The waffle place was busy, but of course it was a Saturday night in a college town. Leonard had chosen this one specifically because it was a little farther from campus than most students liked to venture, so there were only a couple of 'fleet suits in the crowd. Jim was a little pale but steady on his feet, so Leonard settled him at a booth near the front while he went to the counter to place their order. Eight waffles, plus butter and syrup, fruity topping and a couple containers of whipped cream. It was too much, but he expected that Jim would fall asleep after he ate, if he ate, and this way they'd have leftovers for breakfast instead of replicated crap.

He turned back to see Jim, who was engaged in conversation with an older cadet who had sat at the booth across from him. Leonard didn't recognize the dark haired man, didn't know if he was in their class or above it. He was older than Jim, but younger than Leonard, dressed in casual cadet blacks and leaning toward Jim over the table in a weirdly aggressive manner. Leonard frowned. He knew Jim had a tendency to get drunk and pick fights, but he was completely sober and they were in a breakfast joint, not a bar.

Should he intervene? Jim had probably had enough of Leonard poking into his business in the last day or two, and wouldn't welcome his presence in whatever unexpected altercation was taking place. On the other hand, the kid wasn't exactly at his best and if this escalated to violence things could get ugly. Plus the emotional rollercoaster he'd been riding for the last few hours didn't leave Leonard with a high expectation that Jim would be able to control himself if this guy was provoking him. He had just taken a step toward the booth when some weird shit went down.

First, the older guy reached across the table and ran his fingers possessively through Jim's hair. Ok, that was fucking weird. Leonard knew that he was bisexual, but usually Jim did the flirting in any given situation. He had literally never seen anybody put the moves on Jim. Secondly, a tall Vulcan in a 'fleet faculty uniform appeared by the booth as if out of thin air. Leonard stopped in his tracks as he saw the Vulcan lean forward and speak to the two cadets, and that was weird because Vulcans tended to be extreme introverts. Leonard got over his surprise and moved forward, arriving at the booth just as the older cadet beat a hasty retreat out the front doors.

"You okay, kid?" Leonard leaned over the table, scrutinizing Jim and then the Vulcan. His jet black hair was cut in that same sharp bowl cut all Vulcans wore, though his skin was much lighter than was typical for the species. Maybe an effect of living on Earth, where the sun was less harsh. "Who was that?"

"Uh, nobody." Jim said, changing the subject quickly. "Who are you?" he asked, turning his face up to the stony Vulcan.

"I am Spock, currently professor of Xenolinguistics at the Academy," replied the Vulcan, dark eyes studying Jim carefully. "You are James Kirk. I heard there was some trouble with the press yesterday, and was concerned that Cadet Mitchell was troubling you."

"Wait, I thought Pike said that the faculty didn't know." Leonard said, glancing back at the counter. Their number wasn't up yet. He turned back to face Spock with suspicion.

"The faculty does not, however I am assigned to be Captain Pike's First Officer and as such he keeps me informed of most of his projects."

"Great, I'm a project."

Leonard opened his mouth to scold Professor Spock, but the Vulcan clasped his hands behind his back and said smoothly, "Of course, this is not the terminology that the Captain himself uses when he speaks of you. He thinks of you fondly and is concerned for your safety." Spock tilted his head to once side. "Are you aware that Cadet Mitchell knows your identity?"

Jim's mouth dropped open, but snapped shut again. He nodded his head, paling a little more.

"How do you know that? I thought Vulcans were touch-telepaths?" Leonard asked, reaching for Jim's wrist to check his pulse. He'd left the apartment on the condition that he not be made to wear the bracelet in public.

"Indeed we are, however Cadet Mitchell appears to have a much higher psi-rating than most humans, who are essentially psi-null. I have been asked to monitor his telepathic behavior intermittently. He was projecting his intentions quite loudly this evening, and I was unable to avoid sensing them. It was most disturbing."

"And what were his intentions, exactly?"

"He was endeavoring to engage Cadet Kirk in a sexual encounter in exchange for his silence. No doubt he discovered your identity and your determination to hide it through his own telepathic powers."

The color rose in Jim's cheeks, and that was more telling than the kid probably realized.

"I also received the impression that this has happened before."

"Jim!" Leonard hissed, "That's blackmail!"

Jim pressed both hands over his reddened face, just as the girl behind the counter called Leonard's number. He stepped away to retrieve their food and pay the girl and was back in a handful of seconds. Professor Spock was speaking quietly, bent close to Jim.

"I have already alerted security and can guarantee that Mister Mitchell will not come near you again, however I cannot make any promises about what he will do with regards to the press. I would suggest you return to your dorm and stay there until either Captain Pike or myself contact you. Do not answer your door or let anyone in without confirming their identity."

Jim nodded, sullen. "Look, I know Gary's a scumbag, but he didn't mean any harm."

"Didn't mean any harm my ass!" Leonard exploded, while Spock merely raised a calm eyebrow.

"You cannot possibly believe that such an encounter could be construed as consensual, Cadet Kirk. You should have reported his advances immediately the first time it happened. As far as Starfleet is concerned, you have been assaulted."

"No, I haven't!"

"Jim, shut up." Leonard turned to the Vulcan, ignoring Jim's offended spluttering. "Thanks for your help, Professor. I'm his roommate, so I'll see he gets home safely and we won't leave the apartment until we're told to."

"Very well, Cadet... ?"

"McCoy, Doctor Leonard McCoy, sir." Leonard tugged at Jim's sleeve and the kid got up, looking exceedingly pissed.

"Doctor McCoy, then. I shall leave you to it." Spock nodded at the two of them and disappeared gracefully into the crowd.

"Come on kid, let's get back." Leonard got a grip on Jim's arm and steered him out. Jim came with him, almost docile, as they trudged back to the bus stop.

Jesus fuck, this kid was something else. Knowing what he now knew, Leonard was impressed that the only outward sign most people could see of Jim's troubled life was that he was sometimes an arrogant jackass. It was a cover for a sensitive, damaged kid who had a profound need to take control of his own life. And then here comes this Mitchell douchebag coercing him into sex and taking that control away from him, and goddamn if Leonard was going to stand for that kind of bullshit.

It was lucky that Spock had turned up, because Leonard was absolutely sure that Jim wouldn't have told him what Mitchell had wanted. He needed to send Pike a note, complimenting his First Officer's efficient handling of the situation. Leonard wasn't a fan of Vulcans; they were too logical and callous for his tastes. Spock seemed different, somehow. Maybe spending so much time teaching young humans had rubbed off on him. He had clearly understood that Jim was in distress and dealt with that effectively, if not in the same way a human might have.

They spent the bus ride back in silence. There was one glaring thing that they were obviously going to have to talk about it, but a crowded bus was not the place for it. Jim stared out the window while Leonard scanned the other occupants of the bus warily, wondering how quick a reporter might find them once Mitchell had made the call. It was pretty late; maybe nothing would happen.

Their stop was at the campus, one block from from their apartment. Leonard was pleased to see that Starfleet Security was already patrolling nearby. Spock hadn't been kidding when he'd guaranteed that Mitchell wouldn't be allowed near Jim again. Leonard wondered if Spock would report the previous incident he'd seen in Mitchell's thoughts, and whether or not telepathic contact would be considered permissible evidence at a trial. He also wondered what Spock had said that had made the man disappear so quickly.

Jim probably wouldn't press charges, because it would only draw more attention. However, Spock probably had the power to have Mitchell removed from the Academy at the very least. Leonard suspected the man was a stickler for the rules, like all Vulcans, and would pursue the matter to the farthest extent that he had the power to do so.

They arrived at the apartment without incident and Jim disappeared into his bedroom immediately. Leonard let him be alone for a few minutes while he arranged their food in the refrigerator and called up drinks from the replicator. He wouldn't make Jim talk to him tonight, but he would make sure he put the monitor bracelet back on and took his tri-ox hypo before he fell asleep. He was just wondering how long to let it go when Jim surprised him by emerging and crawling into the blanket nest on the couch.

Leonard brought over a glass of juice, fortified with vitamins and electrolytes, and handed him the monitor bracelet. Jim snapped it around his wrist and nestled into the blankets. Again, Leonard was reminded of a sleepy puppy and resisted the urge to pet the kid as if he were a fluffy golden retriever. Instead he sat on the edge of the couch, his thigh pressed into Jim's back, and pulled the blankets up so that only the fluff of golden hair was exposed.

"So. Mitchell."

Jim squirmed against him. "Yeah." he said.

"Friend of yours?"

"More like the bane of my existence." Jim's voice was muffled against the cushions. "It's pretty much like that pointy-eared know-it-all said."

"He threatened to expose you, and you had sex with him in exchange for him keepin' his trap shut."

Leonard viciously suppressed a wave of anger that he'd been fighting for half an hour. Shouting at Jim wasn't going to do any good. He'd save his rage for Mitchell, if he ever ran across him. He tried to remember any striking physical feature the guy had, but then realized he hadn't really gotten a good look his face. Frustrating.

Jim still hadn't answered.

"You could press charges, you know."

"And attract more attention from the media? No thanks."

"You could report him to the school and he'd be reprimanded in private, maybe even expelled."

"There's no evidence, Bones, and it doesn't matter. Whatever the Vulcan said, it was consensual."

"So you'd have let him fuck you willingly if he hadn't threatened you?"

No answer.

"That's not consent, kid." Leonard pulled on Jim's arm, maneuvered him into a half-sitting position. "Sit up and drink your juice and let me get your hypo. Do you want me to heat up your waffles?"

"No, thanks."

Everything in Leonard screamed at him to argue with that, but he knew that Jim wouldn't tolerate nagging. Not today, anyway. He drank his juice though, so Leonard dug a hypospray out of the bag and administered it. He then headed for the replicator and called up the chocolate milk again, only this time he stirred in a packet of protein and nutrient powder while Jim finished the juice. He brought it over, muttering about dehydration, while Jim rolled his eyes. But he drank it and settled in. It wasn't late at all, but sleep was as good for recovering from a bad day as it was for recovering from temporary death.

Leonard gave Jim the tv remote and told him to kick his boots off. He would prefer for the kid to sleep in his own bed, but he also knew that Jim didn't want to be by himself. That was why he hadn't stayed in his room for long, even though he'd surely known that Leonard was going to ask him about Mitchell as soon as he came back out.

He settled down at the terminal and checked his messages, then sent one to Pike outlining their mishap at the waffle place. Then he pulled up the outdoor security camera feed that covered the front door. Every dorm room had one, and while they couldn't access the entire dorm's cameras, each cadet could view the feed from the one outside their own door. Jim, of course, had hacked into the system months ago, so they could see every camera on the campus. The kid would be in deep shit if he was caught, but Leonard had learned to have faith in his roommate's computer skills.

Jim was sound asleep. Leonard shut off the tv and took the remote out of Jim's lax hand, pulled the blankets up again and called for the lights off. He checked that the door and windows were locked and pulled the blinds and curtains closed completely. Fuck. Should he sleep? Should he wait until morning and sleep while Jim was awake? Leonard wasn't sure how paranoid to be here. He hadn't really dealt with the press before, especially not sneaky paparazzi press.

Jim had, though, and Jim hadn't given him any specific instructions. Spock had only said not to leave or let anyone in without being contacted. Leonard checked the door again, and made a point to leave the video feed running on the terminal, casting a weird glow across the room. He set himself up in the recliner with a PADD and began reading all the classified articles on Tarsus IV that were linked from Jim's records.

Pike had been right; it was enough to induce nightmares. It wasn't the articles as much as the photos that accompanied them. It turned out that not only was Jim a Tarsus IV survivor, he was one of the Tarsus 9. The nine kids who had seen Kodos in person and might be able to identify him on sight. That explained what the Admiralty had invested in this. It was bad enough that the Kelvin Baby had been a victim of domestic violence and that had somehow gone ignored for years, but for him to have ended up nearly being killed in the greatest massacre of the century? The press would absolutely shit itself.

Not that Leonard would blame them if they did. Jim was orphaned by Starfleet and policy was that Starfleet should have taken responsibility for his care. At the very least he should have been checked up on yearly, had the very best medical and mental health care and a recruiter should have been following him around day and night before he'd even graduated high school. As it was he'd barely survived to adulthood and only random chance had led Pike to find the poor kid getting his ass beaten in a bar in corn country. Starfleet had failed Jim in every way possible.

Leonard woke up to a the door buzzer going off, not realizing he had drifted off. He rubbed his eyes and struggled to get himself upright, then looked at the terminal screen. It showed a short Andorian with a holocam in one hand. Leonard took a screenshot and turned off the sounds on the door intercom. Then he finally looked at the chrono. Fuck, did this asshole know what time it was? Jim hadn't stirred, which was a blessing.

Leonard pulled out his comm and dialed Security. Fuck.

A/N: I edited mentions of Johanna McCoy out of the first two chapters, as it has come to my attention that she does not seem to exist in the Abrams Universe. I like to work within canon as much as I can. I don't feel like the Spock cameo is a contradiction, because how likely is it that Kirk and McCoy are going to remember one five minute conversation with him four years after the fact? McCoy has bigger things to worry about and Kirk strikes me as being kind of ADD.