A Second Chance (Star Trek: TOS story by Shelley Butler)

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	A Second Chance
Author(s):	Shelley Butler
Date(s):	2002
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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A Second Chance is a Kirk/Spock story by Shelley Butler.

It was published in the print zine First Time #54.

Summary

"While Kirk is missing when his shuttlecraft is thrown off course, Spock is visited by a Kirk of seventeen years before."

Reactions and Reviews

"A Second Chance" (17 pages) was a very interesting story in this contest zine. It made my top half of the stories I liked best in the zine. There are two Kirks in this story. The Kirk of the story's present time is in a missing shuttlecraft and somehow got caught in a time warp. The second Kirk is the Kirk of seventeen years ago who appears rather confused to face an older Spock.

Well, this was a surprise! I never in a million years would have guessed this was Shelley’s story, since it is so different from her usual style and subject matter. But I really enjoyed it and hope to see more like it.

(Warning: important plot details revealed in this LOC!) The story starts out with Spock anxious about Kirk, who is missing after a shuttle malfunction. He is thinking about their relationship, and it is obviously near the time of the events portrayed in ST II, based on the ages of the characters in the story. Spock and Kirk have apparently confessed their love to each other, but it must have been fairly recently, for they are not bondmates and have, in fact, not progressed in their love making past heavy petting. (Loved Spock’s logical analysis of the term and how he didn’t understand why the term “petting” was used!) Then, to Spock’s shock, a much younger Kirk shows up, 17 years younger to be exact. Apparently another one of those pesky time warps has occurred as this Kirk was transporting up to the Enterprise! (The “temporal flux” is not really explained much, but I didn’t think it was important to the story to know the details. However, I did still have one little problem. This Kirk said he materialized on the transporter platform and thought the reason for the rough beam up was Kyle’s fault, but then Spock said Kyle had not been the transporter chief on the Enterprise for 8 years. So wouldn’t, or shouldn’t, Kirk have noticed that Kyle was not in the transporter room? And who exactly was the Enterprise supposed to be beaming up? Wouldn’t the person operating the controls in the transporter room have realized they had a different person? Or recognized Kirk? Or wondered about the old style uniform Kirk was wearing? Or did this Kirk just suddenly materialize all alone in the transporter room? Sorry to nitpick, but I was just a little confused on the sequence of events here. However, I must confess I didn’t even notice this until the second reading because I was so absorbed in the story.) (I am utilizing my prerogative as co-editor to answer this point: I knew that. I was just testing your powers of observation. However, when I wrote this part of the story, an elephant was stampeding through my den and I was momentarily distracted while I was herding it outside.—Shelley) Looking at the young Kirk, Spock regrets all the years that he let go by without telling Kirk how he felt, for he has been in love with Kirk from the moment he first saw him. I loved how as Spock is talking with Kirk, all of Spock’s thoughts are consumed with Kirk’s beauty, his desirability, and how he wants to make love to him right there. Shelley shows him as tempted beyond endurance to change things in his life, and he decides to do just that. As he puts it “...I have a second chance to tell you of my love and not to live my life with regret.” With Spock’s declaration, this Kirk wants to take a second chance, also, and go back and tell his own Spock that he loves him, too. Kirk is also drawn to this Spock who has been through Gol and V’ger, confessed his love to the older Kirk, and so is much more open than he used to be.

However, just as they are about to make love, Spock remembers something I had been wondering about. I had been thinking this was really going to be sort of an AU story (or an “alternative reality” story, I guess, since it’s still set in the familiar ST universe of the TV show and movies). Because if Spock and Kirk made love and bonded, and Kirk went back to his time with these memories then the timeline would change. Well, Spock realizes this too, and decides he can’t risk changing the timeline and so erases Kirk’s memory of the events. (However, not before we have a very erotic love scene. Shelley is a master (or mistress?) of those!) So this story had a somewhat bittersweet, poignant ending, as the older Kirk, safely rescued and back on the Enterprise, discovers what had happened in his absence and realizes those erotic dreams of Spock all those years ago weren’t really dreams. This was something a little different from Shelley, and I enjoyed it.

When I found out who the author of this story was at Shore Leave, I have to admit, it was a big surprise to me. I know I never would have guessed she wrote this particular piece because the concept was so different from the type of K/S stories she usually pens. But this story really, really worked for me and I hope the author graces us with more such experiments in the future.

Sometimes, when you read a story you sense it's a special one. The feelings of wonder and enjoyment remains with you for a very long time. "A Second

Chance" by Shelley Butler is one of those stories. It began when, due to a displacement in time, the James Kirk of the original five year mission is transported to the future, to the first Motion Picture timeline. This younger version of Kirk came in contact with the Spock of the future. An older and wiser Spock who has recently began a physical relationship with his own Kirk. A relationship that is still in the early stages, consisting mainly of kissing and touching. But, a relationship that is heading to the final consummation of their love (aka: making love). When the shuttlecraft where the "older" Kirk disappeared, Spock started to worry that he'll never see his Captain again. That maybe his beloved is dead and they'll never share the deepest expression of love: the bonding. Those feelings of regret and frustration are beautifully presented at the beginning of the story. When Spock is in Jim's cabin, rummaging through his belongings. Remembering their first tentative expressions of love and trying to catch a last smell of his beloved. Spock sat down in the desk chair. He closed his eyes and sensed the man who had sat there. He inhaled, hoping to catch a residue scent. Nothing. The ship's air filtration system was far too efficient to allow any delicate lingering scent of the man he loved. Suddenly, the "younger" Kirk enters the cabin and both stared at each other in fascination. His presence gives meaning to the title of the story. Because Spock is faced with a second chance to let this younger version of Kirk know he has loved him for a very long time. I must act now that I have this opportunity. What might become of me if you die? And now with you here as you are, I have a second chance to tell you of my love and not to live my life with regret". But, at the same time, Spock is faced with a terrible decision. If he consummates his love with this Kirk, how will this affect the universe of his timeline? If he succumbs to his passions, will he ever see his Captain again? Will he let this precious opportunity, given by fate, gone by? And it is the answer to those questions where this story shows its greatness and originality—where it stands apart from other stories with a similar premise. I won't tell you the end, only that is the most beautiful expression of love I've seen in recent stories. I greatly admire Shelley Butler as an artist and as a writer. And Second Chance is, in my opinion, her best story. In her stories, I love her characterization of Kirk because, reading it you can visualize the Jim Kirk of the original TV series. In this story, her Kirk isn't an exception. He's the powerful and intelligent leader and, at the same time, full of comprehension and sensibility. He isn't afraid of expressing his deepest love for his Vulcan. And Spock is beautifully represented, too, by Shelley. With a decision that honestly, if I were in his shoes...I wouldn’t knew what to do. The dialogue is precise and clear, full of concise and detail descriptions that reflect the sad-loving-hopeful atmosphere present in the story.

So, read "A Second Chance" if you want to read a great and beautiful story in the true original TV series premise by one of K/S’s greatest artist.