Ninety minutes after Jim announced his meeting, he and Bones stood outside the door of Briefing Room Two, idly watching other members of the crew walk by. Behind him, the crowded briefing room buzzed with excitement. It had filled early with members of the landing party and various other specialists who were intensely interested in life on Emagious III. Jim knew fully well that a good many of these observers were most keenly interested in the vulcanoid life on Emagious III, but that fact no longer bothered him. Spock's pedantic manner would quickly put an end to the madness that had recently swept the Enterprise.

Or so he hoped.

"I will say this for Spock-itis," Bones muttered beside him. "It certainly had a positive impact on morale."

Jim looked around at the smiling faces. Many of the crewmen exchanged knowing looks with him as they passed; most of the women seemed contentedly lost in their own little world. A few of these managed to squeeze into the already packed briefing room; Jim doubted most of them even realized he was there.

"As they say," Jim responded quietly, watching yet another dreamily absorbed crewmember drift by, "a horny ship is a happy ship."

Bones smothered his laugh. "Where did you hear that?"

"Scotty."

Bones looked around. "Where is Mr. Scott?"

"I think he's preparing for his date with Lumley."

"Well!" Bones eyebrows rose. "Will wonders never cease?"

"You're telling me. When I got up this morning, I had no idea the entire crew would be intimately familiar with the sight of Mr. Spock's buttocks before noon."

Bones leaned contentedly against the door frame. "Jim, when you're in my line of work, you've seen so many bottoms that it takes a hell of a lot for one to make an impact." He watched as another absently smiling crewman walked by. "Other people, on the other hand..."

Jim nudged Bones' elbow. "Here they come."

Bones checked his chronometer. "Hmm. 91 minutes exactly. Bravo, Mr. Spock."

Jim shook his head, grinning as he watched a couple approach. "I'm sure it must be only 90 minutes, 45 seconds, Bones. Spock must have timed it so it would be 91.00 the instant he hit the door."

"I'll bow to your expertise, Jim."

Nyota and Spock walked side-by-side—if "side-by-side" meant two people joined from hip to shoulder so that not a glimmer of space showed between them. Spock's upright posture was uncharacteristically relaxed, his mouth almost smiling as he tipped his head toward Nyota. His hands were clasped behind his back as usual, but Nyota had her arm firmly about his waist to pull him toward her as she playfully murmured some intimacy into his ear. Jim was surprised that Spock permitted such a display of public affection. Then again, if he were Spock, he'd be too relaxed to even stand. The lucky bastard.

The couple drifted within speaking distance. Spock inclined his head. "Captain."

"Mr. Spock. Are you ready for us?"

"Nearly, Captain. I require only a moment or two to prepare."

"Let me help you," Bones instantly volunteered. He looked as if he were trying very hard to hold in his laughter. Looking past him, Jim understood why. The excited buzz of conversation in the briefing room had ceased, and everyone within was now staring with glistening eyes toward the open door.

Spock looked mildly into the packed room, but neither the excessive crowd nor the many rapt faces seemed to make any impact on him. Good grief, he was criminally relaxed. "It is a simple operation to activate the viewer, Doctor," Spock drawled, with half-closed lids.

"No, now, I insist. You just got back from vacation. You shouldn't have to go to all that bother right now."

Jim knew that Bones was eager to get inside simply so he could laugh at the reaction of his fellow crewmates. Far be it from Jim to deny Bones his pleasure.

"Go ahead, you two," he interjected. "We'll be there in a moment."

Nyota reluctantly released her grip—there was no other word for it—on Mr. Spock. Through the open door, Jim caught a glimpse of Mallory biting her lip. Hmm, maybe there had been something more than hero worship to her fascination with Mr. Spock after all. She certainly hid it well—far better than Mubarak, whose eyes were fastened on Spock with the intensity of a hunting tiger.

Bones and Spock started inside—and were greeted with applause from the assembled group. Spock merely nodded acknowledgment, proceeding calmly toward the viewer. Jim imagined every woman he passed was mentally stripping him with her eyes, recalling what lay beneath. Bones followed the commander with a smile, surveying the fervent faces and obviously delighting in the absurdity of human nature.

Jim would have caught Nyota's arm before she walked through the door, but she stopped on her own, leaning against the wall so they could have a private conversation. Her warm, dark eyes glowed with contentment.

"Thank you for that, Captain."

Her voice was a full octave lower than its usual register. Damn, that must have been some terrific aftermath! Jim's grin spread. "My pleasure. Besides, I knew you wouldn't be worth a damn thing until you'd taken the edge off."

Nyota's smile widened. Good grief, he could feel the pheromones pouring off her, like a freaking waterfall. He'd better give her the rest of the shift off, and lock Spock up with her. Otherwise, the entire crew would be aftermathing left, right, and center where ever the pair walked by.

"I'm not sure I'm good for much of anything right now," she murmured in her new, sultry voice.

Jim felt torn between a smile and a whimper. "Good for anything else, you mean."

She chuckled throatily. "That's right."

Damn, Jim had better find out if Engineer Nelson was still available for this evening. It was becoming imperative that he do something about his sexual fantasies. Maybe it was that hormone cocktail Uhura was breathing all over him; he didn't know. But he was going to embarrass himself if he didn't rein in his reactions soon.

Jim nodded into the room. "You realize he's going to be insufferable after all this. I mean, more insufferable than he was before."

Nyota shook her head. "It won't affect him."

Inside the room, Bones was "helping" Spock set up the viewer—and bulloxing the operation in the process. Jim suspected that Bones did it just so he could have an excuse to stage a quarrel with Spock. Judging from the laughter, it seemed the meeting room participants were enjoying the resulting antics.

Jim lowered his voice. "Nyota, Spock has got to know that every woman in there is deep in fantasy-induced salivation."

"He doesn't know that. I don't think he'd care if he did know that."

"Say again?"

Nyota smiled indulgently. "Spock can be vain about many things—his intelligence, his heritage—"

"His abs," Jim interjected.

"No. Looks don't come into it. Like other Vulcans, Spock accepts that a person's physical appearance is simply how they look. He evaluates it along with everything else to assess their abilities and threat potential. And that's it."

"You're telling me," Jim challenged, "that Spock managed to secure possibly the most drop-dead gorgeous woman in all of Starfleet—and he doesn't care about your looks?"

Nyota mused, "I don't think he minds the way I look—"

Jim snorted.

"—but it wasn't an important consideration with him. It wasn't." She looked into the room. Bones was now trying to "fine tune" the image, which seemed to be a pa'ash-limuk that was at the moment projecting over Bones' uniform as he fiddled with the controls, and over Spock's as he gravely tried to correct the doctor's adjustments. The resulting show had the meeting attendees in stitches. Nyota, observing it, smiled softly.

Jim took a moment to think. For the first time, he could see the appeal of someone like Spock for Nyota. Such a beautiful woman as her must have had men chasing her for her looks all her life. Meeting a man who appreciated her purely for her mind and personality must have been a breath of fresh air.

Well, their relationship was what it was, and none of his damn business. Turning his mind to other issues, Jim murmured, "What did he have to say about the Vulcan artifacts smuggling ring?"

Nyota went still, then blushed slightly. "Um, I didn't quite get to that."

Jim grinned. As it was the only event of importance that had occurred during the entire time Spock had been away, he was forced to conclude that the only updates she'd given Spock during their absence had been of a purely physical nature. He was sure that area had been thoroughly covered.

Jim relaxed against the door frame. "It's just as well. There's no sense in ruining his first few hours aboard with sad thoughts of his home planet."

Some tension went out of Nyota's frame. "Thank you, Captain."

"Still," he said casually, "you were pretty slack in your duties. I only asked you to accomplish one thing during your break, and you managed to screw it up."

Nyota smiled. "You were right in thinking that I wouldn't be good for anything."

"Yeah. So, why don't you knock off for the day? After the briefing, I mean. That will give you plenty of time to let Spock know about all the things he's been missing."

Her smile would make a lame man walk. "Thank you, Captain. I'd like that very much."

"No prob—Whoops! Looks like Bones and Spock have finally worked it out."

The pa'ash-limuk was now displaying properly in holographic form over the center of the table. After chasing McCoy from the controls, Spock had clasped his hands behind his back and stood at (extremely relaxed) attention.

"Go!" Jim whispered, guiding Nyota into the room before him.

Mallory, the good sport that she was, had saved her fellow officer a chair. Nyota slipped into it, her attention already captured by Spock. A serene smile played over her face. Jim wondered if she noticed the looks of pure envy that assaulted her from almost every angle of the room. He watched a moment; nope! Her focus was riveted. Either Nyota was one big pushover, or that Vulcan was better than Jim had thought. Will wonders never cease, indeed.

Jim took his place next to Bones, standing against the wall with numerous latecomers at the rear of the room.

"It's so nice to see everybody together again," Bones said in a low voice, smirking over the reactions going on between Nyota and everyone else around the table.

"Yes," Jim murmured. "I think we've got morale back up to a reasonably high level."

"We're going to need it if we're facing the Vulcans in a few days," Bones whispered, as Spock had started to speak.

Jim grunted. He didn't want to think about New Vulcan. The idea made him sad.

"So we can add that to our list of things to thank Spock-itis for," Bones continued, not observing Jim's mood.

Jim leaned closer. "You've got a list?"

"Oh, yeah. Right at the top is where Nelson in Engineering agreed to have dinner with me." Bones smiled lasciviously. "I'm looking forward to testing her reflexes."

Jim put a hand over his face. Sometimes he hated being the Captain.