Hi all! Just wanted to add that yes, Spock seems out of character but he does have his reasons. His motives will become clear in the next chapter. I do promise a big blowout! Please please please review. They are my lifeblood and I really appreciate ideas. Just PM me if you have criticism or questions. Thank you so very much for reading!
Tishbing
Chapter Seven
Jamie stretched her back and cracked her neck. The long hours spent over all the documents needed for the equipment transfers was tedious and left her stiff and tired.
Leaning back in her chair, Jamie saw that she had an half hour before her dinner with Tom. She wondered if she should follow Bones's advice. Her memories of the years with Tom weren't all pleasant. Tarsus threw them together, the fight for survival brought them closer than ever and the years they spent growing up with each other solidified their bond.
Jim truly had loved Tom back then. His kindness, intelligence and caring demeanor was everything a woman should want. They'd made a formidable team in college, both attaining masters degrees. His in bio-molecular genetic engineering while hers was in computers and warp mechanics. On the side, as a hobby, both of them worked tirelessly to try and solve the dilemma of hunger. Together, they had created duo triticale. A grain resistant to two major forms of fungus and that was rarely attacked by pests.
They had started their latest proposal for their next project, quadrotriticale, when Tom had received news that he had been accepted to Cerberus for a fully paid scholarship to complete his PhD. That was when they had had their first real fight. Thomas wanted to stay and marry her, giving up everything and having a family. She couldn't let that happen. She'd had to break his heart to make him go and in the process it had crushed her very soul.
Jamie had known he would never have let her go and move on to the future he deserved. She'd gotten a friend to pose in bed with her and "accidentally" let her get caught in a compromising position. The look on his face had haunted her for almost a year after. It took years for him to forgive her and for them to continue as friends but time and distance caused them to lose contact as it always does with people. Last she heard, he'd been engaged to Martha McLane. Jamie hadn't seen a ring so she supposed it hadn't worked out.
The clock showed 18:50 hrs and Jamie decided she'd done enough reminiscing. She pulled the tie out if her hair, fluffed it and was walking out the door when she almost collided with Spock. He stood stiffly with arm raised to press her door chime. Upon seeing her he lowered his arm.
"Commander." She greeted. There was a large stack of PADDs in his hands and he looked distinctly irritated. Jamie thought back to what she could have done to make him mad and came up empty-handed.
"Captain, I have some reports that need your signature." He presented the mentioned documents stiffly.
"Later. I'm due on the base." Jamie made to step around him but he moved with her.
"I would prefer them now." She barely restrained herself from rolling her eyes. Of course he would want them now.
"Just put them on my desk and I'll get to them later. I have a dinner appointment with the Commander Leighton. If you'll excuse me." Jamie effectively sidestepped the persistent Vulcan but as she started her way down the corridor she could hear his footfalls right behind her. An unusual headache was beginning behind her eyes.
"Spock, what are you doing?" Stopping abruptly, Kirk pinched the bridge of her nose to stop the advancement of the headache.
"I will accompany you to the base." God. Why was he doing this? It hurt bad enough every time she saw Spock and Uhura together but now this?
"Go get dinner with Uhura." She snapped.
"The lieutenant is currently in the..."
"It wasn't a suggestion, commander." Her eyes flew up to his and Jamie saw him take a step back in surprise.
Scanning the corridor for any prying eyes, Jamie lowered her voice. "Look, I'm trying to get over my...what was it you called it? My juvenile attraction to you and get over you but you sticking to me like glue isn't helping so back off!" Jamie snarled and started to walk again but this time Spock grabbed her arm to stop her.
"You intend to develop romantic ties with the station commander?" Spock looked hurt and angry but more angry than hurt. His dark eyes flashed and she'd seen that look before...right after she'd confronted him on the bridge and he'd lost it. "You intend to copulate with this male while you are carrying my child?"
Later, Jamie would swear she imagined the flood of possessive rage swarming her but her own indignation overwhelmed any other feelings.
"Excuse me? But what I choose to do or not to do is none of your damn business." Jamie wrenched her arm from his grip.
Spock's mouth opened and closed before pressing into a thin line, disapproval clearly written on his face. He definitely wanted to say more.
"I'm going to the base and having dinner with someone who is an old friend of mine and I'm going to have a nice time because tomorrow we have to focus on finalizing everything for New Berlin." With that said, she turned and left the stunned vulcan.
...
Tom greeted her in the main cafeteria with a smile that did everything to make her blush. Maybe Bones really was right.
"Hey, Jimmy-girl." He gave a playful hip bump and led her to a secluded corner where they placed their trays on the table. It was quiet and almost nobody was there. The peace helped her headache fade slightly and Jamie sat next to Tom.
"So, how're things?" He asked carefully.
She had to think how to answer and by the look on his face, Tom knew that things weren't going as well as she was hoping to tell him.
"That bad, huh?"
A breath that was part laugh, part sigh escaped and Jamie smiled weakly.
"Yeah." Jamie toyed with her pasta, sitting morosely until Tom stopped her fingers.
"Do you like being captain of the Enterprise?"
Jim set down her fork and blew out a deep sigh. "I do. I love it! It's just..."
"Not what you expected?" Tommy's bright green eyes looked at her expectantly.
"No, it's not that. It's just...personal." She shook her head and leaned back in her chair. Her pants were too restrictive to really relax.
"Would you consider another posting?"
She was about to reply when the sound of a tray sliding onto a table startled her. Spock, with a rather irritated looking Uhura behind him, proceeded to join them at their table.
"Captain." He greeted curtly. Uhura looked at her and shrugged before placing her tray next to his.
"Uh...I believe you remember my first officer, Commander Spock and this is my chief of communications, Lieutenant Uhura." She awkwardly introduced.
Tom nodded his greeting and Jim just couldn't believe it. Technically, Spock had followed her strongly worded suggestion. He was having dinner with Uhura just...crashing her dinner too.
Leighton was handling the sudden change in circumstance like a champ. Spock was currently grilling him on his latest set of fertilizer trials while Uhura stared with a puzzled look. Jamie caught her eye and mouthed Why is he here? And received a similarly frustrated shrug.
"And I was just about to speak to your captain about the latest research project that we have received funding for." Tom gently tapped her arm to get her attention. His face was flushed with excitement and Jamie briefly wondered if she should call McCoy because he looked ready to explode.
"And what would that be?" Spock's eyes darted to where Tom was, oblivious to Spock's glare, holding her.
"We're beginning phase II trials of the production of quadrotriticale grain."
Jamie almost dropped her glass of water, her face and hands went cold as the blood left it.
"I was hoping for her input." He smiled excitedly and Jamie didn't know how to respond. Her past could very well be thrown out in the open without her having control.
"And what sort of input were you hoping for? The captain is hardly qualified to assist in your research."
Now that was just bitchy. Did Spock honestly believe that she was uneducated? Was that why he held her in such disdain?
Leighton was getting upset, the red flooding up his neck and into his cheeks was the warning she needed to end this. "Well, I had a very interesting dinner. Thank you, Tom."
She stood quickly and moved to shake his hand but Leighton wasn't finished.
"Commander, all due respect but do you even know who submitted the original proposal?" He snapped.
"I would logically assume you did, commander."
Oh, shit shit shit!
She threw Uhura a pleading glance but she was watching the two scientists with interest.
"And you'd be..."
Jamie stumbled and carefully knocked over her water, making sure to spill it on Leighton to stop him talking.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Jamie handed over napkins and helped a sputtering Leighton.
While she was helping him clean she chanced a glance at Spock who was watching them with a curious expression on his face. Jamie knew that he was considering Thomas's words and if he was the scientist she knew he was, she had very little time to eradicate her past on the computer.
"Thank you, Commander Leighton. It has been a most intriguing evening." Jamie watched the Vulcan go with dread, his mission of killing their date and finding out about her was fulfilled.
Uhura threw her a sympathetic glance and she wondered if she had any better opinion on why Spock was harassing her. Once Spock knew about her ugly past, there was no telling how he would react. Probably with disgust.
"Oh, Tommy!" Jamie whispered. "Why did you have to open your big mouth?"
He finished patting his shirt and rolled his eyes. "I didn't. That's why I wanted to talk to you. Our project was finally accepted and I need you." He stood up and gripped her shoulders.
"Anybody with eyes can see you're not happy."
Jamie couldn't look at him. "I...can't."
"Why?" Biting her lip, Jamie thought about how to answer. She supposed telling the truth was probably best-quick-like a bandage, would be least painful.
"I'm pregnant. That's why." She raised her head and Thomas looked crestfallen.
"You're with...someone?" His hands shook and dropped to his sides.
"No. He...doesn't want me."
"What?"
Jim wrung her hands. "We weren't together when this happened. He's with someone else."
Tom seemed to think and then understanding dawned. "The Vulcan commander?"
She nodded.
"I don't think he's not interested if his glares at me during dinner were any indication." He laughed and wrapped an arm around Jamie's shoulders. She wanted to cry.
Frustration was getting to be a regular companion for her.
"Just so you know..." He gently lifted her chin so they were eye to eye. "...I never stopped loving you."
And right then, everything shifted on its axis. He moved closer, she could see every freckle on his nose, the white of the scar she had stitched after Kodos had cut him, the gold flecks in his irises and she met him halfway in a sweet kiss. A small part of her cried in agony but a larger part of her sang in joy that somebody loved her.
