AUTHORS NOTE

I'm sorry it took so long depression got the best of me and I almost deleted the whole thing. Also this is the last chapter before Jim and Spock meet and after that will be a time jump.

Jim

He wandered for a while unsure which way to go before he decided to sit and wait for someone to find him since for all he knew he could be heading even farther away from the house. He sat with his back up against a tree and just watched and listened to his surroundings hoping to either hear someone calling for him or see something interesting atleast. His back and neck felt weird kind of a mixture between itching stinging and burning. It was driving him crazy, but he tried to ignore it. Time passed slowly several times he got up to start walking again but he thought better of it each time, but as the forest became more shadowy as the sun set he started to get anxious. Each sound became more sinister when it came from the shadows, he couldn't just sit there anymore, he was restless and more than a little scared. He didn't know what all was in these woods. Going alone with no way to know how to get home was stupid and reckless. His walk turned into a run as something moving touched his leg.

He wasn't sure how long he had been running when he finally heard the yelling. Panicked voices shouted his name over and over. He laughed in relief feeling silly for being so scared and turned towards the sound and continued that way. When he finally found them the fear was all but gone, but in its place was pure exhaustion. His mom was in tears and his aunts just looked exasperated but relieved. As they walked to the house his mom started yelling

"James Tiberius Kirk What The Hell is Wrong With You? You're on an unfamiliar planet, with no supplies, communicator, or anyway to tell where the hell you are and you think it's a good idea to just take off in the woods alone without telling anyone? What if you had gotten hurt? No one would have had any idea how to find you. I swear I'm getting a tracking chip implanted in you. Oh my god how stupid can you be?"

"I told Kevin?" He tried knowing it would make no difference.

"Kevin is six." His aunt said obviously exasperated. "Also what your mother doesn't know and neither does Kevin since we don't want to scare him and he doesn't take off alone, is that there are several dangerous animals in these woods." That got his mom crying all over again. "Not to mention a few plants that even rubbing up against can cause serious rashes and sometimes even need medical attention." His eyes widened. "You need to learn to identify these things so you can avoid them."

"So would this be a bad time to tell you that my back and neck burns and itches like crazy?" His aunt sighed and went over to look at it.

"God damn it. We have to get him to the hospital. This is bad. "

His mom commed Chris and had him beam them to the hospital. His aunt explained to the nurse that he was having an extreme reaction to some kind of plant he couldn't pronounce. They took one look at his back and immediately set him up with a room. Is it really that bad? He started to panic a bit everyone was acting like this was an emergency not just some alien poison ivy. A male nurse came in in light blue scrubs with little tiny bones all over it to do his vitals and look at his back.

"You have a fever of 104.2. All your other vitals look fine, but your neck, shoulders and your lower back has the equivalent of third degree burns covering them. What did you do rub yourself against it? I haven't seen burns like that from that tree the entire time I've been here."

"I didn't know. I sat up against it. " He felt really tired and was having trouble staying away

"Hell of a tree to use as a backrest kid you're lucky you didn't fall asleep there. There wouldn't have been much of you left. These burns will take a while to heal we can use the dermal regenerator on some of it but most is going to have to heal the old fashioned way which means you need to rest. Your doctor will be here in a minute."

He reached out and grabbed his shirt. "Why aren't you my doctor?" the man smiled and freed himself from Jim's grip.

"I'm just an intern for now. Maybe I'll be your doctor someday kid." He ruffled Jim's hair and left the room, and Jim finally let himself fall asleep.

Amanda

"He will regain consciousness when he has healed from the breaking of the parental bond."

"It's been almost five days. Isn't their anything I can do?"

"A Vulcan child needs many bonds in their mind to be stable. Parents, siblings, extended family and typically their future bondmate all have bonds to the child. Due to the way he was raised he only had two bonds. His extended family either would not bond with him due to his mixed heritage or in the case of your family could not without outside intervention which they also refused. He also does not have a premarital bond. Now his only bond with another Vulcan has broken. He has your bond, but it is not enough. It will take time for his mind to heal and acclimate to having only one bond. He will not be stable. He may be more emotional than he was before or much less. He could also have episodes of both. The only thing you can do that will have any effect is to strengthen your bond with him which I can assist with and help him make more bonds when he wakes. I would suggest a premarital bond at the very least and attempting to create bonds with individuals from both sides of his family."

"I will do what I can. Sarek's family has never wanted anything to do with him, but I will contact them. In the mean time I would appreciate help strengthening our bond."

"Very well."

It was another five days before Spock woke up. She threw herself at him in a hug, tears streaming down her face. He stiffened.

"Ko-mekh I would appreciate it if you would cease touching me."

She immediately backed off but worried at his almost robotic tone. It was emptier than any Vulcan she had ever heard talk.

"Are you okay?"

"I am adequate."

"Your fathe-"

"I do not wish to speak of this subject at this time."

"Okay Spock."

She sighed and smoothed his hair. He stiffened again but allowed it, and they sat in silence for quite a while before the healer came and talked again about the importance of bonds and the side effects that Spock might experience by losing his.

JIM

The healing process sucked. He was stuck inside for almost a week and a half, but he learned a lot about the planet in that time. He learned to recognize what plants and animals were safe and which ones were not. Like that tree he sat up against. It oozes an acid like sap that slowly dissolves tissue. The nurse was right if he had fallen asleep there might not have been anything left to find. He also took a placement test that everyone in the colony had to take. The governor loved intelligence and took anyone above a certain level under his wing and into the private school he started. Jim of course scored high enough to get his attention and was scheduled to start school in another few days. He was ecstatic the whole curriculum was personal to each persons strengths, weaknesses and interests, and was much more advanced and fast paced than even the Starfleet school he was going to in San Francisco. It sounded like a challenge.

His aunts were both excited for him as well they had already learned that when he was bored he got restless, and when he was restless, he got in trouble. His mom had already left for space. Which was both expected and a little disappointing. He had hoped she would stay for a while longer, but over all he was happy here.

The last of the bandages had came off yesterday. He had hoped to see the nurse he had met last time, but found out that he had headed back to earth. He was strangely disappointed by that, but mostly he was glad to be allowed outside again. The only lasting effects was he had some nerve damage so he didn't have a lot of feeling in some areas, but others were really sensitive. It could have been worse.

Aunt Sia took him to the biggest town on the colony to sate his curiosity. He was a bit disappointed to see that it was mostly humans. San Francisco was more diverse species wise than it was here, but it was beautiful here. There was even a beach a couple hours away that they went to after picking up Kevin from school and Aunt Crystal from work. It was warm enough even in the low evening light to go for a swim and he and Kevin did soaking his aunts when they came to the waterline to tell them it was time to head home.