They had beamed down onto was a fiery red beach that seemed to stretched for miles. The plant life surrounding the area was painted in vivid shades of purple, however the ocean was still a familiar deep blue colour. Spock noted it was a lot like earth, with the exception of no lifeforms. The captain excitedly dropped his bag next to him and made a run for the water, tearing off his shirt in the process.

"Jim! Get your ass back here and put on sunscreen, I'm not gonna let you get sunburnt on my watch" The doctor yelled out.

Jim pouted and slowly made his way back up the beach towards them, as McCoy rummaged around in his bag to pull out the bottle of sunscreen. Spock started setting up the chairs and an umbrella for shade, seeing as he wouldn't be swimming.

"Now for the love of god Jim, stay away from the plant life and anything that looks remotely dangerous, got it?"

"I'll be fine bones!"

After having thoroughly coating himself in the sunscreen, Jim grinned and gave them both a thumbs up as he ran into the water. McCoy rolled his eyes and leaned back onto his chair.

"Thanks Spock for setting everything up and make sure the idiot doesn't hurt himself alright? I'm gonna take a well earned nap"

Spock nodded in reply and returned his gaze to the captain, he was splashing around in the water occasionally waving back towards them. Spock told himself he was only watching the captain so intently to make sure nothing happened, but he couldn't stop himself from admiring Jim. His golden tanned skin was glistening in the water and he could see the outline of well defined muscles, not to mention his beautiful icy eyes, he was drawn to him and unable to escape.

He must have gotten lost in his thoughts as Jim was suddenly stood in front of him, water dripping from his dirty blond hair onto the red sand below.

"Spock! Come play with me, It's boring by myself" There he was with his signature grin again, you couldn't deny it.

"Captain, Let me remind you that I am a Vulcan, I cannot swim"

He watched as Jim's grin turned into a frown and quickly switched back again.

"Then build a sandcastle with me! And it's Jim, remember?"

Spock raised an eyebrow but made no argument against it.

"That is... acceptable, Jim"

Jim had to teach him how to make a sandcastle, as that was not a favourable past time back on Vulcan, but he enjoyed seeing Jim smile. They had even exchanged a few stories from their childhood, though Spock's were very different in comparison.

"Phew! That was a lot of work, but it looks great, right Spock?"

Spock acknowledged him with a nod. After a few hours they had built a reasonable size sandcastle, made in the appearance of their beloved ship the enterprise.

"Let's get a drink and go for a stroll, I wanna check out this planet some more"

Jim grabbed a bottle of water from the cooler and handed it to him, before getting one for himself. For a while they walked along the beach silently observing their surroundings, occasionally sharing glances at one another. When they were a reasonable distance away from where they had started, they had climbed on top of a large dune to get a better view of their surroundings on the strange coloured planet.

"Actually Spock there was something I wanted to tell you. I'm really glad we are on shore leave together, even if it was forced onto us by a certain grouch" A reddish tinge appeared on Jim's cheeks, but he dismissed it as mild sunburn, he should have made Jim wear a hat.

"I agree cap- Jim, I feel it has been beneficial for us all"

Jim shot him a grin before giving him a quick pat on the back.

"Well let's head back before you-know-who wakes up and has a heart attack because we are missing!"

As they walked back, Spock couldn't help but wonder why Jim seemed to want to be close to him today. Surely McCoy would be a better person to ask to be involved in human leisure activities, perhaps it was simply because he wanted to let the doctor get some rest. When they arrived back the doctor was still asleep, seemingly confirming his theory.

"Hah! The old man really needed a rest huh? I'm gonna go for another swim to cool down, wanna join me?"

"Ca-Jim must I remind you that I cannot swim?"

"You don't have to go swimming! Just put your feet in!"

He raised an eyebrow but he followed Jim down to the edge of the water. He had to admit the water was pleasantly cooling on his feet in comparison to the almost scorching sand. He watched as Jim ran ahead of him and dove into an incoming wave, his golden hair breaking the surface on the other side. He noticed he was swimming further out than he had earlier that day, Spock's gut twisted knowing if something happened he couldn't reach him. Jim waved to him and he felt a small relief, before seeing a wave crash down on top of him and push him under. He waited tensely for Jim to emerge but seconds had passed and he wasn't coming up, how long could he hold his breath?

"Jim!"

He wasn't sure why he called out, it wasn't logical, he surely couldn't hear him, perhaps to reassure himself. He could feel his blood pressure rising and his heart beating faster beneath his skin, something was wrong.

"DOCTOR!"

McCoy was startled awake and jumped out his seat, immediately racing over to Spock.

"What's the problem Spock? Where's Jim?"

"Doctor, the captain was swimming and was pulled under by a wave and has not emerged in approximately 80 seconds"

"My god man why didn't yo- Shit Vulcan's can't swim"

McCoy wasted no time running into the water and swimming a reasonable distance out before diving under. Spock hated that he couldn't do anything but wait, he decided the best course of action was to bring the doctor's medical bag down to the shore. As he returned with the bag he was relieved to see McCoy now dragging Jim back with him through the water, his relief soon vanished when he saw how lifeless the captain was in his arms.

He quickly waded as deep as he could into the water to help McCoy, Vulcan's are stronger than humans after all.

"Take him!" the doctor yelled.

Spock swiftly took Jim from the doctor, he was surprised how light he felt in his arms, he carried him out of the water and laid him gently onto the shore. He had to push down the panic rising inside of him, seeing how Jim's once golden skin was now pale and his lips turning blue. The doctor was soon behind him, examining Jim with a tricorder he had grabbed from the bag.

"It looks like he had an allergic reaction, give me a hyper spray with 50cc cortisone!"

Spock grabbed the hypo-spray from the medical bag and handed it to McCoy, he was glad he had the foresight to bring it down.

"God damn it Jim, what did I say!?" He quickly injected the hypo into Jim's neck.

"He has no pulse! I need to do CPR, contact the ship!"

Trying to remain calm as the doctor began CPR on Jim, he opened his communicator.

"Spock to Enterprise, Come in Enterprise"

"Uhura here, what do you need Mr. Spock?"

"The captain has a medical emergency beam us up immediately"

"Yes sir"

A few seconds later they were back on the transporter pad and Jim was being whisked away on a medical bed. Spock had been left alone in the transporter room, his chest felt tight not knowing if Jim would live or die. He had to know. Not caring that his uniform was soaking wet he began running down to sickbay, he had to be there for Jim.