Cathexis

It's all my fault, Jim thought bitterly, still curled in his corner. If I hadn't opened my big, stupid mouth, Spock and I would still be friends and not…whatever we are now.

You'd still love him, a small voice in his head countered. And he would've found out about that eventually anyway.

Love him, he spat. How can I love him when he treats me like shit? I've fucked up a lot the past month, I know, but that doesn't mean he has to shove me into a fucking iceberg!

Jim fell asleep soon after, wishing desperately for Bones's company.

Industrious

Spock jerked awake, barely checking his movement in time to keep from ramming into cave wall. Eight hours of sleep, and yet he felt enervated. His head turned just enough to catch Kirk's image in his peripheral vision. The captain was fast asleep, still curled on his side, lips parted slightly as he snored.

The fury from the night before nearly swallowed him whole. Kirk—arrogant, overly emotional, lascivious, utterly unprofessional Kirk that had stuck them here and said he loved—

Not now, Spock thought. He shoved the fury down and sat up slowly, pulling his tricorder from his belt.

Snag

"Captain."

Jim's voice betrayed his grogginess. "Whatchoo want?"

"I have discovered a new fact about our…current circumstances."

Something twinged low in Jim's stomach. "Good or bad news, Commander?"

"Bad."

Reluctantly Jim opened his eyes. Spock was sitting cross-legged a yard in front of him, brow furrowed as he stared at the tricorder in his lap. "I attempted to get some readings on our surroundings," he said evenly, "in an attempt to plot an escape route. But look at this."

Spock turned the tricorder towards him. It only took a second for Jim to comprehend the data and swear about it.

Expletive

Spock tried to block out the more colorful of Kirk's expletives. "How the hell," roared the captain, "are we getting that much interference?"

"There are two logical options," Spock replied, much more calmly. "The first, that the atmosphere of this planet is ionized. However, since we have had communications topside, this cannot be the case."

Kirk groaned, grabbing the tricorder. "What's the other option?"

Their fingers brushed as the tricorder changed hands. Out of reflex, Spock snatched his hand away before speaking again. "Terromagnetic properties in the stone above us are interfering with tricorder scanning and communications."

Kirk swore again.

Contingency

Jim ran a hand through his hair and tried not to tug it. How could he be so fucking stupid? He should've known from the start that Bones would have contacted him as soon as he and Spock had been registered missing. He put his head in his hands. Fucking. Idiot!

"We had best get moving."

Jim looked up. Spock was standing, fixing his belt and prepping his phaser. "Go?" Jim said stupidly.

"You said yourself that we are 'stuck' until someone finds us, or we discover our own exit." Spock shot him a pointed look.

Jim sighed. "Let's go."

Author's Notes: First of all, I know I'm a week late, give or take a few hours. And I'm really, really sorry. But that also leads into what I need to put into these author's notes. I'm going to college soon. Y'all know that. And my schedule is going to be as messed up as a child with Oedipus syndrome. From this point on I can no longer confidently say I
have a schedule, and I am going to have to post sporadically from this point on. Very likely you'll only see me update once a month with an actual piece of story. I'm sorry to have to do this, but I don't think I'm going to find a better way to deal with workloads from all sides.

Thanks to everyone who's read these through to this point, including the author's notes. Thanks to my lovely beta xladyjagsvolleyball16x for all her help and support just running over these things with the Editing Truck. I swear that this is not going to be the last you see of me. Go forth and enjoy other things meantime.