Spirk (with a small dose of Pinto)

Tag: Star Trek

  • Twelve Days of Christmas

    A prompt…

    On the first day of Christmas…

    Jim could not contain his mirth as he eyed the outfit Bones wore. “Oh. My God. Are you actually the partridge?” He fingered the outer part of Bones’ costume. “And this part is the tree?”’

    “Shut up.” Partridge Bones shoved him. “What the hell are you, anyway?”

    “Five Golden Rings. Duh.”

    Jim wore a lightweight T-shirt with golden rings he’d cut out from gold lame material and then attached them to the T-Shirt. No way was he going to wear something as ridiculously extravagant as Bones’ Partridge in a Pear Tree getup.

    Bones narrowed his eyes and grimaced as he snatched up a glass of Holiday Punch as an ensign with a tray passed by. “I only see four rings. Four, Jim.”

    Jim frowned. “Hmm. Weird. I wonder where that fifth one went.” He turned around to look behind him.

    “No, it’s not hanging from your ass. Damn, Jim. You can’t even get something that simple right.”

    Jim grinned and shrugged.

    “Oh hell. There’s Scotty and Uhura as Two Turtle Doves. I may throw up.”

    He laughed. “It was her idea to do this in the first place.”

    “I know.  Where’s your lover boy?” Bones scowled. “Don’t tell me you let Spock get out of this because…”

    “I didn’t! He’s over there piping or something.”

    “Huh?”

    “Eleven Pipers Piping. That’s what Spock is. Only he’s just one. Obviously.”

    “One Spock is enough to handle,” Bones said dryly.

    Jim smiled. “I don’t know. I’d be happy dealing with eleven Spocks.”

    “Love really is blind.”

    Chekov suddenly appeared, looking vaguely harangued.

    “What’s wrong with you?” Bones asked.

    “I have a pounding headache, Doktor. Hikaru will not stop Drumming Drumming.”

    Bones rolled his eyes. “Go A’Leaping somewhere else, will ya?”

    Chekov eyed Jim. “There are only four rings.”

    “Yeah, yeah. I’ll find the other. Must have lost it.”

    Chekov leaped off.

    The two turtle doves walked up then and Jim had to admit he might join Bones in throwing up.

    Across the rec room he saw Rand doing the ladies dancing thing. He shook his head.

    “Captain, you’re missing a ring,” Uhura pointed out.

    “Yeah, yeah. Tell me something I don’t know.”

    At that moment, Jim’s own true love appeared by his side, dressed as a piper and holding a musical pipe thing. He looked a little more Pied Piper of Hamlin than a Christmas Piper, but whatever.

    “Hi, honey,” Jim greeted him.

    Spock arched a brow. “What happened to the fifth golden ring?”

    “Oh for heaven’s sake,” Jim exclaimed. He patted himself up and down. “It’s gotta be here somewhere.” He reached into his pants pocket and withdrew a small golden band. “Here it is.”

    Uhura gasped.

    Jim winked at her and then dropped to his knees. He wiggled the gold band. “Here’s the fifth one. Five golden rings. Spock, will you…”

    “I can’t believe you’re gonna do this now,” Bones muttered,

    “Shut up.” Jim grinned up at a blushing Spock. “Will you be my husband?”

    “Jim,” Spock whispered.

    His brows furrowed. “Is that a yes?”

    “Of course it’s a yes!” Uhura yelled.

    Jim smirked at her. “I’d still like to hear it from Spock, if you don’t mind.” He rose to his feet and held out the golden ring. “What do you say, Piper? Want to play my pipes for the rest of our lives?”

    “Jim!”

    “Oh. My. God. I take it back,” Uhura said, laughing uncontrollably. “He says no!”

    Spock gave her a look, then looked back at Jim. “Ridiculous proposal notwithstanding, yes, I will.”

    Jim whooped and pulled Spock the Piper into his arms for a thorough kiss.

    “All right everyone. Places! We’re going to act out the song.” Scotty said with a clap.

    Jim kept kissing Spock. “Later.”

    “Much later,” Spock murmured, leading Jim and his golden rings away.

  • I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus

    “Uncle Jim!”

    Jim lowered his coffee cup and looked up from his PADD into the wide blue eyes of his four year old nephew, Peter. He smiled. “What’s up?”

    “Whatcha doin’?”

    “Looking at some messages I received.”

    Peter scrunched up his face. “For work?”

    Jim sensed a trap. He slowly sipped his coffee. “Er.”

    “Daddy said you aren’t supposed to be doing work while you’re here.”

    Daddy has a big ugly trap, Jim thought. But he continued to smile. “It’s just a teeny bit.”

    Peter sort of shrugged at that. “Santa comes tonight!”

    “I know he does.” Jim scooped the boy up onto his lap. “Are you excited?”

    “Yes. Are you?”

    Jim chuckled. “Well, sure I am.”

    “What did you want Santa to bring you?”

    “Uh. Well.”

    “Mister Spock?”

    Jim’s face heated a little. “Uh, no.”

    “He likes you, Uncle Jim. I know he does.”

    “Well, even if he does, I wouldn’t ask Santa for that. Santa doesn’t bring people,” Jim told his nephew.

    “He doesn’t?”

    “Nope.” Definitely time for a change of subject. “What did you ask Santa for?”

    “A red truck,” Peter said, matter-of-factly.

    “Well, I bet he brings you one. Did you make him cookies?”

    “Yep. Mister Spock helped me.”

    Jim found himself laughing again. He patted Peter’s leg. “This I gotta see.”

    Peter jumped off him and Jim stood up following him into the kitchen. They’d made sugar cookies, of course, with all kinds of colorful icing. Some were much more neat and elegant than the others so Jim figured he could guess who made those.

    “Those are cool. Okay, go see your Mommy. I think it’s probably time for you to go to bed so Santa can come.”

    Peter ran off to see his mommy and with a shake of his head, Jim grabbed a tree shaped cookie and went in search of Spock.

    He found the Vulcan sitting outside on the front porch with Sam. He’d been quite surprised when Spock had decided to come with him to visit his brother and his family for the holidays. Sam, Aurelan, and Peter had moved to the old farmhouse in Riverside, taking it over from their mom, who now resided on a colony planet, doing research there.

    The Enterprise and her crew were on a short leave on Earth while some repairs and upgrades to the ship were done. Spock had declared there really wasn’t enough time to warrant spending his leave on New Vulcan and since he and Uhura had never really revived their ended relationship after their experience with Krall and Altamid, they weren’t spending their leave together.

    That left Spock deciding to join Jim.

    It was a rare delight to get to spend time with his family for the season, especially since he and Sam had put aside their differences a while back, and an even greater delight to have Spock there.

    And yeah, he guessed it should bother him that even his four-year-old nephew figured out he had a crush on Spock. A crush. Only. Really. But he doubted anything would ever come of it. Spock and Uhura had been done for a while and it wasn’t like Spock declared undying love as a result.

    Sam glanced up at Jim from his chair. He smiled. “I guess it’s time for me to go play Santa, huh?”

    “Getting close, yeah. Peter’s pretty excited for his red truck.”

    Sam grinned. “Santa will deliver, no worries.” He rose from his chair. “All yours. Oh.” He looked back at Spock. “Think about what I said. Goodnight.”

    Jim watched him go into the house and then he lowered himself into the chair Sam had vacated. He was pretty sure there was a faint green hue across Spock’s cheeks, but the light on the porch was pretty bad.

    Spock was avoiding Jim’s gaze too and Jim didn’t feel like making Spock even more uncomfortable, so he decided not to ask his first officer what Sam had said to him.

    “I had one of your cookies,” he said instead.

    That caused Spock to look at him and he visibly relaxed. “I had one as well. They do not taste terrible.”

    Jim shook his head. “Yeah, good job. You can make cookies for me anytime.” He winked. Then paused. “Are you all right? This has got to be pretty boring for you.”

    “Not at all,” Spock replied. “You have a very lively and interesting family.”

    Jim snorted. “That’s one way of putting it.”

    Spock looked away once more. “Jim.”

    “Yeah?”

     “I wanted to come along with you on leave for a more personal benefit.”

    “Oh?”

    Spock blew out a breath. “It is…I find it difficult to discuss this with you.”

    Alarm shot through Jim. “Spock, you aren’t going to…you don’t want to leave again, do you?”

    Spock looked quickly at him. “You know about that?” He shook his head. “Of course. The doctor. He has a big mouth.”

    Jim agreed with that, but he said, “True, but in this case it wasn’t Bones. Uhura told me.”

    “I see.”

    “Are you? Going to leave?”

    Spock looked down at his hands. “That depends mostly on you.”

    Jim licked his lips. “On me?”

    “Your brother recommends that I be honest with you. I have…developed romantic feelings for you.” Spock let out another heavy breath. “In reality, I have held them for some time, but for some of that I was in a serious relationship with Nyota, and without some prior indication from you of a mutually shared level of feelings, I thought it best to maintain that relationship, but afterward when Nyota and I decided to remain friends only, I…”

    “Spock.”

    He looked up at Jim, his dark eyes wider than normal in his very pale face.

    Jim smiled bright. “Stop rambling. I have the same feelings.”

    “You…do?”

    “Are you kidding?” Jim jumped up from his chair and moved the few feet to where Spock sat. “Move over a bit.”

    Spock did, of course, without hesitation. Jim sat on the chair with Spock. Mostly on top, but he noticed that the Vulcan didn’t seem to mind. In fact Spock’s arms came up and around him.

    “Why don’t you kiss me and find out for yourself?”

    They leaned in for the kiss when the door from the house burst open.

    “Uncle Jim! Uncle Jim?”

    Jim rolled his eyes, pulled back and gave Peter a smile. “Why aren’t you in bed, buddy?”

    “I wanted to see Santa.”

    “Oh. I see. And did you?”

    “Yes! And Mommy was kissing him!”

    Jim laughed. “I bet she was.”

    Peter eyed them. He was dressed in the most adorable feety pajamas Jim had ever seen, green and red striped with some Christmas creature on them.

    “Santa brought you your present too!” Peter exclaimed.

    He laughed. “Yeah, I guess he did.”

    “I wanna see if he ate the cookies!” Peter hopped up and down and ran back into the house.  

    Spock arched a brow. “Your present?”

    Jim put his hand on Spock’s jaw. “Uh-huh. I guess I was wrong when I said Santa didn’t bring people for presents. Because he definitely brought me you. About that ki—”

    But Spock’s mouth was already covering his, silencing him.     

  • Ding Dong Merrily on High

    Our fall guys return

    “Ding Dong Merrily on High, In Heaven the Bells are Ringing,” Jim sang out. “Ding Dong Verily the Sky, is Riv’n with Angels Singing.”

    “What is the meaning of this song you are singing, Captain?”

    Jim smiled as he lifted a string of lights to the artificial Christmas tree he’d put up in the living room of the farmhouse. They’d compromised on the fake tree. He had wanted to get a real one, but Spock had shown his displeasure over killing trees.

    “It basically means that a whole bunch of angels are singing in heaven because the birth of the son of God. This particular Christmas Carol is quite old.”

    “From the twenty-second century?”

    Jim laughed. “No older. The music is from some time in the fifteen hundreds, but the lyrics were added about three hundred years after that. Anyway, my grandmother liked the song, so that’s how I know about it. It’s not that widely sang now, probably wasn’t even before. But you know, I like to. Makes me think of her and those old days.”

    “You have a pleasing singing voice, Jim,” Spock informed him.

    “You don’t have to say so, I still love you even if my singing bothers you,” Jim joked.

    “It does not and I meant what I said.” Spock bent over a box of ornaments they had purchased along with the tree. Jim supposed there might be ornaments and lights somewhere in the basement, he sure as hell didn’t know where, but he felt disinclined to go searching for them so they’d bought new ones. Red and Green and Silver and Gold balls. Spock removed several from the box and put some on the branches of the tree and handed some to Jim to place them himself.

    Jim looked toward the kitchen and the window in it. “It’s clouding over. Which means it’s probably going to storm later.”

    “Snow?” Spock could barely hide the alarm in his voice.

    Jim tried not to show his amusement. “Nah. I don’t think so. I could be wrong, but it seems early in the season for that. Probably just rain.”

    Spock relaxed slightly. “It seems cold enough for snow. And I can say that being cooped up inside with you is not an unpleasant undertaking.”

    Jim winked. “Sounds great to me too. And even if it’s just rain, we can be cooped up together. Hell, we can just pretend. I sure don’t want to go anywhere. We have plenty of provisions. Coffee, tea, ice cream, eggnog. Lots of food. We’ll be good for several days if we want.”

    They finished adding the last ornaments and then Jim connected and turned on the lights.

    He stood back, arm around Spock, as they gazed at the lit, decorated tree.

    Jim smiled. “Oh, wait I forgot the star for the top.”

    He grabbed up the gold sequined star and stood on tiptoes to put it on. Then he returned to where Spock stood.

    “What is the significance of the star?”

    “I guess to represent the star that led the three wisemen to the manger when Jesus was born. Some people put other things up there. Angels and the like. But I like the star. It’s pretty, huh?”

    Spock nodded. “It is.”

    Jim leaned over and kissed Spock’s jaw. “Let’s grab some nog and cuddle on the couch in front of the tree.”

    And as they turned toward the kitchen, Jim noticed the first flakes of snow falling. He decided not to point them out to Spock.    

  • Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer

    I kind of like to imagine this is the same Jim from the seeing Prime in the library. He seems the same to me.

    “Your nose is as red as Snow White’s Apple,” Leonard “Bones” McCoy cracked to Jim Kirk as they strode through the middle quad path at Starfleet Academy.

    “Funny. I’ve been sneezing all day and my nose is starting to run. Think I caught a cold from…hey!” Jim squealed and covered his neck with his hand. “What you just stab me with?”

    “Medication, you baby. Actually considering the time of year, your nose is as red as Rudolph’s.”

    “You know that reminds me, don’t you think Santa was a dick to Rudolph?”

    “Well. Sure. That was kinda the point, wasn’t it? To show that even a good guy like Santa can get it wrong.”

    Jim stumbled and then stopped, putting his hand on his forehead. “I think I’m getting a fever.”

    “I think I have something for that.” Bones dug into his medical bag.

    “Easy.” Jim dodged him. “I’m still recovering from that bee sting you gave me only seconds ago.”

    “Do you wanna get better or not? Haven’t you got a big date with the hob—”

    “Jim. Doctor.”

    “Speak of the devil,” Bones muttered.

    Spock arched his brow at Bones but otherwise ignored him in favor of gazing at Jim intently. “You do not look well.”

    “It’s the bright red nose.”

    Jim shot Bones an irritated look. “Be quiet. I’m sure Spock can see for himself.”

    “Pretty sure the whole campus can spot that shiny beacon,” Bones cracked. “It’s glowing. You sure you don’t want another shot?”

    “You received a medical procedure from the doctor?”

    “Involuntary, but yeah. That’s quite all right, Bones, I’ll pass. Be on your way.”

    “Let me know if that fever gets worse!” Bones called as he hurried away.

    Spock’s intense look became concerned. “You have a fever?”

    “Just a small one.” Jim sighed. “But, um, I don’t think I should go to the dinner with your parents. I don’t want to infect anyone. I might be contagious. I’m sorry.”

    “It is I who feel regret, Jim. I will cancel.”

    “No, you don’t have to…”

    “My parents are in San Francisco for an extended period. We can schedule the dinner for another time when you are feeling better. I would prefer to watch over your illness.”

    Jim smiled. He did, even though, he really felt pretty damn miserable. But how could he when he had this amazing Vulcan standing nearby, ready to take care of him?

    And though Jim hadn’t quite got to the point where he told Spock he loved him or anything, Jim was certain he did.

    “Okay.” He took a step forward and stumbled again, but Spock seized hold of him instantly. “Guess I feel pretty crappy.”

    “Indeed. Come, Jim. It’s time for me to put you to bed.”

    “Wish we were going to bed for something fun.”

    “Jim…”

    “I know. And this nose. It’s not very comfwutable.”

    Spock shook his head and helped Jim out of the quad to get him to bed.

  • It Came Upon the Midnight Clear

    “What time is it?” Spock knew it was late and he also knew he should know what time it was, because normally he kept track of such things, automatically. And it was true, he really did know, but he wanted to hear it from someone else, and that showed just how rattled he really was.

    “Midnight, sir,” the ensign added.

    Midnight. So of course he had missed it. Missed…

    Spock had been so sure this meeting would not last that long, but it had. Much longer than he had ever anticipated. He closed up his PADD carrying case. He looked toward the high-rise windows. “And the weather?”

    “Clear, sir. Though with a slight wind.”

    It would take him at least ten minutes to get there, even at a run, and these days he didn’t run as well as he once had, though he supposed he needed to get back into the practice, because it was time to run, even if it did take him longer than the ten minutes he calculated. It was likely too late. He’d missed it, but he had to take the chance.

    Just in case…

    Spock was glad he had chosen to wear pants today instead of a robe for it made the dash across San Francisco easier than if he’d had to deal with the robe. Even still, when he reached the entrance to the park, his gaze went to the festive candy canes and holly attached to the overhead arch that marked the entrance, reminding Spock of the time of year it was, even though it was hard to forget because…

    He reached the clearing, the meeting spot, inside the park, and saw it was vacant. Nothing and no one was there, in the well-lit area. Sorrow overtook him, and his steps faltered as he came to a stop.

    He’d been too late. Or else, perhaps, he had never even come.

    “Spock.”

    Spock spun around, his gaze landing on the smiling, beautiful, amazing man who was his husband.

    “Jim!”

    Jim laughed and ran to him, into Spock’s arms, who pulled him close, and held him as tight as it surely was to do.

    “You came!”

    “Of course I did. It is our anniversary.”

    Jim pulled back, but only to kiss him, deeply, sweetly, thoroughly.

    “I almost left.”

    Spock nodded. “I know.” He pulled Jim closed again, closing his eyes. “I know.”

  • Pretty Paper

    “Jim, where are you going? The party barely started.”

    Jim paused at the not so subtle condemnation in his CMO’s tone. But as his gaze swept across the rec room one more time and landed on Spock and Uhura, arms around each other, as they socialized with everyone else at the party, he was reminded as to why he considered that position on Yorktown.

    “Not feeling very celebratory.”

    Bones followed his gaze and then back to Jim’s face. His expression was not without sympathy even if his words were a bit. “You need to get beyond it, Jim. You can’t keep letting it eat you up. It’ll effect your duties.”

    “It’s not,” Jim snapped.

    “I didn’t say it was. I said it will. You didn’t heed my advice and get them transferred, so you gotta buck up and accept it. Move on.”

    Jim nodded. “I have. I had a grand old time just last month on shore leave with Areel Shaw.”

    “Is that serious?”

    He snorted. ‘Nah, not really.” He grabbed up a glass of what Sulu had declared was Holiday Spiced Punch and a plate that contained about a dozen decorated cut-out cookies. “I’m off to my quarters, Bones.”

    “You’re going to have a belly ache,” Bones called after him.

    “Yeah, yeah.”

    He made it back to his quarters without being accosted by anyone and the minute he did, he stuffed a cookie, in the shape of Santa’s boot, into his mouth. He set the punch down and went to his wardrobe to get out of his uniform, munching absently on the cookie. He opened a drawer and discovered a square-shaped box neatly wrapped in shiny red paper with a glossy green bow around it.

    Jim pulled it out, smiling. Had to have been Bones, he thought.

    There was a tag, well, a folded card anyway, so he lifted it up and saw the words To: Jim From: Spock.

    Now that was weird. Spock? Give him a gift?

    He brought it to the bed and sat down to open it. Inside was a knitted sweater, one that Spock’s mom had made for Spock, Jim recognized it as one Spock wore frequently, when casual, which was still not that frequently. He lifted it up and a note fell out.

    I understand that sometimes a treasured possession given as a gift to another can be a way to declare ones intentions and warmer feelings. If you share those warmer feelings I ask that you wear this to the holiday gathering. If you do not, I will know.

    Oh crap. No wonder Spock wouldn’t look at him. Not the entire night.

    Jim hurriedly tore off his uniform shirts and slipped the sweater over his head. It smelled of Spock. He grabbed another cookie on the way out, and scrambled back to the rec room, hoping it would not be too late.

    The door opened as he approached and out came Spock. He stared at Jim.

    “I do,” Jim said, breathless. “I feel everything. My feelings aren’t just warmer they’re burning up.”

    For far too long Spock continued to stare, wordlessly. And Jim started thinking he’d gotten it all wrong after all.

    Then Spock’s lips quirked upward, his arm reached out, his hand extended, and he grabbed onto that sweater, pulling Jim toward him. Their lips met. And somewhere, Jim heard music.

    “It’s the holiday music from the party,” Spock said, amused, against his lips. “Did you want to go back inside?”

    “Hell no. I have cookies in my quarters. Let’s go there.”

  • Silent Night

    Jim closed the oven door after peering at the half-baked gingerbread people. He set the time on his watch. And glanced out toward the window. Sighed. He walked over to the coatrack and only picked out a scarf, which he wrapped around his neck.

    She hugged herself as Jim approached her on the ground just below the porch steps. Each hand was on her sweater-covered elbows. She got kind of quiet and melancholy around the holidays. Thinking of his dad, Jim figured.

    “You okay, Mom? The gingerbread’s in the oven.”

    “Sure. It’s so…silent.”

    He smiled a little. “There’s never a lot of noise out here.” His smile slipped. “Unless it was Frank yelling.”

    “Mm hmm.” That was all she said in acknowledgement of their mutually hated enemy. Jim supposed there wasn’t much else to say.  He knew her arm still pained her when it got too cold from the bad break he’d given her. Just as she knew he had never repaired the chipped tooth he had in the back of his month from the punch he’d taken. Dark family secrets best ignored now that Frank was gone.  “It’s quietest when it snows, oddly enough. Think it’ll snow this year?”

    “Probably not this early. Not this year. It’s been warmer than last winter I think. Pretty much everywhere.”

    He wondered again why he had come here this winter break. Why he hadn’t just stayed in San Francisco, as he had the prior year. She had asked and he had nothing else to do and nowhere else to go. Bones went to Georgia. He’d invited Jim, but Jim didn’t feel like being a nuisance, the poor unwanted friend who messed up Bones’ family plans.

    And then…

    His mom stiffened suddenly as Jim saw the approaching hover car lights at the same time as she did.

    “Who could that be?”

    They both squinted against the bright light as the hover car stopped in front of them to the left. The lights went out and the door opened, a lone figure stepping out.

    And though Jim couldn’t really see him well, Jim would know him anywhere, that shape, that height. That awareness.

    “Spock!”

    He moved forward and before he even thought to stop himself he threw his arms around the Vulcan. “You came.”

  • Comfort and Joy (God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen)

    Jim woke to the feel of surrounding love and warmth. As though he were enclosed in a cocoon. It was not exactly a strange feeling, but one he was definitely unused to.

    He was almost too warm, bordering on uncomfortably hot, but he still didn’t wish to move or dislodge the heavy Vulcan body encasing him.

    Spock’s arm was firmly tucked against him, holding onto Jim’s middle as though he never intended to let Jim go.  That would be okay with Jim.

    Of course, he knew they would be forced to move eventually. They had too much to do, too many duties, too much whatever to do, but for now, he was content to stay there.

    When Spock stirred, he was so close to Jim he felt the hot breath on the back of his throat. The arm already wrapped around him tightened more.

    “Good morning,” Jim whispered. The words were simple but felt unused. He couldn’t remember when he’d awakened like this before with anyone and that it was with Spock…Jim could barely fathom that.

    “Good morning.” Spock’s voice sounded both hoarse and hesitant.

    Jim feared that Spock regretted everything and that he would suddenly release Jim and scramble from the bed to beat a hasty retreat. He felt himself tense in anticipation.

    But Spock’s arm pulled him closer against him. And Spock murmured, “This is a most pleasant awakening.”

    Jim’s chest loosened and his heart leapt. “Yeah.” He cleared his throat. “Yeah. It sure is.”

    “I have been waiting a long time for this.”

    “You have?” Jim asked, surprised. Then he turned to teasing, “Mistletoe?”

    “No,” Spock answered as though Jim had been serious. “Though I am pleased it got the matter going, so to speak. That and the chocolate caramel Nyota slipped me.”

    “She gave you candy?”

    “To loosen me up for the holiday gathering.”

    “Maybe she deserves a commendation for that,” Jim said, this time only half joking. “For the record, I have too.”

    Spock’s other arm came around him, turning him around to face Spock, gathering Jim close to his chest. Jim sighed against Spock’s throat.

    “Love is a many splendored thing,” he murmured.

    “Hmm?”

    Jim shook his head. “Nothing. Never mind. I don’t want to move.”

    “Let’s not.”

    Jim smiled. Kissed Spock’s pulse at his throat.

    “This is such comfort,” Spock whispered.

    His smile widened. “Such joy.”

  • Flash Fic, November 22, 2019 (Fall Guys)

    Dear Nyota

    Things are going extremely well. The captain and I are becoming increasingly comfortable with each other and quite close.

    He shows signs of being weaker than normal, due to his extended recovery time, but we have become completely involved with each other (pause to blush), and I am aware you will know what I mean by this. It is…gratifying.

    Recently, Jim announced that we would partake in the tradition of being thankful. In ancient history, Humans in this locale took part in the feast-gathering holiday known as ‘Thanksgiving’. The captain wishes to participate.

    Therefore, we went to the grocery store to purchase the necessary provisions.

    “That is an eight pound turkey,” Spock said as he watched Jim place the frozen headless bird into their cart.

    Jim grinned. “Yep.”

    “Since you are the only one consuming the turkey is that not a lot of meat for one individual?”

    “This is the smallest I could find. Don’t worry, I like leftovers. Turkey sandwiches, turkey omelet, turkey soup, Turkey Tetrazzini.” Jim patted Spock’s arm. “I got it covered. Now…cranberry sauce.”

    “Over there.” Spock pointed to a display of cans.

    “No, no. Not those. Yuck. I want actual cranberries. Let’s go to produce.”

    Spock followed after Jim as he wheeled their cart to the produce section. Besides the turkey in the cart, Jim had already placed a package of cubed cornbread, and packages of powdered gravy mix Jim planned to doctor with some of the cooked turkey juices.

    “Aha!” Jim stopped the cart at a display of numerous bags of fresh cranberries. “Now we’re talking.” He added two bags to their cart.

    “Do you know how to make those?” Spock asked with no little skepticism.

    “Of course I do. You add sugar and cook them in a pan. Besides, I can follow a recipe, babe.” He moved on to potatoes. “You’ll eat mashed, right? Without the gravy?”

    “I will.”

    “Great. And we’ll get you some acorn squash and green beans too.”

    “That is satisfactory.”

    “I’ll make a pumpkin pie too. Completely vegetarian, no worries.”

    “I am not,” Spock assured him.

    Jim picked up a few other things, checked out, and they made their way back home just as the sky opened up and started to rain.

    “Ha!” Jim declared triumphantly. “We made it. Barely, but it counts.”

    Spock turned toward the window as it started to downpour.  “It does indeed count.”

    “Now, let’s get this stuff put away so we can snuggle under the covers upstairs.”

    “And perhaps a little more than snuggling.”

    Jim laughed. “Yeah, okay. You found me out. Way more than snuggling.

    Our time here is peaceful and uneventful for the most part. I believe if we spent more than the allotted time here, Jim would become extremely bored. Even now I see at time that he stares off into nothingness, often with a wistful look on his face.

    Having experienced so much uncertainly and danger on missions that have risked all our lives, I find this extended version of shore leave quite appreciated.

    My final bit of news is that I have made the discovery that Jim and I share an ancient revered bond. We are Telsu. T’hy’la.

    It all makes a lot of what I have experienced and felt make more sense.

    It is fitting that this is the time of year to be thankful, because I can only be filled with gratitude for Jim and for your urging of me to advise him how I felt. For that and your endless love, support and kindness, I thank you.

    I have informed him I am writing to you, so he sends his best, and advised he looks forward to the reunion of our family on the Enterprise.

    I am likewise pleased that your relationship with Mr. Scott is progressing at a satisfactory pace.

    I must go now, as he has asked for my assistance with the pumpkin pie.

    With great affection,

    Spock