Title: Reparation
Characters: Kirk, Spock
Rating: K
Word Count: 807
Summary/Warning: Scene set after The Balance of Terror. Can you tell that my NaNo ground to a screeching halt yesterday morning? *crosses fingers that drabbling will loosen the flow*

"Hey," the friendly tone finally penetrated his morose thoughts, and he realized the Captain had been speaking to him for a moment now. "You're a million light-years away," Kirk added kindly when he blinked, stiffening in attention.

Even after several months with this human as his Captain, he found it difficult sometimes to accurately read the man's sense of humor, and currently he was not quite sure if the words were meant as a calm reprimand or simply an observation.

He settled for a suitably humble response in the event the former was accurate. "I was…attempting to assess how my egregious errors could have been prevented during our encounter with the Romulans, Captain."

Kirk nodded, understanding but not blaming, oddly enough. "In other words, you were brooding over a simple mistake."

"Vulcans do not brood."

"They supposedly don't make mistakes, either," his companion added, but with enough gentleness that he was aware of the point being made without any malice intended. "That doesn't mean the generalization is entirely true."

"It is true that I…regret my mistake and what it cost the Enterprise," he finally admitted, slumping slightly against the wall of the turbolift.

Surprised both at the admission and the fact that the Vulcan was either too weary or too distraught to remain standing at stiff attention, Kirk was certainly pleased that he had read his First Officer correctly during the last hour and had acted accordingly.

"It could've happened to anyone, Spock," he ventured, trying a logical approach.

Unfortunately, it failed. Cold eyes flicked up to his warm ones. "I am not simply 'anyone', Captain."

"No," he agreed, turning the disarming smile up to full wattage. "You're my First Officer, the best in the 'Fleet – and my friend, if you'll let me be one in return someday. And because that's something the crew of this ship apparently has somewhat forgotten recently, I'd be honored if you would have dinner with me in General Mess after you've seen McCoy."

"I had no intention of –"

"Yes, I know," Kirk replied dryly. "But don't think I can't tell when you're not feeling yourself. You breathed enough of that coolant to kill a full human. I was understanding of your wishes while we were in combat, but you are going to see him now that the danger is over."

Spock recognized that particular protective tone, and knew resistance was completely futile. He resigned himself to being fussed over as soon as the lift would reach Deck Seven, steeling his nerves and schooling his features, and was preoccupied enough in doing so that he barely noticed the lift stop and the doors open.

Kirk exited ahead of him, as usual, and then surprised him by wheeling smartly about and standing at attention.

"Captain?" he asked, barely preventing his confusion from coloring his voice.

Then he saw behind the Captain, the corridor lined with blue- and yellow-clad figures, stiffly saluting in the somewhat outdated military fashion.

"Mr. Spock, today you saved the Enterprise, by firing those phasers manually and single-handedly, in a room filling with coolant gas," the Captain stated, his voice floating warmly down the corridor. "You then saved the life of Crewman Stiles, further endangering your own in the process."

The Captain's eyes darkened in suppressed grief at the knowledge that even that brave act had not been sufficient to save Tomlinson from the fate that had nearly overtaken Stiles, but it was soon banished in the warmth of the reassuring gaze he was sending toward his slightly-bewildered First Officer.

"Mr. Spock, the Enterprise is in your debt, and her crew wishes to thank you," Kirk finished, saluting formally, first in the military fashion and then, hesitantly, in the Vulcan fashion he had carefully researched and practiced since becoming Captain of this ship a few months before.

Spock stood for a moment, overwhelmed by the idea that this new Captain of his had actually recognized acute humiliation and – if he would admit to it – embarrassment and the more inexcusable emotion of hurt over the reactions of the crew regarding his physical similarities to the Romulans. What is more, instead of gleefully confronting the Vulcan over the terrible breach of such humanity showing in public circumstances (as Dr. McCoy would have taken great enjoyment in doing), Kirk had instead detoured his abilities and sway as Captain to reinforcing in the crew's eyes exactly where the chain of command lay – and reassured that chain of his own confidence in the process.

James Kirk was an extraordinary human, he was only just beginning to realize.

Slowly he raised his own hand in the corresponding gesture, and saw smiles finally break out on the faces of the crew behind the expectant Captain. "The honor is to serve," he managed to say with perfect equanimity, and meant it with every part of his soul.