Star Trek: In Your Room

By Pandora

It was not often that they met in Spock's quarters, a place that to Jim seemed sacred and somewhat hallowed, but Spock had insisted upon hosting his captain for a change. He had taken his place and engaged the Vulcan in their customary game of tiered chess before sighing heavily in defeat, the exhaustion of the past weeks evident in his demeanor. Aware of even the most subtle change in his captain and bond-mate, Spock rose and took Jim's hand, leading him to a nearby armchair. Spock sat and pulled Jim into his lap, cradling him and stroking his golden hair.

"Close your eyes, rest," Spock instructed in a soothing voice, "let me renew you."

Jim obeyed, nestling his cheek against the chest of the Vulcan, welcoming the arm that wrapped around him, holding him close. Spock pressed his fingers gently against Jim Kirk's face, initiating a mild but deep meld. Jim was lulled by the sensation of their minds joining together. Spock had always described a single mind as a half-light that, when joined with another, created a glowing beacon. In the darkness of Spock's room, the illumination of their joining was dizzying. The room seemed to move slowly, its dimensions shifting and altering ever so slightly.

"Spock? Are you doing that?" Jim asked quietly. He felt an increase of pressure as the Vulcan drew him nearer, flooding his mind with comfort and a feeling of overwhelming security.

"Hush Jim, it is simply an effect of changing energy flows within your brain," Spock explained gently, "it will cease in a moment. Close your eyes, try to sleep."

Kirk didn't want to sleep. He was exhausted, but the warmth of Spock's body and the strange, alien scents of his quarters were intriguing. Jim let his eyes wander, absorbing the darkness and mystery of the Vulcan's room, still bending and moving under the influence of the meld. He heard a barely audible sigh echo inside Spock's chest, curling like a wisp of smoke around the deep, steady rhythm of his heartbeat.

"Yours is my most favoured consciousness, t'hy'la," Spock crooned, his fingers drawing small circles against Jim's face, "so full of human passion, yet so surprisingly innocent."

"Spock, let me sleep in your bed tonight," Jim entreated with a sleepy voice. He felt his body moved as Spock scooped him into his arms and lifted him, carrying him like sleeping child. He seemed to float for a moment before feeling the softness of pillows and blankets enfold him, then the familiar press of Spock lying close beside him. The rich, spiced incense that lingered lulled Jim into a hypnotic state, the very air he breathed here in Spock's room was like a condensed vapour of the scent of his Vulcan. It was both deeply calming and intoxicating to him. The Enterprise and all of its busy crew seemed to melt away around them, he even lost awareness of himself, nothing existed except his dark, beautiful Spock.

"I wish this feeling could last forever," Jim mused, pressing his nose into Spock's cheek. He felt silky fingers touch his face again, felt the familiar euphoria of Spock entering his mind.

I can make it last for as long as you wish.

Jim smiled, the delicate dimples forming at the corners of his soft, pink lips. It sent a surging wave of love crashing from Spock into Jim's mind. How the Vulcan loved and envied that powerfully attractive smile! So many times it had almost rendered Spock's emotional control to futile nothingness.

"Don't let the morning come so soon," Jim begged softly, his hands brushing lightly over Spock's skin, "I want to lay here with you for hours and hours."

I wish I could give you hours James, but, regrettably, I do not have control of time. I can, however, make the hours we do have seem much longer in your mind.

Oh yes, Spock, that sounds wonderful. Do that.

As you wish.

Time began to stretch, or so it seemed to Jim Kirk. In his mind, he felt every second reflected in a mirror. And then that reflection reflected again. And again. And again and again and again, until a single second seemed to go on forever, much to his contentment. He felt completely at one with Spock, engulfed by his presence. Usually, Jim did not like surrendering control, but when it was Spock taking him captive, he yielded without hesitation or concern. Though he was completely at the whim of the Vulcan, there was no one he trusted more to be in control than Spock. Jim lay perfectly still, surrendering to the dream that ebbed and flowed in his mind, succumbing to the pulses of fresh, warm energy that made its way through his body, weaving in and out of the tissues that formed his muscles, filling them with strength and removing the ache of exhaustion. How many times had Spock provided his captain with a week of deep sleep in a single night? Jim could barely remember.

"Talk to me Spock," Jim murmured quietly, "I want to hear your voice."

"What is it that you wish for me to say?" Spock asked, the cool brush of his breath against Jim's ear inciting a slow-motion ripple of euphoria to radiate in the captain's mind.

"Oh anything really," Jim sighed with a smile, "tell me how Vulcan looks on an autumn afternoon."

"Vulcan does not have an autumn, James," Spock explained gently, leaning close to whisper his words into Kirk's ear, contented by the smile it caused on Jim's face, "but at the time of year to which you refer, the deserts glow red in the late afternoon as the sun sets behind the mountain ranges. The sands catch the rays of light as the sun passes behind Mount Seleya. The burnt tips of desert trees sparkle with golden light and the air smells of hot spices that are carried on a warm breeze. It is in the afternoons that the air becomes thinner, cooler, and you know winter is drawing near. But the next morning, it is hot again and were it not illogical to do so, you would believe you had dreamt that cool air."

Pictures formed in Jim's imagination, aided by the images Spock shared with him through the meld, of a golden desert set aglow with the crimson light of the setting Vulcan sun. It was so vivid, that he could have sworn he lay in those very sands watching the darkness fall over the planet, wrapped safely in the arms of his Spock. Jim savoured every whispered word as the Vulcan continued to speak them, feeling the image melt away as Spock brought him back to the softness of the bed and the alluring darkness around it. The whispers continued to flood Jim's mind, he found himself hanging on every word as though they were his own.

"It's like looking into a mirror," Jim mused, "and the mirror is you."

"And you. You are my mirror also," Spock replied gently, "when our minds are one, we are the same."

"I can feel how I make you feel, Spock," Jim said with a smile, pressing a kiss against Spock's lips. The Vulcan met him with a lighthearted look of indignation before returning the kiss.

You are supposed to be resting.

"And you are supposed to meet me with fierce Vulcan denial that I make you feel anything," Jim teased, "but it's not happening now, is it?"

The Vulcan's eyes burned, smouldering with the same desert glow Jim had seen in his mind moments ago. The subtle hint of a smile played on Spock's lips, quelled only by the heat of his eyes. A slight shift of movement in the silken fingers against Jim's face was unmistakable, filled with sensation as though he were feeling with Spock's skin as well as his own. Something flickered in Jim, a flame rising and licking at his soul.

"Will I always be here, in your mind with you?" he asked, eyes locked to the Vulcan's. Spock tilted his head slightly, his expression filled with curiousity.

"Jim, you have always known my mind. I believe that you always shall."

"No, Spock, I mean…"

"Will I always feel this way about you?"

"Yes."

Spock paused for a moment. The silence was filled by the soft hum of energy that passed between them steadily. Jim felt something change in his mind, Spock diminishing slightly, distracted, his mind elsewhere. At first it alarmed him, but suddenly he realized where Spock had gone. A door had been unlocked and opened, its contents spilling forth from Spock's mind into Jim's. As it overwhelmed him, Jim realized why it had taken a moment of Spock's mental energy to release it. With nothing held back, Jim had entered the place that Vulcan's kept closed, locked and bolted. Spock let Jim feel his feelings.

"Of the few passions I permit myself to have, you are undoubtedly the favourite," Spock confessed, his tone filled with sincerity and promises, "you will always be here."