Well the Vet and us hoped Luna had treatable hyperthyroidism but it was not to be. It is likely she has blood cancer. She’s in her 14th year and we don’t think she should be put through a lot of treatments she won’t understand and will separate her from us. Right now we are keeping her comfortable and she still wants to be with us and purrs. She is not in any acute distress and until the time that changes, if it does, we will keep her here with us until the time she passes. It’s the worse news, obviously. But we’ve had her since she was about 3 months old and it’s very tough but we love her and want her with us for what she has left. I think she wants that too. If her condition worsens we will make an even more difficult decision.
Spock doesn’t really know what to do to change his current circumstances so he makes his way to his apartment.
The apartment looks as it should, at least on the outside, but Spock maintains caution until he enters the living space to inspect it. Spock had left with Jim hastily, perhaps a bit apprehensive that someone would come there after Spock managed to get rid of the man with the fedora.
So Spock was somewhat surprised when the apartment appeared to be untouched and there was no sign of unauthorized entry. Still, he felt uncomfortable staying there under the current circumstance so he collected some belongings, as well as his computer, and locked up the apartment to stay somewhere else for the time being.
He’d thought about contacting his friend, Nyota, to stay with her, but he really didn’t want to place her in danger should someone come looking for him.
The Vulcan Embassy in downtown San Francisco maintained living quarters for dignitaries and given that Spock’s own father was an ambassador to Earth, he made his way to there and was provided a small apartment there similar to an Earth studio apartment. A room with a bed, a kitchenette, and a bathroom. It was enough and as secure as he could be at the moment.
He made himself tea and then set up his computer. He made immediate contact with George Samuel Kirk.
Jim’s older brother didn’t bother to pretend innocence.
“You made it safely back to San Francisco.” The older Kirk smirked. “Are you in a secure location?”
“At the Vulcan Embassy. Yes.”
Kirk nodded. “Good. Sorry about hitting you.”
“Then you are the one directly responsible.”
“Mm. Yeah. Tried not to hit you too hard. Listen, Jim is safe, thanks to you bringing him to us.”
“It was not necessary to get rid of me. I would not harm him—”
“We’re working on a solution to his…issue. Once we’ve helped him, should he desire contact with you, well, you’ll know. But in the meantime, you’ve got to let us handle this.”
“Why haven’t you admitted your family was made up of feline shape shifters?”
Kirk snorted. “Would you? Look what’s been done to Jim by those who have learned his secret. We’re already working on a knowledge plug to do damage control. Please keep all of this to yourself.”
“I have no intention of betraying Jim’s confidentiality.”
“Good. Then maybe Jim chose you well. I have to go. Don’t contact me again until someone from here contacts you. It’s best that way. Kirk out.”
Spock now sat in his living room, cat on his lap, trying to wrap his logical mind as to why Commander James T. Kirk would be the cat that Spock had rescued and was now fostering.
A line from an old Earth’s scribe came to mind.
There are more things in Heaven and Earth, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.
From all accounts and Starfleet records, James Kirk was an ordinary Human. A brilliant, high-achieving one, notwithstanding. However, if the cat now staring at him with striking blue eyes was indeed Kirk than accounts were not accurate.
Now there was a chance that something on the planet the shuttlecraft had crashed on had somehow turned Kirk into the creature now in Spock’s apartment, but Spock didn’t think so.
He recalled after speaking with George Samuel Kirk that he read that the hole in the door of the shuttle had been too small for a Human to escape through, which was one of the reasons the authorities had decided that Kirk perished along with the others in the crash, even after not finding evidential remains. And that had been a logical conclusion if they did not have all the information needed to determine that.
But George Samuel Kirk had declared to Spock without hesitation that the hole in the door had been big enough for Jim. And if Kirk was in the form of this feline on his lap, that would make him fit through that hole.
Yet Kirk, if this was indeed somehow him, had not changed back to Human form.
“What are your secrets?” Spock asked Bombay.
Bombay made the tiniest of meow sounds, more like a kitten than a full-grown cat and then put his paw on Spock’s face.
Spock blinked at the cat. “You want me to meld with you?”
****
Spock had never taken the step to meld with an animal before. There’d been no reason, And yet if his theory was correct and this was somehow James Kirk, the cat was no ordinary animal.
Bombay’s paw had slipped off of Spock’s cheek but the feline remained staring fixedly at Spock.
Spock guessed given the appearance of the strange fedora man, someone wanted to find this cat whether or not he was Jim and the fact the man called the cat Kirk seemed to lend credence to his theory.
And that meant time was likely of the essence.
With a nod, Spock raised his hand toward Bombay’s had, being careful not to spook him in case he didn’t get what Spock was about to do. Bombay did not move as Spock gently probed his mind.
The Kirks were shapeshifters, animal shifters, cats to be exact. George Kirk’s father, Tiberius, had long ago made the decision to keep the family secret to avoid the possibility of captivity and experimentation they’d likely be subjected to. It came to the Kirks through a spousal connection. Some Kirk offspring had more abilities than others, George Samuel and James T. being among them.
Since his service with Starfleet, Jim had hidden this side of himself from everyone, even those he had trusted like his friend and colleague, Helen Moore. It hadn’t been easy since she was a physician and had noticed certain peculiarities about him. But Jim was certain she had never suspected the truth.
That was until the crash happened.
Jim had been forced to change in order to escape the wreckage of the shuttlecraft but upon exiting through the hole, he had been unable to change back to his human form as someone was waiting for him and had trapped him in an animal carrier.
Shortly after he was abducted, Jim learned that he had been set up by the now deceased Helen Moore who had somehow discovered what he was and had intended on turning him over to those waiting on the planet. But the shuttle had crash and she and several of her conspirators had perished there.
The original plan had been to claim to Jim’s captain that he had been killed in an accident on the planet, but everything had changed because of the crash.
His captors had managed to escape the Federation authorities and had take Jim in his feline form with them.
Over the course of the last years since Jim “disappeared” they had been experimenting on him and doing tests, basically torturing him, according to Jim.
More recently they had injected him with something that caused him to remain in cat form and that was when he escaped. Spock found him.
A while ago, I did a fic where Spock was a cat, Nine Lives. I don’t remember the exact date. It was so much fun I’ve been itching to do something sorta similar.
So, for the next several Fridays you can expect a new chapter of Bombay. Not sure how long it will be so it may go into months on here before there is a resolution. Once completed it will be proofed for errors and go on AO3. But that’s going to be a while, so for now the place to read Bombay will be here on Fridays.
This is an AU. You won’t see most of our usual friends in their accepted roles. But you will see most of them.
This isn’t exactly how Bombay looks but use your imagination! LOL
Spock had taken an apartment close to the Academy Campus where he worked full time as a professor.
Prior to his employment there, he’d served aboard a starship under Captain Pike, but after an injury to his left leg caused him to have a permanent limp, Spock had been retired from active duty.
For the most part he found his present position fulfilling. He kept in regular touch with his mother and had a small circle of friends he saw occasionally.
As most Vulcan children had been, Spock had been preliminarily bonded to another Vulcan child. Subsequently, T’Pring, the Vulcan female, had discovered her desire to bond with another and Spock had not objected to having their link dissolved. In any event, Spock had already come to the conclusion that he preferred males.
Despite his limp, which the leg itself only pained him on certain damp days, Spock chose to walk from Campus to home. The apartment itself was on the ground floor, to the left of the cactus garden area just as one passed the double entrance doors into the courtyard.
On this particular Wednesday, he had returned from teaching early as he only had morning classes and he felt slightly under the weather so he didn’t linger at his on-campus office.
Standing in front of his apartment door was a cat. It cried loudly on Spock’s approach.
The cat was mostly white but had orange patches on the top of his head and on his paws. And he had the most striking blue eyes on a cat Spock had ever seen.
“Hello there.”
The cat rubbed against Spock’s legs, purring. He lolled around the complex, guessing the cat belonged to one of the tenants there. He wasn’t sure which one.
“Go home to your caregiver, please, and do stay out of trouble.”
Spock went into his apartment and did not think further about the cat for several days.
****
It was on the very next Wednesday, perhaps an hour or two later, when Spock saw the cat again. What Spock saw was alarming.
The cat was outside the front of the apartment building and a man Spock did not know pulled back his leg and kicked the cat very hard, knocking the cat to the ground.
“Stop!” Spock yelled.
The man ignored Spock and kept on walking.
Spock was torn between pursuing the man and showing him what it would be like to be kicked by someone else and rendering aid to the likely injured feline. Spock’s concern for the cat won out and he approached the poor creature.
By now it had pulled itself to its feet and hidden behind shrubbery. Spock saw its big wide blue eyes staring fearfully at him.
“It is all right.” Spock crouched down. “I will not harm you. I promise.”
After a few more moments of hesitation, the cat came out and sniffed warily at Spock’s outstretched hand. He mewled.
Spock picked up the cat and stood. “I’m afraid it’s off to the veterinarian for you, my friend.”
He knew of one a block or so away and though he didn’t really relish the walk in the windy afternoon, he had no choice. He did not own a hover car and the cat needed to be seen.
About an hour later, a Dr. Chapel examined the cat.
“Well, the good news is he’d just a bit bruised and sore in the spot where the nasty man kicked him.”
“He? So the cat is a male.” Spock had not actually examined it that closely before taking it for care.
She smiled quizzically at him. “Isn’t he your cat?”
“Negative. I don’t actually know who he belongs to. He hangs around my building and I saw the man kick him. I suppose he must be microchipped.”
Dr. Chapel shook her head. “Surprisingly no. If you don’t know where he lives I guess I’ll have to get one of the girls here to watch him. I want to see how he reacts overnight and I’d like to give him some pain medication. Once he’s okay we’ll try to find his owner. If we can’t find them soon though he’s going to have to go to a shelter?”
Spock frowned. “If it is acceptable, I will take him home with me and can watch him. I am able to give him medicine. I can foster him until his caregiver is found.”
Her smile broadened. “That’s wonderful then. I’ll make sure to get you a care package of food, medicine, a litter box and litter of course. I’ll be back shortly.”
And she left Spock with the cat who was now sitting up looking at him curiously.
“I will need to call you something,” Spock said out loud. He recalled seeing a particular shade of blue in an alcohol one of his friends drank. Bombay Sapphire. “Bombay. I shall call you Bombay.”
I decided to delete my tumblr account, so it’s gone. I’d been thinking of it for a while now and just hadn’t gotten around to it. I really don’t get anything from it anymore and those I used to like to see on there are gone themselves, so…it’s history. I had like 280 follows on there but most of them were inactive themselves. I am actually surprised it hasn’t shut down.
Going to sister’s later for a BBQ. Well, we intend to spend the day inside instead of out as we normally would. It’s going to be another 100 degree day. Think we are supposed to have 8 days in a row, which is not normal for us. By next weekend it’s back in the 80s, thankfully.
I’ve gotten Monday’s and Wednesday’s flashes up but still need to do Friday’s. Have no fear, I will get it done.
After posting chapter two of A Heart Needs a Second Chance (cheating Jim story) I had several requests to post again soon to it so for now I intend to keep going with that story. Expect chapter 3 up later this week.
Went to a Fleetwood Mac tribute concert last night. It was fun.
Don’t know if I mentioned this but Luna has jump anxiety. She seriously does. Anyway, I am sure I have told the story of having bought for the brat this luxurious soft cat bed some years back. She refused to go anywhere near it and kept her flat not luxurious cat bed. The nice one sits in the garage.
But recently I got her this scratching post thing that has a top part for the cat to make themselves comfortable (see picture with Luna in it)
She loves it. But cannot or will not jump into it because of that jump anxiety. So she has figured out how to ask us to pick her up and put her in it. Yes, she is incredibly spoiled. But I am thrilled she actually likes it!
Something Stupid is finished, hooray! I literally had to force myself to write the last chapter yesterday as I definitely wanted to procrastinate.
Normally if I was following my own spreadsheet I would be working on the next chapter of Our So Called Life. But since I am getting super close to being finished with The Ghost and Mr. Spock I have decided to skip the update on OSCL for now so I can have another story completed. When we last checked in with The Ghost and Mr. Spock, a magical Christine broke Jim’s curse and he was alive again. Should be an exciting update.
I’ll be getting ready to post the first chapter of cheating Jim after that.
In many parts of the US right now (and Europe too I believe) it’s boiling hot. So far where I live we have been quite lucky to have a regular, normal summer. Which for us in July is mid-to high 80s most days. It cools off into the 60s at night. August and September are usually our beastly months so I anticipate 90s and above for both of those months (we often go that high in October as well).
I’m gone again for a few days this week. Friday the 29th would have been Ma’s 96th birthday had she lived. We’re off to do one of her favorite things back when she was able, which is to go to a casino! HA. I’ll be masked up the whole time as I swear I am literally the last one who hasn’t gotten Covid around me. Should be fun. Fear not the last two Christmas in July stories are already written and ready to go live on their days.
As is the first three flashes for August. I think I have two of those left to go as they will appear each Monday.
This is a good thing as I have a bunch of stuff already planned for August too. Family barbecue August 6 (nieces, nephew, their families). Going overnight up the coast August 13th to one of our favorite restaurants that we haven’t been to in a million years called, Jocko’s in Nipomo, CA (a tiny little town in Santa Barbara County). They serve big thick steaks (this should clue you in that I am not a vegetarian ha). Then I will be gone a whole week to Vegas for the Star Trek Convention. BUSY BUSY August.
The overtime is coming to a close I think. I may have a few hours left of it but I think the worst of it is over. The extra money was nice and I will miss the money but not working all the extra time.
You didn’t get a lot of extra Christmas in July stories and I do apologize for that. But I do hope you liked the ones you did get. Those that follow this blog get exclusive access to those flashes as I won’t be posting them to AO3.
Here’s a picture of Luna lounging in her bed by the sliding glass door
So I managed to not get Covid from my trip a while back to Pechanga so that’s a plus. But this weekend is my great niece’s 4th birthday party. My niece and her husband just moved back to So Cal from Nor Cal and they bought a very nice house in a place called Rancho Cucamonga. Anyway, it’s only family being invited but that thing is everywhere isn’t it?
M’s sister lives in ND and her husband just got diagnosed with it (not to be confused with M’s half sister who also lives in ND whose husband died of Covid in November). He’s miserable but mostly okay with his biggest complaint being his back pain from it. She has tested negative so far.
This is their cat, Mr. Kitty
Don’t be fooled by that cute face. He’s a serial killer of mice and rabbits.
Speaking of cats, here is ours, in her pampered pink blanket she loves
Tomorrow is the last flash for January (I know Monday is January but I explain that in tomorrow’s flash post).
Otherwise, we keep plugging along here. I don’t remember if I mentioned M being laid off last February (got a new job in June) but the old job asked M back you can believe it. It’s more money than the current job, but I have concerns and hope that taking that old job again is the right decision. But M wanted to.
I’m still working from home indefinitely which is the way I like it these days. Have an overnight trip planned in mid-Feb, and then a longer one in March and then relatives come for a visit in April over Easter. So much is going on!
In other exciting news, I may be going to the Star Trek convention this year in Vegas in August. It’s a long way off and anything can change including a certain Spock actor COULD cancel, but right now Quinto is scheduled to be there for the first time ever. Trying not to be too excited because as I said a lot can change in the many months until then.
My updates of current WIPS are going swimmingly and I know you’ve been enjoying them so I appreciate the support.
The first one Spock allowed into their house, Jim hadn’t care that much. He’d known Spock liked them, though he would never admit it outright. Every time they had come across one, Spock ended up holding and petting them.
Once after they’d first married, Jim had suggested Spock adopt one. Their duties, though reduced, seemed to preclude that, so Spock had declined.
After Spock’s memories returned, after all the disaster of Khan and Genesis, Jim had brought it up again, but Spock had once more said no.
Therefore, Jim was mildly surprised when they retired to Riverside when one day Spock came into he house carrying a fluffy gray cat.
“That’s a cat,” Jim said, obviously.
“Indeed.”
“Well. Where did it come from?”
“I do not know the origins of these particular feline, but when I was out in the barn, she walked in.” Spock shrugged. “I believe it was her intent to adopt us.”
“Adopt us? Spock, she likely belongs to someone.”
But they checked and no one claimed her but Spock. Or as Spock had insisted, she claimed them.
The second one came home with Spock one day when he’d been at the store. Jim waited for his husband to say that the cat had followed him home, but Spock merely said that he saw the stray and picked him up.
The third and fourth were twin kittens Spock arrived home with some months later. By then, Jim had decided not to ask Spock where he got them. They made Spock happy and that was good enough for him. If they were, a bit, underfoot at times, well.
The fifth came one year right around Spock’s birthday and when Jim opened his mouth to protest, Spock coyly advised that this one was Jim’s birthday present to Spock. Since Jim had, in fact, forgotten Spock’s birthday, he closed his mouth.
There was a time or two when Jim broached the subject of a dog, but Spock pointed out that the cats probably would not welcome such a companion. Jim gave up that idea.
The moment he noticed a sixth cat, he counted them twice, Jim finally put his foot down.
“Spock, baby, you know I love you.”
“Yes, Jim.”
Jim smiled. “But maybe. Perhaps, a half a dozen cats is our limit.”
Spock pursed his lips. “Yes, perhaps.”
“I mean I know you have a particular fondness for—”
“Not over any particular creature, Jim,” Spock insisted.
“Er, right. Anyway, this should make our home quite full now.” He smiled again.
“However.”
Jim raised both brows. “However?”
Spock shifted awkwardly. “I was thinking that eight might be a more suitable number.”
Jim felt a headache building behind his eyes. “Eight, Mister Spock?”
Spock shrugged slightly. “It is only that they have already been acquired and are due to be delivered tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow.”
“Yes, and since it is our anniversary—”
Jim frowned, thinking about it. Was it? He couldn’t quite recall. It was possible. He sighed.
“Very well. Uh. Happy anniversary, Spock. But that has to be the last.”
Having a very small family gathering today. Halloween Tea with sandwiches, sweets, tea, festive. Should be fun. Then tonight I shall watch Halloween. We won’t get any trick or treaters due to the “strongly discouraged” proclamation from our County. We don’t really get any here anyway. Last year we had one and some years NONE.
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 