Fic: As Morning Shows the Day, [part 21]

[jade_dragoness]

Title: As Morning Shows the Day [Part 21]
Author: J.D. aka jade_dragoness
Rating: PG-13, for language. Gen
Pairing: K/S pre-slash/friendship
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: 3,668 for this part [total so far: 110,728]
Disclaimer: Never ever will be mine. *sadness*
A/N: Another shorter than usual chapter!
As always, feedback is hugely welcomed. Also, please feel free to point out any errors I missed.
*-*-*-*
[“The childhood shows the man, as morning shows the day” - John Milton ]
*-*-*-*
[Part One], [Part Two], [Part Three], [Part Four], [Part Five], [Part Six], [Part Seven], [Part Eight], [Part Nine], [Part Ten], [Part Eleven], [Part Twelve], [Part Thirteen], [Part Fourteen], [Part Fifteen], [Part Sixteen], [Part Seventeen], [Part Eighteen], [Part Nineteen], [Part Twenty]

When Jim got out of the shower he had the computer find out where Rand and Spock were located.

When he saw where they were at the botanical garden he decided that he could go visit Bones for those scans that he wanted to run without having to drag the kid along. Spock had already visited med-bay more times than he cared to think about. Jim could go on his own and not inflict another visit on him. Anyway, with the sheer number of plants from various planets that the garden held it would take Spock some time to scan it thoroughly.

So Jim grabbed a fresh uniform and went to the medical bay. If he didn’t then Bones would find a way to make him suffer. And he didn’t feel like having to keep an eye out for a hypospray wielding best friend that could attack at any moment.

He found the sick bay to be running on more energy than the last time he’d been there. Nurses and doctors were moving back and forth double-checking the status of their medicines, replicating anything that was needed and running diagnostics on their equipment. Clearly, Bones had passed on the knowledge that the ship was under more danger than they’d been expecting from the mission to Cromtic.

Their preparedness, Jim didn’t doubt, would be reflected across the ship in every department. It made Jim satisfied with the professionalism of his crew. Should the ship face any attack before arriving at Starbase 42 then his people would not be caught off-guard.

“Get your ass on the bio-bed,” grumbled McCoy, once he caught sight of Jim loitering by the entrance.

Jim rolled his eyes but obeyed. He felt just fine and he doubted that the scans would reveal anything was wrong with him. Which reminded him -

“Bones, if the scans clear me then you‘ll need to release me for active duty,” said Jim, firmly as Bones began running his scans with a medical tricorder.

“Jim, are you kidding me?” groaned McCoy before he shot Jim a look of exasperation. “You still have two more days before I said I’d do that.”

“Not anymore,” said Jim, giving his friend a serious look. “We‘re leaving the system in little over an hour at 1800 and I need to be sitting on that captain‘s chair when we do.”

McCoy’s frown grew deeper.

“I wouldn‘t be asking if we had Spock back to normal but we don‘t,” continued Jim, quietly. “If the Orions attack us than I will be on the bridge, with or without being fully reinstated. I‘d rather do it by the book, though.”

McCoy sighed. “Damn it. I hate it when you talk sense but I‘d rather have you there than Chekov, even if he is a brilliant kid.”

Jim snorted in amusement. Even after all these months, Bones still had issues with the teenager. Chekov, fortunately, took it with good humor and enjoyed finding opportunities to pull Bones’ leg.

Jim thoroughly approved.

While McCoy ran his scans, Jim waited silently even when McCoy decided to run them twice. He didn’t protest. He was too lost in thought.

“Okay, spit it out,” demanded McCoy loudly, startling Jim and making the bio-bed beep.

“What?” asked Jim, glaring.

“You‘re never this quiet when I‘m scanning you unless you‘re dying, reading reports that Rand brings you, or plotting something,” said McCoy, with narrowed eyes. “You‘re not bleeding on me and you don‘t have a PADD, so what the hell is it?”

“Bones, you‘re getting entirely too suspicious in your old age,” said Jim.

McCoy just raised an eyebrow at him.

Jim grimaced and admitted, “Okay, okay. I‘m thinking about Spock.”

“Why am I not surprised?” asked McCoy, as he rolled his eyes. Then he smirked.

Jim ignored this and continued soberly. “The ship is facing more danger than I thought we would… he‘s only thirteen, Bones.”

“What are you thinking Jim?” asked McCoy, his smirk slipping away.

“I‘m thinking of sending him to Sarek as soon as we dock at the starbase,” Jim sighed.

McCoy’s eyes went wide.

Jim quirked his mouth humorlessly at managing to surprise this man who knew him so well and explained himself. “He‘s a kid, Bones. And we‘re going to be deliberately turning the ship into a big target. So many of the crew are going to be in danger even if everything goes perfectly according to how we‘ll plan it. Those men and women will be risking their lives and they are trained to deal with that danger to survive to the best of their ability. Spock doesn’t have those memories back. How can I justify putting the kid under that kind of threat when I could easily send him somewhere safe?” Jim rubbed the back of his neck. “Simple answer: I can‘t.”

“I‘m not going to disagree with you,” said McCoy, after a moment. “I've told you before if it was my little girl…” He shook his head. “I would have asked for leave and headed back to Earth on the first day. Space is damned dangerous.”

“If I didn‘t need you, I‘d sent you with him,” said Jim. He trusted Bones the most and he was also the only other person that Spock had spent the most time with on the ship. But Bones was too good a doctor for Jim to justify keeping his skills from helping his crew especially when they were heading into a situation were those skills would be badly needed. “I‘m thinking of sending Rand.”

“She‘s a good choice,” agreed McCoy. “He knows her and she‘ll be able to protect him.”

Jim agreed with a nod. His yeoman would hurt anyone who so much as looked as Spock funny, of that Jim had no doubt, which is why she was his second pick right after his best friend.

“But Jim,” continued McCoy, “you still have a few days before the ship arrives at the starbase. You could go the other way and try to do whatever you could to age him up.”

“The aging machine wouldn‘t be ready for another week, at least. And that isn‘t fast enough for me to risk putting Spock in danger,” Jim pointed out.

McCoy rolled his eyes again. “That‘s not what I meant. The kid has a crush on you. Take him out on a date. That’s bound to cheer him up.”

Jim’s eyes felt as huge looked at his friend, utterly startled. “A date?” he squeaked. He cleared his throat. “He‘s thirteen! I can‘t do that!”

“Jesus, Jim, I meant a nice innocent date,” complained McCoy. He gave Jim an annoyed look before he snorted. “Okay, I forgot I’m talking to mister know-’em-one-day-and-sleep-with-’em-that-night.”

Jim flushed red and rubbed the back of his neck. “I‘ll think about it,” he mumbled. Though, the idea was disturbing, maybe if Spock was actually out of his teens.

McCoy eyed him shrewdly. “Being more proactive about making the kid happy is probably the best way to go until the aging machine is up and going. Anyway, don’t you just have to age him up until he turns seventeen years old?”

Jim frowned in puzzlement. “Where‘d you get seventeen from?”

“Chekov. If that kid can face the same dangers then so can Spock at the same age,” McCoy pointed out.

“I don‘t think Spock joined Starfleet at that age,” said Jim, trying to remember what age exactly Spock signed up. It had been a few months since he’d read Spock’s personal dossier but he thought that it hadn’t been until he’d been eighteen, or was it nineteen? He’d have to double check.

“And that makes a difference?” asked McCoy.

“It does if he doesn‘t remember why he‘s willing to put his life on the line for the Federation. Until he gets that back he is strictly a civilian,” said Jim. He did consider it. “But it’s a good idea though,” he admitted reluctantly. “Especially since Spock doesn‘t actually want to use the aging machine.”

McCoy went back to smirking.

“You know, when Spock is back to his normal age, I‘ll tell him that the date was your idea,” said Jim, annoyed.

Abruptly, McCoy stopped grinning.

Jim smiled smugly.

“Oh, get the hell out of my med-bay,” grumbled McCoy.

Jim happily jumped off the bio-bed. “And don‘t forget to clear me.”

“I‘ll have the paperwork in the system in the next ten minutes,” said McCoy, waving at him dismissively.

Jim nodded back and headed to find Spock.
*-*-*-*

Jim passed through the double doors that led into the botanical garden. It was a wide space, one of the largest in the ship that wasn’t any of the cargo holds or the engineering bay.

In the original blue prints it had been a bowling alley. In fact, it had still been one during the maiden voyage and fight against Nero. The anomaly created by the red matter had caused infrastructure damage to the entire ship and had destroyed the bowling alley. Instead of just fixing it Jim had decided to replace it with something else.

Sulu had been the one with the bright idea of turning it into a garden.

The garden had practical applications for scientists with specialties in xenobotany as well as providing a positive psychological boost to the rest of the crew. It was a piece of home, filled not only with Earth plants but also with vegetation from nearly every planet in the Federation. It was used as a park, for picnics, for meditations, for dates and for so many other applications that a bowling alley just didn’t fulfill.

And now it was providing a perfect distraction to a teenage Vulcan.

Spock was standing before some Andorian ice flowers, staying just far enough away that the climate control cooling that space wasn’t hitting him. He was so busy looking at the reading of his tricorder that he didn’t look up when Jim walked in.

Yeoman Rand was sitting down near him. Her boots were off and she was wiggling her bare toes into the grass with a small blissful smile.

And for that alone the garden is worth it, Jim thought, unable to help smiling at them both.

“Captain,” called Rand in acknowledgement of his presence.

Spock quickly turned. “Jim.”

Jim could see the muscles in Spock’s shoulders relaxing and a twitch at the corners of his mouth that was nearly a smile. He answered back, “Hey, Spock. Rand.”

Rand tugged her boots on and stood up. Spock walked over to Jim.

“The Enterprise is heading out of the Cromtic system in about an hour at 1800,” said Jim, to them both.

Rand’s blue eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “Then I should get back to my duties. Reports are bound to be stacking up.”

“There‘s no rush,” Jim said hastily.

“There won‘t be because they will be completed on time,” agreed Rand, with an entirely too determined tone of voice.

Jim suppressed a wince.

“By your leave, Captain. Commander,” continued Rand, with a nod to Jim and Spock before she strode out of the garden.

“I take it that the message from Starfleet is the cause as to why the Enterprise is now scheduled to leave the star system?” asked Spock, calmly.

Jim nodded. “Yeah.” He sat down on the grass where Rand had been previously sitting.

Without having to be asked, Spock sat down next to him. Jim eyed him carefully, feeling a little startled by how much bigger Spock was compared to how small he’d been just last night. His head already came up to Jim’s chest. Another few more years of age jumping and he would be shooting up past Jim’s height.

Jim quickly filled him in the situation with the destruction of the space base and the danger that the ship was in.

It made Spock thoughtful, quiet and paler than usual.

Jim soberly regarded his reaction to this news. He felt a stab of guilt about pushing this on the kid. It made him wonder if he’d been right in his decision to tell Spock the truth of his real age all that long ago. If maybe it would have been better to treat him like he’d always been a child the entire time. To let him keep that measure of innocence just a bit longer.

But then, he thought of how he’d react under such circumstances. Of the measure of fear he would have felt to be among strangers, on a starship and so far away from everything he knew. Even for a Vulcan child such a situation would be terrifying.

At least with the truth, Spock had something to hold on to.

“Hey, how have you liked the garden?” asked Jim, bringing the conversation back to something less somber.

“There are a surprising number of specimens here,” said Spock, looking more energetic. “I had not expected to find Andorian vegetation as well as a Vulcan mint plant in the same location considering their different natural environments.”

“Yeah, that was tricky figuring it out,” said Jim, cheerfully. “The science department was behind a lot of it actually. The botanists enjoyed figuring out which plants would work together and which one would survive best on a starship. The calculations for the micro-shielding to create the miniature climates, alone, took several days for the mathematicians to get right.” He didn’t mention that the engineering department’s energies had been spent on putting the ship together after the structural damage it had suffered.

“I do have a query,” said Spock.

“What is it?” asked Jim.

“Why are there several Earth arboreal specimens which average about 11.4 inches in height?” asked Spock, with an arched eyebrow. “They are not immature according to the readings from the tricorder yet their size is inconsistent with the data retrieved from the computer.”

Jim blinked. “Oh! You mean the bonsai trees!”

Spock tilted his head in interest.

“Those belong to the Bonsai Club run by Sulu,” said Jim. “It‘s a form of art.”

“They are aesthetically pleasing,” admitted Spock.

“You‘ll have to ask Sulu about them,” said Jim. “I‘m not a member and I only have a vague idea how they work.”

Spock nodded, then added with a touch of uncharacteristic hesitancy. “Yeoman Rand said it was acceptable to procure a sample of one of the botanical specimens.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” said Jim.

Spock reached into the front pocket of his overalls and pulled out a red rose about the length of Jim’s pointer finger with a bud that had barely begun to open. Spock held it out to him, adding, “Yeoman Rand explained that it is a customary courtship ritual among humans to give flowers, especially the red rose which has an emotional significance compared to the other colors.”

“That‘s right,” said Jim, after a stunned moment. He gently plucked the rose from Spock’s fingers, though he was grateful that Rand had warned Spock about the dangers of the thorns he was wondering what horrible duty he could inflict upon her for her meddling. Clearly, she had entirely too much time on her hands if she was thinking up things like this, he mentally grumbled, and wondered if Scotty needed something greasy and smelly to be scrubbed.

“I admit that I do not see the logic of assigning any sort of significance to the variation of colors produced by the rosa plant,” said Spock, his voice more confident now.

“I don‘t think it was assigned,” said Jim, “I think it just developed slowly in Earth culture over such a period of time that it became traditional. Plus the color red has a lot of significance to humans.”

“Due to the fact that human blood is red to due hemoglobin,” said Spock.

“That‘s probably a good reason,” agreed Jim, then he stood up. “Are you done with the garden?”

Spock nodded. “I have concluded in running various scans on the vegetation.”

“Good, then we‘ll stop by my quarters so I can drop this off,” said Jim, motioning with the rose towards the exist.

Spock followed.

“Do you want to be on the bridge with me when we leave the system? I want to say goodbye to the Cromtician Leaders before we do,” continued Jim. “And I think they‘ll also want to see you before we go.”

Spock agreed with a nod and walking side by side they left the garden.
*-*-*-*

The two hours since the call from Admiral Pike had ended had been put to excellent use by the entire Enterprise crew. System diagnostics had been run on every computer system in all departments. The Engineering Department was keeping an eye on the damaged power conduit. Scotty had gone down to the planet, returned with Keenser and the rest of the officers. Lieutenant Hernandez had heightened the sensitivity of the short range and the long range scanners.

And, most importantly to Jim, Bones had finally processed the paperwork that cleared him from medical leave.

Jim tilted back the captain’s chair as he enjoyed finally getting to sit in it. It had been far too long. He hadn’t realized the depth of how he’d been missing it until he was in it again.

He was once again, the Captain of the Enterprise.

The only thing missing from the usual sounds of his bridge crew at work was that Hernandez was sitting in the science officer’s chair.

“Captain, all departments declare themselves ready,” said Uhura, turning to Jim.

“Diagnostics on the nawigational computer are finished, Keptin,” agreed Chekov.

“As is the helm computer,” added Sulu, his fingers working rapidly over the helm controls. “Course to Starbase 42 has been plotted and inputted.”

Jim pressed the button on chair that called down to Engineering. “Mr. Scott how are the engines?”

“So far so good, Captain,” said Scotty. “Just try to keep the ship below warp 3 if ye would not mind.”

“I‘ll keep that in mind, Scotty,” said Jim, amused. As the chronometer finally counted down the hour to 1800 hours, he stood up. It was time to say goodbye to the planet Cromtic and its people. “Lieutenant Uhura, hail the Cromtician Leaders.”

“Aye, sir. Hailing frequency is open,” said Uhura, and with a flick of graceful fingers.

The view screen of the bridge that had been showing the beauty of the planet below them switched over to a large room decorated with a circular motif. Facing the bridge crew and standing in a semi-circle were the Cromtician Leaders.

Jim greeted them with a bow. At his side so did Spock.

“Greetings, Leaders of the Cromtician Way,” said Jim.

“Greetings, Captain James Tiberius Kirk of the Federation Way,” said Leader Surn in his gravelly voice, while the rest of the leaders’ antennae twisted in welcome.

“I‘m afraid that we‘ll have to cut our visit short,” said Jim. “We have orders to break orbit and head to another destination.”

“We understand the call of duty,” said Leader Marh, “though my cubs will be most disappointed. Cub Yarm has been especially excited about once again playing with the furry pet called a tribble.”

Jim’s lips twitched. “Pass on my apologies to the cub then.”

Marh’s antennae curled in equal amusement.

“The Federation will be sending an ambassador as well as the starbase engineering crew in a couple of weeks,” continued Jim. “With luck this won‘t be last time the Enterprise will visit your people.”

“We will look forward to the visit from more members of the Federation Way,” said Leader Tilk, sweetly. “And we most certainly welcome another visit from you, Captain known as James Tiberius Kirk, as well as your crew of the starship known as Enterprise.”

“We do request to be appraised of the condition of Commander Spock of the Federation Way,” added Marh, “as he has not been restored to adulthood. His condition is still our concern.”

“We shall do so,” agreed Jim.

“Then until such a time that our Ways in the Path of life intersect again,” said Leader Gemt slowly. His elderly pale antennae moved slowly into the shape of farewell, “the Cromtician people pass on our good will towards yours.”

“And we wish your people the best health and good fortune,” said Jim, in response.

They bowed to each other again, and the view screen flickered back into the view of the planet Cromtic.

Jim sat back down on the command chair.

“Lieutenant Sulu, lets head on out, at impulse power,” said Jim.

“Aye, Captain, impulse power until we are out of the gravimetric field of the planet,” said Sulu. His fingers moved confidently over the controls of the helm.

On screen, the planet began to shrink.

“The ship will be out of the grawimetric field of the planet in 3.5 seconds,” said Chekov.

The seconds ticked, and Jim found himself paying more attention to Spock’s face than to his bridge crew.

The boy’s eyes were gleaming in excitement again. Jim knew when the countdown was over because Spock's chin went up.

“Warp factor 2, Mr. Sulu,” said Jim, at just the right time.

“Aye, warp factor 2, sir,” said Sulu. He slowly pulled the gleaming silver lever that activated the warp engines.

Jim held his breath, even with his confidence in Scotty, this was the moment of truth. He closed his eyes as he could feel the pitch of the engines change to a higher frequency, quickly followed by a sensation that Jim could only describe as the feeling of a leaping into open air as the ship jumped into warp.

He grinned and opened his eyes in time to see Sulu and Chekov exchange a high-five.

Jim pressed the button to call down to the engineering department again. “My compliments, Mr. Scott.” He could hear cheers and whoops of delight in the background.

“Ye‘re welcome, Captain,” said Scotty, through the speakers of the chair. Then a loud bang of metal hitting metal sounded in the background which made Jim blink in surprise. “Oi!” yelled Scotty, “Keenser get down from there! ‘ow many times ‘ave I told ye-”

The entire bridge crew snickered and Jim cut the line with a wider grin.

TBC in [Part 22]

a/n: And the Enterprise is off! And now for me to sleep.