The next day was very hectic for everyone. Excited voices filled the air as the ship began the docking procedures at the Earth station. That is everyone except Kirk who could not be found anywhere.

Bones, entering the bridge, shouted out, "Have any of you seen the captain? I can't find that damned fool anywhere, and I am worried he might do something stupid. I checked the computer, and it says he isn't even on the ship. So, has anyone seen him?"

All at once everyone started talking. Uhura said, "I have been trying to get a hold of him for the last two hours." While Sulu said something like, "I haven't seen him since dinner last night." With everyone talking all at once, Bones didn't hear anything.

He was just about to shout shut up when Spock spoke above the noise.

"Silence." Immediately, silence fell upon the crew and Spock continued, "The captain has not reported to the bridge, which is why I alerted medical. I had thought that he would be with you. To what are you referring when you say he might do something impulsive? Is he unstable?"

"No, you hobgoblin. He is not unstable, but I just don't know why he didn't report to duty. I want to make sure he is okay. If the computer says that he isn't even on the ship, that usually means that he is hiding for some reason, and I want to know why."

"The captain is very unorganized. He may have forgotten."

"You are unbelievable. Do you even care that the captain is missing?"

"Yesterday, you were trying to kill him. You could very well have and are just trying to throw suspicion from yourself." Spock replied with a raise of his eyebrow. Saying that caused the crew to look suspiciously towards the doctor, like he might try to kill them all where they were.

"You are hopeless! Why do I even try?" Bones turned to the lift and made his way out to find the captain. He was worried that Jim would sink into his depression again like he did back at the academy. That was a year and a half that he would rather not relive again. He shuddered just thinking about it and pushed the thought to the back of his mind continuing on his mission and hoping that he was worrying for nothing.

Meanwhile, Kirk was hiding from everyone because he just did not want to deal with people. He had one of his reoccurring nightmares last night, one that not even Bones knew he had, and Bones could always tell when something was wrong. Kirk never told him what was bothering him but Bones would always nag at him until he got out of his funk or let him give him a hypo to sleep which was not a good idea because it made the nightmares worse. Kirk just wanted some peace and quite. He brought some paperwork with him so it wouldn't look like he was totally skipping out on work. If he had said he wasn't going to the bridge, Bones would have come and checked on him to make sure he was all right. It was better that he look like he just overslept. Spock already thought that he was a terrible captain, so why not play into the part a bit more?

If the ship had been in any danger, he never would have skipped out bridge duty. It was usually the best part of his job. He hated paperwork and had tons of it to catch up on, but he figured this was as good as any time to work on it. Especially since, he wanted to take his mind off of his problems. Spock could handle the being in charge for a while.

Two hours later with mostly everyone off of the ship, Kirk emerged from his hiding place in the girls' bathroom. Yeah, he knew that was wrong but he put an out of order sign on the door so no one came in. It was the only place he could think of where Bones would not look for him. He hoped that Bones had already left for the shuttles to take them back to earth, but he knew Bones was probably still looking for him. Bones could be very stubborn when he wanted to be.

Walking slowly through the corridors, Kirk was staring at his data pad and not paying any attention to where he was going, so he jumped when he heard Spock call out captain.

"Yes? What can I do for you?"

"Where you unaware that you were scheduled for bridge duty today?"

"I had some things to take care of this morning. I figured you could handle it fine without me today. I would have been there if there had been an emergency. You can handle taking the bridge when I'm not there, right?"

"That is correct. However some advanced warning would have been appreciated. Many resources were wasted trying to locate you. Lieutenant Uhura has been trying to contact you all day and Doctor Mccoy has insisted that you cannot be on your own and we should locate you as soon as possible."

"Bones isn't still around is he? Also, not that many resources were wasted. If you really wanted to find me you could have put on a search party or put the ship on red alert to get me to come to you."

"If I had done that it would have confused the crew and may have resulted in a catastrophe," Spock was starting to go into lecture mode of how to run a spaceship and Kirk did not have the time or the desire to listen to him. Kirk knew he shouldn't have hacked into the computer and erased his existence on the ship, but he just wanted to be alone.

"Look, Spock, I know I shouldn't have done that but I needed to get away for awhile, or I would have exploded. You probably don't understand but sometimes us humans need some distance from each other or we will start going crazy. I don't need your permission to take a day off, and yeah, I agree with you. I should have told you I wasn't going to be there. I'll tell you next time. I'm sorry, so if you will excuse me, I need to get going. There is still some paperwork I need to finish filling out."

Spock watched his captain start walking away slightly stunned, though he would never admit it to anyone including himself. He could see that something was defiantly wrong with his captain. Kirk was a very gregarious person and loved being the center of attention. Today, he didn't show up for work or lunch, which was when he did his usual socializing with the crew. Now, he wasn't acting like himself by trying to get a rise out of Spock or generally trying to annoy him. The captain even agreed with him about the advanced notice next time he wanted to miss work, which was very uncharacteristic of him. He never admitted he was wrong about something unless it was a life or death situation.

"Captain?"

Kirk paused about five feet away from him but didn't turn around.

Spock took that as an invitation to start talking. "Is something troubling you? You seem distracted. Do you require any assistance?"

Kirk slowly let out a breath that he didn't notice he had been holding. "I'm having some trouble finishing the paperwork for the docking and shore leave."

"I may be able to assist you if you have no objections."

"You would?" Kirk was surprised because he didn't think Spock liked him or would want to help. He thought that he would rather spend his time with Uhura, but Kirk wasn't about to pass up this opportunity to have Spock do some of the paperwork with him. "Yeah, I would appreciate that if you could."

"I have no other pressing matters to attend to at this moment. Shall we?" Spock said sweeping a hand out in front of to indicate that Kirk should lead the way.

Kirk keyed in the code to his room and strode into it; it was pretty messy, and he felt slightly embarrassed. He tried to straighten up a little and turned to hand Spock a PADD. Spock accepted it without a word, and they got started in silence.

Two hours later, Kirk stood up and started to stretch the kinks out of his back. He was exhausted and needed to sleep but now he had to go and debrief with the admirals. They would want to know every detail that had happened over the last few months even though he had already told them in the paperwork he had to send in after every mission whether it involved transporting goods or dropping people off. Kirk didn't know why he had to go and talk to them again. It was all a bunch of bull anyway. The soonest he could go and catch up on the sleep he missed out on last night would be in another five hours. That was assuming he finished everything he had to get done and the shuttles were on time for once.

"Thanks, Spock, for all the help. I don't think I would have finished if you hadn't helped." Jim wanted to say more but felt that he would overstep some invisible line, and he didn't want Spock to regret helping him. Also, he didn't know if they were to the point where they could confide in each other.

"Thanks is not necessary, Captain. I was only doing my duty as first officer."

"It's Jim, Spock there is no one around to hear you address me by my first name. How many times have I told you that? And you didn't have to help me, but I'm glad you did. Now, should we go and find a shuttle to get back to earth?"

Spock stood up and inclined his head. "I will meet you in the transporter room in exactly five minutes."

"Alright, but you do know that I am not going to time you, right?" Jim said with a smirk. He loved it when Spock was so very literal. It was fun to tease him about it. Spock always had to be so precise about everything, but it was what made him such a good first officer.

Spock quirked his eyebrow in the way only he could do and replied, " very well." He left silently after a wave of Jim's hand.

Jim watched the doors shut behind Spock and let out a deep breathe. It was going to be a long, tiring couple of hours. He just hoped he could get through them all without anyone noticing his exhaustion, or lack of concentration because he did not have any intention of telling anyone about what was troubling him.