Thanks to everyone who read and to FoundtoArrive, LauraCynthia, FrankieHS, sunsethill, and She-Elf23 for reviewing. Life is still crazy, but so it goes.
"Spock?"
Spock blinked as he registered someone gripping his wrist over his shirt, realizing abruptly that he had somehow lost several minutes. 'Several' remaining an unacceptably vague descriptor, but the more precise 7.94 minutes took longer to calculate than customary. And Jim was now crouched in front of the bed. Which he was sitting on.
"Hey, come on, you've got to come back," Jim said, shaking his arm lightly. "Because somehow I missed the unit on Vulcans in shock in the emergency medical curriculum, and I kind of doubt you'd appreciate me calling Bones."
Spock twisted his wrist to remove it from Jim's grip. "Captain. As Vulcans do not experience shock, calling Dr. McCoy would serve no purpose."
A snort, and the bed dipped as Jim shifted up from his crouch on the floor to take a seat beside him. "Yeah, you're going to have to find someone else to try that line on. I figured something must have caught your attention when you weren't back by the time I had the caps swapped out, but even you aren't usually that pale. Or in the habit of sitting around staring into space."
The latter, at least, was true, and along with the loss of time somewhat disconcerting.
"Seriously, you know Bones wouldn't get pissed about something real."
"Your statement is both accurate and also irrelevant. I am in no distress."
Jim's shoulder knocked lightly into his. "Right. So you want to clue me in on what 'distracted' you so much that you didn't even notice me come in, then?"
Spock hesitated and then gestured to the plastic tub on the floor, and Jim frowned and leaned over. And then cursed in several languages that Spock wasn't aware that he spoke. Vulcan included, at least in a technical sense. "Captain, while that phrase is not grammatically incorrect, it is unacceptably vulgar with regards to conversational usage."
"Yeah, well, blame your girlfriend." His expression was serious as he turned back to Spock. "I am so sorry. I didn't even know those were in there, I've been working my way through…." He gestured towards the closet and—presumably, although it was logical given minimal consideration—the shorter stack of tubs on the side opposite that which Spock had pulled from.
"No apology is necessary." Spock had simply not been expecting to find himself staring at an image of the Temple of Amonak.
In retrospect his reaction had been quite illogical, and he would meditate on his failure to ensure that it would not repeat. Granted that he had not sought out anything of the sort, but the same image, in fact a wide selection of much clearer and undoubtedly more accurate images, were available in any Federation database. And while Jim had not mentioned that his mother had visited Vulcan, the Vulcan shipyards had been limited in number and particularly in recent decades focused primarily on specialized and experimental ship configurations. It was to be expected that ships of more standard design would have been ordered from elsewhere in the Federation, and equally that the shipyard here would have had the same probability of use as any other.
Jim's shoulder knocked into his again. "Okay, well, obviously that's yours if you want it. That and any others like it, if they exist. Or we can shove it back into the closet and pretend we never saw it, or dump it in the 'cycler, or…I don't know, but it's your call."
It was not his, of course. It was Jim's. Or technically Jim's brother's. And yet he couldn't help an involuntary and inappropriate sense of possessiveness as Jim lifted it out of the tub.
"'Vulcan Religious Monument Collection, #3,'" Jim read, a label that Spock had failed to notice previously, and Jim flipped the box over quickly. "If Mom did her usual and brought back the whole set, we should find the Temple of T'Panit, the Kurat Temple Complex, and the Kolinarhu Monastery somewhere around here too. I don't know if she did, though."
Spock nodded slightly, although he was privately surprised that the Vulcan elders had permitted the last to be included in such a collection. Particularly given their nature as what would to a Vulcan appear toys. A young child might be encouraged to build a model of an ancient temple as part of their studies, or perhaps to encourage a deeper connection with their history, but the subject of Kolinahr was not discussed lightly.
"Spock?" Jim nudged his shoulder again. "Do you want to look for them? Any others, I mean?"
"I...yes." He remained uncertain as to what he would do with them once they had been found, assuming they were, but as they were already here there was no reason to decline.
Both the Temple of T'Panit and the Kolinarhu Monastery were found on short order, but it took digging through two more tubs in the same stack to find the much larger box that supposedly encompassed the full Kurat Temple Complex. When they had Spock found himself once again staring.
"Have—had you been there?" Jim asked hesitantly.
"I visited all of the locations in question at least once as part of my studies, and three of the four with one or both of my parents as well. My mother in particular was always partial to the Temple Complex." He ran his fingers over the box. "When I was a child she once told me that there was something new to discover each time she visited, although I did point out that that was quite nonsensical given that it was completed more than eight thousand years ago."
That got a flash of a smile. "Sounds about right." Jim's arm closed around his shoulders and then released him just as quickly. "You want to go back downstairs and build one of these, or pack them up and pick something completely different instead? Or skip model-building all together?"
"Assembling one of these would be acceptable. However, I find myself first in need of meditation."
"Yeah, of course." Jim picked up the two individual temple boxes while Spock took the Monastery along with the Temple Complex he already held, following Jim downstairs to leave all four on the table by the couch.
And then Spock took a moment to put the entertainment center back on the wall before Jim could object, because the captain attempting to do so himself and getting injured would not be conducive to said meditation.
Rain drummed steadily in the background as he shook out his mat before laying it out again on the floor of his borrowed quarters, providing an acceptable focus even if he had not required anything of the sort since he had been a child, but despite that it took unsatisfactorily long to clear his mind.
He was aware that all of the individual temples and the Kurat Temple Complex were gone. The Monastery was gone. Vulcan was gone. He, like all Vulcans, had accepted that over a year ago. The fact that the circumstances had been beyond undesirable was irrelevant; what was, was. Kaiidth.
The sudden appearance of an image of the Temple of Amonak had simply been startling. Entirely reasonable given his previous understanding of where Jim's various models had come from.
Now that he was aware, there was no reason to remain unsettled.
Kaiidth.
By the time he had achieved an appropriate state of mind, an hour and thirty-six minutes had passed, and he pushed himself to his feet and re-rolled his mat quickly. He could hear muted speech from the outer room, none of the voices recognizably the captain's, and for a moment he considered remaining where he was. But there was no reason to do so, particularly as he and Jim had already discussed plans for the afternoon, and if there was the possibility of those plans changing it would be best to remain informed.
The unfamiliar voices resolved themselves almost immediately to a program playing on the entertainment unit, though, the only figure in the room being well-known if not the one he'd expected to find.
"Hey, look who's back in the land of the living," Dr. McCoy said, turning from where he'd been spreading out a thick blanket on the floor.
"Doctor. Presumably if I had been in danger of exiting such, you would not be out here...refreshing bedding?"
He rolled his eyes. "Jim, you better double up on those vegetables!"
"Twice none is still none," Jim called back from the kitchen.
"You are such an infant. The hobgoblin's up."
"Hey, Spock," Jim said, sticking his head into the room. "You're looking better. Got any preferences for snacks? With the way the rain's still coming down, we figured we'd put together some trays and just spend the evening lounging around. You and I can work on one of the models, or play chess, or you can read or watch whatever horrible documentary he's going to pick, whatever."
The enhancement to their plans did not sound displeasing, and Spock nodded slightly. "Spice tea would be appreciated." He tilted his head as he looked back at the doctor. "I was under the impression that you would be arriving tomorrow."
"Yeah, well, that was the original plan, but from the sounds of things it's been a crappy day all around, and in my case when I found out that I still had a chance of catching the last transport from the San Francisco shipyards after Jo disconnected…." He shrugged. "Just got in about half an hour ago. And there's now a personal rental out front if you want to go anywhere because I know someone always insists on an absurd amount of hiking."
"Exercise is good for you," Jim called back.
"Not when it involves bridges—and I use that definition extremely loosely—that even the Xindi didn't consider worth bombing. Or the monsoon season that's apparently set in lately."
In this instance Spock found the doctor's assessment to be the more objectively accurate even if his terminology was considerably less so, but when he heard a curse from Jim decided that assisting him would be a better use of his time than attempting to correct the doctor's phrasing. When he entered the kitchen he found Jim doing his best to balance two trays, one with a variety of fruits and vegetables and another with a selection of other bite-sized foods, on one hand while the other held three mugs. The grouping of mugs was the apparent cause of his distress as he all but dropped them onto the table and stuck one of his knuckles in his mouth.
"Perhaps I should take those?" Spock suggested.
"Yeah, that might be a good idea, I keep burning myself." He shook his hand out. "The Irish coffee is for Bones, you know yours, and then since someone," he raised his voice slightly, "won't let me spike anything right now, I've got the plain chocolate."
Spock nodded and both of them ignored the doctor's follow-up comment regarding pureed broccoli, Spock preceding Jim back into the main room. Where, as it turned out the doctor had been working with more than a single blanket. Between three and six had now been spread out on the floor with approximately the same number left stacked on the couch as well, and a variety of pillows were scattered around to provide additional cushioning well beyond that of the low carpet.
"Thank you," the doctor said, accepting his mug. "And I did see an interesting doc come out about an investigation of the spread of Yak'asi disease through nonstandard vectors, but if both of you are going to be children about it, I can look for something else."
"Oh, shut up, you know full well I wouldn't be able to sit still and watch no matter what you picked," Jim said, setting his trays down. "Unless you object?"
That was directed at Spock, who shook his head immediately even as he settled down onto the blankets on Jim's far side. "Negative. In fact the subject sounds quite illuminating."
"Always worries me when you and I agree." Dr. McCoy shook his head and then reached out to rearrange the trays, leaving the fruits and vegetables closest to Jim and Spock. And pointedly ignoring the tongue Jim stuck out in his direction.
"So do you want to put together one of the models?" Jim asked. "It's your call; if you want to do something else that's totally fine."
Spock shook his head again and then pulled down the model of the Kurat Temple Complex, setting the box between himself and Jim. And then hesitated.
"Really, we don't have to build it if you don't want to."
"My concern is not for the construction but for the blankets and the fact that we will be using liquid glue." He was reasonably certain that they had managed to avoid damage to the carpet previously—additional damage, rather, as said carpet was already visibly worn and bearing several minor stains—but the blankets were in better condition and thus a protective barrier might perhaps be advisable.
"Oh, don't worry about that. The glue's water based and the blankets are washable so we should be fine. Although I'd better go synthesize another tube or two, now that you mention it, because I think we about used up the other ones."
Jim pushed himself back up, and Spock turned to look at Dr. McCoy. "You are not interested in model building, Doctor?"
He shook his head, arranging three pillows at his back before stretching out and tucking an arm behind his head. "I'd point out that if you can manage Jim Leonard shouldn't be too much trouble, but to answer your question, no, I get enough of dealing with fiddly bits when it comes to all of y'all's insides. You two have fun."
Spock raised an eyebrow and refrained from direct commentary on the doctor's request for the use of his given name. "Fascinating. I have not previously encountered the term 'fiddly bits' in relation to the medical field."
"Really?" He made an obvious mimic of Spock's expression. "It's what command staff who are pains in my ass and only manage to make it to sickbay after they've been folded, spindled, or mutilated—folded, spindled, mutilated, or shot, rather—have. If any of you'd ever show up for your checkups instead of hiding under your beds, I'd have some more specific terms for you."
"I can recall no specific instance in which I have taken refu—"
"You two cannot already be started," Jim said, flipping a tube of glue to Spock.
"Empirical evidence would indicate that you are incorrect."
He groaned and then stepped over a snickering Dr. McCoy, dropping down beside Spock and picking up a handful of blueberries from the tray. "Ready to get started then?"
"Indeed." Spock set the glue aside and opened the Kurat Temple Complex box, discovering almost immediately that unlike the Moonjumper model, this one had several sections that were clearly parts of a base for the various temple structures to be assembled upon. Quite logical.
"Do you want to use the instructions?" Jim asked as Dr. McCoy ordered the entertainment unit to begin playing the documentary he'd referenced. "I mean, this seems like maybe not something to risk messing up."
"Negative. You are familiar with model building, and I am familiar with the complex in question."
Jim nodded and then began to spread the rest of the pieces out, setting the instructions and the box on the couch behind them. "So if you'd been there a couple times, what was the best part? If it's okay to ask, I mean."
"'Best' is, of course, entirely subjective, but I always found the tile work in the Hall of K'naph pleasingly symmetric."
Dr. McCoy—Leonard—snorted, and Jim grabbed a pillow and tossed it back over his shoulder in the doctor's direction. It was illogical of course, but the doctor's curse was privately satisfying.
"My mother found the Hall of V'tor preferable," Spock added after a moment. "Similar to the Hall of K'naph the tile work incorporated in its construction was considered a superior example among historians, but the design was more...freeform, I believe, would be the correct term."