I’m so stoked! How cool is this
In case you are wondering (did I tell you this already? Might have), I got the wine. They had it.
Yippee. Funny story. Sister had offered to split it with me so I was only going to get 6 days. I am sure I told you this part. Didn’t I? So she gave me $35 and I went through the box to take her 6 out and then…
She bought another collection from World Market that was 24 days of wine for $100 (attorney, retired but still she has more moola than I do). So she told me to keep all of mine and the money too.
As you know I started posting At His Side (Fall Guys) on A03. I will not be posting November until all the entries for November are done here.
Wednesday is Try to Remember
I am working on the conclusion of Transfer Request so that will be done this week. Yay, I’ll have another finished.
Tuesday night’s movie is the latest Terminator.
“What exactly is a…hayride?”
Jim smiled as he pulled on a heavy, quilted plaid shirt. The plaid was a sort of umber color and he wore khaki cargo pants and combat boots with it. Spock was dressed in black jeans and gray sweater that appeared to have metallic silver threads through it. It might have looked a little too dressy on anyone other than Spock, but somehow it suited the Vulcan.
“You never did one as a kid?”
Spock arched a brow. “On Vulcan?”
Jim laughed. “No, I guess not. But I thought, you know, on Earth, when you’d come with your mom or something.”
“Generally, when we visited, it was with Father for his diplomatic visits,” Spock explained as he wrapped a gray scarf around his neck. “Even if we saw Mother’s family, which was rare, they always came to us in the hotels and accommodations provided to us for Father’s diplomacy.”
Jim frowned. “So your mother never really got much time to visit where she was from?”
“She did not.”
“Well…that sucks.”
“She never expressed such a sentiment.”
“Maybe your dad never gave her much of a chance.” Jim shook his head. “I don’t know, Spock. I’m glad you aren’t like him and try to, I don’t know, logic away every ounce of my humanness to conform to expectations.”
Spock stepped close and tugged the collar of Jim’s shirt into place. “I suspect such methods would have little to no success where you are concerned.”
Jim grinned. “You’re right about that.”
“You did not answer my question.”
“Oh. Yeah. Sorry. You get into this wagon full of hay and you’re dragged behind a tractor or a truck while you ride in it.”
“For what purpose?”
“Fun.”
Spock simply stared at him and so Jim’s grin widened.
“Come on, babe. Let’s go.” He went to move forward and swayed as he got lightheaded. Spock was right there grabbing onto him.
“Jim…”
“I’m all right.”
“You are not. You are doing too much. You are supposed to rest and you have done nothing of the sort.”
“Spock, I am fine. I just…as my grandmother used to say…had a spell.”
“You are not your grandmother and you were recently severely injured.”
“Babe, it’s fine, I swear. Okay?” He leaned in and kissed Spock on the corner of the mouth. “Can we go?”
“Very well.”
But Jim noticed that Spock held onto Jim’s arm as they left the farmhouse and made their way, on foot, down the road to where the planned hayride was to be held.
When they arrived there were already several others, including families excitedly waiting for their turn, so they had a while to wait in line for it. Spock still held on to Jim, like he could keep him standing by sheer will. Jim supposed Spock could.
There was a crispness to the air that was normal for November here, and soon enough it would become crisper still. Something Spock was definitely not looking forward to.
Finally they made it to the front of the line.
“Our turn,” Jim said cheerfully to his grumpy Vulcan.
They piled into the wagon full of hay with a family that included four rambunctious children. One of which kicked Jim in the side, accidentally as they scrambled around the wagon.
Spock gave the child’s mother a death glare.
“Uh, sorry. Sorry,” she said hurriedly, pulling her little boy away from Spock. “Anthony, watch your feet. You kicked that man.”
Jim smiled. “It’s all right.”
Spock glanced at him, stonily.
“Behave,” Jim whispered.
Spock pursed his lips, but said nothing as the tractor started up and began to pull along the wagon.
“Sometimes they’d use horses,” Jim told him.
“They would be far less smelly.”
Jim laughed. “I don’t know about that. Horses have a tendency to go when they gotta go.”
They were pulled around the field at a rapid speed that made Spock hold onto the side of the wagon, his face looking even paler than normal. Jim thought it was exhilarating.
When they finally stopped, Spock was the first one out of the wagon, practically hauling Jim right off his feet to take him out of it.
Jim put his hands on Spock’s arms. “Fun, yeah?”
Spock actually rolled his eyes. “I will be picking hay out of parts of me for hours.”
He couldn’t help but laugh again as they headed back down the road toward the farmhouse, their hands locked together.
“Corn chowder for dinner?”
Spock nodded. “Yes.”
Jim knew their domestication wouldn’t last. Eventually they’d be back on the Enterprise, returning to missions and danger and all of that, and truly, he could not wait. But this was nice too.
I don’t know if you guys have Aldi’s where you are. It’s a bit of a strange grocery store that originally came from Germany. They sell food but they also sell socks and weed whackers. It all depends what they can get. In many ways they remind me of the old Gemco on a much smaller scale. For you youngsters, you can Google Gemco. They’s long since gone out of business.
Anyway, they have some really cool stuff especially at the holidays. Lots of German chocolate and Father Christmas stuff, etc. Last year they had a Wine Advent Calendar that apparently sold out in minutes. It’s exactly what it sounds like, a wine for every day from December 01-24 (yes yes my sister has told me that is not the real “advent” blah blah). So they announced they’d have it again this year and release it on November 06th.
They also intended to have the usual chocolate ones, with some with chocolate from Germany, a Hot Wheels one, a cheese one and a beer one.
Another supermarket (Kroger) also announced they would have one this year and I had seen a similar box at Cost Plus World Market (don’t know if you have those either). The one they had was $100 and the one at Aldi was supposed to be $70. I almost bought the World Market one but didn’t.
So I go to the Aldi near me after work yesterday and…gone. Sold out. First day. No beer one, no wine one, no cheese one. I did get a chocolate one but those were going fast too. Sigh. I was very disappointed because it sounded fun to have 24 little bottles of wine to try.
Yesterday sucked. It was the one year anniversary of Crazy’s death.
I decided to apply for another credit card just to see if I could get it and was rejected. Couldn’t get my wine.
This morning I looked on the website for World Market and according to that they still had a 12 Bottles of Wine for Christmas and I could buy it online and pick it up at my local store. It was $59. I bought it. So after work I will attempt to pick it up. The cynical part of me expects to be told they lied and they don’t really have it in stock. In that case they will be forced to refund me. So we shall see! HA
In other news I am up to 14 written for my 25 days of Christmas. The 14th will very much please a certain reader. Next I plan on working on another one for TOS as so far it’s very heavily geared toward AOS which will still continue but I think I need at least one more TOS. So I am making progress!
Tomorrow the Fall Guys will be back!
This series of flashes for Wednesdays in November are my TOS guys from What Now and a TOS Flash. I thought you might be able to figure out which one but I have changed my mind and added the link in case. It was the departure after the mission. Anyway, they are all related to each other. So, thus the November Wednesday Flashes Begin. When the flashes are finished for the month I will be putting them together to be my TOS OMS story posted on AO3. It’s called “Try to Remember” (after the song)
It was hard to believe for Kirk that Spock was back, after all this time. If he was back. Obviously, he’d come to help the Enterprise and spoke of his inability to complete Kolinahr. He’d known, somehow, as he’d always known, seemingly, that Kirk needed him, and he’d come.
But all that didn’t mean he was back for Kirk. For Kirk. There was a difference between being back for and being back because and though the difference might be subtle to some, it was not to Kirk.
And all of that talk about “this simple feeling” didn’t necessarily mean what Kirk desperately wanted it to mean.
They’d both been hurt and by each other.
Kirk had hurt Spock with his…marriage and fathering a child with Miramanee. And even though he’d had memory trouble at the time, even after it, Kirk had felt so much for her, for the loss of her and their child. He’d admitted he didn’t know if what he felt for Spock was enough for him. If he could be…monogamous. It had been a lot for Spock to accept. Too much and it had ended them.
And then there was Reyna, perhaps not Kirk’s finest of moments or decisions, he didn’t know exactly what he’d been thinking, except that she had reminded him in so many ways of Spock, of who he could no longer have, Spock had made that clear, and before Kirk had even known it or could rationalize it, he was falling in love with a…a robot. A machine. And she could not be Spock. Ever.
At the end of the mission, Spock had walked away, predictably. Part of Kirk had told himself even if he hadn’t wrecked everything with Miramanee and that whole aftermath, Spock would have left him. What had he really to offer Spock? He couldn’t even agree to commit fully to Spock when it counted, and it had made him lose Spock.
The night before the mission ended, Kirk had gone to Spock, and had, admittedly, and without shame, seduced the Vulcan. He’d known then Spock would walk away and he’d wanted one last time.
And yet as they said goodbye, it had seemed so final and so…stilted and cold.
Jim nodded. “Okay. So.”
“So,” Spock repeated, tonelessly.
Jim looked behind him at the crowd bustling past them in the shuttle bay. Going about their business without thought to anyone else. Certainly not an idiot Human and an awkward Vulcan.
“Guess.” He cleared his throat. “Guess I should let you be on your way. Don’t want you to miss your shuttle.”
“Yes.” Spock moved to turn around.
“Goodbye, Spock. Good luck with everything.”
Spock looked back at Jim. “And you as well, Captain.”
Jim smiled faintly. “Jim. You’re not even in Starfleet anymore.”
“That is true,” Spock acknowledged. “Jim.”
“Give my best to your parents.”
“And to yours.”
“Will do.”
And that had been the end of them. Of him and Spock. Until V’Ger.
They were headed back to Earth now, and whatever awaited them, as a crew, and them, as a couple. Kirk was…hopeful. Guardedly. But he believed he’d learned a lot in the time they had been separated and he very much hoped Spock would give him a chance.
As it happened, they made it back to Earth, to San Francisco, in record time, and Kirk hadn’t had any alone time with Spock. He refused to believe Spock intentionally avoided him as Bones had implied.
Bones had just left his apartment, after they’d had a quiet dinner, just the two of them, and though Bones had tried to have a real conversation, Kirk found himself far too distracted by thoughts of Spock.
His doorbell rang just after Bones had departed, so soon after, he’d gone to the door with a ready smile and a, “What you forget, Bones?”
It was not Bones.
“Spock.”
Kirk was aware of a million different emotions in that one name that filled him and made him feel unsteady on his feet. But gripping the door, he stood back to let Spock inside.
The Vulcan was dressed in simple brown slacks and a wheat colored sweater, but even in such simple, plain attire, he looked stunning to Kirk.
“Can I get you anything? Tea? Or?”
“Not at present.” Spock glanced around. “I would like to speak with you, Cap…Jim.”
He nodded and brought Spock into his living room, by the windows that looked out over San Francisco. He wanted to sit close to Spock, beside him, but he didn’t have a sofa for such purposes, only chairs. It had never mattered before.
He gestured to a chair for Spock and then sat in the other that was opposite.
“What’s on your mind, Spock?”
“You.”
He should have guessed Spock wouldn’t beat around the bush. When had he ever?
“Me,” he repeated.
“And your expectations.”
“I see.” Kirk found himself nodding again. And he felt vaguely like one of those old-fashioned bobble-headed dolls he’d seen in ancient pictures. “I don’t…really have any.” He looked down at his nails, which he’d been biting much too often these days, and so he winced. “With respect to the Enterprise or…?”
“It was my understanding you might not get the Enterprise again.”
Kirk made a face. “Er. Yeah. That’s plain enough. I’m still an admiral in their eyes and admirals don’t command starships. No matter how decorated.” He paused. Looked at Spock. “Have they offered her to you then?”
“They did not, however, had they done so I would have refused. I have no desire to captain a ship.”
“But they did promote you.”
Spock nodded. “Indeed. But command of a ship is not a destiny I sought. I have been asked to instruct cadets.”
“Cadets?”
“In the taking of the Kobayashi Maru, more specifically.”
Kirk smiled faintly. “So you’ll be here in San Francisco.”
“Yes. For now. Which is the point of my coming here. If you are not in command of the Enterprise, will you be here as well?”
“Looks that way. Are you sure I can’t get you a drink?” And was more to have something to say then and desire to move away to see to it.
“I am sure. A lot has happened since-since we made our mutual departures.”
Kirk wasn’t sure it was mutual, actually. He hadn’t wanted things to end the way they had and yet…what had he done to stop it? And he certainly had contributed to it.
“The Kolinahr?”
“A small part. But important, I suppose. I did wish to purge the hurt and pain associated with our relationship,” Spock said softly. “But also the more positive emotions as well.”
“Understandable,” Kirk murmured. But he wasn’t really sure he meant it. He decided Spock was being far too vague and he was beginning to lose patience. He needed to know why Spock was here, what it meant for them, if anything. “Spock, what’s on your mind?” he asked again.
“I know that given our last night together after the mission ended, you might have had different expectations as to our future.”
“You mean, did I think we were getting back together after we made love that night?”
Spock moved his head downward, almost a nod, but not quite.
Kirk shook his head. “You gave me no indication that was the case.”
“The act of making love…”
“No,” he interrupted quickly. “I knew it was a-a goodbye. A way to end things between us tenderly. I had no expectations you meant anything but farewell.”
Spock stared down at his hands which were clenched in his lap. “And now? After V’Ger?”
“Do you remember our first night together? After T’Pring and everything.”
“I have an eidetic memory.”
Kirk sighed. Nodded. “Yes. But…do you remember? Not that way. How we felt. How you felt.”
Spock did not answer at first but then said, “Yes. And my feelings have not changed.” He looked up, meeting Kirk’s gaze. “And yours?”
He swallowed heavily. “Never. They’ve never changed, Spock, and they never will. I know I haven’t always been worthy of your trust and affections. Miramanee…”
“I did not fault you for actions that occurred while you were not yourself.”
“No. But…after. When I…I didn’t know what I wanted anymore. I couldn’t get past her death and the death of our child and I pushed you away…I’m sorry, Spock.”
“That was not our time, perhaps. It was difficult maintaining the secrecy of a relationship during such trying times aboard the ship.”
“I should have…”
“Jim. We can spend hours upon hours, maybe an eternity even, going over what we should have done, should have said, what actions we could have taken, how we could have avoided hurting each other, and in the end, none of that matters now. What does is this. Have your feelings changed, your expectations, or do you want what I want?”
“And what is that?” Kirk asked, carefully, perhaps foolishly. “Because I know what I want, Spock. What I’ve always wanted and what I threw away as the coward I must have been.”
Spock rose then and moved the few steps over to Kirk’s chair, and knelt down in front of it. “What I want is our time, T’hy’la. To fully embrace what we are, what we should be, have always been, with whatever time each of us has left.”
Kirk was suddenly aware there was wetness on his face, and he wasn’t even sure when he’d started crying, but Spock lifted a hand to wipe at a tear of Kirk’s cheek.
“Yes, Spock. I want the same. I want it all. With you.”
He fell to his knees beside Spock, cradled his beloved Vulcan’s face in his hands and kissed him.
Kirk didn’t know much, but he knew he would never let Spock out of his life again. He would fight for him, fight for Spock, and them, through anything.
I have updated my list of December Flashes https://ivansstartrekfic.wordpress.com/2019/10/26/thought-it-would-be-fun/, so if you are keeping a list of what to look eagerly forward to, check it out! LOL
I am off to see Maleficent tonight.
Tomorrow is a TOS OMS flash
Next up for updating on AO3 is Transfer Request, but as you know I am writing other stuff right now, so when I get to it you will know!
Had a fairly quiet weekend at home with M. We did have someone come over on Sunday though but with the time change and it being dark as hell by 5:30, she thankfully left at a decent time.
Didn’t get much done writing-wise. I did post a short flash as you know. I am determined this week to update Cadet Ashayam, just don’t know when. I did get two more Holiday flashes done and am half way through another and those are just taking precedence right now, but I will get to Cadet Ashayam.
This week is supposed to be warm and dry, though thankfully, I think, anyway, wind-free. It cools off at night at least.
We’ve already begun to plan for Thanksgiving even though it’s at the end of the month. It’s at our house. We’ll have about seven of us again this year. That means decorating! HA. Those are leaves and pumpkin lights though you can’t really tell.
Anyway, later this month I will indulge in my two Thanksgiving-related movies.
Of course, I have other writing to finish as well, including the AOSJim/Prime Holiday story. Not sure what I will title it yet, but if anyone has suggestions, I would love to hear. Here’s the plot:
After his revival, Jim finds himself mostly alone in the hospital. The crew has been given leave, and with it being holiday time, they’ve all dispersed since Jim will make a full recovery. Into this come Spock Prime. He reveals that he knew of Jim’s “death” due to their T’hy’la bond. When Bones wants to go to Georgia for the holidays to see his daughter, Prime volunteers to watch over Jim during his absence, and Jim moves into an apartment with Prime. Jim begins to add bits of the holidays into their lives and an indulgent Prime allows it and eventually succumbs to the adorable charms of the season and his young T’hy’la.
Title ideas? I’d like something merry/holiday sounding.
Hope everyone has a great week.
“Captain, I have something to tell you.”
Jim fired his phaser at the approaching Klingons. “Now? Come on, Spock. I’m a little busy.”
Spock fired his phaser. “I am aware. But in case we are unable—”
“Mr. Spock, I don’t have time for this.” The truth was Jim was pretty sure he knew what Spock wanted to say. And he appreciated it, really. He’d been waiting for this for a long ass time. But now—
“A logical response, Captain, however—”
“No. Really. Not now, Commander. Cover me.”
He rolled away from his spot by the wall, firing his phaser frantically, even as he could hear Spock doing the same. He reached the unconscious Sulu and quickly assessed him.
“Captain?”
“Yeah he’s alive but in bad shape. We’ve gotta get out of here now.”
“Acknowledged. In the event that either or both of us do not make it…”
“Yeah, yeah. Got it. Get over here now.”
Spock broke out into a run and slid in to where Jim waited with Sulu. Jim eyed him.
“You’d be great at stealing home, by the way.”
Spock frowned. “Captain?”
Jim flipped open his communicator. “Kirk to Enterprise. Beam us up now.”
A Klingon disruptor shot barely missed his head. Jim winced.
“I must inform you, Captain, that I have developed…”
They suddenly dissolved and appeared on the transporter. The three of them fortunately. Bones rushed toward them.
“Romantic feelings for you. In fact, I love you.”
Bones froze just a few feet away from Sulu. He stared at them, then shrugged. “I guess I owe Scotty some scotch.”
Spock blushed furiously as he scrambled to stand.
Jim grinned and stood up, leaning toward Spock and planting a big fat kiss on his lips. “I love you too.”
