p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"JIM/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe was both nervous and excited. Today he was finally starting school, which also meant meeting the governor, and later that afternoon Amanda was supposed to be arriving. They were meeting for dinner and to talk that evening. Things had changed so much since he had last seen her, he was doing so much better, not jumping at his own shadow and feeling empty all the time. He still had nightmares. There were still days he felt empty, or angry, or depressed, and he still didn't trust most men, but he was getting there./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanGovernor Kodos's private school was huge, but that was expected he guessed because it was more than just a school it was a multitude of things. It was a giant system of buildings and rooms making up the center of Thana, the biggest city on Tarsus, that contained not only the school, but science labs, the governors home, and government style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanWalking through the maze of buildings was intimidating, but he pressed forward with Aunt Crystal beside him, leading him into the administration area./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanMore intimidating than the buildings themselves was the fact that when he walked into the room he had been called to sitting behind a desk was the governor himself. His aunt didn't look surprised and after filling out some basic paperwork she left him there to figure out what his classes would be agreeing to be there to pick him up in a couple hours. As the door closed behind her he found himself utterly on edge. Maybe because it was the first time he had been alone in a room with a man other than Chris or Kevin who didn't count since he's a kid since Frank. He had no other logical explanation. Everything he had heard about the governor was how good he was how much he cared about education and giving people the best opportunities they could want. So why did he want to run./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"James Kirk, as you are most likely aware I am Governor Kodos."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah nice to meet you sir?" The question was obvious in his voice but Kodos ignored it and continued talking./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Your placement test scores were nearly perfect, and while you were given the age appropriate version of the placement test, your intelligence and ability to problem solve seems to exceed what I asked of you so I wonder if you might be willing to take the full test, that I would give to any adult who joined the colony? You of course can refuse and I will still have you among the students taught here. I would just love to get a read on how intelligent you truly are, so that I know better where to place you." He nodded in response as the governor pushed a PADD his way across the desk./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do you personally place all of the students you accept?"span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe looked surprised at the question./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Of course. Why would I create a school for the most gifted people in the colony only to let others oversee it? I want to know these beings, help shape their knowledge and give them the opportunity to grow."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe nodded and looked down at the PADD. The questions were definitely more difficult, some he had no idea on. He thought of guessing but they all had an I don't know option so he opted for honesty. The test covered everything he could imagine from biology to physics to math to philosophy to language and culture both of earth and alien to even questions of the arts. By the time he had finished it had been much longer than hour or two he had expected this to take. He was mentally exhausted. He put everything he had into answering the questions he had been asked. When Kodos looked over the test his eyes lit up./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Phenomenal." He looked lost in thought. "Okay your science, creative thinking, language, and cultural knowledge are already at extremely high levels. Your math while much higher than normal for your age isn't quite up to the level of everything else. So my next question is interest's what do you want to learn? What do you want to do someday?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I want to be in Starfleet. That's all I know for sure. I think I want to either be a captain or an engineer. I really just like learning. I love learning to build things, languages, science, different cultures. I also want to learn to defend myself." The governor was silent for a few moments./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Courses I think you should take are Algebra, tactics, intro to engineering, intro to astrosciences, self defense and fighting techniques, leadership skills, psychology, and a language of your choosing."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Can I learn Vulcan? I've heard it's one of the hardest to learn and I figure after than everything will be easy in comparison."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I don't know that we have a teacher prepared but I'm sure I can find one."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanWhen he finally left his aunt was waiting outside the office looking slightly concerned, but didn't ask until they reached the car./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"What's the matter Jim?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I don't know I'm just tired I guess. The governor makes me kind of uneasy for some reason. I didn't like being alone with him." He didn't know why he said that he must really be tired if he was admitting things like that. His aunt frowned in response and looked like she was about to say something, but quickly changed her mind and let the silence drag on./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Maybe you should try and get some rest before your dinner with Amanda."/p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah your probably right." He yawned further proving her point. It was still early maybe he would take a nap when he got home./p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"Spock/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe felt empty, emotionless, em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"like a proper Vulcan, /emmost of the time that is. Other times this rage would build and build inside him destroying all of his control until he lashed out at someone or something. So far it had been his mother both times he had lashed out with others in the vicinity. He accidentally broke her wrist when she reached out to smooth his hair and without thinking he grabbed her roughly and demanded she cease touching him. As quickly as his rage appeared it was gone leaving him guilty for a moment before the emptiness overtook him again. The second he had thrown a PADD at her when she suggested they visit Vulcan to see if T'Pau would meet with them and see about finding him a bond mate. He roared at her that he would not be rejected by his clan again and that he did not want anything to do with them. Both times left him momentarily guilty and then he felt nothing once again. It seemed all that needed to occur was his fathers death for him to start to become the Vulcan his father wanted him to be. A human would find that sad or ironic while to him it was simply observation without feeling or humor behind it./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Are you excited to see the new planet?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Vulcans do not feel excitement. Furthermore I have seen many planets mother. Why would I feel excitement from seeing another? I have not heard anything particularly remarkable about the planet or the colony. Am I mistaken?" She sighed and didn't respond for 27.12 seconds./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"No you aren't mistaken. Other than the education system there isn't anything particularly remarkable about the colony. Some people just get excited when they visit places they haven't seen before."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Illogical."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yes it is." She muttered slipping back into silence./p
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p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"Amanda/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanShe had always believedspan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanshe would support Spock in any path he chose, but this wasn't right, it wasn't him. Having only a single bond was effecting him terribly. He wasn't controlling his emotions like a Vulcan it was as if he didn't have any except for anger which he had trouble controlling at all. He refused to do anything about it either. He didn't want to see T'Pau tospan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spantry and make bonds within his fathers family, he didn't want a bondmate, he didn't want her to convince her family to make familial bonds between them either. He wouldn't even see a healer. At this point she was frustrated beyond belief and she didn't know what to do. Sometimes she just wanted to tell him just how illogical he was being, but she knew it wouldn't help. He needed time to heal and adjust hell so did she if she was being honest with herself. All she had done since Sarek died was push herself and push herself trying to keep her emotions in check to be there for Spock. She knew a breakdown was coming, a human can only push aside grief for so long, but in less than an hour they would be on Tarsus IV and she would have more than just her and Spock to worry about she would also have Jim./p
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p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"JIM/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe woke with a startled yelp to someone banging on his door./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Jim! You're going to be late for your dinner with Amanda if you don't wake up!" Aunt Sia Yelled from the other side of the door. He pushed himself out of bed and unlocked the door. "And why's this door locked?" He looked away nervously./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Habit." The annoyance seemed to drain out of her as she realized the reason why./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Alright come on get ready to go your hair is a mess." He rushed to get ready excited to see Amanda again after all these weeks. The drive seemed slow in his excitement but when he saw her sitting in the restaurant his excitement dimmed. She looked awful, like she hadn't slept since the last time he saw her, and her wrist was in a brace. He walked up cautiously, worried and unsure how to bring it up. She smiled when she saw him but it was obviously fake even to him./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Jim how have you been?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Good. I like it here for the most part." He responded still frowning at how miserable she looked./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"That's good tell me about it." And he did he told her about running off into the forest his first day, and healing from that, about Kevin, and his Aunts, his disappointment but not surprise over his mom leaving, his excitement over school and all he's been learning at style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanFinally hey got to Kodos./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I don't know theres something about the governor that makes me really uncomfortable."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do you think it's just because he's a guy?" He shook his head./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"No. Everyone keeps saying that, but theres more too it I really don't know."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Well sometimes, especially to people who have been through trauma like you have, people who have secrets or something that their hiding can come off as suspicious or threatening even when the secret is something completely innocent or at the very least unrelated. For examplespan style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanI could see you feeling that was about someone who was gay, but pretended otherwise because it will always feel like the person is faking who they are. It's most likely something similar, but you can always request not to be alone with him if he makes you really uncomfortable."span style="mso-spacerun: yes;" /spanHe sat in silence as he thought about that. em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"If it's just that he's hiding something maybe finding out what it is will help. /em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span/em"Okay I will…Hey Amanda…Why do you look so sad?" She looked embarrassed and tried to fake a smile. "No. It's okay you can be sad if you want to. I just wanted to know why."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I'm not sad exactly. Well no that's not true. I am sad, but mostly I'm worried about Spock. You heard that my husband died and that's why it took us a couple weeks to get here. Spock hasn't been the same since and I don't know how to help him."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I'm sorry Manda. He'll be okay. I'll be friends with him and take care of him too!" She giggled in respond and smiled at him for real./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I hope you will be friends with him he starts school in a couple days. A friend will be good for him."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Is it hard to be friends with a Vulcan?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanAmanda laughed again and nodded solemnly. She looked about to say something else when Aunt Sia called his name from the front of the restaurant./p
div style="mso-element: para-border-div; border: none; border-bottom: solid windowtext 1.0pt; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"
p class="MsoNormal" style="border: none; mso-border-bottom-alt: solid windowtext .75pt; padding: 0in; mso-padding-alt: 0in 0in 1.0pt 0in;"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Oops gotta go Manda. See you next time."/p
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p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"Three Days Later/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"JIM/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanHe loved his classes already. They were hard and fast paced almost everyone in most of his classes was years older than him, but after the initial "hahaha what's a kid doing here" he was accepted. Not that he would have cared anyways, but not dealing with assholes always made his day easier. He was on his way to the parking lot from his first Vulcan class. He was the only person in it and it was just as much of a challenge as he hoped. Today he had learned Vulcan greetings. He could almost get the hand thing right, but not quite./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanA pair of pointed ears caught his eye as he walked across the campus. He turned and ran that direction with a smile. He had looking for Spock all day with no luck./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Spock!" He yelled. The Vulcan in question turned and stared expressionlessly as he ran up to him./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Who are you? I do not believe we have met. How do you know who I am and more so why did you shout my name across the campus?" He laughed in response and then felt a bit embarrassed./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Ahh sorry about that. Umm I- I mean I see you're mom."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I understand. You are James Kirk./p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;""It's Jim no one calls me James."/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-indent: .5in;""I still do not see why you are speaking to me nor why you found it necessary to shout to get my attention."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I just wanted to say hi."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Well now that you have satisfied your human need for useless interaction. I have one more class I must go to. Live long and prosper James." He turned and started to walk away./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Peace and long life Spock." He called after him. Spock turned to look at him and something like a glimmer of surprise seemed to cross his face for a second, before the emotionless mask was back and he was walking away again./p