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[kirktastic]

Completely wrung out from the night before, and still a little sore, Jim could not have been happier to be cleared for duty. It felt good to walk up to the bridge in his uniform, greet the alpha crew, tease Pasha at her duties, and go into his office.

Unfortunately, the amount of paperwork made it... less than happy, but at least he could get started on the mess. Inside the handsome and daring space captain was still a book worm, the child who loved the library and the man who collected actual paper books, and it was that book worm that had him start sorting things out first into folders and piles to get done. His fingers flew over the console, throwing files into each folder to sort it out. He reached over and tapped the comm, calling for Rand as well to help out.

It felt good to be the Captain again, and now he wanted to play catch up with his crew.

Comments

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim looked up from what he was typing - a long request for supplies that would require some finesse in acquiring, he had a feeling Scotty had a hand in it - and laughed at Spock's question. "I'm no longer drowning, if that's what you mean. Really slowly pulling my head up from the water."

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

He stepped closer to the desk, and leaned forward over the edge a little to catch a glimpse of the screen. "It is not necessary for you to concern yourself with paperwork if other tasks require your attention."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"I like doing this," Jim said with a shrug that was almost sheepish. "I like feeling I'm part of the ship, right down to supply lists." He tapped the screen, indicating what he was looking at.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"But those do not require your explicit permission, assuming the materials are common." He leaned a little more to gather the details of the requisition form, before straightening up. The added strength still took some time getting used to. "If you would prefer to forward them to address matters of a higher priority, that would be acceptable."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"I'm fine with what I got, even if is going to take me a while to get it all done." Jim chuckled, looking up to Spock. It felt easier like this, about business. Things were far from perfect but... they were improving.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"Then--do you require assistance?" Spock prodded at the bond as he asked, curious but uncertain about the status of Jim's energy or his willingness to accept.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim looked up and met Spock's gaze. He could feel that poking, and a deep part of him disliked it. He didn't like the idea of him being private, his thoughts and feelings his and an unknown. "Stop that. I'm fine, no better off than you are probably."

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"Apologies." The bond drew back reluctantly, but didn't stop looking, eager for some feedback or sensory information. His gaze shifted to Jim's hands. "I am uncertain about the current state of the affairs requiring my attention, though my yeoman estimates unread messages at six hundred."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"You know," Jim started, looking down at his own huge list of unread messages as he brought up a hand and bite a fingernail, "it shouldn't be too bad. I started sorting everything first, see what was most important.."

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

He watched the small show of teeth and the bite at the nail. The bond prodded forward again, this time with a more nervous energy. "I am familiar with prioritizing strategies for handling bureaucracy." His hand tightened over his wrist behind his back. "Is biting one's nails not a bad habit in human culture?"

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"And I have to learn it," Jim shot right back. He dropped the hand from his mouth with a smirk. "Yea, guess it is. Stop that. If you want to know something, ask."

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"There is nothing that I desire to know." Plain desire, that was all, what most would call natural and inevitable (and undiminished, if not enhanced, by all of his recent activities). "I was merely exploring the extent of our bond."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

There went the comfortable barrier of work. Jim looked at Spock, frowning. "Exploring the extent? What does that even mean?" He mentally poked the bond, not unfriendly or friendly. "It's there. That's it." At least, for now. Jim allowed large steps in building something back between them recently, but... it still had its steps it needed to be taken.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"It is not that simple." The bond poked back, and then receded. "But you do not enjoy it, so I will cease. Are you certain there is nothing I can assist you with?"

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"I don't think it's simple... but I don't know because you don't tell me." But instead of the anger that had been there in the past, Jim just gave a wry smile. "You like keeping all that stuff to yourself. Part of the mystery of being a Vulcan?"

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"Partly the inability to explain concepts when you possess no reference, and also uncertainty in my own information." Spock shifted his gaze to the window behind Jim. "I cannot tell you what I do not know or trust to know, and you do not appear keen on discussing the remainder."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim leaned back in his seat, feeling it shift to hold his weight. He watched Spock, trying to read his expression. The bond was there, maybe he could have figured out something from it, but part of him as much as being captain could read people. Even Spock, when he put his mind to it.

It was odd hearing an 'I don't know' out of Spock. "Before you say it, I know you're not totally human... but it's a very human thing to say even things we don't know. Theories," he tried instead, thinking it might make more sense, "because a theory can lead to more ideas instead of just letting knowledge go to waste."

As to being keen to discuss it... well, maybe that was true. "Maybe it's just as human to want to keep oneself private, mind and heart."

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"Privacy of the mind is a central tenet of modern Vulcan philosophy, Jim." As if he had forgotten. He would give him privacy, of course, but how was he to know his bondmate if it was maintained at all times? "And there is a difference between theory and conjecture, and the only bridge between the two is experience which I do not possess."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"Experience comes because you try it. I want to know more, but not at the cost of myself." Jim sighed to himself. He looked up at Spock, those eyes, trying to read what was going on behind them. So, instead, he just gave a little smile. "Bones has to be swimming in all this too."

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

He relaxed a little. "I doubt it would be to such an extent. If they are unoccupied with patients they tend to migrate to the pharmaceutical divisions." Which just meant more paperwork for him. Perhaps he should reroute that directly to Leonard before they became overzealous in their supply requests.

"Do you expect me to master the dynamics of the bond individually?" he asked, curious and calm. "Do you prefer I ignore your part in it until that time?"

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim looked up again at the comment about the bond and sighed. "I think we have time to... master it. I'm not in a rush. I don't know why you are." He frowned a little.

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

"Because it seems that I am allowing a portion of my bond to languish in my distraction." He looked aside. "Which is both irresponsible and unacceptable. If you do not believe this is the case, I will accept my impatience and dismiss my concern." What he wouldn't give to just touch him, which was why he kept his hands behind his back.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Brows up. "To languish? I think right now, we're just working on making sure we can work together on this. I don't know..." He wasn't sure how to put it into words. "...Guess it's like building out friendship from the ground up."

[cso-spock.livejournal.com]

Spock considered, tilting his head for a moment, before he spoke. "Then you want to be courted." That would be possible, and he had already done it several times before (and it followed the same general pattern with individual variations he could adjust to). Just none of them had been his superior, somebody he had nearly killed (quite the opposite, with T'Pring), or actually bonded to him at the time.

Perhaps slightly more difficult.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim made a choking sound, jerking in his seat as he stared at Spock in something like horror. "What?!" He couldn't even immediately process Spock's words. Finally, he just slowly shook his head with a sigh. "No. No. Friendship doesn't equal courtship."