"I'm really bad at this," Jayme sighed.
"You are just a beginner. As with all things, it will take time," Spock pointed out.
"I don't know how I haven't given you a migraine already," she chuckled.
"I do not get migraines," he reminded her. She couldn't argue with that, she's only ever seen him get sick once.
"I know, it's just… I think maybe I should try something else. Or stay away from music all together because I'm making myself cringe," Jayme said, ka'athyra in hand. Spock always made it look so damn easy but she was finding that playing it was next to impossible.
"It is not impossible, Jim. Difficult but not impossible."
"Says the man who does everything perfectly. You play a bunch of instruments and I can't even manage one."
"I am not perfect."
"I didn't say you were perfect. I said everything you do is perfect."
"You are aware of the inaccuracy of that statement," Spock said, taking the instrument from her hands and setting it next to them on the couch before pulling her back against his chest.
"Yea, yea, I know. How long did it take for Sarek to teach you?" she asked.
"Four years, nine months, one week, two days, three hours and twenty-seven minutes. He is, and will logically remain, more proficient than I. With practice, you will become proficient also," he said. Before she could say something dumb, he kept going. "I am curious as to why you never asked my father to teach you how to play."
"Because you promised," Jayme shrugged.
"During the return trip from Tarsus Four," Spock said.
"Yep. And I gotta hold you to your word, even if my attempts at playing the lute sound like a bunch of screeching cats."
"I would not say 'screeching cats.' Perhaps 'angry sehlats' would be more appropriate."
Jayme laughed and turned in his arms so that she was sitting on his lap, "I don't think you could handle an angry sehlat."
"It has been nine years, four months, three weeks, two days and forty-two minutes since I last consumed my mother's variation of meatloaf."
"Is that so?" Jayme smiled at her husband as she ran a towel through her damp hair.
"Indeed it is," Spock said with a small smile. "I was not aware that you knew the recipe."
"I know a lot of things, t'nash-veh ashaya," she chuckled.
Meatloaf was actually a very inaccurate term for the dish since there was absolutely no meat of any kind in it whatsoever. Amanda had insisted on the name, so that's what all the kids called the mix of both Terran and Vulcan vegetables, chickpeas, breadcrumbs, spices and a few other things that Jayme didn't dare think about because Amanda had sworn her to secrecy. Jayme had managed to get the ingredients for it before she headed to the house in Riverside. Spock's timing was perfect since dinner was almost done.
"Then you are aware that I am quite fond of your choice for evening substance," he said as he stepped closer to her, his hands behind his back.
"You don't say," Jayme smiled before she gave Spock a look. "Whatcha hiding?" The way he was standing wasn't odd, for him, but she could feel his anticipation in the back of her mind.
"It is a gift."
"For me?"
"Yes, it is for you, just as the gift you hid in my closet is for me. Illogical as the location may have been."
"I knew you wouldn't look," she chuckled. "Though, I probably should've hid it here or at my place. I wasn't thinking anything beyond the fact that I didn't wanna walk around with it."
"Logically," Spock said.
"Can I ask you something?" Jayme asked before she chuckled, realizing what she said. "Of course I can. Why'd you get me a gift? I mean, I'm Human and celebrating stuff like wedding anniversaries is kinda normal for me but Vulcans don't celebrate anything other than a handful of holidays."
"A fact with which you have always found great annoyance," he teased as he handed over the book in his hands. "We have been bonded for one year, two days, seventeen hours and two minutes. I find to be an occasion worth acknowledgement. Happy anniversary, Jim."
Jayme's eyes widened as she read the spine of the -obviously- old hard-copy, "Oh, my God. This is a first edition of Salt-Water Poems and Ballads by John Masefield. 'I must go down to the seas again, to the lonely sea and the sky, and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by, and the wheel's kick and the wind's song and the white sail's shaking, and a grey mist on the sea's face and a grey dawn breaking.' I don't even wanna know where you got this."
"I am pleased that you like it."
"I more than like it. It's… It's perfect," she pressed a soft kiss against his lips. "Thank you."
"You are quite welcome," Spock said with an actual smile.
"I think mine might be inadequate, now," she chuckled as she grabbed his gift out of her bag and handed it to him. "Happy anniversary."
She didn't wrap it for the same reason he didn't wrap hers; Spock would find the waste of materials to be illogical. In this case, even more so since the small, polished wooden box didn't reveal what was inside. Spock's eyes flickered to meet hers after he opened it, "Where did you acquire genuine relen theris-masu?"
"I might've called in a favor or two," Jayme smiled. Spock has always had a particular fondness for relen tea, which was next to impossible to get your hands on while on Earth. "You like it?"
"I do," he said. "Which leads to my dilemma."
"Oh?"
"Dinner is almost ready but I find that there is something much more important that I must do."
"What could that be?" she asked with a smile.
"Express my appreciation for such a gift."
"Oooo. Dilemmas, dilemmas. Would you like my opinion, Lord Spock?"
"By all means."
"We can always heat dinner up later," Jayme smirked.
Spock took the book out of her hands and sat both gifts on the table near the bed. "That is a wise suggestion."
"What are you doing in here?" Spock asked as he climbed up into the attic where she was.
"Looking," she smiled. Her parents' stuff had been in storage for as long as she could remember. She always intended on looking through it but life got in the way. They only had the weekend in Riverside, so she'd probably only manage a few boxes but it was better than nothing.
"These belongs are at minimum twenty-four years and three months old," Spock surmised.
"Some of it is older than that," Jayme said, her finger activating a holo of her dad when he was a kid. "Remind you of anyone?"
"You take after your father a great deal," he said as he sat on the floor next to her. They watched as the holographic representation of her dad when he was about eleven or twelve as he ran after a soccer ball.
"So, do you."
"This is a conversation I do not wish to have."
"I know but you gave me the opening, so I gotta take it. How long are you two gonna pretend to hate each other?"
"We…"
"Pretend. He does the indifferent thing that he does and you act like he doesn't. In the meantime, you both use me and you mother as intermediaries," she cut him off. "He's your dad and you just want him to be okay with the choices that you make. You always have. Hell, he's your dad and I want him to be happy with my choices too. Though, he wasn't nearly as miffed about me joining Starfleet as he was about you."
"Your parents were Starfleet heroes, despite your many denials to the contrary, you were destined for the fleet," Spock told her.
"You don't think you were?" Jayme asked. The question was rhetorical and he knew it. "You thought you didn't have a place in the universe. If the last decade has taught you anything, I hope it's that you do belong."
"It is not what my father wanted."
"I know but I don't think that should matter. I mean, I'd give just about anything to meet my dad. Before you tell me it's illogical, I know. I think that you and Sarek should at least try to talk to each other. I would never wish any harm on any of the fam but you know just how quickly the tide can change. If something happened to one of you tomorrow, you don't wanna leave things unsaid."
"Was that your thought on the Farragut?"
"Not really. If I had gone down on that cruise before we reconnected, it probably would've been. I love you and you know it. Hell, that was one of the only things I was absolutely sure about when I thought I was a goner."
"You thought no such thing," he said, amusement lacing his tone.
"I did… for like a millisecond," she chuckled. "I'm too stubborn to just roll over and die."
"No, no, no," Jayme groaned.
"Reset," Lieutenant Wen ordered.
"Wait," Jayme said from the command chair of the USS Horizon simulator, the current bridge setup for the Kobayashi Maru. "Helm, bring us about. Thirty degree down angle, port side."
"What are you doing, Kirk?" Wen asked.
"I'm trying something," Jayme said with a shrug. "Comms, hail the lead ship."
It really was no use; the Klingons were kicking her ass but she had to try… again. This was her second run through the scenario. She found a loophole her first time through, one her husband fixed with a quick code rewrite the same day. Now, she was attempting to test the Klingons themselves. There was some virtual intelligence where her opponents were concerned, so she figured she could try talking to them. If it worked, it worked. If it doesn't, then that was okay too.
"Let it go, Kirk. It's late," Wen sighed. "We can reset and try again another day."
"That would be best," Spock agreed. Jayme gave him a look as he directed a thought to her. 'You have a test in nine hours and three minutes.'
"Understood, sirs," Jayme sighed. "I can try it again in a couple days."
"You are all dismissed," Spock told the cadets and officers working on the scenario. 'That includes you.'
'I know I can beat this thing,' she thought back.
'It is not meant to be beaten,' he reminded her.
'Like that'll stop me. I do all kinds of things I shouldn't do.' Jayme grabbed her bag. 'Are you coming home tonight?'
'Yes,' Spock thought, his eyes meeting hers for a fraction of a second while he carried on a conversation with Wen. Jayme was jealous as hell. She would kill for his power of super multi-tasking. Even though she was well aware that it was because his brain was more complex than hers, it didn't stop her from wishing that she could organize the million and one thoughts running through her mind like he did. 'It is not without practice.'
'I doubt I have that kind of patience,' she thought as she headed out with the others.
'You do. You just believe that you do not.'
'You brilliant man, you. I think I might have a new idea for your test.'
ka'athyra - Vulcan lute
t'nash-veh ashaya - my love
relen theris-masu - relen tea (Vulcan style) It's a tea that Spock liked in one of the novels.
The quote Jayme says off the top of her head is the first stanza of Masefield's Sea-Fever, originally published in 1902. The second line has been quoted by TOS Jim, more than once, and a few other main characters in later Trek shows.