Authoress' Note: Hellooo, anyone still here? I know I've been away for a while, but I've finally returned from my holiday in NYC, so expect to have some more regular updates. I'm going to attempt to finish this entire story up before I go to university at the beginning of September, but that seems sort of far-fetched and unlikely considering this story seems to be getting longer and longer. Anyway, I took the advice of a reviewer of the previous chapter and tried to go for a little more description. I hope I've done a little better. :)

Hidden Desires

"Captain? Jim?"

Kirk bolts up right and whips his head around wildly looking for any sign of danger. He meets Spock's gaze, with its singular eyebrow cocked upward. Settling back down with an inaudible sigh, he fixes his first officer with an unblinking star.

"Yes, Spock, what is it?"

"I have been thinking about a possible explanation to our . . . experience last night, and I have also formed a hypothesis concerning the situation we are in."

Kirk nods and gestures for his first officer to continue as he rolls his shoulders to get the crick out of his back. Spock ignores this display and moves onward.

"Firstly, the explanation. That is, I believe somehow our thoughts, desires, dreams, etc. are being projected into existence around us. We are experiencing them as real events. Secondly, the hypothesis: the exact same series of events will occur tonight. Perhaps not the exact ones. What ever it is that controls these things could use any of our thoughts or dreams."

"And what is it that controls these occurrences, Mr. Spock?"

Spock cocks his head slightly. "I do not know, Captain. It is impossible to make any sort of inference without my tricorder. I am sure, however, that there must be a power source somewhere that could possible be in charge of all of this."

"And you think we should go search for it?"

"I see no other alternative, Captain."

"Yes, all right then. Let's go."

Kirk stands up groaning slightly, his back and neck sore. He rubs at them absentmindedly, and falls in step next to Spock as they make their way toward the city this time. Kirk shades his eyes with his hand for a moment, and gazes at the buildings stretching away into the distance. It is going to be a long day.

The two trek through building after building and tower after tower searching for any kind of running mechanical device capable of creating hallucinations. There are 21st century style computers in most of the buildings, each one completely short-circuited and dead. In a building that could have passed as a school at one time, the two find a computer in a style that closely resembles their own century. It is large and boxlike, though not functioning, just like the others.

Having swept through half the city by nightfall Kirk decides that it would be best if they slept somewhere outside the garden in the hopes of deferring more hallucinations from appearing. They find an empty storehouse and settle down on the ground for the night.

Kirk shifts uncomfortably in his place on the ground as the sun sets through the windows. He shivers as a draft passes over them and rolls over to look at Spock who is propped up against some empty crates. His hands are clasped tightly in front of him as he surveys their surroundings with trepidation.

After some time Kirk finally falls asleep, but it is a fitful one full of darkness and Amanda Grayson's bright eyes and his hand slipping from her grasp. He pushes himself upright some hours later, trying to quiet his breathing and close his mind to the disturbing images in his head. Everything is pitch dark around him, though he can still make out Spock's face only feet from him. He leans up against the crates, shoulder to shoulder with his first officer. Spock glances at him momentarily.

"They are back, Captain," Spock whispers.

"They? Not you're mother?" Kirk asks, fear boiling up in his chest.

"No, not my mother. There are two others this time, just there, at the other end of the room." He points, leaning his head in close to Kirks so that he can see. Squinting, the Captain can just make out the shapes of two people this time, just as Spock had said.

"How long have they been here?" he asks, watching the shadows moving closer to them.

"Just a minute or so before you awoke," came the reply. Kirk's skin prickles, and he wishes the two beings would show themselves.

They glide closer, whispering to each other so that the two men huddled against the crates cannot understand. Kirk is sweating again, while his first officer remains calm. The dark silhouettes shift in the gloom. Suddenly, they move into the moonlight shining in through broken slats in the roof, and once again both Kirk and Spock are taken by surprise.

Lieutenant Uhura stands before them pressed against a perfect double of Captain Kirk. The same black dress and shoes Spock had last seen her in cling to her body, as she herself clings to a denim and leather-clad captain. The two press closer, and to Kirk's utter bewilderment, their lips meet in a passionate kiss. He looks away, ashamed, and catches a glimpse of Spock's face.

His jaw is set, and there is fire in his eyes. The Captain and Lieutenant entwined together fill his sight, and fill him with a sudden insatiable rage that courses through his veins akin to the fires of pon farr. The sadness despair he had felt earlier twists itself in his stomach into the solid desire to hurt James Kirk; to hurt him beyond repair.

Uhura breaks the kiss and hugs Kirk tighter. "Oh Jim, I don't know how I could have refused you before," she says in a breathy voice that sounds almost nothing like the Lieutenant's, "You're nothing like Spock. You know, he's so," she pauses for a moment as Kirk captures her lips again with his own, "He's so . . ."

"Logical? Unfeeling?" the hallucination Kirk suggests, running his hands up the young woman's back.

Uhura gives a high-pitched and very uncharacteristic giggle. "Exactly! I don't know how I could have ever thought I loved him."

She says this maliciously, looking Spock directly in the eye as it escapes from her mouth. Her eyes glint in the moonlight, and Kirk swallows down the urge to vomit. He can feel Spock tense next to him, and suddenly, the Vulcan lunges, grabbing him by the throat. Kirk splutters and knocks his head hard against the ground.

"Spock, stop –" he cries out, over the cackling of Uhura, "It's not me! It's not real!"

Spock's face is like a madman's, contorted into a look of pure loathing, a look that Kirk has only ever seen once before. He tries to pry the Vulcan's fingers from around his neck, but he is too strong. He gasps for air, and just as everything goes fuzzy and slips out of focus Kirk becomes aware that Spock has loosened his grip. Then he is falling into a dark abyss and everything goes black.

"Jim?"

Spock's voice echoes in Kirk's head, and he moans as he attempts to sit up. Boy does his head ache. He rubs at his forehead and opens his eyes blearily. Spock's face comes swimming into view looking very human from the way his eyebrows are drawn together. He helps Kirk to sit up and props the aching Captain against the crates again. It is already morning once again, a fact that causes Kirk much displeasure considering the suns rays are shining almost directly in his eyes. They water painfully, and he rubs at them again.

"Captain, you should have me reported for what I did to you last night," Spock says.

Jim Kirk waves a hand in his first officer's general direction and leans his head back against the empty crates. Spock's eyebrows do not draw apart from each other, and he continues to gaze at the Captain.

"I almost killed you."

"You were swept up in the moment," Kirk says through gritted teeth, wishing that he didn't have to have this conversation with Spock right at this moment when it feels as though something has exploded inside his skull.

"I was unsure as to whether it was true."

"True?" Kirk snaps his head toward Spock and winces at the sudden movement.

"I was unsure as to the extent of your relationship with the Lieutenant."

Kirk stares at Spock for a minute and then throws his head back and laughs. "Me and Uhura? Yeah right. I'd have to be the last man on Earth and even then . . ."

He trails off, still smiling, though Spock still looks concerned. Kirk leans his head back and looks up at the ceiling.

"Look, Spock, I like her all right. I'm attracted to her. But, she hates my guts, so you don't have to worry about us every getting together in any way. Ever. Understand?"

"Understood, Captain," Spock says, his voice giving away his relief rather than his facial expression. "You are my friend and my captain. I should not have doubted you."

Kirk shivers involuntarily at the similarity between the Spock sitting before him and his older counterpart. It had not been that long ago when he had said similar words to Kirk in the cave on Delta Vega. He squeezes Spock's shoulder and grins broadly. The universe finally seems to be righting itself again.