Vernal Equinox
"Computer, locate Captain Kirk," Spock requested as he stood in the corridor.
"Captain Kirk is in Recreation Room 6," the computer informed him.
Spock was not surprised at the Captain's location. The Captain could often be found in Rec Room 6 when his shift was completed, playing chess or cards with the crew, watching a holovid, or gazing out one of the tall windows that dominated an entire wall of the room.
Spock entered the Rec Room, spotting the Captain at the table directly across from the door. He made his way between the tables that had been graced with vases filled with daffodils, their bright yellow color in contrast to the sterility of the institutional grey of the furniture.
Spock stopped next to the Captain who was studying the chess board set up between him and Lt. Sulu. Spock could see from the positions of the pieces that the Captain would triumph in five more moves.
"Hey," the Captain said looking up at Spock. "You need me?"
"Commander," Sulu said in greeting, making his move.
"I do not require your assistance at this time, sir," Spock responded. "I had thought that we might engage in a game of chess."
"Sure. Or you can play Sulu if he wins," the Captain said with a smile at the Lieutenant.
"Not much chance of that," Sulu admitted as the Captain came ever closer to defeating him with his next move.
"Indeed, Captain. You will achieve checkmate in 3 additional moves," Spock confirmed.
"You can't cheat at chess, can you, Commander?" Sulu laughed.
"Seriously, Hikaru? I'm right here," Jim said, trying to sound sternly disapproving.
"Are you denying it, sir?" Sulu asked, still laughing.
"I don't cheat. I'm just very…skilled," Jim informed him.
"Unorthodox. Unpredictable. Unusually vain," Spock corrected.
"Thanks," Jim laughed. "Checkmate."
"I concede," Sulu said, standing and waving Spock into his seat. "Mind if I watch?"
"Of course you are welcome," Spock said, choosing one of the Lieutenant's closed fists and getting black. "Might I inquire about the flowers on the tables?"
"Daffodils," Sulu told him.
"I am familiar with the Narcissus pseudonarcissus," Spock assured him. "I am unfamiliar with their purpose."
"Today's the first day of Spring," Jim explained.
"It is the vernal equinox on Earth," Spock agreed, looking at Jim with an expression of almost-disapproval.
"And the daylight hours of the ship are getting longer," Jim said. "You know that Starfleet has the ships mimic the seasons of Earth. We're biologically programmed to the seasons."
"Yes," Spock said. "And the significance of the flowers?"
"Daffodils are a harbinger of Spring," Sulu explained patiently. "We know that when the daffodils are in bloom, Spring has come. I grew them in the botany lab and timed them so they'd be blooming today."
"I see," Spock said in the tone that implied that he did not, in fact, see at all.
"And didn't Lt. Uhura tell you that In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love?" Sulu asked in a smile.
"I am uncertain about the correlation between the position of Earth's sun relative to the equator and the relationship between any two individuals."
"You are a romantic at heart, aren't you?" Jim laughed, getting the eyebrow of doom in response.
"I refuse to dignify that insult with any response, sir," Spock said, making Jim laugh harder.
"All right. I'm sorry," Jim said before making a move on the chessboard, earning him the eyebrow of incredulity. Jim just gazed back at him with the smallest of smiles.
"The logic of your strategy continues to elude me," Spock said evenly, studying the board.
"He probably doesn't have one," Sulu told Spock in an overly loud whisper.
"Undoubtedly," Spock agreed, turning his scrutiny to Jim. Jim merely shrugged, pretending to study the bulletin board beside their table that had on it a mask left over from Mardi Gras and a shamrock from St. Patrick's Day.
"Are you planning an Easter egg hunt?" Jim asked Sulu was Spock continued to consider his next move.
"I don't know. Chekov wants to have one even though the idea wasn't inwented in Russia," Sulu said.
"Where is Pavel?" Jim asked.
"I don't know," Sulu repeated, looking around the Rec Room as though he had simply overlooked his friend.
"Well, it's not your day to keep him," Jim said.
"To keep him?" Spock repeated.
"Just an expression," Jim assured Spock, watching as Spock finally moved one of his chess pieces. Jim hesitated only a few seconds before moving his, Spock looking up sharply at him. Jim just gazed back.
They all turned to look over at two ensigns who were giggling, their heads close together, their hands entwined.
Spock slowly looked from them to Jim, a question on his face. "Their fancy has turned to love?" Spock asked.
"Apparently so," Jim agreed, smiling back at the two crewmembers who were the only ones in their private world. "Good for them."
"Indeed," Spock said, looking at them once more, an expression on his face Jim failed to recognize. It wasn't disapproval precisely. If Jim were to guess, he'd have said it was… longing. But that was a very un-Vulcan-like description. Jim admitted to himself that it was quite likely that he alone felt that emptiness, and was projecting it onto his friend.
"Captain?" Spock said.
"Huh?" Jim responded, returning his focus to his First Officer.
"It is your move, sir," Spock said, studying Jim with an unusual intensity that Jim found slightly unnerving.
'Your move,' Jim thought. 'If only he weren't talking just about chess.'
A/N: Sulu's quote originated with Lord Alfred Tennyson. Not me, sadly. Not even Shakespeare this time.
Also, in St Patrick's Day the crew gathered in the Captain's quarters after the official party. A helpful reader let me know that I had, in fact, read that idea originally in Young Wine, Old Feeling by KianSpo. When I contacted her, she graciously told me it was fine to "borrow" it: If you need my blessing, you have it. And thank you for your note, seriously. It was very considerate of you. Thank you, KianSpo, for the inspiration and the blessing.
