been rather busy. His mother's memorial service had put a huge strain on him, though, and he hadn't wanted to have to hide his grief from the very observant woman.

Her face softened as she continued to look at the tall man. "Spock, why didn't you tell me? I could have helped," she said, reaching out towards him.

As much as he wanted to feel the comfort of another's touch, he pulled back, not wanting to be bombarded by her rampant emotions. "I am sorry, Nyota. Please allow me to grieve in my own way," he replied to the hurt look on her face. "It would be better if you and I didn't see each other for a while."

When he saw her draw back, he felt regret for the harshness of his words, but he didn't have much patience for anything else. His normal calm wouldn't work on the Lieutenant. She was far to sensitive to his moods already, having studied him for years before he'd finally assented to starting a relationship with her. He remembered the look of happiness on his mother's face when he'd messaged her and told her about his new love interest. She'd been excited that he'd finally found someone that he could relate to and share his private time with.

The thoughts of his mother abruptly stopped, though, as Uhura reached out and rested her hand on his arm. "Okay, Spock. I understand," she said, the pain in her eyes belaying her statement. He could sense the upset rippling through her, and his mind cringed back instinctively from the pain that her emotions were sending through him. "I can wait."

"Thank you, Niyota," he replied softly, inclining his head to her as he pushed the button that would set the lift into motion once again.

When they got to the mess hall, he sat across the table from her, trying to relax enough to enjoy their discussion on her favorite subject. Xenolinguistics. He tried an obscure Romulan dialect, and she seemed to concentrate on him harder, her acute hearing picking up the difference in his tones. He watched her mind analyze, feeling a hint of pride in the woman. He'd been her teacher before he'd been her lover, and she had been his brightest student.

After he finished with lunch, he took his tray to the recyclers, dumping his mostly untouched meal into it and heading back to the bridge, unaware that Uhura was watching him with sad, worried eyes as he walked away.

"Captain? I believe that I have something," the Vulcan's crisp, accurate tones effectively cut through all of the ambient noise in the bridge. He turned in his chair to look back at the Captain, his dark eyes focusing in on the sandy-haired man instantly.

Kirk looked up from the data padd he was reading when his first officer called his name. He made his way over to the science station, looking down at the instrument panel and tilting his head at the readings that were flowing across the screen. "What do we have here, Mr. Spock?" he asked, resting a hand on the back of the Vulcan's chair as he leaned closer to the screen to better see the readings that were coming in. His mind analyzed them quickly, a frown pulling down the edges of his mouth as he stared at the findings.

Spock leaned forward slightly to get away from the touch on the back of his chair, slightly irritated that human's were such touchie people. "I believe this planet, on the edge of the solar system, is a prime candidate for our search. It's magnetic field is erratic, but it's the best possibility that we've found so far," he said quietly, looking up at the man and starting slightly at his nearness.

Nodding, Kirk looked the instruments over. "It's a little bit farther out of our course than we could justify for such faint readings, Spock," he replied, his eyes narrowing as he saw the scanners interrupted again with a flux of the planet's magnetic field. "Besides, flying the Enterprise near that soup would be a risk that I just couldn't take with us this far out."

Blinking at the Captain's sudden reticence to throw himself headlong into danger, Spock shook his head. "If you don't mind, Captain, I would like to take the Keplar out to investigate this further," he replied, keeping his face neutral as Kirk straightened and studied his Vulcan first officer.

Nodding, Kirk kept up his intense scrutiny of the man. "Alright, Spock. We'll swing by that outer asteroid ring to drop you off before we head out to check the planets closer to the sun. Are you sure that you're up for this kind of duty?" he replied, his instincts warning him that this was a bad idea.

Raising an eyebrow, the Vulcan stared impassively back at his captain. "I assure you, Captain Kirk, that I am a well qualified pilot," he said, standing from the chair that he'd been in for the past three hours. "If you'll excuse me, I'll begin the preparations for the survey mission."

As the Vulcan was leaving the bridge, Kirk looked after him with narrowed eyes, his full lips pursing in slight agitation. He knew this was a bad idea. "Spock," he called after the retreating Vulcan just before the doors to the lift shut. "Let Mr. Sulu accompany you. With those magnetic fields, it'd be good to have a second set of hands on the helm."

The Vulcan's spine straightened slightly as he stared at the captain. "I assure you, Captain, that I am more than capable of piloting my own ship," he said as the doors shut and he started towards the hanger bay.

Slowly, the Vulcan eased the shuttle into a low orbit around the northern hemisphere of the icy planet. Keeping a wary eye on the heavy magnetic field of the planet, he started the scans, his long, elegant fingers flying over the familiar console in a pattern that he could do in his sleep by now. The familiar patterns of scanning and flying eased his tense muscles, and the Vulcan relaxed back into his seat, relishing the privacy that the small craft offered him.

A sudden alarm blared to life on the console, pulling him out of the revive that he'd been sinking into. He flipped switches rapidly as the autopilot failed and the ship began to go into a violent nosedive towards the frozen planet below. He struggled with the controls, trying to bring the ship's manual controls on. He was thrown back into his seat as the ship's thrusters tried to counter the pull of the planet's gravity well.

"Spock to Enterprise," he called into the communications system, knowing that he was out of comm range. "Enterprise, please come in." He tried everything he could to pull the ship out of it's spin, failing.

With one last desperate sequence of commands, the ship leveled out somewhat, but the Vulcan knew that he was going to crash. He launched his distress beacon, hoping that it would gain enough height to break through the interference that the planet was putting out. "Mayday, mayday," he called into the comm as the Keplar picked up speed the closer it got to the planet's surface. "This is Commander Spock of the starship Enterprise. I've lost navigational control and am going down. Repeat, this is Commander Spock of the starship Enterprise. I've lost all navigational control and am crash landing on Codian IV."

As static greeted his words, Spock dove to the back of the shuttle. He used his superior Vulcan strength to pry open the hatch for the environmental suits, knowing that the frozen temperatures on the planet would kill him faster than the crash landing. Quickly, he pulled on the suit and was just struggling into the helmet when the ship bounced off a large, flat plateau of ice.

There we go! Chapter 2 up and running! Let me know what you think. I'm a sucker for a review. =P I'd like to thank Kitty for the wonderful help with the dialog in this chapter. She's always very supportive of my dribble. Thanks, Kitty!

Lee