These Things Take Time

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	These Things Take Time
Author(s):	Jenna Sinclair
Date(s):	2005
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
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These Things Take Time is a Kirk/Spock story by Jenna Sinclair.

It was published in the print zine Beyond Dreams #8.

Summary

"A/U: Kirk is the owner of a small delivery company who meets a fellow CEO from Vulcan when he attends a seminar mandatory for anyone wanting to do business off-world."

Reactions and Reviews

This is one hot story. It pushed all my buttons. It is one of the best and coolest first time AU stories I have ever read. Jenna’s one of the best writers. Technically, it is very well written. The story itself is hot, hot, hot. I know it is weird, but after reading so many sex scenes in K/S, I find that the slow foreplay and first time for Kirk with a male to be so sweet. It was also refreshing to read a first time story that was not happening on the ship with just some sex in it. This story definitely has substance and the “Oh, that’s so cute” factor for me. The sex scenes. Oh Lordy, I had to stop twice and fan myself while I was reading them getting it on. What can I say? It’s great to see Kirk as a virgin for a change when it comes to guys. The story as a whole of how they got together and the hesitant and awkward phases of meeting, getting- together, and quietly lusting after each other were so realistic and satisfying to read because you can totally relate. I've only read one story like this by Kay Wells in one of the FT(?) or SS{?} that came close to the emotional intensity and intimacy that you have written in this story. Thanks so much. This story totally rocks. Another five Vulcan salute from yours truly.

I was in a blue funk one night when I started reading this story. On automatic pilot I was through the first two pages before I realized it was an AU. I never read AUs, I said to myself. Well, I read this one, for by the time I came to myself I was totally engaged. Kirk was so sweet in it, Spock so adorable that I couldn't tear my eyes away until I finished it.

There was no violence, just a swelling sweetness that built and built as Kirk comes to understand his own sexuality, charmed by the disarming Spock. The two meet at a business seminar. Can you believe it? It is one of the most romantic stories I've ever read. Especially when the two men have a date for the theater to see a play. I was happy as hell that Kirk preferred this over sports and that he had planned a romantic dinner afterwards. That night was perfumed and rich, the table embellished with soft candlelight and intimate talk during dinner. Flirty! It turned me on, too, as well as Kirk. Afterwards they walk and hold hands and when Spock pulls Jim into the shadows of a convenient park, and it was Kirk who kissed Spock, I got goosebumps.

Another part that was a real turn-on, when Kirk and Spock enter the apartment and Kirk is so horny he can't wait to get at Spock. He has him up against the wall in no time flat! Talk about torrid! This is a slow, sensual drama, Kirk's tentative emotional gestures, the way he discovered himself and his real needs and desires. Wow! It was surely erotic! Kirk wasn't sure of himself, or of the direction he was going. But he went. They made love. And who could have withstood the charm of such a gentle, powerful Vulcan??

All was not sweetness and light but I loved it all, even the bittersweetness. And in the end I was left with a lingering loveliness.

I hear this is something of a dark horse entry, a surprising runaway hit and I add my voice to the others who reported on it. Fascinating, this author setting our space-guys in such a unique milieu. This is a story I'd read again, very rewarding.

Reading reviews in the KSP had prepared me in some ways for this alternate universe story, but not for the way it grasped and held my attention. Kirk may be a businessman and Spock may be a geologist, but none of this has affected the chemistry between them in the hands of a talented author. I am decidedly cautious about any AU because I want Kirk and Spock to be Kirk and Spock. In business suits instead of uniforms and in seminars instead of the bridge of a starship, these men are totally in character. And boy are they hot together. Whew! Maybe a change of pace is good after all, because there was nothing usual or mundane about the sparks flying between them as those business suits came off! Both men know themselves so well, and this makes them appear as strong as any warrior-type. There’s that same intensity between them, the can’t-get- enough-of-you passion. Wow. Wow! WOW!!

One of my favorite all-time K/S stories is an A/U called "From Choice", written by Vivian Gates and published in the zine Greater California K/S. The reason it is a favorite is because it proves the point that as long as an author remains true to the characters of Kirk and Spock, that she is careful to insure their core personalities are kept intact, you can then remove them from the TOS universe and place them in an entirely different time, place, or situation and still make the story work. Just as Vivian does an excellent job in proving this point with "From Choice", where Kirk is a professor and Spock his indentured servant, so too does this author with this thoroughly enjoyable A/U tale. Written entirely from a first person point of view (that person being Kirk), this story has him as far away from captaining a starship in the United Federation of Planets as you can get. Rather, he is instead the CEO of a delivery service company called Kirk Express. In a desire to expand his business, he decides to attend a two week seminar in the capital city of Jefferson where, to his surprise, there is a Vulcan named Spock among the attendees. Kirk eventually learns Spock is the CEO of a small survey company and at first he sees the Vulcan as just an opportunity to drum up business on the other's home planet. That intended professional relationship, however, quickly turns into a personal one as the two strike up a friendship. It is a friendship Kirk is quick to cultivate until an unexpected move on the Vulcan's part causes Kirk to consider the ramifications of where that friendship may be heading. His immediate reaction is to pull away, but time and distance provide the catalyst for a deeper examination of his own feelings and desires. As a result, personal truths are soon realized and he takes that next step with Spock, their happiness and contentment with their new-found relationship marred only by the thought of their impending separation once the seminar is over. Fortunately, however, this story proves the old adage "love conquers all", guaranteeing the reader a much- deserved happy ending. What really impresses me most about this author is not only her ability to pen a K/S story as far removed from the world of TOS as you can get and still make it totally believable, but that she still had the time, energy, and imagination to do so even after the Herculean effort of completing the latest two-volume installment of her "Sharing the Sunlight" series. All while, as Shelley is often fond of saying, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, raising a family, baking three birthday cakes, vacuuming the lawn, editing a zine (and so forth and so forth). Kudos to this woman's limitless talent and energy! We are all so fortunate to have her among us.

Well, what do you know? Jenna wrote an AU. Who woulda thunk it? I never thought I’d see our Jenna writing a story that takes place outside of the main Trek, or should I say, the main K/S Trek universe. Not only has she written such a story, but it’s good—really, really good—as if there could be any doubt.

There is always the hazard inherent in AU stories that our heroes are not the characters we have come to know and love, but that is not a problem here. Both Kirk and Spock are CEOs of small companies brought together at a conference both must attend in order to do business in their newly formed confederation. I love it that Spock heads Geodynamic Surveys, a scientifically based research and development firm while Kirk is the founder of Kirk Express, a small shipping firm a la FedEx expanded from one plane delivering food and supplies to prospectors. These occupations are just perfectly suited to Kirk and Spock’s characters, not a stretch at all. It is also difficult to create a sense of anticipation in a story such as this one; after all, our guys are not in a situation exactly fraught with danger, and it’s a pretty good bet that they’ll be together by the time the story ends, but Jenna manages to pull it off. There are several missteps on both men’s parts, several times where their separate needs collide, but that only serves to increase the realism of their first time love story. I also admire the way Jenna planned this. Each moment of their almost two weeks together is accounted for. The reader actually gets the sense of time passing. Reminded me of a summer romance, lovely but fleeting, and will I ever see you again? The first person point of view was perfect for this tale as it lent a sense of intimacy and poignancy.

Add to all this some very hot sex scenes, and Jenna’s lovely writing and you have a story not to be missed. Maybe now that she’s dipped her foot into the AU waters, we’ll see some more alternate reality stories from her. I hope so. After all, sometimes these things do take time.

Let me start out by saying that I haven't met a Jenna fic that I haven't loved. You name it - Sharing the Sunlight, Pacing the Cage, Freely Given - I've thoroughly enjoyed them all. So when a copy of Beyond Dreams 8 came into my hands, and after browsing the title page and seeing a story by her that I hadn't yet read, I was understandably excited. As I began to read, I was happily surprised to learn that this was an alternate- universe story, something I hadn't yet encountered in my reading of her stories so far. Intrigued, I read on.

The story focuses on a seminar attended by the CEOs of various companies, required by the governing body of the Quadrenian Confederation, "for any company who wanted to do business off-planet and within Confederation space." Kirk, the narrator of the story, told in past tense, runs an interplanetary shipping company. Spock, another CEO attending the conference, is the head of Geodynamic Surveys, a government consultant firm concerned with public construction and expansion. Both executives meet at the seminar, and are drawn to each other. A rapport builds between the two, leading Spock to ask Kirk out on an obviously non- business related date, which Kirk refuses harshly. The conflict in this story is within Kirk himself, who has never had any romantic or sexual experience with another man, despite having thoughts about it in the past. Kirk, feeling badly for rejecting Spock, and truly wanting to get to know Spock better in a way he has never done with a man before, accepts Spock's tentative second invitation. The night goes well, and ends with the two of them together in Spock's hotel room. The two are only able to meet once more after their first night together, due to the end of the seminar. Kirk and Spock spend the entire night and early morning lying awake in each other's arms, dreading their departures, and not yet admitting to themselves what they truly feel for one another. They return to their respective homes, planets apart. Months go by, until Kirk receives an envelope from Spock, containing a shuttle ticket to Spock's home planet. Kirk, of course, goes.

The last page of this story is breathtaking. I must have re-read this page alone five times. The romanticism just makes your heart ache, and never have I experienced so much emotion while reading the end of a story. Jenna has the amazing talent to pull you right into the story, and to make you so invested in these familiar characters that you almost feel like you're there with them. This is a beautifully romantic story, and now my favorite of Jenna's works. This one will be re-read many times over.

A really lovely a/u story which was completely different from anything else I‘ve read. In this one Kirk is the owner/manager of a small transport company attending a two week seminar which is mandatory before he can start trading offworld. Of course he meets up with another trader a Vulcan called Spock from another planet in the system who is also attending the same seminar and they are immediately attracted to one another. This was a nice look at how Kirk and Spock‘s relationship develops in a land based setting rather than on a starship and has a long slow build up which I thoroughly enjoyed. It was nice seeing their relationship developing from their first flush of attraction in a completely different setting as they attend the seminar and start spending time together, exploring each other‘s personalities over the course of the two week seminar. At first Kirk is a bit reluctant, fighting his attraction as he has always suppressed his feelings of attraction to men, but he gradually comes to realise that this kind of feeling doesn‘t happen very often and becomes determined to enjoy it while he can because Spock and he only have a short amount of time together. How things develop between them to the point where they find it very painful to leave each other is depicted in a very unusual and different story, which had an unexpected twist at the end!