Jim stood before the grave of his mother, buried next to his father in the Kirk family cemetery just slightly northeast of the Riverside farm. His grandparents were buried there too. Even Sam. His parents had arranged to have Sam’s remains from Deneva returned to Earth. Jim hadn’t been there for that. Or for his father. But he was here now, after the service.
Beside him stood Spock. Bones had offered to come too, but, when Jim decided to go to the graveside after it was all over, Jim had assured Bones he was all right to go by himself. Spock had followed him anyway.
“I guess if you believe in that sort of thing, they’re reunited somewhere.”
“Is that what they would have wanted?” Spock asked.
Jim shook his head. “I honestly don’t know. They didn’t always have the best marriage. They were separated for years when I was a kid.”
“Oh?” Spock seemed surprised by this.
“Dad was a simple guy. He was content to spend his days working the farm, but Mom wasn’t. That wasn’t the life she saw herself living. So one year, behind his back I guess, she applied for a scientist’s job on another planet.” He smiled grimly. “Tarsus IV. I don’t know if she thought he’d go with her or didn’t care, but of course Dad didn’t. She came back once for my birthday. After that, she stayed away. Me and Sam stayed with Dad until one year he sent me to stay with her. That’s how I met the Leightons.”
Spock just listened to Jim, as he mostly did, without comment. That was fine.
“They were doctors. I never understood why Kodos executed them. Or how he picked any of those that he did. Mom and I were spared. Thomas too. Anyway, eventually, we moved back to Earth and the farmhouse, and I guess things improved with Dad. But I’m not sure they were ever…completely happy.”
His first officer moved closer to him. Jim wondered if Spock even knew he had. He’d thought that he could handle this by himself, that it was preferred really, but somehow having Spock by his side helped. And felt right in a way it wouldn’t have with anyone else.
He turned to Spock with a slight smile. “Well, Mister Spock, ready to depart?”
“When you are, Captain.”
Jim looked back once more at his parents resting place. Then back to Spock. He leaned close and kissed Spock softly, then pulled back to get his bearings.
Spock offered his arm to Jim’s surprise. He took it and they walked together away from the cemetery and Riverside.
Not sure what June will bring for flashes. I am thinking not every day and not necessarily every MWF. Just when the mood strikes. There will definitely be some. No dout.
I finished One More Night on Friday and my next plan is to finish Cosmic Love. I won’t be posting any more of it here, I intend to finish it on AO3. Sorry about that, but the ongoing flashes that make one story isn’t working for me right now. I want to return to flashes of the nature where it’s one and done, at least for a little while.
Once Cosmic Love is finished, I’ll return, hopefully, to updating my WIPS on AO3. To be honest I’ve lost the mojo a bit for I Dream of Jim and I might decide to delete it and give it up. I haven’t decided for sure but that’s my thought right now. I know that might be disappointing but I feel it’s just not working for me. We will see.
A certain someone has requested a song fic and my plan is to get that going in June too. Shouldn’t very long.
The family, those of us who matter ha ha, are taking a trip to remember my mother, after the service later in June. I’ll be gone for a few days in the middle of the month.
I still plan on posting flashes for Christmas in July, never fear, for those who eagerly look forward to those.
Jim Kirk looked up from the pad of paper he’d been scribbling on to the wide-eyed incredulous stare of Leonard “Bones” McCoy .
“What?”
“I thought you were actually taking notes during that lecture only to find out you’re writing that crap instead.”
Jim snorted. “Notes? You have to be kidding.”
“I don’t know, Jim. I thought maybe we came here to attend this conference to learn something. Silly me. You’re acting like a lovestruck school—”
“Don’t even think about finishing that sentence.” He leaned back in his chair. “It’s not that I don’t want to learn, Bones, but on this particular subject—”
“Hush.”
Just then the lecturer approached their table. The man, Abraham Waller, hurried over to Jim.
“Captain Kirk! What a pleasure.”
“Hello, Abraham. It’s great to see you. And please, it’s Jim.”
“Jim.” He glanced at Bones. “You must be Doctor McCoy. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Bones, looking unusually uncertain for him, shook Abraham’s hand. “Yes, I am. It’s a pleasure to meet you. Great lecture and subject.”
“Thank you, but of course Jim’s responsible for the course material and all that I spoke of.”
Bones stared at Jim, mouth hanging open. He closed it. “Of course.”
“Jim, if you’re available this evening, my wife and I would love to meet you for dinner.”
“That would be great. Contact me later with the information and we’ll set something up.” Jim smiled.
“I will. Nice to meet you again, Doctor.”
Bones gave him a look. “You could have told me, you know.”
Jim shrugged. “And missed that shocked look on your face?”
“What could you have told the doctor?”
“Oh, hey, Spock.”
“Jim here pretty much wrote our last lecture.”
Spock nodded. “I am aware.”
“Wait, you told Spock but—”
“Bones.”
Spock glanced down at Jim’s pad. “Jim + Spock? What does that mean, Captain?”
“It means that your captain is a school—”
Jim laughed. “Actually, Abraham Waller wants to have dinner, how about you be my plus one?”
“Very well, I accept.”
Bones grimaced. “Just like that?”
“Just like what, Doctor?”
Bones sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Jim just asked you out on a date, your first date, and you agreed without so much as a by your leave.”
Spock stared at him. “As a matter of fact I have gone on several dates with the captain.”
“Dates?” Bones asked, incredulous.
“Correct.”
“Dates like to dinner.”
“We often dine in the mess together.”
Bones chuckled. “That doesn’t count. That’s a group thing. Movies, romantic dinners, long walks, that kind of thing. That’s a date, Spock. Not chess or eating in the mess.”
Spock seemed to consider this. “I see. That is the only definition of dates with regard to the captain?”
Jim smirked as Bones seemed quite satisfied with the entire thing.
“Well, was there something else you consider a date, Spock?” Bones asked, grinning.
Spock shrugged. “So, the numerous occasions we engaged in sexual intercourse do not, in fact, count?”
Bones choked. “What?”
Jim rose. “You should have minded your own business, Bones. Come on, Spock. Let’s get ready for our first date according to Bones.”
Even before he spoke, Jim knew who had found him outside on a raised deck that overlooked the sea and the Golden Gate Bridge. Jim supposed it could have been Bones, but no. Bones seemed to know instinctively when it was best to leave his friend alone.
Whereas…
“Hi, Spock.”
“You have left your own celebration.”
It sounded vaguely accusatory though Jim doubted Spock meant it that way.
“Needed some air.” Jim smiled faintly. “It’s a beautiful night and you can see a lot of stars.”
Spock watched Jim instead of the stars. Or at least Jim felt Spock’s gaze on his face.
“You are unhappy with the outcome.”
“Well.” Jim shrugged.
“Most Starfleet officers would be eager for promotion.”
“I’m not most. You know that by now.”
Spock didn’t say anything to that, but he did move his gaze to the stars. “It coincides with your birthday.”
“Yep and that’s another punch in the gut,” Jim said with a laugh.
“I recall another birthday I was there for the celebration.”
Jim nodded. “Back on Yorktown. Yeah. A lot has changed since then.”
Spock and Uhura were no longer together. Chekov had died. Jaylah was the Enterprise’s navigator now, and her captain…well, it wasn’t Jim anymore. Not now.
Everything had changed and nothing had changed.
“See that star? The really bright one?”
“Indeed.”
“I was thinking of making a wish.”
“A wish, Admiral?”
Jim winced at that. “Don’t call me that, Spock. It’s Jim.”
“Very well, Jim.”
“There’s an ancient Earth song.” Jim sang, “When you wish upon a star, makes no difference who you are, anything your heart desires, will come to you.”
“You have an unexpectedly pleasant voice.”
Jim laughed. “Okay, I’ll take that as a compliment.”
“Do you wish often on stars, Jim?”
“I haven’t in years. But I once did.”
“What did you wish for?”
Jim sighed and stayed quiet for a moment. He didn’t really know how it had happened but somehow the two of them had positioned themselves as they spoke so that they stood almost impossibly close. He ought to move, he guessed, but he didn’t.
“When I was a small boy, I wished that my dad would be alive. After that, when I was a bit older, I wished my mom would come home. Then I wished Frank would disappear. I wished I wasn’t hun…a bunch of things. But I stopped when I was a teenager because nothing I ever wished for came true. It’s been years since I even bothered.”
He felt Spock’s gaze again, unwavering.
“Why now then?”
“Desperation?” He laughed, but it was self-mocking. “Wanting something so much and knowing you’ll never ever have it no matter what the song says.”
“And what are you wishing for tonight, Jim?”
Jim met Spock’s unreadable gaze. “I don’t think I’m supposed to tell you.”
“Why not?”
The corner of Jim’s mouth tugged upward against his will. “Wishing etiquette?”
Spock arched a brow. “If your wishes do not come true what harm is there in telling me?”
“What harm indeed.”
“Jim?”
He sighed then, put his hand on Spock’s jaw and saw the widening of Spock’s dark eyes. The recognition there.
“Anyone ever tell you that you ask too many questions, Spock?”
Jim kissed him. There was a moment where he felt Spock’s surprise through the touch of their lips. And just when Jim wondered if Spock would pull away, Spock put a hand on Jim’s waist.
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.”
I have today off from work and am going over to my sister’s later. Try out her new pool and spend time together as a family. I’ll return to work tomorrow.
Ma was Catholic so we are doing a funeral mass for her as well as internment at the cemetery after for her ashes. Years ago when my dad died and was cremated, she bought a plot next to his, so in this way, they will once more be together. Unfortunately, I guess these arrangements take time and with the holiday coming up, the services won’t be until after Memorial Day. We wanted it as soon as possible, for pretty obvious reasons, but that wasn’t going to be granted to us.
I’ll take my three bereavement days I get at work when the service is. Yeah three days to grieve your loved ones doesn’t seem nearly enough does it?
Anyway, some time this week, if I feel like it, I will take a stab at the other chapter that remains on One More Night. No promises, but I am thinking about it.
Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto) 