All This Sweet Work

Fanfiction
Title:	All This Sweet Work
Author(s):	T'heoni
Date(s):	1997
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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All This Sweet Work is a Kirk/Spock story by T'heoni.

It was published in the print zine T'hy'la #19.

Summary

"Spock resists taking his captain in the fires of pon farr though Kirk is more than willing."

Reactions and Reviews

1997

There are no surprises in this after Amok Time story. However, the writing is so excellent, the tension so perfectly drawn, I was at the end before I realized it. I can enjoy a familiar plot when it is this well done.

I enjoyed this Kirk and Spock very much. From Spock’s illogical behavior to the single-minded way in which Kirk pursues his goal, accepting no “no” to McCoy’s deviousness in anticipating Spock’s attempt at fleeing his captain.

A really lovely, well-written delicate story concerning Kirk and Spock aprés “Amok Time”.

I adored the intimate scene in the turbolift where they’re together and Kirk thinks how wonderful it is to be near Spock: “Like the winter sun on the porch at home”. Then he thinks how slowly Spock has warmed to him and about how the first time that he touched Spock and the Vulcan didn’t move away. So beautiful, as well as the neat poetic Vulcan way Spock talked to Kirk.

And this, when Spock thinks about pon farr and needing to be close to Kirk: “Quicksilver. Flashing laughter. It was a human game his captain played. His smiling possession. It could be a game no longer. His eyes caressed each meld point on Jim’s face. He was falling forward, his inner need compelling him to reach for temples, cheeks, jaw. Sanctuary. Touch and live, his body cried.”

I love that idea! That Spock is mesmerized and drawn to the meld points.

Spock insists on healing Kirk’s injuries and wounds himself. “I am to blame for your injuries, therefore I should be the one to help you heal.”

A nit-pick: a strange moment when McCoy says “t’hy’la” and Spock picks him up in a rage and warns him never to say that word again. I don’t know…. But then Spock goes into pon farr and Kirk offers himself. I adored Kirk calling Spock “my lord” and especially sexy when Spock holds Kirk’s wrists above his head.

Quite sexy sex—especially this: “With the offending fabric gone, Spock found the cool roundness protecting the opening to Jim’s flesh. He pulled the tight buttocks apart, his hands remembering to be gentle. He licked the dark star hiding there.” Good gravy! Okay, I’m thrashing on the carpet. Really a beautiful story—her work is terrific.

I see this is one of our Vulcan writers, the ones who give us a definitive look at Vulcan culture. There are lots of innovative words and phrases in this story; but also, the subtle nuances of the culture insofar as how it affects our favorite Vulcan.

And the writing was otherwise nice, too. Rich, dramatic lines; and a lovely, poetic ending. The story takes place after the pon farr incident. I love this: That it had taken years for Kirk "to slip across the neutral zone Spock maintained around himself." Lovely thoughts about how much pleasure he finds in Spock's presence.

There are some fine, intense moments—for instance, an especially wonderful turbolift scene when Kirk confronts Spock about the fact that Spock's pon farr isn't really over after the scene on Vulcan.

This is a neat idea: Spock says T'Pau and the others assumed Kirk had accepted the challenge as a Vulcan would. Thus, they are now bound by Vulcan tradition, though not by Vulcan law. But Spock's and Kirk's separate conversations with T'Pau, I didn't really get. I didn't get what T'Pau demands of Spock nor what she said to Kirk. And I was more than once confused; and this wasn't the kind of story where we don't mind being kept in the dark. Here, it was more because what is said and thought, by both Kirk and Spock, was written too cryptically. I just didn't get what was going on, even on re-reading. We know Spock still must be in the fever, yet this isn't shown too clearly. He presumably goes in and out of it— sometimes a mad craving; sometimes seeming quite calm. I guess we weren't deeply enough into his head, nor experiencing his ultra-intensity from Kirk's POV, to really feel what was going on.

That Kirk must make a "sacrifice" is mentioned, yet I didn't see where Kirk came to realize he must have sex with Spock to save him. It's not said or hardly inferred. Maybe this would make another story incomprehensible, one dealing with less well-known mythology. But in this story, I could well enough read between the lines. All I really needed to know was that Kirk and Spock had to have sex to get Spock through his pon farr, and then it was lovely. Kirk wants to, but Spock is fully resistant (even to the point of later neck-pinching Kirk). A great scene—very hot: It seems Kirk understands the ritual moves he must make with a protesting mate. He says some really wonderful stuff, claiming the bond. Plus, I always like up-against-the-wall scenes. I love when he demands: Why don't you want me? Because I'm human? Male? A commoner? Finally, the sex and melding was lovely....

2001

Once again we visit, the widely held belief that Pon Farr was not quenched because Kirk "died" at his hands. This one's somewhat poetic in nature, with a little less gnashing of teeth on Spock's part when he realizes where his Kalifee has led him. He is appropriately reluctant though, until he understands he and Kirk have been locked in his cabin together at McCoy's orders, complete with armed guards outside. There is a lot of nice touching, some "assistance" from T'Pau, all terminated in a sweet joining of mind, body and soul.