Watching Her Sleep
With unusual hesitation, Captain James Kirk moved to the side of the biobed.
He stood looking down at the woman who slept there. He wondered whether – if she were conscious – she would be glad he was there, or annoyed.
He reached behind himself to draw up a chair. He slowly sank onto it, his eyes never leaving her face.
He had long known that she was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
He suspected that she was the most beautiful woman he ever would know.
It still, after all of this time, broke his heart a little that she would never be his.