Author's note: I was watching Star Trek: The Voyage Home and this moment struck me at the end. Sorry if it has been done before many times. Warning there is a hint of slashyness. A one shot, if you will, however there might be a sequel after I rewatch Star Trek V. Who knows? Stay tuned. Oh, and please read and review.

And so the Whales Sing

Jim thrust Spock towards the exit hatch of the ship urgently. "See to the safety of all hands" he yelled as he headed towards the bottom decks, intent upon releasing his Engineer, the lovely lady, and the whales. He didn't dare look back at Spock as he lurched towards the doors leading to engineering, too afraid of the emotion he would see in Spock's eyes, too afraid of what his own emotions would say if he did stop to look. Ever since Spock had been returned to his body, Jim had been too afraid of the emotions that overpowered him whenever Spock was around. For his part, Spock seemed unaware of the emotions he evoked in the Captain.

"I will!" Spock promised, but he stayed until the very last moment he could, having already evacuated everyone else on the ship. He looked at the doorway leading to the engineering section before using one of those 'colorful metaphors' he had been taught, and climbing through the escape hatch. Contrary to Jim's orders, Spock left the hatch open, hopeful that his Captain would come charging through the hatch at any moment. As everyone else clutched the side of the ship and held on for dear life, Spock kept his eyes glued to the escape hatch, hoping for Jim to come climbing into sight like he always had.

Spock had helped Scotty and Gillian from the 21st century out, but had disobeyed his captain's order to close the hatch. How could he, and leave his captain, his friend, his T'hy'la? Spock knew logically that he should have been the one in the ship attempting to free the whales. A starship captain was too valuable to lose in such a manner, but an Admiral even more so. Starfleet code forbade a Captain to abandon an Admiral who was in danger. But Jim knew Spock's secret, that the Vulcan was afraid of water. Almost all Vulcans were. The water was a deeply distrusted body on Vulcan, since no natural bodies of water larger than a fountain existed on the arid planet. And so it was Jim Kirk, his captain and T'hy'la, that was currently drowning under the water to save the planet Earth. Spock would have felt a sense of shame if he hadn't been so 'what was the phrase?' damn worried about Jim.

Jim swore internally as he struggled with the door release in the cargo bay, his air capacity quickly running out. He had freed Scotty and Gillian, and had ordered the hatch closed after they escaped. He intended to go either free the whales and himself or die trying. He yanked on the escape hatch repeatedly, and felt one moment of frustration as the latch caught, then pulled free, releasing bubbles of air trapped by the sinking ship into the cargo bay. Jim felt lightheaded, and knew he had only seconds left of oxygen before he would drown completely. He struck for the surface blindly, not knowing if he was headed up or down, knowing only scream of his lungs to open his mouth and take a mouthful of air.

Spock saw the shape of Jim Kirk under the water and hooked one arm into the rung of the Klingon ship, extending his other arm as far out into the water as it could go. Regardless of his fear of water, Spock was not going to let Jim drown, not if there was some way to save him. It was the logical thing to do. It was the emotional thing to do. Pushing back all thoughts beyond the calculations of how far he would have to stretch to catch Jim, and how much oxygen Jim would have in his lungs, Spock lunged as far into the water as he could for Jim.

Jim felt a hand grab at him, and clutched blindly back at the arm. As soon as the hand closed on his arm he knew who had grabbed him. Only one person's grasp felt that strong and knew his body as intimately as he did. He took greedy gulps of air as Spock hauled his head out of the water. When he finally got his screaming lungs to calm down, Jim leaned gratefully into Spock's body, shivering slightly as the temperature of the water started causing his teeth to chatter. Although his hand was being clutched by Gillian, Jim knew only the warmth of Spock's hand on his arm.

Spock held on tightly to Jim, aware that he was farther into the water than he felt comfortable and just not, as the metaphor went, giving a damn. He felt those powerful emotions surge through him, and clear away the last bit of fuzziness in his memory. This was his brother, his best friend, his Captain. This was the one human he would risk everything for, and count the cost as inconsequential. His fingers dug into Jim's arm involuntarily as he thought about how close he had been to losing Jim. 'Duty can only take you so far,' he mused internally as he watched the two whales surface and slap the water with their tails. 'There comes a time when emotion and even love can overcome the idea of duty'. He wasn't aware of the surface meld he had with Jim until Jim agreed mentally with his assessment.

Jim felt torn as he glanced between Spock and Gillian. He knew a great love for Spock, and a surface and fleeting attraction for Gillian. As an Admiral in Starfleet he could have almost anyone he wanted; except for the one person that he had always felt friendship and more for. He decided to throw caution to the wind and let go of Gillian, slipping through the water slightly as his hand caught Spock's elbow. 'Always touching and touched' came the thought through the meld as Spock tightened his grip, feeling Jim slipping into the water. 'You have nothing to fear while I have hold of you, Jim.'

Jim gratefully dug his fingers into the cloth of Spock's robe, wishing it was the Vulcan's flesh he was feeling beneath his touch. "Why aren't they singing?" Jim called out to Gillian. He had gone through so much, he was ready for a vacation and some time to reconnect to Spock. He knew he was tired, knew he was not exactly in the best shape to be listening to whale song. But as Gracie began a keening wail in response to the calf beginning to kick, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He tilted his head slightly up to look into Spock's eyes, more certain of his feelings and wants than ever.

Spock felt the whale song through his bones, and the melody was hauntingly reminiscent. His eyes caught Jim's and for a moment in time they were frozen together, locked through both gaze and mind meld, and seeing each other in the most pure and raw way possible. Even as Spock's lips parted slightly in response to Jim's dark gaze, he felt a moment of panic as he realized the twinkle in Jim's eyes meant nothing but trouble. He fell feet over ears into the water as Jim flipped him into the water, but knew he was in no danger as Jim kept a firm grasp on him. As soon as he surfaced, Spock realized that not only had Jim flipped the two of them into the water, he had thrown Gillian into the water as well. Knowing it wasn't logical Spock nevertheless felt a spike of jealousy towards the human woman.

Jim surfaced with Spock and laughed heartily, freely. He hadn't felt this kind of relief ever since Spock had turned to him in the temple back on Vulcan and said "your name is Jim" to him. Spock was back, and he was Jim's Spock again. Never mind that they were in mountains of trouble, and indeed he was personally in a pickle. How on earth was he supposed to explain to Gillian that the 'funny space man' that she had been dismissive of was her greatest competition? No matter, he and Spock were alive, and they were free from constraints in this moment in time.

Spock felt and understood all of these thoughts through his continued hold on Jim. His inner eyelids closed across his eyes briefly as he glanced at Gillian, knowing full well that there was malice in his gaze and not being able to control it. He glanced up as the shuttlecraft came skimming over the water to find them and shut his eyes as he broke the mental contact between him and Jim. 'Apologies Jim, but I find I am weary' was his parting thought as his thoughts once again became his own. He would not let Jim go down alone with the ship, as the Earth expression went. He would stay by Jim's side no matter what Starfleet chose to throw at the pair of them.