Charlotte Frost
PART I FOUNDATIONS OF FRIENDSHIP
Kirk relaxed as the cabin door slid shut behind him with a soft hiss. He leaned against it safe. From his friend. But not from his thoughts. Sighing, he stepped into his office and stood before the desk. Some part of him insisted that he was making far too much of something that was nothing at all. But the scene kept running over and over in his mind.
PART II ECLIPSE
Reaching the outer edges of the park, Kirk found his attention straying back to the reason he was here. The Enterprise had established orbit in the middle of Stiven's seven- hour night.
He had been among the first to beam down, and had wasted no time in returning to the house of pleasure he'd visited in the past. The release of tension his body demanded had happened quickly, as was his usual pattern. What he hadn't expected was that, upon waking after a few hour's sleep, he'd had no desire to couple with his companion for a second time. Or a third Or a fourth. He felt a little guilty for depriving her of the enjoyment he usually tried to provide once he'd had his first, desperate release, but not guilty enough to remain in a situation that he found...pitiful.
Yes, pity, that was it. Kirk knew what it felt like to be used in such manner, and had no desire to experience it again.
PART III QUESTIONS
Kirk glanced about the cabin, realizing that the familiarity of it felt comfortable, but also peculiar. It seemed strange to be here, safe and sound, when such a short time ago he'd thought himself all alone on the Nindans' planet, Spock dead.
PART IV FRIENDS FIRST
I am not the same person, Spock decided. Mere months ago, he would never have predicted that life could have changed so drastically within a matter of weeks, forcing re-evaluation of all things that were important to him, all things that gave life meaning.... And all because of Jim.
COVERS by Chris Soto. ART by Chris Soto, Kay Wells June 1990
