Home by the Sea (Star Trek: TOS story by Natasha Solten)

Fanfiction
Title:	Home by the Sea
Author(s):	Natasha Solten
Date(s):	1993
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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Home by the Sea is a K/S story by Natasha Solten.

It was published in the print zine Naked Times #31.

Summary

"A/U: After the 5 year mission, Kirk has problems adjusting to the loss of his ship and only when Spock threatens to leave him does he start fighting for his life back."

Reactions and Reviews

1994

The story opens as Spock sits by a picture window in an apartment in San Francisco and misses Kirk. It is the end of the 5 year mission and Kirk doesn't want to be an admiral. "'I demand starlight on the port bow, meteor showers at starboard.'" Starfleet considers Kirk to be "dangerously impulsive" and a risk. Spock threatens to leave Kirk unless he resigns.

Some wonderful structure (if that's the correct term) to this story. As an example: a paragraph starts with "Kirk hated K'valak tea." then ends with "Kirk hated K'valak tea, but he had certainly not minded the side-effects, especially the sex."

And some wonderful language throughout. Such as: "The caliber of that love had been stunning." and "Kirk came home late, the evening falling like leaves of shadows about the lonely house on an even lonelier sea."

Sparse, but eloquent dialogue: Spock doesn't want to leave, but feels he must. "His mind squirmed, seethed, the emotions jarring, splitting, slicing. They tore him up."

There's the continuing metaphor oh "home by the sea". It's their shared apartment; it's the stability of a home, yet the turbulence of an ocean. Throughout the story, the sea is stormy and dark, paralleling their relationship as it evolves through the troubles, changeable as the sea.

Even though this story was dark, it didn't have the unwanted element of hopelessness. Here we have stripped bare language, yet beautifully poetic. A very telling moment was when Spock is ready to leave Kirk, but is talked into staying "at least for one more night." and both are relieved. Good or bad decision, at least there is hope and love. It made me respond to this "dark side" and lent a believability to the characters.

Also, emotional, dynamic sex- direct1 and exciting.

There is something interesting or odd about the structure in the beginning of this story. We come in at a certain moment, then the rest of the first part is a flashback/prologue, what led up to where the story had opened. This is very "told not shown," but purposely so I suppose, and it works. It is a fascinating look at the years when Kirk and Spock were first back on Earth. Spock is often alone at their home by the sea. Kirk has been spending a lot of time away from home, for days and nights sometimes, and they never make love anymore...

Adm. Kirk is unhappy, to say the least. When he gets drunk at an admiralty ceremony and throws up, Spock is ashamed of him for the first time, and angry. This was so wonderfully painful.

Starfleet is not going to give Kirk a ship, so he's totally pissed, and pissed at Spock for not believing him that he's being used and is right to want to leave Starfleet.

An interesting aspect of Spock and of their relationship: Spock did not know how to force confrontations; Kirk always did that for them. Spock feels he's just going through the motions of living, without any commitment with Kirk, and considers Kolinahr. (I get tense reading these stories, afraid that I know the unhappy ending, that Spock will go to Gol.) Meanwhile, Kirk's ripped out on drugs—zen and agony- (I want to try these, and also the "denzine" in K'valak tea which Spock is addicted to.) Spock has to go get him from an orgy bar, crazed. He sobers Kirk up and they make intense, desperate love — really, really fine, I love how Spock revels in the insanity of orgasm.

Adm. Kirk gets fired! So now he's all steamed up to fight them, to get a ship, (This is so much the man we see in the beginning of STTMPI.

But now Spock wants them to go away, leave Starfleet altogether. Kirk won't, so Spock wants to leave anyway; feels he cannot remain in an organization which would use Kirk like it has, feels Starfleet is ruining him.

There are really wonderful, passionate fight/arguments. I love this Spock-really getting into his emotions: extremely morose then swinging back into ultra-strength again. Spock is out the door with his bags. Kirk begging him to stay. Beautifully intense scene.

Finally they come back together, having found through all that the desire to really commit to each other, Spock will not leave-(I like how Kirk brings Spock's bags back upstairs and unpacks them.) Very nice sex.

A lovely story; a lot of beautiful angst. So does this mean Spock is definitely not going to Gol?