Spock would not admit to it aloud, but he was not pleased. Following the Captain through the wilderness as they tried to follow the native tracker was becoming more problematic. The Captain fell forward and Spock sped up to reach him and couldn't stop in time. As he fell into the opening in the ground, Spock attempted to twist to one side so he would not land on Jim.

Blinking in the darkness, Spock pushed up and rolled onto his back. Trying to see around him, Spock listened to a faint near crying noise off to his right. Sitting up, he felt around until he ran across what felt like a belt. Moving carefully, he located a light source and snapped it on.

With a gasp, a huddle figure scrambled away from him. Spock could see it was a small boy, tear streaks visible in the dirt smeared across his face. He was wearing the black undershirt of Jim's and was huddled down tightly into a small defensive posture.

Curious as to why the Captain had left the child alone, Spock turned to his left and stopped. The rest of the Captain's uniform was scattered across the ground. Spock glanced between the frigtenend child and the clothing. Then he attempted to stand and his own physical changes made themselves known.

He busied himself with cinching his belt tighter. The boy who evidently was his Captain watched him silently. After rolling his sleeves up so they would not interfer with his hands, Spock turned his attention to Jim.

"Are you alright?"

The boy cocked his head and kept watching him. One small hand crept out of the over-sized shirt and scrubbed at his little cheek.

"I am Spock." Pulling himself into a cross-legged seated posture, Spock waited for the child to speak. When no words were forthcoming, Spock started to gather up the Captain's clothes. "You appear to be James Kirk."

The boy blinked and titled his head. He pointed out an item that Spock had not yet picked up.

"Thank you." Spock watched the twitch that caused from the corner of his eye as he picked up the communicator. He checked, but there was no signal. They needed to find a path out of this cave. Looking up, Spock could not see where they could have fallen from. There was no opening in the ceiling that he could discern. Turning his regard to Jim, Spock tried to decide why the child was remaining silent. "Are you hurt?"

The tilt of the head became more pronounced and Jim shuffled forward just a little. He held out an arm and pushed up the sleeve. Spock could see the shape of the bruises made a pattern of a adult sized hand. That was when the discoloration on Jim's neck made sense.

Moving quickly, Spock grabbed Jim gently and began checking him over. The boy went stock still and even held his breath. Being careful to note where touching caused flinching and when Jim tried to pull away, Spock ignored the boy's nakedness under the shirt and throughly cataloged the varied injuries.

Through it Jim was silent, which had begun to bother Spock. He was not accustomed to silence from the Captain. When he was done, Spock pulled the shirt back into place, rolled the sleeves up to expose Jim's tiny hands, and with modifications to Jim's belt was able to make the shirt short enough to allow Jim to walk without tripping.

"You're weird."

Startled from his concentration on suppressing his rage as he tried to decide if putting Jim's boots on his tiny feet would be worth the effort. "You are capable of speech."

The boy rolled his eyes and adjusted the belt. He moved closer and studied the boots. "They won't fit."

"Indeed." Spock shoved down the urge to sigh and began gathering everything up. "We must find a way to the surface."

Jim backed away from him. "No."

Spock blinked. "Why not? We are unable to obtain a signal from our current location."

Huddling back down, Jim tucked his face into his knees. Spock finished gathering their gear and studied the huddled form. "I will protect you."

Jim's head snapped up and he stared. "Really?"

He opened his mouth to assert that he would when he stopped, realizing that Jim would most likely not believe him. Instead, Spock spread his hands wide. "If you would allow me to carry you then you will avoid injury to your feet."

Blinking, Jim cocked his head. Then he stood up and headed towards the only tunnel that lead from their small room. "I'll walk."

"Very well." Spock took a moment to steady himself and reminded himself that Jim would give in when he became tired enough.

They walked for several hundred meters until they came to the mouth of another cavern. Across the floor of the cavern was covered in small sharp crystal deposits. Jim started to cross and Spock grabbed the back of his shirt.

"You will not harm yourself." Pulling Jim into his arms, Spock was shocked when Jim went limp and suddenly weighted far more than he had a moment before. Repositioning him, Spock touched bare skin and the terror from Jim nearly made him gasp. "You are safe. I will not hurt you."

Jim whimpered and turned to cling to him. Spock hefted the boy higher on his hip and tried to make certain Jim's shirt was covering as much of Jim's legs as possible. Making his way across the cavern, Spock did not comment on points of the crystals poking him through the soles of his boots. When they reached the other side and the tunnel's floor became smooth again, Spock did not allow Jim to get down.

"We can move more effectively in this manner."

Jim frowned, but nodded. He molded himself tighter to Spock's side. "We'll see."

As they came closer to what Spock beilived was the opening of the tunnel, Jim became heavier. Worrying that there was something wrong he had not noticed before, Spock stopped and sat Jim down. When Jim curled up tightly, Spock crouched down in front of him.

"Jim, what is wrong?"

The boy was staring in the direction they were going. "Are you taking me home?"

Spock blinked. The tone of voice Jim used was terrified. "You do not wish to return home?"

Jim licked his lip. "I was hoping you'd kidnapped me."

"For what purpose?"

Jim sat his chin on his drawn up knees. "I could please you. I can be good at following orders."

Spock forced himself to keep breathing. "You would rather follow my orders than go home?"

Jim closed his eyes. "You're going to sell me aren't you?"

Spock could feel his jaw drop and he made himself close his mouth. Carefully smoothing the child's hair back, Spock watched Jim's eyes pop open. "I could more readily explain if you allowed me to meld with you."

"Vulcan mind meld?"

"Correct."

Jim bit his lip and considered that for several long minutes. Spock listened to the wind blow outside the mouth of the tunnel and wondered at his own motivations. Jim nodded and offered his face with a tilt of his head. Spock pushed down his own unease and gently fitted his fingers to Jim's tiny face.

Sorting through the onslaught of fear and anger, Spock opened his plan of action to allow Jim to see it. As Jim marveled at Spock only wanting to keep him safe, Spock was busy searching Jim's mind for the reasons for the bruises and the terror.

Spock removed his fingers and found Jim gazing up at him. "Thank you for your trust, Jim."

Jim shrugged and picked at the fabric stretched across his little knees. "You really just want to protect me?"

"Yes, Jim."

Jim smiled up at him and suddenly Spock realized what others meant when they spoke of a smile lighting up a face. The boy straightened up and held up his hands.

Spock picked him up and they continued to the mouth of the tunnel. There was someone watching them from the line of vegetation. Stopping inside the lip of the tunnel, Spock tried to detirmne the danger. Jim leaned out slightly and then pulled back in.

"Someone's out there." Jim said it quietly into Spock's shoulder.

With a nod, Spock sat Jim down. "You will stay here."

Jim grabbed his hand. "No. You're a bigger target. Let me go first."

Spock narrowed his eyes at Jim. "You are not expendable."

"Neither are you." Jim drummed his fingers on his leg. "Can we call for help?"

Spock started to explain the communicator was still not getting a signal when an energy bolt hit the rock face beside the tunnel opening. Spock pulled Jim with him and he retreated back into the tunnel.

They settled around the first bend in the tunnel and Spock watched the mouth of the tunnel while Jim marked in the dirt. After several minutes of stillness, Spock turned to check Jim and stared. There were math equations in the dirt for the angles required to make a phaser shot without exposing oneself more than necessary.

Jim looked up and swept his hand through his equations, smearing the dirt. Spock decided to not comment. As he started to explain that he needed to check the mouth of the tunnel there was a huge explosion.

Jim lunged towards him and Spock curled around the small body as rocks rained down. When the rocks stopped, Spock pulled back and began working to suppress the pain from his arm.

Jim bit his lip. "You're bleeding." The small hand pressed near the gash and Spock tried to control his expression. "Give me the pants."

Spock pulled the Captain's pants from their gear and watched as Jim carefully ripped up the seam and then across the pant leg to give him a strip of fabric. Then Jim tied the strip around his sleeve and put the knot directly on the wound. "Thank you, Jim."

Jim looked startled and then he grinned. "No problem." He picked through the rest of their gear. "Can I borrow these?" He held up the tricorder and the comm unit.

"You will not attempt to leave?"

Jim shook his head.

"Then you may burrow them." Spock knew that there was still the other comm unit and his tricorder was replaceable should Jim manage to damage either item. Spock closed his eyes as the pain from his arm started to rise. He concentrated on controlling his body's blood flow to the area. Then he heard voices. Opening his eyes, he found Jim had connected the tricorder to the comm unit.

"I don't know!" Jim poked at him. "Here, you talk."

Spock lost control enough to smile at the boy. He took the modified unit and spoke to Scotty.

Spock stood outside the Captain's quarters. He was not certain this was the best course of action, but the Captain had been avoiding him in the week since their return to their proper ages. He activated the chime.

"Come."

Spock entered and found Jim sprawled across his bed, shirtless and his boots were kicked off, lying haphazardly at the foot of the bed. "Jim."

Putting down his book, Jim looked down his body at Spock. "I have to practically force you to call me anything other than my rank and you just call me 'Jim' without a reminder? This has to be bad." Jim rolled into a sitting position and pulled on his shirt. "What can I do for you, Spock?" Jim gestured to a seat, which Spock settled into.

"I wish to express my regret for the manner in which I have treated you."

Jim blinked at him and tilted his head. It reminded Spock strongly of the child Jim had been.

"You are far more complex than you first appear."

With a snort, Jim rose and padded across to his desk. "This is about pity then. You think that because you know something about my childhood you have to be nice to me now."

Spock lifted his chin. "This is not pity. I find that I allowed your defenses to dictate how I perceived you. I now find that what I believed was your actual character is, in fact, a shield you employ to better protect yourself from emotional harm."

Jim blinked at him.

"I now know that you are not playing at being intelligent. You are playing at being stupid to keep everyone around you from remembering you are a genius." Spock leaned forward slightly. "You are not unworthy."

Jim jerked like he'd been hit. He leaned back in his seat. "What the hell did I say to you when I was a child?"

"You still do not remember the mission?"

Jim stood and started to pace. "No."

"You implied that I had kidnapped you to make you my slave."

Jim winched. "Shit."

"You explained that you could please me and requested that I not return you home."

With a sigh, Jim dropped to sit on the edge of his bed. "God. I'm so sorry, Spock."

"You then allowed me to meld with you to show you my intentions."

Jim's eyes snapped open. "I what?" Jim buried his face in his hands. "Fuck."

"You were brave and highly intelligent." Spock waited for Jim to uncover his face. "You were very quiet and caused very little trouble."

Jim flopped back on his bed. "And that convinced you that we should be friends?"

"No, the imaginings that you held in your mind convinced me." Spock moved to sit on the edge of Jim's bed.

Jim propped himself up onto his elbows. "What was I imagining?"

"Being hugged." Spock lifted the corners of his mouth slightly as Jim frowned. "Please sit up."

Jim cocked his head. "Now, Spock...I don't need a hug."

Spock raised his eyebrows. "I said nothing of hugging you, Jim. Please sit up as I have requested."

Jim sat up and Spock yanked him forward into a tight embrace. Jim gasped and Spock used a hand to tuck Jim's face into his neck.

"You are never alone now, Jim."

They sat like that for several long moments until Jim lifted his arms and returned the hug. He mumbled something against Spock's shoulder that Spock chose to ignore. When Jim tried to pull back, Spock shifted his grip only enough to better cradle Jim.

"Relax." After Jim went limp, Spock finally allowed them to part. "We will continue to build a friendship now that I have expressed my willingness to do so."

Jim swiped at his eyes and chuckled. "You're bossier than Bones." Then he nodded. "Okay." Jim sniffed and grinned at him. "Want to play chess?"

Spock allowed a ghost of a smile to touch his expression. "That would be most agreeable."