Winter Term

K/S Fanfiction
Title:	Winter Term
Author(s):	Kate Daniels
Date(s):	1989
Length:
Genre:	slash
Fandom:	Star Trek: The Original Series
External Links:
Click here for related articles on Fanlore.

Winter Term is a Kirk/Spock story by Kate Daniels.

first page

It was published in the print zine In the Wilderness #2.

Summary

"When the healing process for injuries Spock sustained when a phaser blew up in his hand doesnʼt go well, Kirk leaves the ship to stay with the his friend during his convalescence."

Reactions and Reviews

I like Kate Daniels stories and this one is no exception. Spock has been injured and sent to Castro V11 for medical rehabilitation. McCoy discovers that all is not well there and Kirk determines to find out what is going on. Somehow or other, he manages to get himself appointed to the university staff as a lecturer in history. Towards the end of his stay he is awarded the Masvo Prize for historical studies and Spock is forced into reevaluating their relationship. The ensuing discussions between Captain and First Officer about their future are spirited, funny and touching. The only problem I have is whether it would really be that easy for a Starfleet captain to take time off to go and be a history lecturer on what would surely be regarded as a whim? Would Kirk really have that amount of influence? However apart from that the story works for me. Kate Daniels has a way with words and I, for one, would be pleased to see a new story by her any time she wants to write one.

This is my favorite story in In The Wilderness II: it has such a unique approach to a first time situation, one that brings a smile to my face whenever I read it.

Not that things start off that happily: Spock is in rehab on a wintry planet after a defective phaser exploded in his hand, and Kirk pulls strings to get himself a research fellowship nearby so that Spock can have some companionship and live away from the hospital with him.

Kirk has learned from McCoy that Spock's therapy isn't going well at all; the reason is that there's a new doctor in charge at the hospital, a xenophobe. Spock, however, is still docilely undergoing all the therapy that's harmful to him instead of helpful. "Vulcan belief in the utter infallibility of authority kept him docilely submitting where a human would have recognized blatant incompetence and rebelled."

Admittedly, this was the point where my suspended disbelief came crashing down. What, Spock incapable of standing up against authority, especially incompetent authority? Anyone remember The Trouble With Tribbles or Spock's magnificent stand against the politicians in The Mark of Gideon?

It seemed this would be one of those weak, naive, helpless & guileless Spock stories, but thank goodness it wasn't. Whenever I reread this story I skip that (small) part of it.

Kirk wakes up in the middle of the night because Spock is sick - a reaction to the drugs. Kirk helps him out of his soiled clothes, gets him to shower, cleans up and gets him back into bed, all with a kind of brusque tenderness so that our proud Vulcan won't get too embarrassed. When Spock has settled back into bed, Kirk thinks of something to cheer him up a little; he gives him the firepot from Spock's quarters on the Enterprise, which he (Kirk that is) has had delivered secretly.

"He broke off, waiting anxiously for Spock's reaction, not sure if by having the firepot sent he hadn't violated some Vulcan taboo. Spock reached out. Holding the squat fire god in his crippled hand, he stroked his contours with the sound one.

"I am very pleased to see this," he murmured without looking up."

Very understated, but such a lovely moment. Later on, it gets better; Spock persuades Kirk to get into bed with him instead of sleeping on the couch, but it's not instant. "Oh, we're in bed, now where's the lubricant" action that follows, but a very tender embrace and so-to-sleep that melts my knees into taffy every time I read it. Wish I could quote all of it!

"Kirk lay listening to the silence, to Spock's breathing. The quality of it disturbed him; that he could hear it at all was troubling. Such audible respiration...aware he lay along Spock's injured side, he reached out and laid his hand along the damaged arm. It still felt cold, even through the fabric of Spock's robe. He sensed the Vulcan's head turn towards him on the pillow. "How can I warm you?" Kirk whispered, overwhelmed by the sense of intimacy in the darkness and the shared bed."

Ahhh .... Then in the morning, neither follows up on their new intimacy; instead they sort out Spock's situation at the hospital and then separate for the day. This is what I meant by a unique approach: it's very casual, refreshingly free of melodrama, and yet you know that the feelings are there, that this is deeply important to both of them - it just isn't spelled out.

That night there is a party of sorts, and Spock finds out from a local that Kirk hasn't just taken on the research job as a sinecure, he's actually won a distinguished award and the party is in his honour! All of which he has somehow forgotten to mention to Spock ....

Now comes my favorite bit (apart from the bed scene) and again I have to quote at least a little.

"This was home, this was what it used to be like: humans being irritating and splendid; accomplishing great deeds of honour and lying mightily in the next moment. (...) Spock felt enormously alive; as if he had awakened in his old quarters on the ship, ready to stalk to the bridge and field that shift's quota of human vagaries - it was his version of the Great Game. The game whose rules only one opponent was allowed to know..."

Well, there is a half-serious, half-humourous showdown between Kirk and Spock but then, blessedly, Spock gets to the point and gets Kirk to admit that they're lovers. BUT -that's it. Sorry, folks, they don't set out to prove it to the reader. Still, a wonderful, occasionally hilarious story, leavened by the tender moments. (I think it would have been more of a dry comedy without 'em, and I do like at least a little K/S with my K/S.)