Can a person from Spock's past help captain and first officer become more than friends?

When the Enterprise's first officer recruits childhood acquaintance, Tralnor, as a partner in completing a dangerous covert task assigned by T'Pau, nothing is easy. Vulcan's shadowy past still has teeth, and the onus is on Spock to stop a piece of history from taking a bite out of the present.

Jim Kirk, convinced he's still got time to ask Spock to be his lover, starts to fray at the edges, nearly sinking their relationship, after he catches wind of a very special woman in Spock's life. What Kirk does not know is just how much Spock wants to stay at the captain's side as a friend plus a lot more.

Will Kirk and Spock overcome their inability to express their true feelings toward one another?  Is it going to take meddling friends and crewmates to push them together? What is T'Pau so desperate to find the answers to? And, who or what exactly is Mollie?

It’s a question of biology. Vulcan biology.

The problem with falling in love with a member of an insanely private species is that it just might take you the best part of a five year mission to work out that the feelings are requited. And then you might discover that he’s already decided that the two of you can never be together.

And what are you supposed to do if he won’t tell you why?

~*~

Written as a response to T'Lara’s ingenious challenge, which is noted when it shows up in-text. Huge thanks to my fantastic betas Frodolass, penguin_attie and miloowen for being, well, fantastic. Any mistakes that remain are all mine.

If you'd like to download a PDF copy of the full novel (minus the author notes but including the translations from Vulcan), click here.

Also, the talented veta_black has created a fanmix for the fic, which you can access here.

If you're Starfleet, you spend your whole life wishing you never see an EPAS uniform right up until the moment they become your only hope. Whether you're dying a slow, cold death in space, or a long painful one on some godforsaken planet, they're going to come for you. So count your last breaths, son, and hold on tight. They leave no soul behind.

After reading a few prompts about Spock leaving Kirk after a 'misunderstanding,' I decided to try my hand in it.

After being wrongly accused, Jim's life is thrown off course. He returns to Iowa to drink away not only his guilt but also the memory of a situation that he had no control over. When the painful truth is revealed, can the Enterprise get her Captain back before it's too late? Or is he lost to them forever?

8/24/2013 Updating all Chapters

When the virus came, sweeping away all he had ever known, Jim Kirk looked to the stars. In 2258, those on Terra flee hopelessly from a sickness that sweeps the world, transforming those infected into something new and terrifying. It soon becomes clear that there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, and with the Federation abandoning them to their fate, the remnants of Starfleet are the only true hope. Jim had clawed his way out of hell before, but he hadn’t expected it to follow him back home. Gathering a young, inexperienced crew around him, Spock and Bones at his side, Jim’s mission is clear: to keep his people alive.

The Enterprise would take flight.