I know it's been a long time and I'm truly sorry, but I've been thinking about this story for awhile and I'd still like to finish it eventually. I'm not promising it anymore because it's been over a year since I've added anything to this, or written anything at all for that matter. I'm revisiting it today, though, and I have a few chapters to post. This one's short, but I'm adding 1o today as well. I hope y'all enjoy enough to refrain from throwing rotten tomatoes at my head.
The following morning played out much the same as most mornings tended to lately. McCoy would drag Jim out of bed, steer him into the shower, make him eat something and then shoot him up with a hypo. All things that Jim was grateful for usually, but this morning he just wanted to get out of the room and find the Ambassador.
"Can I go now?" Jim asked after McCoy injected him with the stimulant.
"Yeah, you can go," McCoy said, annoyed. "And you better take it easy, Jim! I'm not kidding. You find the Ambassador and the two of you find a nice quiet place to chat until he's ready to be beamed down, you got me?"
"Yeah, yeah," Jim said, waving his hand.
"Don't 'yeah, yeah' me, kid. You were exhausted yesterday and you hadn't even exerted yourself. Surely you don't want a repeat of that again today? Especially since you're insisting on working a shift later on."
"Had the whole day off yesterday, Bones. Gotta work sometime. Keep up appearances, ya know?"
"Yeah, I know. Just... don't push yourself too much, alright?"
"Okay, Bones," Jim said sincerely. "I promise I'll be good." He smiled at Bones before escaping out the door and headed towards the passenger quarters where the Ambassador had been assigned to stay. He cam to a halt outside the door when he heard the familiar voices of both Spock's inside.
"I do not understand how you can be so affectionate towards him after what he has done," Jim heard Spock say and he closed his eyes and willed his heartbeat to slow. He didn't want to listen to this, he knew that he shouldn't, but he couldn't make himself leave.
"You are allowing your emotions to keep you from seeing the whole picture," the elder Spock sighed and Jim's eyes flung open. Surely he wouldn't tell him?
"I have seen enough," Spock answered quietly.
"You have seen what you want to see. I suggest you try looking harder," the Ambassador said. "Tell me, does it make logical sense to you that he would end the relationship so abruptly?"
"Jim is probably the least logical human being that I have ever encountered. Trying to fathom the inner workings of his mind would be nearly impossible."
"That may be so, but he is very strongly led by his emotions, is he not?" Jim couldn't see them, but he was certain Spock had nodded his head. "Then I ask again, do his actions make logical sense to you?"
"No, they do not."
"Then is it not conceivable that there is a piece to this that you are missing?"
"If there is, it is not of my doing that I am ignorant of it. He is the one who is responsible for whatever situation he is in, not me. My query is how you can forgive him so quickly and completely for his actions."
"You are hurt, I understand that..."
"Feeling such emotion is illogical."
"Do not try to fool yourself. I am you. I know the range of emotion you are capable of, and I know you're capable of having your heart broken." The younger Spock lowered his head.
"I do not understand how he has just moved on. He told me he loved me. I was to understand that humans take those words quite seriously."
"They do," the Ambassador agreed.
"Then why has he..."
"It is part of the bigger picture that you are missing."
"And you will not enlighten me to the piece that I am missing? You will continue to, as humans say 'beat around the bush'?"
"I am sorry."
"Indeed. I believe we are done with this conversation," Spock said and Jim backed away from the door, flattening himself against the wall, just in time for Spock to stride through the doorway. He paused momentarily to glance at Jim, as though studying him, before briskly walking away.
"Jim," the elder Spock greeted as he walked out the door. "I trust you heard the conversation I had with my counterpart?"
"Yeah," Jim answered and they began walking down the hall towards the transporter room.
"There's nothing like eavesdropping to show you that the world outside your head is different from the world inside your head," Spock quoted and Jim rolled his eyes.
"He's going to be watching me now," Jim said.
"Good," Spock said plainly.
"What? I don't want him to be watching my every move and you've just guaranteed that he will be."
"I will not apologize for what I did. The two of you need each other and if you will not tell him, then I can only hope that he figures it out on his own." He paused for a moment. "He is not as ready to let you go as you had hoped."
"I know," Jim sighed.
"Your plan is not working."
"Apparently not."
"The logical thing to do would be to enlighten him to your situation."
"Even if I decided to tell him, I wouldn't know how to begin."
"You would figure a way." Jim sighed.
"'Oh, the tangled webs we weave when first we practice to deceive'," Jim quoted with a sigh.
Spock quirked an eyebrow at him. "Indeed."
