Fic: As Morning Shows the Day, [part 7]

[jade_dragoness]

Title: As Morning Shows the Day [Part 7]
Author: J.D. aka jade_dragoness
Rating: PG-13, for language. Gen
Pairing: K/S pre-slash/friendship
Status: WIP
Spoilers: Star Trek XI
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: 5,280 for this part [total so far: 37,380]
Disclaimer: Never ever will be mine. *sadness*
A/N: Part Seven ! First I just want to say how grateful I am about everyone’s support for this fic. Especially, the reassurance that Sarek sounded just fine in the last chapter. Yeah, that had me rather nervous. So, thank you! ♥
As always, feedback is hugely welcomed. 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]

They ran into McCoy coming down the opposite hall to Spock‘s quarters. His face was set at its most grumpy expression. The sort that Jim usually only saw when the alcohol ran out or when Jim managed to skip out of a mandatory check up by citing captain’s privilege.

Not that it always worked, because Bones would find a way to drag him in anyway.

“There you are!” scowled McCoy. “What were you up to that made you forget the scans? I told you that you could only get out of med-bay if-”

“Sarek called,” said Jim, interrupting the beginning of what was going to be a long rant. Jim knew that tone all too well.

McCoy abruptly shut up and raised an eyebrow at Jim and Spock, taking in their expressions. The he asked, cautiously, “So, how did it go?”

“Just about what I was expecting,” said Jim, his voice neutral.

Understanding swept across McCoy’s face. Then sympathy shone in his eyes.

Spock watched all this, taking in their reactions. He asked, “May I inquire as to the exact nature of those expectations?”

Jim looked down at him to see Spock was looking back up, curiosity clear across his small face by the tiny furrowing of his brow.

“Well, he‘s your father,” said Jim. “He‘s giving me - us - two weeks to get you back to your usual age. If we don’t, then he‘ll come to take you home. I was afraid he‘d demand you sooner, to be honest.”

McCoy made a face at that news which Spock missed.

“My father has informed me of this plan,” said Spock. “I did not concur.”

Now, Jim was the one surprised. “You didn‘t? I thought you would want to get back to him.”

Spock was solemn as he said, “I am a Starfleet officer and I am not really a child. It is logical to allow the most possible time in order to find a way to reverse my condition so that I may be restored to my position.” Spock’s gaze dropped to the deck. “Two weeks is not sufficient time to discover a solution. My father did not agree.”

“I was that one that gave him that number,” Jim admitted. “I got it from figuring out the rate that you‘re age jumping. Two weeks was the max time that I calculated.”

“But it does not take into account possible delays,” argued Spock.

“He’s got a point there,” said McCoy.

“I did think about setbacks, but maybe I didn‘t give it a large enough time window,” said Jim. He tilted his head at Spock. “How old are you now, Spock?”

“9 years, 3 months, 2 weeks, and 6.44 days,” said Spock.

“When did he go over 9?” asked McCoy, startled.

“Probably when he talked to his father,” answered Jim. Then, something Sarek had said made him brighten up. “Sarek did say that he would only come get you if you were still a child. Once you hit adulthood I don‘t think he‘ll do that. And that‘s only - what? - ten more years?”

“The age of majority for Vulcans is similar to humans,” said Spock, nodding in agreement.

“Yesterday, he was only five years old,” mused McCoy. “That‘s practically four years, give or take a few months. That‘s not a bad rate of growing up.”

“And even if we don’t manage to get him old enough in two weeks, we still won‘t give up,” said Jim, determined. “At the very least, we‘ll know where to find you.”

Spock looked pleased, obvious to Jim by the small upturning of his mouth and the faint crinkling of the corners of his brown eyes.

McCoy gave Spock a reassuring pat on the back. Spock looked back at him warily, taking a step back, incidentally getting closer to Jim.

Jim fought back a wince at the crestfallen look on his best friend’s face.

Poor Bones, the only times that Spock has let him close he’s been unconscious. Awake, Spock just knows him as the scowling doctor who keeps jabbing him with hyposprays, Jim thought sympathetically.

“We were just going to get the scans, right now,” said Jim, hoping to distract them both from the awkwardness of the moment.

“Okay,” said McCoy, looking away, and setting his grumpy face on. Though, Jim could still see the hurt in his eyes.

“You should come join us tonight,” Jim said impulsively. “I‘ve been thinking about having a movie marathon. Spock needs to see the classics.”

“Classics, huh?” said McCoy. “Knowing you, why do I think that it won‘t be quality classic movies?”

Spock kept looking from Jim to McCoy. Then raised his eyebrow at the smirks that were on both men’s faces.

Jim grinned and clapped McCoy on the shoulder. “Bones, he didn‘t even get a Gremlins reference! We‘ve got to fill in the gap in the kid‘s education. So, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! The Blob! Killer Klowns from Outer Space!”

“Aw, come on, Jim. You‘ve seen those a billion times already. No space stuff. We already deal with that enough as it is in real life,” complained McCoy, with a grimace. “Pick something else.”

Jim opened his mouth but McCoy cut him off with a scolding, “No war films, no aliens attacking the Earth, and no horror! And it has to be age appropriate.”

The dismay on Jim’s face made McCoy snort with laughter.

“Okay, okay,” said Jim, trying not to sulk. There went about 95% of all the movies he liked watching. “I‘ll find something we‘ll all like.”

“I‘ll bring the booze,” said McCoy, and he turned to leave them. “And get me those scans!”

Jim made a face at his back. Bastard! You’re the one that isn’t letting me have alcohol! Now, he really was sulking.

“Don‘t bother!” Jim called after him. “Bring popcorn instead!”

All he got for an answer was a smug chuckle.

“How is it possible for tomatoes to become capable of killing a sentient being? Are they not a Earth plant? With no sentience or even mobility?” asked Spock, with a head tilt.

Jim looked down at him and smiled. “That‘s kind of the point.” Then he waved Spock into his quarters.

Spock proceeded him, and his puzzled expression made Jim laugh. So, he explained, “The idea of something as harmless as a tomato going around and killing people is funny.”

“I do not understand,” said Spock.

“I’m afraid that humans can have a twisted sense of humor,” said Jim.

Spock arched an eyebrow.

“It‘s hard to explain,” said Jim. “You‘ll see what I mean.”

Spock nodded. “Is there a reference on human humor that I could read to further my understanding?”

Now, there was a thought. Maybe if Spock treats it like a scientific experiment he‘ll enjoy it more.

“You know, I‘m pretty sure that there are studies,” said Jim, thoughtfully. “The computer library is bound to have some articles in the databanks if you want to look. Just let me use it first to run the scans and I‘ll let you at it.”

Spock nodded in acceptance.

It took a moment, the routine of the scans making it a fast procedure. Then Jim left Spock to run searches through the computer’s massive archives of information. He was rather curious to see what Spock would find, as researching human humor had never been something that had interested him to study in a scientific manner. He knew what he found funny and that had been enough for him.

He decided to take a shower while Spock was distracted. He hated to admit it, but the talk with Sarek had made him sweat, quite literally, and he wanted nothing more than to have a quick wash before they headed out again.

So, he pulled out a towel from the replicator, and headed into the restroom.

As he stripped, Jim thought about what they could do to kill time before running their movie marathon. He wanted to give Spock a look at the science labs, since Engineering was still out of the picture. It would also give him a chance to double check on the process of the analysis on the damaged power coupling part that they’d gotten from Space Station 23.

Even though taking care of small Spock was thoroughly distracting, Jim was still burning to know who was responsible for risking his ship.

Thinking idle thoughts of the vengeance he’d seek upon the one who’d put so many of his people in danger was darkly entertaining. By the time he was walking out of the water shower with a towel around his waist, Jim also had a wide smile on his face, at the mental picture of sending Cupcake with his squad on that hunt, and he was humming Wagner.

“Ride of the Valkyries, Act III of Die Walküre, composed by Richard Wagner. Earth-date: July 23, 1851,” said Spock, as he looked up towards Jim. At the sight of him, Spock’s cheeks instantly flushed green and his head snapped back to the computer monitor.

Jim paused in mid-hum and blinked at Spock, startled as much by his knowledge as by his odd reaction. “Err, yeah, that‘s right.”

Then he realized that coming out wearing only a towel probably hadn’t been his best idea ever. Did Vulcans even have nudity taboos? He’d never run across any indications that they had before, but maybe it was just a Spock thing. Even among humans, nudity taboos and other similar hang-ups could vary from individual to individual, as well as culture to culture. Jim just never thought to ask Spock.

Jim quickly snagged a fresh uniform and retreated into restroom before he embarrassed the kid even further.

When Jim came out again, Spock’s face was back to it’s natural color though there was a new stiffness to his face that made Jim feel uneasy. It was as if Spock was trying doubly hard to hide his reactions, like he thought that Jim had the same expectancies of emotional control as a Vulcan.

Damn it. I did embarrass him.

“Sorry about that Spock,” Jim said, hoping to mitigate some of the damage.

“Apologies are unnecessary,” said Spock, his voice in monotone.

Jim gave him a skeptical look. “If I do things that”- don’t say embarrassed! -“goes against your cultural upbringing. You need to tell me. I don‘t exactly know everything about Vulcan culture.”

Though, he had been trying to learn some of it on his time off, partly to know his first officer better and partly because the loss of Vulcan had made such knowledge all the more precious, in his opinion. The only obstacle he’d had was that he didn’t really have much free time as captain. Unless he happened to be recovering from injuries.

Spock looked like he was going to say something but thought better of it and just nodded.

Jim eyed him before accepting that he’d just have to get Spock to relax the old fashioned way. With some fun.

“So, did you find anything usual in the computer about human humor?” asked Jim.

Spock nodded. “The databanks had an article about human entertainment, specially focused on movies which was written by a Vulcan with extensive experience among humans. The article described the social and cultural significance of movies. It explained that movies are entertainment designed to evoke a range of emotional responses from curiosity, humor, fear, and sympathy.”

“Yeah, that‘s true,” said Jim. “A good movie is the kind that had an impact. It can be positive or negative. It can‘t just fall flat.”

“T‘Pol, the author of the article in question, also wrote that while largely fictional, these movies are treated as being factual during its duration,” said Spock. “I admit that I do not understand the purpose in treating something that is not real as if it is.”

“Well,” said Jim, thoughtfully, “we do it because it helps us to unleash our emotions.”

Spock’s eyebrow went up. “For what purpose?”

Jim smiled. “To let the movie have greater impact of course.”

“Fascinating,” said Spock.

Jim grinned. “You‘ll see what T‘Pol meant later tonight.”

“I will make careful observations,” said Spock.

Jim shook his head fondly. Even while small, Spock was still being a scientist. Which reminded him.

“Speaking about making observations, how would you like to check out the science labs? I‘ve got to head down there anyway, so we can spend time checking out the lab equipment afterwards,” said Jim.

Spock’s eyes lit up, and the stoic blankness dropped to a greater range of expressiveness. Not much, but definitely to a level that Jim could read with greater ease and that was definitely excitement that he could see in Spock’s eyes.

“I would be gratified to have access to the Astrometrics Lab,” said Spock.

“Okay, then that’s the plan,” said Jim, cheerfully.

“Should I change my attire?” asked Spock.

“Nah, you‘re the head of the Science Department, they‘re used to seeing you in uniform,” said Jim, as he walked toward the door. “It‘ll just confuse them, otherwise.”

Spock gave him a look, as he followed at his side. The furrow of his brow conveyed that if he suspected Jim of applying his human humor on him.

And Jim was, because seeing such expresssions on his small face was both adorable and hilarious.

“I find it highly unlikely that scientists that serve aboard a Federation starship would be so easily confused by a simple change of apparel,” scolded Spock.

Jim grinned down at him. “You never know, it could happen.”

“That is a needless opened ended argument without a solid defense,” said Spock. There was a miniscule flicker of amusement in his eyes that just made Jim grin all the harder.

They were still cheerfully arguing the fragility of scientists’ brains or lack thereof, when they walked out of the turbolift and onto the deck level that housed the majority of the science labs. Including the Astrometrics Lab that had so captured Spock’s interest.

“Captain!” said Scotty, with a wave through the open door of a lab where he sat in from of a computer station. “I was just about to come find ye!”

“Hey, Scotty,” said Jim, walking towards him. Spock followed at his side.

“I see ye have the commander back in uniform. Good to see yer doin’ better, laddie. Ye had all us all worried when the news of yer collapse reached us in Engineerin',” said Scotty, peering at Spock as if seeking further reassurance of the boy’s well-being.

Spock’s eyes went a little wide at that declaration as he was caught off-guard by expression of unexpected concern.

Jim dropped his hand on Spock’s shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

Spock blinked and said, “I am in optimal health, Mr. Scott.”

“Call me, Scotty!”

“I do not believe that would appropriate,” said Spock, slowly.

“Aye, that‘s what ye said last time too,” said Scotty, in amusement. He shook his head and turned back to Jim. He continued, his voice now serious, “I did call ye in for more reasons than to check on the laddie‘s health.”

“What is it, Scotty?” asked Jim, matching him in somberness.

“The lab techs have the results back on their forensics check on the part that nearly killed us,” said Scotty, he touched a few readouts on the computer and brought up a screen. He turned them monitor so that Spock and Jim could both read it. “And accordin’ to the results, the part was actually manufactured on Orion.”

“Orion. Motherfuc-,” Jim cut himself off, with a swift look down at Spock. “No wonder the part had that flaw in it.”

“Aye, a badly manufactured piece of crap that had to have passed who knows how many space ports to end up as far as it did in Federation space,” said Scotty.

Jim frowned in thought. “Not necessarily, Space Station 23 is close to Federation traffic lanes. It has a high flow of commerce, with ships that travel to and from the edges of Federation space with cargo. It could have come directly from Orion territory.”

“Aye, possibly,” said Scotty.

“Orion manufacture is outlawed in Federation space because it is the product of slave labor,” interrupted Spock. “If it is of Orion origin than it would not be sold on the open market for it is contraband under Federation law.”

Jim and Scotty both stared at Spock in surprise by the unexpected addition of information.

“He‘s right,” said Jim, with a smack of his fist to his hand. “Orion goods are outlawed, only allowed if they are specifically certified from slave-free worlds. How complicated was the test to find out where it had come from? Can it be narrowed down to a specific planet?”

“Not too difficult,” said Scotty. “At least not if ye are lookin’ for Orion tech. The test took so long because the lab had to eliminate other possible sources. Findin’ out if it came from a slave planet should take a moment.”

Scotty turned the monitor back to himself and clicked on the keyboard. He frowned a the monitor as the new result flashed onscreen looked back up them. “It came from a slave planet.”

Jim’s thoughts spun, and connects formed with rapid speed. He remembered the attitude of the man in charge of the space station, and how much he‘d hated him virtually on sight. He trusted his instincts. “I think I know what happened.”

Scotty looked interested. Spock watched Jim intently as he if was trying to follow Jim’s train of thought from his expression.

“One of the duties of the space stations is to check the cargo of merchant ships for exactly that sort of thing,” explained Jim. “They have specially calibrated sensors that are constantly updated just for that purpose of finding contraband. Then they are suppose to confiscate the cargo. Not end up selling it to unsuspecting ships for a profit.”

Jim and Scotty exchanged grim looks.

“I see where yer goin’ with this, captain, ” said Scotty, darkly. “I am goin’ to kill that bloody bastard.”

Spock paled.

“He‘s exaggerating again,” said Jim, with a quelling look at Scotty. Though, he completely agreed with his chief engineer‘s murderous sentiment. He wanted to kill the civilian commander in charge of Space Station 23 just as badly. He didn’t want to freak Spock out by saying so.

“Not by that much,” scowled Scotty, then he softened. “Sorry, laddie. It is just that no one endangers the ship without answerin‘ to me about it.”

“Or me,” said Jim.

“Jim, you said that the danger of the ship actually exploding was minimal,” said Spock. “The level of your reactions indicates the danger was greater than you had said.”

Scotty sighed, suddenly looking very tired as he answered, “It could have been, laddie. If anythin‘ explodin‘ would have been a mercy, than if the nacelle was damaged durin‘ warp ‘cause then it would have been swift.”

“The ship would have dropped out of warp without warning,” added Jim. “And without warp capacity, we’d just have impulse power. Which meant that it could have taken us months or even longer to get to a nearby star system, depending on where the ship dropped out of warp.”

“And if we were very unlucky, we‘d ‘ave also lost the impulse engines,” said Scotty. “We would have been stuck without power, who knows how many light-years from the nearest planet.”

Spock’s eyes were huge by now.

“It would not ‘ave been a pretty death,” said Scotty, softly.

“No,” agreed Jim. It was a nightmare scenario for any captain, whether the ship was a starship or space barge. Lost in the middle of open space, with no power, no engines, no ability to call for help and no way to keep your people alive for very long.

It made Jim feel grateful for the twist of chance that had brought Scotty into his life and onto the ship as the Chief of Engineering. And it made him think all over again that some ships weren’t as lucky, and wonder at how many such ships were now dead, drifting in space as nothing but ghost ships, all because of greed.

“I want this information sent to Starfleet Command with the highest priority,” Jim ordered, his voice quiet, but seething with anger. “Ships vanish everyday, lost to space from unknown calamities. How many do you think vanished because of Orion parts bought on that space station?”

“One would be too many,” said Scotty. “I’ll have the report put together for Starfleet in less than an hour. Only sir, we do not really have evidence to get anyone convicted. Yer suspicions are not really enough.”

“Starfleet will find out the truth,” said Jim. “I‘d love to go back and get the evidence that we need ourselves but we still have a mission here. Starfleet will give this extra attention with the danger posed to so many people. Send it over emergency channels with extra copies to be sent to all starships. Add the suggestion that they check if they received any parts from that space base.”

Scotty nodded. “Aye, sir.”

Scotty stood up to see to Jim’s order but wobbled as soon as he was upright.

“Scotty!” said Jim in concern, reaching out to catch him.

Scotty shook his head, waved Jim away. “Just a little dizziness, captain.”

Jim frowned at him, taking in the dark circles under Scotty‘s eyes. “When was the last time you got any sleep?”

“What day of the week is it?” asked Scotty, jokingly.

Jim raised his eyebrows at him.

“I could not leave the engines in the state they were in, captain,” explained Scotty. “This was too important. I ‘ave run on less sleep than this before.”

“Yeah, but those were in the middle of emergency situations were we under a time crunch,” said Jim. “We‘re not in that much trouble right now so you need to get sleep.”

“Alright, sir. I just need to see to this first,” said Scotty, firmly.

Jim sighed, then ordered, “Alright, Mr. Scott, but as soon as you get the report done sent it to Starfleet Command, then you are to take yourself off-duty.”

“Aye, captain,” agreed Scotty, nodding in acceptance before he walked away.

“You suspect that there have been other ships who have been endangered by Orion contraband ship replacement parts,” observed Spock.

“Yeah,” said Jim. “But I really hope that the Enterprise was the first one to get stuck with one. Other ships wouldn’t have gotten out of trouble so easily.”

“I must agree,” said Spock, with a look to where Scotty had turned in the hall. “Mr. Scott has proven to be a most competent engineer.”

Jim grinned at the approving tone in Spock‘s voice. “Scotty is the best. He‘ll see to it that the right information gets out. Come on, lets go to see the rest of the science labs.”
*-*-*-*

Spock was having an absolute blast in the science labs, in Jim’s opinion.

All the science officers had been excited to see their commanding officer, and more than willing to show off to him every single possible thing that he showed the least amount of interest in.

Jim pretty much just leaned back and let Spock be surrounded by his subordinates as they answered all his questions.

Spock had been rather wide-eyed at first from all their attention but their respectful tones and smiles had quickly settled the boy down. Though, he did keep glancing back at Jim, as if to reassure himself that he hadn’t been left alone.

Jim smiled at him whenever he did.

“Thank you for bringing Mr. Spock down to us, captain,” said Lieutenant Hernandez, as Jim watched Spock being shown every inch of the chemical analysis lab. “They just about killed me with their questions when I told them I‘d talked to the commander on the bridge. And when we heard that Mr. Spock was in the medical bay? Well, it wasn‘t pretty.”

“None of us were happy when that happened,” said Jim. “I would have stopped up by earlier if that hadn‘t happened.”

“What was the cause of Mr. Spock‘s collapse, sir?” asked Hernandez.

“Nothing physical,” answered Jim. “It was the result of his memories coming back. I can‘t exactly tell you the details.”

“I understand, sir,” said Hernandez. “It‘s Mr. Spock‘s business.”

“Exactly, lieutenant,” agreed Jim. “After Mr. Spock is back to normal it will be his choice what to share with the rest of the crew.”

“Jim!” said Spock. He stepped away from his huddle of subordinates and looked toward Jim with an excited gleam in his eyes. “The next lab we will examine will be the Astrometrics Laboratory .”

“You really like stellar cartography, don‘t you Spock?” asked Jim, with a small smile.

“The charting and analysis of stellar bodies is the current focus of my studies,” said Spock. There was a small bounce in his step as he moved out to the hall.

Kid just doesn’t want to say that he enjoys studying the stars, thought Jim, in amusement. Jim knew because Spock had never grown out of that interest.

He followed after Spock and his subordinates but he didn’t get to enter the Astrometrics Lab before Yeoman Rand found him.

“Captain Kirk,” she called. “Captain Kirk! I have an update from the away team that you‘ll want to see!”

Jim paused and waited for her to catch up. He watched her nearly bounce with excitement, her blonde pixie cut hair in a disarray.

“Did you run here, yeoman?” asked Jim, interested despite himself. He’d never seen Rand run, at least not when they weren’t in red alert. She walked smartly, and people got the hell out of her way.

“Sir,” she said, not bothering to answer, “you‘ll want to read this.”

She gave him her PADD.

Curious, Jim scrolled thorough the report and a wide smile spread across his face. It seemed that Keenser and the team of scientists down at Cromtic had found a solution to get Spock back to normal.

The schematics to a reversal machine for the Cub Sphere.

“Yes!” Jim whooped. Rand grinned right back at him.

The only problems that Keenser reported was that the schematics was missing some information. The schematics were so old that they were on hard copy, and the ink on the paper was faded in places. Also, the equipment and tools to build the machine were no longer available on Cromtic, except possibly in museums.

The team would have to build the reversal machine from scratch which could take several days. Though, High Priest-Engineer Kret had volunteered to help so the work should go faster. An additional jump to their timetable would be if they used the transporter. Keenser had written that the transporter tech figured that use of the transporter buffers would help in keeping Spock from suffering any side effects from the forced age jump. Otherwise the stress would be too much, since the normal trigger was supposed to be Spock’s happiness.

Spock popped out of the Astrometrics Lab, looking at him with a raised eyebrow as Jim damn near danced in glee.

The rest of the scientists looked through the open door in curiosity.

Jim grinned at Spock and waved the PADD in the air. “Got good news from the away team.”

Spock still looked like he thought Jim had gone crazy on him.

Jim laughed in delight. “I just got a little excited, Spock.”

“They have a solution to return me to my regular age?” asked Spock.

“Hopefully,” said Jim. “They‘re still working on it, so it’s not too certain yet. But they have something, the plans to the machine that should reverse what the Cub Sphere did to you.”

Spock nodded slowly. Then he looked away, and the slight hunching of his shoulders killed the fire of Jim’s excitement like it was ice water.

“Hey,” Jim said softly, walking towards Spock and dropping down on his knees before the kid so that their faces were at the same height. He set the PADD by his side to free his hands.

Spock refused to meet his eyes.

Jim put his hands on his slim, small shoulders and squeezed gently. “Hey, Spock,” he said softly. “I‘m not going to make you do anything you don‘t want to.”

Spock finally met his eyes. There was a bleakness there that made Jim’s breath catch in his throat. He swallowed, before smiling reassuringly as he said, “If you want to keep going like we‘ve been, then we’ll just keep doing what we’ve been doing until we get your age back to normal.”

“It would be logical to-”

Jim cut him off. “Logical, maybe. But Spock, the reversal machine can just be a back-up. There‘s nothing wrong with how you‘re aging now, it‘s just the time restraints that we have that‘s making me push everyone to find a cure.”

“Would you not like me to regain my former age as soon as possible?” asked Spock, with a vulnerability in his eyes that gave Jim the impression that the wrong answer would break the kid’s heart.

“I like you at any age,” said Jim, honestly. “I like you at every age. I told you that we‘re friends, Spock. I don‘t just turn off how much I like someone because they‘re no longer a grownup or a child. You‘re Spock - kid or adult - you‘re still you. And I like you.”

Spock blinked. And his hands came to cover Jim’s hands, just resting them on top of Jim’s fingers.

His eyes went distant, as if he was paying attention to something else.

Jim wondered how strong his touch telepathy had been at age 9 and tried to send as much of his affection for Spock and the deep sincerity of his words as he possibly could.

And finally, the slump to Spock’s shoulders went away as the boy straightened up and dropped his hands from Jim’s skin.

“Thank you,” whispered Spock, his voice so low that even as close as Jim was to him, he barely heard it.

Jim smiled, picked up the PADD and stood up. “Go back into the lab, I‘ll be there in a second.”

Spock nodded and turned back to the lab.

Jim saw that the science officers who’d been shamelessly eavesdropping were all now beaming at him.

Jim shook his head at them and turned back to Rand. He caught her blinking away rapidly, her blue eyes were wetter than usual.

“Yeoman-” Jim paused, uncertain of how to react to her expression.

“Captain,” she said stiffly, before grabbing the PADD back from him and marching away at a near run.

Jim grinned after her. It wasn’t often he got to see his yeoman show a softer side. She was usually too busy trying to intimidate him into doing his paperwork.

He walked into the Astrometrics Lab to once again see Spock surrounded by his adoring subordinates. So, Jim found a conveniently empty piece of wall and watched Spock charm them even further with his intelligent questions.

Everything was moving at a great pace. He was definitely more reassured now than he’d been after the discussion with Sarek. His people had justified the confidence he had in them.

Once they had a reversal machine ready for them, Jim had a way to keep Spock from being taken from them, even if Spock chose to not use it.

Now, all he had to worry about was what movies would he pick for them to watch tonight when Bones came over.

Aw, damn. Why did Bones have to remind me that it had to be age appropriate?

He wondered what were the chances of him getting Spock to age jump into his teens before then.

TBC in [Part Eight]

a/n: So this part got a bit more angsty than I expected. Poor tiny!Spock and his silly thinking that Jim wanted to get rid of him.