Touch (Star Trek: TOS story by Carolyn Spencer)

You may be looking for Touched, a multifandom zine.

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Touch
Author(s):	Carolyn Spencer
Date(s):	paper zine-5/2004; The Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive 08/2010
Length:	Total zine-99 pages; The Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive-2133 words
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:	The Kirk/Spock Fanfiction Archive
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Touch is a Kirk/Spock story by Carolyn Spencer.

It was published in the con zine KiScon (05/2004).

Summary

From the summary in KiScon 2004: "Loving on their 25th Anniversary."

Reactions and Reviews

Sigh. What a wonderful story. It is short but filled with love and passion. Spock thinks of his life with Kirk on the eve of their 25th anniversary, and how much he has always wanted and needed Kirk to touch him, and remembers all the times they touched in love.

Over the years that I have been involved in K/S, I have always maintained the position that this fandom was not, is not, and never will be about the sex. Don't get me wrong, while a hot sex scene can certainly spice up a story, or be the sole focus of a story (otherwise known as a PWP), if, when it comes to K/S, that was all the writers were writing and the readers were reading, there is no doubt in my mind this fandom would have died out a long, long time ago. No, it's not the sex that has kept K/S alive and kicking these many years; it is the emotion, the love, the passion these two unique characters have for each other that keeps us coming back for more. And this story illustrates that point brilliantly.

As the title implies, this story focuses on the act of touching and the power such a simple gesture can have. Told entirely from Spock's point of view, it begins after the events of ST III, when Kirk makes it clear that he regrets all those times before that awful moment in the reactor room when he could have offered Spock the comfort of his touch, but refrained from doing so for a variety of reasons. Now given a miraculous second chance, Kirk is determined not to make that same mistake again. As for Spock, he is not quite sure what to make of Kirk's proclamation. While his body eagerly responds to the prospect of Kirk's touch, he cannot quite find the words to express how he feels. But for Kirk, it makes no difference. He doesn't need to hear those words and more importantly, he doesn't want Spock to feel the necessity to say them when it is not in his nature to do so, to "change me, make me into something I am not." And so they touch. And as that touch leads to so much more, both are able to celebrate the significance and power of that simple gesture.

I believe this is one of the few short stories this author has penned, as most of her work tends to be much longer. Yet despite this, the story loses none of the magic this author never fails to create and remains, as all her stories remain, simply unforgettable.

Whether short or long, this author's stories hit that swoon spot in me! This moment-in-time vignette takes place after Spock's re-birth, as Kirk and Spock are about to touch, to make love. I fell into the story with these first few lines:

He will touch me. He says that I have gone too long without touch. Even a day, he says, even an hour would be too long.

The Spock POV is flawless. And in first person, that is sometimes hard to do, but not here! Seeing Kirk through Spock's adoring eyes is thrilling, sexy and romantic too. A keeper as are all of Carolyn's stories.

"Touch" by Carolyn Spencer is barely three pages. I'm not normally a fan of short, short stories, but this one grabbed me completely. Of the fifteen stories in this contest con zine, I would rank it my second favorite story. And I am surprised it didn't make it into the top three that were voted as best. My favorite story was "Shore Leave Epilogue" by Brianna Falken which didn't make it into the top three either. This story is highly poetical and that is the best way I can describe it. It is also totally different in plot—what plot there is of it—than anything I have read before. It's really original and I am not going to reveal any specifics. One thing that surprises me about liking this story is that it is in first person—Spock tells the story, and I am really not into first person stories. However, this is definitely a wonderful story, and I love it.