Here we go, folks, the first Christmas in July Flash. Enjoy!
Shore leave was not something Spock had ever cared about before he entered into a relationship with Jim.
Nyota had never pushed him into taking it with her and generally he hadn’t opted to take it, preferring to stay on the ship.
And even now he wouldn’t say Jim ‘pushed’ him into it.
He had just given Spock what Spock thought of as his “gentle” smile and said, “If you want to stay on the ship, it’s okay.”
Spock did not. He found that he wanted to experience everything Jim did and so he accompanied him.
They were currently on a rather tropical planet with an area designed to mimic Earth’s tropical islands like Hawaii and Tahiti.
By the beach was a bar and restaurant Jim wanted to try, so they were headed down there. But suddenly Jim stopped by the window of a souvenir shop.
He stared at something behind a glass enclosure. He’d gone just a bit paler than his normal shade and his lips pulled down in an almost frown. His breathing had become shallower too.
“Jim?”
Spock moved closer, both because he needed to be near Jim when Jim became anxious, whether for Jim or himself, he did not know, and because he wanted to see what had caught Jim’s gaze.
Spock found himself surprised by what Jim stared at. It was a statue of a pink flamingo wearing a Santa Claus hat. The body of the flamingo was covered in pink glitter and the hat was made of fabric. He had no idea what intrigued or bothered Jim about it.
Without looking at Spock, Jim exhaled. “I need to go inside there.”
He turned and opened the door to the shop and Spock quickly followed him inside.
Jim was already at the counter speaking to an older man. “I’d like to see the flamingo, please.”
Spock moved to stand beside Jim, as close as he possibly could without overcrowding him. Jim’s gaze moved up to Spock’s face, but he said nothing.
A minute later the man returned with the statue which he put in front of Jim.
Spock noticed Jim’s hand shaking as he reached out to touch the flamingo and look at the price tag. He drew his hand back and placed it on the counter and Spock put his hand over Jim’s. The tremor stopped and Jim’s lips curved upward slightly.
“I don’t have that many credit chips with me,” Jim said, regretfully.
Spock leaned in to check out the price for himself. “Box it up, please. I have the credits.”
The man moved away with the statue and Jim turned to him.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“Yes, I did.”
Jim said nothing further as the man came back with the boxed flamingo in a shopping bag. Spock handed over the credits and they left the shop.
“Thank you,” Jim said so softly it was like a whisper on the wind.
They continued on to the restaurant without a word between them but when they were seated under an umbrella, tropical drinks ordered, and the shop’s bag on the table, Jim finally spoke.
“When I was just a kid, my grandmother, my mom’s mother, would visit us every summer. She’d get there in late June, stay with us through August, and then leave for her own home every year. She lived in Montana during the months not with us, with one of Mom’s brothers.”
“I did not know that,” Spock said carefully. He was uncertain where Jim was going with this, but he listened intently. Getting this much insight to Jim’s prior life was a rare gift he intended to treasure.
“This was all well before Mom brought Frank into our lives. She was seeing someone but he didn’t stay with us and it never seemed like it was going anywhere. Back then Mom seemed to stay home with us more. Anyway, every July, my grandmother would do this thing with the three of us, Mom, Sam, and me. Christmas in July.”
Jim smiled faintly as they were briefly interrupted by the arrival of their drinks. The waiter went away as they said they’d order food later.
“When I was four she bought me a stuffed flamingo with a Santa hat on it.” Jim laughed. “I loved it. I carried that thing everywhere with me for like two years. It ended up getting kind of dirty I carried it around so much. I stopped one day when Sam pointed out it was lame and I was too old for it. I didn’t get rid of it or anything. Just threw it in the closet.”
“Your brother—”
“I know.” Jim sighed and took a sip through the paper straw of his drink. “A few years later, when I was ten, my grandmother didn’t arrive when she was supposed to. Come to find out that she had stopped in downtown Riverside first before coming to our farmhouse where there was a bakery that sold cookies shaped like Santa wearing a bathing suit and carrying a surfboard. For Christmas in July. We all loved those cookies. As she was crossing the street, she was hit by a car.”
Spock blinked. He reached over and put his hand on Jim’s. He could feel Jim’s sorrow like a punch to the gut. Like it had happened only yesterday.
Jim blew out a very long breath, looked out to the planet’s ocean. “She didn’t make it. The guy was drunk and never saw her. He crashed the car after he hit her. I think that was one more death Mom couldn’t handle and that’s when she decided to marry Frank and change all our lives. I don’t know. It was awful. I put that stuffed flamingo with the Santa hat in her casket when she was buried.”
“I am sorry, ashaya.”
Jim looked at him. There was a bit of a sheen to his blue eyes but Spock didn’t think he was actually crying.
“So, when I saw that,” he stopped to gesture to the shop bag, “it brought it all back to me. And I wanted it, I guess, to remember her. Not that I could really forget.”
“I understand,” Spock told him. “When my mother was destroyed with Vulcan by Nero, there was nothing left of her except for the necklace I had already given to Nyota. And while she offered to return it to me on several occasions, I had always been taught one did not take back a gift freely given.” Spock paused, turned Jim’s hand so that their palms touched. He would never get tired of touching Jim, even in such small ways. “I have no other mementos of her, and logic dictates that as a Vulcan I should not want any, yet I wish sometimes I had even something as small as a teacup.”
Jim smiled that same gentle smile. “We’re a pair, aren’t we?”
“Indeed.”
“We have our memories in our hearts and those can’t be taken away. And I think the best way to honor both of them is to make many happy memories together for years to come.” Jim leaned forward and kissed Spock softly.
For a long time, they stayed that way, palm to palm, face to face. Building those memories.
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 