Bonds of Change (Star Trek 2009/RPF Xover)

6. Proceeding Logically

Jim had spent a good hour talking to Adam, discussing his reservations and everything he wasn't sure about. Adam was a good listener and patient with all Jim's questions and it really did help. By the end he almost felt ready to face the reality. Of course, there was one person he hadn't spoken to properly yet.

That was why he asked Adam and Kris (they insisted on being called by their first names) to give him and Spock some time alone. This time he was not about to avoid the issue at hand. It seemed, however, that all his carefully planned questions went out the window once they were actually in the same room. Spock made him all illogical, the irony of which was not lost on him at all.

"Captain," Spock said politely in greeting and then waited patiently for a response.

"Do you find me attractive?" he found himself blurting out before his brain to mouth filter caught up.

Spock raised an eyebrow.

"Sorry," he said, and turned away; it had been a stupid question.

"I have always found you to be an intriguing example of your species," Spock replied and surprised him, giving him the courage to look back at the Vulcan. "When we first came into contact, I believed many of your qualities to be dangerous and impractical, but I have since come to revise many of my opinions. Your body shape and facial features are also pleasing in an aesthetic manner which is stimulating to reproductive urges."

Jim frowned; he wasn't stupid, but sometimes Spock took some interpreting.

"Was that a yes?" he asked.

Spock inclined his head which Jim had learned to read as a nod.

"According to Attaché Allen it would make no difference if I had not been previously," Spock told him, which made him turn fully towards the Vulcan; "your body chemistry is now perfectly adapted to illicit physiological responses from me."

Jim felt something in his chest twist.

"So, I've trapped you into this as firmly as I have been trapped," he said and felt strangely light headed.

"Captain," Spock said and he quickly found himself being supported by strong arms, "I am not trapped."

That didn't make any sense.

"But you said ..."

"I wished only to illustrate that this situation is not unpleasant for me," Spock told him, sitting him down in the chair next to his desk. "I have noted that you are inclined to worry about such things and would be unlikely to accept the logical course of action if this were the case."

Spock definitely had him nailed on that one.

"I am Vulcan, Captain," Spock continued to explain; "I have been trained since childhood to overcome instinctive urges. If I so chose, I could walk away."

"Why don't you?"

He couldn't help asking. All pointers were indicating that this was not going to simply disappear thanks to the wonders of medical science; it was for keeps unless Bones pulled off a miracle.

"It is only logical to preserve life," Spock said, but Jim didn't buy it.

There was logical and then there was unreasonable.

"Do you think Doctor McCoy and the Sonarian scientists will ever find anything to reverse this?"

Sometimes asking Spock direct questions that weren't quite the questions you wanted answered was the only way to find out things from the tight-lipped Vulcan.

"That is not my field of expertise," was the evasive reply.

"Stop hedging and answer the question," Jim insisted in his bluntest tone.