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.

Chapter 3:

"Mother?" Spock asked, his bright intelligent eyes blinking up at his mother.

"Yes, Spock?" the human woman replied, a smile hovering at the edges of her lips as she looked up from where she'd been translating the poetry of a long dead Vulcan master.

Spock's eyebrows drew together in concentration as he frowned slightly. "Why does Father dislike me?" he asked, tilting his head and looking to his warm and caring mother.

Taking a deep breath, his mother slipped off her chair and knelt in front of her son. She grabbed both of his hands in her own and held them tightly, sending the love and pride that she was experiencing towards her only child. Spock tilted his head as he felt the hint of anger burning underneath the love that she had for him. "Spock," she said quietly, staring into her son's beautiful eyes. "It's not that your father doesn't like you, honey, it's just that he doesn't show things the same way that everyone else does. He's a Vulcan." She said the last with resignation, as if it explained his father's transgressions.

"But I'm Vulcan too," the young Spock said, blinking away the tears that he knew would shame him deeply. "And I don't understand why."

Amanda's blue eyes deepened with sorrow before she pulled her son into a tight hug. "No matter what happens, Spock, I'll always love you," she said, burying her face in her child's neck to hide the tears that were slipping down her cheeks.

Spock groaned softly as he tried to roll off of the surface that he was on. It was scratchy on his naked skin, completely unlike the sheets that were on the bunk in his quarters. He winced as the restraints around his beaten and bruised body tightened, forcing a wet, hacking cough to escape his lips. He felt the push of an unfamiliar mind against his own and tried to cringe away from it. When he realized that he couldn't force the emotions back, he gave a soft whimper.

The restraints around his upper body tightened slightly, pulling him back against a firm, strong chest. "Spock, it's Jim. You need to hold still. We're almost back to the Enterprise. I need you to hold on for a little bit longer. I know you're scared," he said quietly, his hot breath blowing along Spock's sensitive earlobe as he spoke.

Swallowing painfully, Spock tried to open his eyes, but when he managed to pry open his swollen lids, he shut them tightly against the bright lights of the shuttle's bay. He tried to shift away from Kirk's body, not comfortable with the intimacy of their minds. In his weakened state, he couldn't maintain the shields that normally kept his mind safe from the outside world. "Please let me go," he asked quietly, his normally smooth voice rough with the trauma of the past few hours.

The sandy-haired man shook his head causing the silky locks of hair to brush across the back of Spock's neck. "Sorry, Spock, but you and I are stuck together for a little bit longer. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about your bunny tattoo," he teased, the humor in his voice masking the deep concern that was radiating from his mind.

A flash of a woman's face brushed past Spock's mind, followed by the sound of happy, warm laughter. Spock sucked in a breath as he realized that the woman in the memory wasn't someone that he remembered from his own life. It was someone from Kirk's. The harder he tried to fight against the bonding of their two minds, though, the more weak he became. "No," he whispered, shivering violently before Kirk's strong arms pulled him closer to the warmth of the human's body.

The slighty lower than Vulcan normal body temperature radiation from the man helped to thaw him slightly as he felt the ship buck and rock with the violent magnetic pulses of the planet. He heard Kirk's voice calling out from the back, the words growing more indistinct as sleep sucked him under. He pushed towards the blackness, his mind not willing to accept what had just happened.

Voices pushed into Spock's dreams, forcing him to wake. He felt intense foreign worry pulse at his mind, causing a frown line to appear between his eyebrows against his will. He blinked open his eyes, the bright lights of the medical bay assaulting his sensitive retinas. He immediately closed them, blocking out the offensive light. The Vulcan tried to raise his hand to cover his eyes, but found it pinned down under the weight of a warm, calloused palm.

"Bones, he's coming to," Kirk called softly, leaning slightly closer to the Vulcan. "Spock, can you hear me?"

The doctor pushed the two apart, waving a scanner in front of Spock's face and down his body. "I was beginning to think that he wasn't ever going to come out of it. He's been down for three days," the southern man grumbled, punching a few buttons on his tricorder. "Damn Vulcan physiology. Can't make heads or tales of this mess."

Spock tried to lick his lips, but it felt like his tounge was coated with sand. He heard the doctor moving away and then back with a different scanner. Irritation flashed through him as the scanner was waved over him again. The mind that was connected with his own pulsed with a matching impatience, pushing his own emotions closer to the surface of his mind.

Futilely, he tried to break the contact between the captain's palm and his hand, but his body was still very weak. He tried to clear his throat, inwardly wincing as the dry walls of his esophagus rubbed together. He forced his eyes to open, blinking them rapidly to bring the room into focus. By sheer will, he turned his head to look at the doctor. "Water," he rasped, his voice no more than a whisper of sound amid the hustle and bustle of the busy medical bay.

McCoy scowled down at the Vulcan, his eyes narrowed. "Hold your ponies. You'll get something to drink when I'm finished scanning," he replied, frowning down at the readings on his tricorder. He punched a few more buttons before he waved the scanner again, trying to get a bead on Spock's vitals.

A flash of intense irritation flashed against Spock's mind as the Captain's hand tightened on his own. Spock's eyelids fluttered for a second, trying to close before he forced them open again. He refused to allow himself to show any more weakness in front of his shipmates than he already was. His pride wouldn't let him fold. Taking a deep breath, he turned his head and looked over at the Captain, blinking as he saw the man's blank face.

"Captain, I assure you that I'll be able safely consume water," he said to the hovering man.

Kirk looked at Bones before he released Spock's hand, cutting off the frustration that had been pushing at Spock. When he was able to clear his head of all the alien emotions, the Vulcan realized that the Captain was more frustrated with his impotence than anything else. The sandy haired man was used to knowing what to do, but in this situation, there was nothing else that he could do.

Without the Captain's hand in his own, Spock began to feel weaker, his vitals dropping noticably. The machines above his head beeped angrily as the aches and pains that the Vulcan had been keeping in check with his mental disciplines came back with a vengeance. Spock felt his body begin to twitch, small jerks at first before they became more and more noticeable.

"He's seizing! Nurse, I need the Aprovaline stat!" McCoy called, trying to keep Spock from rolling off the table.

Strong, warm hands wrapped around the bare skin of Spock's left arm, washing the Vulcan's mind in a flurry of confusion and worry. The touch bolstered Spock's mental barriers enough for the Vulcan to fight his weakening system. His body twitched one last time before it subsided, slumping down to the table just as McCoy's nurse appeared with the requested injection.

"What the hell was that?" Kirk asked, his voice slightly agitated as he helped to roll Spock onto his back.

"I've been trying for hours to get a hold of the Vulcan healers, but they still haven't been able to cut through all of this damn interference," he grumbled, his eyebrows drawing worried lines above his eyes as he stared at his unusual patient. "What I know about Vulcan physiology could fill a teacup. Their health is so damn steeped in mysticism that you can barely tell where the science begins and the religion ends."

Spock's breath was ragged as he forced his eyes to open, looking over at the Captain. "Water, please," he rasped out, trying to lick his cracked lips.

The sandy haired man stared back at him for a few seconds before he raised a small straw to the Vulcan's lips. When the doctor started to protest, Jim shot him a quelling look. "Look, Bones your best sorce for Vulcan ailments is right on this table. Spock's all we've got for the time being. Let's get him to the point that he can talk, then he can tell us how to take care of the situation," he said, his voice stee0ly as he watched Spock suck the water slowly through the straw.

After a few sips, Spock released the straw. "Thank you," he said, his voice stronger, but still slightly raspy. He looked back to the doctor, a shudder rolling through him as his body protested it's abuse. Absently, he pushed back the Captain's mind as it fluttered with worry. "What is the extent of my injuries?" he asked, trying to relax against the stiff mattress.

Crossing his arms over his chest, McCoy stared down at his patient. "You were half gone when we found you on that damn frozen were deep in shock. Most people wouldn't have survived it, but lucky for you, the Captain here remembered his survival courses well. We got you slowly warmed up, and I'm pretty sure that you're going to be able to keep all of your fingers and toes," he said, waving a hand over the Vulcan's body. "If we can get your vitals to stabilize, you just might live."

Spock took a breath before he nodded. "I thought as much," he replied stoically, his mind analyzing the possibilities to keep himself from feeling the panic that he knew was threatening to overwhelm him. "Doctor, I believe the only thing to do in my present condition is to push fluids. If I'm able to wake, the damage may not be as extensive as it seems," he replied, keeping his voice calm even as he felt his stomach twist into knots. The possibility of loosing his hands and feet had been a real one, and it still worried him. His feet he could live without, but his hands were his life.

McCoy rose an eyebrow. "Really?" he asked, scowling slightly. "What makes you think that?"

The Vulcan blinked up at the Doctor as the Captain's thumb began rubbing gently over the soft skin on the inside of his arm. "Because, Doctor, if I was going to die, I would have done so already," he rasped, looking over at the hand that was stroking gently over his arm. He felt something slip through his barriers the weaker they became. The Captain's blue eyes blazed down into his own, willing him to get better by sheer force of will.

"Well," the doctor replied, hooking an IV up to the man. "You may not have died, but you will get some more sleep." With that, the sothern man slapped a hypo against his neck and he felt his grasp on reality slide away.

Spock eased his way around the hovering Captain and into his quarters. He'd spent a week in the medical bay before the doctor had released him with strict orders to stay in bed. With an internal sigh of frustration at his weakened state, he walked slowly over to the couch that sat in the middle of his spartan room and looked back at the sandy haired man that had fussed over him the entire way back here.

"Captain, I assure you that I'm not going to drop dead," the Vulcan said dryly, adjusting himself in his seat so that he could ease the ache that was coming from his bruised ribs.

The man shifted nervously a few feet away from the couch, moving from foot to foot. "Just making sure," he said. "Is there anything that I can get for you? A book, holo-movie, anything?"

Shaking his head, the Vulcan looked away from the human man. "Captain, I never got the chance to thank you for what you did on the shuttle," he said, uncomfortable with the knowledge that he'd had to rely on the sandy-haired man for assistance.

With a shrug, the Captain gave his first officer a cocky grin. "It wasn't anything big. If you kicked off, I'd have to find and break in another first officer," he replied nonchalantly, reaching out and gently cuffing Spock's shoulder.

When his hand came into contact with the Vulcan's cloth covered shoulder, the ebony haired man blinked over at his commanding officer. "Captain," he began, stopping when he saw the look in the man's eyes. For some reason, he held his tongue.

"I'll be back later to check on you later," the Captain said, standing and heading for the door. "Don't be afraid to give me a hollar if you need something."

Spock nodded, and when the man left his room, he let his head thump back against the cushions of the couch. He took a deep breath, forcing his ribs to expand even though they didn't want to. The pain distracted him, taking his mind away from the discussion that he knew that he was going to have to have with the sandy-haired man.

The Vulcan sighed, feeling the very faint brush of emotions against his mind that weren't his own. They were the Captain's.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Thank you to everyone who put my story on their alerts or reviewed! I love reviews, they help to let me know that real people are reading this, so push the button, good, bad or indifferent, and let me know what you think. =P

On a separate note, I am looking for someone to Beta this story for me. If you're interested, PM me and let me know. :) Thanks!

Lee