Data: I am so happy you like it! And cracks? Spock? Well, this is fanfiction, after all... anything at all can happen!

Bookwormqueen: Thank you! As for the kissing thing, read ahead to find out!

Jack Sparrow fanatic: I am back, sorry about that. Romance... read ahead to find out!

Ster J: Thank you! Spock did hang out with humans a bit much, hmm? :D

TrekkyGirl55: I have not updated in forever, so it would be hypocritical to mind you not reviewing in forever. And Spock did grin in This Side of Paradise. It was weird, I agree! Glad you like it!

I have finally updated! Major apologies for the ultra-long wait. This should be a nice long chapter (for me) though to somewhat make up for it. There are probably only one or two chapters left. Also, I have proved that you really are meanest to those you love most! Seriously though, Spock on skis... you have been warned! R&R please!

"Jekri," Spock began on the morning they were to use the skiing passes they won, "I do not know how to ski."

"Don't worry, Spock, I'll teach you. I went skiing a bunch with my family when I was little and though I have not been skiing lately, my body still remembers. It gets to be unconscious after a while. And we start on green circles of course."

"I fail to see how green circles are relevant to skiing."

"We have a long way to go," Jekri sighed. "Ask Taveth- I am going to breakfast."

The aircar ride to the ski resort was short, thankfully. Spock drove, while Jekri and Taveth tried to explain to him all the skiing terms. Spock, of course, had never heard of things like "green circles," "blue squares," or "black diamonds." He did not know how to get on or off a chairlift, and he had never used passes, skis, poles, or boots. Thankfully, it being the twenty-fourth century, ski boots were no longer awkward and heavy. Lift passes were tiny electronic squares that adhered to one's jacket instead of annoying paper zipper pulls. At last, however, they arrived.

The three went off to rent skis, poles, and boots, and luckily the lines were not too long, so they got out in half an hour. Jekri and Taveth decided to take Spock down the practice slope. After showing Spock how to use his very easy, no hassle, twenty-fourth century binding on his skis, and a near fatal accident with chair number 27 of the chair lift, they were at the top of the hill. Chairlifts, unfortunately, were one of the few things that had not improved much.

"Okay, Telek, just do what I do," Jekri said. She set off slowly, keeping a perfect wedge and doing two turns before stopping halfway down the small hill. Spock set off after her. He did surprising well, for a Vulcan, but then, he learned fast. Unfortunately, halfway through his first turn, his tips crossed. Spock got turned around, fell backwards, and slid down the hill headfirst on his back. It took Jekri a full three minutes before she could stop laughing enough to help him.

"Perhaps I had better teach you how to fall and get up first," Jekri said with a grin.

"Um, Jekri, Telek? Do you two mind if I go do a few bowls and mogul runs? No offense, but this is not exactly what I had in mind... Can we meet for lunch?" Taveth said after she joined them, stopping with a flourish to spray snow all over Spock.

"Oh, sorry," Jekri said with a laugh. "Telek and I will be fine on our own. I would not want to hinder your enjoyment."

"Thanks," Taveth said, and skied towards the first chairlift that actually went somewhere.

"I fail to understand what Taveth means when she says she is going to do some bowls and mogul runs," Spock stated as run finally got to his feet again. Jekri sighed.

"I will introduce you to those this afternoon. Just†don't cross your tips, and for the Praetor's sake, at least try to have fun. And no, the Praetor does not have anything to do with this." Spock closed his mouth.

As already pointed out, Spock was a fast learner. His Vulcan mind analyzed everything and put together the best way to ski. He watched other, more experienced skiers, and put their techniques to use. After two green circle runs, he convinced Jekri to move on to blue squares. She did not need much convincing, as the greens were all boring and easy to her. On one blue run, Jekri discovered an Earth invention that excited her to no end.

"Spock, look!" she said with excitement, pointing. "That thing is called a half pipe! Snowboarders generally use them, but skiers can too. I used to be really good when I was a teenager. Watch me, then ski around it to the bottom, where I will meet you."

"That is logical," Spock said. Not even his logic could temper Jekri's excitement however, and so she skied off to the half pipe. It felt wonderful to be in one of these again, skiing up one side to come down and ski up the other. Once she looked back, saw Spock, and grinned at him. She could have sworn he grinned back for 3.8 hundredths of a second. Suddenly she realized that, despite being on easy trails with an overly logical Vulcan, she was having fun. Who could understand it? Oh well. She was no Vulcan- not everything was logical in her life.

"That is a fascinating device," Spock said of the half pipe when she rejoined him.

"I assume that, translated from Spock-talk, that means it looked really fun and you want to try it?" Jekri asked mildly.

"If you wish to put it in those terms, that would be accurate enough," Spock said, looking like he was being forced to test McCoy's new medical experiment. Jekri grinned at the excitement his human side was not showing and skied off towards the lift, not bothering to wait for Spock.

Spock was†not good at the half-pipe. First he did not go up nearly high enough on the sides, and when Jekri showed him how to go higher, he went too high and nearly did a three-sixty flip. As it was, he got to two-seventy and caused all traffic to the half pipe to stop for five minutes. Jekri laughed throughout the entire incident, and could barely help Spock get up on his skis again. At last, with many... experiments... they skied to Mid-Mountain Lodge- Special: Earth Goose roasting in a Romulan Wine Sauce.

"Where would the veruuls here get gooses all the way from Earth?" Taveth asked scornfully as they skied up to where she was waiting.

"They are called geese, and in 2206, a Romulan named-" Spock began.

"Some person stole some and established a goose farm a hundred years ago," Jekri said, interrupting Spock and giving him a warning look. "Honestly, Taveth, you have no idea how hard it is to live with a historian for a husband, right Telek?"

"Oh shut up," Spock muttered, trying to look peeved and not succeeding.

"Lighten up," Taveth told him.

"Fine, shall we go into space and out an airlock? I would be weightless then," Spock said, silently being thankful for listening to McCoy's millions of stupid jokes. They helped in situations like this. The three of them laughed and headed inside. As it was, none of them ordered the Earth Goose roasting in a Romulan Wine Sauce. Lunch was a quick affair, as none of them wanted cramps from eating too much while skiing. In what seemed like no time, they were outside in the cold winter sun again. Taveth and Jekri turned to Spock with identical evil smiles.

"Telek, dearest, I indulged you for the morning, right?" Jekri asked slowly. Seeing something he might not be completely comfortable with, but also seeing no logic in that, Spock nodded. "Well then, you have to indulge me for a time," Jekri said with a sweet smile. "That means we will be doing things like†double black diamonds! Bowls! Moguls! Itty-bitty, twisty-turny paths where there is a very big chance of smashing into very solid trees!"

"That seems illog- fun!" Spock said. The three caught a few chairlifts to some of the highest runs, and Spock soon found what the girls had meant. They went down the bowl (Spock falling headfirst down the near-vertical slope), over a four foot high jump (Spock ate snow), through a tree run (everyone wondered if Spock's face would be permanently flat from smashing into trees), and at last emerged at a chairlift (Spock collapsed again, but merely from relief).

"Come on, Telek," Jekri said, smiling slightly and offering him a hand for the millionth time. "Let Taveth do some more of those runs and I will show you how to do some of the high mogul runs." The three of them rode up the chairlifts once more, Taveth parting company with them at the entrance to the bowls marked: Caution! Experts Only! Spock and Jekri at last rode a two-person, slow chairlift up to the highest point on this particular mountain, second-highest in the resort. Spock found that the mogul runs were appealing to the way he skied.

"That, translated from Spock-talk, means mogul runs are fun," Jekri commented dryly. , Spock did not bother to argue. His human side was nagging at him to say, "Affirmative" anyway. After four runs though, they left so Jekri could show him how to handle bowls. That did not work, as Spock ended up losing his balance, crashing in Jekri, who crashed into a random kid in front of her, and they all fell down the face of the mountain. None of them were hurt luckily, expect if one counted the fact that Jekri nearly died of lack of air because she was laughing so hard. Inevitably though, at around five, when the sun was setting, they ended up back at the top of the mountain.

"I don't think I could leave this place now, Spock," Jekri said softly, looking out at the beautiful scenery lit up by the orange sun low in the sky in front of them. It was a beautiful spot, and even that most logical of Vulcans, Spock, was moved by the magic of that place. Was this what that complicated emotion, love, felt like? He... enjoyed... Jekri's presence. Whether she was making a silly joke or teasing him, to when they were just sitting in silence, to talking with other Romulans, he was comfortable with her. He could no longer imagine how he lived before she was there. Not that he had ever been a person pro-imagination.

Jekri was wrestling with similar thoughts. Bathed in the glow of the sun, he husband looked absolutely radiant. Whereas before his over-logical ness had seriously annoyed her, no she found it endearing. She found she did not want to stop this mission, stop being Spock's "wife." She enjoyed his company, and she could easily see herself living with him forever... having his children... just standing on a mountain and watching the sun set. This must be what true love is. She had never felt like this about any man before.

"Is it so bad to let yourself be human sometimes?" Jekri asked Spock, dreading and needing the answer.

"No," Spock said in a whisper. They leaned towards each other, and there on the mountain, they made like a statue and had their first kiss with each other. They made their way much more slowly down the mogul run, holding hands. Spock knew that this was much more than the love of pon farr, which he had experienced before. That was instinctive, animalistic need. This was so much deeper, so much more profound. Spock had never been as in touch with his human side before, and he did not want it to end. And maybe, just maybe, it did not have to. Maybe he had finally found a place where he could be truly happy.