The Healing (Star Trek: TOS story by Islaofhope)

Fanfiction
Title:	The Healing
Author(s):	Islaofhope
Date(s):	2000
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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The Healing is a Kirk/Spock story by Islaofhope.

art by Liz ("The Morning After") -- "A lovely, quiet moment captured beautifully by this artist. The soft light playing over their bodies is expertly done. I know how difficult it is to render this kind of light and dark using graphite pencil, so I fully appreciate this work. Also, I love the delicate gesture of Spock’s hand as it rests on Kirk’s and the excellent way the hands are drawn—again, I fully appreciate how difficult it is to draw hands. Sometimes more difficult than Kirk’s face (which happens to be the most difficult face to draw that I have ever encountered)! And don’t think I didn’t notice the towels wrapped so discretely around our boys!

It was published in the print zine Beyond Dreams #2.

Summary

"Kirk is kidnapped during a diplomatic mission, and it takes hours for his bondmate to rescue him. The consequences of those few hours apart will ripple through their lives forever."

Reactions and Reviews

Geez. For some reason, this writer manages to convey with her uncomplicated style that James T. Kirk is in very real danger from a planetary leader who is clearly a maniac. Having beamed down with his senior officers for peace talks, he finds a machete poised over his wrist – and I have every reason to believe the holder intends to use it. Thus the story begins (well, after a very nice K/S established relationship setup).

This is one of those excellent never-seen episodes with a great story line, wonderful insight into both Spock and Kirk, but especially Spock, as it is all from his POV – first person, no less. The balance Spock maintains between his love for Kirk, his bondmate, and his duty to the ship and the Federation is very believable. He manages somehow to hold himself together even while he feels Kirk’s unimaginable suffering from a distance. It’s evident he’s picked up some human contamination from Kirk because his solution is a very creative one, the full impact of which is not revealed until the very end.

I liked this Spock very, very much. I liked Kirk very much. I was absolutely blown away by their relationship, which is written without over-the-top enthusiasm, but with vivid clarity. It is a deeply loving, honest relationship befitting men of their stature. There are little moments that don’t go smoothly, but they know each other well enough that they are able to work through them without costly misunderstandings.

Seeing the story jump from the TOS era to just before STII (leaving out TMP) was a nice effect and it is tied into the rest of the story – in fact it is essential to the resolution of the entire story. Exquisite.

An established relationship story. The Enterprise is assigned to visit the planet Chephren to negotiate a treaty with the Federation. When Mauro the prime minister kidnaps Kirk, Spock selects an unusual way (with Sulu’s help) to find and rescue him by creating an unusual distraction. 17 years later when they attend a diplomatic function at which Chephren is represented, Kirk is astonished when Spock finally tells him how he secured Kirk’s rescue and Kirk’s realisation when Sarek shows him the original treaty that his signature on the documents is a fake. During the reception they speak to the new prime minister, who tells them he was grateful to Spock for getting rid of Mauro for them. An excellent story which handles the subject of Kirk’s rape and recovery very well, clearly demonstrating the concern they feel for each other and Kirk’s overcoming his demons to continue his relationship with Spock. The ending where Kirk finally realises what lengths Spock went to in order to rescue him is very well written as is Spock and McCoy’s sensitivity when Kirk is first rescued.

A nicely involved story of Kirk and Spock as bondmates on the Enterprise, who go on a planetary diplomatic mission that turns disastrous. The evil, lustful prime minister thinks it’s okay to kidnap and sexually assault Kirk.

According to custom, Spock claims Kirk as his own and goes with Sulu to rescue him. Through their link, Spock discovers Kirk is being held in the prime minister’s own home. The rescue and subsequent events all happen “off screen”—but we don’t find out why until much later. Back in sickbay, Spock goes to see McCoy who’s been crying. I’m not certain of whether McCoy would do that or not, but the scene was nicely emotional with Kirk waking up and not wanting Spock to see him all injured. The next scene takes place eighteen years later and Kirk and Spock are living together in San Francisco. I liked the easy closeness they had together—Spock kisses Kirk and identifies the brand of beer that he had earlier along with a chocolate chip cookie. Very cute! They talk about an impending reception that will feature a delegation from the same planet where Kirk had been kidnapped and raped eighteen years before. Right before the reception, Spock begins to have sex with Kirk, but Kirk pushes him away and runs to the bathroom and throws up. I’m not sure about this, either, but when they discuss the past events, their feelings emerge. That’s when Spock reveals to Kirk that he killed the prime minister. Spock had fought for possession according to the custom, so he was not prosecuted. Kirk is not very surprised or upset that Spock had killed the man. There’s difficulty with showing the events not in present time, but only told later. It robs the events of their immediacy and excitement when we only hear about what had happened instead of seeing them. Also, an odd thing was Spock thinking to himself how the prime minister was planning on releasing Kirk anyway, so Spock didn’t really have to kill him. I didn’t understand why that was necessary—it makes Spock not very nice if he didn’t have to kill the prime minister, but did anyway. And just one other difficulty was having the story told in first person Spock. Most of what happens anyway happens to Kirk and the use of first person became unwieldy. Sometimes it was a little hard to tell who was talking with all the “I’s”.

But despite these things, I thought the story really well done with lots of fine emotions between Kirk and Spock.