Cinnamon and Sapphires Chapter 1
Summary:
Jamie Tiberia Kirk never made it to Starfleet. She never even met Christopher Pike in that dump of a bar. Instead, she met Dr. Harriet Neveaux when she was fifteen and was lured into her second best destiny: being a psychiatrist.
S'chn T'gai Spock never turned down his admission to the Academy because of their insult to his mother. He was, instead, determined to do better than they thought he would.
Now, three years after the destruction of Vulcan, Spock is a junior Ambassador to Earth, raising his son Silok, and utterly lost on how to help his son heal. It's just lucky that Spock met Dr. Jamie Kirk, then, isn't it?
Maybe, just maybe, through sapphire eyes, Spock and Silok will be healed.
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Dr. Jamie Tiberia Kirk collapsed on her couch in her apartment in New York, kicking her heels off. She groaned as her cat, Pyewacket, jumped up on her lap. “Pye,” she moaned, already envisioning the blue-grey hair that was going to be transferred even during such a short contact period. “Can’t you wait ’til I’ve had my ten minutes of nothing before I go change to jump on me?”
The cat jumped up to the top of the couch and settle on her shoulder, which wasn’t much better. Jamie side, scratching Pye’s ears. Maybe five minutes later, Jamie’s boss, Harriet Neveaux, called. “Jamie, sorry to call so late. But… We have a bit of a problem.”
“What?” Jamie asked. “What do you mean, a problem?”
Harry sighed. “Exactly what I said. Now, wipe off the cat hair and come back in. We have an ambassador to meet. Actually bring the cat.”
“Why do you want me to bring Pye?”
“Because we’re spending three months in our San Francisco offices,” Harry said, starting to sound annoyed.
Three days later, Jamie found herself with her cat in her office in San Francisco. In one corner of her office, her chess set was set up. In another corner, hidden by screen, was an area where Jamie to change clothes and Pye’s litter box. There was a window overlooking the bay. Jamie rather enjoyed the view, having grown up in the Midwest.
Jamie’s apartment was right above her office, which was rather convenient, if she thought about it. Either way, Pye could go to and from her office to her apartment.
The cat was curled up on a chair, staring blankly at Jamie, as if asking, Why are we here?
The blonde woman sighed. She and Harry had a meeting with an Ambassador Sarek and Ambassador Spock in ten minutes. “Stay here,” she said, looking at her cat, “and don’t get in trouble.” The cat mewled, and Jamie tossed her withering look. “I mean it.”
Jamie closed her office behind her, knowing that if she didn't, Pye would get out.
With her PADD in hand, Jamie slid into the room just after Harriet. The older woman just smiled and nodded. “Welcome, Ambassador Spock, Ambassador Sarek. Thank you for meeting with us today. Now, what’s this I hear about you needing psychologists who work with children?”
“Yes,” the older of the two said. “New Vulcan is in need of assistance. We have a great many orphans, as well as children who only now have a single parents. The children, as their telepathic centers are not fully developed, were the most affected by the Immeasurable Loss.”
“And why us?” Harry asked, as Jamie jotted down notes. “Why pick a teams of humans?”
This time, the younger Vulcan spoke. “Because, Doctor, humans are not telepathic in the sense that we Vulcans are. If a Vulcan child lashes out telepathically, a human’s natural shields are strong enough to withstand such an attack.”
Harry nodded. “Understandable.”
The meeting went on for several more hours, as they hammered out a plan. Jamie and Harry’s team of both child and family psychologists, if they worked well with the Vulcans at the Embassy, would travel to New Vulcan in three months time to work with the remaining populace of Vulcans.
After the meeting was over, Harry led Jamie back into her office. “What did you think?”
“The younger one was rather arrogant, and the older one seemed to have a better idea of what he was doing,” Jamie said, accepting the cup of tea from the older British woman.
Jamie had met Harry when Sam, her older brother, had called CPS. Harry had been the one to take Jamie in for a few days as they found a good foster family for her. Even after her placement, Harriet had continued to be a mentor for Jamie, and when Jamie turned 18, she was accepted at a state school, where she completed her psychology degree. After that, Jamie decided to complete her psychiatrist degree. Harry had offered her a place in her office in San Francisco when Jamie decided on a school there. Now, at 28, Jamie had known Harry for almost 13 years.
Harry nodded. “I got that impression too. But I meant of our plan.”
“I see no reason why we shouldn’t be on a ship to New Vulcan in three months,” Jamie said, shrugging. “If we choose correctly, that is. I was working on a basic list, of who we should ask.” She handed over the PADD with her tentative list of names. “I thought we’d go over it together.”
Harry looked over the list. “This should work just fine. I’ll send out a mass email, and we’ll tweak it as needed. You can go back to your office and deal with that cat of yours.” She looked at her messages. “In fact, you might want to go find your cat. Apparently your cat was seen running through the halls of our building… with a chess piece in her mouth?”
Jamie gaped, terror and confusion running across her face. “What? A chess- How the fuck did she get out of my office in the first place?”
A shrug from Harry. “I don’t know. But you’d best go find Pye.”
Jamie left the room in a hurry, and started looking for places where the errant Pye and chess piece could be.
No one knew where the cat actually was. Which wasn’t good, in Jamie’s opinion.
She searched for a good twenty minutes before the only place left to check was the waiting room, and surely someone would have seen the miserable brat and let her know.
She opened the door to the waiting room that was normally used by parents of patients, or even more commonly, foster parents of patients. But as it was after office hours, no one should have been in there.
To Jamie’s shock the room wasn’t empty, but instead, a young Vulcan child-a son of one of the Ambassadors who was there earlier?-sat in one of the chairs, with Pye’s front paws resting by the little boy’s legs, meowing to be let up. The chess piece sat on the arm of the chair. The boy looked like the younger Ambassador who had joined them. “Pyewacket!” she said, voice relieved.
The boy looked up at her. “Your feline deposited this chess piece on my leg, then has proceeded to meow at me when I would not let her recline in my lap.”
Jamie crossed the room in a few steps and swept up Pye, mentally breathing a sigh of relief. She held the cat close to her chest. The breeder she’d bought Pye from had informed her that all his animals were raised to be sensitive to telepathic beings because he himself was a Betazoid. “Don’t you do that again,” she scolded, making sure to project her displeasure at the cat. Pye’s ears drooped as if saying she had a good reason for disappearing. “I don’t care if the president of the Federation walked into my office,” she continued, looking her cat dead in the eye. “I told you to stay there, and I expected you to stay there. I didn’t mean ‘stay here’ with the intention that you could gallivant around the offices with…” she looked at the chess piece, “…the black knight in your mouth! Jesus, Pye,” she said, exasperated.
She looked at the boy, who was looking at her like he thought she was crazy. “I’m so sorry Pyewacket was bugging you,” she said, letting the cat crawl up to Jamie’s shoulder, where she sat contentedly.
“It… is of no concern.”
The door to the waiting room opened again and the young, arrogant ambassador from earlier stepped in. “Silok, I have been looking for you for the past 15.23 minutes.”
The boy, Silok apparently, looked up at him. “I am sorry, Father.”
The ambassador brushed it off. “Silok. It was irresponsible of you to deter from the location of which I bade you to remain. Why did you not remain at Counselor Monroe’s office?”
The boy didn’t answer and Jamie scoffed. “I don’t know why we keep Lilly Monroe around,” she said, “because seriously, she has to be one of the worst child psychologists we have on staff here. Decent with family, but not necessarily with kids.”
The ambassador visibly bristled as he turned to Jamie, who still had Pye sitting on her shoulder. “Who are you to give such opinions? You only took notes at our meeting this afternoon and did not contribute at all. Silok, who is this woman?”
Jamie stiffened, and Pye’s ears flattened, realizing her owner was not happy. “My name is Dr. Jamie T. Kirk, and I have every right to give my opinion on Dr. Monroe. Just because I didn’t speak at the meeting today does not mean that I’m not completely qualified. I resent that you think I am equivalent of the hired help, when in fact, I am the head psychiatrist in this program, while Dr. Neveaux runs the child placement with CPS.”
Silok, who was watching the exchange, blinked. He had never seen someone so instantly hostile. It was not common on New Vulcan.
The Vulcan asshole raised an eyebrow. “I apologize, Dr. Kirk, for the misunderstanding, however you gave me no reason to think otherwise,” he said, slightly sneering her title and name. He turned away from her, and Jamie bristled again. Pye hissed in her ear, sensing her irritation.
She crossed her arms, glaring slightly. Who was he to judge her?
The older Vulcan turned to his son. “I must ask. Did she make you feel unsafe at all? Or attempt to harm you in any way?”
Before Silok could answer, Jamie stepped forward. “He has a good point. I would like to know as well, because if she hurt a child who was in her care…”
“May I inquire as to why you are still here, Dr. Kirk?” the ambassador asked, voice chilly
“In case you haven’t realized, Ambassador, I am in a position to get anyone who’s threatening a child removed from their position here and between Harry and me, we can get their license stripped so they never work with children again. I need to know,” Jamie said coldly. “So, I have every right to be here. Consider this your son’s formal complaint against Dr. Monroe.”
The Vulcan snob sneered in a non-emotional way and turned back to his son.
“She did not harm me or make me feel unsafe,” Silok murmured, almost too soft for Jamie to hear.
Jamie breathed a sigh of relief. After her step-father, she refused to let another child under her care be hurt if she could help it.
“Then I inquire as to why you did not remain in her office.” He knelt down to the child’s level in a surprisingly human gesture. “She said you fled after ten minutes.”
“She does not understand.”
Jamie couldn’t stand on the sidelines. “May I try, Ambassador?” she asked, stepping forward. The fact that she managed to walk with a cat on her shoulder showed how much time Pye spent there. “I do have the necessary requirements to work with children.”
He didn’t say anyway, as he backed away.
“Silok, right?” Jamie asked, kneeling by the chair.
The boy nodded, not saying anything. Pye took the opportunity to jump from Jamie’s shoulder and sat in the shocked boy’s lap, batting his face, mewling imploringly.
“What is your feline doing?” the Ambassador asked, sound faintly like he was about to snatch Pye away from his son.
“She’s trying to make him feel better…” Jamie said, turning to the man, shocked. She’d never seen Pye attach herself that quickly to another person that was not her. “That’s how Russian Blues show that they’re concerned. See? No claws out.”
The cat mewled again, butting her head against his chest. She looked back at Jamie before looking back up at Silok, meowing softly, as if trying to get Jamie to talk to the boy.
Silok blinked, pushing the cat away. Pye gently hooked her claws into the child’s shirt, refusing to be pushed away. She butted his hand, purring softly. “I do not understand. Father, why is the feline doing this?”
It was Jamie who answered. “She was bred by a telepath, and as such, she’s more sensitive to emotions from other beings, especially those who are telepathic in their own right. And she likes you. I’ve never seen her take to someone this quickly.”
Silok nodded, hand ghosting gently over Pye’s back. A slightly shocked look on his face appeared as he did so.
“What didn’t you like about Dr. Monroe?” Jamie asked quietly.
“She did not understand.”
“Did not understand what?”
“Me.” Before Jamie could say anything, Silok looked up at his father. “I would like to go home, now, Father.”
Jamie reached forward and carefully extracted her cat from Silok as the older Vulcan spoke. “Of course. Wait for me in the hall. I would like to converse with Dr. Kirk.”
Silok nodded, slipping out into the hall to wait.
Pye settled in on Jamie’s shoulder as the woman turned to Spock. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare him. I work with children who have been abused. And it’s obvious that you aren’t abusing him. I just wanted to help.”
“I understand, Doctor.”
Jamie was silent, trying to think of something to say.
“Who would you recommend, instead of Dr. Monroe?”
She thought about it. “Well, there’s Dr. William Larson. He’s good with kids around Silok’s age. Silok’s… What, ten?”
“Ten standard years, correct.”
“Yeah, Will’s good with kids that age. There’s also Dr. Danielle Stryker, and she’s pretty good with kids, especially about getting them to open up.” A pause. “It would help me to know why you have him in therapy.”
A pause as the Ambassador gathered his thoughts. “My wife, T’Pring, was killed in the Immeasurable Loss, as well as my mother. Silok was close to both of them. It has been a devastating time for him.
Jamie nodded. “I see. Well, in that case, Dr. Timothy Andrews would be a good choice. He lost his sister in the Battle of Vulcan. He understands. Also, Dr. Emma Knightley. She lost her father and brother in the Battle as well.” She sighed. “I know the pain of losing a parent.”
The man slightly bowed. “Thank you, Dr. Kirk.”
“You’re welcome… I’m sorry, I didn’t catch your name earlier.”
“My name is Spock.”
She smiled politely. “Ambassador Spock. Just call the front desk and set up an appointment with whomever you like.”
“You have my thanks again,” Spock said, bowing. He departed, and Jamie was left standing there, Pye nuzzling her head.
“He,” she said, looking up at her cat, “is an arrogant asshole.” Pye mewled like she agreed.
With her cat on her shoulder, Jamie made her way to Harry’s office, where the older woman was waiting. “Ready?” Jamie asked.
“Whenever you are,” Harriet said, gathering her coat. “We’re making food tonight?”
“Yeah, I don’t want to let Pye out of my sight after that stunt she pulled.” On her shoulder, Pye started to wash her paw, attempting to look innocent.
Harry nodded. “Good plan.”
The top floor had been converted into two apartments, one for Jamie and one for Harry. The two women rode to the top floor in companionable silence. After putting her things away, Harry joined Jamie in her apartment.
Jamie was already starting the water for pasta. “I met Ambassador Spock’s son while searching for Pye.”
“Oh?” Harry said, going to the fridge and pulling out the red wine that would go with what Jamie was making. She poured a glass for Jamie and one for herself. “What was he like?”
“Shy. He saw Dr. Monroe today. Apparently, he ran out on her. I’m telling you, Harry, we need to get rid of her.”
“And I’ve told you, Jamie, that we cannot let her go without good reason unless we want a lawsuit on our case and our partnership with CPS severed.”
Jamie sighed, stirring the sauce. “Okay, then, we need to at least move her to where she’s dealing with teens and not children under the age of 13.”
Harry seemed to think about it, swirling her wine in her glass. “Maybe,” she said, taking a sip. “Did you get the boy back to his father?”
“Actually, his father found us,” Jamie said, turning back, accepting the glass of wine. “And he was an arrogant asshole.”
“Ambassador Spock didn’t seem that bad in the meeting.”
Jamie pursed her lips and looked at Harry. “That’s because you weren’t in a one-on-one with him.” She glared into her wine. “Can you believe he basically thought I was your secretary? I mean, Jesus Christ on a crutch, this isn’t the 21st century when women were only paid, what, 75 cents on the dollar. Or hell, even the 1950s, when women were expected to be good little housewives.”
“Vulcan society is different than human society,” Harry reminded her. “Their women are still seen as slightly subservient.”
Jamie’s frown grew. “Which is bullshit.”
“True. But at the same time, they aren’t. T’Pau is the most powerful person on New Vulcan, and she was the most powerful person before Vulcan was destroyed.”
From her corner of the room, Pye mewled, before jumping up on the island to jump on Jamie’s shoulder. She nuzzled Jamie’s head and Harry took note. One could always tell the state of Jamie’s mind by how Pyewacket reacted to her.
Jamie turned to the sink to turn the cold water on so she didn’t scald the pipes. She strained the noodles and set it back on the stove. Sometimes, Harry thought, watching Jamie work with Pye on her shoulder was the most brilliant thing anyone would ever see. She’d never seen a cat so in tune with their owner before. Though sometimes she thought Pye owned Jamie and not the other way around.
Harry set the table for the two of them as Jamie mixed the sauce and the noodles together. Jamie set the finished dish on the table and both women sat down. Pye hopped off Jamie’s shoulder and curled up on another chair, and drifted off. The two women discussed potential strategies for dealing with the Vulcan children who had lost one or more relatives in the Immeasurable Loss.
As the meal wound to a close, Jamie’s eyes started to droop and Harry realized she was still running on New York time. “Why don’t you get to sleep,” she suggested, putting her plate in the sink and rinsing it off. “I’ll take the left overs to my place.”
Jamie nodded, following suit. “When is Bones coming in?”
“Leonard and Joanna are flying in tomorrow. Bitched up a storm when I called him. He didn’t like that he has to cut his time at his Mum’s short so that he and Joanna could fly back from Georgia. It is her spring break after all.” In the length of time Harry had lived in the United States, she had mostly lost her natural British accent. However, on certain words, like ‘mum’, it came slipping through again.
“Jo only gets a week off, right?”
Harry nodded, taking Jamie’s dish from her. “Yes. And they were supposed to fly back on Saturday. However, with this new development, I asked Leonard if he would be willing to cut his vacation short.”
“Let me guess,” Jamie said, placing the left overs in a Tupperware bowl. “He cursed a blue streak and said you owed him days at Christmas.”
“That he did,” Harry said, accepting the bowl. “And on that note, Jamie-girl, you get sleep. I want to see you bright eyed and bushy-tailed tomorrow.”
Jamie hugged Harry. “I will. Night, Harriet.”
“Good night, Jamie.”
Across town, in the Vulcan Embassy, the two Ambassadors to Earth stood speaking quietly as they waited for Silok to come downstairs.
“I believe that this group will be most beneficial for New Vulcan,” Sarek said thoughtfully. “Dr. Neveaux seemed quiet competent, though I was rather unimpressed that we did not meet Dr. Kirk. I was expecting him to come to the meeting.”
Spock paused. “She did come to the meeting, Father. The other woman, who merely took notes? That was Dr. Jamie Kirk. In this case, Jamie was not a diminutive for James.”
Sarek raised an eyebrow. “I do not understand, my son, how you came across this information.”
“I was looking Silok after he fled Dr. Monroe’s office, I found him in a waiting room with the blonde woman from the meeting, with a cat in her arms. I asked him why he did not stay with Dr. Monroe like we requested him to, she said that Dr. Monroe was, and I shall paraphrase her words, the worst possible choice we could have made for Silok. I inquired to who she was, and she said her name was Dr. Jamie T. Kirk.”
The older of the two Vulcans nodded, absorbing the information. It was his and Spock’s mistake for not checking out anyone other than Dr. Neveaux before going to the meeting. “I believe I understand. And what was your impression of her?”
Spock contemplated it. “I believe her to be quite competent. She spoke to Silok, and she managed to get Silok to reveal why he did not stay with Dr. Monroe for their full session.” He paused, unsure as to what he should reveal. “Dr. Kirk was looking for her cat, whom apparently followed Silok to the waiting room. According to Silok, the animal encountered him in the waiting room and dropped a chess piece in his lap before attempting to sit in it. I myself saw the feline jump into Silok’s lap and bat his face.”
“Was Silok injured?” Sarek inquired.
“No, Father. Dr. Kirk informed me that that was the breed’s way of trying to encourage positive feelings. My own research during the trip back to the Embassy proved her words to be true. The animal was merely trying to… comfort Silok to the best of her abilities.”
As if summoned by the continued use of his name, Silok appeared in the doorway. Sarek looked his grandson over, as if not trusting his son’s judgment. “Are you prepared to depart, Silok?” he asked.
“Yes, Grandfather,” Silok murmured, coming to stand by his father. It was at moments like this that Silok missed his Grandmother Amanda dearly. Her home cooked meals, her presence… Silok missed the way she would give him hugs even though his parents, particularly his mother, protested. He missed the little gifts she would give him on the date of his birth and the Terran holiday of Christmas.
Spock watched the minute expressions flit through his son’s face. “Let us depart then,” he said, guiding his son out of the room, Sarek on Silok’s other side.
They made their way to a Vulcan restaurant that was recommended by the Embassy. They were greeted and shown to a private room. The perused the menu in silence. One by one, they laid down their menus. The waiter entered and they ordered.
The three Vulcans were silent as their food was ordered and delivered. They ate in silence.
The ride back to the embassy, however, was not silent. Spock had spent the meal figuring out how to broach the topic of a new therapist with his son. “Silok. I spoke with Dr. Monroe. She does not believe that she is the right fit for you.”
“I see, Father.” Silok was sitting unusually stiff and his voice was barely hiding a tremble.
“Dr. Kirk gave me the names of several people who work under her who she believed would work better with you than Dr. Monroe.”
“I do not need a psychologist, Father.”
“I disagree,” Spock said, voice even. Inwardly, he could not see why Silok could not see the logic of accepting help from an outside source. The Immeasurable Loss had hit every Vulcan hard, but it hurt the children most of all. “I myself have seen a Vulcan Healer.” Spock wondered briefly how T’Pring had managed to deal with Silok so much easier than he, and not for the first time, he wished his wife had survived the destruction of Vulcan.
Voice audibly shaky, Silok murmured, “They did not help me as you might have wished.”
Silok was refusing to meet Spock’s eyes, and once again, Spock wondered what he was doing so wrong that his own son refused to look at him. “Elaborate.”
No answer.
Once they were back at their apartment at the Embassy, Silok slipped into his room and shut the door behind him, effectively shutting Spock out as he had done every night since their move to Earth. Spock stood outside it, wondering how any species managed to survive if parenting was this difficult.
Walking towards his office, Spock pondering where he had gone so wrong. He found himself missing T’Pring’s presence in his mind once more and let himself grieve before releasing the feeling. How had T’Pring managed their son so easily when Spock himself was barely able to get the boy to look at him?
In his office, Spock pulled up the profiles of the different doctors that Dr. Kirk had mentioned. He also pulled up Dr. Kirk’s profile. Out of the five profiles, he narrowed it down to Dr. Timothy Andrews and Dr. Jamie Kirk.
He stared at the profile picture of Dr. Kirk for longer than strictly necessary. There was something unique about her. As it was, he shrugged off the feeling and looked at the two psychiatrist’s schooling and history.
Dr. Andrews had the more experience, but Dr. Kirk was from one of the best psychiatry schools in the Federation.
He sent a brief PADD message to his father, and moments later, his father appeared in the doorway. “You have narrowed the search down to two?”
“Yes, Father,” Spock said, standing and letting Sarek have access to the terminal.
Sarek sat down and looked at the two profiles. “There is much to be said about both of them,” he said, after reading both. “However, Dr. Kirk seems to have the most experience with children who have lost parents.”
Spock looked over Dr. Kirk’s profile. “I do not understand. To what are you referring to?”
“I am not surprised that you do not recognize the name, as it has been several decades since. However, Nero, the man who attacked Vulcan, 28 years ago, attacked and destroyed the USS Kelvin. Lieutenant Commander George Kirk Senior took command of the ship, saving not only the lives of 800 crewmembers, but the lives of his wife and newly-born child. According to Winona Kirk, Commander Kirk never got to meet his daughter, and barely helped in naming her before perishing.” Sarek looked up at his son. “She will be able to understand more than anyone what Silok is experiencing, as she has most likely experienced it herself.”
Sarek left the office, leaving Spock standing there. He sat down at the computer and pulled up all that he could on the destruction of the USS Kelvin, including a dissertation on it by then-Cadet Christopher Pike.
Dr. Kirk had lost a parent to the same madman Silok had. That Spock had.
Maybe, he admitted to himself, Dr. Kirk would be the best option in helping Silok.