Path: newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net!stamper.news.atl.earthlink.net!elnk-atl-nf1!newsfeed.earthlink.net!c01.usenetserver.com!news.usenetserver.com!newsprint.newsread.com!newsread.com!newsstand.newsread.com!POSTED.monger.newsread.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated Approved: ascem@earthlink.net Organization: Better Living Thru TrekSmut Sender: ascem@earthlink.net Message-ID: <20040822171928.67780.qmail@web60806.mail.yahoo.com> From: Farfalla MIME-Version: 1.0 Mailing-List: list ASCEML@yahoogroups.com; contact ASCEML-owner@yahoogroups.com Subject: NEW TOS "Perched on the Edge of Anonymity" Ch/R [PG] by DebbieB Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 120 Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 18:55:02 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.198.142.218 X-Complaints-To: Abuse Role , We Care X-Trace: monger.newsread.com 1093200902 209.198.142.218 (Sun, 22 Aug 2004 14:55:02 EDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 14:55:02 EDT Xref: news.earthlink.net alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated:82927 X-Received-Date: Sun, 22 Aug 2004 11:55:17 PDT (newsspool2.news.atl.earthlink.net) Posting for DebbieB again... another excellent Chapel/Rand story. Please send feedback to alluvus2303 @ cs.com , otherwise I'll have to forward it because she's not on ASCEM. Title: Perched on the Edge of Anonymity Author: DebbieB Series:: TOS Pairing: Ch/R Rating: PG Summary: Another day, another miracle. We watch the footage from bed. The news vids got there before the rescue crews, apparently, and the images of the seven of them frolicking in the Bay have flooded the airwaves ever since. They've got a blonde with them that neither of us recognizes. The clouds are lifting. Both of us are coming off days of almost round-the-clock shifts at HQ. The last few days have been fueled by adrenaline and stims and the unshakeable feeling that neither of us wanted to be asleep when the world came to an end. Not to mention we both had jobs to do. Neither of us is the type to sleep while our people are holding the fort during a crisis. We're exhausted. There's a celebratory tone to our exhaustion, but it's still exhaustion. I see her looking at me. She's grinning as she gestures with her head toward the vid. "Show-offs," she says through a yawn. I'm amazed at how beautiful she is, even with her face scrunched up in a yawn. Especially with her face scrunched up in a yawn. We're so many decades away from the short, short skirts and the tall, tall hair, but I think we're better for the lines and the pounds and the faded youth. I laugh. We both manage to laugh. It's an old joke between us. They've done it again. He's done it again. We used to sit over dinner, on nights when we were feeling particularly bored or silly or both, and come up with outrageous scenarios where Kirk and crew save the world/universe/galaxy/other. Neither of us ever thought of whales, oddly enough. Our eyes settle back on the vid. Kirk is splashing, instigating a full-fledged water fight amongst the crew of heroes. Spock seems to actually be encouraging it. I don't need to ask her who she's watching. She doesn't ask me. We know. Shades of our misspent youth. Back in the days of "Yes, Captain," and "No, Doctor," and "Here's that report, sir," we both knew the landscape, the terrain, the topography. We were experts in the field. Kirk. Spock. Another cup of coffee, Captain? Another detox pill, Doctor? We were perched on the edge of anonymity, and we never even knew it. Funny, how you're never bitter when you expect to be. You think, Hey, I was there! I cleaned up his messes, and typed his reports, and listened to him talk and talk and talk while my work waited and my dinner companions waited and I did just one more thing before wrapping up for the day. Where are my libraries? Where are my roads and schools and commemorative plaques? But when I look at her, head on the pillow, swatting tiredly at one of the cats, I can't be bitter. And I know she feels the same way, when she watches my morning coffee ritual with studied, incredulous amusement. When we come together with practiced ease, so sweetly familiar, yet always new. Next week, there will be a trial. The gallery will be packed. The charges will be dropped. Of course, they'll be dropped, we debate over breakfast, at break with the others at HQ who know us as Chris and Jan, The Couple. They saved the freaking planet! And we'll be there. For the course of the trial, we'll revert to our old selves, Nurse Chapel, Yeoman Rand, even though those two women haven't existed for years. And there will be hugs all around and pats on the back and "you look terrific, I love the hair!" And they will go on to their next adventures. And we'll go back to work. End __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail is new and improved - Check it out! http://promotions.yahoo.com/new_mail ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ ASCEM messages are copied to a mailing list. Most recent messages can be found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ASCEML. NewMessage: