"...and now for something completely different..."
| Star Trek TOS Fanfiction | |
|---|---|
| Title: | "...and now for something completely different..." |
| Author(s): | Sue S |
| Date(s): | 1979 |
| Length: | |
| Genre: | non-explicit het |
| Fandom: | Star Trek: The Original Series |
| External Links: | |
Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
"...and now for something completely different..." is a Star Trek: TOS story by Sue S.
A Series
It is the first part an authorized sequel to Turnabout Alternative by "A Lady" printed in King Grope the year before. The author, "A Lady" may be Sue S. In this first story, Jim Kirk remains in Janice Lester's body after she is killed while in his own. They become lovers.
"...and now for something completely different..." was printed in Enter-comm #1, where it had some small uncredited illos and a portrait of Janice Lester by Kathy Carlson. In this story, Kirk and Spock marry when they discover Kirk is pregnant. They become the parents of twins.
The sequel was titled "Difference That is No Difference" and it was in Enter-comm #2 where it had art by Pat Stall.
Description and Plot Summary
Janice Lester has died, but Jim Kirk is permanently housed in Lester's body.
Kirk has all of Kirk's own memories (though apparently Lester's mind and memories are long gone), and Kirk 100% identifies as female.
Kirk is still the captain of the Enterprise, and the crew is 100% supportive.
At some point off-screen, Kirk and Spock had sex, something that becomes apparent when McCoy tells Kirk she is pregnant.
Kirk has to decide whether or not to keep the baby. She does, citing that she likes a challenge, that this unexpected pregnancy makes her become a mother before she simply runs out of biological time, and that she feels abortion is murder.
Spock is happy, and proposes marriage.
Kirk has many discussions with McCoy about being conflicted about wanting to remain a captain but not sure how she can combine that with motherhood.
Amanda and Sarek are thrilled to become grandparents, and are extremely supportive.
Kirk chooses a Caesarian section as the method of delivery. She tells McCoy: "I don't mind taking the coward's way out on this occasion. I wasn't really looking forward to it."
Kirk gives birth. Turns out she was pregnant with twisn, something Kirk kept a secret from her husband: "She made McCoy and Christine promise not to tell Spock about the twins. To her, it was no more or less than a wonderful joke, and she would play it for all it was worth."
The babies don't have pointed ears and look entirely human. Christine Chapel quits Starfleet to live on Vulcan and be their nanny/baby nurse.
Spock suggests that Kirk get a job as a consultant to Starflee: "There are many situations in a Captain's routine where he may come to wish he knew a little more about women. So far, none of them have had the chance to discover what it is like to be a female Starship Captain. Only one person has that experience. It could be that you will be much in demand as a - liaison - to help improve the position of women in Starfleet. It is a worthwhile cause."
McCoy gives them a a gift, a print copy of The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care, : "'He was a child care specialist on Earth a coupla hundred years ago. Not that you'll need a book on child care. As I said before, you're an amazing woman!'"
The Opening Paragraph
Jim Kirk studied the face in the mirror carefully, wondering if she would ever get used to it. The past months had been an almost surrealist nightmare, but she knew that imagination could never have put her through such experiences . . . this could be nothing but uncompromising reality.
"Not long ago," she thought, "I was Captain James T. Kirk. I was... I was a man, and now..."
Kirk Discovers She is Pregnant
"Jim - this is not something I expected ever to have to say to you . . . You! Of all women in the galaxy! It's not easy for me to say, and it'll be even harder for you to accept but you're . . . ahem . . . you're . . . dammit! You're pregnant!" He turned away, trying to hide his embarrassment.
Behind him, Jim was making inarticulate choking noises. "Bones!" There was a note of desperation in her voice. "You are joking, aren't you?"
"Jim! What kind of a friend do you think I am? It is absolutely true. You are . . ."
"Pregnant." She tried the word out, as if wondering whether it would fit her.
Kirk and Just Desserts
. . this sort of thing isn't supposed to happen on starships . . . and certainly not to their captains, dammit!" Silence fell between them as they remembered the old Jim Kirk.
It was hard to believe that the well-known womanizer had come to this.
"Er . . . I suppose it is . . ?" began McCoy, uncertainly.
"Spock's? Oh, yes.'"
Some Psychological Analysis by McCoy
"Well, to begin with, tell me something about your own family. Did you feel there was anything wrong with the way you were brought up?"
"Not really, except . . . it didn't really help me when I had to deal with THIS," she indicated her whole body.
"You mean, you were brought up in a stereotype role? Big boys don't cry, that sort of thing?"
"Just that. I was just as repressed, in a way, as Janice Lester. I tried to deny the feminine side of my nature, because that didn't fit in with the way I'd been expected to behave. Whether I would have learned to deal with it in time I don't know. I think I was beginning to accept my feelings when this transfer took place."
"Feelings? Anything specific?" he angled.
"Precisely what you're hinting at. Spock was beginning to disturb me . . . one way or another our - relationship - was inevitable . . ."
"Bones . . . do you think I've made the right decision?"
"Frankly, yes. Jim, through no fault of your own, you suddenly stopped being a healthy adult male and became instead a healthy adult female. But you've still got Jim Kirk's mind, and he always was a perfectionist. You're stuck with being a woman, and you want to do it properly. Now, equally suddenly, you face the prospect of being a mother. It's just like you to want to make a good job of that, too.
"Only don't feel you've got anything to prove. We all accept you just as you are - Spock especially."
She considered that. "Do you mean you think Spock would've . . . even before?"
"Spock has always loved you, and you always knew it. You could be blind, legless, insane and covered with warts, but you'd still be his Jim Kirk. He'll have you on any terms you care to mention."
"Bones, I want to do this. Not because I've got anything to prove, or because I want to repay Spock, but because I want to do it. I'm terrified, and it's too soon, but I might not get another chance. Maybe I never would have actively decided to try for children, but the decision seems to have been made for me. And there's another thing. Abortion is an easy way out. Too easy. It's like cowardice. I'd never forgive myself for making that choice. To me, it's murder, just as much as any other kind of killing."
Spock Proposes Marriage
"Answer me one question. In the old days, before Janice came along . . . if I'd asked you to sleep with me then, would you have done it?" said Kirk.
"The situation never arose," he reminded her.
"Hypothetically. Would you?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
He merely raised an eyebrow to her, so she continued, "Because I wanted it, and you wanted to please me . . . or because that was what you wanted?"
"Because," he told her deliberately, "it was what I wanted. In the past, in the present, and in the future. Always. Does that answer your question?"
"Yes, it does."
"And will you now answer my question? Will you be my wife?"
"Yes," she told him, eyes shining.
Christine Chapel is Initially Sad That Spock is Married, But Then She Rallies
"I'll do whatever I can to help," she assured McCoy. She turned to leave but at the door turned back and said, "I knew he would never be interested in me. I thought I'd got over it. This has been a bit of a shock, but I'm not jealous of her. Not her, of all women in the universe. I think she was the only woman he could ever have loved and I'm glad he's found that out at last. Do you think they'll be happy?"
"I'm sure of it."
"So am I," she grinned as she turned away.
Turns Out "The Wolf in the Fold" Taught Kirk Some Lessons
"Jim, you're full of surprises, you know that? ... you're so cool about this whole situation. A couple of years ago I'd never have believed . . ."
"Bones, you remember that time I met my 'wolf - all the bad
things in me came out at once? ... I realized that the 'wolf and the 'lamb' in me needed each other to survive. So did my 'male' and 'female' sides. For nearly thirty-six years I lived in a man's body and I was perfectly happy. Now, for the rest of my life I'll be a woman - and after I'd adjusted to it, I realized I could be just as happy with this. It's a chance very few people get."
Thanks to Dead Janice, Kirk is Fulfilled
"Look, you know how it was with Spock and I. We could have slept together a long time ago. But it's a difficult first step to take - especially between a Captain and his First Officer. In a way, Janice did me the greatest possible favour. I'm only sorry that she couldn't have known how happy it was possible for her to be."
"It's ironical," McCoy said solemnly. "All she wanted was to be Captain of this ship - to oust you, make you suffer for what she believed you had done to her. She couldn't have known . . . none of us would ever have dreamed . . . that this was really what you wanted."
"Not wanted," Jim corrected. "I was happy as I was. If I'd lived the rest of my life as James T. Kirk, intergalactic seducer and hero, I'd still have been happy - because ignorance is bliss and I would never have known what I was missing. But I'm glad it happened. I'm glad I'm married to Spock, and expecting twins," she winced a little at the word. "Do you understand. Bones? Accepting all this was just a matter of facing up to what I wanted for myself. Acknowledging that I could really be happy as a woman."
Fan Comments
The longest and most impressive story featured in this issue is "...And Now For Something Completely Different" by Sue Stuart, which is based on the possibility that Kirk could have lost his own body when Janice Lester dies in an aftermath of "Turnabout Intruder," and remains the captain of the Enterprise in hers. Naturally there is a romance with Spock, culminating in marriage — and the birth of twins! It's all done in great good humor, very inoffensively even if it does seem strange to keep referring to "her" as Jim. Thought provoking. [1]
References
- ^ review by Dixie G. Owen in The Clipper Trade Ship #30