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Spock opened the door to his apartment the next morning, Saturday, to Jim holding a silver tray packed full of delicious smelling pastries.

“Good morning. Can I come in? This thing is super heavy.”

Spock took the tray from Jim and stepped aside to let the Human in. He then carried the tray into the kitchen and set it down.

“What are these?”

“Cherry Danish. My favorite is cheese, but I didn’t have the cream cheese. They aren’t vegan but they are vegetarian.”

Spock had already scooped one up. “Did you actually make these, Jim?”

“I did. Long ago, before I became a physicist and then a teacher, I did a whole bunch of crap trying to ‘discover’ myself.” Jim did little air quotes with his fingers when he said this. “One of those was a brief time spent in culinary school. My absolute favorite things to make were desserts.”

Spock took a bite of the still warm cherry pastry. “This is…”

“Incredible.” Jim grinned. “I know.”

“It truly is,” Spock agreed. “I believe you could make me these every day and I would be beyond pleased.”

Jim laughed. “So make yourself some tea and I’ll make coffee.”

He moved off to the coffeemaker Spock had bought for him.

As he did so Spock contemplated Jim. He was incredibly gorgeous and just about the kindest, most interesting man of any species he had ever met. Should Spock be stuck here on Earth in this timeline there would be worse things than staying with Jim. But he just didn’t know.

Besides working himself to find a way back home, Spock assumed perhaps his father and other Vulcans might be engaged in the same thing. They would likely have better success than he would. And if that happened, it could be at any time and might afford him little time to say goodbye to Jim, if any.

But there were so many things he could get used to with Jim.

“I was thinking.”

“Yes?” Spock prompted, moving to the electric tea kettle sitting beside the stove.  

Jim shrugged. “Next weekend.”

“Yes?”

“Maybe we should, uh, I don’t know. Head to Bodega Bay for the weekend. Well, we could leave Saturday morning, you know, so we don’t have Friday’s going home traffic. Get a room with an ocean view.” Jim smiled over his shoulder at Spock. “Totally casual, of course.”

Spock blinked. Flipped the switch on the tea kettle.

“Bad idea?” Jim asked.

Perhaps.

“I agree that it would be nice to go to Bodega Bay next weekend.

Jim gave him a sunny smile. “Sweet. I’ll get us a room.”

Spock nodded. He would merely have to be careful not to appear to “alien” to Jim. He could do this.