Star Trek 1

"I will have to do that. Otherwise she may decide she prefers my counterpart to me, and that just won't do." Spock deadpans. Kirk laughs hysterically at that. Spock Prime chuckles and pets Amanda one final time.

"I find it interesting that she recognizes me as a version of you." he says. "I have met very few beings in our travels that were that intelligent and yet lacked a verbal language."

"I can name a few." Kirk Prime says. He gives his Spock a dirty look. "You were rather insistent on being the one to communicate with them."

"It usually ended well." Spock Prime says easily.

Kirk Prime snorts. "Usually. Tell them about the other times when it didn't end so hot."

"I'd rather not, if it's all the same to you."

Kirk's eyes got wide as he looked from Spock Prime and Kirk Prime. "Hold it! I wanna hear these stories. This gonna be a thing. Not right now, 'cause, no pressure, but seriously, I'm parking you two somewhere, and I'm gonna hear 'em."

Spock Prime rose an eyebrow and shared a look with Spock. "You must have your hands full deciphering that."

"Most of the time he's intelligible. It's times like these where he's excitable that his words tend to run together, and that just makes it harder for me to pick out an syllables." Spock deadpanned, making Spock and Kirk Prime laugh.

"HEY! I heard that!"

"I am aware of that, Captain. However, I do not believe I care." Spock shot back.

Kirk grins. "You wanna go another round? I'll chase your ass this time."

"You will not be able to catch me." Spock retorts. "I am much faster than you are."

"Yeah, I bet I can catch you anyway, with enough incentive."

Spock arches an eyebrow. "And what, pray tell, would be enough incentive?"

Kirk Prime leans over to his Spock. "Something tells me if this continues, we won't be seeing them for a while" he whispers.

Kirk's eyebrows hit his hairline as he stared at Spock. "Was that - "

Sulu stood up and planted both fists on his hips as he stared Kirk and Spock down. "Oh, for the love of GOD! Jim! You wanna bang Spock. Spock, you wanna bang Jim. For the love of all that's holy, and our sanity, just DO each other and get it over with!"

Kirk gave a little half-shrug, and stood. Winona stretched and took flight, landing on Kirk Prime's shoulder as Kirk walked over to Spock, a slight grin crossing his face. He stood in front of Spock and tapped him on the chest. "You want it? Come get it." With that, he took off.

Spock glances over at Sulu. "You have the con." That said, he takes off after Kirk.

Kirk Prime laughs. 'That won't take long."

"Well, not the chase, at any rate." Spock Prime muses. Sulu and Chekov exchange looks and shrug.

"Maybe then we'll get some peace around here without their tension suffocating us." Sulu mutters.

Chekov gives Sulu a grin and a fistbump. Sulu slouches back down in his seat. "Sheesh."

Uhura laughs and pats him on the shoulder as she walks past. "Nicely done, Sulu."

"Thanks."

There's a crash from down the hall, and Kirk's muffled yelp before it goes quiet again. Everyone on the bridge exchanges a look.

"It looks like Spock caught ze keptin." Chekov announces.

Kirk Prime laughs. "I do not recall it going down this way." he says with a grin. Spock Prime shrugs.

"We provided McCoy with enough entertainment the way it did 'go down'." he points out.

At that moment, McCoy walks onto the bridge. "Okay, kudos for whoever set off the chain of events that has Spock carrying Jim back to his quarters. Seriously, that is some entertaining shit right there."

"Zat would be Sulu!" Chekov says cheerfully.

"Thank you, Sulu."

"I feel like I should take a bow." Sulu says with a grin.

"You really should." McCoy said with a grin. "You should have seen the look on Kirk's face - he shot me a double thumbs-up when I passed him."

Kirk Prime laughed. "Now that does sound familiar. Because I believe I did that to my Bones."

"You did." Spock Prime said, clasping his hands behind his back and smiling. "You also told him that under no circumstances were we to be bothered unless the ship was in the middle of self-destructing."

"I remember that too." Kirk Prime said, grinning.

McCoy laughed. "I got that from Spock, actually. He said that there were to be no interruptions of any kind, unless you want an angry, cockblocked Vulcan staring you down. And I for one, don't."

Uhura returns to the bridge. It doesn't take her long to note the absence of Captain and Commander, the fact that Winona and Amanda are still on the bridge, and the smug look on Sulu's face, and put it all together. She laughs. "Sulu, did you seriously - "

"Yep." Sulu says.

"You are now my hero. Just saying."

Kirk Prime turns to his Spock. "Okay, I know the entire crew wasn't in on it like that."

Spock Prime arches an eyebrow. "Are you certain of that."

"Oh hell. I didn't stand a chance, did I?"

"Negative."

Kirk Prime sighs. "Subtlety isn't a strong suit of ours, is it?"

Spock Prime just laughs. "Not in any incarnation of us, evidently."

McCoy curls up in the Captain's chair. "Nope. We were onto Spock and Kirk the minute they hit the bridge together. The UST was killing us."

Kirk Prime blinks. "Okay, what is UST? I've heard it ten different times, but I have no explanation."

Chekov smiles at him. "It stands for 'unresolved sexual tension'. It is something zat ze keptin and commander haf had since the fight with Nero."

Uhura nods. "Yeah. I kinda fought it until the whole deal with Kahn, but after that - why bother?" she says. "We make better friends anyway."

Kirk Prime blinks. "Wait - you guys came across Kahn? Holy crap, how did that pan out?"

"With Spock breaking six bones in Kahn's body with his bare hands." McCoy says flatly. "And me using Kahn's blood to bring Kirk back to life after the idiot killed himself getting the warp core back online."

Kirk Prime stares at him. "There is a story behind this."

"We have time to kill." Sulu says. "We could tell you all about it."

"Story swapping!" Kirk Prime says. "Awesome. And yes, I would love to hear this one."

The computer in front of Sulu beeped and he looked at the readings. "That may have to wait - we're coming up on the Starbase."

"Well, shit." Kirk Prime said, pouting slightly.

"Don't get me wrong, sir, we're still swapping stories, just not right now." Sulu said, grinning. He turned to McCoy. "So, how do we get the lovebirds out of their nest?"

McCoy gave him a grin. "We're not moving, right? Ten bucks says Kirk and Spock will be here to investigate in a few."

"I'm not betting against a sure thing, McCoy." Sulu said dryly.

Sure enough, Kirk ran onto the bridge, Spock right behind him, attempting to straighten the wrinkles out of his shirt.

"What's happened?" Kirk demanded.

"We have arrived at Starbase 6, sir." Sulu says. "Preparing to dock."

"Awesome. I thought we had a few more hours than that."

"Scotty's been messing with the engines." Uhura offers. "He managed to get a bit more speed out of them since our run-in with the smugglers."

"May their vaporized souls rest in peace." McCoy snorts.

Kirk turns around. "Why are you in my chair, Bones?"

McCoy arches an eyebrow. "Because it annoys you."

"That's my chair. Up."

"Oh, I suppose so." McCoy makes a point to stretch before getting up and walking off the bridge. Kirk just shakes his head.

"He never does that. Why was he doing that?"

"I believe he was being smug." Spock says, finally smoothing out the rest of the wrinkles. "We should prepare to depart."

Kirk sighs and settles into his chair. Uhura turns to him. "We've got an incoming message from Davidson."

"On screen." Kirk stands, and gives the Admiral a grin. "Hello again, sir."

"Hello, Kirk." Davidson pauses. "Your hair's a wreck. What happened?" he asks, looking Kirk up and down. Kirk gives him an easy grin.

"It's one of my habits, sir. I run my hands through my hair when I think. You may have noticed that back in the academy." It's a tiny lie, but one that Davidson will believe.

"That's true. I just wanted to welcome you to Starbase 6, and to let you know that the psychiatrist is waiting for you when you disembark from the Enterprise. He wants a one-on-one meeting with all of you, to get to know you a little." Davidson said, sitting back in his seat. He leans forward. "Oh, and Doctor McCoy? Don't break this one. He's good at what he does."

McCoy huffs. "Hopefully this one actually practices science."

Spock glances back at the doctor. "I was not aware it was safe to allow you in the same room with a psychiatrist." he says blandly. McCoy scratches his nose with his middle finger. Spock replies with a hand gesture that makes McCoy furrow his brow. He glances over at the Primes.

Kirk Prime grins. "It's the same thing." he mouths. McCoy facepalms. Spock looks entirely too satisfied with himself.

"Who taught the Vulcan what the middle finger means?" McCoy mutters.

"I might have after the second time you flicked him off." Kirk points out. He returns his focus to Davidson. "As you can see, we are all in need of a little distance from each other. Preferably before my commander kills my medic."

"Oi!"

Kirk doesn't even turn around. "Am I wrong?"

"No." Spock deadpans. A small smile crosses his face. "I do believe that Doctor McCoy will be available to speak to the psychiatrist first."

"Oh, no you don't, you green-blooded hobgoblin! It's the Captain and Commander who go first." McCoy said gleefully.

"Not this time." Kirk said easily. "We were busy, and once we hit that base, I'm gonna make damn sure we're busy again. So, you first."

Davidson rolled his eyes as Kirk, Spock, and McCoy snarked at each other and turned his attention to Spock Prime. "It's good to see you again, Ambassador."

"And you as well. I hear you're wanting to have a game of chess while I am here."

"I am. Are you free this evening?"

Spock Prime glanced at Kirk Prime, who nodded, grinning. "I am."

"Excellent. Bring your friend as well, I think I would enjoy meeting him."

Kirk blinks. "Admiral, do you know everything that goes on in this universe or something?"

"Not the universe, Captain, but I'm working on it." Davidson teases back. "Mostly just things that interest me. I found being Admiral to be a lot more tolerable when you start learning all the dirty secrets no one can keep from you anymore. Makes me wonder how any of us live long enough to get here."

Kirk Prime laughs under his breath. "With stubborn crew members." he says softly. Spock Prime just not-smiles at him.

Their conversation was interrupted by a crash, then both Jim and McCoy swearing. "Dammit, Bones! Get offa me, you're heavy!"

"It's not my fault you're a goddamn twig who's allergic to the universe!" McCoy grumbled, getting to his feet and leaving Kirk where he was.

Davidson was giving them a mildly curious look. "What happened?"

Kirk grins at him from where he's sprawled across the floor. "Sulu got tired of Bones and I snapping at each other. He shoved Bones, who crashed into me, and boom. Kirk, meet floor."

Sulu shrugged unapologetically. "It was like watching dominoes fall, sir. It was funny."

Spock reaches down and pulls Kirk to his feet. "And this, Admiral, is why shore leave is greatly appreciated." he says dryly.

The admiral laughs. "Well, you have permission to dock. I'll be waiting for you there, so don't worry about trying to find your rooms. Everything's been set up."

"Awesome." Kirk says. "One less thing for me to do."

"Oh, the paperwork and the shrink ought to keep you busy for a while." Davidson says with a grin. "See you in a few." With that the screen goes blank.

Kirk rounds on Sulu. "Next time, I'm pulling you out of that chair." he says with a grin.

"You try that." Sulu says gamely. "I'll laugh at you."

Sulu and Chekov tap a few buttons on their consoles. "Maneuvering into position now." Sulu announces. "Docking clamps activated, and deployed." The Enterprise shuddered then went still. "And we're docked, sir."

Kirk grins and claps him on the shoulder. "Good. Get out of here, guys. We're here for a week."

Sulu and Chekov stand and stretch. "We're gone." Sulu says with a grin. He turns to walk out and stops to grin at Spock. "Hey, don't break the Captain, okay? We're gonna need him once the week is up."

Spock allows a small smile to cross his face. "He will be perfectly fine come time for us to leave."

"That's all I ask." Sulu gives him the Vulcan salute as he walks out.

Kirk closes his eyes. "He just told you to take it easy on me, didn't he?"

"Indeed."

"I'm not sure if I wanna be touched, or if I wanna be embarrassed."

Spock leans down and kisses his forehead. "You can always just ignore him." he says, standing back up.

Kirk almost protests that, then grins. "Yeah, I suppose." he says, standing up and stretching. "Come on, guys. Let's go find the admiral."

Davidson is standing there with another, middle-aged man by the time they get to the dock. "Ah, Captain Kirk, Commander Spock," Davidson greets them, "meet Mr. George Clark. He is to be assigned to your team this week. Hopefully that doesn't interfere with your shore leave."

"Nah. Gives us someone new to harass." Kirk says with an easy grin. "Nice to meet you, Mr. Clark."

"Same, Captain." Clark says. "I'm looking forward to meeting your team. Who would be available first?"

"Doctor Leonard McCoy." Spock says easily. "You will most likely find him in the nearest bar."

Clark snorts. "Okay then. I'll come back around to you two then." He nods to the admiral and leaves.

There are a couple moments of silence where everyone just looks at Spock. Kirk finally speaks. "That was evil, Spock. You just completely threw him under the bus."

"I am sure he'll return the favor someday." Spock says easily.

"Anyway, Admiral, I'll see you later this evening." Kirk says, grabbing Spock's wrist.

The Admiral snorts. "Make it tomorrow morning. You and I can catch up tomorrow."

"You've got a deal!" Kirk laughed as Spock took the lead. "Bye!"

Davidson looks over at Spock and Kirk Prime. "No matter what universe, that's the constant, right there."

"You seem completely not-surprised by the fact that I'm here." Kirk Prime says.

Davidson shrugs. "Yeah, well, once I met Ambassador Spock here, I had a feeling you'd show up eventually." he says. "He's told me some stories about the two of you. Made me look at your younger counterparts in a whole new light."

"Glad he could be of service." Kirk Prime laughs.

-----/

Spock and Kirk find their room quickly enough. There is only one bed, but at least it's a double. Kirk grins. "Looks like they were waiting for us."

"Indeed." Spock says. He sets down his bag. "I have never been on this starbase before. I hear they have excellent concerts." This is not what Kirk wants to discuss, but Spock enjoys teasing him. The reaction makes it very well worth it.

Kirk laughed and flopped down onto the bed with a happy sigh. "I didn't think I'd be this happy to get away from my quarters, but here we are."

Spock laughed quietly and sat down next to Kirk. "I find it funny that we're on shore leave not even a week into our five year mission."

"Yeah, it's not normal, but hey, nothing about our ship is." Kirk's voice was muffed in the pillow. He paused and lifted his face from the pillow. "And now I can breathe."

Spock shook his head and stretched out next to Kirk. Kirk smiled and curled up against Spock's side, his eyes sliding closed.

Spock reaches up and plays with Kirk's hair, using his free hand to look up a book on his datapad. Kirk buries his face against Spock's side without ever opening his eyes. "You know, this is not what I had in mind for tonight."

That makes the Vulcan chuckle. "I know, but we have an entire week." he assures the other. "I imagine we will find some time for other activities."

Kirk huffs in amusement. "So not fair." he mutters before finally falling asleep.

Spock smirks. "Apparently I just found your off-switch." he muses. "That's a handy thing to know."