Title: Along Comes a Stranger (20/?)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairing: Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Summary: AU. Jim’s life in Riverside is uncomplicated until two men, both equally mysterious and compelling, arrive in town, bringing with them the promise of change.
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Part Nineteen went up last night. Please read it first if you have not.

Part Twenty

Spock is precisely on time, according to Leonard.

Jim remains on the couch, arms crossed but resigned to this meeting. When Spock doesn’t greet him, though, as Spock greets Leonard, Jim turns to stare at the man.

“Hello,” he says pointedly.

Spock lifts a disdainful eyebrow.

Oh, hell no. Jim pops up from the couch and marches right into Spock’s personal space, ignoring Leonard’s warning “Jim.”

“Hello,” he repeats slowly. “That’s common courtesy, Mr. Spock. You’re in my house. I expect you to use it.”

“I am aware of the rules of proper guest etiquette, far better than yourself.”

Jim sputters. “Y-You…”

McCoy interjects knowingly, “It’s hard to find a word that describes him just right when he’s being this arrogant. I almost want to call him something silly. But my mama taught me manners, too.”

Spock looks at McCoy. “You insult me frequently, sir. I suspect your manners are subject to whim.”

Leonard narrows his eyes and bounces once on the balls of his feet in place, like he’s thinking really hard on that derogatory nickname.

Jim backs away just enough to give Spock breathing room. “We’ll have to be civil to each other, Spock,” he says, tired of fighting all of a sudden. “Bones is just going to keep tossing us together until he is satisfied we can get along.”

Spock shifts his stance ever-so-slightly. “I do not enjoy my feelings of negativity toward your person, Mr. Kirk, yet I find that I act on them without warning.”

“It’s called bein’ mad at Jim” Spock is informed duly by the Southerner.

“I am not angry,” Spock says quickly. “I am displeased by our present situation.”

“And what would that situation be?” asks Kirk.

Spock addresses Leonard. “Jim has demanded that I desist in my investigation of his accident.”

“Jim has the right to ask that,” McCoy says gently. “It’s up to him, really, to tell us what happened.”

“Hey,” Jim tries to interrupt.

“How do we convince him of the sincere nature of our concern?” Spock asks the doctor.

“I think he already gets that, Spock.”

Spock and McCoy both look at Jim. “Then it should be no hardship to tell us what we wish to know,” concludes the lawyer.

Ha, they think this double-teaming works against the mighty Kirk. (Okay, so maybe it does a little bit.)

Jim grimaces. “I trust you both, I do, but if I tell you I am exposing you to danger. Believe me when I say that’s the last thing I want to do.”

“Do you anticipate that you might succeed as one where you would succeed as three?” asks Spock, his dark eyes fixed on Kirk.

Not really. “What I anticipate is ending this topic of conversation,” he says stubbornly. “I’m not risking your lives, end of story.”

Spock says, “Your choice of words gives me grave reservation, Jim. You talk of death, by which I can only deduce that you remain party to threatening circumstances.”

“What Spock means to say is that whoever thinks he can get away with threatenin’ you,” Leonard says, his voice hard, “is a damn fool. You tell us who it is and we’ll take care of him.”

Jim can’t help it, he laughs. “What are you, my bodyguards?”

“At this moment, we are your friends,” Spock clarifies.

He feels warm. “I’m grateful for that, truly, but I hope you know that being my friend right now isn’t very safe.”

Spock tilts his head slightly. “Yet you have a plethora of acquaintances you call friends, even family though they bear no bloodline connection to you. Do you believe they would also refuse such an honor when you are in need of them?”

He knows they wouldn’t, haven’t. There is little Jim can do to argue that point with Spock.

“Are we wearin’ you down yet, Jimmy?”

He observes the tender amusement in Bones’ eyes. His mouth says, traitor to his brain, “Keep trying. You might win.”

Then he wishes he could smack himself without looking foolish.

“Let us hope so.” Spock turns to Leonard. “Might I have glass of water?” Meaning I wish to speak to Jim in private, please.

Leonard takes his time procuring that glass of water.

Spock says, facing away from Kirk, “I explained the events which led up to your retreat from my home.”

Jim winces. “I’m sorry I tricked you.”

Spock only says, “I shall be more diligent in the future.”

Jim sits down on the couch, pointing at the spot next to him. Spock follows the silent instruction and settles next to Kirk.

“Bones and I just discussed some of that, actually.” Jim pauses. “He didn’t understand why the kiss bothered me so much.”

“Nor do I,” says the other man.

“Spock,” Jim turns to look at the lawyer, “Maybe you didn’t think so, but it could have been considered cheating on Bones.”

Spock blinks. “It is not ‘cheating’ if the three of us are in mutual agreement.”

Jim makes a sound of exasperation. “I haven’t agreed to anything, Spock.”

“Do you not consider the solution reasonable?”

“It’s unusual,” Jim hedges. Then he gives up and decides to say, “It isn’t likely to work for long, Spock.”

Spock is unperturbed by this prediction. “We would enter the agreement as a whole and, should relations dissolve, we will nullify the agreement as a whole.”

Jim’s mouth works for a moment. “Spock, are you saying… all or nothing?”

Spock’s expression clearly reads Why would you assume otherwise?

McCoy clears his throat. “That’s how Spock thinks, Jim. Either we’re a weird triad couple or nobody gets anybody else.”

Jim turns. Bones is standing behind the couch, Spock’s glass of water in his hand. He has probably been there since the beginning.

“But how is that fair to Spock?” Jim asks.

Leonard’s face is surprised. “What do you mean?”

“He’s been in love with you for years! So if he and I can’t—” Jim reddens. “—work things out between us, then he loses you too. Really, it’s unfair.”

“A gamble is not without risks,” Spock says austerely.

“You said you don’t gamble,” Jim retorts.

Leonard intercedes, “Okay! No petty arguin’. Look, Jim, Spock’s intractable once he sets his mind to something. You remember what I said earlier?”

Jim’s mouth quirks. “Yeah.”

“So if he’s wrong, well, he’s wrong. But I…” Leonard hesitates.

Kirk guesses, “You want to try.”

McCoy nods.

“Can I have time to think about it?”

“As long as you need, darlin’,” says Bones, “just don’t take forever.”

Jim tugs at his bottom lip for a second. “Can you ask a question, Bones?”

“Shoot, kid.”

Jim looks to Spock though he is talking to Bones. “Before you were… reluctant. What changed your mind?”

McCoy circles the couch to face Jim. “You did.”

He waits for the rest of the explanation.

Leonard hands the glass of water to Spock. “Or maybe it’s better to say Mitchell’s phone call did. He said you had been found, that he was bringing you to the clinic and you might be in bad condition. I told God if he just gave me the chance to keep you alive, that I would stop giving into my doubts.” McCoy adds, quite simply, “God kept his end of the bargain.”

Spock sounds thoughtful. “You told me once that you did not agree with such traditions.”

Leonard shrugs. “I’m only human, Spock. Some days it’s good to be religious.”

For a moment, Jim thinks about kissing the soft corner of Leonard’s mouth, because really no one has said anything sweeter to him.

McCoy, who seems to know what Jim is thinking (is he really that obvious? Jim wonders), just snorts. “New rule,” he informs Kirk. “For every kiss you give me, you have to kiss Spock too.”

Spock looks intrigued by this new rule. Jim ducks his head and excuses himself to take a bathroom trip, whereupon he locks the bathroom door and tries to fit his head under the running sink facet until his color is back to normal.

When Jim resurfaces and tracks determinedly back into the living room, he says, “This rule had better not just apply to me.”

“Of course not,” Leonard says, and takes Jim’s face between his hands and kisses the breath out of Jim.

Jim pants a little afterward. “Aren’t you going to kiss Spock now?”

“Already did,” says McCoy somewhat smugly.

Spock’s ears are slightly red; otherwise Jim would be none-the-wiser that Spock had been sharing an intimacy with Leonard while he flailed in the bathroom. He makes a snap decision.

“Addendum to the new rule,” announces James Kirk. “The person not engaged in the kiss has to be present to observe said-kissing.”

“And if the third party is not present?” inquires Spock.

Jim grins. “That person gets a freebie.”

Leonard swats Jim upside the head, a blow which Jim ducks. He waits until Spock is standing to sneak a hasty peck on the man’s lips, almost like a test.

Maybe next time he’ll take more liberties with his ‘freebie’ but until then… Jim slips on his jacket, calling, “Let’s go to the diner. I’m starving.”

McCoy and Spock are in perfect agreement.

The Diner is fairly crowded for a typical Saturday night. Maybe Riverside High had a home football game.

Jim leans on his elbows, sitting next to Scotty, and tries to keep their conversation private. “So what you do you think?”

Montgomery Scott frowns down at his plate of food. “I dinnae know…”

“Hey, there’s no harm in finding out, right?”

Scotty looks sad. Uhura frowns in their direction as she stands by the kitchen window. “Some things’re old news,” Scotty burbles into his glass of coca cola.

“Not this,” Jim emphasizes, voice firm. “You earned scholarship money, and you still want to go to college.”

“But me mother—”

“Wants you to be happy,” Jim says.

Scotty looks as doubtful as Jim feels. Kirk decides to use his trump card. “Look, if we get my mom involved, she could talk to your…”

“No!” almost-shrieks the man. Montgomery Scott hunkers over the diner counter when several people pause in their dinner and conversation to find the source of the outburst. “Blamey. It’s bad ‘nough havin’ her watch me diet ‘n do me laundry.” The man whimpers. “We go grocery-shopping together.”

Jim makes no attempt to hide his enjoyment of Scotty’s ‘suffering.’ “Mom is tough when she thinks she needs to be. Okay, Scotty, we’ll keep her out of this for now; but that means you have to let Mr. Spock inquiry after the money to the scholarship’s foundation board on your behalf.”

Scotty drops his head to his chest and sighs heavily. “It’s a long shot” is the man’s murmur.

Jim doesn’t bother to respond because he thinks getting that money won’t be as difficult as Scotty anticipates. No, the difficult part will be convincing Scotty to leave Riverside. Jim will prepare for that task, instead.

He turns around, intent on returning to the booth harboring Spock and Bones, but a terrible surprise awaits his approach. A person, already sitting in his place opposite of the two men.

Marlena Moreau.

Jim steels himself and plasters an insincere smile on his face. “Evening, Marlena,” he says, interrupting their conversation and not caring one whit that he does so. “Spending a Saturday night at the diner? Business or pleasure?”

“Both,” she replies too sweetly. Then her mouth curves into a wicked, knowing smile. “I hope you don’t mind that I stole your seat, James. I had needed to discuss a thing or two with Mr. Spock and Mr. McCoy.”

“Not a problem.” His smile is threatening to mutiny into something akin to a snarl. “But you’re done now.” It isn’t a question.

The flash of expression across her face is not very pleasant. Then Marlena slides out of the booth and brushes past Jim, murmuring “See you later, sugar.” He turns to watch her walk away, only to catch the look she shoots over her shoulder at him. It’s victorious.

His stomach sinks.

Jim doesn’t like games, particularly not the kind Marlena is capable of playing. Jim sits down with care, asking even more slowly, “How do you know Marlena?”

Bones’ eyes are fixed on the tabletop as he plays with his napkin. “Met her at the Trophy Club.”

Jim places his hands flat on the table, a gesture McCoy once made the first time they met and faced down Rand. He thinks for a moment, attempting to find a way to tread traitorously boggy ground. “Do you like the Trophy Club, Bones?” asks Kirk in a neutral voice. The Trophy Club is as well frequented for the bar as its dancers, so there’s no need to assume the worst. But Jim might be assuming the worst.

McCoy blushes. “I tried it out only one time—when I was in a bad mood.”

Jim leans back. “Well, I mean, there’s nothing wrong with the place, Bones. I’ve been there a few times myself.”

“Recently?” counters Leonard.

“No.”

McCoy doesn’t need to say anything else.

Jim guesses, “And Marlena was working?”

Now Leonard sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “Yes, and I was stinking drunk at the time, too. She tried to give me a lap dance but I told her I had used all my spare change at the bar. She sat in my lap anyway. We started talkin’ and…” McCoy grimaces.

“And?” Jim prompts, heart in his throat. He glances at Spock. There is blank, almost deadly calm in the man’s eyes. Jim shivers on instinct.

Leonard puts a hand over his eyes. “And I blabbed on about myself like a fool—about Joanna and Spock’s idea.”

This is worse than Jim imagined. He clenches a fist in his lap, out of sight. “Marlena’s all for it, am I right?”

“Yes,” inputs Spock, speaking for the first time. “She wishes to play the role of Mrs. McCoy—for ample compensation. She implies that compensation would also be necessary to buy her silence, should we deem to move ahead with the plan and not—“ A hint of disgust flashes through Spock’s eyes. “—allow her to ‘play the part.’”

Jim closes his eyes. “Oh Bones…”

“I know, Jim, I know. I messed up.”

“No,” he argues. “If Marlena was another kind of woman, she wouldn’t use your situation to blackmail you into paying her off. But honestly? She’s a bitch.”

“Is she the type of bitch to go to Georgia and make my life hell if I try to ignore her?” Leonard asks grimly.

“She doesn’t have any real ties to Riverside, so I know nothing of her past, Bones—but I’d bet that she would if she could.”

“That’s what I think too.”

Jim looks around the diner. Marlena is hanging around the jukebox, obvious in her observation of the three men. “Let’s go,” he says, already tugging on his jacket.

“We haven’t ordered.”

“Do you want to stay, Bones?”

“Hell no.”

Jim does not say another word, merely leads the other two men outside. He heads along the street sidewalk on foot and Spock and McCoy follow. He stops a few blocks down and turns.

“I’ll talk to Marlena,” Jim says bluntly.

Leonard frowns at him. “What good will that do?”

“I must agree with Leonard,” Spock says as well. “You would not be able to reason with her, as she has committed herself to her purpose.”

“I can talk to her,” insists Kirk, “and make her an offer.”

Worst case scenario, he calls up Trelane for money and uses it to shut up Marlena. The price for that action, however, might be so steep he can’t find his way out of the mire again. Jim swallows down the bad taste in his mouth and resumes walking, only to have Leonard catch hold of his shoulders before he goes too far.

“Jim, what do you mean?” demands McCoy.

“What?” he asks.

Leonard holds his gaze. “Whatever it is you’re planning, I don’t want you to do it.”

“It’s not dangerous,” he lies.

“I don’t believe you.”

“But you can’t stop me either.”

“I can beg,” says McCoy softly. “Please, Jim—”

Jim drags Leonard in and wraps his arms around the man. “Don’t, Bones.” Don’t beg. I can’t stomach seeing you beg.

Spock is standing behind Leonard. He catches Jim’s eyes. The lawyer states flatly, “The only way to handle Ms. Moreau is to stand on equal footing.”

“We don’t know anything about her,” Jim says, releasing Leonard to look between the two men.

Spock’s dark eyes promise swift retaliation against Marlena. “By the end of the week,” answers the lawyer, ice lacing his voice, “Marlena Moreau will have no secrets of her own.”

Jim’s spine tingles with the hint of that dire promise.

Leonard, on the other hand, simply raises his eyebrow. “Calling in the big guns, Spock?”

“Indeed.” Spock turns and paces away.

Jim and Leonard are now the ones following behind. Jim sidles up to Bones to ask, “What are the big guns?”

McCoy cuts his eyes at Jim, perhaps measuring how Kirk might take the news. “His daddy,” explains the doctor.

Jim opens his mouth then closes it after nothing comes out.

“Sarek,” says Leonard McCoy, “has connections in all the right places. And an intelligence network you wouldn’t believe.”

Jim pauses to look around the seemingly innocuous street of Riverside, uneasy. Leonard takes his hand and gets him moving again. “Don’t worry about it,” Leonard remarks dryly. “I’m sure Spock’s father knows all about you by now.”

That thought does not comfort Jim Kirk at all.

Next Part

Related Posts:

• Along Comes a Stranger (28/28) – from July 10, 2011
• Along Comes a Stranger (27/28) – from July 9, 2011
• Along Comes a Stranger (26/28) – from July 5, 2011
• Chapter of Doom – from July 4, 2011
• Along Comes a Stranger (25/28) – from June 30, 2011