In a Alternate, yet Original timeline

Comfortable in another quarters

Jim had been sipping a smoothie sitting on a couch with his right elbow on the arm rest.

Jim.

Jim stopped sipping the smoothie. Unlike most people who would shrug it off and say they are imaging things or disregard it as the effect of a brain freeze resulting from drinking too many smoothies. It was glee. It was excitement! Jim KNEW for a fact he wasn't imaging it. For decades he had been trying to make contact through Spock through telepathy. It all began one day when their looks didn't quite cut it nor did knowing each other to the full extent of their capabilities. Fortunately that was when a slug like race called The Lugs landed into the transporter, leaving slime, toppled down security officers and assimilated them into ugly human like slugs. It was like they were stuck in a bad horror film from the era where there was black and white color. A bad sci-fi movie. It almost got Spock! HIS SPOCK. And McCoy. And Sulu. And Uhura. And the rest of the senior officers normally on the bridge.

That occurrence frightened Jim.

Though the ones mid way in the transformation were cured when Spock and McCoy discovered a antidote.

The ones who had been assimilated were turned into Lugs.

They were roughly the size of a very tall dog known as the Great Dane.

That moment in time when Jim actively started to attempt telepathically communicating with Spock was when he was surrounded by Lugs (He was also in the middle of transformation when the cure was made) in his cabin. Cornered right into the corner of his room. When they started assimilating him, Jim didn't know what he did afterwards but he did remember waking up on a biobed with a grinning McCoy. Jim recalled raising a brow at the older man.

"What's up, McCoy?" Jim asked. "Did you see a comet ride a Romulan shuttle?"

That didn't seem to sour McCoy's mood.

"You've been out for a entire week, Jim," McCoy said. "I find it funny that you were going after Spock instead of some random person, well, at least he was able to administer the dose."

"How did he know?" Jim asked.

"He told me you had a bracelet with beads that spelled your name," McCoy said. "Which you still have on, I assume it must be from the children of Visicus."

"Yes," Jim said, looking down toward his intact bracelet. He looked back up toward McCoy "It was."

"And by the way, I highly recommend you don't move your legs until another hour." McCoy said.

Jim frowned.

"Why?" Jim asked.

"Because that would make irreparable damage far as I am concerned." McCoy said.

"And how's Spock been?" Jim asked.

"He's been fine," McCoy said, with a gesture of his hand. "Just won't tell me what you were saying."

"I was. . .speaking?" Jim asked, startled.

It made Jim shudder at the image of his Lug-self speaking (who probably would have looked hideous) covered in dark slime and his physical body features distorted that they didn't seem human. Terrifying, really. But yet, Spock was able to recognize Jim. Able to administer the cure onto his captain. Spock, had in fact, one time attempted to teach Jim to speak his name in Vulcan when they were in a secluded room on another planet that they broke some 'sacred rule' which wasn't much of a rule because it wasn't even sacred in the first place!

McCoy nodded.

"Yes, you were," McCoy said. "It was mostly gibberish but . . . I swear some of it sounded like a Vulcan name," McCoy waved his hand. "One of those complicated versions of Vulcan names."

Oh. Oh!

That was how Spock knew.

"Do you how to speak Vulcan, Jim?" McCoy asked.

"No." Jim lied.

McCoy glared at Jim, as though he could tell the young captain was lying.

"Jim." McCoy said.

"Maybe a little," Jim said. "I can't say it right."

Then Jim was snapped out of the memory back into reality at the mention of his name from his mind.

I missed you, Jim.

Jim's heart leaped at the sound of Spock.

Spock!

The familiar older and most of the time precise voice, one of many voices Jim had missed in the Nexus.

Where have you been?

Jim took a sip of his smoothie.

As typical, the second reply would be straight forward from Spock.

Talking with Spock might actually help in making sense of this strange situation.