AN: Wow, I can't believe I actually wrote something. Well, this particular plot bunny was a little on the viscious side so...
Anyway, this was inspired by something that the awesome Brittany Diamond said at the end of the Shore Leave chapter of her lovely AnalyzationCommentary. Hope you like. And please go easy on me with the probable spelling/grammar errors. I am beta-less. :(
Disclaimer: I own nothing, obviously.
Jim beamed back down to the planet in his fresh, un-ripped uniform, deftly adjusting the hem of the gold shirt and looked around. Several of the shore leave parties were already there, all of them milling about and admiring the planet's scenic beauty as well as its unique amenities. All around, all sorts of random objects were popping up, from random creatures, to food, and everything in between. Jim observed his delighted crew members with amused satisfaction. They really did deserve a break and he was glad that this shore leave was going to be absolutely awesome for them. And for him too. Jim was pretty sure he'd never been as quite as excited about a shore leave. Ever. Now just where was…?
The sound of hooves galloping across the ground suddenly filled the air, effectively cutting off Jim's train of thought and causing the starship captain to turn in that direction. The sight that met him made his jaw actually drop.
Bones was riding into view on the back of a literally gleaming white horse. He looked like the proverbial fairytale prince which was just wrong (so, so wrong) for the usually gruff doctor. Once Kirk's mind actually accepted that what his eyes were seeing was, you know, real, it immediately launched into what amazing black mail material the sight would make, but before he could even finish cursing himself for not having a camera, a delightedsqueal was heard and Yeoman Barrows was dashing towards McCoy and the shiny white horse.
McCoy held out his hand. "Your fairytale awaits princess." Forget the camera, Jim thought. I need this on freakin' video. Barrows smiled.
"Why thank you doctor," she said happily as she took his hand. She lifted herself onto the horse and settled in behind Bones. The doctor grabbed the reins and then turned and fixed Jim and the rest of the nearby crewmen with a look that clearly said "If you ever bring this up again I will make each of your next physical extremely painful," before riding off into the trees, leaving a shocked and slightly horrified audience in his wake. Jim just scratched his head. Well. Bones was obviously enjoying himself. The rest of the crew seemed to be doing pretty fine on their own too, so Jim figured it was about time he got his own shore leave started.
He slipped away from the group and headed into the forest in the direction opposite from where Bones, Yeoman Barrows, and the horse had gone. As Jim walked, he allowed himself to slip back into thoughts of Ruth. He remembered her beautiful blond hair, her fun, sweet personality, her gorgeous smile…
"Jim." Ruth came to his side and touched his arm. Jim couldn't help the perfectly dopey smile that took hold of his face as he gazed down at his first love.
"Ruth," he replied, reaching up to stroke her cheek. She smiled softly at him, before taking his hand and lacing their fingers together.
"Come," she said, leading him further down the forest path. Jim allowed himself to be led. After a few moments, they made a right turn and came upon a small stone cottage with a shingled roof. Jim glanced down at Ruth, who simply smirked at him and pulled him inside. Yes, Jim was really beginning to like this planet.
"The stars are so beautiful Jim." Jim and Ruth were sitting on the front steps of the cottage, Jim in just his Starfleet blacks and Ruth in a robe that had oh-so-conveniently been sitting in the closet inside. Night (which appeared to come earlier on this planet) had descended and Ruth had her head on Jim's shoulder as they watched the night sky.
"They are," Jim agreed. Then he frowned a little. "If you had stayed in Starfleet, you'd be up on a starship by now, surrounded by them every day."
"I know," said Ruth quietly. She looked up at him. "But let's not talk about that right now." Jim did not answer. His gaze wandered back up again. Somewhere up there, the Enterprise, his ship, was still in orbit.
Every single one of the senior officers of the ship was somewhere on the planet, enjoying their shore leave. All except for his first officer, Commander Spock. Spock, the Vulcan who pretended to be emotionless. But Jim knew better. The captain had seen all sorts of emotions cross the stoic Vulcan's face; anger, happiness, annoyance (a common one), sadness. It was all in the minute details; a tensing of that immaculate posture, a tiny, tiny upturn of the smooth lips, a lift of those exotic eyebrows, or a certain something in those incredible, deep brown eyes…
Okay, so maybe Jim had a bit of a…thing for Spock. A really small thing though. A sort of crush, at the most. But how could you not? Jim thought. Spock was devastatingly attractive in his alieness, and he had that amazing Vulcan mind, but…
But now was not the time for Jim to be thinking about the things he currently wanted, but really couldn't have. Here and now, Jim had the chance to forget about the present and reacquaint himself with the joys of first love, not dwell on certain-people-he-was-sort-of-liking-but-who-most-likely-held-no-romantic-interest-in-him-whatsoever. Yep.
"Captain, you do realize that in telling yourself not to think about me, you are in fact causing yourself to do just that," said an all too familiar voice. Jim jumped about a foot in the air. Spock stood before him, hands clasped behind his back, watching the human. "Most illogical," the Vulcan added with an expression that Jim interpreted as vague amusement.
"Spock!" said Jim in surprise. "What are you doing here? Has there been a problem on the ship? What-?" He suddenly broke off. "Wait," he said slowly, looking at Spock more closely. "How could you know that I was…what I was thinking about?" He'd been verge of saying "That I was thinking about you," but that even sounded off in his head. Jim had a sneaking suspicion he knew the answer to his own question, but it couldn't actually be that could it?
The corner of Spock's mouth lifted very slightly. "In the past Jim, your instincts have had a surprising tendency to be correct." He inclined his head. "I notice your companion seems to have disappeared," he added.
Jim glanced to his right and saw that Ruth was indeed gone. Jim turned back to his first officer. "You're not Spock," he said. Apparently, his thoughts about Spock had caused the planet to turn up one.
"Spock" looked down. "To be honest Jim, I have not felt quite myself for some time. There is an… emotion within me that I cannot …suppress." He took a few steps closer to Jim. Jim started to panic a little. He knew exactly what this was. Spock's confession. Well, the one he'd been fantasizing about (only occasionally and always way in the back of his mind, mind you) for months anyway.
Jim wanted to stop him, tell him to leave, but he just couldn't. He was rooted to the spot by morbid fascination and entrancing dark eyes. "Spock" moved closer to Jim, only stopping when he was directly in front of him. He kneeled down so that they were at eye level and gently placed his hands on the captain's clothed knees. "It is an emotion concerning you." He looked away briefly, but when his eyes flicked back to Jim, they were marginally darker. "You and certain things," he continued, voice low and sending a shiver down Jim's spine. "That your presence makes me wish to do." He held Jim's gaze and it freakin' smoldered. And then he leaned in.
Jim knew that he should move, knew it like he knows how to breathe, that he should not let this kiss happen. But he also knew that he'd probably never get a chance like this again and that part of him that loved to seize the moment was doing a really good job of strangling the more cautious part of him. He let out a half hearted "Spock," in a really vague effort to stop him but the word was barely out when their lips finally connected.
Spock's mouth was just as soft as it looked. The kiss started off sort of chaste, but then Spock pressed forward and tightened his grip on Jim's knees, and Jim's resolve crumbled completely. He groaned lightly and wrapped his arms around the Vulcan's neck, pulling him close. One of Spock's hands traced a path up Jim's body and settled on Jim's jaw, guiding the kiss, while the other moved up higher on Jim's leg, rubbing his thigh. Jim deepened the kiss further, tongue coming into play when Spock parted his lips.
The experience was ridiculously sensual, under the stars and the moonlight on a gorgeous planet, engaging in a kiss that was almost too stimulating. Apparently Spock agreed, letting out an interesting combination between a moan and growl and suddenly pushing Jim back onto the stoop of the cottage until he was on top of him. The area was a little hard and Jim idly wished he were laying on a blanket or something. And then he was. God, but Jim was really growing fond of this planet.
Spock gave Jim a small grin. Jim found himself getting extremely hot; the sight of Spock looming over him and just looking at him with those eyes was absurdly arousing. "Jim," Spock said simply, as if he just felt like saying the name. And then the Vulcan pressed a very hot kiss to his captain's neck at same time he pressed another very hot part of his anatomy against him, and god, Jim surrendered.
Jim knew from the looks that McCoy, Sulu, and Yeoman Barrows were giving him, as they all beamed back onto the ship two days later, that he was looking more smug than the cat that caught the proverbial canary. He couldn't help it; he'd just had the most awesome shore leave of his career. And yes, maybe he should at least attempt to tone down the "I just got some serious action multiple, multiple times" aura that he was projecting, but he was really too pleased to do so. Besides, he was pretty certain that most of them had probably done worse. Jim can only speculate what Bones and Yeoman Barrows did after they rode off on that horse after all.
The four of them entered the bridge, Jim settling into his captain's chair and waiting for Spock to come up and make comment, as Jim knew he would. He heard the footsteps approaching his chair and grinned inwardly.
"Did you enjoy your rest gentlemen," Spock asked.
"Yes we…did Mr. Spock," Jim said brightly. He glanced back at Bones. "I think we did." 'I know I did,' he added in his head.
"Indeed, we did Mr. Spock ," McCoy said looking quite pleased with himself as well. Spock watched them for a moment longer and then shook his head.
"Most illogical," he said. Jim, Bones, Sulu, and Barrows all laughed as their little group dispersed. Jim wondered for a moment what Spock would say if he actually knew what Kirk did during his shore leave. The thought made him laugh more.
"Hit warp factor one Mr. Sulu," he said, once everyone had settled back into their stations. He sat back, ready to resume his role as captain as the last bits of mirth escaped him.
It was a few minutes later before he dared to look back at Spock again. The Vulcan appeared to be hard at work at his station. Jim had to admit, he felt a little jarred by the fact that this Spock-the real Spock-didn't belong to him the way his fantasy one back on the planet had. Which really sucked. Jim suddenly ached to be able to be with him again, and not even in a sexual way. Just to be able to hold him or to spend a few sappy minutes simply staring into his eyes.
Alright fine. Jim liked Spock a lot. He figured there wasn't really any use trying to deny it to himself any longer. He peeked at Spock one more time and sighed. He really needed to find a way to get this relationship off the ground.
Or they could just visit the shore leave planet like four times a week. That could work too. For a while anyway.
Fin.
End AN: I tried to give Ruth a little bit of background, seeing as the show never really gave us any.
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