Earlier this year for personal reasons I will not go into, I deleted a story from AO3 called Keep Forgetting.
I have decided to rewrite this story significantly and post it here. When it is finished, I will be making a PDF copy with artwork, probably, to give to anyone who wants the full copy. I anticipate posting a chapter once a week (Thursdays) here until finished. I do not know if it will ever get posted on AO3, so I warn you now, this is probably the place to come to read it.
I have changed the title since I don’t believe ‘Keep Forgetting’ works for the new version of this story. Some of the things I am changing are Jim’s and Spock’s ages. They both have been aged up by quite a bit. Spock will be almost 21 and Jim about 18 or so. Spock, like his Mother, will be teaching in this version, rather than being a student himself. Some elements will be the same, but you will have to see as I am re-writing it as I go.
This is very clearly an alternate universe/version.
Where Do People Like Us Float
Chapter 1: The Meet
As a young Vulcan, Spock had certain chores he was expected to do to assist his parents. In this case, specifically his mother, who was actually Human.
His assigned chore on that night was to take out the garbage, including the parts that could be recycled.
According to legend, family legend only, his mother, Amanda Grayson, had met his father, Sarek, when Sarek had been visiting Earth, where she was from. Sarek was a number of years older than Amanda when they met, and in fact had already had a son with a previous wife, that one Vulcan. They were not to talk about that though. Any of it. Father’s previous wife was gone and his son…well. Spock was not sure.
Since Vulcans had longer life spans than Humans did, their age difference did not seem to matter overly much.
Mother advised Spock that she had dated Father for three months. She had been surprised when he had asked her out during their first meeting at a park. Though they had little in common, initially, they had, according to Mother, “hit it off”, and three months later, Father asked her to be his wife and accept the ways of Vulcan and to move there with him. Mother said yes. And eventually, after some scientific assistance, Spock had been born.
That was twenty-three years ago now. And Spock, himself, had reached the age of twenty. And would be twenty-one in the not too distant future.
Presently, he and his mother, were on the planet Eltron II, which had a very similar atmosphere and surface to Earth. Father, being a diplomat of some importance, the Vulcan ambassador to Earth, and some other duties both Mother and Father kept from Spock, was away. Spock had taken a temporary teaching position on Eltron II because there was a pressing need and though his ultimate intention for his future was not to teach children, Mother had convinced him. Mother had also taken a teaching position as she had done quite a bit of teaching while on Earth. She had agreed to their temporary residence on Eltron II for two years. Once he had completed his teaching assignment, Spock’s intent was to apply to and attend the Vulcan Science Academy. He had no doubts at all that he would be accepted.
As Spock turned away from the recycling mechanism, he heard the tiny cry of “mew”. He narrowed his eyes, trying to see in the darkness. Though he had very good eyesight, he did could not see particularly well in pitch black. Their house was outside the main city where the school Mother and he would teach, once the summer passed. The view of the stars was quite impressive but there were few neighbors and not many lights.
“Who is there?” he asked.
Predictably he got no response. He went to turn back to go into the house when the tiny cry sounded again, this time sounding closer to “meow.”
Spock stepped away from the trash and recycler area further into the yard and past his mother’s garden.
It was then that he saw a blond Human boy, perhaps seventeen or eighteen, crouched down next to a very small orange ball of fur. Spock suspected it was a kitten.
“Hello.”
The boy started, glancing quickly up at Spock, blue eyes wide. And they were bluer than any eyes Spock had ever seen. It was true Spock had a greater experience with Vulcans who all had brown eyes. But even at this distance the large blue eyes startled him.
“Uh, sorry. I, um, followed the kitten.”
“It is quite all right.” Spock came forward and knelt next to the boy and the kitten. “What is his name?”
“I think it’s a girl. But she doesn’t have a name. She’s not actually mine.”
“Who does she belong to?” Spock asked as the kitten rubbed up against his hand, purring.
“No one. She’s a stray. Her mama got killed. I feed her sometimes.” He lowered his gaze. “I’d take her in, but we can’t have any pets.”
To Spock’s surprise, the kitten crawled up his leg.
The boy laughed. “She likes you. Maybe you could take her?”
“I do not know. I would have to check with my mother before assuming the care of a living being.”
“You’re a Vulcan, right?”
Spock nodded. “I am Spock.”
“Oh.” The boy licked his lips. “Hi. Um, Jim. I’m Jim Kirk.”
“Hello Jim.”
Jim smiled just a little. “Hello Spock. Are you here with your mom then?”
“Yes, we are to be teachers at the school when it begins. And you?”
“I’m here with my mom and stepfather. They both work at the institute in the city. Mom’s an engineer and my stepdad is a chemist.” Jim shrugged his rather bony shoulders. He seemed very thin and just a little frail. “I’m, uh, I’m recovering.”
“How long have you been on Eltron II?” Spock surveyed the boy closer. Besides being very thin, he was very pale, though also very attractive, at least to Spock.
“Only a couple of weeks. I came from somewhere else first.”
“Earth?”
“That too,” Jim said softly. His eyes went vacant for a moment. Then he smiled a little. “Mom was in Starfleet, but she left and took the job here. We’re supposed to be ‘starting over’.” Jim moved his fingers in an odd way that Spock thought was supposed to be quotation marks.
Spock wanted to ask starting over from what, but suspected that was the sort of information one did not ask on the first meeting.
There was a loud banging noise coming from the direction Jim came from that caused the kitten to scurry under Spock’s shirt, digging his claws into Spock’s flesh, and Jim to jump ten feet.
“James Tiberius Kirk!” a man shouted. “Get your ass home! And leave that damn cat alone.”
Jim bit his lip. “I have to go. It was nice to meet you, Spock.”
He rose from the ground and sped away into the darkness, leaving Spock with the kitten still clawing into him.
Spock carefully removed it from under his shirt and stared at the little creature, who tried to swat at his nose.
“I suppose it will do no harm to ask Mother if we may keep you.” Spock rose, cradling the tiny thing and brought it into the house to show Mother.
Mother was cleaning their dinner dishes when Spock came inside with the kitten. She turned to him with a smile as she dried her hands on a towel.
“What have you got, Spock?”
“A boy who lives nearby brought a kitten over who has no home. He is unable to care for her. I wondered if I would be able to keep her.”
Mother approached the tiny orange ball Spock held in his hands. “Oh, she is a tiny thing. I’d forgotten the colonists brought domestic animals with them from Earth. But to abandon one who has kittens? I’ll never understand people.” She rubbed the chin of the purring kitten.
“Then may we keep her?”
Mother smiled. “I don’t see why not. But she’ll need to be cared for carefully, Spock. She’ll need food and a litter box. We’ll have to clean up after her. And we should have her checked out in the city by a veterinarian.”
“Yes, I understand.”
“Very well. Tomorrow we’ll go and get what we need for her. What will you name her?”
“I do not know.”
Mother took the squirming kitten from Spock’s hands and held her up in front of her. “She looks like a Butterscotch to me.”
Spock nodded. “That is acceptable.”
“A boy you said?”
“Yes. Perhaps slightly younger than me. It is hard to tell his age for he appears to be…ill.” Which Spock found unsettling for some reason. “A Human boy.”
“A friend?”
“I am uncertain. Perhaps.” In truth, Spock didn’t make many friends. Back on Vulcan he had a somewhat adversarial relationship with his peers. They did not like his Human half. In his limited interactions with other species, they did not like his Vulcan half. Since Spock could change neither, he was uncertain what he was supposed to do about it.
“Well, you certainly have a new friend in Butterscotch, Spock.” She handed him the kitten, which he took to his room and placed her on the bed while he took out his PADD to write in the journal he had decided to keep when he arrived on Eltron II.
Today I met a Human named Jim.
And I obtained a pet. Her name is Butterscotch.
