Title: Many Bells Down (7/12)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairing: Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Summary: Sequel to Along Comes a Stranger; Riverside ‘verse. Dating Bones and Spock is wonderful, better than Jim imagined. Then Bones’ mother arrives, Spock receives the offer of a lifetime outside of Riverside, and Jim has to make a series of choices that could completely change his – and ultimately Riverside’s – future.
Previous Parts: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6

Part Seven

Leonard never mentions the business lunch with Khan, and so Jim continues to pretend he doesn’t know it happened. For a few days their lives return to a vaguely normal routine. Bones’ mother does not say a word to Jim for which, considering the source of contention between them, Jim is grateful. Occasionally he feels eyes upon his back and turns around to catch Eleanor staring at him, her expression shuttered.

Leonard and Jim manage to trick Spock into helping with Joanna’s farewell party. The trickery happens thus:

Eleanor had looked at her son the day previous with a feminine arch to her eyebrow and wanted to know why in the world he hadn’t been shopping yet when the party was in two days, to which Bones replied sheepishly that he had been busy. (Jim thinks Bones was simply holding out for the party to magically put itself together.) Hence today Leonard decides that an expedient shopping trip is in order to purchase supplies, but he looks uncomfortable at the idea of buying pink streamers and princess party hats by himself. So Leonard recruits Jim. Jim, in turn, says there is no way he’s going to ruin his carefully cultivated bachelor image (at this Bones rolls his eyes) unless Spock goes along and they all suffer the awkwardness of trying to decide between animal balloons or heart balloons.

(Leonard immediately vetoes animal balloons. Jim is secretly sad.)

Spock, who is reading the morning’s newspaper on the opposite side of the kitchen table, does not make eye contact with either Leonard or Jim and expresses the pointlessness of celebrating an event which, in his opinion, makes no one happy.

Jim grins at Spock. “Aw, you’re going to miss Joanna! Spock, that’s so sweet.”

Spock looks away from the paper to frown at Kirk’s falsetto tone.

“Don’t mock his feelings, Jim,” Leonard says with an equally wide grin. “You know how hard Spock works to maintain an aloof appearance.”

Spock’s gaze migrates to Leonard. “I do not like to shop.”

“Who does?” retorts McCoy. Automatically, “Shut up, Jim.”

“I wasn’t going to say anything.”

“You were going to argue that shopping can be fun.”

“I was no—okay, so I was,” Jim admits. “Shopping can be fun, especially if I’m in charge. Remember that time at Mrs. Giotto’s—”

“Fine,” interrupts Leonard. “I’ll be sure to tell Christine and Uhura you want to accompany them on their next excursion.”

“That’s evil, Bones!” Jim had meant guy-shopping, not four hours of finding fifty different ways to answer the same question of “How do I look?” He would rather crawl over broken glass than go shopping with Nyota (who takes pleasure in annoying him by doing girly things). At least Bones didn’t mention Gaila’s penchant for shopping. Jim shudders, having only one—but very memorable, and not in a good way—experience of that.

By this point in their bantering, Spock hoists the newspaper up like a shield.

Jim is not going to let him win, not this time. He leans over the table and pokes the paper with a syrup-covered fork (and idly remembers how delicious Bones’ pancakes had been).

“Spock.” Poke poke. “Spock!”

“I do not care to accompany you,” intones the man from behind his barricade.

“It’s for Joanna,” Jim stresses. “You know, the little girl who says you are her favorite uncle of all time?”

The newspaper twitches.

“Don’t bother him,” says Leonard, joining in with a sly look to rival Jim’s. “If his answer is no, that’s fine.” Then, with a heavy sigh, “I guess I’ll just have to tell Joanna that her Uncle Spock didn’t want to help, even though the party is supposed to be a present from all three of us.”

The paper droops. A hesitation. “When my mother buys a gift, she adds my father’s name to the accompanying card. Is this not an acceptable custom in America?”

Leonard drawls, “Maybe if we were married—which we aren’t.”

Spock seems to contemplate this answer seriously.

Jim, ignoring the funny tickling in his stomach, chimes in. “Don’t worry about it, Spock,” he announces cheerfully as he pushes back from the table and stands up. “Bones and I will take care of everything.”

The lawyer folds his paper precisely along the creases and sets it aside. “I will drive,” he tells them both.

Score one to the boyfriends. Jim gives Bones a thumbs-up when Spock’s back is turned. Next comes wheedling Spock out of the car and into the store for the actual shopping. Jim is certain he can come up with a good plan for that.

He intends not to worry one iota about his troubles for the rest of the day. Khan, Eleanor, Lady Q—all of it be damned. Time with Bones and Spock is to be enjoyed.

On the day of Joanna’s party, Jim wakes up to find Bones pressed against his back and snoring lightly in his ear. He had fallen asleep in the unoccupied guest bedroom after a long night of playing charades with Joanna, her father, and “Uncle” Spock. The warmth is nice, and Jim almost drifts back to sleep but his bladder protests in an aching fashion. He gently lifts up the arm draped his waist, slides free of the bed, and pads to the bathroom. Jim is more awake by the time he finishes his morning grooming (peeing and a quick splash of water on his face) and leans on the door frame to admire the man still asleep in the bed.

Yesterday the more items they gathered for the party, the more morose McCoy became until he was in a sour, silent mood. His daughter, of course, had turned his mood around with her chattering and hugs and general wonderful self. But Jim thinks that some of that unhappiness will return today.

And why shouldn’t it? Bones is losing his daughter again.

Not for good, of course, but with her school schedule and Jocelyn’s determination to make Leonard miserable…

Jim hates thinking about how long it might be before Bones sees her again. He sighs, rubs his face, and goes looking for Spock. The man is always up with the sun.

Spock isn’t in his bedroom, or the kitchen, or the living room. When Jim heads out onto the patio, which he realizes he should have done to begin with since Spock has a ritual of drinking his morning cup of tea outside, he stops in surprise.

Spock peers down at him from the chair he is standing on and inquires, “Does the banner appear to be straight?”

Jim blinks, nods.

Spock ties a knot in the string, observes his handiwork with a critical eye, and steps down from the patio chair.

Jim says, “Spock, man, this looks great.”

And the patio does. Just like he had imagined it might for a young girl’s entertainment. Spock has tied balloons to the iron railing skirting the patio and crisscrossed multicolored streamers from the roof-overhang. There is a long rectangular table in lieu of the small usual table and the grill is set-up a safe distance from the patio. He has even secured the pinata. (Jim insisted no kid’s party could be complete without one.)

Spock accepts Jim’s praise with a lift of his eyebrow. He gestures to a bag of confetti. “I am uncertain what must be done with this, however.”

Jim isn’t either. Bones had tossed it haphazardly into the shopping cart. “I don’t know. Toss it over the bushes?”
He looks around speculatively.

“That,” Spock summarizes, “would be environmentally hazardous—and impossible to clean.”

Jim shrugs. Spock places the unopened bag back to the side.

They decide that there are no other preparations to be done for the party that can be done. Jim rolls his shoulders and announces his need for a cup of coffee. The kitchen, when they arrive, is occupied. Eleanor is cooking breakfast at the stove and says from over her shoulder as they enter, “Good morning, Spock. Jim.”

Jim opens his mouth to return the greeting on instinct, only realizing belatedly that she spoke to him without prompting. Thereafter, his words fall away in surprise. He trudges hesitantly over to the coffee maker and sets about getting it going, all the while eyeing Bones’ mother like she have turned into an eight-foot monster. Eleanor hums as she cooks. He is utterly confounded. After a while, Kirk gives up on his quest to figure her out.

The telephone installed on the kitchen wall rings. Jim answers it, thinking it might be his mother who would be at the diner by now (and who might need reassuring it’s okay if she misses the party—Sulu and Pavel, too), but a strange voice says, “Mr. Spock, please.”

He hands the phone to Spock.

“Hello? Yes, I will hold.”

Jim is less interested in his coffee than in Spock’s conversation. When Spock begins talking to someone, he listens in (at least to the one-sided part he can hear) shamelessly. The sudden, professional change of tone is a major clue. Must be the firm from Boston. By why would they call on a Saturday? Why would someone even be on the clock?

“Yes, I understand. Please forward me the itinerary. I look forward to our meeting.”

Jim is dying to know, “What’s going on? You sounded surprised.”

“I am,” Spock admits. “One of the senior partners is arriving in Riverside this afternoon.”

“What?” A simultaneous exclamation—from Jim and Eleanor.

“Oh dear,” Eleanor adds, wiping her hands on her apron. “How manner-less of them to tell you this on such short notice!”

“Spock, should we be worried?” Because now Jim is worried.

Spock answers, “I doubt so. It seems the trip is business-related.”

In Riverside? Jim and Eleanor look at one another, apparently both of them trying to make sense of the idea.

“Well,” Eleanor asks, “what can we do to help?”

“I will offer lodgings.” Spock turns away. “I should prepare the other guest bedroom.” Not Joanna’s, not Eleanor’s, but the third one.

Smart and necessary, Jim thinks. He doubts Spock’s boss is going to like the look of the Star Motel.

“Jim, can you finish frying the bacon? I will see to the room, Spock. I just washed a set of bedsheets.” Eleanor’s tone brooks no argument.

Jim says, because he feels like he should warn her, “Bones is asleep… He might not want to get up.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” calls the woman as she exits the kitchen. “There was a time when it took nothing short of banging two pots together to rouse that child out of bed.”

Jim wants to hear that story. He really does.

When he peers at the skillet and pulls out a fork from the silverware drawer, Spock intervenes.

“She said I’m supposed to cook the bacon,” Jim argues.

Spock refuses to let go of the fork. “You may supervise” Kirk is told. When Jim moves closer to the stove, Spock adds pointedly, “From over there.”

So Jim shuffles back to the kitchen table like a rejected puppy—which earns him the first two pieces of cooked bacon.

Ha, Jim thinks to himself as he munches happily on the food, little does Spock know how cunning a Kirk truly is!

People begin to arrive for the party around noon. Joanna is thrilled; after all, she is the one who had insisted that small parties were boring and if lots and lots of people (didn’t matter if she knew them or not) wanted to join celebrate her, they were welcome to do so.

Uhura arrives with Scotty, whom she had cajoled into coming back to Riverside for the weekend to be her date. Somehow Jim doesn’t think Scotty had to be cajoled overly much to agree. Kirk is starting to gather that Uhura’s fascination with Scotty may not be one-sided. It’s definitely a situation to consider when he has spare time.

At the moment, however, there is no time to spare whatsoever. Joanna rushes past Jim and grabs a hold of the gift bag in Nyota’s hand, then hugs the smiling woman and thanks her for coming. Uhura introduces the child to her companion Montgomery Scott. Joanna gives Scotty a once-over, curtsies, and asks, “Are you Miss Nyota’s boyfriend?”

Scotty turns red.

Leonard, chuckling, joins their group and firmly extracts the gift bag from his daughter. She pouts, her father ignores her, and she half-stomps, half-skips away, annoyed that she couldn’t peek into the bag.

“Thanks for comin’,” McCoy tells Uhura and Scotty.

Nyota kisses his cheek. “Of course I’d be here! I like you so much better than Kirk, you know.” She whispers this loudly into Leonard’s ear.

Jim stops pretending not to eavesdrop in order to complain. “You were my friend first, Uhura!”

She smirks. “Loyalty is overrated these days.”

Leonard walks over to the couch where Jim is currently situated, having been delegated the task of sorting M&M’s (Joanna hates green ones) and drops a hand to the back of Jim’s neck. “First rule about relationships,” he murmurs, “—learn to share.” Rather than concluding his point with a kiss, he steals of an M&M, plops it into his mouth, and walks away.

Jim is still absently moving around piles of M&M’s when the doorbell rings again. He beats Joanna to the door, sticks his tongue out at her (she sticks her tongue out at him in retaliation), and jerks open the door.

His grin dies.

“Jim,” greets Gaila, looking gorgeous in a sun dress and sweater. “Joanna, I brought you a little something!” Joanna grabs the wrapped box and shakes it enthusiastically.

“Is it makeup?!” she demands.

Gaila laughs.

When Joanna is gone, gift in hand, Gaila introduces the man next to her. “Jim, this is Khan.”

Khan removes his sunglasses. “Hello, Mr. Kirk. Intriguing, isn’t it, that we meet again?”

“You didn’t mention that you knew him, sweetie,” says the red-haired woman.

Khan presses one of her hands between both of his. “It was an acquaintance made in passing, my dear.”

Gaila smiles at him, kisses his cheek, and skirts around Jim when Nyota calls from the kitchen, “Hey, girl!” She says over her shoulder, “Jim, can you keep Khan company for a while? Thanks!”

This is how Jim ends up with Khan. This is also the point at which Jim should have realized the day wasn’t going to go as planned. Sadly, he hadn’t a clue.

“You live here,” Khan remarks offhandedly as he peruses the living room. “I congratulate you on the excellence of your home, Mr. Kirk. I must say, however, I find it… unexpected for a man such as yourself.”

Jim stiffens. Apparently he had Khan pegged the first time Gaila mentioned his name: the man is a douchebag.

“It’s my boyfriend’s home,” he says tightly.

“Ah.”

Why the Hell had Gaila left them alone together? Is this her fantastic plan of testing how well two important men in her life can get along?

He quirks his mouth at Khan and points his thumb over his shoulder. “I need to check on the man at the grill.”

“I have not toured the pool area yet. I will join you.”

Jim grits his teeth and heads outdoors, Khan on his heels. How angry, exactly, would Gaila be if Khan “accidentally” fell into the pool?

She probably wouldn’t speak to him for a year. Damn.

Jim sidles away from Khan the minute he can and hurries over to the large gas grill. He catches Bones peering into its depths, not paying attention to his surroundings, and so Jim does what any boyfriend would. He sneaks quietly up behind McCoy, reaches down, and gives his ass a nice, firm smack.

Leonard yelps, caught by surprise, and jumps around to face his molester with a spatula held high.

Jim backs up, palms out. “Whoa, Bones, no need to get violent!”

Leonard’s mouth purses in a scowl. “Don’t do that again, kid.”

“The scaring-you part or the touching-your-tush part? ‘Cause I think one of them would make both of us sad.”

Leonard sighs, ignores his smart remark, and motions at the grill. “Spock’s the only one who can start this damn thing. Where is he?”

“At the airport picking up his boss.”

Side-by-side, Jim and Leonard look down into the depths of the grill—again—and debate on whether or not if they open the propane valve and drop a match in, it will explode.

McCoy wants to know, “How come I didn’t know his boss was coming to town?”

“None of us did,” explains Kirk, “until this morning. Spock got a last-minute call.”

The man grumbles, “That sure was rude. Think this guy is an asshole?”

Jim grimaces. “I hope not. He’s going to be staying at this house for the duration of his business trip.”

“Shit.”

“Yup.”

“Doctor McCoy, how pleasant to see you,” remarks a familiar voice.

Jim starts gritting his teeth again as he straightens up.

Leonard is more cordial. “Afternoon, Mr. Singh.”

“Khan, if you please.”

“Khan,” acknowledges the doctor. They shake hands.

Khan looks perfectly at ease in his expensive Armani jacket and trousers, hands tucked in his trouser pockets. His smile of greeting is small, polite, and, when he glances at Jim, knowing. “I am told, Doctor” he says by way of making small talk, “that we are celebrating your daughter as the guest of honor. I am humbled you would allow me, as a recent acquaintance, to attend.”

“Don’t mention it,” Leonard says, and Jim turns to look at Bones, startled.

“You knew he was coming here?” His tone of voice may be a tad too sharp.

Leonard shrugs but the motion is a wince of oops, did I forget to mention that? “Sure. Gaila called a couple of days ago and asked if she could bring a plus one. I told her it was fine.”

Jim is not happy. “Bones…”

McCoy clears his throat loudly to intercede before Jim can offend Khan. Jim doesn’t appreciate the interruption.

Khan, no doubt sensing the tension between Kirk and McCoy, seeks to turn the subject. Except Jim is fairly positive Khan will only move onto a topic that makes him look good. Jim isn’t wrong.

“I am familiar with this brand.” The man indicates the gas grill.

“Thank God,” Leonard says with relief, moving aside for Khan. “I was afraid I’d set Spock’s house on fire. Can you get it started for us?”

Jim protests quickly, “I can do it, Bones.”

Leonard gives him a funny look since Jim had previously admitted to never owning anything other than a standard back porch charcoal grill.

“I would not want to impose,” begins Khan.

Jim’s eye twitches.

“No, go ahead. You sound like you have more experience than either of us. Jim, let’s go get the hamburgers from the kitchen.”

Khan turns back to the grill, shedding his jacket and rolling up the sleeves of his pristine white shirt.

Jim, in tow, has to follow Leonard into the house. The pair step around Uhura, Gaila, and Christine who are standing at the sliding glass door and observing Khan with interest. Nyota is saying, “Jesus H. Christ, look at the muscles in those forearms. You’re a lucky woman, Gaila.”

Jim calls at them, still in the process of being dragged by his boyfriend far away from the grill, “Hey, bulky guys are gross!”

The women turn to look at him.

“Jim,” warns Leonard.

“Bones,” he shoots back.

“Kitchen.”

Jim sighs but it’s a sigh full of aggravation. “Okay. Kitchen.“

He very much doubts anything can stop him from making an ass of himself later on.

He watches Khan flirt with Gaila, flirt with Nyota, and then flirt with Christine; he watches Khan put Joanna on his knee and, since the exotic man is obviously rich to a little girl’s eyes, become King Noonien (Joanna likes Khan’s middle name, it seems). Bones laughs at the idea that Khan is a king and therefore outranks Prince Jim. Jim thinks this is so hilarious he doesn’t crack a smile and has to excuse himself to the kitchen for the second time in ten minutes.

Away from everyone, he goes about slamming kitchen cabinets while pretending to look for barbecue sauce (which is sitting out on the counter and which he stubbornly ignores). It is, surprisingly, Eleanor who comes into the kitchen, sits down, and fixes him with a stare.

“Abusing the woodwork won’t help,” she points out.

He shoots her a go-away glare from over his shoulder and closes the next cabinet door with a bang.

Eleanor stirs her iced tea, undisturbed. Jim has no idea why she is trying to talk to him now but he isn’t in the mood to listen to anything she has to say. He stalks by the table, intent on continuing his fit of temper in the privacy of a bathroom, and she reaches out and touches his arm, saying plaintively, “Jim.”

Jim looks at her, silent, because he would otherwise snap at her. They both know how well that turned out last time.

She says, “I don’t like him either.”

“Disliking someone seems to be a regular thing for you,” he retorts before he can stop to think.

The woman flinches.

He pulls back and rakes a hand through his hair. “Sorry.” It’s short but still an apology.

“No, I deserved that. I haven’t been nice to you since we first met.”

He says nothing.

She continues, “I want you to know I’m not against your relationship with Leonard. My principles aren’t so crude. Leonard likes people for who they are, regardless of gender. I have always,” she admits quietly, “admired him for that bravery. I’ve worried about him because of it, too. Then one day that worry became a reality.”

She is talking about the divorce and Leonard’s alienation because of the rumors which resulted from it.

“He’s not going to leave you,” Eleanor says at last.

“Which means you probably hate me even more now than you did before.”

“On the contrary—it means if I continue to fight with Leonard about returning to Georgia, I’ll lose him. I don’t want that. So—” She tucks her hands into her lap. “—I want your word of honor you will be good to my boy. And don’t think,” she adds with an authoritative edge to her voice, “that I won’t come straight back to Iowa if I hear otherwise!”

Jim isn’t certain what he thinks about this new attitude. “What really changed your mind, Eleanor?”

She considers him for a long moment before speaking. “The night my son realized you had come and gone, and he couldn’t find you… I hadn’t seen him that scared in a long time. Which tells me you mean a great deal to him.”

“The feeling’s mutual.”

“Then you’d better not decide differently one day, Jim. Leonard has had enough people trample on his heart to last a lifetime. You love him right.”

He finds it easy to say, “Yes, ma’am.” Then, because he has to know, “What about Joanna?”

“We’ll work on that. Jocelyn is…” Her expression sours. “Lord help me but it takes every ounce of self control I have not to slap that nasty woman!” Eleanor McCoy looks murderous at the thought of her son’s ex-wife. “I have half a mind to keep Joanna, but then she’d call in the law. Hmph! Keeping me from my own grandbaby! But that kind of trouble won’t help if Leonard is to get his little girl back.”

If Jim is reading his McCoy signs right, her rant is just beginning to launch. He says quickly, “I, uh, I’ll just take these chips outside now” and grabs an unopened bag of Lay’s from the counter in his haste to pursue a direction that takes him far away from Bones’ mother, leaving her alone to burn holes in the kitchen tabletop with her laser glare.

He winds up passing the front door of the house just in time to hear a familiar, wonderful rumble. The Corvette is pulling into the driveway and Spock’s timing, Kirk thinks, might just prevent him from breaking something—like Khan’s face. He stuffs the bag of potato chips under his arm and lifts the lace curtain over a window in the front of the house to watch Spock exit the car. There is another person opening the passenger door. Jim is shocked to see it is an older woman, as neatly dressed as Spock and with her hair secured in a tight french twist. She turns to observe the house as Spock manhandles a medium-sized suitcase out of the trunk. She says something to him, he nods, and they begin their trek up the sidewalk that leads to the front door.

Jim isn’t certain or not if Spock would appreciate a greeting at the door. Probably not, he decides, since Spock undoubtedly prefer a calm and charming Kirk for introductions that a man who is bounding around with a potato chips bag and a desire for a fistfight. Besides, he needs to get back to the party so he can tell Bones that The Boss has arrive—and she’s one scary-looking woman.

Spock joins the party, explaining that his new house guest may not join their celebration. Jim doesn’t necessarily think that is a bad thing. Except it turns out that Spock is wrong, sadly so.

Khan works his way into the conversation between Leonard and Spock. When Spock turns to the man, a curious quirk to his eyebrow, Jim is about to jump in and try to run Khan off—which might be difficult with Gaila standing right there, too—but the sounds of heels clicking against stone and a flash of a new person on the patio gives him pause.

The Boss has abandoned the solitude of her room, apparently, and is seeking someone. Jim can’t decide between hiding Spock or going toe-to-toe with Khan. Unfortunately, he waits too long. She spots their small group off to the side—and her eyes narrow.

“How unexpected,” she says, raising her deep voice (a long-time smoker, Jim would guess) to gain attention as she approaches.

The woman could be older than Bones’ mother but seems to have aged well, with only fine lines around her mouth, suggesting she frowns more than she smiles. It’s her eyes, however, that are arresting. They are almost black, and very hard.

Jim prays she might be Khan’s match in temperament. Maybe he could pair them off together? Oh right. Gaila. Crap.

“Mr. Spock,” The Boss says sharply, “I was unaware that you are acquainted with Mr. Singh.” To Khan, “Greetings, Mr. Singh.”

“I am not acquainted with this gentleman,” Spock corrects. Perhaps sensing that he ought to be, if only to appease the woman, Spock inclines his head politely and says, “Mr. Singh, I am Spock. Welcome to my home. Might I inquire how you know Ms. T’Pau?”

“You have caught us quite by surprise.” T’Pau steps in, overriding Spock. “You must forgive me, I have not had a chance to debrief my colleague on the particulars of Eugenics’ retention of Cochrane’s services.”

Khan waves his hand languidly. “I shall consider our premature meeting a sign of good fortune, and well met, Mr. Spock. You have an pleasant home—and keep delightful company.”

Jim, who is frozen by this turn of conversation, is unnerved at how Khan looks to him when he says the word delightful.

“But come,” Khan gestures to the party, “let us enjoy tonight’s entertainment as new friends. Tomorrow shall be for the discussion of business.”

T’Pau’s agreement is demur, and she accepts Khan’s suggestion that she refresh herself after a long plane ride with a cocktail. Gaila, who is blatantly curious about this unknown woman Khan knows by name, presses herself close to her boyfriend’s side. Khan secures her there with an arm about her waist and, together, the three people move toward the makeshift bar, chatting amicably.

Jim breaks from his state of shock and makes a grab for Spock’s arm. The first thing out of his mouth is vehement protest: “You can’t represent Khan!”

Spock blinks. “Jim, that decision is not mine to make.”

“Yes, it is! You can decline,” he argues hotly.

First Bones, now Spock? This can’t be happening… but it is.

The dark-haired, dark-eyed man does not seem to understand Jim’s distress. “If I declined, I would lose my job, which is already in a tenuous state.”

“What do you mean?” Leonard presses for information, who has crowded in close to block their guests’ view of their conversation, no doubt in case one of them creates a spectacle.

Spock shifts uncomfortably, and Jim is forced to let go of his arm.

“My request for an extension of my sabbatical was declined,” Spock tells them at last. “I have two weeks left in which to decide if I wish to remain on the firm’s payroll. I suspect T’Pau’s business trip to Riverside is not solely based on coincidence, but is also here to evaluate me. I have been told,” he adds more quietly, “that, should I resume work in a timely manner, Cochrane is prepared to make me a partner within one year.”

Spock would worry for nothing if he joined in the partnership of the law firm.

Jim swallows down apprehension. “Spock, why didn’t you say anything?”

“Because I have not yet made my decision.” Meaning, he doesn’t know if he is going to stay in Riverside, and he doesn’t want their last two weeks to be overshadowed by such a possibility.

But, truthfully, would that be any better than Spock announcing one day that he is returning to Boston and not planning to come back?

Bones says it for both of them, quite fiercely. “Bullshit. We knew you were fretting over something, but this is the kind of thing you discuss with us! I wouldn’t have thought you a coward, Spock.”

That wasn’t the best thing to say.

Spock’s voice is ice cold. “I am not a coward.”

This conversation is turning into deadly verbal quicksand. Jim forgoes his own high-priority concern (namely Khan) in order to salvage their evening. “Let’s talk about it later—once Joanna’s gone,” he says by way of reminding them where they are.

Blankness immediately drops over Spock’s face to mask his feelings, and Leonard stares down into his cup of soda, jaw ticking. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.

Joanna’s young voice calls from across the patio, “Daddy! Daddy, it’s time for the CAKE!”

Leonard walks away without a word, and follows Eleanor into the house to retrieve the ice cream cake. Spock excuses himself to join T’Pau, Gaila, and Khan, while Jim opts to lean against the patio railing and brood.

After a few minutes, Scotty wanders over—that is, away from the women crowding him—and stands next to Jim. At Scotty’s sigh, Jim’s mouth forms a half-smile. “Need a break from all the people?”

Scotty shrugs. “Takes some gettin’ used to. I’m not good at crowds.” The man scratches his head. “Don’t know what to say.”

Jim nods in agreement. “Silence is golden, man.”

His companion grunts and takes a long swallow from the drink in his hand.

Jim reaches out without thinking and pats Scotty’s shoulder. “Thanks.”

Scotty blinks at him. “What for?”

Jim answers, “Don’t know.”

But he does know. Scotty isn’t effected by the turmoil in Riverside, isn’t another name on Jim’s list of problems. For once, with a crystal clear clarity, Jim can see the beauty of moving away from this town. And today, at this very moment, he regrets that he ever came back.

Next Part

Related Posts:

• Many Bells Down (12/12) – from November 9, 2011
• Many Bells Down (11/12) – from November 8, 2011
• Many Bells Down (10/12) – from November 6, 2011
• Many Bells Down (9/12) – from October 30, 2011
• Many Bells Down (8/12) – from October 28, 2011

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