Slow Spring

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Slow Spring
Author(s):	Katherine Cooke
Date(s):	2002
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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Slow Spring is a Kirk/Spock story by Katherine Cooke. It is a sequel to Debriefing.

It was published in the print zine Beyond Dreams #5.

"Satisfaction" by Virginia Sky for Slow Spring --"Satisfaction, indeed! Whew, you’ll need a cold shower after viewing this photo manipulation of Spock giving oral sex to Kirk. Love the touch of Kirk’s head thrown back in, er, satisfaction! Nice job, Virginia. Keep those photomanips coming. (Sorry, really, really bad pun but I couldn’t resist!)."

Summary

"Kirk forces Spock back to the Enterprise, where he hopes to draw the Vulcan back to his side and into his bed."

Reactions and Reviews

There was one story I did not intend to read, Slow Spring by Katherine Cooke, for one reason because it was a sequel and I hadn't read the first part. I recall I wouldn't read that first part. Too much violence and I can't handle that. But, thankfully, the author promised that this entry was the "gentler sequel", and so I did. Know what? I surprised myself and really enjoyed it! It was a fitting and happy closure to this collection of quality stories, carefully edited and delivered for our pleasure in big heartwarming doses.

Normally I look forward to sequels to stories I’ve loved. I didn’t love "Debriefing", and even disliked parts of it, but I did want to read the sequel to it. At the end of the story, it seemed to be leading right into a reason for the beginning of ST TMP, with Spock on Gol, and Kirk an Admiral on Earth. Usually stories that have some sort of conflict or problem between Kirk and Spock where the story ends with Spock going to Gol and Kirk accepting promotion, I read and know they’ll eventually get back together. Normally I don’t have a need for another story to show the reunion, and the resolution of their problems. Sure, it would be nice, but I don’t need it. "Debriefing" was different because it seemed unfinished, like we had stopped in the middle of the story, and also because so much needed to be resolved between Kirk and Spock. So I was looking forward to this story, but with a mixture of anticipation, and dread. Anticipation because I desperately wanted to know exactly how Kirk and Spock made things right between them (or at least that’s what I hoped the story would be about). And dread, because I didn’t want to read another violent story. Well, the preface to "Slow Spring" says it is the gentler sequel to "Debriefing", so that reassured me there would not be excessive violence in this story, and there wasn’t. (There was actually no violence to speak of in this story.) This was a wonderful story that completely and satisfactorily resolved things between Kirk and Spock. And, as an added bonus, it’s set against the backdrop of a very interesting science fiction story.

"Slow Spring" is the sequel to "Debriefing" in Beyond Dreams 3, which had lots of explicit violence and several rapes. My K/S friends know that I am a wimp when it comes to violence between the boys, and I also hate rape scenes. So although I found "Debriefing" beautifully written, and the characterization of Kirk was just wonderful, (was it Kathy Stanis that described it in her LOC as a shining example of James T. Kirkness?) I found it deeply disturbing, and almost couldn’t make it through the story. My Spock just wasn’t in this story but instead a stranger wearing his face; and his violence, and the horrific rape and torture of Kirk near the end were almost too much for me to read at times. But, I couldn’t get the story out of my mind for a long time it was so compelling and powerful. I can’t say I enjoyed a lot of it, but I couldn’t forget it, and once I heard there would be a sequel, I wanted to read it. Now, I suppose it’s time I actually start the LOC on "Slow Spring"! (Warning: plot details revealed!) I fully expected Spock to go off to Gol at the end of

"Debriefing", and the sequel to pick up three years later. Right away the author surprised me and took me somewhere different. Spock has not been to Gol when the story begins. He desperately wants to, but is prevented by Kirk. The author comes up with a wonderful idea of a Vulcan ritual of atonement that Kirk invokes to keep Spock with him on the ship. Spock does not want this at all. He is in total despair at the beginning of the story, loathing himself for his actions on Xon. The author shows us an incredibly moving picture of Spock just drowning in regret, despair, and anguish and wanting to escape to Gol. Kirk’s compassion and forgiveness are well shown, too. And as Kirk says to Spock at one point in the story: "What happened to me on Xon was the worst experience of my life...but I learned how much I love you". Kirk loves and needs Spock, and has forgiven him for the things he did while under the influence of the diadem, but Spock just cannot forgive himself. Looking at Kirk every day reminds him of the terrible things that happened on Xon. Kirk realizes this, too, saying after he invokes the ritual to compel Spock to stay with him: "I hope someday you‘ll be able to forgive me." The actual plot begins with the rescue of truly alien beings from a damaged ship. This is the beginning of a complex storyline involving a black hole, the disabling of the Enterprise while attempting to escape the black hole, and then being flung 3000 light years across the galaxy where they must depend on a poor and technologically backward planet for the dilithium and supplies they need to repair the ship. The transporter is also out, so Kirk takes Spock with him down to the planet in the shuttlecraft, and they get stranded there. If that’s not enough to keep things interesting, there’s also Kirk dancing around the Prime Directive while trying to help the natives of the planet who are being exploited by a technologically superior society for their dilithium. And the mysterious aliens turn out to be more influential and more important than anyone had imagined. This is a lot of plot to handle, but the story is 50 pages long, which gives the author plenty of time to develop the various parts of her story. I enjoyed the storyline, which kept me interested right until the end. I couldn’t figure out how the aliens that were rescued at the beginning of the story were going to be worked into the later part of the story, but knew they had to be somehow, and it was fun to see how Katherine Cooke neatly tied together the different strands of the story she was weaving. This may sound like a terribly serious story, and most of it is, but the author provides a bit of humor with Kirk's encounter with the Overlords. I work for a large government bureaucracy, and either the author must, too, or know someone who does, because her portrayal of corporate doublespeak was perfect! I enjoyed that part a lot, and it provided a bit of levity in an otherwise very serious story. I also enjoyed Katherine's style of writing very much. I'm not a writer, so can't really describe very satisfactorily why I think her writing is so good. It is truly a pleasure to read. One thing is the little touches that add to the story. For example, near the beginning of the story Kirk comes onto the bridge, and Uhura immediately feels energized, and more alive. In her words: "She wondered how he did this. Did he splash on charisma with his cologne each morning?" Kirk and Spock are integral to the events occurring on the planet, which I liked, and I thought it was a good idea to have Kirk and Spock be alone on the mission. That gives them a chance to interact with each other a lot, more than they might have had on the ship, and they also get to spend a lot of time together, including sharing the same room.

Spock goes through a compelling journey of self discovery, redemption and forgiveness in this story. He comes to terms with what happened on Xon, and acknowledges that he and Kirk need each other deeply and belong with each other. Kirk had discovered and acknowledged this in "Debriefing", but in this story makes a discovery of his own. Even though Kirk thought he had completely forgiven Spock, he still has some deeply buried anger that must be acknowledged and dealt with in order for him to move on. As the story concludes, Kirk and Spock find happiness and their future together. I thoroughly enjoyed "Slow Spring", and am glad the author wrote a sequel!

This is a wonderfully written sequel to the novella “Debriefing” and although much more gentle in theme and nature, it is just as compelling a read as the original story was. It continues on from the end of Debriefing where Spock has decided to go to Gol as he is unable to come to terms with his actions on Xon.

However, Kirk is desperate to keep Spock on the Enterprise as he will not be allowed to return to commanding the ship unless Spock returns as well. So he invokes a little known Vulcan rite to make sure Spock stays with him, although Spock resents his actions a lot to start with. At the beginning both Jim and Spock are having problems dealing with what has happened, although Spock’s reactions are much worse. His desire to simply shut himself away and drown in shame and guilt is well described, as is Kirk’s determination not to allow this to happen. His attempts to ensure that they manage to overcome their problems and regain their previous trust of each other are well described as are his realisation (as a result of his sessions with the therapist) of just how strong his feelings for Spock really are. However, in spite of this he is still determined not to rush Spock into furthering their relationship before he is really ready. The rest of the story deals with how this is affected by the events on the Enterprise’s new mission. When the ship is severely damaged, they stop at a nearby planet hopefully to obtain spare parts and events there have a profound effect on their newly developing relationship, which is fragile to say the least. Kirk’s decision to take Spock with him is an indication of his desire to help Spock come to terms with what has happened by forcing him to deal with it rather than hiding away on the ship, and brooding, and is very well described. For me, one of the best parts of this novella was where Kirk and Spock have to travel by canal to accompany a shipment of dilithium which is to be sold on behalf of the inhabitants of the planet. The descriptions of this journey through an industrial area with its numerous smoky chimneys, and canals was very reminiscent of the area of England known as the Black Country as it must have been in the past in the Industrial Revolution era and really added to the atmosphere as Kirk and Spock spend some time alone together and try to work out their problems on this journey into the unknown.

This is a satisfyingly long story, with several twists and turns along the way, which I enjoyed very much. I also enjoyed how the author skilfully blends several plot strands together in a very satisfying manner and her descriptions of how they deal with the bureaucratic dilithium buyers on behalf of the inhabitants of the planet was rather amusing. The fact that the events which brought them to this planet were not quite so accidental as they think is also gradually revealed as is the way in which their rescue of some truly alien beings turns out to be more important that anyone expected.