Title: Fire, Wind, and Water: The Debussy Suite 2, The Isle of Joy
Author: Wildcat
Series: TOS
Rating: MA
Codes: S/U
Summary: Four months after Uhura is transferred to the Lexington, the Lexington and the Enterprise dock briefly at the same space station. This takes place after the events described in the following stories:
A Woman's Touch
The Taste of Snow
You Would Even Say She Glows
Almost a Kiss
The Flame Within
Fire, Wind, and Water 1: What the West Wind Saw
Note that this is part two of Fire, Wind, and Water: The Debussy Suite.
Disclaimer: Paramount owns Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Uhura, and company. I have just borrowed them for a while and will not profit from any of this.
Thanks to Claude Debussy for his piano composition, "L'isle joyeuse," from which I took the title.
Fire, Wind, and Water: The Debussy Suite won 1st place for "Best S/U Story," 3rd place for "Best TOS Story" and Honorable Mention for "Best Overall Story" in the 1998 Golden O Awards.
Feedback is desired.
The Isle of Joy, chapter 1
Leaning back against his seat in the Starcruiser Lounge, Kirk looked out the large observation window to his right and admired the Enterprise. From this distance, she looked like a shiny, sleek moth, with threadlike cables connecting her to the docking facility of Starbase Fourteen and ensnaring her just as surely as an insect caught in a web. After seven weeks of patrolling the neutral zone in Sector Three, the ship needed some maintenance, but Scotty had said that it was all routine and should be done in less than three hours. Already, Kirk could see that some of the cables had been retracted, so he knew that things must be going well.
He took a sip of his brandy. While he would never wish for the ship to need anything more than routine maintenance, he couldn't help but hope that maybe Scotty would find a little something else to delay their departure. Their replacement in patrolling the Sector Three neutral zone, the Lexington, had pulled into spacedock right beside the Enterprise about fifteen minutes ago, so once the maintenance was complete they'd be expected to leave for their new destination immediately. Kirk knew at least two people, however, who would prefer that the Enterprise stay, even if only for a short while longer.
He turned away from the window and watched one of those people, who was seated across the table and unsuccessfully trying to resist the urge to glance at the doorway every few minutes. Kirk raised his glass to hide his grin. Except under the direst of circumstances, he'd never known Spock to be anything other than collected and calm, but right now he would say that the Vulcan was almost jittery.
A voice came from his left. "You three ready to order something to eat?"
Kirk looked up to see their waitress standing by the side of the booth.
McCoy, seated next to him, picked up his menu. "Why, yes ma'am, I think—"
"Not yet, thank you," said Kirk. "We're waiting for someone else to join us."
The waitress tucked her padd back into her pocket. "That's fine. Just let me know when you're ready."
As she walked away, McCoy frowned. "Who's meeting us? Sulu?"
"No, not Sulu. Someone from the Lexington."
"Well!" McCoy laughed. "That's great! Scotty told me that Uhura was going to be in command while they were in spacedock, so she couldn't spend any time with us."
Although he hadn't uttered a dozen words since they sat down, Spock said, "She arranged for the first officer to take her shift, thus allowing her the freedom to leave the ship. Evidently she has been detained, however. I do not understand where she is."
"The Lexington hasn't even been here fifteen minutes," said Kirk.
"It arrived precisely sixteen point eight minutes ago."
"Okay, seventeen minutes. She probably had some last minute—"
He was interrupted by McCoy, who looked over at the door and exclaimed, "There she is!" Waving, he called out, "Hey! Nyota! Over here!"
Kirk looked up to see Uhura standing in the open doorway, her brow creased as she searched the room, but before he could catch her attention, Spock came to his feet and walked quickly in her direction. She saw him immediately. Smiling brilliantly, she hurried to meet him, and it was obvious from the look on her face that the rest of the room had ceased to exist. Kirk stifled a grin at McCoy's deflated expression as the doctor lowered his arm and settled back into his seat.
She and Spock stopped only inches from one another. Although Spock was turned away and Kirk could tell that they weren't even touching, the familiarity with which Spock lowered his head to speak to her and the brightness in her eyes as she gazed back up at him clearly broadcast to anyone watching that there was something between them. Kirk sneaked a glance at McCoy, who had narrowed his eyes and become very quiet.
Finally, Spock stepped back and ushered her toward the table.
"Hello, gentlemen! It's so good to see you!" She slid into the seat and made room for Spock. "Have you been waiting long?"
Kirk reached across the table to grip her hands. "No, not at all. Or at least, it hasn't seemed overly long to me, although it's possible that not everyone at this table would agree with that statement."
She met Spock's eyes briefly before answering, "I didn't think I'd ever get here. One silly little thing after another."
McCoy looked from Uhura to Spock, who raised his eyebrow but did not comment. After a moment, McCoy put his elbows on the table and leaned toward Uhura.
"Well, we're certainly glad you made it. We've missed your smiling face on the Enterprise, my dear." He looked back at Spock.
Obviously amused at McCoy's uncertainty, Uhura replied, "I've definitely missed all of you. But the crew of the Lexington is wonderful, so I've been fortunate to have made some good friends." She looked down at her hands. "Of course," she said innocently, "it's just not the same as it was on the Enterprise."
Kirk grinned. "I'm sure it's not."
Completely serious, Spock said, "I would sincerely hope not."
As Uhura laughed with delight, Kirk glanced at McCoy, who met his gaze with a big-eyed, incredulous expression. Before anyone could say anything else, the waitress approached their table.
"I see that your friend is here," she said. "Would you care to order now?"
Kirk looked over at Uhura. "What do you say? Are you hungry?"
"Thank you Admiral, but I think I'd rather just walk around the station for a while. I hope you don't mind."
Kirk shook his head. "No, not at all. This is a nice station, and I think you'll enjoy it."
The waitress sighed in exasperation, so Kirk smiled his most charming smile at her and said, "We'll let you know when we're ready to order." She put her padd back in her pocket and left.
Uhura looked over at Spock. "Would you walk with me?"
"I would be pleased to do that."
She waited for Spock to come to his feet, then slid out of the booth and leaned across McCoy to give Kirk a quick embrace.
"Goodbye Admiral, goodbye Doctor. I'm sorry that I couldn't spend more time with you. Maybe we'll see each other soon."
McCoy stood up and hugged her. "We'll be looking forward to it."
"I'll contact you when we're ready to go," Kirk said to Spock. "I just remembered that we need to run a diagnostic on the warp engines, so our departure might be delayed by an hour or so."
Spock looked puzzled. "Mr. Scott ran a diagnostic—"
"Spock." Kirk held up both hands. "I'll call you."
"Ah. I see. I will wait until I hear from you."
With a quick wave, Uhura headed toward the door, and Spock followed. McCoy watched them leave the room, then slid into the booth across from Kirk. Both eyebrows high, he said, "Tell me, Jim, that I just saw what I think I saw."
Kirk took a drink of his brandy. "What do you think you saw?"
"Of course I'm just an old country doctor who is evidently never told anything by his friends, but I think I saw a reunion between two people who are much closer than just friends."
"Well, if that's what you saw, I guess I'd have to say that you're pretty observant. Although I would have to add that a blind man could have seen it."
"I'll be damned! I had my suspicions about the two of them way back on Dantria, but I finally decided that I was imagining things. Am I right that it's been going on that long?"
"Yes."
McCoy shook his head. "Is it serious?"
"My opinion is that it's very serious. As a matter of fact, I'd even go so far as to say that they're madly in love, if I can say something like that where Spock is concerned. He's very devoted to her, anyway."
McCoy shook his head again. "I'll be damned."
Motioning for the waitress, Kirk said, "I'm sure they still want this kept quiet, Bones."
"No one knows?"
"I think it's just you and me."
"That Vulcan and his secrets. Well, he can count on me not to tell, although if anyone else sees them looking at each other like that, the news is going to spread like wildfire."
The waitress approached the table, so they both picked up their menus. Just before she arrived, however, McCoy met Kirk's eyes and laughed.
"Spock and Uhura. I'll be damned!"
End chapter 1