A/N: All those people who ventured guesses, don't be mad a me for it not being what you thought it was. And remember, just because that's not what happened now, doesn't mean that won't happen later. Have a wonderful day, and thanks for reading!
"I can only see things that you carry inside you no matter the road you travel. I see that you are blindingly loyal, that you believe fear has no place in you, that you are sure you can do anything if you genuinely try, and that if you had been born in a different galaxy, on a world with no warp capabilities, you still would have found your way to Spock."
Jim grinned like T'Yai had just given him the best news ever, and he shuffled back to lean against the window behind him. "You take comfort in my assertion that you are intended to remain beside Spock," she stated as fact, though they both knew it was really a question about ever-confusing human behavior.
"Of course."
"You have known Spock for barely more than a day."
"Hey, a day is a really long time when you're my age."
Her eyebrow twitched up, "Indeed."
JIm just smirked in reply, "So, did you find what Sarek told you to look for?"
"The Ambassador did not inform me concerning the specifics of his suspicion so there could be no allegations that he colored my preceptions of you, but yes, I believe I discovered what he intended to share with me."
"And what's that?"
T'Yai paused and watched him for a long moment before answering, "You are very young. Moreso because you are human and have no training in the Vulcan disciplines."
Jim rolled his eyes, "Spock's going to teach me to meditate! And Sarek said I'd learn even more if the thing was what he thought it was. And since it is, I won't be untrained for long. So, you can tell me."
"That was an admirable attempt at logic, though a flawed, human approach to it."
Jim slumped in frustration and moaned, "Can't you just tell me?"
"If that is what you truly wish, then you and I can speak of this in private. However, your Captain Pike is very upset that he cannot locate you, and he is making his displeasure known. He seeks to stand with you, to protect you, and if we are to proceed without him I would have you be sure that you are sincere in your desire to exclude him."
Jim flushed and replied, "You do a very good job at that whole 'disappointed mom' thing."
She tipped her head in agreement and Jim shuffled out of the room to get Spock and the others. (She'd told him to get Chris, but she had to know that Spock's opinion was the only one that really mattered, and everyone else was just icing.)
Jim slipped back into the room where he'd left everyone and found Chris tucked in at a table beside Amanda, trying to not like like he despised the tea she was making him drink to calm him down. Pike looked up as the door snicked shut behind Jim and he looked ready to shout, but Amanda rested a calming hand on his arm and Chris pulled back. Jim glanced over at Spock and Sarek, who were both sitting on a bench on the other side of the room, their heads cocked to the side as though they were dissecting the situation, trying to understand what strange things the humans were doing now.
"James," Pike stared, sounding terribly unsure of himself, "We need to talk."
Jim quirked an eyebrow and plopped down on the far side of the table. "First off, I'm Jim. Calling me James isn't a good way to start this conversation. Second, you can't freak out when people want to talk to me, especially when it's people Sarek and Amanda are cool with. Third, I have whatever it is Sarek thought I had, and Healer T'Yai wants to tell me about it, but she wants you to be there. So, are you gonna come and be cool about this, or am I doing this alone?" Jim put on his pained and lonely face, which was enough to damped any offense Chris might have taken.
Pike gave a long, slow, smile and got this faraway look in his eyes, like his mind was on a long ago memory. "Yeah kid, I'll be cool. Though I'd appreciate it if you didn't say that you've 'caught' somehing. Makes it sound like you've got the damn plague."
Jim laughed and bounded out of his chair while he said, "Hey, for all I know I might." Jim paused by the door and stared at the family still sitting behind him. "Are you coming?"
Sarek twitched an eyebrow, "Did you intend for us to join you?"
Jim rolled his eyes, "Of course. I won't understand what she's talking about without you. And, well..." Jim blushed, "she said I should be with people I trust , and that's you three."
Amanda gave a glowing smile and replied, "We are honored."
Jim pushed Chris along to the room where T'Yai was waiting and paused to laugh when Chris flushed at his first sight of the stunning, blonde Vulcan. He let the grownups settle wherever they wanted around the room, but grasped Spock's sleeve and pulled him to sit beside Jim and directly before T'Yai. "We're all here, now lemme have it."
T'Yai was silent for a moment, her gaze flicking back and forth between Spock and Jim, ardently studying the empty space between them. Then she pronounced, "James is a svitan-nel-dath."
Amanda gasped and Spock stiffened beside him at the words, causing Jim to twist around and demand of Spock, "I'm not gonna die, am I?"
"Quite the opposite." T'Yai interrupted, heading Jim off before he had the chance to get himself worked up. "It is not an ailment, or a defect, it is a gift."
Jim stared at her in disbelief, like nothing in the world could possibly be good if it made Spock so tense. Jim clasped Spock's hand, trying to draw some strength from him and silently seek an explanation, but Spock slipped his hand away from Jim's almost the moment he reached out. Jim thought Spock was just being stubborn and Vulcan at him, refusing to be touched in front of someone new, but Spock's expression was closed off. And not in the usual way where Jim could see everything playing under the surface anyway, but this time, Spock had truly shut him out.
Jim flexed his hand in the empty air beside him, then pulled back and dropped his hand in his lap, baffled and a little battered that Spock would refuse him. Jim shoved the pain into a corner in the back of his mind and turned to T'Yai with a cocky grin and afearless glint in his eyes. "So, what's this blessing about?"
The whole room had seen Spock take his hand back, and the small part of Jim willing to acknowledge it was grateful that everyone pretended they hadn't. "There is a pattern to all things, a design created by the universe as it moves forward. However, the pattern is undefined. It goes forward in no set way, responding to the choices each of us make and weaving accordingly, taking into account our free will. But there are events that must happen to continue that pattern, to prevent the end of it. Vulcans believe that Surak's conversion to logic was one of these events."
The color drained from Jim's face at this pronouncement and he groaned out, "And, am I one of those... events?"
"No, James. A person alone is never a fixed point necessary for the continuance, but a person may be involved in the events that must occur. That involvement can make an individual's existence necessary. That is how you are svitan-nel-dath. There is a purpose decreed for you, some end you are meant to fulfill that will preserve us all. You will be guided and protected until you accomplish the task set aside for you."
"But what does that mean?"
"Practically, that you will be considered extremely lucky, when in truth it will be much more. The laws of reality already bend around you, seeing you safety through to the other side of problems that would destroy others. Already you put yourself into situations where logic dictates that you should not survive, and yet you triumph."
"What sort-" Jim interjected, taking offense, but a snort from Pike interrupted him. "You hopped a seedy transport from a unsecured port in Iowa and roamed around San Francisco unescorted. That sort of situation." Jim smirked at Pike, fully aware from his tone that 'situation' meant something far worse (and laced with curse words).
"Hey, I'm fine, aren't I?" Jim replied snarkily.
"Just 'cause you live through something doesn't mean it wasn't a stupid plan."
T'Yai quirked an eyebrow at them and turned to Sarek to ask, "Is it typical of humans to avoid discussing matters of import by focusing on trivialities?"
"Come on, you just told the kid he's essential to the galaxy's continued survival, give him some time to freak out!" PIke snapped.
"Perhaps," Spock interjected, "it would be beneficial for James to have some time to himself. An opportunity to process this development."
Jim knew Spock's statement for the dismissal it was and nodded in pretend agreement. Jim's lip quivered for the barest of moments while he stared at Spock's profile, willing the Vulcan to just turn and look him. When Spock refused to acknowledge his stared, Jim bit down on his quivering tell and bounded to his feet.
"Good plan, Spock." Jim said, and refrained from slapping him on the back like he would've before. Jim turned to Sarek and Amanda and said, "Thanks so much for looking after me, it's been great spending time with all of you. I really appreciate it." Jim nodded his thanks, keeping his gaze averted from either of Spock's parents, wanting to be out of the Embassy before Amanda tried to hug him and Jim started to cry. Spock was just sitting there, refusing to even look up and make eye contact with Jim, and it was killing him.
Jim broke off his nods and stumbled from of the room, with PIke trying to put a comforting hand on his shoulder. Jim shrugged it off and tried not to think about what it meant that T'Yai was the one leading them to the exit rather than Sarek or Amanda. Something inside Jim ached at the thought that for no reason at all Spock had washed his hands of Jim, taking his parents with him.
Back in the room Amanda thunked down on the sofa across from Spock and glared at her son, who refused to look away from the wall he'd been focused on since T'Yai made her announcement. "I trust you have an explanation?"
"Explanation for what, Mother?"
Amanda pursed her lips, not entirely sure what to do with a intractable Spock, since for her he'd always been an agreeable child. "Why you shut down on Jim after we found out something that is sure to terrify him."
"I am a Vulcan, Mother. I am supposed to be 'shut down' at all times."
"You're deliberately evading the question."
"On the contrary-"
"Don't sass me, young man. Tell me why you just sent James out of here without you."
"It is only logical to allow James to take an opportunity to come to terms with his reality."
"You know, you can't just call something logical when you want to avoid talking about it."
"I do not wish to discuss the matter!" Spock snapped.
Sarek gently sat down beside him and placed a guiding hand on the back of Spock's neck. Together they drew several deep breaths, Sarek pulling his son along with him into a balanced state, one where he would not be ruled by the emotions that so plagued him today.
"He is svitan-nel-dath." Spock paused, and both his parents let the silence linger, giving him the chance to collect his words. "He is... special. Now that T'Yai is aware of this, it is her responsibility to report this matter to the High Council, and she will undoubtedly share her findings with her collegues. From there the knowledge will spread."
Sarek ran his hand lightly over the back of Spock's head, almost a reward for sharing his thoughts, and it was enough encouragement for him to continue. "I am... displeased. If we had not com across James until he was fully grown, he would have had some manner of mental shielding in place, and no one would ever know his path."
"Would you have preferred this, Spock?" Amanda gently asked.
Spock fought the urge to slump his shoulders and whispered, "I find that I would greatly prefer it."
"Why?"
"I had hoped that I might be allowed to, to keep James. I have no desire to part from him. But if he is svitan-nel-dath, then that will be required. It is illogical to maintain a friendship I know will be terminated shortly."
"You believe that James will allow himself to be dictated to in such a manner?" Sarek questioned.
Spock leaned back against Sarek's hand, still running gentle, calming fingertips across the back of his neck. "He is special. The universe will give him what he needs to succeed."
"And you believe that you were only needed to see James safety to Christopher Pike, and that you are no longer necessary to his path."
"Indeed." Spock whispered.
"Come," Sarek insisted, "we will meditate together and decide how best to handle this situation."
Sarek looked down at Spock to see a sheen of unshed tears clouding his son's soft eyes and finished, "We shall concern ourselves with the theory that perhaps what is necessary to James' path, and what is necessary to James, are not the same thing, and over one, he has a choice."
