ken_ichijouji (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ken_ichijouji) wrote2010-12-29 01:27 pm
ken_ichijouji) wrote2010-12-29 01:27 pm
Entry tags:
Fic: To the End (La Comédie) 3a/7
Title: To the End (La Comédie)
Series: Star Trek XI (as if I write for anything else these days): water park 'verse
Rating: PG-13/R for some violence, swearing, and fade-to-black sexy stuff
Summary: You are cordially invited to the Starfleet social function of the year. That is, assuming these terrorists and the Enterprise Crew's own issues don't get in the way.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with the characters featured in Star Trek or the Star Trek movie from 2009. No harm was meant, so put the lawyers away, man.
Chapter Notes: Yes, the kiss Jim and Bones had last chapter is supposed to look like this. I’m sorry but I love that photo and I’m super happy to borrow it for this story.
Yes, tumblr still exists in the future. I mean the people in Starfleet have to get their macros from somewhere, don’t they?
Spot the X-Men reference, win a prize. The next big thing I’m going to write is a giant X-Men/Trek reboot fusion (hint: the Shi’ar are involved. Not the Brood, though, those things are fucking gross. Someone else can have that idea, or just write an Aliens crossover since that’s what Claremontripped off based the Brood on, because Jesus.)
I also realize that planning a huge wedding in two days is probably impossible but I’m handwaving it in that it’s the future and Starfleet has tons of financial resources and oh by the way there’s a water park on the Enterprise. Seriously, with fancy technology and a shitton of money, you can do just about anything.
Chush' sobach'ya means bullshit in Russian. Just, you know, so you’re not all going “wait what?”
The stipulation that people can’t give medical information out over communicator is a combination of something I noticed in TOS and current HIPAA laws. I realize that in TOS Bones always tells everyone everything to their faces because of Rule of Drama, but in real life you can’t give a person detailed test results over the phone because well...how do you know they’re who they say they are? Or rather I should say, they’re really not supposed to give it out over the phone. Generally they’re limited is what I’m getting at here. The Medical code about telling the Captain and the CMO something if it presents a danger to the rest of the crew I’ve completely pulled out of my ass, I mean if one of your crew members has a fever that could cause him to brutally murder someone else on your ship, you should probably know about that in advance, just saying. Or you know, the ebola virus or whatever.
Speaking of, my information about how neruotransmitters including serotonin work comes straight from the textbook “Exploring Psychology in Modules: Eighth Edition,” by David G. Meyers. I can’t say why that’s relevant until the big reveal, but if you look up a certain something that comes out in this chapter on Memory Alpha you’ll see why serotonin’s important. I am not a neuroscientist, but I am a psychology major so take that as you will.
I am neither clever nor awesome for naming the Starfleet military prison Foucault. I freely admit this. At least it’s not something as obvious as Alcatraz!
Eneh hwau' kllhwnia na imirrhlhhse is a Romulan obscenity. What’s the point of being a linguist if you can’t hurl epithets in other languages? Sadly, the Romulan dictionary does not specify what obscenity. I like to think it’s a truly colorful one, like “your mother was caught giving fellatio to a goat while her priest watched last Tuesday.” It’s probably obvious at this point that I don’t take much seriously. This includes my own fanfiction.
This chapter was split into two parts due to length. There is a link at the bottom to the second half.
The next morning, Jim woke up tangled up in the sheets and Bones’ arms. He blearily looked up at the ceiling for a moment before sitting up. Bones made a protesting sound before opening his eyes. Jim looked down at his fiancé.
Wow, that was going to take some getting used to.
Jim scrubbed a hand through his bedhead, which was sticking up in several directions on all sides.
“Okay. We are never celebrating with tequila shots again,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. “My mouth is disgusting and my head is killing me.”
Bones snorted. “Whose idea was that again? Especially after I pointed out how I generally handle clear alcohol, which is to say there is vomiting involved, but no, you said just a few shots which turned into body shots which turned into...” His voice trailed off, and he began to smirk. “Well, we both know I’m not going to complain about that particular turn of events.”
“Better not,” Jim grumbled. “Out of the 273 times we’ve had sex, that was top five for sure.”
There was a long pause as Bones just stared at Jim in disbelief.
“What?”
“You’ve counted how many times we’ve had sex? Really?”
“273 includes everything but the times we simply stopped at making out. So like...blow jobs, and so on are in that number.” He looked at Bones with a confused expression. “Wait, you mean you don’t keep track?”
“Can’t say as I do,” Bones chirped. After all, honesty was important in a relationship.
His shoulders sagging a little, Jim kind-of sighed. “I guess I just...I’ve never really...I mean I’ve slept with people more than once but not like this. So I’ve been counting because it’s kind of a novelty to me, that I can do this so much with you and never get tired of you or bored.”
He smiled and his expression became more soft as a result. “I understand. Sorry if it seemed like I was making fun of you. I just...no one’s ever done that before so it surprised me.”
Smiling, Jim leaned in and kissed him. “It’s okay.” He grimaced. “God I need to brush my teeth like a hundred times.”
As he took his hands in his, Bones shook his head and laughed. “You’re fine,” he said as he kissed him again. Jim snorted into and they lingered together. Bones took this as encouragement and quickly deepened it, pressing him back into the mattress. As he shifted to slot him in between his legs, Jim sighed a little into Bones’ mouth.
Suddenly startled by something, Jim broke the kiss. “Wait, but, I have to be on the bridge in like,” he said as he squinted across the room to the chronometer. Huh, that was weird, he couldn’t focus on the time; for some reason, it was blurry. “Thirty minutes?”
“We’re on beta shift today,” Bones murmured as he sucked on a particular spot on Jim’s neck.
“Right, I forg...oh. Oh!” Shit that felt good, and he groaned a little. “What’s gotten into you?”
This made him pull back and he looked down at Jim with a bemused expression. “We’re celebrating.”
“Yeah but we...wait.” Jim furrowed his brows. “So this is because we’re getting married? You’re jumping me because we’re getting hitched?”
He didn’t answer verbally, but he did flush a little.
“...Come to think of it, you always jump me when something has happened to us, an emotional something I mean. Or...wait is this part of the whole you showing me how you feel thing?”
The look on his face spoke volumes.
Jim sighed. “I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not,” Bones said in a reassuring tone. “Just sometimes, if it doesn’t involve running a starship or executing diplomacy on a first contact, you don’t pay as much attention as maybe someone else would.”
Jim felt his face go hot. “Now I feel like a gigantic asshole, so thanks for that.”
Bones frowned. “No, you...Jim, look.” He lightly grabbed Jim’s chin with one hand and forced him to meet his eyes. “I wouldn’t have you any other way. In fact, I love you more for it. Okay?”
He couldn’t help but relax a little at his words. “Okay. In that case, you may now resume molesting me.”
“Molesting implies that it’s not consensual,” Bones grumbled, but he did go back to kissing his neck.
“Oh no. Stop. Please,” Jim spoke in a monotone. “Better?”
“I take it back, you are an asshole,” Bones rumbled good-naturedly as he bit down a little, causing Jim to gasp loudly.
“274, I guess,” he whispered before Bones captured his lips again. Something occurred to him then and he froze before gently pushing him away. “Wait, I just...there’s something I meant to do yesterday and I need to...just let me...I promise I’ll be right back.”
He jumped out of bed, ignoring Bones’ exasperated expression, ran to the living room, grabbed his PADD, and came back to sit on the edge of the bed. He pulled up his email software.
That was weird, he couldn’t focus on that either. He could make out the words, but only if he squinted. He ignored a little voice in the back of his head that said that’d been happening more and more lately as he carefully began to type up a message.
“What’s wrong?”
“What?”
“You’re squinting,” Bones said with a touch of concern in his voice. “Why are you squinting?”
“‘I am not, I’m just focused.” He glanced up at Bones, who had his patented don’t bullshit me, Jim face. He sighed. “Things are a bit blurry, is all. I’m fine, it’s probably just the hangover.”
Bones didn’t look entirely convinced, but he did stop giving him that look. Jim stuck out his tongue at him and went back to typing his message to Spock. A sharp pain in the side of his neck made him shout.
“Ow! Jesus, Bones what the hell?”
His fiancé shrugged and placed the hypospray back on the nightstand. “You said you’re hungover,” was his only explanation.
Jim grumbled about marrying bitchy doctors as he finished his memo. He cc’ed it to Uhura and hit send. “There,” he said with a grin. “Now where were we?”
Bones grinned back, and then there wasn’t much to say after that.
------
Nyota Uhura had just finished pulling her hair up into its usual ponytail when her PADD beeped at her. She rolled her eyes.
If someone reposted that picture of Jim and Leonard to tumblr one more time, she was going to scream. Yes, it was gorgeous. Yes, she was happy for them. Seriously though, everyone in Starfleet had to have seen it by now. People needed to get over it and move on with their lives.
The PADD beeped again.
She had also been forwarded the image directly about two dozen times. People needed to give it a rest.
The PADD beeped a third time, this time giving off the chime for an urgent message.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she snapped to no one in particular. She stalked over to her and Spock’s desk, and touched the screen of the PADD to bring it out of its sleep mode. As predicted, there were new updates to the blogs she watched, and several messages with an attachment.
The most recent message, however, was from the captain and it was the one flagged as urgent. That was strange.
She opened it and as she skimmed it, her eyes widened a little.
2260.240
MEMORANDUM
From: Captain, USS Enterprise
To: First Officer
CC: Senior Communications Officer
Subject: Headaches
Spock, I know you said with meditation your headaches would go away, but I’m hereby ordering you to see Bones or Geoff in sickbay before your lunch break today. I know the threat of biological warfare has been ruled out, but I’m still concerned about your health since Vulcans pretty much never get headaches.
Uhura I’ve cc’ed you on this, because ignoring your health is damn illogical and I don’t think he gets that.
J.T. KIRK
What?
This didn’t make any sense, as Spock said he went to medical the night of the attack.
Unless...he didn’t go.
Why would he do that?
Moving more quickly than she normally would, she flipped open her communicator. “Lieutenant Uhura to medical wing, over.”
Lieutenant, this is Nurse Kowalski. What can I do for you?
Nyota paused. On the one hand, she was going behind Spock’s back. On the other hand, he had lied to her. She wasn’t angry with him for it, not yet, but she had to get to the bottom of what was happening. “Nurse, can you verify for me that First Officer Spock came into medical for treatment on Stardate 2260.238?”
Hold please.
She waited patiently.
Negative, Lieutenant he said after a moment. Nothing shows in the records about Mister Spock coming to medical the other night. I can only assume that he didn’t, because otherwise it would be documented.
She frowned. “I see. Thanks for your help.”
Not a problem. Anything else you need?
“No, that’ll do. Lieutenant Uhura out.” She closed the communicator, terminating the connection.
So Spock had lied. Why? What possible reason would he have to do that to her? She turned and looked towards the bathroom, where he was still getting ready for his shift. It was possible that he had a reason for doing so, which is why she was not angry with him.
However...she was definitely more than mildly concerned.
There were still ten minutes before they were due on the bridge. Best to just get it over with.
“Spock?”
“In a moment,” came his answer. Within seconds, he stepped out of their bathroom. “Yes?” Without a word, she handed the PADD over to him. It would have been imperceptible to anyone else, but she noticed the very small sag of his shoulders. “I see.”
She paused for a moment before speaking; she didn’t wish to sound accusatory. “Why didn’t you tell me you were still having headaches?”
“I did not wish to cause you concern,” he said in a soft tone. “I also thought, perhaps incorrectly, that meditation would fix my headache better than any medicine.” He looked sheepish, or rather as sheepish as he was capable of looking. “It did work for a few hours, but the effect was temporary. They seem to be most consistent; I have been unable to rid myself of them for any significant amount of time.”
“Then why not go to medical and take something? Why lie about going? That’s incredibly illogical, Spock, and unlike you.”
“I...,” he began and he appeared to be struggling. “I do not know how to explain, other than to say that this is a personal matter and should be handled by myself.”
Nyota shook her head a few times. “I don’t understand that, because we’re supposed to be in this together, Spock. I can’t be there if I don’t know I should be.”
He didn’t say anything in response, which she knew meant that he realized she was right. She sighed with a little frustration.
“You read the memo, so you know what you need to do. You should probably go ahead and go to medical first thing so Kirk doesn’t come after you for disobeying a direct order. We’ll talk more about this later.”
With that, she began to make her way to the bridge.
-----
Hikaru Sulu stared up at the ceiling of his quarters.
True to her word, Christine came by after her shift was over last night to check up on him. They spent a little time together, just sitting together quietly. He read on his PADD and she did the same. It was nice, he loved the fact that he could spend time with her in silence like that. It was a rare gift.
He did ask her about the charts, though. She told him she said the wrong name, that Geoff was the one who asked her. She also said that it was their little secret from McCoy, since technically she wasn’t supposed to be allowed to do that.
He nodded and accepted her answer as truth. After all, she hadn’t ever lied to him before. Why would she start now?
When it was time for her to go, she told him she wouldn’t be able to have breakfast with him because of doing some studying in one of the rec rooms. She did, however, tell him about how she was glad to be meeting his parents over their break. He smiled and kissed her, and he said he’d see her after his shift ended that day.
Something kept nagging at him about what she said. He just couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
He was probably just being paranoid. So she made a mistake, it wasn’t a big deal.
He sat up, as he realized he had about thirty minutes before the start of beta shift. He really needed to get out of bed and get ready. After quickly getting up, he made his way out of his room towards the bathroom he shared with Pavel, who was already gone if the open door of his room was any indication.
Good.
He quickly used his sonic toothbrush and spit into the sink when he was done.
That conversation from the day before kept nagging at him too, although not out of anger like he would assume. He still wasn’t okay with Pavel and wasn’t sure he ever would be again, but he had to admit he was growing up. That apology proved it; Pavel from before would have rolled his eyes and grudgingly said sorry, he wouldn’t have offered it up freely.
He turned on the sonic shower and stepped inside.
On his lunch break, he’d use the computer to locate Christine and meet up with her he decided as he used the special shampoo to wash his hair. Letting the lather soak into his scalp a little, he stood under the “spray” to let the harmonics pulverize the dirt and impurities off his skin.
Maybe he’d bring her flowers from the botany lab. He hadn’t done that in a while, and she did love getting flowers. Perhaps some Vulcan-Terran hybrid roses would make her happy. He “rinsed” the soap out of his hair and powered the shower down.
Sometimes he was jealous of Kirk for having the only water shower on the ship. Maybe he could ask to use it sometime.
Quickly fixing his hair with his fingers, he pulled just his pajama pants on and went back into his bedroom. There was only ten minutes left to report to the bridge, so he needed to hurry. He changed and fixed his hair a second time.
So it was decided. He’d work, find Christine, give her the flowers, and spend the evening with her. Maybe they could spar, they hadn’t done that in a while.
Smiling to himself, he made his way up to the bridge.
-----
As he towel-dried his hair, Bones hummed a little to himself. It was strange, albeit not unwelcome, how happy this whole marriage thing was making him feel. He was so unsure for most of yesterday, but the bottom line was how he felt. Jim would never hurt him, not on purpose or through callousness. He was also right; they already said they were in it to win it, so to speak. There was no reason why they couldn’t make things official.
He also had to admit that he was a little in love with the idea of Jim being Joanna’s stepfather. They hadn’t been around each other often, but Jo was fond of Jim and whenever Bones would chat with her Jim asked to say hello. The thought of their relationship growing stronger made him incredibly happy.
He dropped the towel on the floor and made his way to their closet. He picked one of his uniforms off a hanger, putting it over his shoulder as he made his way to the chest of drawers. It was short work to pick out an undershirt to go with it. He began to get dressed.
“Hey Bones,” Jim shouted from the shower. The rest of what he said was unintelligible from the noise of the water. Bones sighed. He finished pulling his pants on before padding into the bathroom.
“What was that?”
“I said, your comm’s going off. You left it on the counter,” Jim called as he finished rinsing out his hair. Bones glanced at the counter just next to the sink; sure enough, he had left it in here.
Most people at first glance would have assumed that Jim would be the messy one while Bones would be more fastidious. They learned pretty quickly when they roomed together at the academy that this was not the case. Bones not only had a habit of tossing his clothing wherever, he had a habit of leaving just about anything anywhere and then cursing a lot while trying to find it. Jim learned early on to keep tabs on his belongings for him, as he’d more often get distracted by reading a medical journal or studying and would forget where they were. In the year and three months they hadn’t lived together on the ship, Bones had gotten a bit better about doing such things. Not a lot, but a bit.
Jim would still grumble and complain when he’d leave his wet towels on the floor, though.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
He flipped the communicator open. “McCoy here, go ahead.”
Leonard, it’s Geoff, came the familiar voice. We’ve got a bit of a situation here. I need you to come down to medical when you can. Jim too, if he’s with you.
“What’s wrong? Is everyone okay?”
There was a pause for a moment. Just as he was about to ask again, Geoff began to speak. Everyone’s fine. I’m here with Mister Spock. The situation’s just a bit...delicate, so whenever you can.
Bones frowned. While he was somewhat familiar with Vulcan anatomy, Geoff was the one who had studied at the Vulcan Science Academy. If he was calling him down to talk to him about Spock instead of just treating him, there was a good chance it was severe. “Is he contagious?”
No, it’s nothing like that. I just can’t go into detail over the communicator. Like I said, whenever you guys can get down here, I’ve told him he can’t go anywhere until you show up.
“Right,” he answered. “We’ll be down in ten.”
Copy that, M’Benga out. The line closed and Bones looked down at his hand for a moment. Dimly, he noticed the water shutting off. “Jim...?”
“I heard,” Jim replied as he slung his towel around his waist. “Good thing I ordered him to go down.”
“Is that what you were doing earlier? With the PADD?”
Jim nodded as he began to dry himself off. “Yeah. He complained about a headache yesterday, and he admitted he’d been having them for a few days. For some reason he refused to go to medical, so I made it an order.” He shrugged before he began to dry his hair. “Apparently, he’s the one person on this ship who’s worse about being sick than either of us.”
Bones snorted. There was a lot of truth in what Jim was saying, between him being a being bad patient and Jim’s belief that his will was stronger than any pathogen his body absorbed. Jim was finished drying and reached over to the toilet, where a neatly folded uniform sat.
“Must be serious if Geoff’s calling us,” he said as he slipped his boxer-briefs on.
“Yeah, must be. You said he’s been getting headaches?”
“Yeah,” his voice was muffled as he pulled his shirts over his head. “Said meditation was helping them, but only for a little while.”
“Huh,” Bones said. “There’s a few things that could be causing them. It might even be that he’s developing chronic migraines, which would explain why Geoff needs to see us. Medical code says we have to be notified if a patient develops a condition that could put other crew members at risk. The first officer not being able to see straight from a crippling headache qualifies.”
The captain nodded as he quickly finger-combed his hair into place. “That’s what I was afraid of, and why I ordered him down. Better safe than sorry.” He straightened the hem of his uniform shirt. “By the way, I got a message while you were in the shower. We have a meeting at 1500 with the wedding planner.”
With the what?
“Do what now?”
“Yeah, Madelyne Summers. I did a lot of research on the bridge yesterday, and her resume was the best out of all of our options. We’re lucky she was able to fit us in on such short notice. I like her ideas a lot, especially about using the Moon-Viewing area of the botanical gardens for the ceremony.”
Bones blinked several times. “The..botanical gardens?”
“Yeah, the weather’s so nice this time of year, I figure we may as well have it outside. This way there’s enough room for everyone we’re inviting, including the Admirals and Starfleet bigshots. I mean our families will get the front rows, of course, but there has to be enough room for Barnett and everyone.”
Again Bones found himself blinking several times.
“By the way, I realize Jo’s almost ten, but that’s not too old to be a flower girl right,” Jim tossed over his shoulder as he made his way back into their bedroom to put his boots on. Bones followed him with a bewildered expression.
“Uh, I don’t...see why she wouldn’t...”
“Great!” Jim looked up at him and smiled. “I didn’t think she’d mind, but I wanted to be sure before asking.” Having fastened the first boot, he moved onto the second. “I figure silver’s a good color, right? I want to avoid using, like, command gold, or something hokey like that. White flowers too, Madelyne sent me pictures of a lot of arrangements. I gave her my allergy list so they’re all safe, you won’t have to worry about carting around a bunch of hypos for me.” Jim looked up at him again and looked confused. “What’s wrong?”
“What?”
“You look stressed out, even for you,” Jim teased. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to have it outside, is that it? I mean I get it, weather can be unpredictable but this time of year we’re safe, I think.”
“No just...a big wedding? I thought we’d just go to the justice of the peace.”
It was Jim’s turn to look confused. “Why would we do that, especially when Starfleet’s footing the bill?”
“Starfleet’s what?” He felt like all he was doing was asking questions, but he had literally no idea what was going on.
“Yeah, I don’t know how Pike did it, but he got Starfleet to pay for our wedding. Something about using it as a diplomatic function. Whatever, they can write it off on their expenses and we get an awesome wedding for free.” He shrugged again. “It’s totally win-win. Anyways, 1500. Don’t be late, we’re just gonna have it in here.” He stood up, then promptly sat back down. “Wow you’re only half-dressed.” He reached out and handed Bones his shirts. “Come on, Bones, we can’t keep Geoff and Spock waiting.”
“I...” He honestly didn’t know what to say to...well, to anything. So he did the only thing that came to mind.
He finished getting dressed.
-----
Pavel Chekov stood outside of the engineering department with a frown.
It was his rest day and he was at somewhat loose ends. He got up early and went to the gym to have a long run. After essentially doing a five-kilometer race, he went back to his quarters, showered, changed, and went to the mess hall for breakfast.
He was in a bit of a funk, but he wasn’t sure what else he could do about it.
For some reason, he felt like Scotty was blowing him off.
It was weird, and not all like him to be so sensitive. Scotty was probably the busiest person on the ship in terms of the sheer volume of work. Unlike everyone else, he was never really “off-duty,” because if something broke or a system went down, he had to be available to help take care of it. A big part of that was why Pavel spent so much time with him down in engineering; he knew that he was always guaranteed to find him, and the regular shift work he had was simple enough that he didn’t feel like he was taking him away from it.
But it was so weird for Scotty to not take his meals with him or let him hang out. They had spent every day together for almost four months straight, ever since Spock and Uhura’s engagement party. It just didn’t make sense that Scotty would blow him off.
He was probably just overreacting, although he still hesitated before the door.
Well there really was only one way to find out for certain. He would go in, ask Scotty to eat with him. If Scotty said sure, he would forget about the previous day and start fresh. If he hedged or made and excuse, he would ask him what was going on.
He exhaled loudly and pushed the entry button to the wing. Pavel quickly stepped inside and began to head down the narrow stairwell to Scotty’s workstation. The man in question was hard at work as always and he couldn’t help but smile a little as the familiar warmth spread throughout him.
“Hello,” he called ahead of him. “Scotty?”
Scotty’s back was to him, but he visibly froze when he heard his name. “Oh. Pavel. What...what are you doing here?”
“Came to see if I could keep you company,” he said. “As I usually do on my off time.”
Scotty wouldn’t turn around to look at him, which made Pavel frown. “That’s...not really a good idea. I’ve got a lot of work to do, and I really need to concentrate.”
He felt himself stiffen. Another excuse, then. “Has never bothered you before.”
The engineer sighed loudly. “Well, it will today. I just...I need to work.”
Not content to give up, Pavel sighed. Maybe he should try a different tactic. “When you are off then. Want to discuss plans with you we made for optic implants. Can even get McCoy to help us with them.”
“No, I can’t, Pavel.” He finally turned to face him then, and he did honestly look sorry. “I just can’t.”
So he was being blown off. Why would Scotty do that?
“I see,” he said as he clenched his hands into fists. “Tell me then. When would be a good time?”
Averting his eyes to the floor, Scotty shrugged in response. “I’m not sure. Probably not until after the break.”
“Chush' sobach'ya,” he snapped in response. “You never have problem with me being here before! You always make time for me, and now you say it’s too hard? Be honest with me, you just do not want to see me anymore!”
“Pavel, I...” Scotty shook his head. “I just...I don’t know...”
“Let me guess, it is because of my age. You think I am too young to associate with you. I’m not good enough for you because I am not yet even twenty!”
“Well, that...” Scotty swallowed. “I mean, it is a problem for me, but not for the reason that you---”
“Save it,” Pavel cut him off. “Everyone on this ship either hates me or believes me to be an underfoot child. Except you, thought you saw me as an equal. See now I was wrong for believing that.” He turned to make his way out of the room, and his eyes filled with angry tears.
“Pavel, wait,” Scotty called after him. Not wanting to hear anymore excuses or lies, Pavel began to run. He ran all the way out of the room to the turbo lift, and from there straight back to his quarters. Hikaru had already left for his shift, so he was alone.
Struggling to catch his breath, he flopped onto the couch on his stomach. He wouldn’t cry, Scotty didn’t deserve it. He would, however, mope angrily for a while.
“Computer, load media file Pavel-twelve,” he said in a dull voice. The first song on his angry playlist started and he sighed.
He just didn’t understand. Things were great just thirty-six hours ago. What happened to make Scotty change so rapidly? Was the thought of being with him that repulsive? Had he done something to make him change? Maybe it was the picnic, maybe that had been too much and scared him off.
Was he destined to ruin every important relationship he would ever have? Did he deserve friends and companionship that little?
Biting back a sob, he rolled over onto his back and squeezed his eyes closed.
It just wasn’t fair.
-----
Spock sat on the edge of a biobed with a stiff back and blank expression.
Dr. M’Benga had taken his readings, and initially became confused. After recalibrating the tricorder, he took them a second time and became somewhat alarmed. He put the tricorder down and immediately called Dr. McCoy and the captain down.
To say that Spock was worried was an understatement.
The only logical thing he could come up with was that he had some sort of serious condition that was causing the headaches. He was running through a list of potential illnesses in his mind, but there were quite a few things that matched his particular symptoms. M’Benga said he would explain as soon as the captain and McCoy arrived, and that he would do so privately in McCoy’s office.
This also troubled Spock.
It had to be serious if he wouldn’t just tell him what it was. While not a medical officer, Spock was familiar with the medical code. The only reason why the captain and the CMO were being notified with him was that his condition threatened the others on board the Enterprise.
So he was contagious, then.
At that moment, Jim and McCoy entered the sick bay with serious looks on their faces. They quickly joined Spock at the biobed.
“How you holdin’ up, champ,” Jim asked with a smile. Spock gave him a confused expression.
“Champion? Is this a reference to our chess matches?”
“Ouch,” he responded with a wink. “Hit me where I live, why don’t you?”
“Leonard, Jim,” Geoff came over to them with a serious look on his face. “Let’s move to the office, shall we?”
Jim nodded and Leonard shrugged.
“If you think it’s necessary,” he answered. “Why not?”
“Unfortunately, it is,” the other doctor replied. “Come, I don’t want to keep Spock waiting any longer.”
Spock looked at him and Jim placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. For some reason, he felt his pulse speed up at this and his blood began to pound a little. He would think it was fascinating, but it made him mostly uncomfortable. He shrugged his shoulder out of his grip and began to follow M’Benga to the office. Jim followed him and soon all four of the men were inside.
“Have a seat,” M’Benga said and he gestured at Spock, who promptly sat down at one of the chairs in front of McCoy’s desk. The chief medical officer also took a seat at his desk. Everyone looked at Geoff, waiting for him to begin. “Okay. There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it. Spock’s in pon farr.”
Bones blinked a couple of times as Jim looked completely confused.
“I have no idea what that is,” he announced to no-one in particular.
Spock wasn’t doing much better. “I do not understand.”
“It’s like...” Geoff began, and he struggled with how to explain it. “The Vulcan mating cycle lasts for about seven years at a time. At the end of it, they go into a sort-of heat, called pon farr.” He focused his attention back on Spock. “You’re having your time, Spock. It began a couple of days ago, probably when your headaches started.” He smiled, although it was shaky.
“I know what it means,” the Vulcan answered. “I simply mean that my being in pon farr is illogical, if not outright improbable, as I have never been through it due to my half-human physiology.”
Although, if he was in pon farr that explained his illogical keeping of this ailment to himself.
“I see, well that explains why you didn’t recognize it. I admit I was a little confused as to why you were seeing me for mystery headaches when I took your readings.”
“I don’t understand what the headaches have to even do with this,” Jim asked.
“Well, basically, there’s not enough serotonin in his brain right now. Normally, serotonin is emitted by various neurons and the excess is reabsorbed through a process called reuptake. Right now, the reuptake is happening too often and too quickly; it’s leaving your serotonin levels completely out of whack, which is why you keep having the headaches. I can probably try giving you an SSRI for that at a low dosage; not enough to make it a habit but enough to slow the reuptake down and stabilize your chemistry to minimize your discomfort.”
“How long does this last, Geoff,” Bones asked from where he was sitting.
“Eight days, I’m estimating that he’s on day three. It kind of rises in severity until the eighth day and if it’s not resolved by then he could go into plak tow, which is essentially a severe blood fever. It’s extremely dangerous, which is why I had to tell you both about this.” The doctor looked down at Spock with an apologetic expression. “I know I’m generally not supposed to inform others about this...situation, but...”
“It was logical, given the potential effects,” Spock admitted. “If it is not resolved there could be severe consequences.”
“Right okay, but how do we resolve this,” Jim asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I mean, can he just take something for it?”
“Unfortunately not,” Geoff answered. “There’s just not enough research into pon farr to make a viable medical therapy in the short time that we have. It’s a very close-kept secret among Vulcans, and they have their own ways of dealing with it. I’m willing to defer to their judgment out of respect for their culture.”
Bones nodded. “That makes sense. So what are the options?”
Geoff sighed. “Spock, have you and Lieutenant Uhura completed a Vulcan bonding ceremony? I know you’re recently engaged but I’m not aware of whether the two of you have...”
“No.”
Everyone stared at Spock.
“I’m sorry?”
“No, I will not be resolving this with Lieutenant Uhura. I am familiar enough with what can happen after seeing my mother recover from my father’s time. I will not be subjecting her to this.”
Now Jim was really confused. “I don’t understand, if it’s a mating thing why not just mate? I mean that seems to be the most...” Geoff held up a hand and he stopped talking.
“Mating during pon farr can become violent,” he explained. “I’ve only treated pon farr itself three times, but I’ve treated the injuries sustained during it much more frequently. Since Uhura’s a human and not another Vulcan, I can understand where he’s coming from. We’ll just toss that one out.”
Bones nodded. “Right. Is there anything else?”
“Well, there’s the kal-if-fee, which is basically a fight to the death. For obvious reasons, I think we can rule that one out as well.”
“No kidding,” Jim grumbled darkly. “Tell me there’s a third option.”
“Well,” Geoff began, thinking hard. “I did treat an elderly Vulcan whose bondmate had died a few months before. He managed to regulate it and purge the pon farr through extensive meditation. I can relieve him from duty until we get to Earth to take care of it. There’s a Vulcan healer in San Francisco not too far from the Presidio, I can refer you to her if you think you’ll need it.”
Spock nodded. “I am familiar with T’palla, as I have called upon her services in the past. For now, I think it best I go to my quarters and begin the meditation.”
“Before you go, let me give you some hyposprays of the SSRI I want you to take. If you find you’re going through them at more than two a day, come back down here and I’ll give you a higher dose.”
At this, Jim’s communicator beeped. He held up his finger at the others and stepped into a corner of the office. “Kirk here, go ahead,” he said in response.
Admiral Pike is on the line for you, sir. I have him on stand by in your ready room.
The captain nodded. “Good, I’ll be up in five. Kirk out.” He turned back to the rest of the people in the room. “Sorry, I’ve got to take this. Is there anything else?”
“Shouldn’t be, unless any of you have any questions.” Bones shook his head no and Spock just stared at him. “Then yeah, we’re all set.”
Spock nodded. He went to stand, and McCoy followed his example. Geoff smiled at him, a real one this time.
“I’ll get your meds together,” he said as he pat Spock on the arm and again his blood pulsed. “Guys this probably goes without saying, but what’s happening to Spock is...”
“A huge, flaming, giant secret,” Jim finished for him. “I got that when you said the Vulcans tend to keep this quiet.” He turned to his fiancé with a grin. “1500, Bones, don’t forget.” He made his way quickly out of the office without noticing the momentary look of disbelief on Bones’ face.
“Same as with any patient, confidentiality,” he agreed quietly to the other doctor. Geoff grinned at him.
“Glad we’re all on the same page. Come on, Spock, this won’t take long.”
Spock hesitated for a moment, but then followed him.
This was disturbing, to say the least. When he did not have his time at the onset of puberty, he and his family assumed that he would not ever have it due to being half human. Obviously, that assumption was erroneous, but that did not make him happy about this turn of events. There was nothing more that could be done than to treat it with the meditation.
The only thing to figure out now was how to explain to Nyota.
-----
Jim was practically skipping as he made his way down to the brig.
First, that rat-bastard de Maupassant was going to be detained immediately at Foucault, the Starfleet-run federation prison located near Starfleet HQ. It would only be few weeks before he was due to stand trial for several counts of various serious offenses, including treason. He was being hung out to dry and Jim was loving it.
Second, Pike agreed to officiate the wedding. He looked touched by the request and said yes with no hesitation.
Third, they would be on Earth tomorrow. They would dock and disembark the ship at 10:00, and then they were to meet with the wedding planner, scout the location for the reception, have the rehearsal dinner, and then the joint-bachelor party to close out the night. The day after that, he’d be married.
Yeah, there was absolutely not reason why he shouldn’t be in a good mood at that moment as he pushed the entry code to the brig. Jim whistled a little as he walked down the stairs to the cell area. Hearing movement ahead of him, he stopped.
“Hello,” he called. “Is someone there?”
The security officers standing near him both looked at him and shrugged. Jim shrugged back. He looked towards de Maupassant’s cell again and squinted in the dim lighting. No, he was just sitting on his cot looking bored.
He must have imagined it. Oh well.
He quickly made his way to the front of de Maupassant’s cell. He cleared his throat loudly.
“I wondered if you would come by again before tomorrow,” the man said in a pleasant tone.
Jim smiled. “Got some news for you, and I figured why not give it in person?”
Julien looked perplexed. Good, nice to have him off balance for once. “Such as?”
His smile became a grin. “You’ll be given over to military police custody before we disembark at 9:30 tomorrow morning. From there you’ll be detained in the Foucault facility until your trial begins the first week of September.”
“Ah,” he said as he brushed some lint off one of his sleeves. “Your Federation does love its kangaroo courts.”
The smile on Jim’s face froze a little. “Do I detect some sour grapes? Surely you aren’t surprised, considering the sheer amount of damage you’ve caused.”
When he spoke, he sounded neither resigned nor upset; he sounded as if he was commenting on something as simple as the weather. “I’m not surprised as hearing me goes against the very thing the Federation stands for: amassing allies and resources. We simply cannot have dissenting opinions in our would-be Utopia. It is simply the most efficient way of silencing me.”
Jim was frowning now. “You still think the Federation’s a sham.”
“I am not likely to change such a strong opinion due to a small setback,” Julien countered. “If anything, this only serves to prove me correct.”
“Of course it does,” Jim snapped. “You’ll believe whatever you want in order to have your way. So whatever, if it helps you sleep at night in prison for the rest of your life, by all means. Knock yourself out.” With that he turned and began to make his way back through the brig.
“Congratulations, by the way, on your engagement. The doctor is a fine figure of a man.”
That made Jim stop dead in his tracks. He slowly turned around. “Excuse me?”
Julien smiled. “Good of you to make him an honest one. The lives we all lead, you never know what may happen.” He paused for a moment, before adding, “The irony of a surgeon being injured is that so frequently he is usually the only one who can put himself back together.”
Jim stared at him in disbelief. “What the hell did you just say?”
The look on Julien’s face was one of surprise. “I simply said...”
“You’re threatening him?” Jim stormed back over. He got right up to the wall of the cell. “You really just went there?”
“I did no such thing, I merely stated the irony of a surgeon becoming wounded. I was not aware that is not allowed.”
“You’re lucky I don’t open this door right now and...”
“And what? Physically beat me? With what cause, your vaunted Article Fourteen?”
That made Jim cool down a bit. “What?”
“The same Article Fourteen that permitted you to destroy the Botany Bay when you came across it?”
Nope, just like that he was enraged again. “That ship posed a threat not only to the Enterprise, but to the entire Federation. Just like you’re so fond of saying, I did what I had to do!”
“Indeed, James, we all do what we have to do,” Julien said with sympathy, “even if we may not be happy about it. I am simply reminding you that an entity that permits the proverbial gloves to come off in such a manner is not entirely benevolent. That is all.” He sighed. “You have what you came for, I confess to not understanding why you are still here.”
Jim suddenly calmed himself. “No, actually, I just figured you out. You’re pushing my buttons because that’s all you’ve got. That’s why you keep attacking things and now you’ve resorted to threatening Bones. It’s because you have nothing else. I’ve taken everything from you, so you’re lashing out. You’re picking because you’re a sore loser.”
Julien began to laugh. “You really are worth your reputation, James. I am very impressed.”
“If your opinion mattered, I would thank you for saying so,” Jim said with a smirk. “As it doesn’t, I’ll be going now. Enjoy your cell, it’s a lot more comfortable than the ones in Foucault.” He turned and began to make his way out of the brig. Julien watched him go with a smile.
Several minutes passed and the two security guards did their half-hourly walk through. The Aehallh members did the usual shouting to them, but Julien as always simply said hello. One of them eyed him warily, but they turned and went back the other way to post themselves by the brig door.
“You can come back out now,” he whispered.
Marla popped up from her hiding spot behind the corner of the brig. She straightened the hem of her uniform skirt and took her place in front of his cell. “That was close, I didn’t realize it was the captain when he came in.”
“He apparently is fond of gloating. Perhaps he will think twice about doing so in the future, it is ...unseemly.”
“He doesn’t understand anything of subtlety, you saw the picture,” she snapped in a low voice.
“It seems that way.” He tilted his head at her and smiled. “Enough of him, he is nothing. We were talking of your family when he interrupted.”
“There’s not much more to tell,” she began. “I only entered Starfleet because my father wanted me to.”
“Oh?” He settled into a more comfortable sitting position on his cot. “Please. Elaborate.”
She knelt down on the floor. “I wanted to teach history, get my PhD. Daddy wanted me to follow in his footsteps though, so what I wanted didn’t matter.”
Julien made a sad noise in his throat. “That is a shame. History is very important, and teaching is perhaps the most noble of professions. I have always been fond of history myself.” He smiled again. “You would be a marvelous teacher, although perhaps your beauty would be a distraction for the students.”
Marla blushed to the roots of her hair. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“Am I being too forward? I do not see how I could not notice, and I admit in the short time we have known each other I have grown quite fond of you. Where I come from, we say such things to the people in our lives. It lets them know they are appreciated.”
“Appreciated,” she said with a note of awe in her voice. “It’s been so long since anyone’s made me feel that way.”
“Then I shall endeavor to say so more frequently,” he replied. “You are appreciated, by me if no one else.”
“Thank you,” she said. “You’re...I appreciate you as well.”
Julien looked quite pleased. “I thank you.”
“You’ve come to mean a lot to me in so short a time. Is that crazy?”
He shook his head. “No, I do not believe so.” He looked off into the distance for a moment, and his smile got an edge to it that she did not notice. “I do not believe so at all.”
Chapter Two | Chapter Three B
Series: Star Trek XI (as if I write for anything else these days): water park 'verse
Rating: PG-13/R for some violence, swearing, and fade-to-black sexy stuff
Summary: You are cordially invited to the Starfleet social function of the year. That is, assuming these terrorists and the Enterprise Crew's own issues don't get in the way.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with the characters featured in Star Trek or the Star Trek movie from 2009. No harm was meant, so put the lawyers away, man.
Chapter Notes: Yes, the kiss Jim and Bones had last chapter is supposed to look like this. I’m sorry but I love that photo and I’m super happy to borrow it for this story.
Yes, tumblr still exists in the future. I mean the people in Starfleet have to get their macros from somewhere, don’t they?
Spot the X-Men reference, win a prize. The next big thing I’m going to write is a giant X-Men/Trek reboot fusion (hint: the Shi’ar are involved. Not the Brood, though, those things are fucking gross. Someone else can have that idea, or just write an Aliens crossover since that’s what Claremont
I also realize that planning a huge wedding in two days is probably impossible but I’m handwaving it in that it’s the future and Starfleet has tons of financial resources and oh by the way there’s a water park on the Enterprise. Seriously, with fancy technology and a shitton of money, you can do just about anything.
Chush' sobach'ya means bullshit in Russian. Just, you know, so you’re not all going “wait what?”
The stipulation that people can’t give medical information out over communicator is a combination of something I noticed in TOS and current HIPAA laws. I realize that in TOS Bones always tells everyone everything to their faces because of Rule of Drama, but in real life you can’t give a person detailed test results over the phone because well...how do you know they’re who they say they are? Or rather I should say, they’re really not supposed to give it out over the phone. Generally they’re limited is what I’m getting at here. The Medical code about telling the Captain and the CMO something if it presents a danger to the rest of the crew I’ve completely pulled out of my ass, I mean if one of your crew members has a fever that could cause him to brutally murder someone else on your ship, you should probably know about that in advance, just saying. Or you know, the ebola virus or whatever.
Speaking of, my information about how neruotransmitters including serotonin work comes straight from the textbook “Exploring Psychology in Modules: Eighth Edition,” by David G. Meyers. I can’t say why that’s relevant until the big reveal, but if you look up a certain something that comes out in this chapter on Memory Alpha you’ll see why serotonin’s important. I am not a neuroscientist, but I am a psychology major so take that as you will.
I am neither clever nor awesome for naming the Starfleet military prison Foucault. I freely admit this. At least it’s not something as obvious as Alcatraz!
Eneh hwau' kllhwnia na imirrhlhhse is a Romulan obscenity. What’s the point of being a linguist if you can’t hurl epithets in other languages? Sadly, the Romulan dictionary does not specify what obscenity. I like to think it’s a truly colorful one, like “your mother was caught giving fellatio to a goat while her priest watched last Tuesday.” It’s probably obvious at this point that I don’t take much seriously. This includes my own fanfiction.
This chapter was split into two parts due to length. There is a link at the bottom to the second half.
The next morning, Jim woke up tangled up in the sheets and Bones’ arms. He blearily looked up at the ceiling for a moment before sitting up. Bones made a protesting sound before opening his eyes. Jim looked down at his fiancé.
Wow, that was going to take some getting used to.
Jim scrubbed a hand through his bedhead, which was sticking up in several directions on all sides.
“Okay. We are never celebrating with tequila shots again,” he said in a tone that brooked no argument. “My mouth is disgusting and my head is killing me.”
Bones snorted. “Whose idea was that again? Especially after I pointed out how I generally handle clear alcohol, which is to say there is vomiting involved, but no, you said just a few shots which turned into body shots which turned into...” His voice trailed off, and he began to smirk. “Well, we both know I’m not going to complain about that particular turn of events.”
“Better not,” Jim grumbled. “Out of the 273 times we’ve had sex, that was top five for sure.”
There was a long pause as Bones just stared at Jim in disbelief.
“What?”
“You’ve counted how many times we’ve had sex? Really?”
“273 includes everything but the times we simply stopped at making out. So like...blow jobs, and so on are in that number.” He looked at Bones with a confused expression. “Wait, you mean you don’t keep track?”
“Can’t say as I do,” Bones chirped. After all, honesty was important in a relationship.
His shoulders sagging a little, Jim kind-of sighed. “I guess I just...I’ve never really...I mean I’ve slept with people more than once but not like this. So I’ve been counting because it’s kind of a novelty to me, that I can do this so much with you and never get tired of you or bored.”
He smiled and his expression became more soft as a result. “I understand. Sorry if it seemed like I was making fun of you. I just...no one’s ever done that before so it surprised me.”
Smiling, Jim leaned in and kissed him. “It’s okay.” He grimaced. “God I need to brush my teeth like a hundred times.”
As he took his hands in his, Bones shook his head and laughed. “You’re fine,” he said as he kissed him again. Jim snorted into and they lingered together. Bones took this as encouragement and quickly deepened it, pressing him back into the mattress. As he shifted to slot him in between his legs, Jim sighed a little into Bones’ mouth.
Suddenly startled by something, Jim broke the kiss. “Wait, but, I have to be on the bridge in like,” he said as he squinted across the room to the chronometer. Huh, that was weird, he couldn’t focus on the time; for some reason, it was blurry. “Thirty minutes?”
“We’re on beta shift today,” Bones murmured as he sucked on a particular spot on Jim’s neck.
“Right, I forg...oh. Oh!” Shit that felt good, and he groaned a little. “What’s gotten into you?”
This made him pull back and he looked down at Jim with a bemused expression. “We’re celebrating.”
“Yeah but we...wait.” Jim furrowed his brows. “So this is because we’re getting married? You’re jumping me because we’re getting hitched?”
He didn’t answer verbally, but he did flush a little.
“...Come to think of it, you always jump me when something has happened to us, an emotional something I mean. Or...wait is this part of the whole you showing me how you feel thing?”
The look on his face spoke volumes.
Jim sighed. “I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not,” Bones said in a reassuring tone. “Just sometimes, if it doesn’t involve running a starship or executing diplomacy on a first contact, you don’t pay as much attention as maybe someone else would.”
Jim felt his face go hot. “Now I feel like a gigantic asshole, so thanks for that.”
Bones frowned. “No, you...Jim, look.” He lightly grabbed Jim’s chin with one hand and forced him to meet his eyes. “I wouldn’t have you any other way. In fact, I love you more for it. Okay?”
He couldn’t help but relax a little at his words. “Okay. In that case, you may now resume molesting me.”
“Molesting implies that it’s not consensual,” Bones grumbled, but he did go back to kissing his neck.
“Oh no. Stop. Please,” Jim spoke in a monotone. “Better?”
“I take it back, you are an asshole,” Bones rumbled good-naturedly as he bit down a little, causing Jim to gasp loudly.
“274, I guess,” he whispered before Bones captured his lips again. Something occurred to him then and he froze before gently pushing him away. “Wait, I just...there’s something I meant to do yesterday and I need to...just let me...I promise I’ll be right back.”
He jumped out of bed, ignoring Bones’ exasperated expression, ran to the living room, grabbed his PADD, and came back to sit on the edge of the bed. He pulled up his email software.
That was weird, he couldn’t focus on that either. He could make out the words, but only if he squinted. He ignored a little voice in the back of his head that said that’d been happening more and more lately as he carefully began to type up a message.
“What’s wrong?”
“What?”
“You’re squinting,” Bones said with a touch of concern in his voice. “Why are you squinting?”
“‘I am not, I’m just focused.” He glanced up at Bones, who had his patented don’t bullshit me, Jim face. He sighed. “Things are a bit blurry, is all. I’m fine, it’s probably just the hangover.”
Bones didn’t look entirely convinced, but he did stop giving him that look. Jim stuck out his tongue at him and went back to typing his message to Spock. A sharp pain in the side of his neck made him shout.
“Ow! Jesus, Bones what the hell?”
His fiancé shrugged and placed the hypospray back on the nightstand. “You said you’re hungover,” was his only explanation.
Jim grumbled about marrying bitchy doctors as he finished his memo. He cc’ed it to Uhura and hit send. “There,” he said with a grin. “Now where were we?”
Bones grinned back, and then there wasn’t much to say after that.
Nyota Uhura had just finished pulling her hair up into its usual ponytail when her PADD beeped at her. She rolled her eyes.
If someone reposted that picture of Jim and Leonard to tumblr one more time, she was going to scream. Yes, it was gorgeous. Yes, she was happy for them. Seriously though, everyone in Starfleet had to have seen it by now. People needed to get over it and move on with their lives.
The PADD beeped again.
She had also been forwarded the image directly about two dozen times. People needed to give it a rest.
The PADD beeped a third time, this time giving off the chime for an urgent message.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” she snapped to no one in particular. She stalked over to her and Spock’s desk, and touched the screen of the PADD to bring it out of its sleep mode. As predicted, there were new updates to the blogs she watched, and several messages with an attachment.
The most recent message, however, was from the captain and it was the one flagged as urgent. That was strange.
She opened it and as she skimmed it, her eyes widened a little.
MEMORANDUM
From: Captain, USS Enterprise
To: First Officer
CC: Senior Communications Officer
Subject: Headaches
Spock, I know you said with meditation your headaches would go away, but I’m hereby ordering you to see Bones or Geoff in sickbay before your lunch break today. I know the threat of biological warfare has been ruled out, but I’m still concerned about your health since Vulcans pretty much never get headaches.
Uhura I’ve cc’ed you on this, because ignoring your health is damn illogical and I don’t think he gets that.
J.T. KIRK
What?
This didn’t make any sense, as Spock said he went to medical the night of the attack.
Unless...he didn’t go.
Why would he do that?
Moving more quickly than she normally would, she flipped open her communicator. “Lieutenant Uhura to medical wing, over.”
Lieutenant, this is Nurse Kowalski. What can I do for you?
Nyota paused. On the one hand, she was going behind Spock’s back. On the other hand, he had lied to her. She wasn’t angry with him for it, not yet, but she had to get to the bottom of what was happening. “Nurse, can you verify for me that First Officer Spock came into medical for treatment on Stardate 2260.238?”
Hold please.
She waited patiently.
Negative, Lieutenant he said after a moment. Nothing shows in the records about Mister Spock coming to medical the other night. I can only assume that he didn’t, because otherwise it would be documented.
She frowned. “I see. Thanks for your help.”
Not a problem. Anything else you need?
“No, that’ll do. Lieutenant Uhura out.” She closed the communicator, terminating the connection.
So Spock had lied. Why? What possible reason would he have to do that to her? She turned and looked towards the bathroom, where he was still getting ready for his shift. It was possible that he had a reason for doing so, which is why she was not angry with him.
However...she was definitely more than mildly concerned.
There were still ten minutes before they were due on the bridge. Best to just get it over with.
“Spock?”
“In a moment,” came his answer. Within seconds, he stepped out of their bathroom. “Yes?” Without a word, she handed the PADD over to him. It would have been imperceptible to anyone else, but she noticed the very small sag of his shoulders. “I see.”
She paused for a moment before speaking; she didn’t wish to sound accusatory. “Why didn’t you tell me you were still having headaches?”
“I did not wish to cause you concern,” he said in a soft tone. “I also thought, perhaps incorrectly, that meditation would fix my headache better than any medicine.” He looked sheepish, or rather as sheepish as he was capable of looking. “It did work for a few hours, but the effect was temporary. They seem to be most consistent; I have been unable to rid myself of them for any significant amount of time.”
“Then why not go to medical and take something? Why lie about going? That’s incredibly illogical, Spock, and unlike you.”
“I...,” he began and he appeared to be struggling. “I do not know how to explain, other than to say that this is a personal matter and should be handled by myself.”
Nyota shook her head a few times. “I don’t understand that, because we’re supposed to be in this together, Spock. I can’t be there if I don’t know I should be.”
He didn’t say anything in response, which she knew meant that he realized she was right. She sighed with a little frustration.
“You read the memo, so you know what you need to do. You should probably go ahead and go to medical first thing so Kirk doesn’t come after you for disobeying a direct order. We’ll talk more about this later.”
With that, she began to make her way to the bridge.
Hikaru Sulu stared up at the ceiling of his quarters.
True to her word, Christine came by after her shift was over last night to check up on him. They spent a little time together, just sitting together quietly. He read on his PADD and she did the same. It was nice, he loved the fact that he could spend time with her in silence like that. It was a rare gift.
He did ask her about the charts, though. She told him she said the wrong name, that Geoff was the one who asked her. She also said that it was their little secret from McCoy, since technically she wasn’t supposed to be allowed to do that.
He nodded and accepted her answer as truth. After all, she hadn’t ever lied to him before. Why would she start now?
When it was time for her to go, she told him she wouldn’t be able to have breakfast with him because of doing some studying in one of the rec rooms. She did, however, tell him about how she was glad to be meeting his parents over their break. He smiled and kissed her, and he said he’d see her after his shift ended that day.
Something kept nagging at him about what she said. He just couldn’t put his finger on what it was.
He was probably just being paranoid. So she made a mistake, it wasn’t a big deal.
He sat up, as he realized he had about thirty minutes before the start of beta shift. He really needed to get out of bed and get ready. After quickly getting up, he made his way out of his room towards the bathroom he shared with Pavel, who was already gone if the open door of his room was any indication.
Good.
He quickly used his sonic toothbrush and spit into the sink when he was done.
That conversation from the day before kept nagging at him too, although not out of anger like he would assume. He still wasn’t okay with Pavel and wasn’t sure he ever would be again, but he had to admit he was growing up. That apology proved it; Pavel from before would have rolled his eyes and grudgingly said sorry, he wouldn’t have offered it up freely.
He turned on the sonic shower and stepped inside.
On his lunch break, he’d use the computer to locate Christine and meet up with her he decided as he used the special shampoo to wash his hair. Letting the lather soak into his scalp a little, he stood under the “spray” to let the harmonics pulverize the dirt and impurities off his skin.
Maybe he’d bring her flowers from the botany lab. He hadn’t done that in a while, and she did love getting flowers. Perhaps some Vulcan-Terran hybrid roses would make her happy. He “rinsed” the soap out of his hair and powered the shower down.
Sometimes he was jealous of Kirk for having the only water shower on the ship. Maybe he could ask to use it sometime.
Quickly fixing his hair with his fingers, he pulled just his pajama pants on and went back into his bedroom. There was only ten minutes left to report to the bridge, so he needed to hurry. He changed and fixed his hair a second time.
So it was decided. He’d work, find Christine, give her the flowers, and spend the evening with her. Maybe they could spar, they hadn’t done that in a while.
Smiling to himself, he made his way up to the bridge.
As he towel-dried his hair, Bones hummed a little to himself. It was strange, albeit not unwelcome, how happy this whole marriage thing was making him feel. He was so unsure for most of yesterday, but the bottom line was how he felt. Jim would never hurt him, not on purpose or through callousness. He was also right; they already said they were in it to win it, so to speak. There was no reason why they couldn’t make things official.
He also had to admit that he was a little in love with the idea of Jim being Joanna’s stepfather. They hadn’t been around each other often, but Jo was fond of Jim and whenever Bones would chat with her Jim asked to say hello. The thought of their relationship growing stronger made him incredibly happy.
He dropped the towel on the floor and made his way to their closet. He picked one of his uniforms off a hanger, putting it over his shoulder as he made his way to the chest of drawers. It was short work to pick out an undershirt to go with it. He began to get dressed.
“Hey Bones,” Jim shouted from the shower. The rest of what he said was unintelligible from the noise of the water. Bones sighed. He finished pulling his pants on before padding into the bathroom.
“What was that?”
“I said, your comm’s going off. You left it on the counter,” Jim called as he finished rinsing out his hair. Bones glanced at the counter just next to the sink; sure enough, he had left it in here.
Most people at first glance would have assumed that Jim would be the messy one while Bones would be more fastidious. They learned pretty quickly when they roomed together at the academy that this was not the case. Bones not only had a habit of tossing his clothing wherever, he had a habit of leaving just about anything anywhere and then cursing a lot while trying to find it. Jim learned early on to keep tabs on his belongings for him, as he’d more often get distracted by reading a medical journal or studying and would forget where they were. In the year and three months they hadn’t lived together on the ship, Bones had gotten a bit better about doing such things. Not a lot, but a bit.
Jim would still grumble and complain when he’d leave his wet towels on the floor, though.
“Thanks.”
“No problem.”
He flipped the communicator open. “McCoy here, go ahead.”
Leonard, it’s Geoff, came the familiar voice. We’ve got a bit of a situation here. I need you to come down to medical when you can. Jim too, if he’s with you.
“What’s wrong? Is everyone okay?”
There was a pause for a moment. Just as he was about to ask again, Geoff began to speak. Everyone’s fine. I’m here with Mister Spock. The situation’s just a bit...delicate, so whenever you can.
Bones frowned. While he was somewhat familiar with Vulcan anatomy, Geoff was the one who had studied at the Vulcan Science Academy. If he was calling him down to talk to him about Spock instead of just treating him, there was a good chance it was severe. “Is he contagious?”
No, it’s nothing like that. I just can’t go into detail over the communicator. Like I said, whenever you guys can get down here, I’ve told him he can’t go anywhere until you show up.
“Right,” he answered. “We’ll be down in ten.”
Copy that, M’Benga out. The line closed and Bones looked down at his hand for a moment. Dimly, he noticed the water shutting off. “Jim...?”
“I heard,” Jim replied as he slung his towel around his waist. “Good thing I ordered him to go down.”
“Is that what you were doing earlier? With the PADD?”
Jim nodded as he began to dry himself off. “Yeah. He complained about a headache yesterday, and he admitted he’d been having them for a few days. For some reason he refused to go to medical, so I made it an order.” He shrugged before he began to dry his hair. “Apparently, he’s the one person on this ship who’s worse about being sick than either of us.”
Bones snorted. There was a lot of truth in what Jim was saying, between him being a being bad patient and Jim’s belief that his will was stronger than any pathogen his body absorbed. Jim was finished drying and reached over to the toilet, where a neatly folded uniform sat.
“Must be serious if Geoff’s calling us,” he said as he slipped his boxer-briefs on.
“Yeah, must be. You said he’s been getting headaches?”
“Yeah,” his voice was muffled as he pulled his shirts over his head. “Said meditation was helping them, but only for a little while.”
“Huh,” Bones said. “There’s a few things that could be causing them. It might even be that he’s developing chronic migraines, which would explain why Geoff needs to see us. Medical code says we have to be notified if a patient develops a condition that could put other crew members at risk. The first officer not being able to see straight from a crippling headache qualifies.”
The captain nodded as he quickly finger-combed his hair into place. “That’s what I was afraid of, and why I ordered him down. Better safe than sorry.” He straightened the hem of his uniform shirt. “By the way, I got a message while you were in the shower. We have a meeting at 1500 with the wedding planner.”
With the what?
“Do what now?”
“Yeah, Madelyne Summers. I did a lot of research on the bridge yesterday, and her resume was the best out of all of our options. We’re lucky she was able to fit us in on such short notice. I like her ideas a lot, especially about using the Moon-Viewing area of the botanical gardens for the ceremony.”
Bones blinked several times. “The..botanical gardens?”
“Yeah, the weather’s so nice this time of year, I figure we may as well have it outside. This way there’s enough room for everyone we’re inviting, including the Admirals and Starfleet bigshots. I mean our families will get the front rows, of course, but there has to be enough room for Barnett and everyone.”
Again Bones found himself blinking several times.
“By the way, I realize Jo’s almost ten, but that’s not too old to be a flower girl right,” Jim tossed over his shoulder as he made his way back into their bedroom to put his boots on. Bones followed him with a bewildered expression.
“Uh, I don’t...see why she wouldn’t...”
“Great!” Jim looked up at him and smiled. “I didn’t think she’d mind, but I wanted to be sure before asking.” Having fastened the first boot, he moved onto the second. “I figure silver’s a good color, right? I want to avoid using, like, command gold, or something hokey like that. White flowers too, Madelyne sent me pictures of a lot of arrangements. I gave her my allergy list so they’re all safe, you won’t have to worry about carting around a bunch of hypos for me.” Jim looked up at him again and looked confused. “What’s wrong?”
“What?”
“You look stressed out, even for you,” Jim teased. “What’s wrong? You don’t want to have it outside, is that it? I mean I get it, weather can be unpredictable but this time of year we’re safe, I think.”
“No just...a big wedding? I thought we’d just go to the justice of the peace.”
It was Jim’s turn to look confused. “Why would we do that, especially when Starfleet’s footing the bill?”
“Starfleet’s what?” He felt like all he was doing was asking questions, but he had literally no idea what was going on.
“Yeah, I don’t know how Pike did it, but he got Starfleet to pay for our wedding. Something about using it as a diplomatic function. Whatever, they can write it off on their expenses and we get an awesome wedding for free.” He shrugged again. “It’s totally win-win. Anyways, 1500. Don’t be late, we’re just gonna have it in here.” He stood up, then promptly sat back down. “Wow you’re only half-dressed.” He reached out and handed Bones his shirts. “Come on, Bones, we can’t keep Geoff and Spock waiting.”
“I...” He honestly didn’t know what to say to...well, to anything. So he did the only thing that came to mind.
He finished getting dressed.
Pavel Chekov stood outside of the engineering department with a frown.
It was his rest day and he was at somewhat loose ends. He got up early and went to the gym to have a long run. After essentially doing a five-kilometer race, he went back to his quarters, showered, changed, and went to the mess hall for breakfast.
He was in a bit of a funk, but he wasn’t sure what else he could do about it.
For some reason, he felt like Scotty was blowing him off.
It was weird, and not all like him to be so sensitive. Scotty was probably the busiest person on the ship in terms of the sheer volume of work. Unlike everyone else, he was never really “off-duty,” because if something broke or a system went down, he had to be available to help take care of it. A big part of that was why Pavel spent so much time with him down in engineering; he knew that he was always guaranteed to find him, and the regular shift work he had was simple enough that he didn’t feel like he was taking him away from it.
But it was so weird for Scotty to not take his meals with him or let him hang out. They had spent every day together for almost four months straight, ever since Spock and Uhura’s engagement party. It just didn’t make sense that Scotty would blow him off.
He was probably just overreacting, although he still hesitated before the door.
Well there really was only one way to find out for certain. He would go in, ask Scotty to eat with him. If Scotty said sure, he would forget about the previous day and start fresh. If he hedged or made and excuse, he would ask him what was going on.
He exhaled loudly and pushed the entry button to the wing. Pavel quickly stepped inside and began to head down the narrow stairwell to Scotty’s workstation. The man in question was hard at work as always and he couldn’t help but smile a little as the familiar warmth spread throughout him.
“Hello,” he called ahead of him. “Scotty?”
Scotty’s back was to him, but he visibly froze when he heard his name. “Oh. Pavel. What...what are you doing here?”
“Came to see if I could keep you company,” he said. “As I usually do on my off time.”
Scotty wouldn’t turn around to look at him, which made Pavel frown. “That’s...not really a good idea. I’ve got a lot of work to do, and I really need to concentrate.”
He felt himself stiffen. Another excuse, then. “Has never bothered you before.”
The engineer sighed loudly. “Well, it will today. I just...I need to work.”
Not content to give up, Pavel sighed. Maybe he should try a different tactic. “When you are off then. Want to discuss plans with you we made for optic implants. Can even get McCoy to help us with them.”
“No, I can’t, Pavel.” He finally turned to face him then, and he did honestly look sorry. “I just can’t.”
So he was being blown off. Why would Scotty do that?
“I see,” he said as he clenched his hands into fists. “Tell me then. When would be a good time?”
Averting his eyes to the floor, Scotty shrugged in response. “I’m not sure. Probably not until after the break.”
“Chush' sobach'ya,” he snapped in response. “You never have problem with me being here before! You always make time for me, and now you say it’s too hard? Be honest with me, you just do not want to see me anymore!”
“Pavel, I...” Scotty shook his head. “I just...I don’t know...”
“Let me guess, it is because of my age. You think I am too young to associate with you. I’m not good enough for you because I am not yet even twenty!”
“Well, that...” Scotty swallowed. “I mean, it is a problem for me, but not for the reason that you---”
“Save it,” Pavel cut him off. “Everyone on this ship either hates me or believes me to be an underfoot child. Except you, thought you saw me as an equal. See now I was wrong for believing that.” He turned to make his way out of the room, and his eyes filled with angry tears.
“Pavel, wait,” Scotty called after him. Not wanting to hear anymore excuses or lies, Pavel began to run. He ran all the way out of the room to the turbo lift, and from there straight back to his quarters. Hikaru had already left for his shift, so he was alone.
Struggling to catch his breath, he flopped onto the couch on his stomach. He wouldn’t cry, Scotty didn’t deserve it. He would, however, mope angrily for a while.
“Computer, load media file Pavel-twelve,” he said in a dull voice. The first song on his angry playlist started and he sighed.
He just didn’t understand. Things were great just thirty-six hours ago. What happened to make Scotty change so rapidly? Was the thought of being with him that repulsive? Had he done something to make him change? Maybe it was the picnic, maybe that had been too much and scared him off.
Was he destined to ruin every important relationship he would ever have? Did he deserve friends and companionship that little?
Biting back a sob, he rolled over onto his back and squeezed his eyes closed.
It just wasn’t fair.
Spock sat on the edge of a biobed with a stiff back and blank expression.
Dr. M’Benga had taken his readings, and initially became confused. After recalibrating the tricorder, he took them a second time and became somewhat alarmed. He put the tricorder down and immediately called Dr. McCoy and the captain down.
To say that Spock was worried was an understatement.
The only logical thing he could come up with was that he had some sort of serious condition that was causing the headaches. He was running through a list of potential illnesses in his mind, but there were quite a few things that matched his particular symptoms. M’Benga said he would explain as soon as the captain and McCoy arrived, and that he would do so privately in McCoy’s office.
This also troubled Spock.
It had to be serious if he wouldn’t just tell him what it was. While not a medical officer, Spock was familiar with the medical code. The only reason why the captain and the CMO were being notified with him was that his condition threatened the others on board the Enterprise.
So he was contagious, then.
At that moment, Jim and McCoy entered the sick bay with serious looks on their faces. They quickly joined Spock at the biobed.
“How you holdin’ up, champ,” Jim asked with a smile. Spock gave him a confused expression.
“Champion? Is this a reference to our chess matches?”
“Ouch,” he responded with a wink. “Hit me where I live, why don’t you?”
“Leonard, Jim,” Geoff came over to them with a serious look on his face. “Let’s move to the office, shall we?”
Jim nodded and Leonard shrugged.
“If you think it’s necessary,” he answered. “Why not?”
“Unfortunately, it is,” the other doctor replied. “Come, I don’t want to keep Spock waiting any longer.”
Spock looked at him and Jim placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. For some reason, he felt his pulse speed up at this and his blood began to pound a little. He would think it was fascinating, but it made him mostly uncomfortable. He shrugged his shoulder out of his grip and began to follow M’Benga to the office. Jim followed him and soon all four of the men were inside.
“Have a seat,” M’Benga said and he gestured at Spock, who promptly sat down at one of the chairs in front of McCoy’s desk. The chief medical officer also took a seat at his desk. Everyone looked at Geoff, waiting for him to begin. “Okay. There’s no easy way to say this, so I’m just going to come out with it. Spock’s in pon farr.”
Bones blinked a couple of times as Jim looked completely confused.
“I have no idea what that is,” he announced to no-one in particular.
Spock wasn’t doing much better. “I do not understand.”
“It’s like...” Geoff began, and he struggled with how to explain it. “The Vulcan mating cycle lasts for about seven years at a time. At the end of it, they go into a sort-of heat, called pon farr.” He focused his attention back on Spock. “You’re having your time, Spock. It began a couple of days ago, probably when your headaches started.” He smiled, although it was shaky.
“I know what it means,” the Vulcan answered. “I simply mean that my being in pon farr is illogical, if not outright improbable, as I have never been through it due to my half-human physiology.”
Although, if he was in pon farr that explained his illogical keeping of this ailment to himself.
“I see, well that explains why you didn’t recognize it. I admit I was a little confused as to why you were seeing me for mystery headaches when I took your readings.”
“I don’t understand what the headaches have to even do with this,” Jim asked.
“Well, basically, there’s not enough serotonin in his brain right now. Normally, serotonin is emitted by various neurons and the excess is reabsorbed through a process called reuptake. Right now, the reuptake is happening too often and too quickly; it’s leaving your serotonin levels completely out of whack, which is why you keep having the headaches. I can probably try giving you an SSRI for that at a low dosage; not enough to make it a habit but enough to slow the reuptake down and stabilize your chemistry to minimize your discomfort.”
“How long does this last, Geoff,” Bones asked from where he was sitting.
“Eight days, I’m estimating that he’s on day three. It kind of rises in severity until the eighth day and if it’s not resolved by then he could go into plak tow, which is essentially a severe blood fever. It’s extremely dangerous, which is why I had to tell you both about this.” The doctor looked down at Spock with an apologetic expression. “I know I’m generally not supposed to inform others about this...situation, but...”
“It was logical, given the potential effects,” Spock admitted. “If it is not resolved there could be severe consequences.”
“Right okay, but how do we resolve this,” Jim asked as he crossed his arms over his chest. “I mean, can he just take something for it?”
“Unfortunately not,” Geoff answered. “There’s just not enough research into pon farr to make a viable medical therapy in the short time that we have. It’s a very close-kept secret among Vulcans, and they have their own ways of dealing with it. I’m willing to defer to their judgment out of respect for their culture.”
Bones nodded. “That makes sense. So what are the options?”
Geoff sighed. “Spock, have you and Lieutenant Uhura completed a Vulcan bonding ceremony? I know you’re recently engaged but I’m not aware of whether the two of you have...”
“No.”
Everyone stared at Spock.
“I’m sorry?”
“No, I will not be resolving this with Lieutenant Uhura. I am familiar enough with what can happen after seeing my mother recover from my father’s time. I will not be subjecting her to this.”
Now Jim was really confused. “I don’t understand, if it’s a mating thing why not just mate? I mean that seems to be the most...” Geoff held up a hand and he stopped talking.
“Mating during pon farr can become violent,” he explained. “I’ve only treated pon farr itself three times, but I’ve treated the injuries sustained during it much more frequently. Since Uhura’s a human and not another Vulcan, I can understand where he’s coming from. We’ll just toss that one out.”
Bones nodded. “Right. Is there anything else?”
“Well, there’s the kal-if-fee, which is basically a fight to the death. For obvious reasons, I think we can rule that one out as well.”
“No kidding,” Jim grumbled darkly. “Tell me there’s a third option.”
“Well,” Geoff began, thinking hard. “I did treat an elderly Vulcan whose bondmate had died a few months before. He managed to regulate it and purge the pon farr through extensive meditation. I can relieve him from duty until we get to Earth to take care of it. There’s a Vulcan healer in San Francisco not too far from the Presidio, I can refer you to her if you think you’ll need it.”
Spock nodded. “I am familiar with T’palla, as I have called upon her services in the past. For now, I think it best I go to my quarters and begin the meditation.”
“Before you go, let me give you some hyposprays of the SSRI I want you to take. If you find you’re going through them at more than two a day, come back down here and I’ll give you a higher dose.”
At this, Jim’s communicator beeped. He held up his finger at the others and stepped into a corner of the office. “Kirk here, go ahead,” he said in response.
Admiral Pike is on the line for you, sir. I have him on stand by in your ready room.
The captain nodded. “Good, I’ll be up in five. Kirk out.” He turned back to the rest of the people in the room. “Sorry, I’ve got to take this. Is there anything else?”
“Shouldn’t be, unless any of you have any questions.” Bones shook his head no and Spock just stared at him. “Then yeah, we’re all set.”
Spock nodded. He went to stand, and McCoy followed his example. Geoff smiled at him, a real one this time.
“I’ll get your meds together,” he said as he pat Spock on the arm and again his blood pulsed. “Guys this probably goes without saying, but what’s happening to Spock is...”
“A huge, flaming, giant secret,” Jim finished for him. “I got that when you said the Vulcans tend to keep this quiet.” He turned to his fiancé with a grin. “1500, Bones, don’t forget.” He made his way quickly out of the office without noticing the momentary look of disbelief on Bones’ face.
“Same as with any patient, confidentiality,” he agreed quietly to the other doctor. Geoff grinned at him.
“Glad we’re all on the same page. Come on, Spock, this won’t take long.”
Spock hesitated for a moment, but then followed him.
This was disturbing, to say the least. When he did not have his time at the onset of puberty, he and his family assumed that he would not ever have it due to being half human. Obviously, that assumption was erroneous, but that did not make him happy about this turn of events. There was nothing more that could be done than to treat it with the meditation.
The only thing to figure out now was how to explain to Nyota.
Jim was practically skipping as he made his way down to the brig.
First, that rat-bastard de Maupassant was going to be detained immediately at Foucault, the Starfleet-run federation prison located near Starfleet HQ. It would only be few weeks before he was due to stand trial for several counts of various serious offenses, including treason. He was being hung out to dry and Jim was loving it.
Second, Pike agreed to officiate the wedding. He looked touched by the request and said yes with no hesitation.
Third, they would be on Earth tomorrow. They would dock and disembark the ship at 10:00, and then they were to meet with the wedding planner, scout the location for the reception, have the rehearsal dinner, and then the joint-bachelor party to close out the night. The day after that, he’d be married.
Yeah, there was absolutely not reason why he shouldn’t be in a good mood at that moment as he pushed the entry code to the brig. Jim whistled a little as he walked down the stairs to the cell area. Hearing movement ahead of him, he stopped.
“Hello,” he called. “Is someone there?”
The security officers standing near him both looked at him and shrugged. Jim shrugged back. He looked towards de Maupassant’s cell again and squinted in the dim lighting. No, he was just sitting on his cot looking bored.
He must have imagined it. Oh well.
He quickly made his way to the front of de Maupassant’s cell. He cleared his throat loudly.
“I wondered if you would come by again before tomorrow,” the man said in a pleasant tone.
Jim smiled. “Got some news for you, and I figured why not give it in person?”
Julien looked perplexed. Good, nice to have him off balance for once. “Such as?”
His smile became a grin. “You’ll be given over to military police custody before we disembark at 9:30 tomorrow morning. From there you’ll be detained in the Foucault facility until your trial begins the first week of September.”
“Ah,” he said as he brushed some lint off one of his sleeves. “Your Federation does love its kangaroo courts.”
The smile on Jim’s face froze a little. “Do I detect some sour grapes? Surely you aren’t surprised, considering the sheer amount of damage you’ve caused.”
When he spoke, he sounded neither resigned nor upset; he sounded as if he was commenting on something as simple as the weather. “I’m not surprised as hearing me goes against the very thing the Federation stands for: amassing allies and resources. We simply cannot have dissenting opinions in our would-be Utopia. It is simply the most efficient way of silencing me.”
Jim was frowning now. “You still think the Federation’s a sham.”
“I am not likely to change such a strong opinion due to a small setback,” Julien countered. “If anything, this only serves to prove me correct.”
“Of course it does,” Jim snapped. “You’ll believe whatever you want in order to have your way. So whatever, if it helps you sleep at night in prison for the rest of your life, by all means. Knock yourself out.” With that he turned and began to make his way back through the brig.
“Congratulations, by the way, on your engagement. The doctor is a fine figure of a man.”
That made Jim stop dead in his tracks. He slowly turned around. “Excuse me?”
Julien smiled. “Good of you to make him an honest one. The lives we all lead, you never know what may happen.” He paused for a moment, before adding, “The irony of a surgeon being injured is that so frequently he is usually the only one who can put himself back together.”
Jim stared at him in disbelief. “What the hell did you just say?”
The look on Julien’s face was one of surprise. “I simply said...”
“You’re threatening him?” Jim stormed back over. He got right up to the wall of the cell. “You really just went there?”
“I did no such thing, I merely stated the irony of a surgeon becoming wounded. I was not aware that is not allowed.”
“You’re lucky I don’t open this door right now and...”
“And what? Physically beat me? With what cause, your vaunted Article Fourteen?”
That made Jim cool down a bit. “What?”
“The same Article Fourteen that permitted you to destroy the Botany Bay when you came across it?”
Nope, just like that he was enraged again. “That ship posed a threat not only to the Enterprise, but to the entire Federation. Just like you’re so fond of saying, I did what I had to do!”
“Indeed, James, we all do what we have to do,” Julien said with sympathy, “even if we may not be happy about it. I am simply reminding you that an entity that permits the proverbial gloves to come off in such a manner is not entirely benevolent. That is all.” He sighed. “You have what you came for, I confess to not understanding why you are still here.”
Jim suddenly calmed himself. “No, actually, I just figured you out. You’re pushing my buttons because that’s all you’ve got. That’s why you keep attacking things and now you’ve resorted to threatening Bones. It’s because you have nothing else. I’ve taken everything from you, so you’re lashing out. You’re picking because you’re a sore loser.”
Julien began to laugh. “You really are worth your reputation, James. I am very impressed.”
“If your opinion mattered, I would thank you for saying so,” Jim said with a smirk. “As it doesn’t, I’ll be going now. Enjoy your cell, it’s a lot more comfortable than the ones in Foucault.” He turned and began to make his way out of the brig. Julien watched him go with a smile.
Several minutes passed and the two security guards did their half-hourly walk through. The Aehallh members did the usual shouting to them, but Julien as always simply said hello. One of them eyed him warily, but they turned and went back the other way to post themselves by the brig door.
“You can come back out now,” he whispered.
Marla popped up from her hiding spot behind the corner of the brig. She straightened the hem of her uniform skirt and took her place in front of his cell. “That was close, I didn’t realize it was the captain when he came in.”
“He apparently is fond of gloating. Perhaps he will think twice about doing so in the future, it is ...unseemly.”
“He doesn’t understand anything of subtlety, you saw the picture,” she snapped in a low voice.
“It seems that way.” He tilted his head at her and smiled. “Enough of him, he is nothing. We were talking of your family when he interrupted.”
“There’s not much more to tell,” she began. “I only entered Starfleet because my father wanted me to.”
“Oh?” He settled into a more comfortable sitting position on his cot. “Please. Elaborate.”
She knelt down on the floor. “I wanted to teach history, get my PhD. Daddy wanted me to follow in his footsteps though, so what I wanted didn’t matter.”
Julien made a sad noise in his throat. “That is a shame. History is very important, and teaching is perhaps the most noble of professions. I have always been fond of history myself.” He smiled again. “You would be a marvelous teacher, although perhaps your beauty would be a distraction for the students.”
Marla blushed to the roots of her hair. “You shouldn’t say things like that.”
“Am I being too forward? I do not see how I could not notice, and I admit in the short time we have known each other I have grown quite fond of you. Where I come from, we say such things to the people in our lives. It lets them know they are appreciated.”
“Appreciated,” she said with a note of awe in her voice. “It’s been so long since anyone’s made me feel that way.”
“Then I shall endeavor to say so more frequently,” he replied. “You are appreciated, by me if no one else.”
“Thank you,” she said. “You’re...I appreciate you as well.”
Julien looked quite pleased. “I thank you.”
“You’ve come to mean a lot to me in so short a time. Is that crazy?”
He shook his head. “No, I do not believe so.” He looked off into the distance for a moment, and his smile got an edge to it that she did not notice. “I do not believe so at all.”
Chapter Two | Chapter Three B
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Thanks for reading!
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Thanks for reading the fic, I'm glad you're enjoying it!