When Spock stepped calmly in front of the psionic blast intended for the captain, Kirk and McCoy were understandably concerned. They had seen the weapon used on a native of the planet. It induced paranoia, starting small the subject would push away friends and family with irrational fear of harm and ultimately cumulating in destructive behavior. Spock insisted that he was fine. His mental shields had been more than enough to withstand the psionic attack. That hadn't stopped McCoy from sequestering him in Sickbay while he watched for anything unusual (an action, which Spock had logically pointed out would have garnered a strong reaction if he were being affected by paranoia). After two days in Sickbay, a full psych evaluation, and multiple brain scans, McCoy reluctantly released the Vulcan with orders to check in at the end of each shift. Kirk kept an eye on him on the bridge, intending to call Bones at the first sign of paranoia. Two weeks later, there was still no sign of paranoia and the captain and the doctor began to relax.

"Doctor, you should return to the Enterprise." Leonard McCoy blinked at Spock from his microscope.

"Are you joking?" McCoy waved his hand dismissively as Spock opened his mouth. "Right, Vulcans don't joke." He returned his eyes to the slide he was studying. "I'm not going anywhere Spock. The patients, the research, and the equipment are all down here." Spock stepped forward as if his proximity would somehow influence McCoy's decision.

"You will require rest soon, it is illogical to remain here when your bed is on the Enterprise."

"I'll have them bring me a cot." McCoy rolled his eyes.

"Doctor," McCoy started at the sharpness in Spock's voice. It was almost… emotional. McCoy turned towards him, a smile twitching at his mouth. "The people here are very desperate for a cure. Assuming that you do not find one while the Enterprise is in orbit, they are likely to keep you here." It took the good mood right out of McCoy, and he frowned at him. The doctor had been frustrated, and when Spock had let his emotional control slip he had thought he'd have something to amuse himself with… teasing the Vulcan about having emotions. But he hadn't liked what Spock had said.

"Spock, if I haven't devised a cure for the plague by the time the Enterprise has to depart, I'm not leaving anyway. The Enterprise can pick me up on the way back." Spock stiffened, so minutely that only McCoy would have caught it.

"That is unacceptable Doctor." McCoy's eyes narrowed.

"Excuse me?" He growled.

"It is illogical for the ship's physician to be separated from the ship." Spock insisted. "More so if the physician is in danger by doing so." McCoy rubbed his face in exasperation as he realized what this is.

"I won't judge you for saying that you're worried about me, but I will if you continue to interrupt my work." The doctor snapped and turned back to his slides. "Now if you don't mind. I was in the middle of analyzing this protein sequence. I think that it looks like an Andorian flu that we do have a treatment for." Spock fell silent and McCoy became absorbed in his work again.

McCoy abruptly stiffened as he felt Spock's hand on his shoulder. "Don't you-" McCoy began before he slumped forward.

He woke up in his quarters, laid out on his bed, absolutely enraged. He wanted to find Spock and shout at him, to demand to know exactly what he was playing at! But there was a plague on the planet below. And it occurred to McCoy that little would irritate Spock more than realizing that McCoy had immediately returned to the surface. He walked to the wall comm.

"McCoy to Kirk." The panel whistled.

"Kirk here." The captain responded.

"Put a leash on that damn Vulcan." McCoy snapped.

"What did he do this time?" Kirk sounded amused, causing McCoy's temper to flare.

"It's not a laughing matter, Jim! He nerve pinched me because I refused to return to the ship!"

"What? But I gave you permission to stay down there until you found a treatment for the plague." Kirk's confusion was evident in his voice.

"Apparently your thrice damned first officer disagreed." McCoy growled. "I'm going back to the planet, don't tell him, and watch your back while I'm gone."

"Bones…" Kirk hesitated. "Did you want to swear out a complaint against him?"

This time it was McCoy's turn to be flabbergasted. "What? No! I just don't want him interrupting my work again, that's all!"

"Alright. I'll keep an eye on him." Kirk assured him, relieved. "But you know I can't really do much more without a complaint." McCoy rolled his eyes.

"I'm not filing a complaint. Just get me back down to the planet and keep that damn hobgoblin away from me for a couple days!"

Kirk blinked at Spock's new security measures as he read them again. He'd been keeping a steady eye on his first officer. He hadn't seen anything too concerning. But he had noticed the Vulcan's inclination to hover over both him and McCoy. It hadn't even ceased in the face of McCoy's bad mood after his actions on the plague planet, though that had dissipated eventually. But these new security measures… Kirk's eyebrows were raised so high they were in danger of disappearing into his hair.

"Mr. Spock," Spock turned from his science station. "My ready room, if you please?" He gestured to the door. Spock stood and walked with him out the door. Kirk walked around the table while Spock remained standing in front of the door. "Spock, I was just reviewing the… 'improved' security measures that you sent me." Spock inclined his head to acknowledge his statement. "I understand that there is always a concern about the captain's safety, but don't you think that these new protocols are a little bit extreme?"

"Negative, Captain." Spock replied. "Your safety is tantamount to the security of the ship, and considering our previous entanglements with Klingons and Arne Darvin's infiltration by use of cosmetic surgery," Kirk winced at the reminder of the incident with the tribbles. "It is logical to increase security measures onboard the ship itself."

Kirk lifted the PADD with a perplexed smile. "Be that as it may, these protocols require me to have a minimum of two members of security with me at all times. Doesn't that seem a bit excessive to you?"

"It does not, Captain." Spock responded. "Of course, I will run in depth background checks on your security myself."

"I'm afraid you won't, Mr. Spock." Kirk decided it was time to put his foot down. "I'm rejecting your proposition."

"Captain, I think that if you reexamine these security measures you'll find them quite logical." Spock protested.

"I don't doubt it, Spock." Kirk assured him. "But it's also cumbersome, intrusive, and, in my personal opinion, unnecessary."

"Captain, if you would just reconsider-" Spock insisted.

"Dismissed, Mr. Spock." Kirk cut him off. Spock's mouth snapped shut and he nodded tersely, spinning on his heel and walking back out the door. Kirk shook his head and skimmed the onerous security measures again. Spock was crazy if he thought Kirk could handle security officers at his elbow twenty-four seven. Not to mention the meltdown that he would incur if McCoy ever got a look at security plans for Sickbay. They were at least as bad as what Spock intended for him. Kirk deleted the file and followed Spock out the door.

The rest of the shift passed normally. It wasn't until Kirk was leaving the bridge that Spock broke away from his station and stood beside Kirk on the lift. The doors closed and for a moment there was silence. Then as expected, Spock began. "Captain, perhaps there is a compromise to be made regarding security measures. There is certainly room for improvement regarding your safety and the security of Sickbay."

"Spock, we've been over this." Kirk groaned. "Darvin was an isolated incident. If you want to negotiate security measures on away missions, fine. Draft a proposal. But I am perfectly safe on my own ship!"

"There are dangers other than the Klingons that the Enterprise has faced." Spock persisted. "It would be logical to prepare of them by increasing your security."

"Well, you're going to have to chalk this up as another instance of human irrationality." He smiled. "Besides, Spock, if something happens to me, you'll be captain! That's something to look forward to, isn't it?"

Spock's eyes flashed. "I find that the human method of joking about their own mortality is flawed. There is nothing humorous about your death." The lift doors opened. Spock stepped out on to the deck and walked away. Leaving a flabbergasted captain in his wake.

Kirk was not surprised to find new security measures sent to his PADD two hours later… If anything they were more restrictive than the previous ones.

Spock was becoming perturbed by Captain Kirk and Doctor McCoy's illogical indifference to their own safety. Had the good doctor seen the mental turmoil their continued disregard for their own wellbeing had on him, he would most likely accuse the Vulcan of being frustrated. It was as if they did not realize that people, many people of many different races, wanted them dead. Spock had increased his efforts to prevent Captain Kirk and the doctor from going on away missions. He suspected that they humored him once or twice, but often they would ignore his statistics on the probability of them becoming injured and went anyway. Today was one such day.

"Captain, I fail to see your reasoning for including both yourself and Doctor McCoy on this away mission." Spock reiterated, watching Doctor McCoy calibrate his medical tricorder. Kirk rolled his eyes and Spock pretended he didn't notice.

"It's a warzone, Spock." Kirk replied. Spock's eyebrows pulled together in a frown.

"That is precisely my objection." Spock pointed out.

"Seems like you've got an objection to everything these days." McCoy muttered audibly. Spock ignored him too. Kirk nudged the doctor to be silent, but without real sincerity. Spock was aware that he was annoying them both, but they were still pointlessly putting their lives in danger again.

"I have to go down to mediate negotiations for peace, Spock." Kirk reminded him.

"And I'm headed down because some fool of an ensign got himself poisoned by one of the weapons those fellows use!" McCoy scowled as he slung the tricorder over his shoulder. "You know that the stuff has messed up his vitals so much that the transporter might scrabble something on the way up. Damned fool hardy way to travel." He added in a mutter.

"Captain," Spock began again.

"Spock, if you make one more objection, I will be leaving you in command of the Enterprise the way I should be instead of letting you accompany us." Kirk informed the Vulcan shortly. Spock's mouth snapped shut so fast that it clicked.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get out of here." McCoy hopped on to a pad. Kirk followed him. Spock took his position after eyeing the technician operating the device. It was one of the ones that he was reasonably certain could be trusted. It wouldn't do to have an assassin dissolve Kirk and McCoy with the flick of a switch or kidnap them by beaming the captain or CMO directly into the brig of an enemy ship.

"Energize." Kirk ordered. Spock turned his eyes on Kirk and McCoy as they disappeared.

Once they were on the surface, Spock was faced with the undesirable conundrum of which of the two to protect. He eventually concluded that Kirk was the logical choice. He would be dealing with aggravated leaders, and given his propensity to find trouble, he was in the most danger. However, he couldn't discount the possibility of rebels kidnapping Doctor McCoy so he'd be forced to tend to their wounded. So he left strict instructions with the security personnel on how to properly protect McCoy. If he scared them in the process, he was merely using their illogical emotions to his own advantage.

When they arrived at the site of the negotiations, Spock had identified and disabled three out of four threats to the captain before Kirk sharply called him off. Spock watched the proceedings carefully. They had finally made some headway when a messenger ran into the room, panting heavily.

"What has happened to the doctor?" Spock demanded immediately, raising. Kirk grimaced.

"Spock, I'm sure that it has nothing to do with McCoy."

"I'm sorry, sir. It does!" The boy gasped, finally catching his breath. "I swear, I don't know where they came from!" Spock seized the boy by his shoulder making him cry out.

"Who?" He growled, not registering Kirk's shout. The boy gulped.

"The Klingons, sir. They took him. I'm so sorry."

If you think that Spock's paranoia is going to get worse from here, you'd be right! After all, this is only the "onset".

I decided that I should just accept the fact that I'm being too obvious about what happened to Spock here. Making it subtle would require at least two or three pages expanding on the first paragraph, and I don't have time.

Not really sure when or if I'm going to get back to this. It was mainly a distraction from NaNoWriMo.

Should I apologize for the cliffhanger? I figure it's not that bad. Right? Plus, I think we all expected that Kirk would be in more danger, not a simple country doctor.

PS I'm trying really hard to write it so that it works in either TOS or AOS. Not sure if I'm succeeding. But there you go. (Uhura would probably figure in more prominently if it were strictly AOS... I'll figure something out with her... Hopefully.)