AN: So, we're officially finished with the troublesome Action chapters. Hope you liked them, but we're back to what I do best. People to people interaction!
2258 – August 31st
It had been twenty days since the attack. It had taken those twenty days to repair as much of the Enterprise as needed for the ship be mobile and to begin to limp back to Earth. They were still three days out.
The crew had returned to the usual flow of things, minus a few of the usual personnel. The Klingon assault had caused a good number of casualties. Four of the engineering team had suffered severe injuries that required weeks of medical leave, five of the security team had been injured and were restricted to non-strenuous activity, and even the Medical staff was down personnel, two of the nurses having been injured.
But the worst felt blow was the loss of four officers. Markus Brent, a Physician's Assistant, died saving three of his crewmen from an explosion. Sarah and Lily Jones, sisters and members of the Security team, had been the ones to originally discover the Klingons. Lily died protecting Sarah long enough that Sarah could get word to the bridge, ruining the Klingons' element of surprise. Sarah was cut down mid-sentence, but the message had gotten through.
And last was the loss of the ship's Counselor, Caris Pike, injured saving her best friend, she lay in a drug induced coma for fifteen days. To Bones' disgust the sickbay saw a constant stream of visitors for Chris. He did not mind that Chris had visitors, but the ever constant stream made him very annoyed. After the first week he began turning them away, insisting that in her coma she wouldn't know if they were there or not, damn it.
Spock was the only one who never was turned away. Whenever McCoy tried to turn him away Spock simply utilized a Vulcan Nerve Pinch on the man and stepped over the prone body. Which is what found Spock in the Sickbay, just before midnight, on the last day of the month.
Spock sat in the chair beside Chris' prone form. She was on her back, her now shoulder length hair splayed around her. Absently he reached for her hand, initiating touch in a desperate attempt to reach her mind.
He fell into the ocean of her mind, warm and comforting, but it was dark. He could see nothing, feel nothing. It was as if she were dead, except she was still there, just out of his reach.
Chris! He yelled through their bond, desperate to get a response. She should have woken, McCoy said the only thing that had been keeping her in the coma was the drugs. They were officially gone from her system and yet she refused to return.
When my Mother died, he told her softly, letting his pain slip through their connection, letting her FEEL him, and you were angry with me, I told myself I needed you to forgive me. Without you I could not handle the situation, the grief. That I did not need you normally, but I did at the time. He would never have told her this, knowing it might hurt her feelings, but she had to know now… She had to understand that, for him, things had changed.
There are no stressful circumstances for me now. He continued. There is no reason for me to NEED you. Yet I find that I do. He admitted, both to himself and to her. I see the others, Jim and McCoy, Nyota and your Orion friend, they want you back. I NEED you back. You must come back, I am… unstable without you.
I yelled at Jim today. He admitted, ashamed at his loss of control. He mentioned your Father, how we would have to break the news to him. It is well we were in his quarters. I yelled that no one would need to tell the Admiral, because you were coming back.
He looked around and saw that no one was around, so he indulged himself further and leaned forward, pressing his forehead to the pallet she lay upon, her hand in both of his. I cannot meditate. I find I cannot even sleep. My work is being affected. He was loath to admit it, but he had noticed a 15.8% drop in his efficiency, which he took very seriously. Come back. He implored, though it was pointless and an illogical waste of his dwindling energies. Come home.
There was the slightest flicker of blue, so dark it was nearly black, in the 'ocean' around him. Chris! He called, hearing the urgency in his own thoughts and not caring. Chris answer me!
A flash of green, a deep emerald he associated with friendship, bloomed around him in answer. He thought he heard a whisper of her voice.
Return to the living, Chris. He ordered gently.
But I'm not dead, came the soft, teasing reply as golden stars bloomed in their connected minds.
He lifted his head and saw her eyes flutter open to peer at him in the darkness. "Welcome back." He greeted verbally, in an attempt to hide the magnitude of his relief.
Her lips curled into a lazy smile. "Miss me?" She asked softly.
He could not admit it to either of them so he simply tightened his hands around hers. Do not do that again. He ordered sternly.
She just laughed, the sound was hoarse and rough, but it was still her laugh. "I'll try, sir." She teased, "But I make no promises." She looked around before returning to her back with a sigh. "What time is it? And how long have I been asleep?"
Spock, while loath to lose having her to himself, knew that the Doctor would be very ornery if not contacted soon. "I shall allow McCoy to explain it to you." He said gently, disentangling their hands and calling the doctor.
She just smiled softly. "I'm so glad you're alright." He heard her murmur as she closed her eyes. "I know it was stupid but I couldn't let them hurt you. I don't know what I would have done if you'd died."
He said nothing but he knew exactly how she felt.
2258 – September 4th 1130 hours
Chris wandered from her bathroom, dressed in jeans and a comfortable teeshirt. Usually she would wear a tank top when not forced to wear her uniform, she enjoyed exposing as much of her skin to the sun as possible. But her new, fine, pale green cobweb looking burn scars were ugly to her, and she was ashamed of them.
"Something is bothering you." Said the soft, deep voice from her table.
Chris yelped and scowled at the Vulcan. "You scared me Spock." She said, mildly annoyed.
"You are typically very aware of my emotions and thus where I am." He said simply. "I assumed you would know I was waiting for you. I apologize."
She waved his apology off. "No, it's not a big deal. I'm just… a little twitchy of opening myself up again. I was really receptive for a while, it made everything much worse." She curled onto the pillow beside him.
"Tell me what has you upset." Spock entreated, his eyes focused and his mind clearly whirling. She opened herself to just his emotions, curious what he was feeling.
"I… It sounds stupid." She said, trying to dodge the question. She felt his quick flash of annoyance and hurt. She sighed. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way." She said softly, touching his cloth clad arm. "I would do what I did again in a heartbeat."
"It was foolish and you may be less lucky next time." He informed her, worry and anger flashing through his mind. "I was very displeased that you would risk yourself for me as you did."
She rolled her eyes. "How do you think I feel about you taking it upon yourself to go through every Klingon between the Bridge and the Transporter rooms, just on the off chance you might find me." His hurt flared but he controlled it, pushed it away. She could still feel it. She slid her hand to his, letting their minds brush. "I don't mean that I'm not appreciative." She told him, letting her see that it was the truth. "But it was reckless, and you can't have a double standard Spock."
He stared at her for a long moment before nodding. "You are correct, please continue." She released his hand, letting hers hand in her lap.
"I … My scars." She admitted, guiltily. "They're ugly. They make me ugly."
Spock felt a small ripple of shock. Chris was not a particularly vain woman, he was surprised it would bother her so much. But she continued.
"I… you remember I like someone?" Spock tensed at the reminder of her unrequited feelings for someone. It made him irrationally angry. He nodded. "I'm afraid he'll think they make me less attractive."
"Show me." Spock commanded gently. "Put on a top that will show the scars. Let me be the judge."
She laughed softly. "You?"
He nodded. "I am not blind, Chris." He reminded her.
She rolled her eyes but stood and found a shirt before slipping into her bathroom. A moment later she stepped back out and turned. The top had a low back and a cut out. He could plainly see the fine network of pale green scars. They were slightly iridescent, and slightly raised. He stood and walked to her, his fingers itched to brush across the marks. They were not disfiguring, in his opinion. They were beautiful, rather like the thin veins on a flying insect's wings.
"They are not unappealing, Chris." He told her gently. "They are rather beautiful."
She looked over her shoulder at him, blushing. "Really?"
He nodded. "Vulcans do not lie if it is possible to be proved a lie. You can feel that I am not lying to you." He told her. "They do not make you unappealing." Truthfully, as she looked over her shoulder at him, the emerald blush staining her high cheeks and her tipped ears, the pale green web of her scars just exposed from under her brown shirt… she was very appealing. He turned away and resumed his seat on the pillow, trying to force himself hide the emotions lest she feel them.
She smiled softly at him. "So what are you doing for leave?" She asked, sitting beside him again.
He was loath to admit it but he was disappointed with his own plans. "I am planning to stay in my Academy rooms and complete some personal research." He said, attempting to prevent her from knowing how distasteful it sounded to him. He enjoyed solitude, but after nearly losing her, he did not look forward to over a week without Chris.
Chris rolled her eyes, exasperated. "No, no, no." She smiled at him. "You are coming with me. It's my twenty first birthday this week and Daddy is obviously planning a party. You can kill two birds with one stone." He could see the hopefulness in her eyes and the slightly desperate edge to her voice. "Research on the spectacle of the twenty first birthday, and you can have an actual vacation."
Vacations were illogical and a waste of time best spent doing other tasks. But he knew better than to tell her that. She would find some way to twist logic until it suited her and throw it back into his face. And he was pleased and slightly honored that she would ask him to come.
"My research is not pressing." He admitted.
Chris grinned. "You're coming with me then. I promise you'll have fun."
There was no point in telling her than Vulcans did not 'have fun'. She would simply remind him that he was not fully Vulcan, a fact he was more and more acutely aware of recently without her reminding him.
"Is there anything in particular I should bring?" He asked instead, wondering what a twenty first birthday might entail.
She smiled, the expression had a teasing edge he noticed only a moment too late. "A weeks worth of clothing, jeans, pants, nothing too fancy, shirts- the ones with color, please-" She winked. "And you might want swimwear. We live on the beach."
He would have preferred to wear all black but he nodded slowly. Then stood. "I must repack then." He admitted, to her amusement- he could see the laughter in her eyes. "Shall I met you at the shuttle?"
She nodded, smiling, her eyes laughing still. "You go, repack, and I'll call Daddy. He can make sure one of the spare rooms is made up for you." With a nod he left, finding himself pleased with the turn of events.
1600 hours
Spock felt mildly out of place, as he walked out of the shuttle port, watching Chris run ahead of him and launch herself into Admiral Pike's arms, screaming like a little girl. "DADDY!"
He heard the Admiral, who he had always viewed as a very withdrawn and controlled, if sarcastic, man, laugh openly as he caught the flying blonde. The older man nodded briskly as he saw Spock. "Commander, I'm pleased, if surprised, you'd join us."
Spock nodded. "I am honored you would allow me to intrude."
Chris snorted, drawing the attention of both of them, to Spock's mild amusement. "You two are like foreign dignitaries greeting each other for the first time. Lighten up!" She gently pushed them both. "We're on leave, there are no titles, no chains of command.
"Daddy, this is my friend Spock. Spock, this is my Dad. You can call him Christopher, or Chris, if you feel like having us both answer you."
The Admiral rolled his eyes. "We'd best just do as she says, Spock. You know my girl is as stubborn as they come."
Spock inclined his head, falling into pace with them as they strode from the building and into a car park. "Indeed I do, Christopher." He had to force himself to call the Admiral by his first name but the rewarding smile Chris shot him made the difficulty worth while.
They reached the Admiral's transportation, a dark blue old Earth vehicle of some sort. He looked at Chris and lifted a brow, she smiled. "It's an antique, a Ford Mustang Shelby GT Cabriolet, circa 2008." She lifted her bag into the rear seats of the vehicle and then glanced up at him. "Do you want shotgun?"
His response was immediate. "Why would I want a barbaric and antiquated weapon?" He didn't understand why the Admiral and Chris burst out laughing, but he did understand that he had obviously misunderstood the question. "You did not mean the firearm." He said and Chris- still giggling- shook her head and pointed between the available rear seat and the front passenger seat.
"I shall take the rear." He said, slipping into said seat after placing his bag with Chris'. "I do not understand the previous question. Why would I want shotgun?" He asked as they slid into their seats.
Chris was the first to stop her laughter, but only by a few seconds. "Shotgun is an old colloquialism to refer to the front passenger seat. I think it has something to do with that passenger being the one who shoots in car chases because they have the best line of fire."
Spock filed the information away as the Admiral pulled from the parking lot onto the main roads. The lack of a top allowed the wind to pull at Chris' hair, making it fly about around her face. She tipped her head back and sighed, her eyes closed. To him she looked… completely at peace. It was an expression he hadn't seen on her face in a long while. It made his emotions flare a deep red-pink from within his control. He wasn't quite sure what the emotion was, but he found it a… very pleasing feeling.
Chris smiled as they pulled up to her childhood home. It still looked exactly the same. Moderatly sized but beautiful, it had an open design in which there were basically no boundaries on the main floor. She glanced at her stoic friend.
He seemed… tense… unsure. She opened her empathy again, letting herself feel both the men in the room. Her Father was estatic and a little sad, but proud. Spock was slightly nervous, if the sickly green was any indication. In an attempt to loosen her friend up she bounded over to him and caught his elbow.
"Come on Spock. I'll show you where we can drop our bags and then we can go for a…" Her sentence was drowned out by loud barking just before something large, black, and shaggy hit her chest hard enough to knock her flat on her back.
Once she could breathe again, dodging the slobbering tongue that was aiming for her face, she laughed and laughed and laughed.
"Mia, Mia stop!" She cried, struggling with the black dog (or was she a horse? She was damn near big enough). "Daddy, help!" she cried, wiggling to avoid the slobbery tongue, and failing miserably. "Urg, dog breath!" She cried.
Her Father was no help. He leaned against the doorway and laughed. She looked up at Spock but he watched her with amusement in his dark chocolate eyes, his stance relaxing very slightly. No help from him either, but at least he was relaxing.
So Chris tugged Mia's thick legs out from under her, ignoring the painful thump as said mountain of a dog landed on Chris' chest, and then rolled the dog off her an onto it's shaggy back. She rubbed Mia's belly, laughing. "You silly dog. I missed you too."
"That is a dog?" Spock asked, eyeing Mia's bulk.
"It's Mia, my Irish Wolfhound." Chris playfully ruffled the big dogs ears.
"It is very large." He commented.
Chris rolled her eyes. "She is very big, Spock. Mia is a girl." She didn't move from her place on the floor, instead she reached a hand to her friend, making a 'come hither' motion with her fingers. "Come pet her, say hi before I let her up or she'll assault you too."
He moved slowly toward her, but did as she said, kneeling beside her and gently stroking the dog's face. Mia licked his hand enthusiastically, to which Spock's brows furrowed very slightly in disgust. "She is… enthusiastic."
Chris snickered, realizing her Father had left them for a moment. "She still pretty young, about two years now."
"Will she continue to grow?" Spock asked, almost alarmed.
Chris snickered. "Naw, she's as big as she'll get. But she's small for her breed. About 32 inches tall and only about my weight, maybe 110 lbs. They get up to four inches taller and fifty pounds heavier."
His chocolate eyes widened very slightly. He stood, giving his hand a look of distaste. Chris nodded toward the bathroom in the far end of the house, the only completely closed in room on the first level. "Bathroom's in there. Go on."
Spock followed Chris as she wandered down the beach. He had never before been to a beach. Chris had warned him not to wear shoes but he had ignored the warning. He now carried them in his hands. Chris had changed from her top and jeans before they left. He had never seen her wear less clothing.
Her top hardly covered her breasts, consisting of emerald green triangles of fabric with ties to hold them together and on her body, paired with the shortest shorts known to existence. She had bounded down the stairs, completely oblivious to the reaction the cloths had on him. Part of him was horrified, the Vulcan who was hypersensitive to touch, but the very human half of himself was… very pleased with her choice of apparel.
He watched as Chris threw a yellow disk of plastic and the dog bounded after it, leaping to catch it in her mouth. The shaggy beast then ran it back to Chris, who would wrestle with the dog to retrieve the disk, only to throw it again. She glanced at him over her shoulder, the hot sun glistening on her pale skin as it began to set.
"You alright back there?" she asked him, smiling.
He simply nodded.
She turned and waited for him to catch her. "You sure, you look like you're not sure what you think of all this." Her hand motioned to their surroundings.
"I am unsure, yes." He admitted. "I have never before been to a beach."
"So," she prompted, "What do you think?"
"The sand is… strange against my bare feet," he admitted. It wasn't unpleasant but it was odd. "The sun is warm, which is pleasant, however the breeze is a less than desirous temperature." The dog returned to them, dancing around in an attempt to earn their attention.
She just shook her head slightly, the loose and now short strands playing about in the light, slightly salty and damp breeze. "It's the sea breeze." She explained. "If you don't like it much then you really won't like the ocean, it's a lot colder." She sighed. "I guess you don't want to go for a swim then."
He eyed the dark steel-blue water. "Not particularly. However you may if you desire to do so."
She shook her head. "Naw, tomorrow, when it's sunny and warmer, I'll swim." She grabbed his hand, causing a quick thrill of pleasure and excitement. "I wanted to show you something you might find interesting." She said before looking at their hands and blushing, releasing his hand. "Sorry, didn't mean to." She said swiftly.
Without thinking Spock took her hand in his, not palm to palm (as would be a Vulcan caress), but his palm to the back of her hand. "It is not a problem."
He felt their shared thrill of electricity through the gentle mental connection, and her happiness at the simple touch. They resumed walking.
AN: What do you think? PLEASE don't kill me. I figured they, and I, needed a break from the hectic Starfleet Officers life. And I'm going to the beach in a few days, so… yea. If you have any ideas for their week long break, let me know. And Chris' birthday is while they're on leave (her 21st). What do you think her friends should gve her?!?!
BTW, I'm driving tomorrow (Thursday), to Las Vegas to catch my flight on Saturday. So I will probably not update until Sunday. Because I'm on Vacation the updates will be slower, but they WILL happen. I'll need the break from my family and they like my writing anyway, so they encourage me to keep it up. So I'll see you all Sunday, hope you enjoyed this chapter!
