[$] Johnlocked Into The Darkness (Filled by Knux33)

[Killer_Kiwi_XD]

knux33

Jim would have jumped for joy at Spocks agreement if it wasn't for bones threat. Not to mention the fact that Jim could barely stand up at this point and if he tried to he was sure his legs would protest by sending him to the floor. Jim sighed a little and nodded, knowing he wouldn’t be able to get himself into any trouble, and then Bones was leaving him alone with Spock. What Jim wasn't expecting out of the whole situation was Spock picking him up and carrying him like he was some frail maiden from those old stories his aunt used to read to him. Jim gripped Spocks arm and was about to protest when the other asked if he would rather him get a hover chair. No, that was bad, this was a bit easier to explain and he always could make it difficult for the Vulcan who was currently carrying him through the ship.

Instead Jim put on a very displeased look and seemed affronted through the whole walk… in reality he really liked the way it felt to have Spock carrying him like this, it felt safe, which was terrifying because it shouldn’t feel safe. Jim guessed he was losing his mind because Spock wasn't all that safe and he didn't know why he thought the other was safe but here he was trying not to lean into the green blooded b*****d as they walked down the hall to his room. When they got there Jim was expecting to be set down on the couch, to have Spock disappear soon after, but instead the vulcan was handing him a device to attach to his neck as he set him in his BEDROOM and then shocking him again.

It was… Odd to have the Vulcan in his bed. It made Jim feel strange, out of place in his own living space almost, but at the same time it felt… comforting to know he wouldn’t be strapped to machines and left alone to think by himself for long periods of time. Jim pulled out his own pad, glancing at Spock to make sure he wasn't going to have it taken away, then flipped open some old tv show from the 21st century that he enjoyed watching. It was an old classic but Jim had always found it entertaining, if a bit ridiculous at the same time, because Demons and such were a figment of the imagination. Jim laid slightly propped up watching 'Supernatural' and fell asleep rather quickly thanks to the very relaxing atmosphere.

***New Vulcan***

((I say time skip to when they reach New Vulcan.))

It had taken only two days after the incident to reach New Vulcan and by that point Jim wasn't sure he could leave his bed even if he wanted too. He ended up sleeping most of the time, sometimes barely waking up to Spocks persistence, and even when he did wake up he felt like he was running on no sleep and shaking apart all at the same time. It was amazing to him how quickly he went from "alright" to "not okay" but at the same time he still felt like he was in the place he should be. He would rather be dying on the enterprise while saving lives, even lives of madmen, then on earth slowly dying while no one had any clue what to do.

Jim wished Spock would stop looking at him the way he did though, that look that he might vanish in an instant, it was akin to the look the first time Jim died on his watch and Jim was… worried about it. Jim didn't want Spock to think he was losing him because he wasn't… because Jim needed the other to hold out hope even when he lost is own because it was all very hard. They had finally reached New Vulcan though and Jim was able to wake up enough, make himself presentable, and Comm the ones person he knew might be able to help him with this. Though he wasn't to sure he would be able to handle the other mans looks either… both Spocks were so similar.

Jim commed and waited, then waited, able to hear spock moving about somewhere around him then finally the old friendly face showed up on his screen. It lit up for a moment then seemed concerned, Jim hadn't realized he looked that bad, but it was fine. "Salek, how are you?" Old Spock stared at Jim for a moment before replying. "I am well. The real question is how are you James? Is something wrong?" Jim bit his lip, leaned back a bit in his chair, then shook his head. "Not good. I don't quite have the energy to explain the whole situation at the moment so I may need you to speak to Spock on that matter… exactly what's happened but… do you know how to counteract large amounts of radiation?" Salek thought about that for a moment then nodded, still looking concerned, before he gave his reply. "We figured out a long time ago that slow acting radiation can be counter acted with the transporters, in my timeline at least, a certain equation that reverses the radiation out of the DNA from previous DNA samples taken by all transporters when in use. It takes a bit of fiddling to rewind it all and it may be a bit haywire for you considering the circumstances of your birth and the natural mutations you have from it." Jim nodded, taking the information down, before smiling at Salek.

"I would like if you could… send that information? It's good to know that it's a simple solution… ish." Old Spock nodded and Jim was about to say something else when Jim pushed away from the console and disappeared to go throw up like he had been for the past hour. Unfortunately Bones said there was nothing that could be done about that, it was the radiation, so Jim was just stuck being sick. Jim first motioned for Spock to take over though so that Salek was just left on the line for however long Jim was stuck being ill.

**

Having the crew back was pleasant for a time for John but as it turned out it wasn't as..simple as he thought it would be. Aaron, Sam, and Misha were the hardest to keep in their area because they wanted to run off, Hound had broken a million and one things, Kyle had found some things that were explosive and made a pipe bomb out of boredom that Khan had to disarm, and the Kids were just all over the place. Lana was the only one behaving and that’s because she was often having video confrences with Bones about the new medical equipment and what diseases there were now.

It was like taking care of a giant group of children while also taking care of Kids because Hamish was 18 but still had his old habits of acting like a five year old. John found it all… difficult but at the same time it just kept him busy and… happy. John was currently though distracting Khan, because Amy and Hamish were somewhere else for the next few hours, he was quite happily distracting him too because while the whole sex thing was still new to their relationship, and they had a full week to get it out of their system, it wasn't out of Johns at all. John was sat on Khan lap making the best of the others attention before their little family decided to come back.  

[knux33]

Killer_Kiwi_XD

Spock had remained caring for Jim the entire remainder of the trip to New Vulcan, leaving only to collect meals for the Captain and himself or to make quick comm calls to others on the ship for vocal status reports on this-or-that. The new colony at New Vulcan was not extremely far along, but they had plenty of building supplies and materials; in excess, in fact. So Spock took quick catalog of what extra metals and supplies the Enterprise was low on after all the finished repairs had been mostly completed, sending a list of things to buy to the proper officer in charge of such things. That was one of the things Spock quite enjoyed about starships; so many individuals working together cohesively for the greater whole. Though the long two days felt less like working for a whole, and working more for just Kirk, even if the Vulcan tried keeping his mind on other works and lists and concerns, Kirk was very steadily staying on the top of his thoughts.

Logic or no, seeing Kirk as 'sick as a dog' and brought so low wormed hints of the deep-set anguish he'd felt watching the other die before his eyes. This event and that were hardly any different at all; he was still helpless to do anything. He could reach out and try to get bland nourishing food down Kirk's throat, he could keep the man hydrated, but he could not stop Kirk from declining. It was almost maddening, and lack of sleep compounded by the full 48-hour watch plus how little rest he'd been getting since learning of Kirk's condition plus the helpless feeling. But Spock simply swallowed the feelings down and counted the hours until they had finally arrived, and Kirk laboriously got dressed and tried to look normal before calling his older, alternate timeline self.

No matter how many times Spock saw 'Salek', it was still more than a little shock and ... left him feeling extreme levels of curiosity. Here he was just beginning his life, and there he was looking old enough to be decades away from having it end. Spock wanted to know how easily the older Vulcan could so easily and quickly see through Jim's front, even just by seeing the man through an image on a screen. He wanted to know so many, many things about himself, where he could have gone had things not been altered, but ... he could not. There were a thousand questions he could not ask for fear of altering his own future, or even the possibility of driving himself mad with knowing.

So, when Kirk fled with as much speed as his sick body could muster to the bathroom, Spock stepped in front of screen with a nod and kept his comments on matters of the present and not those of his could-have-been or might-still-be future. "The radiation is a leftover side effect from the incident with Khan," Spock told Old Spock, going on to explain the circumstances of their clash with Khan and Kirk's sacrifice for the ship and crew, only for Khan's blood to be miraculous enough in it's healing capabilities to be able to bring Kirk back thanks to McCoy's quick thinking. "He's also ... on the ship. With us," Spock said slowly, and he surely didn't mean Jim. "Khan was under sedation while McCoy took final samples and attempted to render Khan in a proper state of full unconsciousness to safely re-freeze him when another cryotube malfunctioned, releasing another genetically modified human known as John Watson. Khan has agreed to remain cooperative so long as he any other that have also come back into an active state thanks to the failing technology of the cryotubes so long as we do not attempt to contain them, or give them over to the Federation."

Spock frowned. "I have considered multiple options, but the two most logical are to either keep Khan and his crew aboard the Enterprise where they can be at least marginally contained, or find a proper Earth-class planet for them to live their own lives on with little hope of outside discovery."

Of course, unknown to the younger Spock, the second option had been tried. And failed. Though right now Spock was inwardly heavily relived Kirk now had a means to fix what was wrong with him, and quickly forwarded the information sent to the comm over to Scotty; informing the chief engineer to get the transporter ready as soon as possible according to the specifications and formulas.

*

Khan was greatly enjoying his alone time with John as well, trying to let the misgivings at what might be decided sooner or later lay to rest as he just held John close a moment and took note of the multiple identifiable scents on the other, and the different tastes he could steal off of the other's tongue from their more recent meal. "John," Sherlock noted as they paused for breath, "must you have so much mustard in your sandwiches? It's positively overpowering; there's barely a hint of the turkey or bread in there."

*

Sam sighed out gustily, tired of listening to Lana's gushing about diseases and space-bends and all sorts of medical drug stuff to her new boy friend (because it was obvious, to Sam at least, that those two were getting seriously sickening with their compliments to each other and the waving of eyelashes and shared love of all that was fixing other human beings). So Sam got up from where it'd been organizing its clothes and called over its shoulder "getting some air" before leaving the room. [Changed from their into it so as to not be confusing, even if 'it' is not the nicer term it's clearer who I'm talking about instead of using the plural pronoun]

Sam grinned, seeing the Hound wasn't prowling the halls like usual. No, it could hear his voice from his room (coming through his broken door; one of the first things he'd busted) telling some gran Beowulf-esc story ... about bunny rabbits; and it sounded like Fox was in there too, making sure the bear of a man didn't get too graphic with his epic tale. Oh, he was definitely busy entertaining Amy. Sam strode forward down the hall carefully, fully intending to get going while the going was good--when Sam saw Hamish come out of a room. The both-gendered person froze, then smiled hugely. This could work out fine; and Hamish looked bored too. They were all bored. They were used to running ships, not being stuck as sexually frustrated cruise passengers.

"Hey Hamish! Guess what," Sam half-sang, striding over and putting an arm around the young man's arm. "I was just about to have a walk down to the rec room. Want to join me?" Sam smiled pleadingly; the guards wouldn't be too hard to get past. Besides, this could be the perfect time to teach Hammy one of the many essential skills in life: how to pick up a man!

Down in his room, Van was laying unhappily sprawled out on the couch, finally bored like the rest of them. Van was not half as easily bored as most, even he was restless and wanted something to do. Something to go find. He liked finding things; he'd found every possible thing there was to find in his room. Even as he left the tv on for comforting babble background noise he paced and dug around the corners of his room hopelessly. Like a herder collie with no sheep ... his mind was bound to start to find its own ways of entertaining itself if he wasn't given at least a few small 'jobs' to do once and a while. Van was so board, he hesitantly started taking steps towards the door of his room, opening it up to peak out and look to ... find something to do.

Oh. OH. Oh, that was something to find! Find something to do!!  

[Killer_Kiwi_XD]

knux33

Salek listened silently and then a small smile spread on his face at the mention of the name. In his time line he knew very well who Khan had originally been, and the reason why he had come after them in the end, but Spock did not need to know that yet. That was for Khan to tell them and from what Salek could tell things were seeming to go well, Spock was not showing signs of distress past what was worrying him with the captain, but with the mention of the planet that they were thinking about putting Khan and his crew on Salek shook his head. "I suggest that you find a different solution to stranding Khan and his crew on a planet they will know nothing about." Salek entered some things into the computer and then leaned back in his seat.

"The equation I sent over should work but I warn you there may be risks considering the different circumstance revolving around your Jim. If he is anything like mine then… be ready. There are certain factors of his past I am sure he has yet to reveal to you… It took me many, many, years before I could coheres my Jim into explaining everything to me and by then we ran out of time very quickly to help him … recover." At that moment Jim managed to crawl his way out of the bathroom, after cleaning himself up a bit, and leaned on the back of Spocks chair heavily. "Sorry about that Salek. Thank you for the help, I am going to check up on my engineer with the equation, Scotty should be able to do this, after I am all healed up I will come down to visit you." Salek nodded, his old eyes showing the joy at getting to be with Jim, and Jim just chuckled before they all said their good bye's and he reached over Spock to flip off the screen.

After the screen was off Jim leaned most of his weight on Spock, not really being able to hold himself up, and when he felt he could handle himself he stood up straight and motioned for Spock to follow. "We should get this done as soon as we can. I don't feel like waiting around for this thing to get worse." Jim shuffled his way to the door of his room then waited for Spock before heading out of his room with a pad in his hand.

He was messaging Scotty all of the information and telling him to set up the transporter with what information they had and to be careful so that nothing would go wrong, he didn't want to turn into a pile of goo, and of course the man was all upset that Jim would even doubt his ability. Jim couldn’t help but chuckle and just reply that it wasn't a doubt of Scotty's ability to fix the transporter but more of the trust that if Jim was involved something fantastically horrible was going to go wrong very quickly. Jim ignored the looks as he used Spock for stability, figuring that the thoughts around the ship were probably something much different than what was actually going on, he didn't really care about what his crew thought on that aspect.

Spock had become very crucial in the past two days, a life line, if he had not been there Jim was sure he would have died in his room without anyone knowing. Just slept himself to death without a care in the world. Of course he wouldn't say that outright to Spock, because the man didn't need to know that, but maybe one day Jim would feel comfortable enough to tell him that. Jim sighed as they made their way to the transporter room and was ushered onto it before he ahd time to really think. Apparently they didn't have much power running to the transporters often beside for supplies so they wanted Jim to be quick about his getting up there and getting better.

Jim nodded then gave Spock a sort of thumbs up before the transporters were flicked on… then flickered and wavered like mad. There was cursing and loud bangs, Jim seemed to be in a great deal of pain, then he dematerialized completely. When he came back he wasn't quite Jim, and Scotty was cursing up a storm, because there on the platform was a twelve year old boy who looked very thin for his age and was shaking. When he looked up at Spock though it was obvious it was Jim, just a young and scared Jim, but when he noticed everyone he instantly stumbled and scrambled backward like a frightened animal.

**

Hamish had just left a room he really wasn't supposed to be in when he heard someone call his name and his heart made its way into his throat. The boy stopped for a moment then noticed Sam and smiled at him/her. He had never really gotten used to the strange mix of gender so he just referred to this person as Sam instead of trying to assign some specific gender. Hamish shrugged when the other suggested that they go to the rec room then nodded. He didn't see how it could be a problem, they had been there once before, and most of the people that were there were actually rather nice.

Kyle had been in and out of Vans room the past few days just trying to keep the man entertained, had even managed to hide a few things in the man's room for him to find as a surprise, but he knew that keeping Van in his room wouldn’t last for long. Sure Kyle was destructive but he was sane, no worries for him breaking down, he had his problems but he worked them out silently on his own and broke down where no one could see instead of in public. Kyle was making his way to Vans room when he saw the other Poke his head out and he knew what that mean when it came to the situation of them being stuck on the ship.

"Are you getting bored Van?" Kyle smiled widely at the other, bouncing on his toes as he stood next to him, before he grabbed the others arm. "Lets go to the Rec room then yeah? There won't be many people there but they have something you can tare apart I also need help finding something! I left a book in there the other day and it's somewhere in there but I am so scatter brained I just can't find it at all!" Of course by left Kyle meant he had hid about sixteen different books in the rec room for the other to go fetch for him, bring back, and have him deny like he knew the other would find entertaining for a short while.

Kyle tugged Van along carefully, being conscious of skin to skin contact so the other knew it was him that was holding onto him, and when they reached the rec room Kyle let Van go to find his book. Kyle smiled as he sat down in a chair, watching Van run around, he didn't even notice somebody sit next to him. He was actually a rather large security guard who was looking the boy up and down curiously. Kyle wasn't one to flinch at other people getting closer or touching him, but people knew he had certain ticks and people much bigger than him set him off, he was a doctor and a scientist not a fighter. He wasn't built quite like the others, strong and sturdy but not nearly as well built as Khan, by the time those scientists had gotten to making him he had been a test to see what they could take away and what they could keep.

Unfortunately he was not to good with big people, people like hound, people who towered over and around him because they could always hold him down and it SCARED him. A scared Kyle was never a good thing to be handling but thankfully enough with Kyle usually ran before he needed to actually be restrained. The large security office placed a hand on Kyles shoulder and the boy turned only to have to look up and then go slightly pale. "Hey how old are you kid?" Kyle just stared up at the man before him, a mountain of a man with scars and a rather mean curious look, and he mumbled out a reply before turning away to watch Van again.

Apparently the guy didn't like that, because big people didn't like to be ignored, and he grabbed Kyle and turned him around by force. "Hey kid I just asked you a simple question. You ain't no starfleet brat… Your one of those Eugens aren't you? One of the ones causing problems on the ship yeah?" Kyle quickly shook his head as the mans grip got harder and then he was shoved. "You are aren't ya?! One of my buddies almost died thanks to your friend you little s**t! The least you could do is answer my damn questions when I ask them! Come on, speak up, how old are you? Not that it matters much… I bet Starfleet will get a good use out of you kid." Kyle was hyperventilating at this point, panicking, because there had been a point he had been a sort of "gift" to the older eugens who were lonely.

For a while he was passed around by his own kind, the more unsavory ones Khan had killed off, and he quite vividly remember those words "get a good use out of you kid." Because they meant a lot of pain and fear. Kyle stumbled backward, barely able to breath, then tripped and fell to the ground gripping his chest as the man before him flickered to the real "Mountain" who had tormented him greatly. Then the voice of Jim with his false sweetness rung out and Kyle gasped, tryign to form words on his lips as the now very confused security guard just stood there, then Kyle fell back completely and shouted out "VAN!" in pure panic as he covered his face with his hands to try and hide the 'tears'. An unfortunate malfunction in his genetic coding, one of the reasons the guard was so confused, Kyle had the horrible habit of crying BLOOD.

((I figured the doctors are the weaker of the eugens and people are not nice so… lets damage the doctors? > biggrin I think it's fantastic to have a whole bunch of mentally damaged superhumans on a ship. Though Kyle is the only bad one beside John out of my group… Kyle had to deal with Jim first hand and that messes anyone up. Basically he has things that will set him off but they are rare.... unlike John.))  

[knux33]

Killer_Kiwi_XD

Spock nodded at his elder self's suggestion, though there seemed to be very limited options when it came to what was to be done with Khan and his crew. They could not give then over to the Federation, or leave them stranded. Which left only two options Spock could think of at the moment; keep them aboard indefinitely or perhaps get them a ship their own to possibly terrorize the galaxy with. Spock, of course, did not favor the latter option, but the former was also a solution that would likely lead to trouble. But at least it would be slightly-contained trouble ... hopefully. Spock blinked with a slightly worried look as Salek said Kirk was likely hiding things from him. Especially things of the past. He had read much, but considering these words it seemed he must be missing something ...

But before he had time to truly ponder it, Kirk came out of the bathroom looking as 'pathetic as a half-drowned cat', if Spock's understanding of the human expression was correct. Spock stood after Jim flipped off the screen and the conversation was concluded, waiting patiently as Kirk leaned against him and gathered what strength he could with his failing human body. The Vulcan was quick to agree when Jim suggestion getting a move on, Spock remaining close to Kirk's side as they made their way through the Enterprise's hallways to the transporter room.

Spock took Jim's weight easily, one arm around the captain and under Kirk's arms to better keep Jim's weight on his own shoulders even if he was allowing the blond to walk on his own. The past two days had made physical contact less of a rare thing and more of a near-necessity when it came to just helping Kirk get from one place to another and checking the other's vitals manually at times just in case the equipment had malfunctioned (because anything could happen around Kirk, likely or unlikely, good or bad, Spock had learned all to well). But right now the Vulcan was just relived Kirk was finally going to get better and would soon be back to acting like his old self instead of having those flashes or moments where his eyes seemed more like the Kirk who'd been scared and looked so small in the irradiated chamber; dying.

Spock carefully let Jim stand on his own two feet on one of the transporter pads, standing back himself closer to where Scotty was madly and almost excitedly pounding away at the transporter's keyboard, selecting an earlier DNA reading off of Kirk to use. Spock gave a stiff nod at Kirk's human thumbs-up sign, only for things to very quickly go wrong and very much out of control. Scotty was letting fly Irish curses and something about space, time, and 'Tha's not the DNA I selected you d--!', and much more. Spock left the technical specifics for Scotty to figure out, but after the transporter finished and Jim was brought back ... well, it didn't take a Vulcan to see what the results were. Jim had clearly been turned into a young, frightened, and very feral-looking child.

Spock did not take a step forward as Kirk stumbled back once the young boy realized he was not alone, clearly not having the mind of the older Kirk. No, whatever age the transporter had rolled Jim back to, clearly all the little Kirk knew was he was suddenly in a strange place confronted by strange people. And by the very thin and lean way Jim currently looked, Spock realized Kirk was most definitely not going to be in a mindset to be very trusting of anyone. Hunger was not a feeling that grew trust and willingness to listen to authority; and by the wild way the child was looking around Spock knew he would have to contain Kirk before the other bolted in an attempt to escape the small teleporter space.

"James Tiberus Kirk," Spock tried, even though the young boy was looking panicked enough to likely not be listening for his name when he was so frantically looking for an escape route or place to hide. "Calm down; we are not trying to hurt you." The Vulcan took a small step forward, arms loose and ready to grab Kirk should he try to flee. This was not going to be a plesant experience; Spock could already tell. But even with things gone so wrong it was still a relief to see Kirk was not ill; the attempt to fix the radiation problem looked to be a success. Now they just needed to fix what had gone wrong and get Jim back to his proper age.

But first they would have to catch him. And fix the teleporters; Scotty looked at the "Damn wee lad" a few moments longer before seeing Spock motion to him to stop gawking and start fixing. The chief engineer sighed heavily, popping open the control panel and letting Spock try to wrangle the little captain.

*

Sam grinned widely. "Great! Come on, a few of the cute starfleeters get off shift in about fifteen minutes! If we're quick I can coach you perfectly on how to quickly find the gay guys and straight girls! Whatever you like. Though with your dads I'd say you've got to have fifty-fifty change of getting either aromatically-gay or denial-bi." Sam sighed dramatically as they walked to the rec room, quickly steering Hamish towards the virtual pool tables (complete with holo balls and holo net and sticks that had holo-paddles on one end). "But I reeeeally hope you're just bi. Or gay. Because romance can be so much fun, especially with cute guys! Or even better. Cute virgin guys. Though the helmsman of the ship ain't too shapy either. He's got the whole 'samurai' vibe and I saw him fencing a day ago. Fencing! Isn't hat just unique?"

Sam kept babbling on, before handing Hamish a paddle and seriously telling him "nothing says 'I want sex' like a game involving paddles and balls" before striking him up in a match. "Got to look just slightly sweaty enough to look athletic without looking like you got dunked into a pool, you know? Though you've snuck out here a few times on your own; see anybody you fancy yet~?" Sam asked as they hit the little holo ball back and forth. Sam was as much a lover of gossip almost as much as Sam liked sex.

Of course Van was very happily excited as Kyle led him into the rec room a little after Sam and Hamish arrived, almost bouncing a little himself before hurrying away in search of the 'book' Kyle said he had 'misplaced' In no time at all he'd found the first of what was soon going to prove to be many, triumphantly hurrying over to where the scientist had sat himself down. "Found it," was what Van simply said, before blinking at Kyle's reply this was not the book he'd 'lost'. Van looked at the book, then Kyle, the book, then at last Kyle again. "It's your book." Because Van knew Kyle had touched this book; don't ask how. Kyle had asked the finder too many times to count how he could find specific objects belonging to someone with such certainty and no known real scientific or sensible evidence to back out how he knew. Van just ... knew.

If someone grabbed a rock and then threw it into a rock pile, it was highly likely Van could (after a few hours of looking) find the exact rock you'd thrown without even seeing you throw it. He was like a metal detector bred with a bloodhound and crossed with a bit of well-trained-but-stubborn beagle before finally tossing in the work-drive of a boarder collie. While Hound was a great fighter and 'hunter', Van would and could find anything and anyone.

"But I found it," Van said again before blinking, realizing this was a familiar game and that meant there were likely many more books to be found. Books to be found! Van shot off, easily avoiding the few other people in the rec room and ignoring Sam's call of greeting at him when he began investigating around the pool tables, only to find a second book. He was well on his way to finding a third when he stiffened, hearing the familiar and usually-soothing voice of Kyle suddenly shouting his name in a horribly-frightened sounding way.

Van whipped around and bolted towards where he'd left Kyle, and that's where he found the younger male, on the ground and clearly in a large amount of distress. Van hurried over to Kyle's side, kneeling and trying to gently pull the other's upper half into his lap; leaning over the other as if to shield Kyle from all the world around them. "Kyle? Kyle, Kyle?" Van said, repeating the short male's name in tones varying from questioning to worry, from reassuring to anxious. Van was no doctor, and not in a good enough mental space himself to do much besides hold Kyle close, trembling with worry, and just repeating the other's name until he got some kind of response; be it a stream of bloody tears or Kyle telling him to calm down. Or one of the bigger Eugens bodily pulling him away from Kyle so the shorter male could actually be clear enough for the other doctors to fix him up, because one thing Van did not do when Kyle was hurt or upset was leave the other's side. Not voluntarily, at least.

Kyle was really the core of all that was 'safe' and 'alright' to Van. Khan, at least, was still functional without John. Highly dangerous and likely to blow up everything, but functional. Khan had even had John throughout most of their hellish ordeals. Van ... had known a long time of solitude and chaos and pain with no one to attach to. He'd grown close to one of the earlier subject for a time but ... they had been dubbed broken and were subsequently destroyed. Van knew loss; so Kyle flipping out and bleeding really did not help the thin, nervous man think clearly.

Of course with the commotion others were looking over and even a few were walking over, but Sam was quick to come with Hamish as soon as she heard the scream. Sam quickly told 'Hammy' to keep people away from Van and Kyle while those two had a mutual freak out, while she marched straight up to the large security officer. Eyes alight with a clearly pissed anger, Sam sharply poked the man in the chest. "The hell!? The captain of this ship letting you guys bully little kids now? What; you get off on scaring little kids half your size?" Sam opened their arms wide as if both in a 'the hell?' and 'wanna come at me too, d**k?' pose.

"Hey, hey," Chekov was part of a small group just coming into the rec room, quickly coming over and seeing the situation put a (restraining) hand on the shoulder of the security officer who was both older and larger than he was. "What happened here?" He was trying to assess and defuse the situation, as best he could.

"Your ******** over-testosteroned bulldog clearly pushed too many buttons on our friend is what!" Sam said, turning and looking over at Hamish and the two on the ground to see how that was going; and if Kyle was good enough to go yet, because at this point Sam was unhappy to admit a 'evac' was likely the best way to roll right now.

((Sam had big mouth and little muscle :'D Whiiiich usually gets them into trouble. Damage doctors yay xD ))  

[Killer_Kiwi_XD]

knux33

Kyle was trying so very hard to gather himself up all on his own but thankfully, as always, Van came when he called and he was able to latch onto something other than the panic that was welling up inside of him. There was good reason Kyle liked to be around Van, he had always been there for him when the others broke him down, even though Van was not the most stable he still knew how to hold on and not let go. That was all Kyle needed most of the time, someone to hold on and not let go, because it was so difficult to control the panic when he was alone.

Hamish just chuckled, not confirming or denying anything with Sam, he didn't feel like he needed to explain his sexual preferences to the other but hear that Sam could steer him in the right direction was nice. Though when they got to the rec room and started playing what seemed to be a holographic version of pingpong he did have to wonder how this would attract anyone. It seemed a little silly that pingpong would work up a sweat but then again with How Hamish and Sam played it, much more active than the human members of the crew, he could see how and extended period of time playing the game would do that.

Of course all thoughts to the game were completely forgotten the moment that Hamish heard the shout and then saw the scene of Kyle laying on the floor with Van and panicking a great deal. Hamish dropped what he was doing and ran over to the two on the ground, crouching next to Kyles other side, as Sam confronted the security guard who had decided to scare the wits out of Kyle. The man seemed genuinely confused as to what had happened but when Sam got in his face he got angry and short tempered. He didn't like being questioned by something so abnormal and Sam just confused him greatly.

He was just about to take a stand when he felt a hand on his shoulder and little Chekov was there holding him back. The man backed down instantly, Hamish looking up when he heard the new and heavily accented voice, he was honestly surprised when he saw the little russian boy stand there and holding the security officer off. Hamish didn't have much time to think about it though, he needed to help Kyle, so instead he carefully lifted Kyle up. There was a bit of flailing, and slightly more panic than necessary, but Van couldn’t really carry Kyle so Hamish had to do it.

"Kyle it's alright, it's just me, It's Hamish. Were going to take you back to a safe place, to your safe place, just breathe." Hamish knew better than to mention rooms when talking to Kyle while he was like this. Hamish stepped around the others, glancing at Chekov one last time, then hurried away with Van in tow. He needed to focus on Kyle, not the russian officer, but the kid was attractive enough. If a bit on the shorter side… then again Hamish had gotten a little height from his father so he was marginally taller than most.

Hamish walked down the hall and placed Kyle in Vans room instead of Aaron and Misha just to be safe. Neither of them would say it but they liked each other a great deal more than just a stability thing, and it showed when Van clutched onto Kyle while he panicked.

**

Jim looked around the room, fear rising up in his chest like a tidal wave, before he heard someone say his name. Jim snapped his head in the direction of the person who had just spoken, the panic ebbing slightly away but then the other was saying that he was "safe" but Jim wasn’t! He couldn’t be because he was alone and his family wasn't there and his Children were gone! He wasn't safe, how could he be safe, he felt strange like he knew this place but he shouldn’t because the only place he knew was home and hell!

Jim gripped at his head, something telling him to trust the man telling him he was safe, but he didn't want to because trust was dangerous! Jim glared at Spock, all heat and blue eyes, before he jumped up and charged like he was going to run out of the room. Of course even as he tried to dodge he was caught, because this strange man was fast, and suddenly Jim was surrounded by something that was no normal and colder than the heat of Tarsus. He squirmed and shouted, panic building higher in his chest as he struggled before finally he did the only thing he could think of, he sunk his teeth into the strange mans shoulder. His mind supplied a name, Spock, and Jim was surprised when he wasn't instantly let go. Instead it seemed whoever it was holding him was going to keep a hold of him but they were not hurting him. The blood on his tongue tasted slightly strange, made Jim feel a little sick, and he was sure that the other person was hurt from the bite.

Something inside him made him regret the bit instantly, he felt horrible, because he knew Spock was trying to help him somehow. He didn’t know how but he knew that he could trust the other and he suddenly felt very bad. Jim took a few moments to breath and still struggled but they were weak until he finally released Spocks should and just gripped onto the Vulcan while crying. He felt like he had done something wrong and he didn't like it but he liked this strange man, he was nice and Comfortable, his name was Spock and Jim didn't know how he knew that but Spock was safe.  

[knux33]

Killer_Kiwi_XD

Van almost didn't seem to notice Hamish, the boy being one of those allowed in his 'personal bubble' with causing him to immediately start really flipping out in a bad way. The thin male's attention was all on Kyle, and when Hamish began picking the other up Van gave Hamish a ... slightly unhinged look before recognition kicked in and the flash of something sharp, shattered, and dangerous was gone again; replaced by Van just keeping as close to Kyle as functionally possible as Hamish hurried all of them away from the high-risk situation. Van fluttered and hovered until Hamish finally got to his room and was putting Kyle down. On the couch, not the bed, because Hamish was smart and knew better than to put Kyle on so seemingly-harmless a thing that really could be harmful in the worst ways.

Van just resumed holding Kyle and letting Kyle clutch onto him, clumsily wiping the other's bloody tears away at times or just saying the red-head's name over and over in a soft voice, Van feeling a little less stressed since they were safe in his room and no one could get them here. Hound and Khan would destroy anyone who tried. The blood stains on Van's fingers and on Kyle's face would have to be properly cleaned off later, but Van didn't mind the mess ... right now, anyway. Once Kyle was calmed down and did not need him Van would likely see the blood stains as if for the first time and scramble to get clean.

Chekov frowned at what Sam said, looking between the offending officer and the ... hermaphrodite he was speaking to. "I assure you, the Kaptian has not changed any orders. All guests abourd ze ship are to be treated with do courtesy," Chekov said both to Sam and the security officer. "Is zat not right, officer? Now, I am sure you hawve much work to do," the navigator hinted for the large man to take a hint and leave.

Sam raised an eyebrow at the russian, surprised to see such a kid actually having some weight in the gran scheme of the ship. Then again Hamish was a mini-Khan in his own right sometimes, though luckily without the ... rage. Or maybe that was something he'd grown into when none of them had been around; they hadn't really been around the kid long enough to re-know him too well yet, though Hamish seemed to be mostly his old self, especially when helping play with his little sister. "So, you bridge crew?"

Chekov blinked, before giving a small nod, glad the situation was calming down now that the rest of Sam's group had left and there was nothing too interesting left to see. "Yes; I am Pavel Chekov. You are one of Khan's crew, yes? One of ze doctors?"

"Sam at your service. Don't bother with the last name; nobody cares about those," Sam said with the casual wave of a hand, thinking the accent quite cute, though the kid was a bit young for her. "How's a kid like you make bridge crew? Most guys in uniform I see around her are at least a decade older than you."

Chekov sighed like this was something he heard a little too often. "I am eighteen; old enough to be an adult, not a kid. Or 'laddee'. Or 'kiddo'."

"But not old enough to drink," Sam winked, before thinking a moment. "Or have the laws changed since ... well, forever ago?" Shrugging, Sam gave the russian one last grin, turning to go and ... well, not head back to her room; surely one of the handsome hunky guards on this ship would get hard over the glorious body that was Sam's, Sam was sure! One just had to be persistent and keep looking; Sam was persistent like that. Especially after such a long time as a Sam-popsicle. "See ya around, curly!" Sam said, 'curly' meaning a nicname thanks tot he russian's curly top before hurrying off to go manhunting.

Chekov sighed and shook his head, but was just glad he hadn't gotten his ribs hit; they were still a little sore, but much better. Though he would have to give John a call and talk about this; and Spock too.

*

Spock didn't wince as his grappling with Kirk to try to get the child into a hold that would be best to keep Jim from hurting himself or be able to wriggle out of resulted in Jim's small teeth sinking into his shoulder. Instead the Vulcan held steady, repeating in his calm and quiet tone that Jim was alright, and safe, and it was going to all be alright while Kirk continued to struggle until Jim was tired out and ... actually let go of his shoulder. Spock waited a few moments as Kirk cried, surprised to feel the little body clinging to him. But the Vulcan shifted slowly to make his grip on Jim more comfortable for the two of them, just holding Kirk and sitting on the teleporter floor a little while, waiting for Kirk to calm down. The Vulcan shifted to pull at his shirt a little, inspecting the bite wound and seeing the circular mark made by Kirk's teeth and bit f green blood oozing out.

He was not mad, but was also not looking forward to having Bones look the wound over. Looking down at Kirk, Spock opened his mouth then stopped, taking a moment to stroke the boy's wild and tousled hair in a way he remembered his mother had done for him once, a long time ago when he'd come home bruised and battered. Kirk was not outwardly injured as far as Spock could see, but the Vulcan also knew very well how much wounds of a emotional nature could hurt ... even if he didn't often act like he could feel such things. "Jim, you're going to be alright. Now; you and I need to go see Doctor McCoy, to make sure nothing is amiss," Spock said, slowly moving to stand up and taking Kirk up in his arms as he did so. But moving carefully, stopping if Kirk seemed to be beginning to panic again. Spock could see a marginal degree of recognition in the other's face, but Kirk was very clearly not fully himself. Well, not his adult self, anyway.

"Dunno when I'll have this fixed," Scotty's voice came from the transporter keyboard, sighing heavily. "Right now I just need ta figure out which bit o' the milk soured first before I kin turn this lump of useless bolts inta cheese. Oh, kin ye make sure ta get pictures of the captain like tha?" the man added with a grin, "ya know. Fer future pay-raise negotiations and such."

"Mr Scott, in all respect I believe photographic evidence is not top priority right now," Spock replied, and kept Jim close as he walked the other back to the captain's quarters. Now was not the time for medbay when a private 'housecall' worked just as well.

It wasn't long before Bones burst in, panting and shock written across his face. He saw Spock first, and aimed his ire at the Vulcan: "You tried what crazy mad-science on Jim and damn turned him into a what?!"

"A child," Spock said calmly, though he was looking a tad impatient with Bone's usual emotional outbursts. "But his symptoms have gone and all I and he require is for you to look at a bite and give Kirk a small check-up to make sure everything is as it should be."  

[Killer_Kiwi_XD]

knux33

Jim shifted in Spocks grasp as the other continued to whisper to him, telling him everyhting was alright, and he tried to listen to him. He needed to calm down completely and thankfully after a while Jim was able to get himself to stop crying and he just leaned against Spock. He was not willing to let the other go though, because Spock made him feel safe, so when Spock stood Jim gripped onto him even tighter. He was afraid Spock was going to let go and have someone else take him away, that this marginal safety would vanish, he didn't want to lose it after having found it. Thankfully it seemed that this stranger was of some understanding and instead of having Jim stand on his own he picked him up and held him instead.

At the mention of seeing a doctor Jim started to Panic, his heart racing and rising in his throat, but Spock was apparently going with him so Jim felt a little bit better. He didn't squirm or fight to much and while they walked Jim seemed to relax a great deal while hiding his face in the shoulder that he bit. There were a few very confused passing glances, no one quite understood why Spock was carrying a little boy, but then again things had been going weird for a long while and they were starting to get used to strange occurrences.

When they reached the room instead of a med bay Jim was a bit confused. He had heard doctor ad assumed but apparently Spock wasn't going to take him to the med bay and Jim felt.. even better about this person. He didn't know them very well but they were not taking him to be poked and prodded by strange people, or to be hurt, so Jim was much happier. Jim ventured a few steps away from Spock after a moment, keeping a hand on the others leg while he poked around, he didn't want Spock giong somewhere without him somehow.

Jim was poking at the pad on the table when Bones came storming in shouting and instantly he was up and forcing himself behind Spock, his malnourished body able to fit completely behind the man, while he poked his head out from behind a shoulder. Jim glared at Bones and whenever the man got close with a scanner, for Spock, he would lash out and knock the device out of his hand. Jim had always told bones he was bad after the Tarsus incident, that he was a relative beast, now Bones would get to see firsthand what he meant. Jim was completely Feral and he had decided Spock was his and not to be messed with which meant when Bones got close Jim would lash out from his hiding spot.

**

Once he was laying down on the couch Kyle was latched back to Van like a little leech. He held the others shirt tightly and tried to almost mold himself into Van like the other could fight away the fears… or maybe just give a stable enough support that Kyle could do it himself. It was how they had both always coped, how they had handled it all, because Kyle had seen the worst of the worst when it came to the originals and Van had been with them as well. Kyle knew that Van had been privy to more than a few of the unnecessary tortures, forced to play audience, and it didn't shame him that Van had seen him as such. It comforted him knowing that Van had seen him at the possible worse, had seen countless people do horrible things to him and… dirty him, and yet Kyle was still the one allowed closest to Van.

As Kyle started calming down he just held onto Van lightly before he finally pulled away. Kyle swallowed thickly then wiped at his face in an effort to make it all go away. He felt horrible for all the blood that was on his hands and on Van.  

[knux33]

Killer_Kiwi_XD

Spock could not hide the small look of surprise that turned into a small smile at the look of dumbfounded shock on Bone's face; a look Bones was barely able to get rid off before pulling out a scanner and then looking shocked again as Kirk darted out to smack his medical devices out of his hands as he struggled to do something as simple as scan the bite mark on Spock's shoulder.

The Vulcan held up a hand for Bones to stop stubbornly trying to treat him while Kirk was just as stubbornly trying to 'protect' him, realizing what the boy was doing. Spock turned a bit, so he could look over his shoulder at Jim calmly. "Kirk, Doctor McCoy is here to help, not hurt," Spock explained; he knew Kirk understood the word doctor. Though since Jim had not yet spoken an articulate word Spock was keeping things simple and asking with words and body language as he was able. "Why not sit down next to me and let the doctor do his job so he can leave."

"Leave? Just leave--?!"

"Doctor McCoy," Spock replied, turning to face the doctor without much patience. He was quite tired, currently had a kid and ship to take care of, and had no reason to spare Bones his slight annoyance. "Jim has made it clear he does not like you or anyone else besides myself, nor does he show signs of wanting to leave my side. Until Kirk can be returned to his proper state I intend to allow him whatever comfort he needs in his current ... regressed state whenever his consciousness currently is. So unless you intend to do your job in a timely manner so I am no longer injured and can then feed Kirk and myself, please stop wasting my time."

Bones blinked, looking between the kid and Vulcan before sighing and trying to scan Spock once more, and then scanning Kirk before looking at the data given before pulling out the hypo. "Jim's as fit as a kid his size and condition could be; a square meal of ten will do him good though. You, Mr Spock, just need one shot and a patch on your shoulder til the wound heals up. You're just lucky Jim doesn't have rabies ... from the looks of him and how he's acting, I'd have to say this is how he was ... during or right after the Tarsus incident," Bones said.

Spock held up a hand to gesture to Jim not to go after Bones, keeping an eye on the blond while Bones stuck him with the hypo, before putting a simple disinfectant patch on the bite to cover it. Though with Bone's words Spock put the evidence together and nodded a little. It made sense. Though ... Jim seemed far more traumatized than a kid who was just going through what the records said he'd gone through. But Spock knew it was not a question he could simply ask the feral child about. Instead he nodded as Bones put away his medical equipment, and then the Vulcan stood up.

"Thank you, Doctor McCoy. If I need anything else, I'll be sure to contact you."

"Yadda yadda," Bones sighed with a roll of his eyes, "just get some damned sleep. I don't care how long you green-bloods say you can go without sleep, you still damned-well need it." With that the doctor left, shaking his head and aiming to give Scotty a piece of his mind, before likely heading back to the med bay, doing some work, and talking to Lana because she was beautiful and seemed to totally dig him.

Spock did not comment on McCoy's orders but simply held out a hand to Kirk, wondering if the boy-captain would demand being held again or would be content walking along with him. Either way Spock was going to make another odd appearance by going to the cafeteria and getting food for himself and the blond boy before returning to Kirk's room and setting down the tray so they could both eat. Spock's plate holding green, vegetable foods while the Vulcan had tried to get Jim small amounts of his favorite/usual foods; not too much because the boy looked like he would eat himself into either vomiting or a coma if given the chance. Spock used eating utensils neatly while eating, stiffing a few yawns as he did so dispite the fact he'd been feeling a bit worn but not quite tired a little while ago.

Logically, either he was simply feeling the full effects of his own tiredness only now because of how anxious he'd been for Kirk and now the adrenaline-rush from that was tampering down, of McCoy had shot him with a bit more than just antibiotics for the bite. Either or both could be true, and Spock did not care either way because he'd decided he was going to catch up on sleep while he had the chance to anyway. On this ship it was good to catch shut eye when available because with Kirk's nack for catching trouble Spock found himself skipping sleep shifts from time to time, though this was the first time in a long while he'd actually been unable to sleep if he really wanted to. Jim just had a way of worrying him and keeping him worried when nearly-dying, the Vulcan decided.

*

Van let out a soft sigh when Kyle pulled himself away, giving the other a small, relived smile seeing that the scientist was now 'alright'. "Kyle." Van reached out, gently patting the shorter male on the head before blinking. Then Van gasped and hurried away, the sound of him scrambling around in the bathroom loud and clear before he hurried back, scrubbing at his hands with a wet cloth and handing Kyle a cloth of his own to get clean with, before the OCD male focused on scrubbing his own stained skin mercilessly, even pulling off his shirt because there was a bit of blood on the sleeves; very focused on getting the red off of himself completely.  

[Killer_Kiwi_XD]

knux33

Jim glares at Bones with pure venom the more the man tries to get at Spock but then Spock is telling him that it's okay, that he should let Bones look him over, and Jim just takes a breath and sits back with a glare. He watches Bones carefully, restraining himself very well for how distressed he was, and just as soon as Bones pulled out the hypo Jim was jerking forward a bit but then he was given a simple hand motion to show that it was fine before the doctor was leaving and it was just him and Spock. Jim didn't want to walk, he walked all the time, he had hardly the energy to walk so when Spock gave him the offer of being carried it seemed a better option.

Plus Spock was taller, Jim could see more if Spock carried him, a higher vantage point was the best option to Jim. So Jim held onto Spock as the other carried him through the ship, the boy staring at everyone who walked by with suspicion, before they reached the dining hall and Jim was telling Spock the things that he wanted and could eat. As it turned out there wasn't a lot that Jim could have when he was younger, the vaccines that had been given to him to take away his current allergies not in his system, by the end Jim had small amounts of many different things but no nuts and no fruits just in case.

The little boy sat on Spocks lap to eat, despite the inconvenience, because sitting away from the man seemed to cause a great deal of anxiety. Jim was careful not to touch Spocks leafy stuff as he at a sandwich, turkey and white bread, he didn't eat overly fast either. He seemed to understand that it would make him sick, like he had already made the mistake once before, because he had made that mistake before… but it had also turned out that the food was drugged. Jim finished only half of the sandwich before he couldn’t handle any more and had to put it down. He was just wasn't able to eat the same amount he used to be able to eat.

When Spock was finished Jim helped with the tray but he also looked tired, in his mind he hadn't slept in days, so he was ready to lay down in whatever nest like area he could find and curl up. When they got back to Jim's room he patiently waited for Spock to do what he needed to, if by waiting that meant following him from room to room, and when Spock changed into something to sleep in Jim did as well… well he took off what he was wearing then jumped into the bed. He moved around under the blankets, the pillows disappearing with him into the far corner of the bed before Jim poked his head out and did something very odd, checked under the mattress.

A moment later he pulled a chocolate bar out from under the mattress, still in it's wrapper, and nibbled on it without a word. It was something Jim had promised Bones he had stopped doing back as a cadet, something he had promised his therapists he had stopped doing, but he had never really stopped storing food away. When it wasn't that strange he would take something to eat from the cafeteria then when he got to his room he would hide it under his mattress or in a drawer incase it was ever needed. He had quite a bit hidden around his room but he had to admit it was better than it used to be. His younger self though seemed to remember that as he nibbled on the chocolate bar, waiting for Spock where he was curled up with most of the pillows.

When Spock finally laid down, further away then Jim liked, the little boy moved everything over so he could curl up into Spocks side. He was completely under the covers, hidden from the rest of the world but comfortable.

**

Kyle sighed at the pat on the head then waited for the inevitable freak out on Vans part. Kyle wished that he just cried like a normal person so that Van wouldn’t freak out so much afterward, so that there was calm and he didn't have to rub so lethargically at his hands and face while Van seemed to almost cleanse himself of Kyle. Kyle scrubbed at his hands and face silently to be rid of the mess then carefully grabbed both cloths from Van and got rid of them before Van rubbed away a layer of skin that he did not need to. Kyle sat in the corner of the couch with a slightly hollow look, just staring at the wall, he often did this after a very public display of panic. While Van was used to them, used to the constant breaks, and it took him less time to recover Kyle was different.

He often went long spans of time without even showing he was damaged, which John often said he was truly surprised was possible, but then someone would do something and the carefully built dam would fall down and everything would rush in. Hound had set Kyle off several times but that was because of the resemblance he bore to one of the originals. Even the Hound wasn't as deranged as the men who had called themselves the birth place of the eugens. Kyle really hated that he couldn’t just cry, as he stared resolute at the wall, because he was defected and crying was a bit more dangerous for him than most. He wanted to cry his heart out still, to curl up in a dark and quite place where no one could see him, but he never gave himself the satisfaction of such things.

Instead Kyle carefully stood, unraveling himself from the tiny ball he had pulled himself into, and then shuffled into the kitchen area to make something to try and calm himself down. His shaking hands were of no help but he had to at least try just to distract himself.  

[knux33]

Killer_Kiwi_XD

Spock had been surprised at Kirk finally speaking up, if only to point out what food he wanted. But the Vulcan had simply grabbed what Kirk wanted and later as they ate noted the boy unsurprisingly had a small stomach for someone so thin. But at least Jim had eaten something; even if the boy refused to do so any place other than his lap. The Vulcan cleaned up with Kirk's help before Spock got around to neatening up a few things as Jim followed him around like a little duckling. Despite the clingyness of the child Kirk, Spock didn't find himself minding too much; at least for now he didn't have to worry about Jim suddenly running off to go on some crazy mission or something as Jim had the habit of doing.

The Vulcan raised an eyebrow as they both changed into sleep wear ... and Kirk seemed happy enough just tossing off his clothes and hopping into bed and hogging most of the pillows. Well, that was one thing unchanged from the child and adult, Spock thought while rolling his eyes. He pulled out his pad to set a wake-up alarm for an appropriate time before putting the pad down on the bedside table, eyes turning to look over at where Kirk had burrowed off to when his pointy ears caught the sound of wrapping paper crinkling. Huh; it seemed Jim was not too full enough for a bit of candy before bed. Spock shook his head and got into bed and stayed on 'his side' where he'd been keeping watch over Kirk the past few days, only for him to see the child-lump suddenly shuffle under the covers and close to him. The Vulcan smiled a little as Kirk shifted pillows and cuddled up out-of-sight against his side, the young Kirk not unlike what Spock had heard people describe some earth pets as acting.

The Vulcan dimmed the lights, then laid his head down on his one pillow, quickly falling asleep with the security of knowing Kirk was not going to expire any time soon and was safely by his side. Spock fell asleep rather easily, heartbeat slowing (though slow for Vulcans was still fast compared to human biology; and his heart was around where a human's liver would be instead of high in his chest cavity) and ready to sleep until the alarm would wake him later for the next day's first shift.

*

Van looked like he could--and would--scrub a whole through himself at the rate he was going when Kyle confiscated both rags before things escalated. Realizing he was clean Van sat down on the opposite end of the couch from Kyle, watching the younger male and listening to the never-off drone of the tv screen. Van still had energy though, and was wondering whether maybe finding all of Kyle's 'misplaced' books would cheer the other up when he saw the redhead get up and shuffle over to the little kitchen area his room had. Van rose and followed Kyle curiously, blinking at the other's shaking hands before hurrying around to grab various cooking tools, utensils, and food ingredients for the other and just putting them down on the counter for Kyle if the other needed them. Though Van was a tad indiscriminate and was mostly just fetching everything and anything; except maybe the kitchen sink.

Once he'd brought out nearly everything they had in the small kitchen, including every single tea packet, spoon, and refrigerated food, Van sat down and just watched Kyle. Ready to jump up if the other needed anything else found or fetched (which was highly unlikely) or if Kyle started to show signs of distress again. Van could see Kyle was still shaken, but also knew at this point latching onto Kyle could lead to the younger male getting upset and crying again or just shooing him away.  

[Killer_Kiwi_XD]

knux33

Jim could hear Spocks heart where he was curled up against the others side and slept well through to the alarm. When the annoying sound started going off Jim pulled himself out from under the covers, crawling over Spock and to the side of the bed with the pad, before he started looking around for what he had been wearing the day before and pulled it on. It was another time of following Spock around like a duckling, though the standing just outside the bathroom and tapping on the door was a bit strange, Jim seemed petrified that Spock was going to get up and vanish without any warning at all. Though when the Vulcan suggested a bath Jim suddenly found it very convenient to be at arms length until he was grabbed and forced into the bathroom.

He was rather dirty, more so than he had been when he had first stepped onto the pad, but he still struggled with Spock. Beside a few basic no's and the "this, that"s that Jim had said to the other yesterday it seemed Jim wasn't one for speaking like this. Growled as he was set in the tub, largely undressed, but then water hit his skin and he went completely still and stared down at it in wonder like he hadn't seen water before. It had been a very long time for him since he had been in real water like this, tarsus never had rain, so he couldn’t help but crouch down and touch it before he just started splashing in it.

He really was like an over grown pet at this point, but then again the transporter sample had been from on of the times he had been captured by… that man. Jim didn't seem to have any intent to clean himself up though, not like this, he was to distracted, so that would be left to Spock if the man could handle cleaning the feral twelve year old. Though with Jim now down to nothing but boxers there were a lot of fresh scars on him, scars that were obviously not just made from a hard life, they were whip scars and cuts like someone had tortured him.

**

Kyle spent the next few hours just fiddling in the kitchen, distracting himself, and ended up with a few batches of cupcakes and something for dinner that both him and Van ate before the red head decided he was stable enough to curl up right next to Van and read one of the books the other had found for him. Though he got bored with the book and gave Van an expectant look after only a few minutes, knowing the other was antsy, he stayed behind while Van went and found him another book which Kyle started reading after it was brought back to him before he sent the other out for another one. Anyone who knew them would understand the game being played as Van was running in and out, because Kyle had just panicked and it helped him feel better to have Van runnign around getting things for him.

**

Hamish was sitting in the room he wasn't supposed to be in, holding several different objects that he had strung together, there were several different wires in his hands as well and he was walking around the small room with the wires trying to figure out where to place them. He wasn't supposed to be in here but… he wanted to make something and he didn't have anywhere else to do it. He was sure that no one would miss what he was using, mostly stuff from the broken cryo tubes and a few tools, Hamish sighed and attached a few wires then sat down on the ground under his creation. It looked like something he had seen from an old movie, a soul tree or something, the entire room had hanging vines of clowing blue wires that twinkled and glowed just above his head where he was sat. A twisting trunk made of metal and wires then the illusion of branches leading into the ceiling.

It had taken most of two whole pods over the past few days for Hamish to make his sanctuary, a peaceful place he could sit and think, he knew he wasn't supposed to do this sort of thing but he was like John, had a bit of an artistic streak. Hamish sat beneath his tree, staring up at it, then laid back and watched the glowing wires with twinkling lights. He lifted a hand, focusing, and watched as the wires danced just above him as if there was a breeze to move them. Hamish dropped his hand back down, trying to think of who he could show his creation to, and a face popped into his head. He didn't know him, didn't even know the kids name, but maybe, just maybe, Hamish could show that curly haired guy his tree?

Hamish pushed himself up and left the room he wasn’t supposed to be in, locking it behind him, then jogged out to the rec room to see if he could find that guy before deciding to check the cafateria. He found the guy and looked around for a moment, nervous, before he walked over and tapped Chekov very lightly on the shoulder. "I… We haven't met, I am Hamish, you know my dads… I want to show you something." Blunt and awkward just like Sherlock but Hamish was not used to interacting with people he didn't know. He stared at the other people then grabbed Chekov and started pulling him away. "Quickly? I want to show you…" Hamish looked back at Chekov and smiled before dragging him along to the room where his tree was.

Hamish opened the door, the lights off, and walked in before motioning Chekov in. He flipped the lights on and shifted from foot to foot. "I wasn't supposed to make it but I did… I didn't know who to show because my dads will take it apart. It's just the broken tubes, a few tools I borrowed I was going to return, I hope you don't mind but I wanted to show someone. It's a soul tree… "  

[knux33]

Killer_Kiwi_XD

Spock woke at the alarm, and was about to move to turn it off when he was temporarily confused to feel the little body clamoring over him to smack at the pad, before remembering what had transpired the day before. Spock carefully and calculatedly stretched his neck one way then another to get the blood properly flowing while Kirk gathered his clothes, though the Vulcan could not help but notice the sight of the boy's dirty and scarred body. Freshly scarred, it looked like, but the Vulcan could not be sure unless he got a better look than just a passing glance. So, Spock got out of bed and grabbed clothes to change into before heading into the bathroom to freshen up, having to sternly tell Kirk to wait a moment outside (and move quickly when shutting the bathroom door) to actually get some privacy. "Jim I assure you," Spock spoke as he changed his clothes, feeling refreshed at the night's sleep he'd gotten, "I am not going to disappear. Now, you need a bath," the Vulcan went on after opening the door, only to find Jim ... suddenly seemed less stuck to his side and more stuck just out of arm's reach while still staying close enough to see him.

It took the Vulcan walking into the bathroom and moving slightly out of sight to get Kirk into the bathroom, shutting the door behind the boy and eventually catching him. Spock sighed as the boy squirmed in his careful grip, not wanting to hurt the other but also voicing how basic hygiene was important and struggling to get most but not all of the boy's clothes off of him before putting Kirk down into the tub. The captain's quarters was one of the only places on the ship that utilized running water and a bathtub ... and Spock was quickly very happy about that fact, because Jim seemed quite entranced by the wet substance. Spock seemed to understand as he grabbed a loofah and began carefully scrubbing at the dirt and dried sweat that layered Kirk's skin.

"There was not much water on Vulcan, either," he said to Kirk almost conversationally, half confidingly as he got splashed and half-soaked himself thanks to Kirk's splashing around. "Seeing earth for the first time was ... quite a shock, for me. So blue, while Vulcan was red. Your planet was one of such seeming excess, Elders of my kind were baffled at why your species fought so much when there was so much to share. It all seemed so highly illogical."

As illogical as the marks he saw on Kirk now. Malnutrition, dirt and grit, that was to be expected. But these marks and the way Jim was acting ... Spock shook his head, finishing up washing Kirk by telling the boy to hold his breath and close his eyes, before wetting and washing the other's hair. "Jim, when you're ... well again, you have much explaining to do," the Vulcan said softly.

Though of course now that the boy that had struggled so much to stay out of the tub was now seemingly glare and not want to leave the warm wet space. Spock raised an eyebrow at Jim. "You are going to leave the tub once my call with Mr Scott is over, and you and I will then collect our breakfast," Spock said in an orderly fashion, before drying his hands to pick up the comm he'd left in a safe, dray space by the sink.

Spock was very disappointed to hear Scotty's sleepy voice yelling at him once the Irishman answered, saying he'd worked as much as he could on the transporter until his eyes had gone crossed on him last night and he'd gone to get some shut eye. "Yes, it's all fixed up now, but I'll need few hours more sleep and another look at how things went wrong afore I'll go messin' with it again! Good night, Mr Spock!"

The Vulcan sighed, but put the comm down and looked back over at Kirk and moved to press the button that got the water draining down, leaving the blond in a now-empty tub. Spock had an ... interesting time trying to dry Kirk. Because the boy seemed to take great displeasure at being covered in a towel and properly dried off, but Spock did not stop until Kirk was dry, even if the boy was still in damp boxers. The Vulcan let Kirk leave the bathroom with him, stopping the boy from putting on his old dirty clothes. Instead the Vulcan made a call after glancing at the approximate size of the clothes and soon had some fresh child-sized clothes delivered. The Vulcan put the clothes down and gestured for Kirk to put them on, before getting change once again out of his recently-soaked clothes. Note to self: if ever bathing a feral child again, wash after they do. One would already be mostly-wet anyway.

Once they were both presentable, Spock aimed to walk them both (or carry Kirk with him, depending on how the boy preferred it) to the cafeteria for breakfast. After that well ... Spock would have to make some rounds around the ship, and to the Bridge. Though if he was quick the Vulcan was sure he could get most of what needed to be done done before most of the ship was awake. It was a 'vacation' day almost, with the ship parked in orbit of New Vulcan.

*

Van seemed to grow slowly less antsy as he hurried to and from his room to the rec room and back, carrying one or two books at a time as he found them for Kyle, the reward for his fetching being everything Van could've ever wanted. He sat contently as he closed his eyes and just simply listened to Kyle reading to him, drinking in the sound of the other's voice and content with the feeling of the smaller male curled against him for security. The content of the books didn't matter; they could be novels, science articles, or even damned dictionarys; Van just felt very happy hearing Kyle talking about anything.

Though once the last book was fetched and the food and cupcakes all eaten, Van interrupted Kyle in he reading, just for a moment. "... Better?" was all he asked, simply looking the younger male in the eyes and waited patiently.

*

Chekov had finished eating an early breakfast and was looking over the desert options with a focused look on his face, debating whether to give into sugary temptation or not when he felt a tap on his shoulder. The Russian turned his head, only to find himself looking slightly up at a slightly-familiar face. Yes, definitely one of the eugens he'd seen the day before. The the family resemblance was not hard to see, though Hamish's words made it crystal clear who he was related to when he said 'dads'. Chekov could see a bit of Khan, though the russian had never known the softer side of Khan that was more akin to Sherlock. It was the bits of John that stood out to Chekov; the lonely need for some friend.

"I do need to check in on ze Bridge soon," Checkov said with a tiny bit of hesitation, only for Hamish to respond with "Quickly? I want to show you..." And the russian soon found himself being dragged along after Hamish gave him a nervous, cute kind of smile. The curly haired young man smiled a little to himself, though he did hope he would not get his ribs and/or bones cracked for this. Though Khan had been very good lately on that front, at least, even if the other eugen that had gone ripping through the halls had not been very gentle to many poor security officers.

Chekov looked surprised at Hamish's choice of door, knowing this was one of the empty rooms that had yet to be turned into anything other than empty closet space, but the surprise was quickly overshadowed by the shocked awe the russian had when Hamish opened the door and turned on the lights. "O ... ё моё!" Chekov explained softly, looking from the 'trunk' up at the flickering lights that twined into branches, clearly quite amazed. Chekov took a few steps closer, looking at the handiwork and how the bits and pieces had been put together. "Amazing! How long did it take you to make zis? How did you manage to route ze power without ze proper transformers?" Chekov listed several technical questions, clearly fascinated with how the tree had been made, along with looking quite awed with how it looked. "It would be amazing to hawe more like zis on ze ship; like ze garden, only without ze very touchy gardeners who do not like the greenery touched," Chekov went on, the looked at Hamish and grinned. "Sorry; where are my manners? My name is Chekov. Pavel Chekov; Ensign and nawigator."  

[Killer_Kiwi_XD]

knux33

Jim didn't take much notice to the washing but the once clear water did get a little murky he looked up at Spock curiously to see what the other was doing. He splashed the Vulcan a bit, moving around in the tub rather quickly, before he was being told he needed to get out and shaking his head. He liked the water, he missed it, but of course he knew he couldn’t stay in the water forever. Spock gave him more time in the bath though and Jim spent it trying to see how much water he could get out of the tub. When Spock came back Jim fought him a bit on getting out of the tub but then he jumped out and was about to run off a the fight of the towel but he was caught.

Jim wiggled and squirmed, not liking the feeling of the towel, but then Spock was releasing him and Jim was scrambling away to go see what he could get into just out of the others arms reach. When Spock presented him with Clothes Jim was sitting on top of the desk with a pad and he jumped down to look over the clothes before grabbing them and pulling them on. He had no intentions of walking to the cafeteria though, not today, so instead he let Spock carry him again and touched the others hair in a sort of inspection of his new friend before getting food in much the same manner as before.

People stared at them, Jim not paying any mind because he was used to staring by now, it didn't affect Jim at all as he ate his Jell-O. He forewent utensils though, much to Spock's chagrin, but managed not to get everything all over his hands and when they were done Jim cleaned up before going with Spock around the ship… on the others back. At least he wasn't going to get lost this way, or get into trouble, and while other people were met with glares he seemed quite happy to be perched on Spocks back.

**

Kyle ended up with a copy of one of the many Hannibal Lecter novels he had at the end and was leaning against Van reading it out loud. It was odd to see the tiny kid curled up against the much taller male but that was something they had both gotten used to since Kyle had first started curling up against the other. Kyle looked up at the interruption and smiled before curling back into his spot "Much" they didn't need to say much to understand each other and while Kyle wasn't completely back to normal he was better and that meant more than the world to the red head.

They were completely through the first six chapters of the book by the time Kyle fell asleep, curled up with his head on Vans lap, the book had fallen on the floor at this point. It was much the same position as when they had both needed to rush off to the cryo tubes. Kyle had been in Vans room reading through the looking glass for the hundredth time, he loved that book the most but hadn't been able to get a copy yet, and had just fallen asleep when the alarms went off. It hadn't been all that bad getting to the tubes, he and Van had been the first ones there and in, so he didn't have to worry.

**

Hamish was honestly surprised by Chekovs sudden excitement over when he had created and he couldn’t help but smile widely at the joy on the others face. That was exactly what he wanted to see and hear, to have someone enjoy his work and then ask how it worked, Hamish couldn’t help but want to launch into an explanation of the entire thing but was momentarily stopped by Chekov introducing himself. "It's very nice to meet you Chekov. I can show you how I did it… it was very easy once you see how it's done… I just sort of… well I just sort of did it." Hamish grinned and pulled Chekov to the base of the tree where all the mechanics were. The tree was cold to the touch, seemed to pulse almost like it was alive, Hamish explained that he wired the cryo tubes basic icing mechanics into the trunk so it would pulse different levels of cool. It drew very little power since the cryotubes themselves had been self sustaining so all Hamish had really done was attach the tree to the internal connectors in the room so the tree would "wake up" when someone walked into the room.

"The tree is amazing when you look at it from the door but… you need to look up into it." Hamish pulled Chekov just under all the branches and had him lay down then he stared up at all the lights. It looked like they werent even on the ship anymore, the branches made the ceiling looked almost like a dark sky and Hamish had painted between the branches dark purple and added some green. "When I was a kid, only eight, John took me to see a movie. There was peace at this time, no one knew who we were, and even then it was an old movie. Father wasn't Khan at the time, he was going by his old name, so it was safe for us. We saw this movie Avatar that talked about other planets, alien races, and out of the entire movie I remembered most this tree. It was filled with the souls of all the past ancestors of the race…" Hamish watched as the wires swayed a little, like there was a light breeze, and he smiled.

"I always wanted to see one and so when we got here… I made one. I have a lot of free time, I don't sleep often-" the last part probably explained the exhausted look Hamish seemed to always have "so I used what I could and made what I could. I imagine it holds all the souls my Family destroyed but also helped… all the people we knew that we loved and those that we didn't. A place for them all to go because I don't know if there is a biblical heaven or hell for us… those who are 'created' so if I had a choice I would want to be like this… being able to watch people watch me." Hamish chuckled, raising a hand to reach out to the branches and having to hold back from making them move.  

[knux33]

Killer_Kiwi_XD

Spock was beginning to wonder how in the world Jim had ever managed to even grow into a slightly-logical living being. Reflecting on the lack of hygiene, table manners, and lack of willingness to verbally communicate it was a wonder such a feral little human being had grown to be a star ship captain. Though the Vulcan did seem able to take most of Jim's antics in stride, letting the other touch his hair, and only lightly reprimanding before explaining how food should properly be eaten. Spock did not seem to pay much attention to the stares either; as a Vulcan he was already used to standing out in most human-populated areas and such. Though there were far more stars on him than usual, but the Vulcan wasn't about to inform the crew at large their captain had been turned into a child; no, though the Bridge crew was allowed to know ... mostly because most of them would likely see the kid and recognize Kirk's looks and guess the child was their captain anyway.

Spock walked onto the Bridge after having looked through some other things, pausing when he saw the Navigator's chair empty and raising an eyebrow like that was a more odd occurrence than the small child currently on his back and likely glaring at everyone looking their way. Chekov was not often late, so logically that meant the ensign must be feeling ill ... but if that was the case Chekov's replacement would be here. So, the Russian was late, even though Chekov was never late. First time for everything, Spock supposed as he walked around the lightly-populated Bridge and looking at the readings and such, not saying a thing about Kirk on his back. If the others wanted to know, they would ask ... though the Vulcan was not about to put Kirk down where the child could likely mis-press some essential button or another and send the ship spinning.

*

Van smiled, glad, and just settled back down to listening Kyle read on. When the other's voice quieted and eventually trailed off into quiet breathing, book fallen, Van sat very very still. Carefully, he reached to the floor and closed the book properly before the pages wrinkled. Then Van looked down at Kyle, and lightly stroked the kid's hair a moment before looking towards the quietly-playing television screen and closed his own eyes. Not sleeping, but more like just on a kind of 'standby' mode that was almost like a doze. He thought of a few things, though he couldn't help one thought that popped into his head while Kyle was sleeping. The other had had him find many books today, but none had been Kyle's favorite. Hm. Maybe, Van figured, he could surprise the other and go find a copy for him. Yes; yes that seemed like a good idea. Kyle would love it! Though, it would have to be a surprise. Kyle would worry about him trying to find something he hadn't lost; finding something that might've been lost (or not) by someone else. But he was good at finding! So, when Kyle was busy doing some sciencey things he got absorbed in sometimes, Van would look for the copy of the book. Good. Plus, Amy was sure to like it too and Kyle was sure to share!

Yesyesyes, great idea! Van smiled to himself, content to stay with Kyle as long as the other slept, but plotting about the surprise gift he was sure would make the kid very happy.

*

Chekov listened with rapt attention as Hamish explained how the tree worked, surprised when he felt the cool pulsing from the 'tree's' trunk, sure even Scotty would be impressed by a construct like this. Though the Russian blinked as the other went on to explain the tree looked better from below, and let the other pull him down to look up. It was amazing. Chekov blinked, finding himself thinking the only thing possibly missing might be some stars in the dark 'sky' backdrop of the cieling, but such insignificant stars so far away seemed a pale comparison to the softly glowing lights already in the branches above. Chekov felt other questions rising up as Hamish spoke though; Khan wasn't Khan at some point? What name did Khan have that was older than the one records showed?

The Russian opened his mouth to ask, when he saw the branches lightly sway with some breeze, surprising Chekov both in its waving beauty and the fact breezes were impossible on the ship; the airway systems were build to supply air with not enough force to cause a breeze most of the time from vents alone, and all this room had was vents. Had Hamish rigged those too? Chekov was quiet, wondering just how many souls would be in such a place and almost reaching out a hand as well, to reach even if he could not touch the branches from where they lay. The feeling of coolness from the trunk was nice; it reminded Chekov of home. Well, both homes; he'd lived in Russia for much of his childhood, with a few years spent in the Mare Imbrium colony on Luna before returning back down to Tagnarog, Russia once more. Chekov usually kept his room cooler than average for the familiar comfort of chill temperatures, and it was nice to lay there enjoying both the sight and experience.

"You know, we hawe many mow-movies archived; we might be able to find zis one, and others you know--"

When his comm beeped. The russian sighed, pulling the item out and looking at the softly-glowing screen at the small message before getting a surprised look. He'd lingered longer than he'd thought he had, and longer than he should've; he was late! "Sorry," Chekov said, sitting up a little and smiling apologetically. "It's not good for me to be too late to my shift; perhaps I could come back after? You could tell me more movies, and you and I can watch zem while you tell me about other zings you'we made, yeah?" Because if Hamish could make this tree, the other had to have been tinkering for a long time. No one could make something this amazing without practice in tec beforehand.

Chekov smiled more widely, carefully getting up and walking a little towards the door. "It was wery nice to be meeting you."  

[Killer_Kiwi_XD]

knux33

Hamish watched the other sit up when his com went off and was sad to see the russian go. Though at the offer of getting to watch movies and hear more of what Hamish could create the young man smiled widely and nodded before waving to the other as he left. He didn't know what Chekov would tell the others on where he was but he wouldn't mind if Chekov told them about what he had made, it seemed like maybe people would enjoy it, so Hamish laid back down and played with his tree for a moment before he decided that he wanted to see what he could make with the few parts that he had laying around.

Hamish leaned against the trunk of his tree, pulled out the box of parts, and started tinkering away with what he had. He never really had a true focus when he tinkered, never really planned what to make, and where most of the eugens would create weapons Hamish liked to make little toys. He had made many, so many, while sitting in a cell when he was sixteen. He had made even more when he had been free, little moving dolls out of bits and pieces that he had given to children, so now he wanted to see what he could make with the more fine tuned materials he had laying around.

**

Jim was quite content even after Spock had scolded him about using his hands, not really caring for the talking to, and when they got to the bridge he got quite a few strange looks but for the most part things were mostly silently. Someone had to speak up though, because it was odd having a kid on the ship, but Uhura had a feeling she knew who the kid was. "So how did Jim get turned into a kid?" She listened to the story, the major details of Jim being sick having been left out, and then nodded before just shaking her head. Jim stared at her for a moment, not glaring, before shifting around on Spocks lap and playing with the Vulcans hair.

Everyone found that a bit strange, well more than a bit, but they didn't say anything as Jim did what he wanted for the most part… that was until he tried messing with things. He started pressing buttons, both spocks buttons and buttons on the captains chair, before trying to wiggle his way out of the Vulcans grasp. When Jim wanted free he could damn well turn into a contortionist it appeared, then again anyone who had slept with Jim as an adult knew that about him, though Spock had good hold on him so he wasn't going to be able to break free.

Of course this was not very pleasing to the kid because he started shouting his frustration before finally exhausting himself and glaring up at Spock like he had insulted him in the most atrocious manner.

**
Hamish spent all day in that room, not bothering to really leave, and by the time he was done he had created a small little trinket he wanted to show to Chekov. Hamish waited, and waited, for Chekov to get off shift and then he went to go find the other in the cafeteria. He saw him sitting with some asian guy but instead of thinking it might not be wise to approach Hamish walked over and set down a small ball that after a brief moment unfolded into a mechanical dragon fly. Hamish crouched next to Chekov as the dragonfly hovered and stared at it "I got bored… I made a lot of bugs." Hamish watched the dragon fly buzz around and then perch on Chekovs shoulder.

He didn't pay attention to other people because he just wanted to see chekovs reaction to what he made. He liked the look the other had on his face from the tree, it made him happy, so Hamish wanted to see it again. He hoped that his little toy would interest Chekov because Hamish was planning to make a lot of little bugs and many more things for his room… he even wanted to make grass like ground that lit up when you walked on it.