Brothers in Time

Fanfiction
Title:	Brothers in Time
Author(s):	Michelle Arvizu
Date(s):	January 1996
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:	on AO3
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Brothers in Time by Michelle Arvizu is a K/S story in the zine Amazing Grace #3.

Summary

"A Star Trek II and beyond story, McCoy must console first Kirk, and then Spock, through the death of the other."

Became a Topic of Discussion About Reviews

In February 1997, Judith Gran took another fan's 1996 review of this story to task in the essay, Discouraging criticism has become a problem in K/S fan fiction. But I don't think the answer is to hold fan authors to lower standards..

Reactions and Reviews

1996

This is a hurt/comfort story. First Kirk is mourning Spock's death at the end of The Wrath of Khan, and McCoy comforts him. Then McCoy comforts Spock after Kirk's disappearance into the Nexus. From a technical standpoint, the first half of this story is better than the second. The second half lacks clear character motivations and has a lot of rapid POV shifts, which I find very annoying. I'm not a great fan of portraits of Kirk that show him so helpless that he can't even undress himself, but if you like hurt/comfort where the characters are left egoless, I can recommend at least the first half of this story to you.

The unique imperatives of K/S fan fiction have led to the development of characteristic story forms that, on their face, do not seem particularly consistent with the canons of good dramatic story-telling. One of these imperatives is the need to locate the K/S relationship within the framework of aired Star Trek, to show the relationship gradually developing over the course of the episodes and films. The result is the genre I think of as "K/S down through the episodes," in which the narrative tends to straddle many different places and times, established by the events of aired Trek. Stories of this genre sometimes suffer from lack of dramatic unity as "background" events seem to shift quite independently of the rest of the story. They also tend to be somewhat unoriginal, since what happened in "real-life Trek," if such an oxymoronic phrase can be used here, already has been established.

Another imperative is the need to explore the inner life of the characters. In fan fiction based on the episodes and films, the external events are given and need not be repeated; the task is to explore and reveal what was going on at the time in the characters' hearts and minds. The risk here is that the story ends up as all talk, no action. Traditionally, this would not be considered a formula for dramatic success.

Because of these inherent difficulties it is all the more remarkable when a K/S author triumphs over them to write an original, dramatically coherent story like this one. The subtitle, "A Post ST II and Beyond Story" led me to expect a story that would meander through the events of at least three or four films. Instead, I found a relatively tight, balanced tale contrasting the characters' reactions to parallel events in TWOK and Generations, respectively. The point of view—McCoy's-strengthens the dramatic unity.

The story is "talky" in the sense that most of it is conversation between the characters that explores Kirk's, Spock's and McCoy's feelings about the other members of the trio: particularly Kirk's and Spock's feelings about each other, though McCoy does not receive short shrift.

Nevertheless, the story is much more than "just talk"; the characters do much more than simply reflect on the events of the films. In each of the two main parts of the story, a major dramatic event takes place, a major sea-change in two characters' relationships, brought about by a shift in one character's understanding of his role in another's life. In each of the two sections, both characters change.

In each section, the characters deal with an external tragedy while overcoming the equally tragic distance between them; the story ends with the relationships aligned as we know they should be, and the result is dramatically satisfying despite the lack of a happy ending. Thus, no action-adventure is needed to make this story work. Because the drama remains true to the characters and the dynamics of the relationships among them, the story succeeds. As the old Sufi saying goes, "the true jihad [a word meaning 'struggle,' not 'holy war'] is the inner jihad. " The depth and sincerity of the writing adds greatly to the story's impact. The author shows intense, indeed overwhelming grief and pain without ever falling into melodrama. (The physical correlates of the characters' emotional anguish-Kirk's nosebleed, Spock's broken arm-were a nice touch.) The dialog and the feelings expressed in it are specific, true to character, and often startlingly original. Time after time I thought I knew where the dialog was headed, only to find the expected K/S punchline changed, transmuted. The nobility and depth of the K/S relationship also receives its just due here. In one particularly acute insight McCoy reflects that Kirk "was in love with Spock and it showed every day. He glowed with the emotion, with the empathy, with the honor." Yes.

Another benchmark of the story's originality is the way it explodes the traditional "hurt/comfort" genre. The characters nurture each other, care for each other, even in the literal physical sense of the word, yet the care-giving always seems to grow naturally out of the events and the characters without ever seeming hackneyed, artificial or overdone.

In sum, this is a story that shows that the unique literary traditions of K/S fan fiction-deep emotion, male characters who know how to love and nurture, the exploration of the characters' inner lives-are alive and well. It also shows that the intensely inward character of so much K/S fiction need not be a dramatic dead end. I hope Michele Arvizu will continue to write stories as rich and satisfying as this one.

Brothers in Time by Michele Arvizu is a post-STII/VII story, showing McCoy's deep feelings and his deep grief after Spock's and later after Kirk's death. It touched my heart and my soul and left me with tears in my eyes.

1997

I cried.

From the opening scene where the Vulcan Council confronts Sarek about his son, to the final scene where the “baby” metaphor reaches its completion across Sarek’s dinner table, I thoroughly enjoyed this story. There’s a lot to like about Baby: the unusual sex scenes, the appealingly arrogant Kirk, the authentic relationships among Sarek, Spock, Amanda and Kirk. I think an author is tackling a tough assignment when she decides to write a story set on Vulcan, in Sarek’s house, and hope to attain something other then a stereotypical view of the planet, the society and the people, but Michele Arvizu manages to complete this assignment with great success.

Especially wonderful is the celebration of diversity that Kirk and Spock attend, and where the most obvious representative of “baby” makes Kirk’s acquaintance, a ten year-old Vulcan boy hungry for news of Starfleet, and news of the (in)famous Commander Spock. The disaster that occurs here is startlingly original, and I won’t relate it here so others can enjoy the ingenuity behind it as I did.

That event served as a great vehicle for showing not only our captain’s courage and determination, his leadership abilities, but also managed, in its aftermath, to be a smooth introduction to intimacy between the two fellas who are meant to be together. As even the Vulcan Council saw.

The second sex scene, set in the open on Vulcan, had my eyes wide open in astonishment. Whoa! One of the most erotic scenes I’ve read in years. As Kathy Stanis said in a previous review, the fellas really manage to work themselves up into a fine state. The “telling me secrets” line was really well used through both sex sequences. (So well, that I couldn’t help but wonder if it could have also been utilized to greater extent through the rest of the story. Then it would have unified not only those scenes but the whole narrative structure as well. Just a thought.)

I must confess that I didn’t immediately get what the author intended through the “baby” metaphor. When I first finished reading the story, I wondered at the title, and thought that the Vulcan boy was its only object. Why, I thought, wasn’t the boy in the story more? I searched for more meaning, saw it in the way Kirk called Spock “baby” during sex as well as the way it was utilized in the final scene, and in the meantime discussed the story with the author. It was only then that I saw that the various relationships in the story were almost all permutations of the term: Sarek and Spock, Amanda and Spock, Amanda and Kirk (there’s a scene where Spock says she worries about Kirk as if he were her own son), Kirk and Spock in the sexual sense, as well as Kirk and Spock in the way they protect one another, and then the boy and his aunt, the boy and Kirk. Nevertheless, I do think it would have been a good idea to insert more of the boy into the story, especially at its conclusion. (Perhaps, the meeting between Spock and the boy could have been delayed after the disaster until the end of the story, and that’s when an exchange of the term “baby” between Kirk and Spock, in its humorous form, could have been made, since I don’t think it worked quite as well as it might have in front of Sarek and Amanda. Just a little unlikely. I can see Spock deadpanning it in front of the child.)

The story is filled with little gems of insight, such as when, after sex, Kirk is avowing his undying love, but Spock, less experienced with the physical and still unfamiliar with the depths of the emotional, can think only of the act they’ve just completed. It’s only a line or two, but there are many other sequences like it in Baby, and they kept me turning pages.

The story is filled with little gems of insight, such as when, after sex, Kirk is avowing his undying love, but Spock, less experienced with the physical and still unfamiliar with the depth of the emotional, can think only of the act they've just completed. It's only a line or two, there are many other sequences like it in BABY, and they kept me turning pages.

I had problems with the first scene: it wasn’t clear to me what Kirk’s attitude towards what Sarek proposed truly was. And the transition from the first scene in Sarek’s house, when Kirk says he and Spock should sleep in one bed, to the diversity festival, also left me in the dark. How much time elapsed here? I assumed that the festival was the next day, and I kept wondering if they had slept separately or together. That comment of Kirk’s makes it sound like he’s definitely considering, has even accepted the idea of a physical relationship with Spock, and yet it isn’t until later, after the disaster when he’s out in the desert, that it appears he first grapples with the idea. I’m not sure that the confrontation with the criminal Vulcan who engineered the disaster worked as a “finis” for the story; that isn’t really what the story was about, so the scene felt extraneous. I’m a little confused about some repetitions that appear in the story. Was this deliberate? If so, then I thought that the dialogue, especially, should have been written so that the fellow were conscious that they were repeating themselves. There are three examples that I picked up: Kirk says “I love you with my soul, with every part of me” on both pages 121 and 131, the phrase describing their orgasms “building a ribbon of pleasure that bound them to each other” is on both pages 119 and 131, and finally, there’s a dialogue exchange after sex on page 135 that’s taken almost word for word from page 122. Amidst a plethora of good writing, these passages had me perplexed.

I enjoy a K/S story and re-read it because of the K/S moments. Baby has plenty of these. I especially liked the dialogue of the first sex scene, the way Spock so artlessly joins Kirk on the bed, and I’m not going to forget Spock telling Kirk his secrets during the second sex scene for quite a while. Maybe the baby metaphor was stretched past a believable point here and there, but I don’t care. I really enjoyed Baby.

As I've often said, I'm no expert on K/S writing, but I know what I like and I don't usually enjoy "death" stories (I refuse to accept Generations!)

So when I read reviews of this post ST2 story I thought "oh no way!". However, I did buy the zine when I saw JS Cavalcante filks were included.

A cold night saw me settle down snug in bed to read my new zine. I deliberately missed out this story, sure I wouldn't be able to cope with reliving my boys' death yet again...the movie was bad enough. As time went on and my finances prevented buying another new zine, I finally — almost out of desperation for new K/S — began to read "Brothers In Time".

What an experience!!

I suddenly found tears pouring down my face...true. I've never cried so much over the written word before...was it my age? My hormones finally going mad? I don't know, but this story really hit me where I live. Yes, it did make me cry, but far more important than that was the reason why. Not, as I had suspected because Spock was dead, but because I was there in Kirk's mind.

I was Kirk throughout Part 1 of this story.

I cried because I was experiencing the pain and heartache he did. I felt the stunned reactions from the rest of the crew — the helplessness of McCoy and the guilt of Kirk.

I am so pleased I read this death story because to me it is a little gem, well worth the tears. Lines like: McCoy looked startled. "Jim, you can't stay here." Kirk didn't want to hear that. He turned and touched the glass with his fingertips. "He wouldn't want anyone else." His chin touched his chest and his eyes closed again. "Oh God, I've killed him."

And: "Remove the body from stasis," Kirk ordered. "Burial in space will take place at 1800 hours." "You can't do that without notifying his parents." Kirk's eyes merely narrowed. "I can do anything I want. He belongs to me." Wonderful stuff!

(Editor's note: I have to comment that this review from Maggy is a perfect example of the diversity of taste and opinion amongst us all. (See also Mary Eldon's review below for "A Deltan Decameron".) I understand exactly how she feels — so many times I've either strongly loved something (like Command Decision for example!) that others have loathed or I've strongly disliked something (no example here!) that others have adored. But our LOCs must be honest and fair to ourselves. We just must remember IDIC. — S.B.)

"Brothers in Time" opens with a bang. I am reluctant to say too much about this story, as the very structure and subject matter made for an emotional shock and a poetic experience. I hesitate to take that away from anyone who hasn't read the piece yet. So if you haven't -- be warned. Spoilers follow.

The story is divided roughly into two sections, which are like mirror images.

The first part of the story takes place with Kirk after The Wrath of Khan, the second with Spock after Generations, and the point of view is McCoy's throughout. This made for me a very rich, satisfying reading experience, as at the end of the story I felt I had not only shared the characters' feelings, their pain and love, but had done so with exhausting thoroughness.

Using McCoy's POV was a wonderful choice on the author's part, and beautifully carried out. I found this McCoy to be insightful, compassionate, and true to my vision of the character. Also, Kirk for the most part is written with a vividness I find quite satisfying.

Any writer who chooses to deal with that plot horror of plot horrors, the Nexus, is going to have a tough time making dialogue flow. The movie was just a clumsy, inelegant construct to begin with, it never made any sense, and trying to write a story around it is a nightmare. This author did a creditable job, choosing the lesser of evils and pretty much avoiding the topic. One thing I really loved was the way the author took that strange, enigmatic line, "Oh, my," and did something wonderful with it.

If I felt any degree of disengagement from the story, it was in the scenes with Spock. For some reason, I had a hard time "hearing" some lines come out of Spock's mouth. For example, he says to McCoy, "I did not believe that you could ever wish to help me." Does Spock really think this after thirty years of friendship? Surely not.

Aside from this quibble, I would have to say Brothers in Time is an artfully constructed story with a hell of a kick. I was left wrung out, deeply moved, and impressed.

First of all, let me preface this review by stating that I HATE death stories (right now, the author is thinking, "Uh, oh, this isn't good.") As someone who is well aware of her own mortality, much less Bill, Leonard's, and the rest of the original cast (we've already lost one), it is important to me that their characters remain healthy and happy, long after these cherished actors are gone. For this reason, I refused to watch Wrath of Khan until after I had seen Search for Spock. It was only after I knew that my Vulcan was alive and well after all, that I was able to sit down and watch the second movie, and I'm glad I did. I don't think I would have been able to watch the death scene, otherwise. Needless to say, I have not nor probably ever will watch Generations.

So, in that vein, I really had no intention of reading Brothers in Time. My main reason for ordering the zine was so I could read Jagged Edges, as I am a huge STS fan. After reading several reviews of this story, however, I decided to take a peek at it. After reading the first two pages, I was absolutely hooked, and by the time I had read the last page, I was openly crying. Michele captured perfectly the agonies both Kirk and Spock feel at the loss of each other. The first part of the story, which deals with events after STII, was easier for me to read, as I knew Spock would be returning to his t'hy'la, and I thought the author did an excellent job of describing Kirk's agony. His grief at Spock's loss is like a bleeding wound. I found it interesting that they are not lovers in this part of the story. Kirk discovers after Spock's death, while listening to Spock's final message, that he uses the word t'hyla. Unsure of the exact meaning of the word, he looks it up, and discovers it also means lover. When he informs McCoy of this, the doctor asks him if they were lovers. When Kirk tells him they weren't, McCoy is shocked, as he had expected Kirk to say yes. It is during this portion of the story where Kirk comes to realize all he could have had, but it is the good doctor who reminds Kirk of all he and Spock did have. The part when Kirk reminisces about breakfast with Spock a few days ago, and describes how Spock peels an orange, then offers him half, is wonderfully done. He tells McCoy, "My God, I was in love with him, Bones, but I didn't know it."

The second part of the story takes place on Vulcan, when McCoy comes to see Spock about one month after Kirk's death. I really enjoyed (if one can enjoy a death story) this part. I thought Michele's characterization of McCoy was excellent, crusty and compassionate, and as always, able to understand Spock, despite his grumbling. McCoy searching for his own understanding, forces Spock to reveal how he and Kirk truly felt about each other. Spock can only answer how he feels, and the author's description of his total desolation is one of the most moving I have ever read. The foundation of his entire world has collapsed, and he is at a total loss as to how he can continue to live. McCoy offers the one thing Spock still does have, his friendship. The story ends with the two of them making tentative plans to return to Yosemite, and toast Jim's memory.

Although I still hate death stories, I will make an exception for this one. I think the author did a wonderful job with a difficult story line, and I look forward to reading more of her work.

2001

When I need a "hurts so good" story that fits my mood, I'm very likely to dig this one out of the stack. Written in two parts, it tells the story of the effects of first Spock's death on Kirk and then Kirk's death on Spock. McCoy is the common factor that ties both parts together. Our good doctor is perfectly suited to this role as the most intimate of friends and yet the outsider to their very passionate relationship.

The story begins with Kirk slumped down on his side of the reactor room glass, and I've always had the feeling this is what we should have seen, would have seen had the camera kept on running. Scene after scene is so powerful and they follow each other so rapidly that the reader hardly has time to breathe. McCoy is desperate to get the captain away from the horror of Spock's death. Naturally Kirk will not move from Spock's side. Having Kirk experience a nosebleed from the stress echoes the blood of Spock's wounds. A brilliant detail! When McCoy tells him that his people will take Spock from the chamber and bring him to "Meds," the captain insists that no one will touch Spock but himself and McCoy. He tells Spock, "You are my beloved comrade...Now I am lost..." When Kirk insists on burial in space, McCoy responds with, "You can't do that without notifying his parents." I always get a chill up my spine when Kirk only narrows his eyes and says, "I can do anything I want. He belongs to me." (Here is where this very talented writer sets up the second half of her story by having Kirk tell McCoy that he wants to be buried right where he falls. Therefore the second part follows canon exactly. I know many fen choose to ignore this facet of ST but for me, if it exists on air or film it happened, -- well, you know what I mean -- and for good or ill I have to deal with it.)

After viewing Spock's Will and Last Words, Kirk comes to the realization of what they could have been to each other and weren't. For the first time, Kirk understands he's loved Spock for years.

The second half starts with Kirk calling Spock on Rigel to inform him that he will be engaging in orbital skydiving rather than attending the launch of the Enterprise-B. Spock, of course, knows to the exact number the fatalities the sport has claimed in the last five years and tries, in his non-emotional way, to dissuade Kirk from this risky endeavor.

When word comes of Kirk's death, Spock typically blames himself.

After the last official Board of Inquiry is finished, McCoy goes to Spock on Vulcan. It is then we discover that Kirk has rectified his earlier mistake, and he and Spock had been lovers, though not bondmates, for years. As devastated as Kirk had been earlier, Spock is now. (I will leave it to you to find out why they didn't take that final step. Let me just say that the way it was presented enabled me to buy the scenario completely.)

With nary a sex scene in sight, this story filled with the love these two men had for each other, and despite the subject, it does end on an uplifting note as McCoy gives Spock a reason to go on.

Beautifully written. Expertly crafted. Emotionally moving. A gift from a superb writer. Thank you.

2005

Dealing with the death of Kirk or Spock, and the resultant devastation on the survivor, is a difficult task for an author. To manage both within the same story is a feat only for the daring, which is a description surely befitting Ms. Arvisu.

I’ll not attempt to analyze why one of my favorite story themes is dealing with the loss of Spock in Star Trek II, except to say that feeling Kirk’s desolation and abject loneliness is the most compelling definition of undying love that one can imagine. It is so well written here that one forgets all the other times she’s contemplated that dreadful scene in the engine room. Here we do not leave Kirk leaning against the glass gasping for air as he contemplates the horror he has just experienced. No. The storyteller is not so merciful this time. We are shown the awful ensuing minutes and endless hours while Spock remains slumped in death with his soulmate waiting for the decontamination process to finally grant release to the ravaged remains. Kirk adamantly refuses to relinquish the body to the medical team, gathering Spock into his arms one final time and carrying him through the empty corridors to sickbay. This scene is so powerful and so heartbreaking to read, but would you expect less of James T. Kirk? I think not.

McCoy is at his best in this rendition of the triad’s relationship. He is imperfect and vulnerable, professional and helpless, always supportive. Always there.

If all that were not enough to leave you distraught, you must now deal with Part II which takes place years later. Kirk is missing in action following the fateful launch of Enterprise B. The intervening years have only strengthened the devotion between Kirk and Spock, and McCoy is compelled to try to reach his faux adversary and help him come to terms with what has happened. This is difficult for the doctor and excruciating for the reader. We know Spock is being devoured by loneliness and grief, but he staunchly holds to his determination to be stoic, to accept what is. McCoy spends time with him in Amanda’s garden, facing his own feelings while attempting to bring into the open those terrible emotions he knows exist in his friend as well.

This is not a depressing story, though it sounds as if it should be. Perhaps this is because I do not subscribe to the conviction that James T. Kirk is dead. I prefer to believe that Kirk and Spock are destined to be together forever and that gives me peace.