Chocolate chip cookies all around! Big hugs to all of you who have stayed with me thus far :)
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek but I do own the best chocolate chip recipe in the world.
"Penny for your thoughts."
Kirk starts guiltily from his reverie by the window. "Mr. Sulu," he says, accepting the cookie the other man hands him. "Oooh, chocolate chip. My favourite."
"Homemade. My mother sends her regards." Sulu gives him a mock salute.
"Tell her she's an angel," Kirk says around a mouthful of cookie. "So, there something you want to talk to me about?"
"With all due respect, Captain, you were standing by that window for an hour and a half without moving. Chekov and I were taking bets on how long it would be before you collapsed."
"Who won?"
"Didn't seem fair – we were wagering between five minutes to half an hour."
"Mmm." Kirk goes back to staring out the window.
"Thought I'd come by and see what was eating you." Sulu pauses. "As a friend," he adds.
Kirk gives him a small smile, knowing that Sulu and him are close in a different way than he is with both Spock and Bones. "Just worried, I guess."
"About the doctor and Spock?" Sulu joins him by the window.
"Yes, that too." Kirk hesitates. "But there's something else," he adds slowly.
Sulu shrugs. "I'm off duty. Lay it on me. You know everything we say between us is confidential."
"Like the time you told everyone we went skiing down a restricted zone in the Azudomonite Highlands?"
"You told everyone that. I didn't know I was supposed to deny it."
"I was drunk," Kirk says dismissively.
"Right. Or you just wanted to impress the new nurse, and she's got loose lips," Sulu grins. Then he grows serious again. "Sounds like whatever's bothering you is serious."
Kirk brushes crumbs from his uniform. "I don't like how the Argelian admiral backed off so quickly," he admits at last. "Something's not right."
"You think he's got something up his sleeve?"
"I know he's got something up his sleeve. The only problem is I don't know what it is, or why he wants to use it." Kirk grunts. "Why attack us? The Federation has never given the Argelians any trouble. They know we could obliterate them if we wanted. Why now? Why quibble over something as stupid as Spock not being Spock?"
"How did they know Spock wasn't Spock?"
"Bones may have sworn multiple times while reading the treaty negotiations and muttered something about the admiral being a scaly lizard under his breath."
"Typical of McCoy."
"You said it." Kirk presses the base of his wrists against his eyes. "There's something here that I'm missing, Sulu. I just don't know what it is."
"Look, the Argelians are nitpickers. You know how much they like playing by their own rules and contracts. Not a hair out of place, not a single differentiation between what they've stated and what they expect. Maybe that's all it is, really."
"That's not it," Kirk mutters. He thinks back to the bridge and the confrontation. "Why wasn't he expecting Spock to speak?"
Sulu wrinkles his brow. "Not sure I follow."
"When Bones started throwing all that mumbo jumbo about the Prime Directive around. The Admiral wasn't expecting Spock's voice. He was surprised when Bones pulled off the act. Why?"
"Because Spock wasn't behaving like Spock down on Argelia."
"No. That's not it. It was like – it was like he wasn't even expecting Spock to be on the ship."
"But he saw you get beamed back to the Enterprise. For that matter, why back off so suddenly? He could have tried to attack us anyway, act or not."
"Yes, Mr. Sulu." Kirk drums his fingers on the glass, feeling the ship hum beneath his fingers like a purring lion, ready to attack. "Why, indeed."
Why, indeed. Hoping you had a lovely 4th of July if you're American - if not, I hope you had a lovely 4th of July anyway!
Much love,
ohlookrandom