Chilling on a Saturday morning
A lost article returned to it’s owner was my prompt.
“Ambassador Spock?”
Spock stiffened before turning around. It was still odd to be called ambassador. That was a title more suited to his long deceased counterpart. And yet…it was what he was now.
He turned to face the young officer.
“Yes, Ensign?”
The ensign looked impossibly young. Blond hair, blue eyes. It reminded him of—
But no.
The ensign cleared his throat. “I was going through the admiral’s things. And I found this.”
He held out his closed fist toward Spock and Spock had no choice but to open his palm to receive it.
It was a simple gold ring with Vulcan words carved into it that were far too familiar and painful now to think of. It felt heavy and burdensome in his hand now and yet he closed his fingers around it and pulled his hand close to his side.
The ensign’s tongue came out and licked at his lips. “I-I think he’d have wanted you to have it, sir.”
For a moment words were too difficult to form but Spock made himself nod. For a long time he merely stared at the young man.
Until finally, reddening slightly, the ensign turned to leave.
“Thank you, David,” Spock managed to say.
David stopped, but he did not turn around. “You’re welcome.”
So the SO got Alton Brown’s latest cookbook for Christmas. Every Day Cooking or something? I don’t know. Last March or the March before, I forget now, we actually went to his live show at the Pantages in Hollywood. I got him the tickets that Christmas before. But I digress. He got the cookbook.
In the last week he has made two of the recipes out of it and I have loved both. I will not say what they were because I am aware those that read this are very very fussy about food and I don’t want anyone to say “Yuck” or whatever. Suffice it to say, they were both delicious!
I’ve been thinking about the last few days how so many “hero” tales have the similarity of the “mentor/father figure’ dying on the hero. There are many examples and our Kelvin/AOS Jim is among them.
Luke Skywalker loses Obi-wan
Frodo loses Gandalf – yes Gandalf didn’t really die but Frodo doesn’t know that on his quest to return the ring.
Harry Potter loses Dumbledore
(you get Richard Harris because to me he made a far superior Dumbledore)
Jim loses Captain Pike
I’m sure there are others I am just not able to think of at the moment. But it’s a common theme in hero stories I think. Just an observation I had.
I’m up to about 5000 words on my T’hy’la Big Bang story. I think I check in March 03. It has to be at least 10,000 words and so if I do stick with that length I’m already half done. Pretty cool.
Tomorrow’s another flash fic day and you can expect a sad one.
Yesterday was not an easy day for me, internet/social media-wise. It was painful and a bit humiliating. I made some mistakes and I regret those, but I am moving onward. I won’t go into any further details on here both for my own sake and anyone else involved. There’s no need to go through it.
With that in mind, today is a normal post day for me here. A post of the week.
Last week as we were leaving our house, we saw this weird light in the sky. Turns out we weren’t alone
The Navy, of course, claimed it was missile testing. We personally think it was aliens beaming up humans for experiments.
Bless him, he always tries. These ended up in my lunch last week
No, I didn’t eat them.
Friday of last week was a scary day for us weather-wise. Sinkholes, people being submerged in their cars, flooded freeways, collapsing roads, power lines landing on people. Not good. I left my building at work at 3:30 and had to seriously struggle to stay upright. The wind was hurricane strength. I white-knuckled it the whole way home but we made it, thankfully.
Today is President’s Day. I don’t have it off but he does and it was rainy and drizzly this morning. He drove me to work. Pretty nice. Our garage door is old and made of wood and when it rains it gets too heavy to open so pretty much my car was trapped in there all weekend anyway. I can’t wait for the sun.
I didn’t have a good night’s sleep because I was super wheezy all day yesterday and especially at night. I’ve been relying far too much on my inhaler lately and that’s concerning me because really asthma medicine is bad for you. There was a recent study out of Canada that said asthma is misdiagnosed a lot. Well, since I was diagnosed by a pulmonary specialist and have had breathing tests and treatments for years I am going to have to believe I wasn’t misdiagnosed. I was once tested that my lung capacity was at 40%. It’s better now obviously.
And I think that’s plenty for my ramblings this Monday.
Today’s prompt: A perfect away mission and an experiment gone wrong.
“God, that was awesome,” Jim declared as he stepped down from the transporter room. “That was one of the best missions yet.”
“Oh, you think so, do you?” Bones asked, his voice laced with sarcasm.
“Sure do. Don’t you?”
“Oh, gee, I don’t know. Maybe you ought to think about why maybe I didn’t think it was so awesome.”
Jim patted Bones’ arm. “The slugs?”
“You might have warned me about them.”
“I forgot.”
“They consider them a delicacy and an honor to offer them to you, doctor,” Spock said from beside them.
“Well, it’s no honor to me.” Bones shuddered. “I think I’m going to have nightmares for years involving a pretty girl coming toward me with a slug caught in tweezers. Ugh!”
Bones rushed ahead of them and out of the transporter room.
Jim smiled at Spock. “Well, I guess I’ll see you later on the bridge, Mister Spock.”
“You are not going there immediately?”
“No, I’m going to get cleaned up in my quarters and file a report on the mission. I should be there within half an hour.”
****
It was much later when Jim was preparing for bed when the chime of his door indicated he had a visitor.
“Come,” Jim called out as he pulled his tank top over his head.
To his surprise, Spock walked in.
“Hey, what can I do for you?”
“Jim.”
He smiled. “Is this a special occasion? You’re calling me Jim.”
“Yes. I…it is an experiment.” Spock took several steps closer.
“Calling me Jim?”
“Negative.” Spock hesitated a moment and then was suddenly up in Jim’s space. “This.”
And Spock kissed him. And kissed him. And kissed him.
“Jesus,” Jim said as Spock went in for his lips again.
He couldn’t breathe.
Wait. He can’t breathe.
Jim shoved Spock away.
His eyes wide, an expression of hurt on his face, Spock stepped back.
Jim pointed to himself, desperately gasping.
“You cannot breath?” Spock guessed.
Jim nodded frantically. And then he was out.
****
He woke lying on his back in sickbay.
“Welcome back, Jim,” Bones declared.
“I’m alive?” he croaked.
“Sure are.” Bones switched the biobed so that Jim was sitting up. Surrounding his bed besides Bones was Spock, Uhura, and Nurse Chapel.
“What happened?”
Bones smirked, looking at Spock. “You’re allergic to Spock.”
“Leonard,” Chapel admonished as Spock turned slightly green. “You’re allergic to Plomeek, Captain. Mister Spock had Plomeek soup for dinner. He still had trace amounts of it in his mouth.”
Spock turned greener still even as Uhura smothered a laugh.
“Oh.” Jim frowned. “Well, that sucks. Does that mean Spock can never eat Plomeek and kiss me at the same time?”
“Pretty much.”
“Fortunately it is not something I am able to have often,” Spock said, his back ramrod straight, his gaze over Jim’s head.
“There’s a shot we can give you if it happens again. Maybe Spock better keep a supply handy if he continues to decide to kiss you.” Bones chortled.
Chapel rolled her eyes. “Come on, let’s leave them alone. You interrupted my date with Ny, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to get on with it.”
The three of them left and it was just Jim and Spock.
Jim smiled. “Well.”
“I apologize for causing you to have an allergic reaction, Captain.”
“That was definitely no fun,” Jim admitted. “But the part just prior to it was.”
Spock arched a brow. “Was it?”
“Perhaps. I think you ought to continue with that experiment of yours,” Jim said with an encouraging smile. “I’m pretty sure you’ll get better results.”
Spock leaned over him, his lips mere inches from Jim’s. “I am a scientist after all.”
I’m making great progress on my super-secret T’hy’la Big Bang story and I am absolutely loving what I’ve done so far. I can’t give any more details than that.
Today is about 80 degrees here and I am kind of roasting. But by Friday we are supposed to be raining again. It’s a little nuts.
Makes you want one of these.
This has been an unproductive week so far at work as we are having major systems issues.
My cough continues to linger which is no fun.
Anybody else get these random followers who seem to make no sense? Maybe it’s a “bot”.
That’s about the news on my end. I will have a flash fic on Friday, exclusive to the blog.
I think I am finally on the mend from my illness. I manage to sleep through the night without waking up with an absurd amount of coughing. I wouldn’t call myself 100%, probably more like 80% but it’s so much better.
I posted the first chapter of my Cinderella Spirk story, When I Fall in Love. I had thought of having this story be the one for the T’hy’la Big Bang and I discovered as I sat down to write it that it just wasn’t going to work for that. The minimum word count for that is 10,000 and I think I intend to keep my entry to about that. So never fear, I am sure I will come up with something for that.
The reaction to my short Valentine’s story, The Rose, has been mostly positive on AO3 (I did have one person think that Jim was cruel to Bones, but you know life isn’t always roses and wine and everything fine).
I am currently working on the next chapter of Young and Beautiful. I don’t actually think it was next in my spreadsheet, but I just felt like working on it.
I have been playing this silly game on my phone and right now they have a special game going where you can get a special pink fish for Valentine’s Day. Well, as most of those games do, they want you to spend money on their “free game” and last night I went a little nuts (it happens) and spent $50 on extras for the game just to get through the extra game to get the special pink fish. After I got her I just went, what the hell did I just do? I confessed my sins to my SO who was aghast to say the least. Ugh LOL.
Obviously this is a continuation from the previous two weeks.
My prompt was fairly simple, Spock clears up any confusion.
If there was one thing Jim didn’t care for it was games. He wanted people to be straight with him and not hide behind anonymity. He’d never had a secret admirer and he wasn’t about to start. He tossed the rose in the trash.
Valentine’s Day was for fools and suckers. And Jim wasn’t about to be either one.
Okay, maybe his mood wasn’t the best. Jim could admit that.
His door chimed and he turned with a sigh.
Ship’s business would surely distract him from this ailment.
“Enter.”
When Spock stepped inside he quarters, Jim nearly ordered him out. But then caught himself. Spock was not responsible for Jim’s bad mood. Maybe indirectly, sure, but not really Spock’s fault.
“Hey.”
And after that brilliant opening, Spock remained silent, his gaze going past Jim to the little trash bin next to Jim’s desk.
“You did not appreciate the rose?” Spock asked.
“That?” Jim snorted. “Someone’s idea of a joke, I guess.”
“A joke?”
Jim crossed his arms in front of his chest. “What can I help you with?”
“I confess I am at a loss at present.”
He frowned. “A loss? About what?”
“Romantic gestures. The advice I have been given is apparently wrong.”
“Advice? You mean Uhura?”
Spock nodded. “Indeed.”
He tapped his fingers on his sleeve. “You got bad advice on romance for Uhura?”
“Negative.”
Jim blinked. “But you said—”
“From Uhura not for her.”
“Huh?”
Spock sighed. There was no other word for the sound his first officer made. “Everything I have tried has been unsuccessful. I can only come to the conclusion that my interest is not reciprocated after all.”
“Everything you’ve tried? For who?”
“You cannot be this obtuse.”
“Excuse me?”
The sigh again. “The rose, a declaration of affection, was left in your quarters by me. Since only a very few senior officers and your yeoman have access to your quarters at all, I would have thought it was fairly obvious.”
Jim stared at him.
“I attempted to ask you to a concert on Risa which you refused.”
“Wait, what? You were with Uhura.”
“Nyota and I were attending the concert as friends. It was her suggestion that I ask you, as it would be a casual, relaxing atmosphere in which to learn your interest.”
“My-my interest?” Jim felt a little faint.
“I also invited you to play chess last night, you refused the invitation. There were other attempts if you would like me to mention them.”
“Spock, I had no idea you wanted me to go the concert with you. I thought you were being polite.”
“I am not known to care for such social graces.”
Jim licked his lips. His heart was hammering. “That-that day was not good for me. It was Sam’s birthday and—”
“Yes.” Spock took a step closer. “I thought perhaps you would like to be distracted from your melancholia. But you did not appear to wish for a distraction.”
Jim bent down and retrieved the rose. “This is from you?”
“Yes. I was told it was an appropriate gesture for Valentine’s Day. I confess I have no notion how to be romantic in any way.”
Jim smiled and stepped up to Spock, holding the rose. “I don’t know, Mister Spock. I think maybe you’re doing okay.”
Spock stared at him, dark eyes unreadable yet intense. “Then may I presume my interest is reciprocated after all?”
“Are you kidding?”
“Vulcans do not—”
Jim laughed. “Yeah, I know.” He kissed Spock, right on the lips, the lips he’d wanted to taste, well since, forever, really. In all his forevers.
Spock’s hand curled around the nape of Jim’s neck, drawing him in closer.
“In fact—”
“It is time to be quiet now,” Spock murmured against Jim’s lips.
He tried to be affronted, but damn Spock could kiss. “Okay, I get it. Live in the moment. Because—”
“Jim.”
He smiled against Spock’s mouth. “Shutting up.”
Another Spock sigh. This one sounding warmer and softer somehow. “At last.”
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 