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From: "Keith & Jessica Bratcher" <campbratcher@psci.net>
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Date: Mon, 24 May 2004 20:06:37 -0500
Subject: [ASCEM-S] NEW TOS "For the Love of Peace and Quiet" 1/1 [G] K/S, Mc/Ch implied (UST)
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Title: For the Love of Peace and Quiet
Author: Farfalla the Butterfly-Kitten
Website: http://cosmicduckling.com/spirk
Email: blueberrysnail (at) yahoo.com 
Betas: Hy & Gamin
Pairings: K/S, Mc/Ch implied (UST)
Rating: G
Summary: After "Journey to Babel", Kirk and Spock

------------------------------------------------------


Dr. McCoy and Nurse Chapel both reached for the
aspirin bottle the medical staff kept on the top shelf
in the Sickbay lounge at exactly the same time. Their
hands collided, sending the bottle sprawling across
the deck with a musical rattle. 
Christine's silvery-blue eyes followed Leonard as he
dipped down to retrieve the bottle. "You, too?"

"What, me too?" He stood back up and popped open the
lid, then shook out a pill for himself.

"Headache?"

"Yeah." Leonard nodded and handed her the bottle.
"Think they'll ever shut up?"

"They're very good friends, and they haven't had this
much leisure time together in months," Christine said
apologetically as she doled herself out an aspirin.

"I feel like I'm a father at a sleepover party."
Leonard rubbed his eyes wearily, then put the pill in
his mouth and gulped some water from a nearby glass.
"I can't understand it. Put most people that work as
hard as they do flat in a comfortable bed for a few
hours, they'll take advantage of the opportunity and
get some damned sleep! You know I would--I'm dying for
some shut-eye."

"Sarek's surgery took a lot out of you." Christine
paused. "That was quite a feat you performed--your
first Vulcan surgery during a space battle."

"It wouldn't have done any good if one of those shots
from the Orions had blown us to Kingdom Come," Leonard
muttered. Half of his fatigue was simply caused by his
body unwinding from one of the most stressful nights
of his career. First Spock's alien father had had what
turned out to be his fourth heart attack and needed
emergency surgery, and then Captain Kirk had been
stabbed in the back by a disguised Orion spy. Mix in
Spock's crazy Vulcan stubbornness and an Orion ship on
a suicide mission to blow up the Enterprise, not to
mention Lady Amanda Grayson hovering around like a
pink and red hummingbird in her feathered shawl, and
it was enough to give the Easter Island statues a
headache.

"I knew he'd save us," said Christine. What she didn't
say was how scared she had been that they wouldn't be
able to save Sarek, or that Spock would be in serious
danger from the drug they were using to increase his
blood production rate.

"We're lucky that Jim was back up there on the
bridge," said Leonard. He took another drink from his
water glass. After the battle was won and the surgery
completed successfully, he had confined both Kirk and
Spock to their respective Sickbay beds to recuperate,
on opposite sides of the room. He'd expected them to
sleep through the morning, after all the excitement.

Instead, after only an hour of napping, the pair's
eyes had floated open at almost the same time, and the
chatting had begun. It started, of course, with a
quite professional discussion of the fallout of recent
events, both political and military, and morphed into
debate over the practicality and prudence of using a
single ship to transport together so many beings of
high importance from such diverse cultures. Then, with
all topics of business exhausted, they'd moved on to
more pleasant areas of conversation.

For hours they'd filled the Sickbay with their relaxed
voices, Jim's animated but casual like a mountain
creek rushing over slippery rocks, Spock's deep and
calculated in a measured purr. They had traded stories
from childhood and from missions before they'd met,
taught each other more of their favorite random
facts--Spock from science and Jim's from history--and
soaked up the warmth of their friendship like happy
sponges.

The doctor and nurse found it a pleasant and
heartwarming backdrop--for the first several hours.
Their friendship was one of the strongest Dr. McCoy
had ever seen, and even crewmembers who didn't know
them personally were touched by the degree of
closeness between the two highest ranking officers.
But finally, after more than half a day of enduring
the endless volley of words slung across the room
between the two men propped up on their elbows, both
the doctor and his head nurse were ready for some
silence.

They'd moved Sarek into a private room hours ago so
that he could be monitored by Dr. M'Benga, who was
more awake than McCoy was after his night of surgery,
and so Amanda could get some rest on a cot beside him.
She certainly wasn't going back to their cabin at a
time like this. "If we hadn't sent Sarek into that
other room," Leonard mused to Christine, "we'd have an
excuse to tell them to keep it down."

"I think it's safe to go back in..." She peered around
the corner into the main Sickbay area. "Looks like
Spock drifted off to sleep."

"Finally," Leonard groused. "What's Jim doing?"

"Just lying there... looks like he's trying to fall
asleep too."

They stood there in the lounge for a few more moments,
simply enjoying the silence. Then Leonard reached out
with one hand and patted her arm gently, ending the
gesture with a squeeze. "You did very well last
night."

"Thank you." Christine smiled.

"We should get back in there. It's bad procedure to
leave Sickbay unmanned." Light from somewhere
reflected itself in his blue eyes.

"Be careful, Doctor, I might write you up for that."
Her eyes twinkled right back.

"When those two wake up again they're gonna be just as
noisy as before," he commented, leading her back into
the Sickbay.

"What makes it worse is that they have to shout across
the room," said Christine. "Maybe we could move Jim's
biobed so that they'd be close enough to talk in
softer voices."

Leonard stopped walking for a moment. "You're
serious?"

Christine seemed like she'd almost surprised herself
with the idea. "Y--yeah! Why not? The deck panels can
detach and move around, right?"

"We better do it while Jim's asleep, or he'll try to
hop out of bed and help us," Leonard quipped. "Get
Charles and Yamamoto in here to help; we can't move
that by ourselves."

"Okay." She flashed him a smile before flitting out of
the room.

Fifteen minutes later, the four of them had
successfully detached the biobed panel from its
protective fastenings to the deck, and with a signal
from McCoy, it was lifted into the air. Jim's head
rolled gently on the pillow but his nap was otherwise
undisturbed. When the biobed was placed with utmost
care in its new location next to Spock's, his only
reaction was to smile in his sleep and snuggle into
the blankets.

Christine smiled. What an incredible man was Captain
Kirk--he could stare death in the blue-skinned face
hours earlier, yet still retain such fresh, boyish
charm.

Kirk slept for several hours, then drifted awake
around dinnertime. "Nurse Chapel?"

"Hm? Are you comfortable, Captain?"

"Yes, very, thank you." Kirk propped himself up on his
elbows and regarded his new surroundings, which
included a peacefully snoozing Vulcan. "I see I've got
new quarters."

"Yes," Christine smirked. "Dr. McCoy and I thought
you'd be more comfortable chatting as you recuperate
tomorrow if your beds were closer together."

"Got tired of us yelling across the room?" Kirk
grinned at her. "I'm sorry about that. Spock had such
a bad day yesterday... and the chatting was helping
him get back to normal."

"I know," said Christine. "That's why we didn't shush
you."

"Where's Bones?"

"Asleep."

"He deserves it. How's Sarek?"

"Getting better every hour. Amanda hasn't left his
side."

"That's devotion." Kirk took a deep breath and let
himself down against the pillow. He turned his head
toward Spock. "He's been asleep this whole time, too?"

"Yes, Captain," said Christine. "And he's been getting
better, too. The drug's almost out of his system. We
just want to keep him here another day to make sure
everything's all right. His human half, well,
complicates things."

"We know," Kirk said wryly, still looking at his
sleeping friend.

The Vulcan looked so soft and relaxed in sleep, dark
and full lashes falling over a pale, noble face. A few
strands of straight black hair fell in random
directions, unglued from their usual perfection. His
hands rested at his sides, the long, usually-busy and
nimble fingers folded in spidery repose.

On impulse, Kirk took Spock's nearest hand in his own.
He didn't have that far to reach, thanks to the
efforts of McCoy, Chapel, and the other two nurses. He
cradled it and stroked the Vulcan's palm once or twice
idly. He couldn't be sure whether it was his own
imagination or the scientific reality of his friend's
alien species, but he definitely felt the calm song of
connection when he held Spock's hand like this.

When Spock awoke, a thought came into his mind right
before he opened his eyes. *T'hy'la.* Neither of them
said it; it was simply the most perfect word to
describe what existed. He wondered why their minds
were suddenly so attuned.

He opened his eyes and looked into Jim's, and realized
where his hand was. "Jim?" he murmured with surprise.
Jim had been on the other side of the room when he'd
fallen asleep...

Fascinating... he had been dreaming of someone giving
him a great, big present, and look who was here, right
beside him... 

//

=====
Farfalla's Kirk/Spock happyplace @ http://cosmicduckling.com/spirk 
Stories, humor, cartoons, poetry, screencaptures, & more! 
All-Ages Kirk/Spock Archive @ http://www.thyla.com
G-PG13 K/S; Over 90 authors & artists featured!



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