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a clear call (that may not be denied)	By : onekisstotakewithme Category: Star Trek > Star Trek Views: 463 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, nor the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

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Before Jim can ask any more questions – his head spinning from more than just the aftereffects of the hot Vulcan air and the neuroparalyzer that Bones slipped him – the intercom whistles.
“Kirk here,” he says, turning to listen.
“Captain Kirk.” Uhura’s voice is urgent, although it’s calm enough not to betray trouble to anyone on the bridge. “Message from Starfleet Command, top priority.”
Ah… now the fox is in with the chickens, Jim thinks, hesitating for only a second as he glances at Spock.
Definitely worth a career.
“Relay it, Lieutenant,” he says, before he has a chance to change his mind.
“Response to T’Pau’s request for diversion of Enterprise to planet Vulcan hereby approved. Any reasonable delay granted. Komack, Admiral, Starfleet Command.”
“Well,” Jim says, a little relieved, “A little late, but I’m glad they’re seeing it our way. How about that T’Pau? They couldn’t turn her down.”
He thinks he almost sees a smile on Spock’s face, and remembers not the rush of combat, but the pure joy on Spock’s face upon realizing Jim wasn't dead, and that leaves him with a warmth in his chest hotter than the surface of Vulcan.
“Mr. Chekov,” he orders, “Lay in a course for Altair 6. Leave orbit when ready. Kirk out.”
As he steps out from behind the computer, he sees the light brighten in Bones’s eyes and sighs internally.
“There’s just one thing, Mr. Spock,” Bones says, rushing ahead like a bull in a china shop. “You can’t tell me that when you first saw Jim alive that you weren’t on the verge of giving us an emotional scene that would’ve brought the house down.”
Of course he noticed, Jim thinks wryly, turning to look at Spock, who looks as unruffled as always, as though the thought of an emotional scene has never occurred to him.
“Merely my quite logical relief that Starfleet had not lost a highly proficient captain.”
As compliments go, it’s pretty high, but again Jim pictures the look on Spock’s face, and flushes.
“Yes, Mr. Spock, I… I understand.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
“Of course, Mr. Spock, your reaction was quite logical.”
“Thank you, Doctor.”
Jim starts heading for the door, knowing without looking that Spock is behind him.
And then Bones sends out his parting shot. “In a pig’s eye!”
Jim exchanges a look with Spock, hiding a smile, as he says, “Come on Spock, let’s go mind the store.”
He walks out into the corridor, closely followed by Spock, who falls into step naturally beside him, as if he’ll always be there – and Jim can’t imagine a moment when he won’t be.
“Captain,” Spock says, and if Jim didn’t know better, he’d think he sounded hesitant. “I do not wish to intrude…”
“Mr. Spock, if anyone has intruded today, I would say it’s me.”
“I respectfully disagree.”
“Spock-”
“Captain,” Spock stops him, holding up a hand. “I asked you to stand with me. You did so.”
“Very well, Mr. Spock,” he allows.
Spock almost smiles. “Are you quite sure it is wise to go back to the bridge at this time?”
“Now that you mention it… I am a little winded. That was pretty intense combat.”
“Vulcans killed to win their mates,” Spock says simply.
“Yes…” Jim says, glancing sideways at Spock. “So you said.”
There’s a kernel of an idea forming, but Jim is merely examining it like a foreign seed, not sure of what will grow – if anything – when he plants it.
“Shall I walk you back to your quarters?”
“I see you’re no cheap date, Mr. Spock.” When this doesn’t get a reaction, Jim grimaces, gesturing. “After you.”
It’s a short trip back to Jim’s quarters, the door sliding open to a welcome sight: his room, blissfully empty.
Jim steps in gratefully, although he knows Spock has stopped at the threshold.
“Come in, Spock. It’s alright.”
“Captain…”
“At ease, for crying out loud.”
Jim tugs the clean shirt Bones had given him in sick bay over his head, and Spock gasps a little at the sight of Jim’s body.
Bruises are already forming across Jim’s shoulders, a faint shadow around his neck from the ahn woo, and although Bones coated it liberally with antibiotics, there’s still a slash across his chest from the lirpa.
“Jim…” Spock breathes, his eyes fixed to Jim’s injuries. “You are hurt.”
“What, this? It’s nothing.”
“I did that to you.”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. I’ve looked worse than this after a night on Risa.”
“Jim-”
“Spock, really, it doesn’t hurt. Sure, I’ll be stiff and sore for a few days, and I’ll have a hell of a scar, but my uniform took the worst of it. Besides, I like to think it gives me character.”
“A most illogical assumption, Captain,” Spock says, and Jim assumes that he’s recovered sufficiently from the shock of seeing Jim’s body. “Do you require anything else?”
“An explanation would suffice, Mr. Spock,” Jim says, walking over and easing himself down onto the bed, minding his bruises as he does.
“Elaborate.”
“It may be the aftereffects of the neuroparalyzer getting me all mixed up, but what happened down there?”
At this, Spock, if possible, looks ashamed.
“Captain, I… I wish to apologize. What T’Pring did was…”
“Unexpected, certainly.”
“It should not have been allowed. T’Pau was right, it is not something for outworlders. That I involved you is something that causes me shame.”
Jim swallows hard, remembering the way Spock spoke, even in the trance of the blood fever. “You said it yourself, Spock. We weren’t just any outworlders, and it was your right to have us there.”
“The fact that you were not killed is nothing short of a miracle.”
“I didn’t think you believed in miracles.”
“If not for the quick thinking of Doctor McCoy, you would now be dead at my hands. For that I apologize.”
“No apology necessary, Spock. I owe you my life a dozen times over. Well, maybe one less time now. Although…”
“Sir?”
“Spock, is my being alive going to muddle the issue?”
“In all honesty, Captain, I do not know. I know only that the madness is gone – the fever broke when I thought you had died – and my connection to T’Pring, along with our betrothal, has been dissolved.”
“You can’t… feel her any longer?”
“No, Captain. I cannot.”
“But suppose T’Pau finds out about McCoy’s little ruse…”
“Were you aware that he was going to do that?”
“No.”
“Then that is all you require. The challenge was satisfied. I thought I had killed you, and the madness left me once I had.”
“And… the girl? T’Pring?”
“I was not entirely honest before, Captain, with what I told you and the doctor. It was not only that I no longer wanted T’Pring… but she did not want me. Hence the challenge.”
“You… mean you lied?”
“Yes.”
“Is that embarrassment causing your cheeks to flush, Mr. Spock?”
“A human emotion, Captain.”
“I profess myself at a loss, Spock. Why wouldn’t she want you?”
He thinks Spock flushes a pale shade of green at this, right to the tips of his ears, but his voice betrays no emotion as he says, “Captain?”
“I mean, you’re a highly decorated officer of Starfleet, one of the finest first officers the fleet has ever had… you serve under my distinguished command, and you’re the son of an Ambassador!”
“All of that is true, Captain. But to Vulcan, I am and shall remain an outsider. Neither altogether Vulcan nor altogether human. And to T’Pring, my celebrity, as you put it, was not something she desired.”
“So she threw you over.”
“In essence, yes.”
“Well I think she’s making a mistake.”
“I said as much.”
“I doubt you said it quite like that.”
“Well,” Spock says, meeting his gaze, and there’s something there between them, something Jim can’t recognize even as Spock looks at him. “I told Stonn – the man that will be her consort – that sometimes having is not quite so pleasing a thing as wanting.”
“And have you found that to be true?”
“In my experience, yes. It is illogical, but it is true.”
“Right. Well, that just leaves one fly in the ointment, doesn’t it?”
“Sir?”
“Well if you are no longer… engaged, what happens the next time you… you know?”
“I do not know, Captain.”
“I suppose you’ll have to find another woman. Someone else, someone more suitable for you than T’Pring.”
“Captain, if T’Pring did not want the status and celebrity attached to my name, it is logical to assume that other Vulcan women will not.”
“So… what will you do?”
“I will consult with my father, and with T’Pau. Perhaps another betrothal can be arranged. Although… I do not know why you should concern yourself with this, Captain.”
“Why the devil not? You’re my first officer, my friend. Your concerns are mine.”
“An admirable sentiment, but Vulcans experience pon farr on a seven-year cycle. By then, our mission will be complete, and it will truly be no longer your concern.”
“Spock, whether you are on my ship or not, by my side or not, I’ll be concerned. I’m involved now. I want to help. Let me help.”
“Captain,” Spock says, holding out a hand to stop him from getting excited. “Please, it is not necessary.”
Jim sighs, leaning back on his bed, feeling his mattress cushion his body, the aches and pains melting away somewhat as he reclines.
“Face it, Spock. I owe you my life – what’s finding you a lady compared to that?”
“Captain, the details of my personal life are not-”
“They matter to me, Spock. I wouldn’t have agreed to go down there with you today if they didn’t.”
“The contract between myself and T’Pring is dissolved,” Spock says again, an odd note in his voice. “But what that means for me in future… remains to be seen.”
“Spock, I just have one more thing to ask – and I hope this isn’t too personal.”
“Not at all, Captain. What is it?”
“You said that Vulcans experience this on a seven year cycle. Do you think that could be different for you since you have not just Vulcan biology but human biology?”
“It could,” Spock allows.
“Will you tell me?”
“Captain?”
“Let me help,” Jim pleads again, remembering kneeling in the sand, blood flowing down his chest, and the way Spock had come out of the blood fever to beg for his life.
“Thank you, Jim. But to borrow a human saying… I will have to cross that bridge when I come to it.”
“Thank you, Mr. Spock.”
“Will that be all, Captain?”
“Yes, I… I just want to thank you.”
Spock raises an eyebrow. “For what, Captain?”
For asking me to stand by your side. For spending your life at my side.
“Nothing,” is all he says. “I’m sorry you didn’t get the girl.”
“She did not want me. It would have been illogical to stay where I was not wanted, when I could be here where I am needed.”
“You are,” Jim says, meeting his gaze.
“Get some rest, Jim.”
And then the door slides closed behind him, leaving Jim alone to his thoughts – and the emotions that have been buried since they got to Vulcan well up.
Spock’s madness is gone – but Jim suspects his own is just beginning.
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a clear call (that may not be denied)