Disclaimer: I don't own. I don't profit.
Special thanks to Beta Notes from the Classroom. Check out her latest "Crossing the Equator" in my faves for some Pike / Number One and Spock / Uhura goodness.
On Earth (Part 1)
Jim's back on Earth walking through the halls of the Sofitel San Francisco, tugging at the collar of his dress uniform. He comes to an elevator bank and hits a button.
It's two months since the war is over and four years and nine months since fighting began. Jim didn't have much to do with ending the war. He spent the last three years as a guerrilla leader on the backwater planet of Bajor. He's not sure he accomplished much, and it was dirty, and unglamorous - hell, his nickname was The Roach. But he has the respect of the Bajorans and the Cardassians, and that may help him get his next gig: commander of the Deep Space 9, the space station that's being built at the mouth of the wormhole that's just opened over Bajor.
The wormhole opens up to what they're calling the Gamma Quadrant. Jim's wants to be there to greet any baddies or friendlies that come through. Now that the Federation is mostly broke and all missions of pure exploration have been curtailed, it's just about the most exciting job in the universe as far as Jim is concerned.
He's going to a Diplomatic Corp brouhaha tonight to shine his face on the Admirals milling about in attendance. They'll be choosing Deep Space Nine's commander. It's the kind of politicking he hates, but he has something he wants and when he wants something Jim can put up with just about anything, hitting the books, getting sent to ice planets, facing torture, or starving in long Bajoran winters.
But right now he has a little time before the show and there's someone he wants to see.
The war was ended by a crack team of Federation agents that infiltrated the facility on Romulus where the remaining red matter was stored. They rigged it to blow. The enemy surrendered, no terms, no conditions.
The names of the crack team aren't being released, but Jim's got a pretty good idea who one of them is. She's here now, in this hotel, going to the same diplomatic party that Jim's going to, and why not just stop by? They're friends. Or something. He's not sure, but whatever it is, it's good.
The elevator in front of him pings and the doors open. Jim steps in. The elevator is mirrored and Jim rubs a hand across his face, checking his shave.
He's too thin. The last couple months on Bajor were as close to living hell as he can imagine, and he didn't have enough to eat. He still hasn't put all the weight back on. He thinks his head looks too big for his too skinny body, like a puppy that hasn't grown to full size yet. Not the best impression for the admiralty, but he can't help that much.
He's got competition for the job. Spock the younger, who headed up R & D with old Spock. R & D did as much as the crack team did for ending the war. There's talk of holo devices that project solid objects, machines that can replicate the atomic structure of just about anything, and cloaking devices.
Young Spock will be here tonight, too. Jim's not spoken to him since Uhura disappeared. Jim has heard from Uhura, even though he hasn't seen her. She sent him an email a few weeks ago. Said she was so relieved to know he was alive - she heard he was he coming to this Diplomatic Corp thing tonight and was so happy because she'll be here, too.
He smiles at the memory of her little note as the elevator comes to a halt and he gets off.
He's seen her Starfleet records. When Starfleet picked him up it was one of the first things he dug into. There's nothing about SI, just a mention of her staying at Starfleet's main hospital and then being honorably discharged, and then, well - she just disappeared completely, literally, from the face of the Earth.
Looking forward to teasing her about basket weaving, he heads down the hall.
He comes to her door, and since it is the old fashioned type he actually knocks. A heartbeat later it opens and for a moment Jim has a bit of cognitive dissonance. There's a woman standing there, and she could be Uhura's sister, they look that much alike, but the thing is, she's Vulcan.
For a moment he thinks maybe she's playing a gag on him, that maybe it's Uhura in make up, but the Vulcan woman's face is so severe.
"Uhura?" he says but it comes out as a choked whisper.
"I am T'Elle, her aide. You may come in." She moves aside so Jim can slip by.
Stepping in, he stops short. It's not a room, it's a suite. There's a hallway lit by natural light and doors heading off in both directions.
Turning and motioning down the hall, T'Elle says, "They are that way."
A comm chimes somewhere. "I must get that," T'Elle says and disappears through one of the doors.
Jim walks down the hallway, his bluster a few minutes ago completely sucked out of him. Aide? Suite? What's going on?
And then he hears voices and comes to a complete stop.
"You know I have never lied to you." It's Spock's voice and it takes a little more wind out of Jim's sails.
Drawing to a corner, he peers around into a large living area, surrounded by floor to ceiling glass windows. There's a rare sunset without fog, and the sky and clouds are painted with deep purples and and oranges. Uhura is standing, back to him. She's wearing a lavender gown that's made of something light and fluttery. It complements the purple in the sky perfectly. The gown dips low in the back but has finger width crisscrossed straps that highlight the delicate muscles and bones of her back. The wide expanse of smooth skin there is back to the color of cafe au lait.
Hoovering next to her is Spock, wearing SI gray. If he sees or hears Jim he doesn't acknowledge it.
Uhura says something Jim can't hear and Spock draws back a bit. "I made mistakes. I will not make them again."
Jim lets out a low breath. He could just barge his way in here and pretend that he doesn't realize that this is a private conversation.
Tightening his jaw, he looks down at the carpeting, plain and beige and shocking in its immaculateness.
What is his objective?
He takes a breath. He has no clear objective, and that is reason enough for it not to be his business. Turning quietly he walks quickly back down the hallway and through the still open door.
x x x x
Standing in the reception hal, Jim swirls his drink in his glass and wonders why Bones picked tonight of all nights to reconcile with Johanna. And why aren't the Bajoran and Cardassian ambassadors here, or even Pike?
Taking a drink, he tries to smile nicely at anyone with lots of ribbons on his or her chest - doing his best to keep his eyes up in case of the latter. Once he was the savior of the galaxy, and people would flock to him, but apparently not anymore
Feeling suddenly alone and out of his league, he's about to head back over to the bar when Uhura comes in.
She's flanked on both sides by Vulcans. T'Elle on her left, Spock and Sarek on her right - and there is Admiral Berret and Admiral Komak close behind, too.
Spock is saying something to her and she looks deep in thought. Her eyes lift in Jim's direction; then she look down again, as though she hasn't seen him, as though he doesn't exist. Then she looks up quick. Uhura's eyes widen and something like a frown crosses her face. Jim's about to turn away in disgust when she smiles, a huge warm hello-how-are-you-what-are-you-doing-over-there smile. She waves at him and actually bounces a little on her feet.
Sliding his gaze to the side, Kirk catches Spock's narrow-eyed look. Spock's got ambassadors and admirals in-line for him obviously, but Jim's walked into the line of fire before for a friend.
Smiling his widest, cockiest smile, he hold his head up and walks towards the firing line.
A/N:
Thanks to everyone reading - especially those who really, really, really don't like my Bad Spock. So many people can't imagine him going bad, but I so totally can, with just a few tweaks to his life. And he's not all bad. Still risked his life to blow up the Narada and all. And I'm sure he still loves his mom.
Thank you for reviewing too! It really helps, especially when people are writing essays on this fic's suckiness! ( spock-uhura/livejournal dot com 1050659 dot html ) Ha ha ha!
If you're reading and entertained, pls leave a review!