Story [Star Trek 2009] "East of the Sun" (UDC7) Week 17 up 8/11

Jade_eyes: Because these drabbles needed kid!fic like whoa, that's all I'm saying! I had such a smile on my face when writing this set - I'm glad it was shared.

RX_Sith: Thanks.

Daena: That's the whole message I was trying to get through with those drabbles - I am so glad that it struck a chord! McCoy and Kirk's back and forth was a pleasure to write too - more than the snark, they are really, really good for each other.

And here we are with the next set - just a day late. Last week was a seven day work week (the pleasures of being a landscaper in the spring. ), and I just now got a few minutes to write.

That said . . . take that tricky promits. Take that.

---

Week XIV: “like a hole in the heart”​

XLVI. Castle

Her sons played on the beech. Over the cries of the gulls and the giggle of the sea, she watched as Sam patiently built sloppy castles in the sand, only to have Jim bowl through the creations, knocking them over. Far from being perturbed, Sam raised a brow at his younger sibling's antics before patiently building his sandcastle again.

Winona watched them without joining in on their games. The sand grated under her skin. The sunlit sky held no appeal to her until it set, letting the stars came out. Finally, under their light, she felt as if she could breathe again.



XLVII. House

“You're like a house with lights on,” Pike said as gently as he could. “But there's nobody home.”

“What?” Winona questioned, not realizing that she was being talked to.

“That's exactly what I mean,” her friend chided. “Winona, what are you doing here? No one would blame you for settling down planet-side. Go, take care of your sons, find your life again.”

“You don't understand,” she whispered. “Here I am still close to him. Planet-side . . . I don't even have a light to turn on.”

Pike rested his hand on her shoulder, but Winona already looked beyond him, to where the stars played.



XLVIII. Hut

“What could you possibly hope to find out there that we don't already have here?”

“That's precisely what I'm going to find out,” Nyota answered as she threw clothes into her suitcase.

“Sure, there are Reavers and Daleks and Hutts out there, you can't find those on Earth, thank goodness, but -”

“ - Hutts?” Nyota raised a brow, teasing.

Kashore scoffed. “You know what I mean, Ny.”

Nyota paused before her sister. “I will miss you too, Kashore,” she whispered.

Kashore blinked back tears as she forced a wobbly smile. “More than you know,” she said as she hugged her sister. “More than you know . . .”



XLIX. Tent

The spring before his divorce was finalized, he took Joanna camping off of the river. His daughter's eyes, which had been carefully guarded the whole of the journey out, (she reading through his grasping attempts for time together with a no-nonsense awareness that she inherited from both of her parents), softened the further and further away from home they got.

By that evening, she sat up the tent with him without fuss, and by the time the campfire roared, there was an honest smile on her face – she just as desperate before the looming shadow of separation as he.



XLXX. Cave

“I don't see how you're going to fly in space if you can't even fly cross-country,” Joanna's voice was amused underneath the blanket of stars.

“I have to do something,” he shrugged. He didn't bother saying that Jocelyn approved of him putting the void of space between them.

“You will have to take me someday,” Joanna said after a moment.

He opened his mouth to let her down gently, before thinking the better of it. He caved. “Alright, pick one.”

Joanna pondered, her eyes searching the heavens. “That one,” she finally pointed. “That one right there.”

“Alright,” McCoy agreed – he promised, “That one.”



~MJ

 

RX_Sith: Thanks! I had a blast expanding the characters I was writing about, and I'm glad they went over well.

Jade_eyes: I could not resist the cross fandom references with a prompt like hut, now could I? . The sisterly one just wrote itself and I had a squee while typing it - I am glad it resounded. Again, thank-you for reading!

---

Week XV: “hands as to hold”​

LXXI. Wife

Everyone knew that it was not difficult for James T. Kirk to catch the eye of a woman. Many, many, many women, actually – but who was keeping count? They came into his life almost as quickly as they went, and those closest to him could tell you that the real trick wasn't in catching his attention – but keeping it for longer than a night.

He met the Enterprise one chilly morning, and felt his soul catch hook, line, and sinker. He still hadn't found the need to ask for it back, and she had taken care of his heart ever since.



LXXII. Mother

There were times when McCoy felt more like the team mother rather than the team doctor. He seemed to always be the one saying, 'Jim, don't touch that', and 'Jim, play nice with the other kids', and 'Jim, if you could please so kind in getting us out of this in one piece, I would be grateful – seeing how its your fault, anyway.'

But then there was the Vulcan, and his words and his logic and his unfailing ability to get under McCoy's skin -

- and Jim just smirked. “McCoy, please do us all a favor and play nice with the other kids.”



LXXIII. Daughter

“It's going to be a boy,” Nyota declared.

Spock, who had been resting a hand on her still flat stomach, searching for the developing touch of their child's mind, tilted his head. “You sound certain,” he commented.

“A mother's intuition,” she smiled.

“Ah,” he said, his mouth pursing in the way that said he was thinking about something too seriously.

“Why?” Nyota teased. “You want a daughter?” Silence came from him, and she laughed – delighted when he did not counter her deduction. “If not,” she whispered conspiratorially. “We will just have to try again.”

A heartbeat. “That may prove to be acceptable.”



LXXIV. Sister

Growing up, Kirk had had a sibling. Sam had left when he was young, and his memories of his brother were hazy and distant. Better did he count McCoy as his brother - Spock as well.

He had never considered the possibility of a sister. But Nyota with her snapping comments and her fierce loyalty filled in something he was missing without him even realizing he carried that need.

“Kaka,” she called him after he would do something particularly stupid – or brave.

“What does it mean?” he finally asked Spock.

And Spock gave his not-smile. “Brother,” he answered. “In the tongue of her childhood.”



LXXV. Aunt

Jim left gifts for Grayson every time he came – fun and entertaining gadgets that the boy wouldn't be able to use for years. More sensible gifts were left as well, but it took Nyota about a week to find out the giver.
“If Jim is going to play the fun uncle, then he may as well have a doting aunt as well,” McCoy explained, flushing pink. “Doting uncle, you know what I mean.”

“Thank-you,” Nyota hid her grin by kissing the doctor's cheek.

McCoy flushed pink. “Just don't let word get out – I have a reputation to keep.”

“Of course,” Nyota's eyes twinkled in reply.



~MJ

 

And we finally have an update here! And, conveniently, we are almost past the spoiler restrictions for the new film - so the next drabbles will be full of Into Darkness feelings. Be prepared.

Until then . . .

Jade_eyes: You hit my favourites too!

RX_Sith: Aww, thanks.

Daena: Castle: Beech or beach? And... oh, Winona!

Aha! I knew something was wrong with that drabble, and I couldn't put my finger on it. Thanks.

Daughter: I can just see them with three or four kids! Love the interaction there.

It's one of my favourite things about this reboot verse - all the happy family moments that are to come!

Aunt: McCoy's reputation was never in danger. Hee.

Ain't that the truth!

---

Week XVI: “one and together”​

LXXVI. Assume

Everyone knew about Vulcans.

The cold, analytical, facts first and feeling last approach to life. At least, that was what Amanda Grayson had grown believing. What did it matter that the Ambassador had an odd way of making her laugh (never on purpose, mind you)? But, the fact of the mater was, she laughed when she was with him. And, when she didn't laugh, she couldn't keep herself from smiling. Then . . . there were times when she thought that his eyes smiled too. His eyes smiled. His Vulcan eyes, where no feeling was supposed to reside.

Because . . . everyone knew about Vulcans, right?

. . . right.



LXXVII. Misunderstand

Human courtship rituals turned out to be more complex then he had first anticipated.

The various periodicals he had read had warned him not to speak of his intentions too quickly – or too openly. Compliment her, they had said, to show his interest and see if that interest was returned. And yet, his commentary on her attire deteriorated into a very awkward conversation about the merits of cotton versus other synthetic materials.

He would call his first attempt at expressing his interest unsuccessful, and was thus revising his strategy. Tomorrow, he would attempt to compliment her hair, and collect further data there.



LXXVIII. Confuse

The first time Amanda had felt his thoughts unbidden, she had been speaking to her class, only to break off mid-sentence when a wave of annoyance bit through her – her thoughts supplying her names of Ambassadors she had never met until she realized that it was not her own emotions she felt, but his.

It was, in a word, disorienting.

Later, he had felt a rather intense fit of laughter from her when hanging out with her friends, and admitted that he had had to fight not to smile while in conversation with T'Pau – and she had had to fight her laughter all over again.



LXXIX. Deny

She knew his intentions from the moment he had first asked to court her – and yet, she still kept him at arms length, watching, waiting . . . Until, finally, when hearing his logical reasons for marriage, she snapped.

“I am human,” she said the word as if it were something offensive. “I need more than that if this is going to work.”

“Which I am trying to give,” he responded calmly. “I, however, need you to tell me what more I can do.”

Do you love me? she thought but could not say without sounding small and scared. Like a child, needy and -



LXXX. Admit

And yet, the thought ran from her mind to his, followed by her frustration too.

“I do not have the words,” Sarek finally said. “And yet . . .”

He stepped forward; fingers held level with her face. Understanding dawned, and she hesitated – for this would be more than an errant shared thought, this would be everything, and . . .

In the end, his mind was just so large when compared to her own - all light and color and feeling, so much that she did not see how he could live with it but to cage it all away, and . . .

She understood. And she said yes.



~MJ

 

I know, I am back! This summer has been this summer, and I am finally finding the time to write.

Nyota's Heart: I have to thank-you for your patience, my friend! We are catching up now.

RX_Sith: Thanks! They are such an interesting couple to explore.

Dantana_Skywalker: Why thank-you! It sure has been a joy to write.

---

Week XVII: “as he shed a light on the falling wall”​

LXXXI. Weapon

It was in mankind's nature to attempt to harness that which was not their's to control. The human race floundered; they lacked strength - so they created it. They created gods; they then sought to tear them down when those made superior refused to bend at the knee to those lesser.

Now he laid his mind on the altar of another's ambition, all for the sake of his own. And yet, a mantra ran through his thoughts, like a child at prayer . . .

. . . Kati . . . Otto . . . Joachim . . . Joaquin . . . Ling . . . McPherson . . . Rodriguiz . . .

Khan looked up as the last missile panel slid in place, and whispered his amen.



LXXXII. Helm

Is there not anything you would do for your family?

Kirk had no idea then how Khan's words would haunt him, sinking in as a blade between rib-bones. It was all he could hear as the Vengeance took aim, all he could think of before his thoughts shattered -

I led them here, he thought. I put them in harms way . . . they trusted me . . . my family . . . My fault . . . my fault . . . mine . . . .

. . . Is there not anything you would do for your family?

And so, he stepped to the helm, and gave his last plea.

“Please,” he threw himself on the Admiral's mercy. “I'll do anything.”



LXXXIII. Shield

It was an emotion he had not prepared himself for; and thus, he could not shield from.

All he knew was that his Captain – his friend – was dying, and all he could do was watch. All he could do was listen as his Captain – his friend – said that he was scared. That he wished he could feel nothing . . .

Spock felt his eyes burn, felt them water - and it was Vulcan all over again as he placed his hand against he glass and gave the only thing he could give . . . his friendship, and his comfort, as Kirk breathed his last and then no more.



LXXXIV. Cloak

The intensity of his emotions hit her like a blow.

At first, there had been only coldness. Denial. And then the cloak had fallen away, taking away her breath with the burning she felt in her chest, Spock's pain made her own . . .

Khan!

She opened her eyes, and felt his psyche, angry and red, as it spilled over into her mind . . .

And she realized that the rest of the bridge was staring at her, waiting. She shook her head. “The Captain . . .” she started, but could not form the words. But it didn't matter. They understood. And her rage was shared.



LXXXV. Transmit

Although, logically, he knew that the Captain would open his eyes again, it was nonetheless a relief when he did so. More illogical was the full and . . . happy feeling of relief he experienced every day that Kirk grew stronger and stronger, and yet . . .

“I understand,” he said, trying to put into words the tempest of feelings he could feel turning, wild and human beneath the binds of his control. “I . . .”

“Its what friends do, Spock,” Kirk said simply, placing a hand on his shoulder as he interrupted him. “In the end, there is nothing more to explain.”



~MJ