Hello! This is my Valentine's Day story! It was supposed to be a One Shot, which would have been uploaded on Valentine's Day. It ended up being around 9-10.000 words long, so I decided to break it into three parts that would be uploaded over the course of the next days. The last chapter will, of course, be posted on Valentine's Day :)

The idea behind it was born from me reading through the article on Sehlats on Memory Alpha, and this: "The novelization of "Yesteryear" (in Star Trek Log 1) states that sehlats originated in the rainforests of Vulcan's southern hemisphere." caught my eye. Sooo... this happened!

I hope you'll enjoy it, it's not particularly intelligent or in any way logical, but then again, when have I ever written anything that's not 100% me indulging in my need for romance (and naked Vulcans)?

(P.S. Star Trek does not belong to me!)

Breathe across the Palms

The northern hemisphere of Vulcan was, in essence, a stretch of boiling hot sand, decorated with the shimmering, elegant spikes of various cities. The southern hemisphere, however, was peppered with large mountains and was the home of some of the most eventful weather phenomenon on Vulcan. And in its very centre existed the planet's only rainforest.

Said rainforest was only able to grow due to the monstrous rock formations surrounding the area, which created a unique environment that allowed clouds to form and rain to fall in quick intervals, and in addition worked as protection against sandstorms. However, because of yet unidentified reasons, the rain had failed to arrive for the past four weeks.

Which was why Jim was currently being dragged through yet another embassy by his mother. Because, clearly, an ambassador was needed when Vulcan requests help from Earth's most prestigious botany lab and inquires about the possible addition of a Terran meteorologist, just to be sure. It was ridiculous.

After all, how much political impact could losing a bunch of plants possibly have?

Jim grunted when his mother pushed him to sit in one of the basket chairs standing at the very edge of the embassy's balcony. The rainforest was a sea of lush greens and dark, dark purple off to the right, and Jim finally understood why it had been given the name Masutra t'Laplar.A field of what looked like waneti blossoms to the left, adding an almost surreal air to the landscape.

It looked almost like something out of a dream.

"Stay here." Jim jerked away when Winona's index finger invaded his vision. "I'll see why no one's been alerted of our arrival, yet. If I find out that you moved off this chair, I will leave you at home next time. I don't want a repeat of last year's debacle."

Jim huffed. "I'm eighteen, Mom, not five. It's not like Vulcan's that interesting, either. We've been here over a hundred times."

Eyebrows high on her forehead, Winona leaned down as her mouth curved into a smug smile. "Being a certain age has never kept you from doing something dangerous, Jimmy. And, may I remind you of a certain someone who threw a tantrum when I said they might not be able to accompany me? We both know you've never been to this side of Vulcan before, don't even try to tell me you're not intrigued."

Averting his gaze, Jim shrugged. "I was just curious about the sehlats. No big deal."

Winona laughed, ruffled Jim's hair and retreated back into the embassy, leaving Jim to glare at the intricately designed banister. A movement from the edge of the forest drew his gaze away from the curling metal rods. Narrowing his eyes, Jim attempted to find whatever had distracted him. A second later, Jim's mouth opened in surprise at the figure darting through the thicket. Scrambling to his feet, Jim dashed forward, leaning over the balustrade as far as he dared.

Still, whoever they were, were too far away for Jim to distinguish any sort of telling features. All Jim could tell was that they were most likely Vulcan, judging from the way their motions carried an almost feline grace. Then again, no Vulcan he had ever seen had willingly allowed their perfect posture to slump into something resembling the prowling hunch of a large cat.

Not to mention that Vulcans generally did not seem the kind to stalk through forests for absolutely no apparent reason.

The stranger journeyed along the edge of the rainforest, before vanishing into the thicket. Brows furrowed and lip wedged between his teeth, Jim waited for the strange Vulcan to reappear. Five minutes went by, but the Vulcan did not return.

With a shake of the head, Jim pushed away from the banister and brushed his hands over the front of his knee length robe to straighten out the wrinkles. And here Jim had thought he would be able to escape the boredom that plagued his day. It was not to be, it seemed.

"-me, I would have rescheduled! The last thing you need is to worry about negotiating about a bunch of plants on top of all this, Sarek!" Winona's voice sounded from the hallway beyond the balcony door, carrying a note of urgency.

Jim shuffled forward, peering into the hallway.

His mother stood in front of the open doors leading to the large meeting hall at the end of the hallway. Her short hair was in disarray and her cheeks brightened by two spots of colour that spoke of slight agitation. Jim furrowed his brows as a familiar Vulcan with greying hair stepped through out into the hallway beside his mother. Ambassador Sarek looked as unruffled as ever, even though the slight crease between his brows was a tad disconcerting.

As was the way Sarek's wife, Lady Amanda, was clinging to her husband's elbow, her shoulders shaking with the force of her sobs.

"I assure you, Winona, it was my intention to inform you as soon as possible of what had occurred. However, my wife and I were occupied with trying to find whoever was responsible for the attack while simultaneously attempting to locate our son. It was difficult to focus our attention on anything else."

Jim frowned. Attack?

Violence was a rare thing to come across upon Vulcan. Not surprising, considering that logic was always placed above emotional outbursts and the law enforcement was more than efficient. Intrigued and a little anxious, Jim abandoned his post and shuffled down the hallway towards where his mother stood.

Winona sighed, her shoulders sagging. "I understand, Sarek, I'm sorry for my outburst."

"Mom?" Jim cleared his throat when his voice came out raspier than expected. "What's going on?"

The fact that his mother actually jumped at hearing his voice made Jim's stomach twist with unease. What had happened to make her so jumpy?

Winona turned to face him, a tight smile on her lips as she reached out to touch his cheek. "Oh, darling, I'm sorry for ignoring you."

"Mom." Jim grit his teeth. "What happened?"

Winona opened her mouth, but it was Sarek who spoke up instead, "27.6 hours ago, our son was attacked by an unknown party while travelling here via his personal hover car. By the time the security team arrived, the attackers were gone and so was our son, Spock."

Sarek's voice had not wavered once, his face betraying not a hint of distress. That was the funny thing about Vulcans; they had a tendency to turn into robots once their hidden emotions threatened to overwhelm them.

Amanda gave a soft whimper, covering her mouth with one hand as the other reached for her husband's to hold onto. Jim averted his gaze when Sarek's eyes softened and the Vulcan moved to touch his free hand to his wife's cheek. "Amanda, ashayam, nam'uh hayal. We will find him."

Jim did all he could to keep his eyes from straying towards Amanda. While he had crossed paths with her at a few of the diplomatic banquets Winona had taken him along to, Jim was not comfortable watching the usually so composed woman lose all her bearings.

Directing his attention to his mother, Jim took in the strained lines marring the skin around her mouth and eyes. Sarek's explanation had not been very informative, but the atmosphere was thick enough for Jim to guess just how dire the situation truly was. His thoughts flashed back to the strange Vulcan he had seen only minutes before.

Jim's eyed widened. Could it be?

"Mom?" Jim said, keeping his voice quiet to not disturb Sarek and Lady Amanda. "Was it a kidnapping? I mean, what if Spock escaped and is hiding somewhere-"

Winona shook her head and grabbed Jim by the shoulders. "Listen, darling. This isn't something you should worry about. We're dealing with something that goes beyond a simple attack done by a dissatisfied group of troublemakers. Which is why you, young man, will go down to the entrance hall and find Ivek, so she can take you back to the hotel. You'll be safer there."

Jim huffed. "I'm not a little kid anymore, Mom. And this is an embassy, even the toilets have security measures! Just let me-"

"Jim, I'm not arguing with you about this." Winona pressed a hard kiss to his forehead. "Now go. I'll comm. you once the situation's clearer. It might take a while, though. I love you, Jimmy."

Hands clenched into tight fists, Jim sighed. "Love you too, Mom."

With a last glance at Sarek and Lady Amanda, Jim stepped away from his mother and made his way towards the staircase leading down to the main floor.

Finding Ivek was not difficult, seeing as the Vulcan female seemed to possess some kind of sixth sense and honed in on Jim as soon as he stepped into the entrance hall. Either that, or Ivek took her current job as glorified babysitter much too seriously.

Probably the latter.

Jim tilted his head up to meet Ivek's eyes when she came to stand in front of him. She had bundled her sleek, black hair into a loose knot atop her head today and even added a golden hair needle to decorate it. It was an interesting contrast to the uniform she was wearing.

It was only the fact that Ivek had been Winona's personal assistant for over fifteen years, that kept him from feeling in any way intimidated by her tall stature and the obvious strength she possessed. Not to mention that, for a Vulcan, she had been surprisingly easy to charm into looking away whenever Jim ate four cookies instead of the two Winona had allowed him back when he was a small child.

"Mom said you should take me back to the hotel," Jim mumbled, rolling his eyes when Ivek tilted her head in question. "Said it's not safe for me here."

"Very well." Ivek nodded. "Please, follow me and do not leave my side."

Jim did as told. The one time he dared not to, Ivek had picked him up as if he was a small child and carried him past a delegation of diplomats before dumping him in the backseat of Winona's hover car.

That had been four months ago.

Stepping out of the embassy, Jim suppressed a groan of annoyance at the temperature outside. The air was thick with moisture and the only relief was the slight breeze ruffling Jim's hair. Glancing towards the right, where the rainforest loomed, Jim thought he saw a glimpse of the strange Vulcan, but they were gone before Jim could make certain.

The inside of the car was blessedly cool and Jim shut his eyes with a heavy sigh as he listened to Ivek getting in behind the wheel. With a soft hum, the hover car came to life and turned his head to squint through his lashes.

The main city of Svitan, settled as close to the rainforest as possible without risking disturbing the wildlife, was lit with blood red light by the sinking sun. Its buildings were kept close together, like in most Vulcan cities. However, instead of shooting into the sky like upright needles, they were kept more compact and rounded to allow rainwater to slide off more efficiently without getting caught in unnecessary crevices.

Fifteen minutes was all it took for them to reach their hotel, and another two to reach the quarters they had booked. Jim was left to his own devices once he had entered his own room, Ivek having moved into the kitchen to prepare dinner. Due to Jim's erratic allergies, Winona had taken to booking rooms with an implemented kitchen, just to be absolutely certain nothing that might cause Jim to swell up or turn violet would make its way into their meals.

Flopping down onto his temporary bed, Jim heaved a loud sigh. Of course, the one time he might have been able to actually experience something exciting upon Vulcan, something had to go wrong. Additionally, that stranger he had seen at the forest's edge kept sneaking into his thoughts. His brain longed to solve the mystery behind the nameless figure, making his legs twitch with the need to move.

Two hours. Two hours Jim would wait, then he would go out to investigate whatever it was that was going on in that rainforest.

Ivek called him for dinner half an hour later, and when Jim stepped into the living room area, he found her already seated at the kitchen table. If his mother had been there, Jim would have been allowed to lounge on the sofa while eating, but Ivek insisted on having dinner at the table. Jim suspected it might have to do with the fact that he tended to drop at least one fork- or spoonful of food onto himself, whenever he ate on a couch.

Once they were both finished with their meal, Jim retreated back to his room and began to fill a small backpack with things he deemed necessary for his excursion. A flashlight, his intergalactic driver's license, two bottles of water, his communicator and his raincoat, just to be sure, were stuffed into the backpack.

Winona and Ivek would be furious with him. But Jim needed to see if his theory might be true, even if Jim's motivation was not entirely an unselfish need to return a lost son to his parents. It was more a need to prove to his mother that he could be helpful and not just a nuisance that broke expensive vases by accident.

If he did end up bringing Spock back home, however, he would consider it a pleasant side effect.

Sitting back onto his haunches after zipping his backpack shut, Jim ran a hand through his hair. So far, so good. Now, he just needed to figure out how to get past Ivek.

In the end, Jim was lucky. Ivek had settled down in front of the large windows in the living room to meditate at some point, and Jim knew from experience that nothing short of dumping water over her head would wake her, not even the loud jingling of the car keys.

On shaky legs, Jim made his way through the large hotel down to the parking lot. Sliding in behind the steering wheel after unlocking their rented hover car, Jim took a moment to breathe in deep and program the navigational system. The last thing Jim needed was to end up getting lost. Again.

With a last glance towards the hotel, Jim manoeuvred the car out of the parking lot and onto the street. The night sky was alight with a myriad of stars and Jim was almost tempted to stop the car to admire the sight.

Upon reaching Masutra t'Laplar, Jim questioned whether or not his idea had been that brilliant to begin with. The forest that had been so colourful during daylight, had transformed into a wall of black shadows and rustling leaves. With a shake of the head, Jim parked the car as close to the embassy as possible without setting of the proximity sensors, before exiting.

At least the temperatures were no longer in the tropical region, even though the air was still heavy with moisture.

Locking the car and making sure he had not been seen, Jim made his way towards the edge of the trees. Flashlight in hand, Jim let the bright light glide over the thicket in front of him, furrowing his brows as he tried to see if anyone was hiding just beyond the treeline. After a few minutes, Jim realised that the stranger might have left the area already.

Jim sighed.

So much for being a certified genius.

Shoulders slumping in disappointment, Jim turned away, ready to drive back to the hotel and hopefully get there before Ivek surfaced from her trance. A soft growl off to the right made him freeze in his steps a second later, muscles tensing as he tried to locate the source of the menacing sound.

Finally, Jim's flashlight illuminated a tall Vulcan male, standing a few metres away. The Vulcan's hair was dishevelled and stuck to his forehead in some places, crusted with dried blood. His clothing was torn and he seemed unsteady as he crouched down in a defensive stance.

"Uh…," Jim cleared his throat and tried again, "Hey, big guy. You alright there?"

Brilliant question, Jim thought. Absolutely brilliant. Of course he's not alright, I'm an absolute dishmop.

The Vulcan offered another growl and Jim took a step back, biting his lip when the Vulcan inched forward. Coming here must have been one of the worst plans he had ever followed through on. Now Jim was standing in front of an insane Vulcan, who would, most likely, end his life in the next ten seconds and there was no one around to safe his sorry ass.

It was stupidity at its finest.

Maybe he could try calling for help? The embassy was relatively close, so someone might-

The Vulcan darted towards him with a snarl and Jim shut his eyes with a feeble squeak, which he would deny uttering until his dying day. A hot breath ghosted across Jim's forehead, a broad hand clamping down on his upper arm. The scent of wet earth and copper filled Jim's nose and when curled fingers caressed his cheek, he dared to open one eye to squint at the Vulcan.

Dark eyes stared back at him.

Jim swallowed, then opened his mouth, "Are… are you… S… Spock?"

The Vulcan's eyes widened for a brief second, as if in recognition, and Jim felt excitement rush through his chest, a smile threatening to curl his lips upwards. A strange warmth filled his head and he felt the tension seep from his muscles. However, his joy did not last long. Without warning, the area was flooded by a bright light and a questioning shout cracked through the air.

Spock reacted like a startled sehlat; roaring at the threat before fleeing.

Jim barely had time to understand what was happening, before he found himself grabbed around the waist and slung over Spock's broad shoulder. A second later, the Vulcan broke into a run, carrying Jim into the dark forest.

And thus, Jim Kirk, has, once again, done goofed.