The Healing (Star Trek: TOS story by Charlotte Frost)

Fanfiction
Title:	The Healing
Author(s):	Charlotte Frost
Date(s):	1987
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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The Healing is a Kirk/Spock story by Charlotte Frost.

art by Jackie Zoost

art by Jackie Zoost

art by Jackie Zoost

It tied for the 1988 Surak Award for 'Best Long Story.'

It was published in the print zine First Time #14.

Summary

"Kirk comforts Spock after his aborted pon farr, so then Spock is able to comfort Kirk when he is notified of his nephewʼs death."

title page

Excerpt

"Kirk moved through the corridor of deck five, relieved that the Enterprise was making good time to Altair VI and that he had been able to get a few hours of necessary sleep to recover from his most recent ordeal."

From the Author

Many years after this story was published, the editor would enjoy telling people, “Charlotte Frost sent me this story and said [insert arrogant tone] ‘This is the best story I’ve ever written.’”

Hey, what’s wrong with that? It was. *g*

This was the seventh story I wrote. I sent it to a two new publishers who had announced their intention to produce their first zine. They sounded ambitious, so I wanted them to have this brilliant masterpiece I’d written.

Months went by. (No email back then.) And then I wrote them and asked how the zine was coming. They finally returned the story, asked if it was okay to keep a copy because they loved reading it so much, and said they’d cancelled the zine, due to lack of submissions.

Okay, great. I then sent it on to my favorite editor, who was very fast at producing zines. The story was printed and I nervously awaited the reaction. Back then, one could only get feedback via the zine editor. Within a few weeks, I got an envelope in the mail with *twenty-three* -- count ‘em, twenty-three! – letters with comments. It was so, so gratifying to see that the readers agreed with me that the story was brilliant.

What’s more, there were publications back then that printed zine reviews. (Fandom used to be so much fun for writers. Nothing like the drab, dismissive atmosphere it is now.) “The Healing” was prominently featured in a couple of lengthy reviews. I remember, in particular, one reviewer referred to it (amongst other wonderful things) as “masterfully crafted”. Squee!

But the accolades weren’t over yet. An organization got together to do K/S awards. “The Healing” was up for Best Long Story. It tied for first place (I got a certificate!)

And so, the seventh story I’d ever written was my best ever. And I knew I could never top that. I’d never write an outstanding story again. (Hee!)

Seriously, though, it’s a good thing I got two awards that year. My K/S stories continued to be nominated, but I never won again. Once I went to S&H fandom, I wasn’t even on the map until C Frost had been in the fandom for five years. Stories much loved now were bypassed completely in the nominations (in one case, not even included on the list of eligible stories, even though SH was a very small fandom at the time.) In TS fandom, I been little nominated and haven’t won.

I don’t participate in awards anymore. I’ve been losing for 18 straight years and can do without the constant reminder that I don’t measure up.

But it was fun winning back in 1988, for stories I felt well deserved it. Fandom was such a blast back then.

Reactions and Reviews

1989

This is a loving and gentle novelette with a great deal of telepathic interplay, but there seemed to be very little dramatic tension in it. Over and over the characters would develop some conflict within their minds, and it would be dissipated instead of continuously building toward a climax. This lessened the impact of the story as a whole. I also wonder whether the tale couldn't have been told in fewer pages.

1990

This was an exceptionally nice story. Her interpretation of their many melds was especially interesting. Her love scenes were also very comfortable and pleasing for me to read. It was a loving and lovely story.

From the very beginning of the story, the author had me hooked into wanting to read more. I always love it when one of the characters has a personal problem that affects himself and everyone around him; even more so when one or both resolve the problem and reaffirm their physical and emotional ties as this story did. I liked the fact that Kirk sacrificed himself to save his men and, most importantly, to spare Spock humiliation at the expense of his own emotional well-being. The story was wonderfully in tense, showing Spock's and McCoy's frustration and abiding concern for their Captain, And while at times, Kirk's behavior seemed a bit excessive, it worked within the context of the story line, and I was thoroughly pleased to see him portrayed in terms other than perfect mental reactions.

1991

The section dealing with Kirk's childhood experience of abuse was moving, and so was the sequence in which he re- experienced it all after meeting his fellow victim, Spock. Unfortunately, I find it difficult to believe that Federation Intelligence would know about their past and never tell Starfleet. Starfleet would need to know about traumas in the past of their officers. The psychological functioning of Captains and First Officers is a legitimate concern of theirs. Surely Federation Intelligence would cooperate with Starfleet when they had such crucial information about officer candidates. Of course if Fleet had gotten such information, neither Kirk nor Spock would ever have become officers. Starfleet would believe that survivors of such an ordeal could be unstable, and they wouldn't take the risk of putting them in any responsible positions. Then there's Kirk's clumsy handling of the mission to stop the man who abused them as children. It might have been slower to stay under cover and gather information surreptitiously before moving in on the culprit, but it would have been a far wiser course. Spock was unnecessarily hurt as a result of Kirk's foolhardy shenanigans. Kirk is supposed to be a master of strategy, but the author portrays him as too bull-headed to manage any kind of strategy. It would be easy to say that strategy went out the window because Kirk was dealing with his abuser. Now there's a good reason for Starfleet to have known about what happened to Kirk and Spock. Their traumatic childhood was a guarantee that they would be too filled with righteous indignation to make rational decisions. They were exactly the wrong men for this mission. Yes, it's true that they succeeded, but that success was more a result of luck than skill.

1992

Having just re-read this fine piece, I am compelled to urge everyone to have another look. It's so much better the second time around, if that can be. This story of love discovered flows like liquid silk... there's never any confusion or distraction to the reader. You are simply allowed to be carried along on the river of affection and unselfish concern that lead Kirk and Spock to their ultimate destination. That complete regard for each other is never more skillfully revealed than when Spock, overcome by his feelings, demands of Kirk, "Do not look at me!". I fully expected our take-charge, often impetuous Kirk to wrap his arms around the Vulcan at this point and convince him it was alright to feel. He did not. Instead, he understood and respected Spock's wishes; obediently turned his back and gently talked his friend through uncertainties. There is a very natural progression found in "The Healing", both of events and accompanying emotions. And the meld descriptions quite simply leave you in awe.

1998

Am I becoming jaded or what? This story feels dull and that isn’t exactly something I’d like to say. Dead moments followed by dead moments. Is it my ineptitude to experience what she wants me to see or is it something else all together? I don’t know.

2001

I think that this story won one of K/S fandom's awards that were being administered back in the late 80s. It's almost a novella. This is the time immediately after the events of Amok Time. Kirk is really concerned about Spock's physical and emotional condition. I like the way the captain relays McCoy's prescription of rest; he does it with delicacy and an understanding of Spock's feelings and his relationship with the doctor.

Anyway, the story is really a series of conversations between captain and first officer. Early on Spock says, "I regret that you have taken me off the duty roster. I do not wish...to be alone when my rest period is over." To which Kirk obligingly replies, "I understand. I'll stop by after your eighteen hours are up." This, to me, is a small problem, since I just can't see this quiet and tender and totally accommodating relationship between captain and first officer before they are lovers, it just seems a bit too much.

Eventually Spock reveals how he craves mental contact with someone, especially now that the bond with T'Pring is gone, and Kirk offers himself for a meld. The melds are written well, although primarily as a type of telepathic dialogue, which I don't always see, but if you take this approach, this is a good way to write a meld. I like the presence of colors in the melds, and it's something I have borrowed from Charlotte for some of my own writing. The rest of the story includes a series of melds between Kirk and Spock that get progressively "deeper" and more mentally intimate.

There's an interlude halfway through the story where the Enterprise picks up a woman scientist who has just lost her husband on an isolated planet where they two were alone. Turns out that the woman and her husband had known Spock when he was a cadet, and she and Kirk talk about him. There are some connections between her loneliness and Spock's, but I am never quite sure that they are necessary for the story.

Eventually Spock gets to the point where he is able to reveal his pain to Kirk at the severing of the parental bond with Sarek. I've seen this scenario used in other stories. I don't know who came up with it first, but here it's handled with sensitivity and also to propel the story. Someday I think I'd like to read it in real time as it actually happens to Spock as he leaves Vulcan, or maybe see it from Sarek's point of view. That would be neat.

A reciprocal revelation occurs when Kirk learns that Peter, his nephew, has been killed in an accident. I never have thought that it was necessary; the parallelism is a bit too evident.

Finally there's a meld between Kirk and Spock where "It occurred to him that they had dropped down to a level of the meld deeper than they had ever gone before. The sense of euphoria was even stronger here and he wondered if he would ever wish to return to the physical world. After a moment he realized that he was still aware of the physical world—and it was curious how the lips across from him were so soft, how the long, lean, but firm body melted against his." Yep, they get sexual in a meld, shocking both of them, but you know Kirk. Nothing ventured, nothing gain. He eventually says, 'We've both enjoyed the melds so much. Do you think we could enjoy a...a physical relationship as well?"

The rest is history as they two forge a sexual relationship while they are on shore leave. Charlotte Frost has a very quiet, intimate way of writing sex scenes that is especially well suited to the tone of this entire story. This is a great story to read at leisure on a quiet winter evening.