Work Text
Standard mission. Standard planet. Standard risks. Non-standard results. "What is happening?" Spock's calm voice cut through the cacophony in the transporter room. There was a frozen moment as his eyebrows drew together and he looked around to see a crack in the pad the captain was supposed to appear on. He tilted his head slightly as he pulled his mind together and realized what he was seeing. "Where is the Captain?""I do not know! Keptin is ... stuck," Chekhov replied with a waiver in his voice. He looked over to Spock and then back to his console, fingers flying over the screen as he tried to figure out what was happening. "His pad... shattered. Anomaly outside the ship broke many things. But ... his signal is still here."Spock stepped down from the transporter pads, mind flashing back to Vulcan when his mother had been in the transporter beam. When she'd fallen and he'd lost her. And the millions of others that had been lost on Vulcan. He shivered as though the room was cold but no one said anything. He moved close to Pavel and laid a shaking hand on the engineer's shoulder, more a bit of comfort than anything else. "Please..." Pavel looked up and saw the broken expression on the Commander's face. He bobbed his head and his fingers went back to the screen. There was a flash of light on the pad and there was a ghostly image in the lights, but it seemed frozen. Kirk had not fully materialized, and there was a strange sound as Spock's hand tightened slightly on Pavel's shoulder. "You are doing very well," Spock encouraged as he turned to the rest of the room. "Get Doctor McCoy in here. Everyone else ... out!"People scrambled to obey as the First Officer's tone left no room for argument. "What the blazes are goin' on in here?!" Bones' voice cut through the relative quiet of the transporter room. He had a dark scowl on his face before he realized what he was seeing. Spock had moved to stand before Kirk's pad, eyes locked on the Captain's flickering image. "Holy shit...""Almost have him!" Pavel crowed as his fingers flew just a bit faster. Everyone in the room held their breath as the light solidified and Kirk stood frozen for a fraction of a second before he collapsed into Spock's waiting arms, eyes wide as he tried to breathe. There was a fragile tension in the room before Bones moved, a nurse with him as they moved to Jim's side and started to work on him. Right until Jim took enough of a breath to scream when the nurse touched the skin of his bare hand. The sound was soul-wrenching as he curled away from the nurse like he'd been burned. His whole body trembled and he tucked his face into Spock's chest, hands spasming in the blue of Spock's uniform. "Jim?" Bones asked softly as he pushed the nurse out of the way. The man went without complaint, looking terrified that he'd somehow hurt the captain. "Jim are you with us?""...hurts..." Jim breathed as he slowly turned his head and the others were able to get a good look at the Captain. "He's..." the nurse breathed, unable to finish the sentence. "Jim... what hurts?" Bones asked as he pushed aside Jim's altered appearance. The changed eyebrows and elongated ears would have to wait. "Come on, kid. Tell me what's goin' on with you.""Everything," Jim wheezed as he blinked at Bones with reddened eyes, the blue looked unholy with as red as the whites had become. His skin was flushed a strange color, red in places and almost green in others. His hands trembled where they continued to hold onto Spock. "My head...""Jim," Spock spoke softly, eyes warmer than most ever saw. "You have been altered by a malfunction in the transporter. I need you to take a deep breath so that Doctor McCoy can examine you." "...m'kay..." Jim breathed as he managed to pry a hand free and offer it to Bones. He shivered when the doctor made skin-to-skin contact but didn't scream. "Hm... he's nice..." Jim breathed as he laid his head on Spock's chest again. "You're teal. Soft and hard. Feels good. Bones is gold and bronze... with blue sprinkles... sparkles? Meh... a spike-infested ball of fluff. Home... I'm home right?""Sprinkles!?" Bones gaped as he looked over his best friend. "Seriously...?" "I believe he is experiencing touch telepathy for the first time," Spock offered as he reached up a hand to gently run his fingers through Jim's hair and felt the blonde sag into his arms, body relaxing significantly. "Such images are common. Fully fledged ideas and images take time.""Nurse is too hard... Connel. Broke up. Red and black. Sharp," Jim offered as he leaned into the petting. "Pav is nice. He's gotta golden glow....""More than a touch I'd say," Bones offered with a raised eyebrow. "We need to get him to medical. Figure out what that damn machine did to him.""I did best, sir!" Pavel insisted, eyes a little watery as he looked over the other in the room. "You did great, kid," Bones replied as he stood and clapped a hand on Pavel's shoulder. "It's not you. It's ... that thing. And you got him back. He's alive. We can deal with everything else later."Pavel bobbed his head as he turned back the console and forced the transporter out of commission. "No one else to use until we find issue.""I can carry him, Doctor," Spock offered as he smoothly got to his feet with his limpet. He noted the way Kirk clung to him like he was the only thing in the universe that wasn't going to fly apart on him. Or light him on fire. "I do not believe he would do well to separation.""Spock?" Jim whimpered as he nuzzled again. "T'hy'la...?""Yes, Jim. I am here," Spock replied even as he felt his breath catch in his throat at the Vulcan term of endearment. "Mine. Yours. Yes?" Jim asked as he felt himself moving thanks to Spock's ground-eating gait that was smooth enough to keep from jarring Jim too much. "Yes. But we will need to revisit that after we confirm your condition," Spock replied as he squeezed the other briefly, hoping to convey a sense of trust and home. "Hate hospitals," Jim whined as he was lowered onto one of the beds. "I understand your discomfort, but it is necessary," Spock replied as he set the younger male down but froze when he felt strong hands holding him in place. "Jim?""Don't leave," Jim begged, voice weak and wavering. There were tears pooling in his blue eyes making him look like he was on the edge of breaking. Which likely wasn't far from the truth. "I can't... too many...""I will stay," Spock replied as he carefully maneuvered himself to sit on the head of the biobed. "Get out of the way you pointy-eared lunatic," Bones growled as he moved to shove Spock out of the way only to realized Jim had a death grip. "Never mind. Chapel! Get over here. Don't touch him, but we need scans. Anything that might require skin-to-skin you have me do, or show Spock. Jim... he's been altered by a transporter malfunction. He's ... at least part Vulcan now. And he's got no defense against his shiny new mental abilities.""Right, Doctor McCoy," Chapel replied as she ordered other nurses around the room and set up a barrier between the bed Kirk was on and the rest of the med-bay. She made sure no one else got close as they worked to make sure Jim wasn't going to keel over at any moment. "Doctor?" Spock asked over an hour later as Jim finally drifted off to sleep. "Is he going to live?""Yes. He's... he's part Vulcan now. Not quite half, so his heart is in the same place... but he's got the extra cartilage around his chest. His brain has altered slightly, but his scans are showing no changes to personality, just new regions that are active. And his blood is green and red.. it's like freakin' Christmas inside his body. I ... don't know what to do about that," Bones sighed as he ran an exasperated hand through his hair in a self-soothing motion. "You... stay with him. I don't know if anyone else can touch him at this point. And I don't ever want to hear him scream like that again...""You can touch him, Doctor. I believe because you share a T'hy'la bond with him as well. You are his brother, friend, shield," Spock offered softly, only loud enough for Bones to hear him. "But do not say such things to others. They may wish to abuse that link. And it is not something we often speak of, even among Vulcans.""You got it. I'm going to get heroically drunk with nurse Chapel. You need anything, you call," Bones nodded and snatched Chapel's arm and led her out of the infirmary. "Spock?" Jim grumbled, voice low and wrecked sounding as he slowly released the grip on Spock's shirt. He stayed laying against Spock, unwilling or unable to move, and he inhaled deeply. "What happened?""There was an incident in the transporter room. Your pad broke, and Pavel did everything he could to bring you back. It would seem you became stuck in the transporter buffer, from what I can ascertain. And it would seem the system and Pavel used the last pattern to fill in the parts of yours that failed to come through.""What was the last pattern?" Jim asked, eyes slowly opening to look around the room with a sense of wonder. "Mine.""Oh... okay... so?" Jim asked as he slowly sat up but refused to break contact with Spock. "You are now part Vulcan," Spock replied as he held up a blank PADD so Jim could use the reflective surface to look at himself. "Wow..." Jim murmured as he looked himself over. "So now I'm even better looking!"Spock rolled his eyes at the comment but Jim caught the feeling of amusement and affection from their point of contact. "Oh, come on! You know most people think Vulcans are mysterious and attractive! that just gives me an advantage! I'm even better looking now! And I can feel... you?""Yes. You can feel me through our bond, T'hy'la," Spock replied as he tilted his head to look over Jim now that the initial crisis seemed to be over. He had to admit to himself that the Captain had been very attractive to him before. Now he was even more attractive. "I said that word before, didn't I?" Jim asked as he turned to settle against Spock like a pillow. "It's ... got a lot of meaning in that word. Between us... it's more than just ... 'brother or friend' right?" "Correct. I have deeper feelings for you than I anticipated," Spock offered as he let his hand drift to Jim's soft, golden hair and pet in soothing motions. "but that can be a discussion for another time.""You think I'm sexy!" Jim crowed even as his eyes started to drift shut."You are... acceptable," Spock huffed out, the Vulcan equivalent of a full-belly laugh. Jim said nothing further as he let his body relax, knowing Spock would take care of him. They'd deal with everything else later. His new abilities he could feel on the edges of his awareness. His changed looks and biology. His sudden knowledge of Vulcan language. The bond hummed between them, tentative and more of a comfort than anything else. "I find you acceptable too."END