"Then how do you explain your early career in Starfleet? The competition, the pressure you put on yourself?"

Jim shrugged. "Then I was fighting my own inner demons. I had to be the best of everything, because people were counting on me. I nearly gave up a bunch of times but I was talking to Solion and he would always talk me off the ledge and I'd give it another shot." He reached over. "And then there was you."

Spock took his hand gently. "Ashayam, I am so thankful we are together. You were indeed what you promised to be, my soft place to fall." He placed a Vulcan kiss in Jim's palm.

"And you've been my rock through everything." There was a gagging noise from behind them and Jim laughed. "Keep thinking that, kiddo. One of these days you're going to understand, I swear to you."

The truck was quiet for a long while and Jim focused on the driving. He was honestly … dare he say it? … bored with driving, but he would keep at it. Spock had his eyes closed and was probably meditating to keep himself sharp for when he took over. He really ought to sleep, but he wouldn't. Jim knew Spock still clung to his pride in the fact that he could go days without sleep simply because he was a Vulcan. Of course, the one time Spock had tried to prove the point, on the ship seven years ago, he had succeeded only in making himself hallucinate and making Jim drug him on the sly in the end. Ahh, Rashcela. That had been a fun mission.

"You will not have to medicate me again, t'hy'la. I assure you I will sleep when we arrive in San Francisco." Spock opened his eyes and looked over.

"Well, I worry. I know you can go forty-eight hours with no problem but after that it gets hairy. You've got to remember, you're half-human, hon. You do have limits. And you were eavesdropping." Jim played with his ring over the steering column.

"I apologize, Jim. Your mind was rather strongly involved in that memory and it carried over in the bond. I did not intend to eavesdrop." Spock was quiet for a moment before continuing. "You are reminiscing over our time on the ship. Do you wish to discuss it out loud?"

Jim hummed. "Do you remember our first mission, the very first thing we did together?" Then he laughed. "God, I'm sorry babe. Rhetorical question. Of course you remember. What was your first impression during that little joyride?"

Spock shifted in his seat. "I believe the words that came to mind were 'cowboy diplomacy'. I was both shocked and pleased that your particular brand of statesmanship worked for the Euranks. I was uncertain how much of your prattle actually passed through the Universal Translator, however they appeared amused at the appropriate times, so I could have been mistaken."

"Oh come on, they loved the joke about the Smurfs! They thought it was Smurf-tastic!"

"Jim, very few humans know the Smurfs, much less an entirely isolated group of aliens. I believe they pretended to be amused in order to not anger you. The being you put in a sleeper hold could certainly attest to the fact that angering you has its consequences." Spock was still amazed. The expression on the Euranks' faces when Jim knocked out their belligerent leader was unforgettable. The negotiations went quietly and quickly after that, and a planet at war was tentatively reunited.

"Eh. He rushed me; he startled me and I didn't have time to go for my phaser, so I took him down the old-fashioned way. I'm just lucky it worked. I seem to recall finding out later that week that sleeper holds don't work on Vulcans." Jim and Spock had sparred for the first time that week, and Jim was treated to a rather gentle beat-down by a very powerful but forgiving Vulcan.

"I believe the expression says 'you held your own'. It was a learning experience for me as well to spar with a human outside of the Academy. I came to realize I would have to pull my punches and kicks at a much quicker rate, lest I damage the being we were attempting to restrain." Spock rubbed his knuckles at the memory.

"Hey, you didn't intend to knock out my tooth, and Bones put it back easy enough. I only had to wear the braces for a week." Jim ran his tongue over his eyetooth and smiled. "Besides, do you remember when I kicked you where I thought your kidneys were and I almost killed you?"

Spock nodded. "You were terrified, Jim, and I could not control my breathing well enough to reassure you. I was simply not expecting to take a blow to the heart. Had I been prepared it would not have been as traumatic."

"I didn't know that was where your heart was. I guess I skipped that day in xenobiology. I don't know, there was no excuse. Wait, are you telling me you could have taken that blow and still stood?"

Spock nodded. "If I am in conscious control of my biological functions, I can take any sudden blow and not be disabled by it. Did you not notice when we fought in subsequent missions that I was not as greatly affected by the battle?"

"Then what the heck happened the day we sparred?"

Spock folded his hands in his lap. "I believe I may have been distracted. Perhaps I was not as alert as I should have been."

"You trusted me," Jim inferred sadly. "I am so sorry."

Spock shook his head. "I, however, am not. It was that innate trust that brought me closer to you, both as your First Officer and as your friend. I felt I could trust you with my life, so I was more comfortable in my position on the ship. It was the friendship that brought me to become infatuated with you, and to seek assurance that my feelings could be returned."

"And you didn't know how I felt until I held your hand after the Devalla mission? But what about the birthday card, and the Plomeek soup I brought you when I thought you were sad, and all the times I touched you just to touch you? Couldn't you tell?" Jim was amazed at the fact that his husband missed all the signs Jim had so subtly given.

Spock gave a tiny shrug. "I was convinced I was deluding myself to believe you cared for me in the same way. Even after Devalla, I told myself you did not truly feel the same way, that you were being kind as a friend but not as anything else."

"Oh, babe, I am so sorry. I'm not that good at anything but blatant and in-your-face. I was trying to be suave, because I knew I couldn't be my usual crass self and win you over."

"Are you two going to talk about whether you knew you liked each other or not all day?" came a small, tired voice from behind them. Jim turned his head for a moment to glance at his son.

"Are we grossing you out?" Jim asked.

"No, I just think it's stupid that you didn't know you liked each other. I've heard you talk about it before and I've always thought it was stupid. You were all nice to each other and everything, even when you didn't have to be. What else could you have done, kissed each other?" David was probably cross because the trip was wearing on him; Jim forgave him for the moment.

We tried that, remember t'hy'la? Spock sent.

Don't remind me. I still haven't forgiven myself for that.

You have not forgiven yourself for me manipulating you into kissing me? Spock told him. Before there was a Jim and Spock, Jim had attempted to explain French kissing to Spock by personal demonstration. Jim had had a crush on Spock; Spock had a crush on Jim. Neither admitted it, even after a very pleasant liplock. But that was only two months before everything had taken a sharp turn for the better.

Jim laughed. "You've got a point," he conceded. Jim fell silent after that, staring out across the road as traffic thinned out from the city they had just passed. He rested one wrist against the controls and laid his fingertips on Spock's thigh. David slept again in the back seat.

An hour later, Jim looked at his watch and over at his mate. We gotta stop to eat eventually. I'm surprised David hasn't brought it up yet, Jim told Spock.

Are you certain you wish to wake him? Spock asked after a moment. He seems content to sleep for now.

He'll be up asking for food in another hour, I'm practically positive. Watch this. Jim turned his head. "Hey, David, wake up." David sat up slowly. "Are you hungry?"

"Yeah. Can we eat soon?"

"Sure. Let me find somewhere to stop. Help me look." Jim slowed the aircar and pulled into the far lane. They watched the signs that flew by for several miles until Jim saw something promising. "There we go. Easy access, plenty of food for everyone." They exited and Jim picked a restaurant at random.

"I gotta go to the bathroom," David complained.

"Well they have bathrooms too. Everybody out." They got out and Jim armed the alarm. David waited patiently for the adults before entering the building.