To Those Who Wait (Star Trek: TOS story)

For other articles with a similar title, see To Those Who Wait.

Fanfiction
Title:	To Those Who Wait
Author(s):	Robin Hood
Date(s):	1990
Length:
Genre(s):	slash
Fandom(s):	Star Trek: TOS
Relationship(s):	Kirk/Spock
External Links:
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To Those Who Wait is a Kirk/Spock story by Robin Hood.

It was published in the print zine Beside Myself #2.

Summary

"Spock journeys to the M/U to discover the reason for Kirkʼs anger and depression since returning from there."

Series

• Beside Myself I ("When Kirk is split by the transporter, he finds his strength only when in contact with his other self.")
• Beside Myself II: To Those Who Wait ("Spock journeys to the M/U to discover the reason for Kirkʼs anger and depression since returning from there.")
• Beside Myself III ("Another transporter split, but this time it's Spock who's torn in two: a Vulcan and a Human. And it is the Vulcan that Kirk is most drawn to.")
• Beside Myself IV: Ruby Sands ("Kirk and Spock travel to Vulcanʼs past to clear up the mystery of why close variants of their names, Spʼock and Jamʼes, exist in that time.")

Reactions and Reviews

1996

I love these Spock-squared or Kirk-squared "beside myself" stories; and even better, this one is Mirror too. Reading about doubles can be confusing, but somehow Robin pulls it oft—I can't recall ever being unclear as to who is who.

In this story we have our Spock (in bearded disguise) going back to the mirror universe to find out what happened to his captain there; Kirk hasn't been quite right since then, I don't think technically we can just go back and forth between universes whenever we might want to, nor that both versions of one person can exist in one place, but what the hell.

What was so great about this story was the dynamics between the various characters. Spock with Mirror-Spock was fascinating. Subtle, intense Spock-to-Spock. Really done well. Mirror-Spock is the more powerful, controlled, setf-aware; he taunts our Spock. Even tied naked to the bed, he is in control.

And our Spock with Mirror-Kirk. Yes, yes. Kirk grabs Spock, up against the wall, kisses him; then senses Spock is...different. Spock realizes this and must act like he thinks Mirror-Spock would act. Yum. His arrogantly dominating act works. Does it ever. I love when Spock gets Mirror-Kirk so turned on and then leaves him like that.

And Mirror Spock with Mirror Kirk, as observed by our Spock. Really a beautiful, powerful scene: the extreme tension between them, then a shattering of all deceit, and then the love flows. Wonderful scenes, Spock watching the two mirror men revealing their softer sides, watching them kissing. I like that Spock is turned on not only by Mirror-Kirk but also by Mirror-Spock. They would love to have Spock stay and play with them too. But damn, he doesn't.

Back in our universe, I had half a problem with the scenes there. I thought it got muddied because there are too many reasons for Kirk's distress. First it's one aspect of his Mirror experience that he couldn't handle, then it's something else. Granted, this is generally the way things really are in our real lives, but isn't that satisfying in a story.

This distress of Kirk's has to do with not only his Mirror experience, but what Spock is confronting him with now—that they also might be lovers. Kirk's problems have to do with: His not having been able to resist Mirror-Spock" s advances.

His being reduced to a begging submissiveness by Mirror-Spock. He feels he couldn't handle this again. When Spock kisses him, he freaks out. But then, after he realizes and believes Spock's soul-deep desire for him, all this changes, and maybe being reduced to a begging submissiveness isnt so bad after all, is it?

But then the problem seems ultimately to be that Kirk is worried not about these aspects of his behavior, but Spock's opinion about what he did in the other universe. Spock in these scenes, though, is so masterful—very delicious. A melting scene, as he takes control. Nice hot sex ..speaking of begging submissiveness. Except then, I don't care for their lapsing into banter, particularly in sex scenes.

The use of "beside myself" at the end was done really nicely.

Both the front and back covers by DEW go with the story, so there are two Spocks plus Kirk—what more could I want? They depict very powerful moments in the story, and lovely states of undress.