Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!newshosting.com!nx01.iad01.newshosting.com!38.144.126.100.MISMATCH!feed5.newsreader.com!newsreader.com!border2.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!cyclone1.gnilink.net!gnilink.net!ngpeer.news.aol.com!audrey-m2.news.aol.com!not-for-mail Lines: 94 X-Admin: news@aol.com From: coralieleane@aol.com (Coral) Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative Date: 02 Dec 2004 02:14:12 GMT Organization: AOL, http://www.aol.co.uk Subject: NEW TOS "Snow" 1/1 [G] Pike & Number One Message-ID: <20041201211412.06298.00001207@mb-m18.aol.com> Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative:161446 X-Received-Date: Wed, 01 Dec 2004 18:14:40 PST (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Title: Snow Author: Coral Series: TOS Rating: [G] Codes: Pike & Number One Part: 1/1 Summary: Wintery fun during a science gathering mission; pure fluff. "Don't you ever laugh?" he asked curiously. She stared at her tricorder, trying to ignore him, or at least make him believe she was doing so. The numbers were starting to blur before her eyes a little. "And you never smile, either. Why is that? Anyone would think you were a Vulcan..." She tuned him out. Her captain was a nice enough man most of the time, but when he got bored, she tended to know all about it. And very little bored him more than gathering scientific data. Which was, unfortunately, the very thing they were trying to do. She wondered why he'd even volunteered for this mission, but when she had raised the question, he'd started going on about how wonderful snow was. Sometimes, she just didn't understand him. A small part of her pointed out that that was part of why she found him so charming, but she ignored it. The voice had been getting more and more frequent these days, but that made her no less willing to listen to it. She had a job to do, and so did he. Even if right now he wasn't exactly working... he was constructing something out of the snow that he claimed was called a "snow man". Said it was important because the first humans to walk on a comet's surface had made one. She turned her attention back to her data, and soon became engrossed in it. So engrossed that it wasn't until she felt a tugging at her hair that she looked up again. "Captain!" she exclaimed, whipping her head around and fixing him with a glare. "Sorry, Number One, but I need to borrow your hair slide as a mouth for my snow man... I can't find anything else." He didn't look at all put off by the face she was making, even though lesser beings had been known to run in fear when it was turned on them. "You can't have it," she said, trying to concentrate on her tricorder readings, but his hands kept reaching for her slide. "Don't make me call Mr Spock over here to give you that nerve pinch of his, Chris." "Now that..." he said, stepping back and regarding her with a critical eye, "That was almost a joke." "Was it? I was serious. Captain, with all due respect, you have been acting in a most immature and irrational manner for the past half an hour. If you are that bored, I would suggest you beam back up to the Enterprise and send someone else down to 'assist' me." "You're unbelievable, do you know that?" he said, grinning at her. "You are welcome to stop believing in me if it would make your life easier, Captain, but I doubt it will affect anything." She looked back at the tricorder and suppressed a weary sigh. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have work to finish..." He wandered off and she settled down, somewhat relieved that he seemed to be leaving her alone now. The climate was almost uncomfortably cold, even given that they were decked out in winter survival jackets. Something cold and wet hit her face. She jumped to her feet and drew her laser pistol in one fluid movement, aiming directly towards the source with almost unnatural precision... ... only the source happened to be her Captain, obviously trying not to laugh. She reholstered her pistol and gave him the glare again, but it just made him worse. "Dammit, Captain...!" "Lighten up, Number One. Everyone else stopped working ten minutes ago. You're entitled to some fun too, you know." "I find my work interesting enough," she said, but the Captain snorted. "You're bored of it, and you know it," he said. "Come and just throw a few snowballs around or make a snow-angel or something... you can't be all business all the time." "Leave me alone, Chris." He shrugged and walked off. She watched him go out of the very corner of her eye and, just as he was about to go out of her range, she swung down, scooped up some snow, and scored a perfect bullseye against his back. By the time he turned round, she was serenely staring at the tricorder again... but maybe there was just a hint of a smile on her face. http://www.coralleane.co.uk NewMessage: