Spock wasn't sure what he'd been expecting when he first showed up to school on Monday. Of course he wasn't afraid of what would happen, since he was Vulcan, and Vulcans felt no fear. But he had to admit that there was a certain… unpleasantness at the thought that James Kirk might not be there because he had been further injured. Or perhaps he would be there, and would tell everyone that he had been to a teacher's home, which would be considered quite inappropriate if any of the other faculty were to hear about it.

But nothing out of the ordinary happened when Spock stepped through the doors and into the school building. There was no angry principal waiting to drag him to the office and fire him, and there were no crying students mourning the loss of a classmate. Not that Spock had truly believed that James Kirk would be dead- someone like James Kirk who was so much larger than life had to be impossible to kill- but it was still a relief to find out that that was not the case.

And then there was no big fanfare as the class with James Kirk began. James and Leonard came in with several minutes to spare, but it was obvious that James was busy with something, so Spock didn't bother to say anything to the teenager. And then at the end of class, James was out of there the second the bell rang. He moved surprisingly quickly for someone who had been so badly injured. Perhaps it was for the best, though, because Spock wasn't entirely sure of what he would say even if he did manage to catch up with James.

He kept a careful eye on James over the next several days, and was pleased to note that the boy seemed to be healing and getting better, and as far as Spock could tell, no additional injuries had appeared. He knew that with a rough home life, this peace was bound to be broken eventually. But if James was going to continue to refuse to speak out against his parents, then the most Spock could hope for was that times like these would stretch on for a while.

On Friday, Spock found himself slightly relaxed compared to how he had been the rest of the week, because James seemed to be recovering well, and all of his classes had been successful, and he'd found very few students had failed the test he'd administered on Wednesday. Despite the eventfulness of the weekend, the week itself had been fairly quiet, and Spock was glad for that.

That relaxation quickly went away when Spock checked his work email and found tragic news in the form of a forwarded article. A student from a nearby school, just a junior, had been found dead in the woods near his home, having had his head bashed in by a rock. The boy's parents remained tight-lipped about the matter, but during an interview, his distraught girlfriend had let it slip that Thomas Leighton had been one of the survivors of Tarsus. Spock had been keeping up with the news lately, and he could do the math. That meant that there were only three survivors left.

The name sounded familiar, and when Spock did a quick online search, he found that Leighton had received several awards for his work on synthetic food, and had even been invited to speak and present his ideas at a prestigious science exhibition despite the fact that he was just a few weeks away from turning seventeen years old. Spock wondered why his colleague had sent him the article about Leighton's death, though, since the boy was not, and had never been, a student of this school. A little further research, and Spock found something very strange. In Leighton's scientific report, there were three authors listed. Leighton himself, a science teacher from his school that he had been working with, and James Tiberius Kirk.

James Kirk did not show up for school that day.

,,,

A new week would hopefully bring with it a fresh start for everyone. Spock felt strangely tired. Vulcans didn't get tired, though, so it was probably something else he was feeling. Vulcans also didn't get ill, which ruled that possibility out. It was probably nothing important, just a general exhaustion that came with spending all weekend trying to get I-Chaya to understand why she was not allowed to run outside of the apartment everytime he opened the front door. It was strange, because she was normally so well behaved, and Spock didn't understand why she felt the sudden urge to run outside. It was the same thing that had happened the day James had found the missing kitten. She was certainly an odd creature.

Spock felt like he was dragging his feet through the doors of the school, but he was determined not to let on how strange he felt, because he didn't need anyone questioning his dedication to the Vulcan way.

After slogging his way through his free period, the bell rang and his first class filed in. It didn't escape Spock's attention that James was in class today, though he seemed quiet and subdued, and Leonard kept giving him worried looks. Spock couldn't help feeling a little concerned. It was hard enough for anyone non-Vulcan to accept the death of people they knew, let alone children. And then James was a child from a broken home on top of that. It was amazing that he was even coping well enough with the loss to come to school after just a few days.

Though once he started thinking about James and Leighton, Spock couldn't help feeling curious about how they had met. They had never attended the same school at any point in their lives. But they were both brilliant, and James seemed like the type of person who would want to help others out. Obviously Leighton had begun his project after returning from the tragedy of Tarsus, and had probably met James through some means related to their similar intellect. He knew that there were many message boards for like-minded individuals, since Spock himself participated in a couple of them.

After class, James didn't rush out of the room. He moved slowly, though it was hard to say for sure whether it was due to physical injuries, or because he was still recovering from the fact that someone he knew and worked with was dead, and had gotten that way through such brutal means.

Deciding on a whim to take the opportunity, Spock walked over to where James was still putting his notebook into his bag. "James. Might I speak with you?"

Leonard was still standing there as well, waiting for his friend, and there was a protective stance to the way he subtly moved to stand between Spock and James. "He's been excused from missing some classes, remember?"

Spock nodded once. "Of course." Then he focused back on James, who was staring at him with dull eyes. "I did not wish to discuss your absence, but rather what the cause of it was. I understand that-"

"You don't understand anything," James interrupted, speaking in a monotone voice that didn't suit the teenager at all. "Nobody understands. I just- I just have to go, okay?"

As it often did in between classes, the school intercom system switched on for an announcement, giving Spock more time to think of a proper response to James' words. "Don't forget to support the arts, people. The Karidian Company of Players is performing Macbeth in the auditorium at six o'clock tonight. There's still time to buy your tickets. Seven dollars for anyone who shows their school ID, ten dollars otherwise."

Spock could tell that Leonard was just as confused as him when James furrowed his eyebrows, and shook his head once. "You've got to be kidding me," he muttered to himself.

Leonard reached out to put a hand on one of James' shoulders. "Jim, buddy, I think that you should go home early, and get some rest. I know that you're stressed and upset, understandably so, and I don't think you should have to deal with school on top of everything else right now. Everyone will understand if you just need to take a break. Or you could go back to my place. I know that my dad is always happy to see you."

James shook his head stubbornly, and Spock couldn't help feeling grateful to see the usual fire return to James' eyes. "No way, Bones. This is too important."

"What is?"

James arched one eyebrow. "How big a fan are you of Shakespeare?" Leonard looked clearly confused by the question, and Spock couldn't help silently sharing the sentiment. James rolled his eyes before continuing to speak, sounding more and more like himself as he went on. "We need to go to that play tonight, Bones. You don't understand, but we have to go. I'll even pay for your ticket."

Leonard looked concerned, and neither of the boys seemed to remember that Spock was still standing right there. "Seriously, what's up with you? I get why you're upset about Tom, but I don't get why you suddenly want to go watch some crappy rendition of Macbeth. You know that they'll probably butcher the entire thing. That's what modern interpretationists always do."

James snorted. "I didn't realize that you were such a fine arts critic. In that case, it's even more imperative that I have you by my side."

Leonard narrowed his eyes. "I'll consider going to the stupid play with you if you tell me why the hell you feel such an urgent need to go."

James sighed, and then his eyes flicked over to Spock. He blinked a few times, looking vaguely surprised, and then he grabbed Leonard's arm to drag him out of the classroom. "We need to get to our next classes, but I'll tell you after school, okay?" and then they were both gone, and Spock was left to wonder what had just happened.

He knew that it would be wrong to stalk a student, and that's not what he really wanted to do, but he did want to make sure that James was okay, and he'd never heard a high schooler sound so passionate about attending a Shakespeare play. Spock had been planning on attending the play anyways, since his mother had always insisted on teaching him classic literature until he learned to love it, and would now simply take advantage of the fact that it would also give him a chance to try and keep an eye on James.

The rest of the school day passed by quickly enough, and Spock had gotten enough work done during his free period that he figured he could afford to head home and spend a little bit of time with I-Chaya before coming back for the play.

By the time he got back, around five forty-five, there was already a decently long line outside of the auditorium. Spock always liked to be prepared, and had purchased his ticket several days ago when it had first been announced that the play would be performed in the comfort of their own school. He went right up to the doors and handed over his ticket. In exchange, he was given a playbill, and he headed inside to sit down part way through a row in the middle of the audience.

Spock looked around, but didn't spot James or Leonard, and assumed that James' plans had sounded last minute, and that they would probably have to wait in line to buy a ticket before they could get in. It was possible that the tickets would run out before the boys could buy them, but hopefully that wouldn't be the case, since James had sounded pretty desperate to watch this play.

At exactly six o'clock, the lights in the large room dimmed, and the curtain on the stage rose up. Without any introduction or further ado, the players launched right into the first lines of the play. Spock personally agreed with Leonard's assessment that the play would be butchered by the modern interpretation. The three witches were goth girls with many piercings and strangely dyed hair, several characters rode skateboards across the stage, someone gave an entire soliloquy about the sandwich shop Subway, and the ghost was not a ghost, but the result of a drug trip. Overall, it was a very bizarre version of Macbeth, despite the decent quality of the acting, and Spock wondered if James had gotten what he wanted out of the production.

When the play was over, Spock decided to stick around and wait until everyone else had gone so that he wouldn't be fighting and pushing his way out of the auditorium. As he waited, he kept some of his attention on the stage, and he noticed James walking up onto the stage by himself, heading directly to the actress who played Lady Macbeth. The woman was clearly older than James, most likely somewhere in her early twenties, but she seemed flattered by whatever James had just said.

Spock frowned, and hoped that she wasn't going to try anything inappropriate. While he was normally content to allow students to express themselves and their feelings without getting involved, he would have to draw the line at a grown woman getting together with a minor. He started to walk towards the stage, but someone rushing to leave jostled past, and by the time Spock focused back on the stage, James was already gone while the actress remained on the stage. He felt himself relax at the thought that the two had not gone off together.

Eventually the way out of the auditorium was clear, and Spock left without trying to speak with any of the players. He decided to head directly home, since there were still many people crowding through the school hallways as they mingled and discussed what they had just watched.

Once he was safe and back in his apartment, he carefully explained to I-Chaya exactly why the play could not truly be considered a success. While the cat no doubt had little interest in the subject, she stayed and listened to everything Spock said, because she was a polite little thing like that.

It was too late to call his mother, but he made a point to do so tomorrow so that he could tell her the fate of one of her favorite Shakespeare plays. Then he poured out some food for I-Chaya, and got himself ready for bed. He was still curious to know why James had been so suddenly interested in attending the play, but decided that it was a mystery he could solve tomorrow, after he'd gotten some rest.