Chapter Twelve: A Safe Place
Jim regarded the men in charge of beaming down the party around him from the transporters with a tense frown. Their ship had cruised into Vulcan orbit only minutes before, the landing crew formally suited and ready to meet with a council of Vulcan fancy men to rid themselves of the secured and battered alien caught trying to trade with Orions. Jim spared the prisoner a glance, his lip curling in a sneer when their eyes met before he was tugged behind a scowling Uhura.
Damn it all, but the adrenaline coursing through him now had to be off the scale. He was practically bouncing with nerves. No disguise to hide behind and only a weary looking Chris Pike and a terrified looking communication's officer to vouch for him. What if they tried to lock him up? Tried to hide him away and sell him off to some old, decrepit…
He visibly recoiled, the steady fire he had named as nerves in his stomach coiling dangerously. What if some part of himself remembered this Godforsaken planet and the bad start he'd had here? What if his instincts went mad and forced him back to the ship like some wounded puppy? He edged closer to Uhura, his eyes flicking to lock for a moment with the Commander's. Spock's gaze was heated and fanned that fire in his stomach like nothing in the past twelve hours had. Jim swallowed past the lump in his throat. Maybe he should just stay on the ship.
"Jim, maybe you should stay here, on the Enterprise."
The blonde caught Pike's eye as the captain motioned for several security details to stand to attention once they left the ship, dark eyebrows drawing down in aggravation. Well hell, now he had to go.
"No, Captain, that's quite alright, thanks. You said yourself, no more secrets. Well, we can't keep that promise with the biggest secret hiding out here and besides, that damn madman who tried to buy me will tell the council all about it anyway. Might as well rip the bandaid off with one quick thug, as Bones would say."
Chris gave him a wry smile, his head shaking as he watched the kid straighten his spine and stare ahead, his eyes no longer on the Enterprise crew and her machines but focused instead on whatever errant thought was keeping him from turning tail and running. Jim was tense, it was obvious in the set of his shoulders and the way he kept lifting his hands to tuck wayward strands of blonde curls behind his pointed ears. Chris smiled. Even with the alien features unhidden, Jim was every bit the cheeky, playful brat who'd tormented his younger brother and called him Uncle Chris.
"Alright, kid. On we go." And with that, he raised his hand to signal their departure.
Jim stepped one booted foot on the rough red soil as he re-materialised, his breath drawing in one gulp to taste the arid air. He'd expected it to be dry and painful after so many years of living in the humidity of Earth, of adapting to the cooler temperature, the mild winds. He expected Vulcan to be as uncomfortable as it would to any human.
It was not.
The warmth from the sun hit him like a blanket of heat, taming the wildfire in his stomach and limbs and drawing a blissful sigh from his lips. It was as though he'd never been warm, never known that heat could exist like this and not be painful. He tilted his face upwards towards a cloudless blue sky, his eyes falling shut and his mouth open. The air was dry and wonderful, tasting of sand and static and drawing his mind away from the patter of other minds, focusing his thoughts to one simple realisation. Peace.
"Jim?"
He came back to himself swiftly, his cheeks flushed green as he snapped blue eyes open to glance at Uhura, before tearing his gaze away. It landed instead on Spock, the Vulcan's mouth parted briefly, his eyes softer now than Jim could remember ever seeing them before. Was this what Spock felt like? Was this warmth, this simple peace something any Vulcan would know? Was it the peace a human got from simply being surrounded by trees? He'd never felt the likes of it before. He opened his mouth to comment, his eyes locking with the taller Vulcan's. And he closed it once more. Nothing needed to be said. He offered the Commander a rue smile instead, his cheeks flushing once more with that heat he could compare to nothing he'd ever known, and he was almost certain that the Commander smiled back.
The Vulcan Capitol was a city unlike the ones Jim had known on Earth. It was immense, not in the amount of buildings but in their height and their strength. They stood as though nothing would ever knock them over, tall and proud as any Vulcan and surrounded by smaller housing, smaller estates. The streets were the sleek black of impacted and well-used natural stone, immaculate and hot even through the leather of his soft boots. He followed the crew as they moved onwards, towards a building made of glass and black marble, his pace slowing every so often behind the tense Uhura as something new caught his eye.
The people about paid them little mind, some raising their hand in greeting to Spock and to the Captain, their gazes avoiding anyone else's less they be drawn into the human dilemma that was small talk. It was not until Jim strayed too far back and ended up walking into some steel contraption he could only assume was a public bin that he even drew attention. He collided with the damn thing knee first, a gruff yelp leaving him as he bent to clutch the throbbing joint.
"Are you in need of assistance?"
"No," Jim waved a hand, his breath leaving him in a hiss as he straightened and shook out his leg, "No, I'm alright. My own damn fault." He glanced up at the stranger with a bright smile. "Thanks though."
The Vulcan before him was male, his stoic mask bleeding into undisguised shock as he caught sight of Jim for what he was. He was smaller than Spock, but taller than Jim nonetheless and his dark eyes were most definitely confused. "You are Vulcan."
"yeah," Jim huffed an embarrassed laugh, one hand rising to ruffle through his blonde hair as he tried to edge past the stranger, "I kinda knew that already though. If you don't mind…"
He turned to leave, only to have a strong hand grip his upper arm and turn him back around, the Vulcan's dark eyes now seemed oddly foreboding. "Where is your escort? It would be illogical to assume that you are alone." He leaned in far too closely for Jim's comfort, his nose an inch from the crook of the blonde's neck before he inhaled deeply. Something far too near a sigh of satisfaction left the stranger's lips.
"You are nearing your Time."
"My what? Have you lost it, man, let me go!" Jim growled as he tried to tug his limb free, only to succeed in dragging the stranger with him. The blonde grit his teeth. Friendly landing be damned, he wasn't about to be mauled be another man. He boot swung out in one swift kick, connecting sharply with the Vulcan's right knee and causing the man to release him.
"Stay away from me!" Jim spat out as he turned around to catch up with the team, only to collide face first with a blue shirt. He tensed to jerk away, only for that scent to hit him like a wave…
Oh… He knew that scent…
The blonde leaned into the soft material of the shirt, finding the strong expanse of muscle it covered and breathing in deeply. Spock.
Slender arms drew him away, away from that amazing smell and he whined as he was captured in Uhura's grip, her eyes scanning him as she dragged him further away from the stranger and from Spock. "Jim? Jim! Are you alright? Did he do anything? I didn't even realise you stopped walking, I'm so sorry."
Jim could barely spare her a glance as he listened to Spock snarl at the new Vulcan, something strange and primal and igniting to his senses. The taller Vulcan turned away swiftly, his dark brown eyes locking with Jim's briefly and a shiver coursing through the Commander's body, before he jerked his head at Uhura to keep walking.
"Well…" Uhura pushed Jim ahead of her this time, watching him shake his head as though trying to rid himself of some trance, "can't say you don't make things more interesting, Kirk."
Jim stood in a room filled with light and clear windows. Four men and a woman who had to be older than the ninety year old widow he had seen once in a blue moon in his hometown, stood only a narrow desk's width away, all seated though they looked as though they desired nothing more than to stand and inspect Jim for themselves.
"Fascinating."
The older woman said for the fifteenth time, her stern gaze trapped on the blonde's to the point where Jim had begun to avoid looking at her, his hands tapping against his thighs as he stared up at the tall, expansive ceiling.
"He behaves in a manner most befitting a human adolescent, though you claim he is of an age when Breeders leave their temple in search of a bond mate."
Jim snorted quietly at the statement. Not much of a search when they were guided from one prison to the next and told to lie down and look pretty. His gaze flickered down, catching that of the woman's again before he ran an agitated hand through his hair. He didn't want to be here damn it. They'd given the prisoner, they'd told the whole truth and nothing but the truth. As far as he was concerned it was done, dusted, polished to a shiny finish and goodbye.
It was these damned Vulcans who insisted of continuing the questions. Hell, weren't they the ones so hell bent on there being one answer and accepting that as fact. It's not like they could do anything. Pike had growled up such a storm when they'd mentioned enlisting him in a temple that the council had backed down immediately. They couldn't keep him here and they couldn't make him fall in love with someone else so it was pointless question after pointless question to quell their insatiable curiosity. Vulcan logic, his backside.
He caught sight of one of the older Vulcan's who was watching him closely, his brow furrowed. He looked almost familiar. Hadn't Jim seen that facial structure before? The blonde rubbed his hands against the coarse fabric of his trousers, distracting himself with the sparking sensation it caused within his limbs. He needed… needed… Something.
Oh wait. His eyes flew open, locking on the familiar Vulcan once more before he looked to Spock. The Commander looked his usual impeccable self, save for his eyes which seemed to be growing darker by the moment. Something clicked within him as he glanced back at the older man. He knew that face was familiar. This was the Vulcan Ambassador for Earth, the man that had married a human and created a scandal. Sarek, un-aged it seemed like since his profile had been updated in the files Jim had illegally retrieved from Starfleet all those years ago.
"Aren't you Spock's father?"
Silence filled the room, the question cutting off whatever discussion Pike and the woman had been having, though Jim's attention remained fixed on Sarek, his giddy bouncing settling down to utter stillness as he waited for an answer. Anyone else under that blue gaze might have been uncomfortable, but Sarek merely arched an eyebrow in that familiar insight to amusement.
"Indeed I am, mister Kirk."
"Good," Jim nodded, his subtle fidgeting beginning with a new burst of energy. "So you'll want to talk with your son then. We'll come with you, wouldn't do to have the Commander of the Enterprise wondering off alone we might need to take off at any time. So we're done here, then, right? Right."
And with that, Jim stood briskly from his chair and left the conference room, the door swinging shut behind him and the eyes of all inside following him until he had left.
"Fascinating."