Note: School truly is disruptive to ones muse & thankyou for reading everybody...

"What was she like?" Jim asked, the words coming unbidden to his lips. He then could have kicked himself for asking when he felt the warm body in his arms stiffen slightly. Jeez, trust him to continue the most uncomfortable topic for the guy. He really wasn't that crash hot at emotional and sentimental scenes was he? It made him feel slightly like a cold hearted son of a bitch sometimes, but seriously, what was he supposed to do? Jim doubted that the Enterprise ran 101 lessons on how to not say the wrong thing at the wrong time. Usually that sort of a thing was just an ingrained aspect in people's personalities and didn't have to be ordered, packaged and delivered to the needer. Most of the people he worked with currently had it- he'd seen it on numerous missions, when comforting was needed when the expeditions went absolutely haywire and downhill really fast. Jim had it to a degree, he realised, but it was mainly concerned with what to say to an angry warlord of a newfound planet to convince him and his bloodthirsty army not to kill him and his crew. It was either usually a major sucking up session or a real pissing off one – whatever happened to float said warlord's boat. He could be quite persuasive when he wanted to be, in both situations, and he was thankful for it, make no mistake. It just would have been nice to have bit of leeway where all of it was concerned in other departments...

He couldn't deny the fact that he was curious about Spock's mum, though, despite how politically or 'emotionally' incorrect it may be to ask about it at the present time. Hell, she would off have to have been pretty extraordinary to put up with a colony full of Vulcan's all day long. Jim was sure he would go insane within hours; what with constantly having to suppress emotion and always needing to figure out what each of them were saying and translating it out of the vague and over complicated language they used into normal Standard.

So yeah, curious he was, but such a fact didn't exactly make it any less easy for the guy: which was why Jim should have leashed his runaway mind to a pole before it got away from him. He didn't even know why Spock had brought the subject up to begin with anyway, since he'd never really come across as the sharing- caring kind before. There were the people who were the- it helps to talk about it- ones and others who liked to work it out by themselves. Jim would have thought Spock would be in the latter group but hell, for all he knew, the Vulcan could be in some random off shooting side category that no-one had ever thought about before

Greif was handled in many different ways, Jim surmised.

And it wasn't that he was complaining about it either, despite the apparent and unexpected unusualness of the act. In fact, it was kind of nice to think his otherwise tight-lipped first officer would do so. That he would confine in him to some extent was pretty awesome considering they weren't exactly friends at this point in time and with both of their tendencies to not really be all touchy and feely. Jim frowned slightly. Ok, sure, he had hugged the guy and spilled his guts to him only a few minutes ago but really, he had needed to do so to some extent and Spock had been the closest in the vicinity and a willing victim.

Well, he had seemed willing at the time. Perhaps this whole thing would turn into one huge mess and neither of them would know how to behave around each other from now on? If that was so then the Enterprise would, without a doubt, just stop functioning properly. For one, it was the captains and first officer's prerogative to have an efficient working relationship to allow a smooth running of the ship- something that had been working towards for a while now and only just started to achieve. For another, Spock all but saved Jim from a mass drowning in report readings, mission briefings, Starfleet update and production sheets, statistic data from the numerous departments aboard ship, diplomatic dignitaries, and more, on a daily basis. It was almost sad how much work the guy did. Sure, he was the first officer and the science officer, but such a fact didn't directly mean that he had to spend every breathing second looking at a PADD and getting those really bad migraines which Jim always got if he looked at the small digital screens for an extended period. He couldn't refute the fact that Spock was a bloody life saver though - a life saver with apparently a limitless supply of floating apparatus and breathing equipment.

Jim knew, even when he was thinking it, that he was overreacting to an extreme extent and he suppressed the urge to slap himself out of the near mortality kick he was presently in. Spock would not let a certain amount of awkwardness to affect his work ethics and neither would Jim himself. They weren't both giggling teenage girls or something. And yet...

His annoying and almost uncontrollable thought process back flipped again.

...the fact still remained though, that the guy had let himself be hugged.

Let himself.

Okay sure, Jim had cornered him and hadn't reallygive him much of a choice but still, he would've thought that the planets would align, the sun explode, fire would reign down upon the Earth and jelly would somehow actually be nailed to a tree before that sort of physical contact would occur between them as easy as it did between him and Bones.

He paused. Then again, he had all but cried into the guy's shirt after all- a thing which was quite friendly-ish all things considered- and Spock himself had broached the topic of his mother with him.

That actually sounded morethan just friendly-ish to him personally.

His eyebrows lowered and his frown became more pronounced.

Ok, so why the hell weren't they good friends already!?

Stupid, bloody emotional buffers and damn them all to-

His wayward thought s were pulled to the present as his arms began to shift as the warm body beneath them started to move. He let them slide away and fall back to his sides and then watched almost warily as Spock slowly rose from his slumped position, not certain what to expect. Spock's face became a smooth canvas as he composed himself, his shoulders straightening and tension easing from the lines and curves of his body. It was actually a very fascinating process to watch, Jim realised, too steal a phrase. It was like all the emotion that had been brimmed to the top and come close to overflowing was just disappearing down some sort of mental drain that had just appeared....

...except something much more eloquent sounding.

Jim really sucked at metaphors at times.

It wasn't until a few seconds later that the Vulcan's eyes came to once again rest on Jim, a neutral and safer shadow veiled across their surfaces, muting what little expression that may have been there from his view.

"I would prefer not to follow the course of that discussion Captain."

Jim inwardly winced at Spock's words, the rejection stinging, despite knowing that it would likely occur before it even had. The shut-off response bit into him for a moment before he was finally able to push it aside as a pointless feeling. He hadn't had any expectations when he had asked the side ball of a question. In all respects, that was all it was really- a question. His reaction was unnecessary and impulsive. He shouldn't expect his first officer to answer such a personal question anyway.

It was just a question.

So why did he feel like a brick which had recently been pushed from a wall had just been cemented right back in place, mortar and lime included?

He forced a smile to make its way onto his face, pushing the thought and the remains of whatever illogical feelings he had had previously away from his mind's surface and shrugged nonchalantly, hardly noticing that he moved away from the Vulcan too slouch against the wall behind him.

"Sure, whatever," Jim said and waved his hand indifferently, casting his eyes downward before realising that such an action wasn't exactly keeping with his casual facade. He forced himself to look up at his first officer instead and blue eyes proceeded to meet dark brown. "It was stupid to ask anyway," he continued, looking at the Vulcan. He shook his head and couldn't stop a single humourless laugh which escaped him. "It's not like we're the best of pals anyway."

He saw the slight tightening of skin around Spock's eyes, and quickly looked down; knowing his attempt at casualness had just fallen apart with that last line which held not enough nonchalance and a just a bit too much of a nuance for disappointment. Oh well, Jim thought, it didn't really matter. When it came to his first officer, he pretty much felt transparent half the time as it was anyway. What was so different now?

With his eyes down, he didn't see the way Spock's hand rose almost tentatively outwards; how his mouth opened and a slight breath was drawn inward, in preparation of the words to come. There was no time to because as he did, the distinct buzz of the door command sounded, a sign that someone was requesting admittance to the room, and the action made it fall just as silent and unnoticed back down to the bed and the words never breach their restraints.

"Spock?" a voice asked, a southern accent lingering faintly behind the word. Jim looked up to stare at the door in confusion.

Why the hell would his CMO be wanting to see Spock of all people?

"If you're in there and just can't be bothered answering the door which, frankly, is kind of obnoxious of you and not at all good for your wonderfully lovely and compassionate image which you just radiate serenely so very often," the voice continued. "Then...then can you just answer the freaking door anyway because I'm not going to stand out here and talk to a grey inanimate door for any longer because it's company is not exactly entertaining. That's actually kind of ironic though because I will probably miss it however, when you do eventually open it and I'll have to talk to you instead, a prospect which though considerably life shortening is undeniably unavoidable at this time due to circumstances."

There was a silence whereby Jim couldn't help the urge to roll his eyes at his friends ranting and grin, feeling lighter It was funny how Bones had that effect on him. It was probably a contributing factor behind why he had zeroed in on him from the beginning. There was just something about the older guy that made you feel better about things.

Maybe his profession had started to project outwards now and was tuning into some sort of weird warped six sense which Jim could pick up on some equally strange frequency?

Jim wouldn't be surprised. It was general knowledge that his brain didn't work the way most did.

Jim chuckled quietly and feeling just the slightest bit evil, he put his finger to his lips. He felt like having some fun – if to get away from other delicate topics-, and if that meant messing with Bones' head then he wasn't about to argue with fate.

Actually, he was usually the first one in line, but that was an irrelevant fact.

Spock's eyebrows rose but he remained silent at the signal, sitting lightly on the side of the bed. The command for the door came again adn Jim smiled.

"Okay look, you pointy eared bastard, I get it: you don't like me. But look on the bright side though- its mutual! I don't like you either. I thought we had gotten over that particular detail and were getting on with our lives and happily loathing each other?..."

Neither in the room spoke.

"...Alright you hobgoblin, be that way. Can you at least just tell me if you've seen Jim? I'm doing psyhc eval's for everyone who went planetside to Arcaous and the responsible and mature Captain, being as he is, has skipped out."

Spock looked at him sharply, eyebrows lowered now. Jim knew what he was thinking - his first officer was a stickler for healthlyness- and he shook his head insistently in response, waving his hands in front of him, dismissing the idea silently. It wasn't a ruse either. He did actually feel better about all that to a degree. He would have to remember to go hug his First Officer more often from now on, especially when he felt like crap.

Yeah, like that was going to happen often.

Jim grinned and then spoke loudly. "Calm done Bonesy," he said theatrically, knowing, when he said it, that calling the doctor such a name was going to come back to bite him at a later date- probably in the form of a hypo. "He's coming already," he continued, jerking his head toward the door at the Vulcan next to him.

Spock didn't move.

Huh?

Well that put a slight hiccup in his intended evil plan. Jim frowned and watched as the Vulcan pulled back slightly, discontinuing his examination of him and quirk an eyebrow instead in a silent question.

Jim rolled his eyes at his first officer's obvious lack of comprehension,- wasn't this guy supposed to be a genius?- shaking his head in mock exasperation, before gesturing at the door pointedly, miming turning a door handle.

Which was really kind of stupid, all things considered, because since when did they have door handles on a starship?

Spock, who still seemed to not be getting the full picture, only blinked at him, head tilted quizzically. Jim then continued to watch as the Vulcan then slowly raised a hand and ...

...gestured also to the door in a very clear single of: 'go ahead' to him instead.

Jim's eyes widened, his mouth falling open.

Oh, that's so not funny.

The bloody Vulcan was messing with him.

He shut his gaping mouth, because really, such a thing wasn't a good look, and glared at the conniving Vulcan in front of him.

"Man, it's your room!" he couldn't help but hiss. "Go on!" He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to point to the door.

Spock continued to look at him, and Jim swore that he could see the beginnings of smile on his face.

A mischievous smile.

Oh, no way.

"Dude, I so outrank you."

Okay, sure it was low and not exactly creative, but come on, it works...

...99.99% of the time.

Luckily Spock seemed to sigh at this and relent, rising fluidly from the bed and moving toward the door as Jim grinned wickedly. The silence, which he had not realised had fallen on the opposite side of the door since his first words, broke.

"Jim?"

He rolled his eyes. "No," he replied cynically, shifting to lie back down, his hands behind his head and eyes on the ceiling. "It's you're conscious speaking," he couldn't help but add, just as Spock pushed the button for the door.

"What in the blue blazes are y-"

The door slid open, cutting the words off and flooding light into the semi dark room, casting a distorted and elongated Spock shaped shadow against the far wall. Jim blinked at the change, letting his eyes adjust.

"Doctor," was all the greeting Spock supplied.

From the tone of his voice, Jim new that his first officer was giving Bones his best Vulcan expressionless, give-nothing-away, neutral look. Jim pretty much felt the glare the Doctor threw at Spock- or the heat from it at least, before he inched around the commander to look suspiciously into the room, his familiar shape also becoming elongated and appearing on the wall, darkened and almost mysterious in nature. Jim saw him glance around, probably allowing time for his own eyes to correct. It was several seconds before he saw the object of his searching.

"Hey!" Jim said from the bed, mouth wide with a smile.

"Oh god..." He saw Bones grab his face and groan. "I thought it was all just some horrible, horrible hallucination."

Jim laughed.

"Do I even want to know?" he asked between fingers which he had spread open and was looking out from. Jim laughed.

"Well..." he said, drawing the word out and then grinning evilly. "I could tell you all about it" he said speculatively. "It makes for a pretty entertaining story."

Which it did, but just not in the way that Jim knew for certain that Bones would think it was. And what Bones was thinking definitely wasn't PG rated.

It was, after all, Jim he was thinking about.

A horrified expression slid onto the doctors face and he visibly took a step back, raising his hands as if warding off the idea "Oh, sweet Jesus, no! God, man, don't you have a soul?

Jim laughed sitting up and swinging his legs of from the bed. He stood. "Just-"

The words were halted when he proceeded to fall forward onto the floor as his legs collapsed beneath him. He grunted in pain, cursing the temporary numbness in the limbs that he had forgotten about to hell and back, as he hit the floor hard, the action jolting him and making his head spin sickeningly.

'Jim!"

The word had occurred simultaneously and from two different sources when he had landed and the next minute hands were rolling him over and he was looking into two sets of worried eyes as the two men knelt beside him.

"Captain?"

Jim grinned up lazily at the two, somehow not really caring that he had just made himself look like complete idiot. Because he couldn't let the advantage go to waste, and possibly because he also had a mild concussion and wasn't incomplete control of all mental functions, he reached up with an exclamation of 'group hug!' and grabbed them both by the shoulders and pulled them down to his level, hooking his arms around their necks in the process to secure them in place.

Gosh, he really was all touchy and feely when he wanted to be. Bones struggled for a moment before realising that though Jim may be lying on the ground with some form of head injury, he still had a strong grip regardless and wasn't planning to let him go. He stopped resisting the action and Jim chuckled.

After a moment Bones then spoke, his voice muffled by a black clad shoulder. "Jim?"

Jim released him and looked expectantly at the doctor as he moved to sit on the floor and look at him dubiously. "Yeah?"

"Can I ask you a few questions?" It almost looked like Bones was treading on ice.

Jim frowned. "Sure."

It was at that point that he realised he was still holding down the warm body that was starting to become more and more familiar to him as time passed and these sort of interactions were increasing in rate. He actually contemplated just keeping it there for a bit longer but quickly reassessed the situation and decided it probably wasn't the best thing to do. He let go of the Vulcan, though it was a hard thing to do, moving his arms to the back of his head instead and stretching his legs out, trying to rid them of what would be a particularly bad case of pins and needles he was slowly developing. Jim then relaxed onto the surprisingly comfortable floor as Spock followed the Doctors example and also sat on the floor, legs crossed. He looked down at him, eyes dark and indescribable.

"It would be really great if you could answer truthfully the first time round."

Jim raised an eyebrow, looking back over at Bones. "...Okay?"

"Have you been drinking?"

Jim rolled his eyes and smirked.

"No"

"You sure there, Jimmy?"

Jim looked at him sardonically. "I'm sorry Bones, did you just say 'answer truthfully' or was that my overactive imagination?"

Bones rolled his eyes "Okay, okay. No need to bite my head off." Jim snorted. "Okay. Have you knocked your head hard lately?"

"Nope."

Bones looked thoughtful."Well how about softly then? It really wouldn't make much of difference I suppose, since it's you."

"Hey!"

Bones just looked at him expectantly.

"No, Bones, I haven't." He grumbled. "What's with the twenty questions anyway?"

"Oh, no reason in particular," the doctor said and shrugged nonchalantly. " I just want to, you know, see if you've gone insane and all." Bones waved his hand in a 'so and so' gesture. "It's not that important."

"This is your idea of a psyhc evaluation?" Jim asked incredulously.

Bones looked at him unimpressed. "Well, I did send a transmission to your room a few hours ago. You were supposed to get it when you woke up and come down to the sickbay. So far I've seen everyone but you," he said levelling a finger at him accusingly. "So I'm kind of improvising here since the mandatory questions are in my office."

Jim shifted and frowned at the offending digit, thinking that there was way too many stressed syllables in that sentence to be good for him. "Well, I haven't really been in my room for awhile Bones." He didn't know how long he'd been in Spock's quarters for but he surmised it was for quite a while if he had fallen asleep before the Vulcan had gotten of his shift five hours before finding him.

Bones blinked and then planted his face in his hands, groaning. "Well of course you haven't" he said before looking up and glaring at him. "You've just been in here doing God knows what, for who knows how long."

Jim had to laugh at that because he hadn't even been thinking along those lines when he had replied. It was kind of ironic as well since, if there was a God, He would know exactly what Jim had been doing since it kind of had a lot to do with the holy guy in the first place. The expression on Bones' face was too priceless however to properly correct the incredibly large misconception he was currently under. He simply grinned. He would eventually, he thought, turning his head to glance at Spock who was looking impassively at the both of them- just, not yet. His First Officer quirked an eyebrow when he noticed Jim's gaze and the grin grew wider.

He was actually in on a ruse with Spock.

Against Bones.

Wow.

He looked back at the doctor who had watched this interaction and now looked, if anything, like all his previous notions of the world had just gotten set alight, burned and the ashes dissolved in acid.

Jim decided to give the guy a bit of closure. "Don't worry," he said, because really, he wasn't that cruel and heartless or soulless as Bones liked to think at times. "It's not what you think."

His friend's face went blank. "Oh, Really?" he asked blandly and maybe just slightly too calmly; almost like the quiet before the storm.

Jim shrugged nonchalantly. "All I'm saying is to get your mind out of the gutter."

He saw Spock look at him out from the corner of his eye; eyebrows lowered and a frown upon his face, obviously not understanding the sentiment. Bones however, ran his hands through his hair and Jim watched as the good doctor all but gave up on him

What, only now?

"God, jeez, whatever you say. Are you going to come down to the bay now that I found you or will I have to sedate you and then drag you along?

"Only if I get too bring Spock."

Bones stared at him.

"Hey," Jim said, defensively. "Unlike you, I don't mind his company," he said, crossing his arms, an action which felt really weird to do when you were lying down. He did like Spock's company though- he was starting to realise that lately even though their building relationship was still touch and go. Well, more so in the last couple of hours really, but meh, Jim was never one to be picky. "And anyway" he continued, turning to look at his first officer as if sizing him up. He then turned back to Bones. "He's kind of like a big overly-warm teddy bear," he said, just for the guy's benefit. The doctor continued to stare at him, now more than likely trying to connect teddy bear with Vulcan and not getting positive results.

A thought then came to Jim and he turned his head to the opposite side and looked at Spock uncertainly

"Unless of course there was something else you...uh, you were going to do... " he asked Spock haltingly, unsure as to whether the idea of going for a road trip to the sickbay constituted as a good time for him. Jim would have run a mile if someone had proposed the idea to him, but who knows what the Vulcan did in his spare time.

When he actually had any.

Spock would have something better to do other than babysit him all the time though. He definitely would. Yeah, like sleeping...or...resting...or having time which was not taken up by the presence of a crazy captain who has stability issues- have alone time. Exactly what he should be doing at the present time if Jim wasn't, well....Jim.

"If my presence is required for you to cooperate with Doctor McCoy's assessment then I do not."

Ha.

Pure. Sweet. Victory.

The instantaneous feeling of happiness was all but squashed however when the words really sunk in. Oh, ok, so Spock was only coming along to see that Jim behaves. He knew his reputation for avoiding sickbay preceded him, but seriously, come on.

He now he felt like a five-year old.

Brilliant.

He whirled that idea around for a moment before mentally sighing. Oh well, it could be worse in all respect.

"It sure does," he finally said in answer to a question which was more statement than query. Just for the heck of it he then grinned cockily up at the two men.

The Doctor it seemed had come to realise he would never be able to find the mad backwater Jim was currently occupying as it took a whole new level of undiscovered insanity specially found in people named James T. Kirk to do so. So, instead of even attmepting to argue, he threw his arms up in a sign of defeat, sighing heavily.

"Whatever..." he muttered. "And you say that it isn't what I think..."

Jim smiled, ignoring the comment and stuck out his hand, letting Bones grab it and pull him to his feet. His head spun for a second and he felt a warm hand on his elbow which steadied him as he started to tilt slightly backward. The dizziness quickly dissipated though a throb on his head remained from where he had hit the floor. He then grinned, taking advantage of the closeness of his First Officer to sling an arm around the warm narrow shoulders.

Always pushing. Always prodding.

Maybe it was the only way?

He hoped it was.

Because God damnit, he was good at that sort of a thing!

He casually hung from the Vulcan's side for a moment, connected from shoulder to hip and grinning almost like a maniac. He then pointed dramatically into the air and put on his best superior air.

"To the sickbay," he cried with as much flair as an actor performing Shakespeare and strutted forward to exist the Vulcan's quarters, the movement forcing Spock to follow along next to him in a rather jilted manner, a contrast to his usual almost feline grace.

Bones, an innocent bystander, as he sometimes liked to think, to the lunacy that was J. rolled his eyes as his friend did so. He had learned a long time ago that when things happened to be going his way to simply shut up and just accept the craziness which often followed such luck...

He walked forward, following Jim outside, and letting the mechanical doors slide shut behind him.

Such a time happened to be now.