Fic: Link (for watersandwilds)
Author's name: gladdecease
Written for: watersandwilds
Fandom: XI
Pairing/characters: Kirk, Spock
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: The story may be mine, but the characters are not.
Notes: Sorry for getting this in late, and I hope the fic is to your liking.
The mess with mind melds started a few months back, on a mission that went bad. As usual, it seems, when Jim takes command of field missions.
The plan once they'd been captured had been for Jim to reveal the secrets he'd learned about their captors to the public. It had been the plan before an unfortunately stubborn guard had seen Jim whispering with Bones and knocked him out for disobeying his orders. Bones whispering to Spock later had gotten him the same treatment, and now Spock and Security Officer Patel were the only conscious members of their away party, and neither of them knew what Jim had discovered.
Jim had been knocked unconscious, and Bones had declared it a serious brain injury if they couldn't get him back to civilized medicine soon. Spock, being the genius he thought he was, decided that he could meld with Jim and get him to regain consciousness, working around the damaged area.
As any doctor would tell you, it was a stupid idea - really, really stupid - but their captors had decided to remove Bones from the decision making process by a very heavy club to the head, and thus Bones was unable to give his opinion.
Jim had been through a mind meld before. The other Spock had used one to explain how he had come to be in the wrong timeline, and Sarek had melded with him twice during that mess with T'Pring and Uhura and three different fights to the death. This Spock, the one from his proper timeline, had never done it before, and that probably contributed to the problem.
With Patel keeping watch, Spock tried to convince Jim' brain to work in ways it shouldn't, convincing it that the areas that had been injured were nonessential, that he could function without them. After a minute of plying Jim's brain with those lies, Spock was pleasantly surprised to see Jim's eyes fly open, his body stand up, and his mouth list off the revised plan to get his secrets to the public.
What he hadn't realized was that rather than convincing Jim's body to work in part of his brain's absence, he'd convinced Jim's body to use Spock's brain as a substitute.
This only became clear when Jim passed out on the ship two hours later, his blood pressure dangerously low and his heart rate dangerously high. Bones knew the minute he set eyes on the readings that something had gone wrong, and so did Spock.
Those readings were perfectly normal for a Vulcan, after all.
--
Jim sits up in his bed and blinks. It's about then that he realizes he's awake. He scratches the back of his head, muttering, "...the hell?"
You should be awake by now, Jim.
He groans and falls back, landing on his pillow with a heavy thump. "Damn it, Spock."
I am only attempting to look out for your health. Doctor McCoy would not be pleased with these changes in your circadian cycle.
Jim rolls out of bed reluctantly. "Yeah, yeah," he says. "He's already hypo-ready, since this starting happening when you meld with me."
It is not an irrelevant concern, Jim. Mind melds should not be able to
"Maybe they shouldn't, but they do," Jim interrupts. Which is weird enough, that he can interrupt somebody else thinking at him. Not that this entire situation isn't weird - it is - it's just that this is one of those particularly weird parts. That thought works like speech, that Jim is starting to figure out what Spock is trying to think before he does it. "For us, anyway. Could you stop thinking at me for a minute, I'm gonna take a shower."
This is not something I can stop, Jim.
"Could you think quieter, at least?" Jim would rather not, but it looks like this is a sonic day. Apparently, he doesn't have time for the hot water he saves for mornings like these.
I will make an attempt.
Ah, that's more like Spock - nice and sarcastic. There's another odd thing - he can hear inflection when Spock thinks. He'd always gone with the idea that thought is faint impressions, not full out sentences.
It generally is. Vulcans have a more structured brain, and can express their thoughts more coherently than other species.
"Spock," Jim says warningly.
It appears thinking more quietly does nothing here, Jim. I apologize.
Sighing, Jim gets out of the shower, technically clean but more tense than he was when he got in. He pulls on his uniform and realizes he doesn't have much time before alpha shift starts. He heads for the turbolift, swearing in his head.
I did warn you that you should be awake by now.
"I don't want to hear it," Jim whispers in a sing song voice. An Andorian in science blues standing in the turbolift when he gets there gives Jim an odd look when zha thinks he won't notice, but he does. He sighs heavily. Just another day in the life of a Starfleet Captain.
--
Spock found himself berated for his actions by no less than six medical professionals, the entire Vulcan council, and three members of Jim's personal staff. The bridge crew of the Enterprise was notably silent towards Spock, but not cruelly. As the elder Spock explained it when he approached Spock, the officers on the bridge knew what it was to be willing to risk anything for Jim. As both Spocks did.
Knowing that others would have done what he did was not entirely reassuring to Spock, but it did make it easier for him to let Vulcan healers begin their work on Jim. They had to convince him to accept his mind as his own, now that Doctor McCoy had repaired the damaged areas.
After three days, he knew what Sarek was going to tell him before he approached.
"It's not working," he said.
"No."
Spock stared out the window silently, feeling his father's presence behind him. Neither of them spoke for a long time.
"What would you have me do?"
Sarek said, "The healers have a theory." When Spock didn't ask for elaboration, he continued, "Their melds have been unsuccessful, as have mine and... as have the melds of others who have melded with Kirk before. They believe you may be the only one who can meld with him."
"I am," Spock said quietly. "I do not know why, but every part of me knows that it is true. None can touch his mind but me, so long as he believes my mind is his." He turned away from the dark spaces between stars and said, "Show me to him."
--
When Jim gets to the bridge, none of his irritation shows - he's all grins, ready for today's continued adventures of the star ship Enterprise. His enthusiasm brings out sincere smiles on the faces of tired officers just finishing up a long gamma shift. Even Uhura, who usually walks a thin line between being irritated and impressed by their captain, finds herself smiling when Jim sends an appreciative glance her way.
Spock, already at his station, is the only one who knows different.
Jim is not a morning person. He has not ingested any caffeine this morning (a substance he considers composing odes to after stressful triple shifts). He had no time to enjoy his shower this morning - in part due to Spock, who feels that this is a punishment he deserves because of that.
While Jim is smiling to all of his crew, in his head he is griping and groaning and complaining about every single thing he sees. It's silly and childish, but it makes him feel better about feeling so tired and awful himself.
Spock only gets vague impressions - he was not lying when he said that thoughts are unclear in species not used to telepathic conversation - but they are clear enough to give him an amusing perspective on the dichotomy of his captain. He barely resists smiling, and almost fails when Jim shoots him a look.
Spock forgets, at times, that this goes both ways. The feeling of bitterness Jim sends his way about Spock being so cheerful this early quickly reminds him of that fact.
--
The procedure lasted longer than many were comfortable with. Although it was possibly to meld for an extended period, such a technique was dangerous to both parties and generally not used between parties who had never melded before. Spock had never melded with Jim before this event, and the meld they had been living with had put a great strain on Spock.
In the end, though, it was successful. Jim was physically normal for a human, as was Spock for a Vulcan. The two of them only needed a few days rest before they were back to work.
The problem didn't resurface until Spock had mind melded with Jim several more times.
The first was a much less physically dangerous situation - Jim had lost his memories of his time on the Enterprise, believed himself to be the kind of bar hopping ne'er do well that he'd been before Captain Pike approached him. Spock breaking the block in Jim's mind keeping his memories back seemed the only option at the time, and so he'd done it.
And it worked. Jim remembered who he was almost immediately, they returned to the ship, life went on.
Except for the faint buzzing in the back of both of their heads, but they paid that no mind.
Skip forward several more melds, and the buzzing has turned into something coherent. In Jim's case, words in Standard and Vulcan; in Spock's, blurry images of ideas. Investigating the idea turned up nothing. For all intents and purposes, Jim and Spock had formed a mind link.
It was irritating at times, but it had its advantages.
--
Ducking behind a wall, Jim swallows a curse. He's got a phaser clenched between his hands, optimistically set on stun, but he knows it's only a matter of time before he has to switch to kill or surrender. If he can't get his hostages back within fifteen minutes, he'll have no choice. He's been made aware of the rules in these situations far too often.
To think that half a shift ago he was mad at Spock for being happy that early in the day.
He moves out into the open and fires a few shots. From the grunt he hears, he figures he was partly successful, but there are enough conscious Romulans over there to return fire. He moves back behind his wall and listens to their firing pattern. They don't have to stop any time soon, but he knows they will. He's studied their techniques thoroughly, he knows how Romulans fight at close range.
Jim.
"How's it going, Spock?" he whispers. "You got any news for me?"
Romulans have nearly taken the deck. There are several behind you, waiting to attack.
Jim keeps carefully still. If he knows Spock...
He hears three synchronous buzzing sounds and the sound of three bodies dropping. He turns around to grin at Spock, who's brought along Chekov and... Singh, Jim thinks is her name. "What kept you?" he asks charmingly. Spock doesn't roll his eyes, but Jim knows it's a near thing.
"The hostages have been freed, Captain," he says instead. "And their captors eliminated."
"Good work, Mr Spock," Jim says. "You hear that, boys?" he shouts to the Romulans he knows are still sitting over there, guarding their point of entry. "You lost your negotiating tools. Are we still going to fight this out, or will I have to enlist the help of my associates in taking you down?"
As they listen to the scuffle of Romulans either running away or debating the merits of running away, Singh looks between Jim and Spock admiringly. "I've heard the stories, but you work even better together than I'd imagined. Sir."
"What can I say, Ensign?" Jim says with a flair. "We're a great team." And the mind reading doesn't hurt.
Spock does roll his eyes at this.
Written for: watersandwilds
Fandom: XI
Pairing/characters: Kirk, Spock
Rating: PG
Warnings: None
Disclaimer: The story may be mine, but the characters are not.
Notes: Sorry for getting this in late, and I hope the fic is to your liking.
The mess with mind melds started a few months back, on a mission that went bad. As usual, it seems, when Jim takes command of field missions.
The plan once they'd been captured had been for Jim to reveal the secrets he'd learned about their captors to the public. It had been the plan before an unfortunately stubborn guard had seen Jim whispering with Bones and knocked him out for disobeying his orders. Bones whispering to Spock later had gotten him the same treatment, and now Spock and Security Officer Patel were the only conscious members of their away party, and neither of them knew what Jim had discovered.
Jim had been knocked unconscious, and Bones had declared it a serious brain injury if they couldn't get him back to civilized medicine soon. Spock, being the genius he thought he was, decided that he could meld with Jim and get him to regain consciousness, working around the damaged area.
As any doctor would tell you, it was a stupid idea - really, really stupid - but their captors had decided to remove Bones from the decision making process by a very heavy club to the head, and thus Bones was unable to give his opinion.
Jim had been through a mind meld before. The other Spock had used one to explain how he had come to be in the wrong timeline, and Sarek had melded with him twice during that mess with T'Pring and Uhura and three different fights to the death. This Spock, the one from his proper timeline, had never done it before, and that probably contributed to the problem.
With Patel keeping watch, Spock tried to convince Jim' brain to work in ways it shouldn't, convincing it that the areas that had been injured were nonessential, that he could function without them. After a minute of plying Jim's brain with those lies, Spock was pleasantly surprised to see Jim's eyes fly open, his body stand up, and his mouth list off the revised plan to get his secrets to the public.
What he hadn't realized was that rather than convincing Jim's body to work in part of his brain's absence, he'd convinced Jim's body to use Spock's brain as a substitute.
This only became clear when Jim passed out on the ship two hours later, his blood pressure dangerously low and his heart rate dangerously high. Bones knew the minute he set eyes on the readings that something had gone wrong, and so did Spock.
Those readings were perfectly normal for a Vulcan, after all.
--
Jim sits up in his bed and blinks. It's about then that he realizes he's awake. He scratches the back of his head, muttering, "...the hell?"
You should be awake by now, Jim.
He groans and falls back, landing on his pillow with a heavy thump. "Damn it, Spock."
I am only attempting to look out for your health. Doctor McCoy would not be pleased with these changes in your circadian cycle.
Jim rolls out of bed reluctantly. "Yeah, yeah," he says. "He's already hypo-ready, since this starting happening when you meld with me."
It is not an irrelevant concern, Jim. Mind melds should not be able to
"Maybe they shouldn't, but they do," Jim interrupts. Which is weird enough, that he can interrupt somebody else thinking at him. Not that this entire situation isn't weird - it is - it's just that this is one of those particularly weird parts. That thought works like speech, that Jim is starting to figure out what Spock is trying to think before he does it. "For us, anyway. Could you stop thinking at me for a minute, I'm gonna take a shower."
This is not something I can stop, Jim.
"Could you think quieter, at least?" Jim would rather not, but it looks like this is a sonic day. Apparently, he doesn't have time for the hot water he saves for mornings like these.
I will make an attempt.
Ah, that's more like Spock - nice and sarcastic. There's another odd thing - he can hear inflection when Spock thinks. He'd always gone with the idea that thought is faint impressions, not full out sentences.
It generally is. Vulcans have a more structured brain, and can express their thoughts more coherently than other species.
"Spock," Jim says warningly.
It appears thinking more quietly does nothing here, Jim. I apologize.
Sighing, Jim gets out of the shower, technically clean but more tense than he was when he got in. He pulls on his uniform and realizes he doesn't have much time before alpha shift starts. He heads for the turbolift, swearing in his head.
I did warn you that you should be awake by now.
"I don't want to hear it," Jim whispers in a sing song voice. An Andorian in science blues standing in the turbolift when he gets there gives Jim an odd look when zha thinks he won't notice, but he does. He sighs heavily. Just another day in the life of a Starfleet Captain.
--
Spock found himself berated for his actions by no less than six medical professionals, the entire Vulcan council, and three members of Jim's personal staff. The bridge crew of the Enterprise was notably silent towards Spock, but not cruelly. As the elder Spock explained it when he approached Spock, the officers on the bridge knew what it was to be willing to risk anything for Jim. As both Spocks did.
Knowing that others would have done what he did was not entirely reassuring to Spock, but it did make it easier for him to let Vulcan healers begin their work on Jim. They had to convince him to accept his mind as his own, now that Doctor McCoy had repaired the damaged areas.
After three days, he knew what Sarek was going to tell him before he approached.
"It's not working," he said.
"No."
Spock stared out the window silently, feeling his father's presence behind him. Neither of them spoke for a long time.
"What would you have me do?"
Sarek said, "The healers have a theory." When Spock didn't ask for elaboration, he continued, "Their melds have been unsuccessful, as have mine and... as have the melds of others who have melded with Kirk before. They believe you may be the only one who can meld with him."
"I am," Spock said quietly. "I do not know why, but every part of me knows that it is true. None can touch his mind but me, so long as he believes my mind is his." He turned away from the dark spaces between stars and said, "Show me to him."
--
When Jim gets to the bridge, none of his irritation shows - he's all grins, ready for today's continued adventures of the star ship Enterprise. His enthusiasm brings out sincere smiles on the faces of tired officers just finishing up a long gamma shift. Even Uhura, who usually walks a thin line between being irritated and impressed by their captain, finds herself smiling when Jim sends an appreciative glance her way.
Spock, already at his station, is the only one who knows different.
Jim is not a morning person. He has not ingested any caffeine this morning (a substance he considers composing odes to after stressful triple shifts). He had no time to enjoy his shower this morning - in part due to Spock, who feels that this is a punishment he deserves because of that.
While Jim is smiling to all of his crew, in his head he is griping and groaning and complaining about every single thing he sees. It's silly and childish, but it makes him feel better about feeling so tired and awful himself.
Spock only gets vague impressions - he was not lying when he said that thoughts are unclear in species not used to telepathic conversation - but they are clear enough to give him an amusing perspective on the dichotomy of his captain. He barely resists smiling, and almost fails when Jim shoots him a look.
Spock forgets, at times, that this goes both ways. The feeling of bitterness Jim sends his way about Spock being so cheerful this early quickly reminds him of that fact.
--
The procedure lasted longer than many were comfortable with. Although it was possibly to meld for an extended period, such a technique was dangerous to both parties and generally not used between parties who had never melded before. Spock had never melded with Jim before this event, and the meld they had been living with had put a great strain on Spock.
In the end, though, it was successful. Jim was physically normal for a human, as was Spock for a Vulcan. The two of them only needed a few days rest before they were back to work.
The problem didn't resurface until Spock had mind melded with Jim several more times.
The first was a much less physically dangerous situation - Jim had lost his memories of his time on the Enterprise, believed himself to be the kind of bar hopping ne'er do well that he'd been before Captain Pike approached him. Spock breaking the block in Jim's mind keeping his memories back seemed the only option at the time, and so he'd done it.
And it worked. Jim remembered who he was almost immediately, they returned to the ship, life went on.
Except for the faint buzzing in the back of both of their heads, but they paid that no mind.
Skip forward several more melds, and the buzzing has turned into something coherent. In Jim's case, words in Standard and Vulcan; in Spock's, blurry images of ideas. Investigating the idea turned up nothing. For all intents and purposes, Jim and Spock had formed a mind link.
It was irritating at times, but it had its advantages.
--
Ducking behind a wall, Jim swallows a curse. He's got a phaser clenched between his hands, optimistically set on stun, but he knows it's only a matter of time before he has to switch to kill or surrender. If he can't get his hostages back within fifteen minutes, he'll have no choice. He's been made aware of the rules in these situations far too often.
To think that half a shift ago he was mad at Spock for being happy that early in the day.
He moves out into the open and fires a few shots. From the grunt he hears, he figures he was partly successful, but there are enough conscious Romulans over there to return fire. He moves back behind his wall and listens to their firing pattern. They don't have to stop any time soon, but he knows they will. He's studied their techniques thoroughly, he knows how Romulans fight at close range.
Jim.
"How's it going, Spock?" he whispers. "You got any news for me?"
Romulans have nearly taken the deck. There are several behind you, waiting to attack.
Jim keeps carefully still. If he knows Spock...
He hears three synchronous buzzing sounds and the sound of three bodies dropping. He turns around to grin at Spock, who's brought along Chekov and... Singh, Jim thinks is her name. "What kept you?" he asks charmingly. Spock doesn't roll his eyes, but Jim knows it's a near thing.
"The hostages have been freed, Captain," he says instead. "And their captors eliminated."
"Good work, Mr Spock," Jim says. "You hear that, boys?" he shouts to the Romulans he knows are still sitting over there, guarding their point of entry. "You lost your negotiating tools. Are we still going to fight this out, or will I have to enlist the help of my associates in taking you down?"
As they listen to the scuffle of Romulans either running away or debating the merits of running away, Singh looks between Jim and Spock admiringly. "I've heard the stories, but you work even better together than I'd imagined. Sir."
"What can I say, Ensign?" Jim says with a flair. "We're a great team." And the mind reading doesn't hurt.
Spock does roll his eyes at this.