Fic: As Morning Shows the Day [Part 27]

[jade_dragoness]

Title: As Morning Shows the Day [Part 27]
Author: J.D. aka
jade_dragoness
Rating: PG-13, for language.
Pairing: Kirk/Spock, ultimately
Status: WIP
Spoilers: Star Trek XI
Warning: Dangerous & Near Fatal Levels of Cuteness
Summary: Based on the switched version of the prompt: A de-aged fic where Spock has to take care of a kid-Kirk; preferably Kirk only listens to Spock, and freaks out when he's not around. (Or, you know, switched). Written for the
st_xi_kink meme, found here.
Word Count: 3,138 for this part [total so far: 133,000]
Disclaimer: Star Trek doesn’t belong to me.
A/N: Just want to say thank you for everyone's encouraging comments!
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[“The childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day” - John Milton ]
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AO3 Link for the entire fic: here
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[Previous Part Twenty-Six]

Medical Bay was a lot calmer than the last few times Jim had stopped by. The lateness of the hour meant that they were nearing the tail-end of Beta shift, essentially the beginning of the night on the ship, so there were a lot less patients seeking treatments and not as many doctors and nurses on duty, although there were no doubt plenty on-call should the need arise.

“I'm here. Where do you want me?” Jim asked as soon as he saw McCoy tapping away at a PADD.

McCoy pointed to one of the private bio-bed's surrounded by a privacy partition. “In there and strip.”

Jim blinked, then he shot Bones his best leer. “Bones... baby, you know I'm always up to get naked with you,” he crooned, as he slid out of the blazer, dropping it on the deck. Jim moved closer so that he was less than a foot away from Bones. “You don't have to resist your attraction to me so much.”

The snickering from the medical staff within earshot inspired Jim to give Bones a smoldering look as he began unbuttoning the silk shirt. He was halfway down when he earned a wolf-whistle and a couple cat-calls to 'Take it all off!'. Bones, on the other hand, turned completely pink even as he glowered at Jim.

“Oh, for the love of God! Just get in there will you,” said McCoy, exasperated, shoving Jim towards the private bio-bed. “And get on your stomach,” he added. Jim could see when it hit him what his words were implying because his cheeks turned an amazing cheery red. McCoy spun on his heel and pointed his forefinger at the peanut gallery. “Not a word out of you lot, or you'll be inventorying the medical storerooms all night!”

The medical staff instantly went back to doing work, or at least to looking like they were working, to escape Bones' ire. Yet Jim could see more than one person trying to smother a grin.

Jim waited until Bones looked back at him before he batted his eyelashes. He walked backwards into the private bio-bed, crooking his finger at his best friend who glared back. As soon as he was safely hidden by the privacy partition, Jim dropped his pants and underwear, tossing both on the side-shelving area with some medical instruments before jumping onto the bio-bed.

About a minute later, McCoy stormed in. “Dammit, Jim! I need to be in charge of those people,” he grumbled, as he hit Jim quickly with a hypospray on the his left ass cheek. “If I start hearing rumors about me sleeping with you, I'm telling everyone you're a terrible lay.”

“Ow,” Jim winced and rubbed at the sore spot. “And ouch, that would almost hurt my feelings, Bones, but I don't think anyone would believe you.”

McCoy ignored him and said, “The local anesthesia should start working in a couple of seconds. You'll feel a pins and needles sensation then the area will go numb.”

Jim was already feeling the pins and needles. It made him wary. “You checked that I'm not allergic to that stuff, right?”

“You forget to check one time,” Bones muttered to himself, rolling his eyes. “And they never let you forget.”

“My tongue went numb, Bones! My tongue!” Jim said, as he crossed his arms and rested his chin on his forearms. “Do you have any idea of how many people would've mourned if I hadn't gotten my tongue's dexterity back?”

“Oh, god, never give me any details!” McCoy groaned in disgust. “Did you feel that?”

“Feel what?”

“Good, I'm going to start now. Don't move.”

Jim heard the hum of the laser scalpel working for several minutes as Bones worked. In turn, Jim focused his mind on what he needed to do now that he had confirmation of the Orions following them. He'll have to pass on the information on to Pike, although Starfleet Command would be getting the information, the admiral would want a personal update. Jim also had to meet with Cupcake, soon as Bones released him, and again tomorrow, to get the latest -

“By the way, how'd your the date with the kid go?” McCoy asked absently breaking into Jim's thoughts, as the laser scalpel noises stopped.

“It went good,” Jim said quietly. “Really good. Thank you, for the dinner. It was pretty awesome.”

“You're welcome,” McCoy chuckled. “Rand deserves most of the credit.”

Jim wasn't surprised.

“You know, if she wasn't so loyal to you I'd steal her away in a heartbeat. I could use her special brand of administrative skills.”

Jim was so startled by his friend's words that he tried to turn, only to have McCoy swear at him and push him back down with a firm hand between his shoulder blades.

“Dammit, Jim. What'd I say about moving? Do you want me permanently scar your ass?”

“Don't steal my yeoman, Bones,” Jim said, taken aback by the revelation of Rand's regard and also, well... delighted. Janice Rand was pretty hard to read and Jim had never been a hundred percent certain if she actually liked him considering she never softened in his presence... at least, not until recently but that was mostly Spock's influence. So Jim was rather touched that Rand apparently did like him after all. Jim smiled into his forearms before he scolded his best friend, “You already have enough scary people on your staff, you don't need Rand.”

All the doctors and nurses could get vicious with those hypos. They were perfectly nice people off-duty but give them a patient who was being stubborn about getting treatment... Jim suppressed a shudder, and mourned over the fact that Bones' brand of medical care was apparently contagious and the Medical personnel were already infected. It was probably irreversible now. All he could do was try to keep patient zero as far away from other starships as he could. Yeah, that the best thing for the rest of Starfleet for Jim to keep Bones with him.

It was a sacrifice he was prepared to nobly accept.

McCoy harrumphed. Then the sound of a tissue regenerator surged on. “So... how old was Spock by the time you left?”

“I didn't ask,” Jim admitted, resisting the urge to squirm.

For a long moment, Jim didn't hear anything from Bones, making him turn his head to look at him without moving his lower half.

McCoy was staring at him in puzzlement. “Jim... wasn't the point of the date in the first place to set out to make Spock old enough so you won't have to ship him off?” His brows furrowed and Jim could practically see the metaphorical wheels spinning in his head. He lowered the regenerator as his eyes widened. “Jim... you're not... I mean, I know the kid has a crush... do you return those feelings?” McCoy's lips twitched, but he managed to hold in his laughter but it rang in his voice as clearly as if he had burst out into a belly laugh.

Jim groaned and buried his face back into his arms. “Bones, come on.”

“Don't bother denying you find Spock attractive. Everyone on the ship already knows that.”

Instantly, Jim made a noise of protest. “Not everyone!” he denied at once. Not the entire ship, the crew complement was 1,100 people. Surely, he wasn't that transparent!

“Everyone,” McCoy said ruthlessly. “But I didn't really think much of it. You'd find a tree attractive.”

“Well, yeah,” Jim admitted easily, “did you see the report from the Potemkin about the people of Godrum 5? They descended from plants and still have vestigial leaves. Everywhere.”

That earned him a hard poke to the back of his head. “You can try changing the subject but I know you too well, Jim.”

Jim squirmed only to get another vicious poke and a hissed order to stay still. Ten seconds later, Bones told Jim he was done and then tossed Jim's shirt and pants onto his head.

McCoy waited until Jim was slid back into the denim jeans before he said, “You're taking this courting seriously, aren't you?”

Jim grimaced, his fingers not pausing as he did up the shirt. “Courting? Really, Bones? This isn't the 20th century. It's dating.”

“Which is just another word for the same damned thing, and you know it,” said Bones. He shook his head in disbelief. “And I didn't hear you deny it.” His expression became a mix of worry and exasperation. “Jim, are you sure that's the smart thing to do?”

“It was your idea.”

“Yeah, but that was before I learned that the kid's gigantic crush on you is apparently mutual.”

“It's not... I mean...” Jim rubbed at the back of his neck. “Sure he's got a crush on me now but that's because Spock doesn't have all his memories of me back.” Jim shrugged as casually as he could. “I didn't exactly make the best first impression on the man. I don't think he feels the same at least he's never indicated anything. Hell, I didn't even know he and Uhura had broken things off, remember?”

Bones' expression was sympathetic throughout Jim's explanation but he grimaced in irritation at the last sentence. He raised a hand to Jim's shoulder to give it a squeeze of support. “Aw, Jim... well, at least you can trust that Spock likes you. He willingly got back on the Enterprise, even knowing you'd be in command and he hasn't mutinied even after all these months!”

Jim snorted and said dryly, “Thanks.”

“Who's to say what goes on in the Vulcan head of his. Considering how the kid's acting with you? I say you got something of a shot.” McCoy squeezed Jim's shoulder again.

For a minute, Jim silently appreciated the gesture and his best friend's words as he leaned into his touch. Bones really was the best friend any person could ask for. Jim still wasn't certain how he'd lucked out in meeting the man.

Then McCoy broke the moment by snickering as he dropped his hand away. His tone was disbelieving as he shook his head and said, “You may finally be growing up, kid. Who would've thought you'd actually develop honest-to-god adult feelings for that pointy-eared bastard that weren't about tumbling him into bed?”

“Well, not only,” Jim drawled out.

McCoy snorted.

Jim eyed him warily. “I don't suppose you'd listen to me if I ordered you to forget I said anything?”

“Are you kidding me? After that little scene in my med-bay? You're going to be damned lucky if I let it go before you turn sixty.”

Bones' amused chortle spooked Jim. It had a disturbing touch of evil mad scientist laughter, or mad doctor to be more accurate. Jim suppressed a shudder and slipped off the bio-bed to headed out the door before Bones got it into his head to start his teasing. Jim turned his impulse to run into a swagger, winking saucily at the medical staff until he was out of the Medical bay before Bones came up with something else to mock him about.

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As soon as he finished his meeting with his Chief of Security, Jim double-checked Spock's location and discovered that the teen had returned to his quarters.

For a brief moment Jim hesitated to join him, wondering about dating protocol and whether it was normal to spend the night sleeping in your date's room after said first date before he snorted at himself. He didn't really care about normal, or dating rules, in all honesty. He only cared about what Spock thought and whether or not Jim was pushing his boundaries.

Okay, and now Jim really wished he had more knowledge of how Vulcans approached courting (ah, hell now Bones had him calling it that). Or whatever came close, Jim thought, remembering that Spock's betrothal at age seven.

And then there was the fact that Jim could no longer put off that conversation that he knew he had to have with Spock. With the visual confirmation that they were being stalked by the Orions, Jim knew that the nebulous danger that they had posed had become all too real. Jim wouldn't be able to spare time to spend with him over the next couple of days, which made the chances of Spock returning to his full adult age before they got to the starbase very unlikely. Spock only seemed to get the largest age jumps from spending time with him and Jim's captain duties were a prioritized over anything else.

It was time that Spock learned of Jim's plans once they arrived at Starbase 42. He and Rand were going to be left behind so it wouldn't come as such a nasty surprise. Jim had already given Rand her orders, which she'd accepted with her usual aplomb.

When Jim entered he found the teenager sitting on a meditation mat, his eyes closed and his spine straight. Not knowing how much longer Spock would be meditating, Jim got ready for bed. It was getting pretty late and he had Alpha Shift bright and early. And yeah, he could run on only a handful of hours of sleep but there was reason to. It was better he stayed at his peak.

By the time he was done with his nightly hygiene routine, Spock was out of his meditation trance. He'd put away the mat and was at the com-unit, scanning through what looked like Astrometrics data on the convoluted nature of space-time found in trinary star system, nearing a black hole.

Spock was probably looking at it for fun.

“Jim,” Spock said, turning toward him.

“Hey, Spock,” Jim said, finishing toweling his hair dry. He blinked as he realized that Spock wasn't wearing sleeping clothes but rather, less formal versions of the Vulcan attire he'd worn earlier. He must have changed while Jim had taken over the bathroom. “Are you going somewhere?”

“With the standby alert in effect, I will best be able to contribute to the function of the ship by providing my assistance in the Science Department,” Spock said calmly. “As I also do not require as much sleep as a human and as I do not yet need to enter a sleeping cycle, I planned on beginning at once.”

“Ah, okay, um...” Jim slung the towel over his shoulder and sat on the corner of one of the beds so that he could face him. “There's something you need to know.” It took only a few minutes to bring Spock up to speed about the confirmed sighting of the Orions, their increase to Warp 3 and how once they arrived at the starbase, Jim was ordering Spock to stay.

If Spock had been human, Jim would've been expecting a temper-tantrum. Or at least a raised voice and an argument. Hell, even with a Vulcan Jim thought he'd get them to refuse to acknowledge the logic of his decision. Spock's reaction was well... Spockian.

“Your logic is sound,” Spock said calmly, nothing in his body-language showing the stubborn refusal that Jim saw burning in his dark eyes. The immovable object could learn a thing or too. “Yet it is also premature.”

“Oh? Okay, lay it on me.” Jim crossed his arms and tilted his head.

Spock straightened even further which Jim hadn't known was possible considering you could already use his back as a ruler. “There is still 67.2 hours left until the Enterprise arrives at its destination and while I am technically at the current age of a minor by Federation law, in the same period of time my age has increased by a significant degree. It is more than likely that I will be have developed to the age of majority as I am already 16 years, 1 month, 4 days and 2.33 hours old.”

And while Jim could see where Spock was going, the knowledge that he was barely sixteen actually fueled Jim's decision. He'd taken Spock on a date. They'd had a great time, or at least that was the impression he'd gotten, and Spock had only gained four months in a time jump. Four months.

It is getting harder to make him happy now that he'd older, Jim thought, remembering Bones' theory about Vulcan training. But... there was still a chance. He admitted, “Yeah, that's logical. The point may be moot by then but I wanted you to know the plan. Because it isn't just that you're a minor, but you're also a civilian. You don't remember joining Starfleet and until you do remember, I have no right to expect you to stand by us as we go into danger.”

“Even if that is exactly where I wish to be?” Spock asked, his voice lower and the stubbornness softening.

Probably realizing that it wasn't just his youth that was driving Jim's decision, but also the oaths Jim had sworn, making it his duty as a Starfleet officer to protect all civilians to the limits of his abilities. To protect Spock. Also, it would be a load off his mind to have Spock safe. Although if Jim had had his first officer back it would be a different story (a fully trained Spock could take care of himself), but that wasn't what Spock had to hear now. “Yeah, even then.”

Spock looked away. Jim was silently grateful that he'd seen Spock grow up over the last week, because otherwise he wouldn't have been able to see the slight tightness at the corners of his mouth, although he wasn't quiet sure if it was unhappiness or anger or a mix of both. Still, it drove Jim to lean forward and take Spock's hands into his own. Spock's hands stiffened before he curled his fingers around Jim's wrists, so tightly that only a little more pressure and his fingertips would leave bruises.

“You won't be left behind. We'd come back for you, Spock,” Jim promised, his voice low. “None of us want you gone but for now this is my decision and my orders.”

Spock released Jim slowly before he said stiffly, “As you wish, Jim.” Then stood and strode out of the room without glancing back.

Jim rubbed his face. “Aw crap,” he muttered. Spock's last words rung in his ears remind him of the first time he heard him say it. And he wondered if Spock would've argued his decision if it had come from anyone else. “Well, that was a great way to end the day.” And the evening of their first date too.

Goddammit, I really do suck at relationships.

Jim slept awfully that night, tossing and turning for hours - thinking about the Orions, Spock and every little detail he had to look into in the morning - until the soft sounds of Spock returning to his quarters let him sink into real sleep.

TBC in Part 28

a/n: Jim is ridiculous. I love him so.