Thank you so much for the feedback, you guys!!! I'm not sure if I'm thrilled or daunted by the fact that a 1000- prologue has more reviews than most of my other oneshots, lol ;D but either way, I love you to little pieces. But not in a weird way.

Chapter 1: Frozen There

"He's frozen there, like he didn't care."

In the end, the epiphany happened over something simple, something stupid.

Jim was in the transporter room with Scotty and his engineers, overseeing the safe teleportation of his first officer and a young Lieutenant called Joe Tormolen down to the planet Psi 2000. The Enterprise's initial mission was to observe the planet's imminent disintegration and pick up a party of scientists settled there. Spock's scanners had located the base of their laboratory but Uhura had been unable to transmit or receive any signals, so Jim had instructed that the Vulcan and the Lieutenant go down to investigate.

McCoy was also with them, finishing his routine check of the environmental suits, because there was a high risk of radiation poisoning, temperature fluctuation and okay, it was also standard procedure. And Jim thought it was nice of the doctor to make sure his men were safe and wouldn't freeze to death or get poisoned, but…

The suits looked ridiculous.

Seriously, borderline criminal.

They were a bright, shiny, sparkly orange that clashed horribly with Spock's lovely pale-green skin, and crackled when he walked, and Jim was trying very, very hard not to burst into a fit giggles, mostly because it wouldn't be the proper attitude worthy of A Man, let alone A Starship Captain, but also because he didn't want to make Spock feel self-conscious (although that was highly unlikely, this being Spock, after all).

So he schooled his face into an expression as serious and professional as he could. He may or may not have had to bite his fist a couple of times to keep it that way.

But then his first officer donned the head-gear, and Jim couldn't help it. Decorum went out the window. Protocol was trampled on by a stampede of hungry sehlats. A Captain's proper code of conduct (whatever that was) became more guidelines than actual rules.

Jim burst out laughing, loudly and gleefully and unapologetically, eyes shining and gasping for air. He actually had to lean against the control panel to remain in an upright position, he was shaking so hard.

Spock looked hilarious. The colour and shape of the thing weren't even remotely flattering, and the large, square helmet squashed the Vulcan's ears, and though it's small visor Jim could see Spock with his serious, dignified manner and… oh God it was hysterical.

Jim wasn't the only one whose attempt at seriousness ended in Epic Failure; throughout the room the guffaws and chuckles of his men were as loud as his own. Even McCoy couldn't help a snort of derision, and Lieutenant Tormolen was smirking, too.

In the middle of all this Spock kept standing there on the pad with his air of elegant superiority somehow amidst all the sparkly fabric ("You are all twelve" he seemed to convey without saying a word), and that was when the epiphany happened.

Scotty clapped Jim on the shoulder but he barely felt it. Because he was too distracted by the fact that, blossoming in his chest, spreading and growing until he was engulfed by it, a complete and utter certainty took hold: the knowledge that the feelings for Spock he'd been trying to fight until today were no longer optional. They had become a part of him, permanent and fixed and unmovable.

Permanent?

Jim wasn't stupid, he'd felt himself falling even as he tried to stop it, but he just hadn't realised how far it had all gone. Well, as of that moment, he knew he would always love Spock, that was just how things would be.

For ever.

Over an environmental suit.

He'd had an epiphany over Spock in orange.

He'd realised his eternal devotion to his first officer, his totally and awesomely Forbidden first officer (yeah, that's a capital 'F') who would never in a million years return his feelings, and who had a gorgeous girlfriend who was cool and smart and therefore eliminated any chance at all of there ever existing the remote possibility of Spock liking Jim, let alone anything more even slightly romantic in nature, so really what was the point of loving someone like that? God, he had issues, seriously, maybe he should tell Bones… then again, the poor doctor might be driven to a murder-suicide and that would not be good for morale…

Um.

So he'd realised all of this over a fit of laughter because Spock looked funny. In his own especially comical, unintentional way.

Well, okay then.

Okay.

It's okay, Jim.

Breathe.

Roll with the punches. Face your foes, or whatever. If life throws you lemons, throw them back in it's face, demand the oranges you asked for, and make yourself some sweet orange juice. Or something equally spiritually uplifting like that. Come on. You can do this. Get over it, Jim. Jim. Jim?

"Jim?" It was Spock, looking at him questioningly. Shit, had he noticed? Spock's eyes managed to look amazing through the plastic visor of a Hazmat suit. Shit. Also, unfair.

"Captain?"

The laughter died down to a few sniggers and people were beginning to look at Jim strangely. What? He wanted to say. Could they see it on his face?

What?

There was maybe an instant of panic when everything became dizzying and the world around him spun… and Spock was still looking straight at him with curious concern… maybe Jim should look away, this was starting to get a little too intense, except that he couldn't, Spock had a way of commanding attention, of drawing every gaze toward him… but then suddenly the moment was gone, the ground beneath his feet existed once more, and Jim stood straight and firm, feeling gratefully calm.

Only to look at Spock properly… and start laughing again.

At Spock, at himself, at the situation, at himself some more because God this was so stupid and he loved Spock so very much so the man had better not be hurt or anything, and he was in love with Spock, and it felt just as weird as it sounded. But also kind of… not.

"I'm still… not over… how… silly you look." He gasped in between giggles.

Um. Manly chuckles. Not giggles. Kirk didn't giggle. That was for girls and Chekov.

At least Spock's lips twitched a little in response, which made Jim grin widely and finally relax.

McCoy rolled his eyes at them both.

"Okay, people, serious time." Jim coughed and clapped his hands. Everyone adopted a slightly more professional expression and Jim felt proud of them as the mood shifted easily back to work-mode.

"Then perhaps, now that the spontaneous emotional response at my expense is over, Mr Scott can beam us down?" Spock's tone was flat, as usual, but Jim immediately detected that they were being teased in a cute, Vulcan way. If he didn't have his male pride to consider, Jim might have thought Awww, how adorable. But of course he didn't think that.

At all.

"Sorry, Spock. We need our little moments to relieve the tension, eh?" Scotty said, pretending to wipe a tear from the corner of his eye. "Are yeh ready?"

Lt Tormolen gave a thumbs up, and Spock nodded and said. "Energise."

After they'd disappeared in a flurry of electrical sparks and Scotty confirmed a smooth arrival, Jim turned and walked to the bridge, thinking.

So, this wasn't that bad.

And at least he hadn't freaked out.

Much.

He was kind of proud of that. A tiny little smile crept up on him unexpectedly and he felt suddenly exhausted. He would need to be brave with this kind of stuff, too. Sometimes jumping off a cliff might feel easier, but he could do it. He could learn to live with this and get used to it and through everything, still be a good Captain and a good friend.

Whew.

Jim got to the bridge and nodded to his communications officer, smiled tiredly at his pilot and navigator, and sat down in his command chair, thinking that today had turned out to be a pretty emotionally exhausting one. Maybe the rest would go easier. A man could hope.

Oh, Jim.

Good thing he didn't know, then, what was still to come.

*

"Enterprise, all life support systems are off." Came the voice from the communicator.

"Shit, you must be freezing." Jim imagined a cabin covered in ice and snow, and fought back his overwhelming concern for his first officer. Tormolen was Human but, ridiculous suits or not, Spock was Vulcan.

Okay, half. But still.

"The environmental suits serve their purpose, Jim, and I feel no discomfort." Spock answered dryly.

"Oh. Great. Okay then, any signs of life down there?"

After a moment's hesitation, it was Lieutenant Tormolen who spoke. "… all station personnel are dead, sir."

Jim swore, his easy mood effectively evaporating.

"What caused it?"

"Unknown, Captain." Spock's voice was loud in the silent bridge when he added. "It is like nothing we have dealt with before."

*

Spock carefully separated his physical reactions to the abnormally low temperatures from his mental faculties. Discomfort was irrelevant, therefore null, therefore non existent. Despite the fact that this was obviously a fallacy, it was of use to him at the present time, and Spock allowed this indulgence.

Tormolen was proving to be young and inexperienced, however eager to help.

"Mr Spock, the woman back there has been strangled." The Liteunant's tense voice called from one of the rooms. Spock was investigating the back, where he found an unusual scene: a man covered in ice inside a shower, yet obviously he had been fully clothed.

"What of the Engineer at his post?" Spock asked, looking around the room for any clues that might lead to the strange behaviour the man seemed to be exibiting before his death.

There was a long silence, so long Spock considered the possibility that he had not been heard as the only rational explanation.

Until Tormolen spoke, in a strange, low voice Spock knew a normal Human would not have been able to hear.

"He's just… frozen there. He's frozen there like he didn't care."

That made six dead in total, including the woman, the man in a shower and the Engineer. Spock walked back to the main room and saw Tormolen shifting uncomfortably, his arm stiff. Perhaps seeing the unexpected deaths had had an effect on him?

"The circumstances of these deaths are unusual, Lieutenant." Spock commented. It was not necessary for him to speak his thoughts aloud, but he wanted Tormolen to be alert. "We must be careful not to expose ourselves to anything."

"Yeah…" Tormolen rubbed his gloved hand and winced.

Spock noted the gesture but thought it unremarkable.

A mistake he would come to regret.

"Mr Scott." He said into his communicator. "I believe this scene requires further investigation, however we do not yet have the necessary tools and my equipment has proven insufficient so far. We shall need to come back at a later date, once I have made sufficient preparations with the science department."

"Aye, Spock! You ready to beam back?"

"Affirmative."

*

Six scientists they were meant to bring back to their homes, no longer. Frozen to death, without life support systems, in unusual circumstances. What on Earth could have made them so… careless?

And now, bound to watch a planet die, to stay in orbit and observe as something as apparently invincible as a world is reduced to nothingness.

"Captain, Mr Spock and Lt. Tormolen are aboard, we are holding them for decontamination in the transporter room."

Jim snapped out of his momentary reverie and spoke into his armrest.

"Okay. Um, Scotty, once that's done, have them go over to Sickbay, just in case, all right? I don't want to risk anything, and they did find six dead bodies. Tell Spock I'll be right there."

"Sure."

"Sulu, you have the conn." Sulu nodded from his post.

Jim tried not to run all the way to Bones' domain, because that would be childish and stupid and unnecessary. The door opened and he heard his CMO talking to his first officer, apparently McCoy was examining Spock's readings.

"Your pulse is 242…" The doctor was saying, irony laced in his tone. "Your blood-pressure is practically non-existent… and, assuming you can call that green stuff in your veins blood, then I'm sure you'll be just spiffing, Mr Spock."

"As you very well know, the readings are normal for me." Spock said coolly. "And my anatomy is different from yours, for which I can only be extremely grateful, doctor."

Jim went into the room, a big grin on his face, and was about to say something concilliatory when… the sound died in his throat.

Spock had… arms.

This was, for obvious reasons, not news to Jim. He saw them every day, after all, in the fitting blue uniform that encased them so snugly. But right now Spock wasn't wearing his blue shirt at all, he'd taken it off for the exam. Instead, he was in his skin-tight undershirt and black pants, combined with his raven hair and startlingly dark eyes against alabaster skin with that pale-green tinge. All in all, the effect was at the same time alluring and haunting.

And Spock's arms had biceps, and they were smooth and defined, and Spock's shoulders were broad and his chest flat and muscled. It didn't help that he was lying down on the exam table, either.

Jim immediately realised that he wasn't the only one to notice this: Nurse Chapel was leaning against the far wall and trying to pretend she wasn't completely unable take her eyes off Jim's first officer, and her chest began heaving erratically when Spock got up. At another time the sight would have been an amusing distraction.

But it wasn't. At all.

In an impressive display of mental fortitude, however, Jim firmly blocked his thoughts and turned to McCoy.

"How are they? Everything all right? Everyone okay?"

"They're fine, Jim." McCoy answered with an eyeroll. "What are you doing here, anyway?" The suspicious tone genuinely annoyed Jim. Bones had the habit of accusing him of Spock-mooning, not that Jim had never actually told the man anything (in fact, he had the feeling that the doctor thought it was all just especially hilarious joke, and if Jim did tell him the truth, McCoy might try and scrub his brain and end up dying a horrible death or something).

But when on duty Jim always kept things perfectly professional. He made no exceptions, he always put the Enterprise before anyone or, indeed, anything. He resented the implication that he'd run all the way to Sickbay for nothing.

"I needed to speak to my men." He retorted, a little more defensive than was necessary.

"You couldn't do that at the briefing we're having in fifteen minutes?" McCoy said sweetly. Jim resisted the urge to strangle him, and then thought about it. Really thought about it. He could have done that, couldn't he? Just waited to see his First was okay when they met afterward. But…what about Tormolen? He wouldn't be at the briefing.

Jim tried to imagine Spock and his arms weren't here. Would he have still come down if it had just been his Lieutenant coming back from a dangerous trip, and not his Lieutenant plus the man he'd realised he loved (permanently) a few hours ago?

Yes, of course he would have, he decided firmly. Especially after hearing about the bodies and the decontamination. It had been dangerous down there. He would have checked up on any of his crew.

Feeling grimly proud of himself for this new bit of insight, he rounded on the doctor once more, ready to give his scathing reply, when-

"Terrible…" A voice came softly from behind him.

Jim turned and saw that Tormolen sat on one of the beds, staring down at the floor as if it might hold the answers of the universe. Maybe he hadn't been ready for the sight of those bodies. Well damn, Jim really hadn't expected the entire team to be dead, but he did expect his men to be able to deal with things like those as their time at the Enterprise went by. He hoped the Lieutenant would be okay, although Tormolen really did seem badly shaken. Poor kid.

"Hey, Joe. You okay?" He said carefully.

"It was terrible."

Jim blanched. Not only did his Lieutenant sound afraid, but he'd never seen him so vulnerable before, voice trembling like a child's.

"It was… terrible, Captain. They were all just sitting there. Like they didn't care. I keep wondering…"

Jim walked toward the young man, not that much younger than himself, actually, and put a comforting arm on his shoulder. "Hey. You keep wondering whether we're really meant to be out here. Whether man has a right to be out here. We all question these things, every now and then." Tormolen just stared at him. "You keep wondering, yet you keep signing on, eh?"

This finally got a nod and a smile, and Jim stood up and squared his shoulders. He turned to see Spock looking at him curiously, his blue shirt back on.

Heaving an internal sigh of relief, Jim crossed his arms.

"So… any guesses, Spock? Any ideas as to what the hell went on down there?"

Spock seemed pensive. "I wish I could say, Captain. However, circumstances were quite strange and I do not care to hazard an unfounded hypothesis just yet. Perhaps a detailed examination of our record tapes may show us something."

Jim nodded, as behind him Tormolen shivered. "Six dead… dead… they didn't care…"

"Joe, you need to get some rest." Jim said firmly, and with a pointed look at his CMO, he left Sickbay, Spock at his heels.

*

"We'll meet in the briefing room in ten minutes, I just need to go back to the bridge for a sec. Can you bring those tapes?"

"Of course, Jim."

"Great. Okay then, see you in… nine minutes and fifty-six seconds."

"Fifty-five."

"Firty-four."

"Fifty-three."

"Fifty-two."

"All right, Jim. I believe the correct expression is… I 'get your point'?"

"Yeah. See you."

...

"Uh, wait, Spock…"

"Yes?"

"I-I'm glad you're okay."

"… thank you."

"I mean, it would've sucked not to have a first officer. Then I'd actually be pressured to stay alive, and all that shit."

"I hope you understand my presence in this ship is not solely to substitute you in the event of your death, Jim."

"'Course not, you do so much more than that."

"Thank you. And I… also hope you understand that the pressure for you to stay alive remains, whether I am here or not."

"Uh… thanks?"

"You must stay alive."

"I will. Promise."

"Then I shall endeavor to do the same."

"You'd better."

"Nine minutes and fifteen seconds, Jim."

"Fourteen."

"Thirteen."

On that number they went their separate ways, Jim with a contemplative smile on his face and Spock a warmth around his eyes.

Someone superstitious might make a comment about numbers and bad luck.

Fortunately, no one on the Enterprise believed in such nonsense.

*is nervous* So… what did you think? Did I just murder TOS canon and shame trekkie fans forever? *fidgets*

Um, but look at all the pretty boys! Aren't they cute and oblivious? Look at Spock all dressed in black and looking like some smexy supervillian that I want to lather in chocolate and then eat for dessert!!! Wow, I have a serious fixation with that image. Hmm...

(my plan to distract you is working, yes?)

Okay, okay, show of reviews (hands! I meant show of hands!) all those who squealed a little bit when they saw Leonard Nimoy all dark-n'-hot-like in this scene in the original episode. Now all the people who went "Oh NOES!" when he put his blue shirt back on :D

And hey, if you haven't seen it (OMG GO SEE IT!) that's okay, seriously, I'm really honoured that this is your first Naked Time! ;)