[ About the passage of time and the mind meld, Jim just shrugs at him. He knows. He knows most intimately of all, in fact, and the truth is he has no ability to dip into those memories at will - he has a kind of memory of those memories, and sometimes one appears, but almost never at a useful or relevant time. It's more of an instinct than anything; he just feels like he'd have fixated on something on this topic. (And he feels like the other Spock would have, too.)

Maybe Earth blows up tomorrow, though. That'd suck. No way to know. ]

I'll go over it with the finest of combs, [ he says, somewhat light just to try and keep Bones from sliding back into the abyss, but it's a serious promise. ] And you have my word I won't just rubber stamp it to let Jo have a good time. They've got to be cleared.

[ He fully realizes that he's looping himself into the responsibility and blame chain if something does go wrong, but he's always willing to risk catching that grenade for - or from - Bones. Just how it is. ]