Chapter 4
Jim woke up in a far better mood the next morning, although there really wasn't much of a reason for it. The alarm still went off with loud, annoying beeps. He still hadn't gotten as much sleep as he would have preferred. And he still had to drag himself out of bed with no positive prospects for the day. However, at the same time, Jim was happy, almost ecstatic. Exuberant if you will.
Spock had said his name. As in Jim. The word 'Jim' had come from Spock's mouth. Willingly.
Jim smiled to himself as he pulled on his uniform, deciding that nothing could make this day less than excellent. He continued to smile as he made his way to the dining hall, probably confusing the hell out of his crew as they stopped and saluted him. His smile didn't even hitch as he got breakfast and sit down with Bones, who looked at him with raised eyebrows.
"If I didn't know that you had dinner with Spock last night, I would say that it looks like you had a fun evening."
Jim just continued smiling as he began to eat. McCoy watched him for a moment before sighing in exasperation. "What the hell happened, or do I not want to know?"
Jim swallowed, still smiling, which was rather remarkable if he thought about it. He knew that he wouldn't be able to keep it up too much longer, though, as the muscles in his face were starting to ache a little. "He said my name, Bones," Jim said.
Bones looked at him as if he'd lost his mind. "Who? The pointy eared bastard? Do you smile this much when anyone says your name...Jim?"
He laughed a little and shook his head. "No, you don't understand. Spock said my name. Do you know what that means? It means he's taken the first step towards a real friendship. It means that he's starting to feel comfortable around me!"
Bones just stared at him, staring long enough for Jim's smile to ease up a little and for him to fidget under his scrutiny. "Are you out of your mind?"
"What do you mean?" Jim's smile officially dimmed and a look of confusion took up residence on his face in its place.
"He just said your name," Bones said, trying to reason with his friend. "It seems like you're projecting a whole lot into that one action. Plus, I'm not even sure he's capable of being friends with anyone.
"Bones," Jim said, exasperated, "there are only so many ways a that Vulcan shows that they like you. And Spock and Uhura seem to be fairly close, um, friends."
"Yeah, and I'm not even going to go into how crazy that relationship is." Bones shook his head. "I will never understand what she sees in him."
Jim smirked slightly as he got up to leave. It was time that he make his way to the bridge and grace the crew with his illuminous presence. "It must be the pointy ears," he said with a wink and walked away without another word, knowing that Bones was undoubtedly glaring at his back.
When he arrived at the bridge, he immediately noticed that Spock was already at his station and was diligently involved in his work. Like always. Jim smiled at his back before moving to take his seat. He gazed around at his crew, finding himself in the same situation that he was in yesterday. There was nothing to do. God, he hated the transit part of the job.
Like yesterday, he found his thoughts once again turning to his first officer. He also found himself observing him again. He was surprised to find that Spock seemed to be tenser than he usually was, which wasn't really saying much, since he was usually tense. He wondered what had caused the extra stiffness in his first officer's shoulders. Was it their dinner last night? Did he come to regret expressing so much of his personal affairs? All of a sudden, Jim couldn't imagine being so happy earlier this morning. He couldn't remember another single event in his entire life when he had felt this much doubt.
But then, as he observed the rest of his hardworking crew, he found that Spock wasn't the only one who was unusually tense. As his gaze passed over Uhura, he found that she was fidgeting and seemed to be sniffling. Or something. Jim had to resist the urge to sigh. Unfortunately, being captain meant that he had to care about his crew, and while usually that wasn't a problem, he couldn't help but feel like he was the wrong person for the conversation that he was about to have with his communications officer. Damn.
"Lieutenant Uhura," he said softly as he walked up to her. "Come take a walk with me."
She looked up at him and he met her bloodshot eyes. Yep, she had definitely been crying. For a moment she looked like she was going to refuse, but then she stood up and walked to the turbolift. She turned and looked at him expectantly and he nodded and followed her, calling out to Spock as he left, "Mister Spock, you have the conn."
He could feel Spock's eyes burning into his back as he entered the turbolift with Uhura. He had a feeling that whatever was bothering Uhura involved Spock, but he figured it was best to get both sides of the story on a one-on-one basis. Jim glanced at his communications officer out of the corner of his eye. She was staring resolutely at the door to the turbolift as if she was trying to will it to open so they could finish the conversation already. Instead, Jim reached out and pressed a button, causing the turbolift to come to stop.
She remained standing still, but Jim could see that she was nervously clenching her hands at her sides. He just turned to look at her, trying to think of the best way to ask her what was wrong without sounding like he was prying. He just wanted to make sure she was alright.
"If you called me away so you could pry into my personal affairs, Captain, I'm afraid that you've just wasted both of our time," she snapped smartly, still staring straight ahead, refusing to even attempt to sound welcoming.
Jim paused. "I just wanted to make sure you were okay," he finally said. As he watched, Uhura's hard exterior seemed to melt and for the first time since entering the turbolift she turned to look at him.
"I am fully capable of performing my duties, if that's what you're worried about," she reassured him, glancing down at her feet.
Jim shook his head slightly and rested his hand gently on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. "I would never question your abilities, Lieutenant, I just was worried about you as an individual. You seemed to be having a hard time on the bridge."
She offered him a small smile and shook her head slightly and he took his hand back. "Thank you for the concern. I guess I'm just having a rough morning."
"Is there anything you'd like to talk about? Off the record, of course, between friends."
Jim knew that he was going out on a limb here. While he and Uhura were more than acquaintances, they weren't quite friends either. Sure, they had a fantastic working relationship and she still threw verbal barbs at him and he still flirted shamelessly with her, but that was about as deep as their relationship got. But he figured that she probably needed someone to talk to, as he fervently believed that talking about shit was the best way to get over it.
She gave him and odd look, but seemed to actually be considering his offer. "Not that it's any of your business," she said, suddenly becoming snappy, "but Spock and I have ended our brief relationship."
Jim had pretty much guessed as much, but he still put his best sympathetic face forward. He figured that her change in tone and attitude was a defense mechanism, and he couldn't really blame her. Once again he found himself knee deep in personal matters that he hadn't earned the right to know yet. And he wasn't entirely sure how to respond to them. While a snide remark was his first instinct, he also knew that he'd sound like the world's biggest asshole if he expressed anything more than his sincerest condolences.
"I'm sorry," he muttered. He was trying to find a way to turn this experience into a bright side, but everything that he could think of was extremely insulting to Spock and he didn't want to resort to negative feelings toward the half-Vulcan in an effort to cheer Uhura up. Not to mention, he highly doubted that she would appreciate it.
"It's alright," she said, "I didn't really expect it to last long anyways." Then, realizing that she had said more than she meant to, she shut down again. A lot like Spock, Jim thought in slight amusement.
They both stood there in silence, neither really knowing where to go from there. "I suppose we should head back," Jim finally said. Uhura nodded shortly, and Jim leaned over to push the button again, and the turbolift sprang into motion again. As they headed back to the bridge, Jim turned to Uhura one last time. "Hey, if you need anything or just want to talk or whatever, I'll always be here for you." Shit. That sounded so corny it was ridiculous. She seemed to realize that and chuckled slightly.
"Thanks, Jim," she said and quickly left the lift as the doors slid opened, heading back to her station. Jim followed her, still shaking his head at his sudden out of character offer. It wasn't that he didn't like helping, he just didn't usually offer in situations like that.
As they entered, Jim noticed that Spock was staring at both of them suspiciously. He knew that the next course of action would be talking to Spock, but as much as he wanted to make sure that he was alright, he just couldn't bring himself to have another conversation based entirely on emotion with his logical first officer. It seemed like all he'd done for the past few days was dredge through past emotional wrongs and current emotional problems. Maybe he'd talk to him later after giving both of them an emotional break. He knew that he needed it and, judging by Spock's background, he probably needed it too.
The door to the turbolift slid open and Jim turned to see Bones entering the bridge. Jim raised his eyebrows but smiled anyways. Bones was looking around, his gaze momentarily resting on Spock before turning back to Jim. Jim laughed quietly. McCoy had a nasty habit of randomly showing up and hanging out on the bridge whenever he was bored. He almost never contributed anything positive, but he was still a relief for Jim. Bones helped Jim stay grounded, in a way. While Jim didn't think he would that his captaincy would go to his head, it was nice to know that Bones would be around as a preventative measure...and as a friend.
"How long until we reach Organia?" Bones asked, leaning on the back of Jim's chair.
Sulu answered without turning around in his seat, "About three days."
Bones nodded. "How much do we know about these people?" he asked, sounding a little worried. Although the crew of the Enterprise hadn't completed a lot of missions yet, most of the ones that they had been through had ended in some kind of injury to at least one of the crew members - usually the captain himself. So it wasn't irrational to believe that this mission would probably end up with Jim in the sickbay.
Jim shrugged though, deciding to ignore Bone's underlying concern. "Not much," he replied honestly. "They tend to be a neutral people...um, they're super intelligent so we're gonna have to be on top of our game."
Bones nodded again and sighed. "What about the virus that's closely associated with these people?"
Jim looked at him, wondering how he'd known about that. Then he decided that it was probably just something he knew because he was a doctor. "What about it?" he asked casually.
"Oh, I don't know," Bones exclaimed, exasperated. "How about the fact that it's deadly?"
Jim didn't answer, not knowing what the proper response would be. He knew that no matter what he said, Bones would worry unnecessarily. And, in truth, it was a valid concern. Deadly viruses would be the perfect addition to his list of recent disasters that had thus far troubled his ship. If he had believed in such things, he would have said that the Enterprise was cursed.
"We're not even going to the planet that is afflicted with the virus," Jim reasoned, hoping to placate his chief of medicine. While it didn't seem to completely eradicate his fears, Bones sniffed in mild disgust at not being taken seriously and left the bridge.
Jim sighed and turned back to gaze upon his crew. For the most part, they all seemed to have stiffened in their chairs at the mention of the deadly virus. While they had all been informed of the basics of the mission and the possible dangers behind it, Jim could see how hearing concerns from the chief of medicine could be disheartening. Making a mental note to reprimand Bones for a lack of tact, he got up to observe his crew, occasionally issuing a command or a compliment. As he passed Uhura, he put a comforting hand on her shoulder briefly before moving on. She looked up at him and gave a small half-smile as he moved on.
How much longer until he was off duty? Too long, undoubtedly.
"Mister Spock," Jim called out suddenly. When his first officer looked up at him, an eyebrow raised, he continued, "Would you be so kind as to accompany me?"
"Of course, Captain," he responded, standing immediately.
"Sulu, you have the conn," Jim said and the officer acknowledged his statement as he and Spock headed for the briefing room. He didn't know why, but all of a sudden he felt the need to talk about the mission with his first officer. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that things could go horribly awry without too much warning. After all, Jim hadn't been kidding when he told Bones that they were super intelligent. And in Jim's experience, the more intelligent a person was, the easier it was to offend them with sheer ignorance.
"Captain?" Spock asked, almost sounding tentative and Jim realized that he'd just been standing in silence for a good minute, dwelling on his own fears.
"Does any of this seem weird to you?" Jim asked, deciding to let his first officer express any worries, assuming he had any.
"To what are you referring?"
Jim sighed. For a telepath, Spock really sucked at reading minds. Jim conveniently decided to ignore the fact that he was a touch telepath.
"The mission. The Organians. Any of it."
Spock pulled out his datapad where Jim presumed he had the information regarding the mission and perched on the edge of one of the chairs. As he began to look over it, Jim sat down a little impatiently. It had been a simple question and he had really been looking for answer based more on instinct than facts, but then, he supposed, that was what made him and Spock a good team. While Jim would follow his instincts, Spock could back up his thoughts with actual facts.
"Not particularly, sir," Spock replied after a few minutes of research.
Jim sighed and dropped his head into his hands, feeling the beginnings of a headache. "Why now, though?" he asked, vocalizing one of his main concerns.
If Spock had been more human, he probably would have shrugged right then, but instead he raised his eyebrow again. Damn that eyebrow. If Jim could convey half of the things that Spock could by merely lifting an eyebrow, he would probably give up displaying emotions too. "It is merely an alliance venture. It is the logical course of action with the Klingons becoming more active."
"Yeah, but if they're notorious for not taking sides, then why extend the effort now? Has something changed recently to make them suddenly more open to an alliance?"
"No, however, it is practical to extend the offer of an alliance every once in a while in order to prevent any animosity between them and the Federation."
"Spock," Jim said, his voice taking on an exasperated tone, "you know as well as I do that the Organians have extended life spans. It's part of being super intelligent or whatever. We're going to be extending the same offer to the same beings that the Federation did the time before." Jim hated to admit it, but the Organians truly did seem like a lost cause at this point in time. Maybe in another century there would be new Organian rulers with different views regarding neutrality, but until then, it simply seemed like a redundant process.
Spock put away his datapad and looked intently at his captain. "Is something troubling else you, Captain?"
Jim shook his head, trying to make sense of his own concerns before expressing them to his first. "I don't really know," he admitted, "something just feels off and I'm not sure what it is."
Damn Bones and his mention of the deadly virus. He knew, deep down, that this was what was making him uncomfortable about the situation, but no one knew enough about it to really give Jim a reason to pinpoint it as a reason to avoid contact with these people. However, the word 'deadly' was enough of a turnoff that he didn't think that he really needed another reason.
"Captain?" Spock asked, noticing that he had zoned out again.
"Hmm?" Oh, that's right. He was still with Spock. He supposed they could head back to the bridge now. Spock hadn't had any concerns so he supposed that he shouldn't really be worried either. "I guess that's all I had to talk about...unless you want to tell me what happened between you and Lieutenant Uhura?"
Wow, he hadn't intended to bring that up. As he looked at Spock, he found that he was slightly amused at his expression. He had clearly caught him off guard as well. Which led Jim to believe that it really shouldn't be so easy to catch himself off guard. Maybe if he started thinking before he spoke...
Spock stiffened almost imperceptibly, but Jim noticed and took pride in his ability to observe the nuances of Spock's body language. "What occurs between the lieutenant and I is our own concern," he responded in a clipped tone.
Which was Spock speak for 'mind your own fucking business'. Jim smiled slightly. Commence the shameless prying.
"So you guys did break up?"
Spock shot him a look that was quite possibly supposed to be a death glare. "Lieutenant Uhura and I have terminated our romantic relations, yes," answered Spock before standing up sharply. "If that is all, I will return to my duties on the bridge."
Jim nodded. "Of course." Spock stalked to the door without a backwards glance, leaving a beaming Jim behind him.
Despite his attempts at forging a friendship between himself and Spock, he still found that it was enjoyable to purposely antagonize his first officer. He should probably find a better way to get his kicks, though. One of these days, 'if looks could kill' was going to prove to be a more accurate saying than it was supposed to be, and Jim didn't want to be the first one to have his tombstone say "death by glare".
A.N.
Sorry, this chapter was really more of a filler and set up and there wasn't much Kirk/Spock interaction. Next chapter should be exciting. I hope that I'm doing alright at keeping them all in character, but if you guys don't think I am, just yell at me and I'll do my best to rectify the problem. Thanks for the reviews guys! You're opinions mean a lot to me.