Chapter 36 - Sobering Up

The air drawing into Kirk's lungs felt too thin. He stepped inside the waiting room and looked around the curious and hopeful faces. Iona had departed, but everyone else was still present. Areel turned to Kirk and waited for him to speak.

"They reinstated me."

Spock approached without expression, nodded distractedly from behind tight controls.

Kirk turned to Sarek. "Thank you, Ambassador. And you Zienn. Especially you." He looked around the room. "I owe all of you a debt of gratitude, many times over."

When Kirk turned to scan the room a second time to acknowledge everyone, he found Loomis nearby, with his hand out. Kirk shook it.

"If you have need of me. You know what department to call."

"Thanks, Doctor." Kirk's insides twisted as he spoke this. As skilled as Loomis was, as different as he was from the therapist in Iowa, it still ground on Kirk a bit to acknowledge him. Annoyingly enough, that was probably a sign he needed to talk to him a lot more.

Loomis hesitated with a knowing smile. Kirk, for a moment, assumed Loomis must be a telepath, then remembered otherwise. He smiled painfully at how transparent he was probably being. Let go of Loomis's hand.

Spock approached Kirk. "I am to ensure you accompany me to Commander Overlander's apartment when I return Zienn there."

Kirk touched him on the arm, pulled back again. "We need to talk a bit. About the assignment I'm about to request."

Spock nodded minutely. "Of course."

Kirk expected he'd start to feel the ground again any moment. There was still far too much air beneath his feet.

So many of the Ranger's crew had attempted to cram into Overlander's apartment that the door was electronically locked open and the party filled the square corridor surrounding the transparent lifts up the middle. A denser pack crowded around the row of windows looking out through the open air emergency stairway to the skyline beyond.

"Commander," Ensign Gall said as Kirk exited the lift.

Kirk looked around the crowd, turned to Zienn, who remained near the back of the lift, then turned to Spock.

Before he could speak, Spock said, "I will escort Zienn to the embassy."

"That was the plan, I assume."

Spock stepped back as Kirk stepped out. "Affirmative."

A drink was pressed into Kirk's hand by someone from engineering. Kirk refused to stop and talk to just one person, needed to see everyone all at once.

It was always this way. Once an assignment ended, everything ended. People scattered as if they hadn't gotten to know more about each other's strengths and weaknesses in half a year than most did in a lifetime.

There were half a dozen from the Sanchez. People he only knew by sight, some he didn't recognize at all. All looked a lot better than when he'd last seen them, all of them were already three sheets to the wind.

"You were confident, Commander," Kirk said to Overlander when he finally wormed his way to the kitchen area of the main room where she was playing bartender in front of three punch bowls.

"It was either a party or a wake. Either one was a good enough excuse." She dropped her voice, leaned over the pink, smoking punch bowl. "How'd Zienn do? He okay?"

"He's fine. But I don't think he fully followed the lawyer's instructions."

Overlander grinned. "He's not used to having anyone tell him what to do. What a way to live, eh?"

Kirk watched Spock near the bedroom door. He was still in his dress cadet uniform. He was speaking with three of the engineering crew from the Ranger, including Mouse, who was using her taller companions to blockade herself from the rest of the room.

Spock looked more relaxed into the conversation than he ever did at the Academy. It occurred to Kirk that Spock was going to lose his Academy cohort when he departed for the temple, and that wasn't going to make things any easier for him. He would return to the Academy and be with a whole new class of plebes who knew each other but not him. Assuming he remained away for an entire year, as Zienn thought best.

Spock turned, sensing Kirk's attention. Kirk gave him an affectionate smile, turned back to the conversation near him so Spock would remain put, socializing with others.

"I lost count at five. No six. Maybe. Actually, I don't know." Kirk said.

The room had emptied, but a droning percussion was still playing in Kirk's head, making it seem busy and loud. His mouth felt stuffed with raw cotton. The light glowing on the building glass outside might be the sunrise.

Overlander shook a bottle of pills, held it out.

"What if I want to stay drunk longer?" Kirk asked.

"I think your boyfriend wants to put you to bed. I'd not recommend going to sleep as you are, unless you're punishing yourself for something."

"What bed? Whose bed?" Kirk said.

She turned to Spock. Kirk didn't hear Spock's answer, or couldn't focus on it.

"His bed. He says."

Kirk held up a hand to be pulled to his feet. Overlander yanked him up with her mechanical arm, then turned his hand palm up and forced the pills into it, pushed a glass of watery juice into his other hand.

"Hell with it," Kirk said. It was tough getting all five pills in his mouth at once. He had to eat them off his sticky hand.

Spock stood with his hip hitched on the back edge of the couch, arms crossed, looking vaguely concerned.

"I'm okay," Kirk said around a mouthful of pills. He needed all the liquid to get them down, and at least one stuck in his throat.

Kirk looked into the empty glass, handed it over. "It was really good seeing everyone. Thank you for pulling that together," he said to Overlander.

She seemed amused. "Yeah. You're welcome."

Spock came around the couch, stood facing him, waited. Kirk touched Spock's uniform along the seam running down the side of his abdomen.

Kirk said, "I liked seeing you get a chance to catch up with the people you met on the Ranger."

Overlander brought another dilute juice and held it out to Kirk. "You wouldn't say that if you had noticed the eye Hully's got on your boyfriend."

Spock's brows lowered, then one angled upward. Kirk winked at him.

"She doesn't stand a chance," Kirk said, then had to stifle a yawn, and lost his balance.

As if by silent agreement, they caught him at the same moment. Spock put Kirk's arm over his shoulder and Overlander let go. A transporter took hold and he and Spock emerged in Spock's room at the embassy.

"You have too much money," Kirk said. He still held the empty glass. He waved it around, but there wasn't any place to set it down. He hmfed.

Spock walked them toward the bathroom. Kirk shook him off. The pills were taking effect, clearing his head, freeing his body. He drank another glass of water, discovered that even the cold water tap was tepid, no matter how long he ran it, suspected that was by design. He washed his face, washed it again more thoroughly. He looked in the mirror. "I don't even want to ask what time it is."

"Perhaps a few hours of sleep is in order, no matter the current time?"

"Yeah. Let's do that."

Changed into soft robes, they curled up together on Spock's bed. Kirk didn't feel sleep anywhere near to overtaking him. He ran a hand over Spock's robed body, then stopped, curled his head so his forehead rested on Spock's chest.

"I suspect I can assist you to sleep."

Fingers sneaked in under Kirk's collar, pressed at the back of his neck.

"No. I have a technique. I should practice it. If I can't sleep on demand no matter how shitty I feel, I'm sunk." Kirk paused. "Thanks though."

Spock's hand rubbed at the hairs at the back of Kirk's neck. "Understood."

After a minute, Kirk said, "We need to talk."

"Later, perhaps."

Kirk struggled with waiting. He disliked needing to consider anyone else's emotions in his decisions and wanted to establish that as reality. He wanted to believe Spock would understand that need. Kirk sighed again. He started with his toes, relaxed each of them in turn. He was asleep before he made it to his knees.

Kirk woke with extreme reluctance, stretched to delay real movement. He was still groggy, despite the hangover pills. Spock was bending over him, wearing in his duty uniform, looking as chipper as ever.

Kirk scrubbed his face. "I continue to have to work to not hate you for your body chemistry. Or whatever it is makes you so resilient."

"It is several factors, enzyme production chiefly, in this case."

Kirk smiled. "Of course I got an answer. You need to go?"

"I have class at oh nine hundred. As it is Saturday, my duties at the Academy will be completed at thirteen hundred. But I am ordered to report to Captain Sulu aboard the USS Lexington at fourteen hundred." He hesitated. "It seems rather abrupt."

"They are probably about to get orders. Could pull out anytime."

"I see."

"You'll be fine. I promise." Kirk let his affection fill his gaze. "Don't I always fulfill my promises?"

"Surprisingly. Yes." Spock straightened. "I did wonder which uniform was appropriate."

"That one you've got on."

"I had no criteria for a decision."

"That's why you ask. Biggest mistake is not asking when you need to." He held out out a hand, pulled Spock down for a kiss. Spock's mouth felt soft this morning, attentive.

When he was alone, Kirk curled himself upward to a sitting position, found his head didn't swim, got out of bed. Somewhere in this building, based on past experience, there was a gooey cheese omelette with his name on it. His sour stomach propelled him to his feet and toward the shower.

Amanda sat with her tea while Kirk ate breakfast.

She asked about the hearing. Kirk answered in generalities, balancing between the requirement for secrecy and what she was already well aware of.

Kirk put his fork down. "I'd never leave home with omelettes like this available."

She smiled her restrained smile. "Have you seen the feeds this morning?"

Kirk's back pulled taut. "No. Do I need to?"

Kirk scanned them on her padd. Some were factual only, a few decided the reader needed a recap of Kirk's more lurid past adventures, most had a positive light, others bore an undertone of admonishment. Clearly he'd done something seriously wrong, or he'd not have had to regain his position. Favoritism seemed likely, that or Kirk had done penance of some kind.

"That reminds me that I need to talk to someone at the Academy about having them host a public appearance."

She nodded. "It would be wise to get out in front of the headlines. If you are feeling up to it."

Of course she understood this. Kirk said, "I think even if I'm not."

She held her teacup as if for warmth, no longer sipped from it. "Be prepared for the most difficult questions. Especially the ones you don't want to answer."

"Be prepared to answer for all of Starfleet, if necessary. I've seen it in person. The shots are aimed at the available target, no matter who it is."

Kirk stood to go back to Spock's room to borrow one of his communicators. "I'll go set it up right now. Maybe I can give an actual lecture. Command something. Tactics something. That will give me a little leeway and some cover to duck behind."

He pushed in his chair. "Thank you for the wonderful breakfast." He bit his lips, felt his eyes getting hot. "Thank you for your son, actually." He looked down at his demolished plate, fork and knife skewed across it even though he'd tried to straighten things. "I think I might have been okay, even without my commission back. And it would have been one hundred percent Spock's presence that made it okay."

She put her teacup down, considered him. "I didn't expect to ever say this to you, James. But I think you underestimate yourself."

Kirk chuckled, rubbed one sore eye. Started to speak, gave it up as beyond his hungover brain.

"Go take care of your things," she said through a suppressed smile.