Jim woke the next morning with a headache and a dry throat. Groaning as he rolled over, he slowly opened his eyes. He wasn't surprised to find his brother sitting in a chair beside his bed, a scowl on his face. "I don't wanna talk about it Sammy." Jim turned his back to his brother, trying to ignore the return of his of anger. It hurt to think about last nights events with Spock but he wasn't going to sit in bed and mope about it. Sighing, Jim turned back over and frowned at the silent face of his brother. "Spit it out Sam, what's on your mind?"
"How long has it been going on." Sam asked softly, he held a cup of coffee in his hands, glancing at the full, steaming mug on the nightstand next to the bed.
"Since before we left California." Jim didn't ask with who or how he found out. Last night's reaction had been enough for everyone. Reaching for the cup of coffee, Jim blew across the surface of the steaming liquid and took a deep breath, groaning. "You made this first batch."
Sam frowned. "Yes and don't try to change the subject. Whether you want to talk about it or not you have no other choice."
Jim looked up from his mug to Sam's face. "I do have a choice and if I don't want to talk about it I don't have to." Jim took a sip of his coffee, his blue gaze daring his brother to say different.
"No, the fuck you don't, Jim, not this time. We can't afford to not be open or honest with each other. Not this time, I can see you love him but fuck, Jim, he's engaged! How in the hell did you not..." Sam's voice had risen with his anger.
"He never told me Sam! He never fucking said a word to me about it so how was I supposed to know!" Jim yelled back, he glared at Sam. "Do you really think I would have done anything if I'd known? Liana knew and you're not yelling at her, so why the fuck are you so goddamn mad at me?!" Jim yelled, his anger had finally reached its boiling point. He'd been beating himself up for the mess he'd gotten himself into and didn't need his brother adding to it.
"She's pregnant and I've already talked to her. She said she couldn't tell me anything until I've talked to you." Sam glared at his brother as he moved from the bed to the closet. "Jim, for god's sake would you just talk to me! Again, I know you love him, I can see it when you look at him but what happened? How did you not know?" Sam followed Jim, stopping in the doorway as he watched his brother move around the space in agitation.
"It never came up in conversation, Sam. I mean, yeah we, uh, we talked a lot but that wasn't something that came up. Trust me, if I had known about his fiancee I'd never have let things get as far as they did." Jim sorted through his clothes then stopped. "Wait, what do you mean by Lia's pregnant? Who told you that and how the hell do I not know?"
"You've been so busy in your own little world that you've missed a lot of things. I know though because I remember how Aure looked when she was pregnant. It's not hard to put two and two together. Plus she is practically glowing." Sam grinned.
Jim frowned, sure Liana or Bones would have mentioned something to him about this. Something this big was something that they would want to share if it didn't overshadow... "They didn't tell me because I was busy with Spock."
"Liana said you were happy and they wanted it to remain that way. They would have told you eventually but now wasn't the time." Sam looked at Jim closely. "What's going on Jimmy?"
"I fell for him, Sam and I fell hard. This isn't like with Gary, I mean the excitement is there but there's something else. Some type of connection between us. I-I can talk to him about anything, Sam, anything and he doesn't judge me. Just asks me questions and what would I have done differently. I didn't realize..." Jim sat down on the floor. "They are two of my best friends, this isn't something they should have had to hide from me."
"Well, in all honesty, they weren't hiding it. Len doesn't know I know and Liana hasn't really told anyone." Sam flushed under his brother's knowing gaze.
"So, I know before anyone else, well other than you?" Jim grinned, a plan forming in his head.
Sam looked at Jim, wondering what was going through his head. "Uh, as far as I know, yes. Why do you ask?"
"Baby shower. Lia deserves it and it would be a good thing, we can have it on Betazed or Vulcan, if they do that type of thing there." Jim nodded warming up to the idea.
"We could ask Nyota and Aure for help on what would be good. I'm sure they wouldn't mind but you know Len will be a hard sell. He doesn't like keeping things from Liana." Sam sighed.
Jim chuckled. "He will this, he'll do whatever it takes to make sure she is not stressed out or upset and I better than anyone else owe that to her, too. If Aure doesn't mind, I'll talk to Nyota and see what she says o-or I'll, uh, I'll have Scotty do it." Jim stammered, remembering that he wound have to deal with Spock in order to talk to Nyota.
Sam nodded, a smile on his face. "We could use some good news and fun right abo..."
Sam was cut off by the sound of someone knocking on the bedroom door. Turning to look at Jim, Sam quirked an eyebrow in question. "Expecting someone?"
Jim gave him a lazy shrug, "Nope, anyone looking for me would start downstairs in the kitchen."
Sam chuckled, "Ok, well let me go see who it is then. I'll be right back." Sam turned and headed to the front. Thinking about the plan Jim had just come up with. Looking through the peephole on the door, Sam frowned as he stepped back. "He's outside, Jimmy, do you want to talk to him or should I tell him to leave?" Sam looked from the door over to Jim, who had followed him from the bedroom. He was pissed at the fact that Spock had the nerve to show up at Jim's door after hurting him. "If you want me to tell him to leave..."
Jim remained silent, he didn't know if he could face Spock right now. His anger from last night, was to close to the surface to hear anything the other had to say. "No, I don't want to talk to him right now. He has nothing to say that I want to hear. He should be with his fiancee not with...h-he doesn't need to be here." Jim finished softly. The light mood from earlier disappearing with the weight of Spock's presence.
Sam nodded his head, watching as his brother disappeared back into his bedroom. Opening the door he stood face to face with Spock. "He said you shouldn't be here, you need to be with your fiancee."
Spock looked at Sam, the angry brown eyes glaring at him. He looked the elder Kirk over from head to toe. He knew Sam was protective of Jim, after all the meld's they've shared, that was one thing Spock knew, if nothing else. "I merely wished to ask after Jim's health."
Sam took a deep breath, trying to control his temper. He knew Jim was listening in the other room so he had to keep his tone light and his words short. "Spock, I honestly don't know how you feel about my brother or how well you know him. But if you knew anything about him, you would know this is eating him up inside. Right now, just...I don't know, let him sort through all of this and he'll come to you." Sam stepped back and closed the door gently, effectively cutting off any further conversation.
"He's jealous because he found me with Nero last night." Jim said softly from behind him.
Sam groaned, "Seriously, Jim, what the hell is it with you and brunette's? I swear, it's like you just can't get enough of them!" Sam threw up his hands with a small laugh.
Jim gave him a crooked grin. "Nothing to say about me and Nero?"
"No, if you wanted to do something with him, I wouldn't have been able to get in your room this morning." Sam sighed. "Jim, will you tell me what's going on with you and Spock now?"
Jim sighed as he padded barefoot to the kitchen. "Fine, but you may want to sit down cause it's still all kind of weird to me as well."
Sam nodded as he sat down at the small table. "As long as you're making oatmeal, you've got a deal."
Jim grinned as he started making breakfast, telling Sam about Spock, their bond, and how he really felt about the arrival of T'Pring.
