“The Third Definition” (t’hy’la fic, random script I’ll probs never write, kirk/spock)
Set at the end of Into Darkness, eight months after Khan’s defeat. Starfleet is just starting to get back on its feet after the betrayal of Admiral Marcus, with significant help from other planets in the Federation. They are desperate to prove that they are still standing strong, and intend to show this by officiating the first non-critical space endeavour since the incident—the Enterprise’s five-year mission. James Kirk is assigned the mission, much to his excitement, but it is a rushed deal and he has to assemble his crew in less than a month. He goes first to Spock, of course, who also seems to have something he wants to say. Kirk speaks first, though, and is met with an answer he never expected—Spock cannot join him as a First Officer. Spock is mum as to the reason, saying only that it is a highly personal matter, and he might possibly be able to arrange so that he can join the Enterprise at a later time as a science officer, but Kirk will of course need to assign himself a new First Officer before then. When asked what it was Spock wanted to say, Spock says that it is now unimportant and nothing more.
Kirk is appalled by the idea of going without Spock, and of having another First Officer. He tries his best to get out of him why he can’t come, but is continually dismissed.
Two weeks before the launch of the Enterprise, Kirk is introduced to his new Vulcan science officer, who he personally requested be Vulcan for simplicity of work. He and Hikaru Sulu, now his official First Officer, go to see T’sol. They expect to meet Spock there as well, but he doesn’t show. Afterwards, Kirk and Sulu go to Spock’s apartment, but find it empty. They call Uhura, who has also not heard anything from Spock. Now worried, they begin a search, but Kirk has just barely gotten a hold of someone from Starfleet to ask if Spock was reassigned when Uhura calls and asks to meet up. They do and she tells him that Spock’s father called her, saying that Spock is on Vulcan and her presence is needed urgently—she’s leaving for Vulcan on a private shuttle tonight.
Kirk is distressed, but there’s nothing he can do. However, a few hours later, he is contacted by none other than Ambassador Spock. He says that he will be going to Vulcan on the same shuttle as Ms Uhura, and requests that Kirk join them. Kirk, a bit wounded that Spock didn’t even tell him he was leaving for Vulcan, asks which Spock is making the request, and the ambassador simply replies that Jim’s Spock is not in a condition to know what to ask for right now. Kirk decides to go, talks with Uhura about how to explain their leaving the planet to Starfleet, and packs a bag.
Arriving on Vulcan, Kirk and Uhura learn that Spock didn’t want to join the mission because he was preparing for his pon farr, which would have hit him pretty much exactly when the mission was supposed to begin. However, the effects started showing earlier than intended and he had to leave for Vulcan before things got too out of hand. Well there, he met with his childhood betrothed T’Pring, who challenged him to battle instead of accepting their marriage. She chose herself as a champion, but the battle ended without a victor since both wounded the other so badly that they could not continue. Meanwhile, Spock’s blood fever is slowly killing him. Sarek called for Uhura since she might be compatible for a bondmate despite not having taken part in Vulcan customs like Amanda before their wedding. We learn that Spock and Uhura broke off their relationship for good after the Khan incident, something Kirk was unaware of.
Sarek understands and accepts her unwillingness, but she understands that without a bondmate to quell the fever, Spock will die. After asking what it would mean for her to attempt the bonding (the mind link would be there and their marriage officiated, however she would not be at risk of becoming pregnant since she is human, and she would not be bound by Vulcan laws in the event that she wanted to divorce him afterwards), Uhura agrees to do what she can to save Spock. The ceremony begins and Spock mind melds with Uhura—it fails.
Now certain that there is nothing that can be done and Spock will die shortly, Kirk grieves and demands from Sarek that there has to be something, anything, they can do to save him. Sarek explains that only the forming of a bond with a willing and compatible mate will save him, and no such Vulcan exists. Kirk then goes to Ambassador Spock and asks him why he brought him here if the only thing he can do is to stand by and watch Spock die. The ambassador then reveals that he believes there is someone who can bond with Spock, but he cannot be sure by his own intuition alone. Kirk slowly understands what the ambassador is referring to, since he remembers the incredible bond that the ambassador had with his own Jim Kirk before his death, which he felt through the mind-meld with the ambassador when they first met.
Kirk is at first appalled, but quickly collects himself, as he knows that his feelings for Spock are deeper than the word friend can describe, which he realised when he was dying and Spock called him his ‘friend’. The ambassador then tells him of the word t’hy’la and explains that, in the time since his arrival in this universe, he has come to understand that this universe’s Kirk and Spock have a very different relationship than he had with his own Jim, mostly because they are quite different. Starfleet is different. The universe is different. However, he can also sense—probably due to actually being a different version of Spock—that there is something else going on between them. He asks if Kirk ever feels like he knows Spock is coming around a corner, or if they seem to come to the same conclusions. Jim says that yes, that’s why he couldn't imagine having someone else for a First Officer. When he says that, he realises also that he can’t imagine not having Spock beside him whatsoever.
With little time to lose, Jim stands before a major decision. Because no matter what happens next, his relationship with Spock will change. Either he does nothing and Spock dies, the bond fails and Spock dies, or the bond succeeds, and their relationship will no doubt be common knowledge pretty fast since Vulcan/Human bonds are extremely rare. The Ambassador’s bond to his own Jim Kirk was an open secret, mostly since the establishment of the bond happened within the walls of the Enterprise, slowly and gradually. Now, Kirk has no such choice, since the bond would have to be established during a ceremony before the Vulcan elders, as well as Spock’s father. But, as expected, Jim agrees to try it.
That very same night, Sarek is outraged by the suggestion, though he already knows from conversations with the ambassador that there is a chance it might work. Sarek allows it, and the ceremony is quickly prepared. At this point, Spock is unconscious, and the bond can only be established if he is awake. Against all odds and everyone’s beliefs, when Jim takes Spock’s hand, Spock slowly awakens, and is helped to initiate the mind meld. It’s messy, it's difficult and it's painful for Jim, but he can sense that it is working. In the end, Spock collapses from the complete exhaustion, about as close to death as can be. Jim is taken away and is forced to wait to know if Spock will survive. He is accompanied by the ambassador, who helps him deal with the weight and the pain of the bond, which is unstable and hurting.
The next morning, after an entirely sleepless night for both Kirk and Uhura, it is revealed that Spock’s fever is broken, and it seems that he will survive. Kirk can feel Spock calling for him, needing him, but he is not allowed to see him yet. Sarek thanks Kirk for saving his son, but is unapologetic about not wanting them to get closer. He is vague in his explanations when Kirk demands to know why, saying only that Spock also has a choice to make now, once he is conscious enough to make it—a choice between Kirk and Vulcan. Kirk doesn’t understand why Spock would have to choose, and Spock Prime suggests that Kirk be allowed to see T’Pring, who might serve as a better example than the amiable Sarek.
Kirk is then introduced to T’Pring, who is recovering from her injuries well. He learns from her that Spock has always had a rumour about him among Vulcans, because of his half-Human status and the fact that he chose Starfleet over the Vulcan Science Academy. However, the biassed opinions against him grew far far worse after the Khan incident, since his behaviour surrounding Kirk’s death became well-known and was seen by very many people. It started a belief that Vulcans are not as in control of themselves as they claim, and bigoted anti-Vulcan supporters began to use Spock’s behaviour as an example that Vulcans are dangerous and will eventually move to take over the Federation once they’ve rebuilt their race. Kirk calls the rumours for what they are—bigoted and baseless and hateful—but T’Pring counters that while they are distasteful and biased, they are in fact not baseless. Spock did lose control over himself, completely, and twice on top of that. Both times were entirely because of Jim Kirk. T’Pring did not want to be the consort of someone who went around deferring to logic when they themselves could never truly master their emotions, nor to someone who was becoming legendary as a hero while dragging the reputation of Vulcan stoicism down with him.
At last, before Kirk leaves, we learn that T’Pring had expected Spock to bring Kirk with him to Vulcan for the ceremony, since Spock has no friends on Vulcan and he is expected to bring one as a witness. However, Spock came alone. T’Pring prides herself on her logic that if Kirk had been there, she could have chosen him as her champion. Then, no matter which of them came out the victor, Spock would be either dead or disgraced and broken, and she would be free of him.
Kirk once more goes to talk to the ambassador, and tells him what T’Pring said. Spock Prime is surprised, but not because she would do such a thing, but because she already did. He tells the story of his breakup with his own T’Pring, and having been forced to fight his Jim Kirk to the (apparent) death. How, for the approximate fifteen minutes that he believed Jim to be dead, he wanted nothing more than death himself. Kirk is shocked by this, trying to imagine what it would’ve been like to fight his own Spock. He asks if Spock Prime already had his bond with his Jim when they were forced to fight. The ambassador explains that it was when he thought that he had killed Jim and his blood fever broke that he knew for sure that they were t’hy’la, something he had only vaguely speculated beforehand. And, just like it turned out for Spock and Jim now, that bond saved them both—Kirk Prime’s life was spared in the battle because Spock Prime was holding back, Spock’s life was saved because Jim’s ‘death’ broke the fever. And in this universe, Spock’s life was saved because the bond broke the fever in a different way, and Jim was spared combat because Spock didn’t bring him. Kirk asks if that really was the reason he wasn’t asked to come along, and the ambassador assures him that there could be no other reason.
The next few days are torture for Jim, as Spock doesn’t wake up and doesn’t get better. Their only relief is that it’s not getting worse. Spock Prime helps Kirk with the bond, but the relief is marginal at best. They are also being chased by Starfleet, since Uhura’s emergency leave of absence is running out and Kirk’s was never approved, since he has been unable to provide an adequate explanation. He chooses not to, so that Spock may be a part of the decision. But unless he returns immediately, his command of the soon-to-launch Enterprise will be revoked and both the ship, and its five-year mission, will be given to somebody else. Kirk is at a loss for what to do and not even Spock Prime can give him any useful advice, since he believes that Kirk needs to follow his heart in this and not be further influenced.
Kirk chooses not to leave, but convinces Uhura to return at least temporarily, so that her career isn’t further damaged by what’s happening. She does, with a promise to return, and thanks Kirk for all he’s done. She explains that, at first, she didn’t quite understand why the bond between her and Spock failed, but between Kirk and Spock it worked. Now, she can see not only that, but also why her relationship with Spock began to deteriorate faster once they met Kirk, because while Spock loved her dearly, what he and Kirk share feel almost fated, corporeal, mythical. At her words, Kirk thinks again of the word t’hy’la, which Spock Prime offered him as a way of describing it.
Not long after that, Spock does finally awaken. Kirk feels it before the healers find out and they try to stop him when he wants to enter, but Sarek is there and tells them to let Kirk through. Their reunion is strange, but not difficult. Spock is shocked by the bond and takes some time to adjust, a silent and introspective process which Kirk tries to share as best he can. They simply sit there, one in bed and the other beside it, experimenting with touch, mental barriers and strange truths, all within the recluse of their now shared mind space.
Spock Prime witnesses this from a respectful distance with nostalgia in his eyes, years upon years of memories both warm and distant, heartfelt and hard-earned, all surfacing at the sight of his alternate self and this strange, hot-headed but still oh-so-familiar Jim.
