Just Another Quiet Evening

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Just Another Quiet Evening
Author(s):	Jenna Sinclair
Date(s):	2006
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Just Another Quiet Evening is a Kirk/Spock story by Jenna Sinclair.

It was published in the print zine Bondmates.

Summary

"Spock must sooth his lover after Kirk returns from having to vote to convict a fellow Starfleet captain."

Reactions and Reviews

There is an easy familiarity between Kirk and Spock here that I find I like very much. Lighthearted teasing from Spock welcomes Kirk home to the Enterprise and helps to sooth the anxiety of a tedious negotiation. Spock knows exactly what to say to Kirk and how to touch him to chase away the fatigue and depression. I love the interaction between them with no crisis pending or interrupting, just two people spending a few quiet hours together discussing their day, their week and the life that lies ahead.

Nothing terribly dramatic happens in this story, as the title makes clear, yet this slice-of-life story is filled to the brim with love. Jim Kirk has returned to the ship after an absence of two weeks. He was serving on a court martial board of a starship captain whose negligence cost the lives of two hundred fifty people. Kirk votes to convict the man, but the decision weighs heavily on him. He realizes what a near miss it was that the Deneva situation turned out well when the result could so easily have been otherwise. Empathy with others is one of Kirk’s most admirable qualities. I will admit to wanting to know more about this. What exactly happened? What about that uncle in the Benecian Senate? But when you’re a fly on the wall of Spock and Kirk’s quarters you miss out on parts of previous conversations. The information isn’t really necessary though. This story isn’t about courts martial or uncles. It’s about how Spock makes his bondmate laugh, anticipates his needs, and eases his soul. It’s about how they both find solace in each other. Come to think of it, that’s drama enough for any story. I’m not a huge fan of established relationship stories, but in Jenna’s able hands, they take on a magic all their own.

This story is told entirely from Spock‘s point of view, which means that we have the benefit of his observations throughout, and Spock is very observant, as we all know... We soon learn that Kirk has been away from the ship for two weeks, seconded by Starfleet to participate in a traumatic trial of another Captain. We hear on the first page that the two of them are lovers, in an ̳intimate relationship‘, as Spock thinks of it, and the narrative is mainly about their reunion and their life together, shipboard.

This is not an action/adventure story by any means, and not much actually happens, and yet such is the author‘s skill that we are treated to touching snapshots of their life together and insights into their characters. I love to read of how Spock has to will his arousal away, thinking as he is of their upcoming night together, and to see so much evidence of his caring: He obtains satisfaction from making Jim smile, relating an amusing incident in his best, deadpan Vulcan fashion. It‘s amusing for us, too, of course!

There‘s a wonderful meld scene, too, where Kirk‘s troubled and exhausted thoughts are soothed in a uniquely Spock way, and we see the beautiful compatibility that reminds me why I need to read K/S. And the sexy love scene, while on the brief side, contains an image that really well worked for me! Spock slaps the bed, twice in fact, with the flat of his hands, as Jim sucks him. Now I didn‘t realise that this image had proved so-o powerful for me until... Well, I‘m sure you can imagine. Trouble was, I‘d read this story in a friend‘s copy of the zine. Suddenly, I had to have it, to reread. Thank you, Anne, for finding it at Shore Leave, and getting it to me at warp speed!

As I mentioned in my roundtable in the last issue of the KSP, this particular author has penned my favorite K/S story of all time yet it is just one of many great stories she has produced. And while the majority of her stories tend to be long or even serial, such as her “Sharing the Sunlight” series, she proves, as this story shows, she is just as capable of penning short vignettes, as well.

In this particular tale, Kirk and Spock are already bonded, with Spock eagerly awaiting his bondmate’s return to the Enterprise. Yet he knows the homecoming will not be so joyful for Kirk due to the reason for his absence. The captain was one of three others who were named to head the court martial of one of their own, who they tried and convicted for dereliction of duty. But it is not his actions in convicting a fellow starship captain that bother Kirk – it is the thought that it could have easily have been him now facing twenty years in a rehab colony. All those difficult decisions he’s had to make over the years, decision that for him, turned out to be right, could just as easily been wrong. As he tells Spock, “I’ve thought about this a lot. Loudermilk’s actions were…the result of a long string of problems that built on itself. But fate plays a hand, too. Not you. It would never happen to you, that I’d have to say good-bye and watch you walk away for twenty years, because with your attention to detail you’d never let yourself get so far down the path to incompetence, but….” Spock, however, remains firm in his conviction that Kirk would never suffer the same fate as Loudermilk, and it is this unerring faith and trust in his bondmate that eases Kirk’s own self doubts, as well.

To me, this story is kind of like a hot cup of tea on a cold winter’s day, leaving the reader with a warm and cozy feeling that effectively counters the wind and snow outside. The author’s talent and knowledge of these two men take what is a rather simple tale and turn it into something remarkable and quite unforgettable. It serves as another shining example of why we have all been so blessed to have this woman lend her time and talent to this fandom.