62

The Vulcan's arms were tightly wrapped around his chest as he wandered the confines of his room. His bare feet counting off the dimensions over and over. There would be no rest for him this evening. He did not even bother to change from his uniform into his meditation robes for he knew the futility of it. The fire shrine stared mockingly at him, daring him to try even the basic levels of the much needed discipline. But this night as in the past three nights his mind had but a single thought racing through it.

I never really noticed how much the little things mattered until we became lovers. No, scratch that. Not when we became lovers because that was only a week ago and I already knew him quite well by then. Certainly much better than when I first beamed aboard. Oh, I knew a little bit about him at the time. I knew he was half human. I knew he was very intelligent and according to Captain Pike, extremely loyal, almost to a fault. I knew that he was a bit of a loner, rarely, if ever, socializing with the crew. But then as time went by, I learned so much more about him. Like how he had principles that he wouldn't compromise, no matter what. And how fond he was of chess and how pleased he was when I began joining him for games. And that his favorite food was plomeek soup and that I could bribe him to do just about anything for a plate of chocolate ice cream. And most of all, I learned that underneath that cold exterior he presented to the universe was a warm, caring, and gentle soul that was crying out for understanding and love.

The room was well furnished. Paintings, golden and thick carpets. In one end of the rooms stood a large bed with one person attempting to sleep. He was not successful. He sat, tears falling down his face. He got out of bed, and pulled on a dressing robe over his naked body. He went to anwer the beeping message. It didn't matter what the message said: he already knew that something had happen to his bond mate.

Koudellend was a stinking armpit of a planet, Kirk thought resentfully as he pulled himself deeper into his Starfleet issue padded jacket. The whole place was cold, grey and generally miserable, which at that moment exactly matched his mood.
He studiously refrained from looking at the slim figure seated next to him. The last time he had risked a glance, Spock had appeared even more dejected than his captain. Even bundled up to the eyebrows in thermal scarves and gloves and with a hat pulled low over his ears, the tip of the Vulcan's nose and the sharp planes of his face were a delicate shade of leaf green, the skin around his eyes pinched and taut

Beta shift began trickling onto the bridge of the Enterprise, as smoothly and predictably as ever. Captain James T. Kirk swung his legs down from the step of his command chair and stood up somewhat stiffly. He resisted the urge to stretch his achy limbs and remained stationary for a brief moment, waiting for the immediacy of the discomfort to abate. Arthritis troubled him more and more during the last several years, and he frequently felt grateful that the final five year mission of the Enterprise was rapidly coming to a close. Just a few more months and he would retire, as would the ship.

Jim plopped down on his bed, fingers laced behind his head, thinking. Vulcans didn't celebrate birthdays, Spock had explained patiently, time and again, but Spock had always gotten Jim a present, unfailingly, for his own birthday, and Jim wanted to reciprocate at least once.
But what to get a man who had few needs and wants?or so he kept claiming? For the first time in his life he finally understood what his mother had been saying all those years ago. Men sometimes are hard to buy for.

Later he would remember smelling it, an acrid, smoky aroma that was barely noticeable. But at the moment it hardly registered in his mind before he turned and saw the purplish wisps of vapor that heralded danger.
"Coolant leak! Everybody out!" he ordered, shoving the nearest crewman toward the doors. Running into the next chamber of weapons control found it and himself enveloped in the noxious fumes. Holding his hand over his nose and mouth, Kirk frantically scanned the room for the operator on duty. There, by the far wall, already down. Quickly he went to the fallen woman. She was still breathing, heartbeat slow for her species and pretty erratic, but it was there. Before he could lift her he heard the emergency doors close, sealing off the leak and effectively trapping the two of them.