A Useful Gift
Summary: Bones has arranged to give Jim a somewhat unusual gift, but it's one he could really use... Kirk and my version of Security Chief Giotto. Definitely not slash.
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Sadly I did not receive the rights to Star Trek for Christmas.
Jim fairly bounced into the practice room, looking around for the giant box or big something with a bow that would be the mysterious present Bones had said he'd find in here.
What he saw however was his Security Chief dressed in a gi, and since he was wearing his black belt, probably fresh from leading a hand-to-hand class. Make that advanced class. The older man had the sheen of sweat and satisfied expression that he usually wore after running 10-man drills (for someone who zealously preached 'avoid a fight if at all possible', Giotto had a disturbing tendency to break into a grin during multiple-attacker exercises). Jim double-checked the room number.
"Hey Chief, hope I'm not disturbing anything. I think Bones must playing some sort of joke - he told me to come here for my present."
"No, sir, you're in the right place."
Jim entered, scanning the room, which still appeared empty. "So did he hide it in here or is this one of those things where you give me a clue and I have to figure out the next place to look?"
"Nothing like that, sir." Giotto looked mildly surprised. "I take it the Doctor didn't explain the nature of the gift?"
"No, he said it was surprise." In fact Bones had been unreasonably smug and happy with himself over getting Jim something he 'could really use'.
"Ah, I see. Computer lock room."
Huh? Jim turned as the door sealed behind him and then looked back at the Chief, who he couldn't help noticing was no longer standing in the usual mildly relaxed attitude of attention. "Chief ...what's going on here?"
"A lesson, Captain," Giotto placed his hands together and bowed in the formal style for beginning a match.
He did enjoy sparring with Sam, and frequently did learn something from testing his skill against the more experienced fighter, but he also tended to come away with enough bruises to make Bones scowl and accuse him of masochism. And they usually sparred in an open ring in the gym, not a locked room.
"What sort of lesson?" Kirk asked cautiously returning the bow.
"How to get out of choke hold."
Jim laughed. "You're kidding. That's the big gift?"
Giotto's eyebrows rose slightly and then he moved with surprising speed. Before he realized it, Jim was being pushed toward wall, struggling to pull apart the hands closing around his throat. When his back hit the wall, he tapped it in desperation.
Sam released him, stepping back and shaking his head with a disappointed sigh. "Sir, how many times has someone tried to choke you?"
"You mean counting just now?" Kirk rubbed his neck accusingly.
"If you want," Giotto replied calmly.
"I dunno. A dozen or so."
"And didn't you learn counters during your Academy training?"
Kirk pulled at the back of his neck, feeling a little sheepish. "Yeah, sort of... " He'd missed most of that unit because he'd overloaded on classes trying to finish in the three years. At the time skipping a few basic self-defense classes had made sense. He could hold his own in a fight, but the workload in Hoffmeier's xenosociology had been threatening to kick his butt.
"Respectfully, sir, I think something better than 'sort of' would be to your advantage."
Kirk gave him a wry smile. Giotto was the only person he knew that could address him with 'respectfully, sir' and still make him feel about four years old. "Okay, you may have a point there Chief. What do you want me to do?"
Giotto placed his hands behind his back. "Put your hands around my neck."
Jim took a cautious step forward and slowly complied, bracing himself because the Chief was not even the least bit worried about allowing that and obviously intended to show him a (quite possibly painful) countermeasure.
"Good." Giotto lifted both hands from behind his back and closed them into fists. "Now, what do you notice?"
Jim looked from Giotto's hands to his own, a slightly embarrassed smile creeping onto his face. "Your hands are free and mine aren't."
"Yes." A slight grin edged onto Sam's face and Jim felt the barest contact of a knee at his groin. "What else?"
"Your legs are free too."
"Good. Trying to pull hands from your neck is a natural panic response, but it's not very effective given the limited time you have to break a real choke." Giotto dropped back into a solid stance and quickly feinted a double hammer blow to Jim's stomach, swept his forearms up between Jim's and drove the choke apart, following with a punch that stopped just short of contact. He stepped back into a defensive stance and then returned to his usual posture. "Of course, there are a number of possible variations. We'll find two that feel most natural to you and drill them until you start using those automatically instead of trying to pull at the hands on your neck."
"Okay." Leave it to Bones to think of something to keep him out of sickbay, although it probably hadn't been all his idea. Jim grinned. "I take it this is your gift to me too."
"No, sir," Giotto shook his head. "Keeping you alive is my job. I got you a Star Wars coffee mug."
AN: Merry Christmas! We were practicing choke hold counters in my dojo last week and it occurred to me that Kirk really could stand to learn them (and should have in the Academy). 10-man drills are in fact exhilarating and despite barely making it through 10 people throwing random attacks in succession, I'm usually grinning by the end too.
Please r&r