Zeus to Ganymede Author: Brenda Layland a.k.a. Artemis Series: TOS Pairing: Spock/McCoy Rating: PG Summary: Two Challenges met in one story. Tenth Wave challenge: write a story that takes place between ST: V & ST: VI. General challenge: write a story where our boys are married. Disclaimer: Paramount/Viacom own Star Trek. No infringement intended, no money being made. All original content (c) Brenda D.I. Layland, November 11, 2004. Author's Note: Yes, We’re back on Risa. If Neil Simon can make an award winning play about two people meeting once a year to have an affair, I can have my favorite men rendezvous on Risa. Criticism is not welcome, but will be tolerated. Archive: The Spock/McCoyote's Den ZEUS TO GANYMEDE Date: 09.21.2290 Place: Risa (again) Doctor McCoy felt old as he looked down from the boardwalk at the young people, playing on the beach. Why did Bolians insist on "tanning" until they were a nice even purple all over? Perhaps there was a paper in that…Damn it Lenny-boy, you’ve been at that University Hospital too long. Beach full of beautiful bodies and all you can see is material for your next paper. He shook his head and turned toward the marina where Spock was waiting for him on the "Ganymede" the sailboat they rented whenever they were on Risa. "Bones! What are you doing here?" McCoy turned to see Jim Kirk and Carol Marcus coming towards him. To be precise, Jim was steaming towards him with Carol in tow. "Just taking in the sights." Leonard replied gesturing to the beach. "Well, come and have a drink with us." "I have a better idea," Leonard said, "Why don’t y’all join me on my boat? Don’t worry the stabilizers are on." Leonard chuckled as he indicated the nearby dock. Kirk glanced at Carol. She nods. "Okay, Bones. We’d be glad to join you." Kirk was dressed in issued tropical wear for men over forty, Sea foam green Guayabera shirt, white linen slacks and huaraches. Carol wore a print sundress whose pattern complemented Jim’s shirt and huaraches. Leonard was wearing an unbuttoned Risan Tiki print shirt over a dark green lava-lava. "Bones, are you wearing a skirt?" asked Jim. "Look around. Jim. Half the males here are wearing some sort of lava-lava." Carol sensed a storm brewing, she cut it off. Pointing to the docked pleasure boats she asked, "Which one is yours?" "The yawl with the green and blue pennants." "The yawl?" asked Carol McCoy poured the accent on thick as Karo syrup. "Y’all know what a yawl is don ’t y’all? Heads shake. "It’s a jolly boat" he finished. "I’m sure it is, Leonard, but what is it, really?" ask Carol. "It is a fore-and-aft rigged sailboat carrying a mainsail and one or more jibs with a mizzenmast far aft steered by a rudder." Blank looks from Jim and Carol. McCoy sighed. "A mini-yacht. Comfortable for two, cozy for four." "For cozy, read cramped" Kirk explained. "Risa has some of the best hotels in the quadrant. Why rent a boat?" "Convince - we can put in whenever we need to for supplies or a night on the town. Privacy - no waiters, no neighbors, no newsies. Damn pests get worse every year. Save Earth two or three time and suddenly you become famous." McCoy ended in one of his patented grumbles. They reached a dock with at sign that read "R.S.S. Ganymede". McCoy rang a bell and beckoned for his guest to follow him At the head of the gangplank stood Spock. Jim’s face lit up. What luck! He knew his old friends vacationed together, but the old crew tended to drift apart between missions. He clutched Carol’s arm tighter and hurried up the gangplank. Spock was also wearing a dark green lava-lava. His "skirt" stopped below his knees. He wore a green striped tee shirt with a square neck. Jim thought the shirt looked familiar but couldn’t place it. Bones stopped just ahead of them. He snapped a better salute that Kirk thought he was capable of. "Permission to come aboard, sir?" Spock came to attention. "Granted." When Leonard stepped up even with Spock, they kissed the Gaelic way - grabbing each other shoulders and a peck on each cheek. Leonard indicated Kirk and Carol. "I brought guests for dinner." He waved for them to come on. Captain Kirk requested permission to come aboard. Busman’s holiday, he thought. Spock returned his salute. "No kissing, please, Mr. Spock." Spock raised his eyebrow. "I shall not kiss you, Jim." There was something still raw and husky in his voice perhaps left over from the "Genesis" planet experience. Jim felt a flash of guilt for being so abrupt. Leonard was already at the cabin door. Carol took a deep breath of sea air and looked out to sea. "I can’t believe you come here to sail. Vulcan doesn’t have oceans." Carol asked, "What’s the attraction? Spock explained. "That is the attraction. Vulcan does not have oceans." Further enlightenment was clearly called for. "Leonard introduced me to sailing. At first there was the mastery of a new skill. The science that goes behind ‘ just sailing‘: Physics, chemistry, meteorology, and oceanography. Learning the ropes. (Leonard groaned and smiled. Spock loved that pun. Spock realized that he was going into lecture mode.) Ahh. Why? Because, Ambassador Sarek cannot do this thing." They stepped into a forward cabin appointed as a lounge. McCoy playing host went over to the bar. "Please have a seat. What y’all want to drink?" Jim and Carol settled on one of the couches. "Beer, please! I’m sick of mixed drinks." from Jim McCoy continued "And for the lady?" "Beer for now, but I’ll have "Sex on the Beach" later." She exchanged looks with Jim and they both laughed. McCoy set a tray on the low table between them. "Here, we go. Beer for our guests and iced tea for the home team." Spock set a bowl of kelp chips down beside the tray. The chips were various colors. "The blue ones have a particularly strong taste." Carol popped one into her mouth and smiled a yummy smile. Leonard was tempted to let the small talk run to chips but he took a deep breath and put his arm around Spock‘s shoulder as he did Spock stroked his cheek with two fingers. "What in the hell!?" Jim jumped back, nearly hitting his head on a lamp. "Is this some sort of joke?" His mind was spinning. He took a sip from his drink to marshal his thoughts. He began to add things up: Their boat, their vacation, and both wearing lava-lavas. They were obviously very comfortable embracing. "Is this serious?" He asked at last. "Yes. We are married. " Spock spoke for both of them. He placed his hand positively on his bond mate’s knee. "Spock, does your father know?" Jim asked "Of course, when he discovered I had left my katra with Leonard instead of you, he realized the truth. During the fal-tor-pan, our relationship became clear to all." Spock’s voice was matter of fact; he looked Kirk straight in the eye. "Bones, what does your father think about all this?" "He’s dead, Jim." "Damn, I know that. - This news is just a little more than I can handle. Married. Married! I am the last one to know." McCoy mumbled, "A little louder, a few people on Betelgeuse V don‘t know yet." "Why didn’t you tell me?" Kirk was hurt and puzzled. "If I may?" Spock’s posture and inflection were as if he were giving a report back on the Enterprise. "On star date 10.15.2267, Ensigns Charles McGrudder and George Haws were discovered kissing in the arboretum. You punished them to the fullest extent under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. When you had stripped them of all ranks, rights, and privileges, you had them locked in the brig and kept on bread and water until we reached Starbase 227, fifteen days later. All this for kissing. During the court-marital you went on record regretting that you could not maroon them as was done during the days of Earth’s wet navies." Carol moved slightly away from Kirk. Kirk blushed to well below his shirt. Spock continued. Spock continued, "On star date 02.17.2277, during the "housewarming" party for your apartment in San Francisco, Commodore Jones jokingly enquired as to where my toothbrush was. To say you over reacted would be an understatement. Until then I did not realize that humans could literally foam at the mouth. You loudly and repeatedly denied that we were lovers. You stood on the balcony and shouted to the world that you were not gay and that I was not gay. You were half right." Spock concluded his report with a sardonic lift of his eyebrow and took a sip of his tea as if the rinse the bad taste of the incident from his mouth and memory. For something to do in an awkward moment, Kirk popped a green chip into his mouth. Hot, hot, he gasped and fanned his tongue. Carol finally took pity on him and gave him a yellow one (sort of like gouda cheese) and his beer. She had not known about the McGrudder/Haws court-martial and withheld treatment for 7.3 seconds as a punishment. Jim still couldn’t quite grasp the obvious. "Bones, you ran out of pleasure chits at Madam Sophie’s House of Joy. The Shore Leave planet, Crewman Barrows, the showgirls." "I’m what you call a switch hitter, Jim. Playin’ on both teams - bisexual. And there was this black haired Adonis at Madam Sophie’s. He could…" Kirk and Spock interpreted together. "Stop." "That’s enough, Leonard." McCoy shrugged "All right, Spock sugar, but you gotta do that thing later." "You will have to refresh my memory." His tone was laconic. He breifly applied extra pressure to Leonard’s knee. //Aren’t you piling it on a bit thick, Lenka?// //Just trying to pound it through his thick skull, Shug.// "I know what bisexual means. I have heard the term once or twice before. In fact, Carol told me that David "played for both teams". Which was the second thing that brought me out of the 21st century." Jim paused. "Go on." No joking now, Leonard said to himself. "You probably recall about two months after I made an ass out of myself at the housewarming, Admiral Kawasaki retired and came out. He and Sato Yugimoto had been together for 25 years. Well, that gave me a lot to think about. Admiral Kawasaki was a friend of mine. I had been to his house, their house, on numerous occasions." Kirk took a breath and collected himself" Fuji Kawasaki is a great man." "Spock, I bet you were surprised that I wasn’t in the forefront of the pitchfork and torches crowd." Spock nodded. " For once, I sat back and thought before I acted. Getting tired of the taste of shoe leather in my old age." He smiled ruefully. "His professional accomplishments will never be forgotten. He was part of the relief convoy to Tarsus IV. He saved my life. I reviewed his career, his life and asked myself if this new piece of information really changed the way I thought and felt about him. This is where I’m not going to give you the politically correct answer. Yes, it did. A little, but not enough to diminish his accomplishments. Not enough to stop admiring him as a Star Fleet officer or as a man". "His beloved, Sato Yugimoto, was one to the Grand Master Chess champions of the Federation. I remember when Sato-san quit playing chess because it was to easy and took up "Go". I thought I knew that game. He regularly handed me my ass. I’ve always liked him. He is a better strategist than you Spock." "When I was ready to give my considered opinion, I stated calmly and to whoever asked (and some that didn’t) that I had been wrong. Homosexuality is not the bane of Star Fleet nor will it bring down civilization, as we know it. The admiral and his spouse, yes, spouse, belong together. I wish them every happiness." Carol never dreamt that Jim had been so fervently homophobic. She tried to sound causal, but it words came out cold as space. "But why were you so anti-gay? Did the ‘BAD MAN’ touch you?" "Yes," Jim said quietly, "It took me along time and a lot professionally therapy to disassociate the ‘Bad Man’ from homosexuality. He was a predator, a monster. As far from Kawasaki and Yugimoto, and David, as Jack the Ripper was from Cochran’s cloud friend." Leonard leaned forward, "Still with all your therapy, you are uncomfortable when we kissed and when we hold hands." There was a challenge in his voice. "You noticed. Dr. Lancet, my therapist, and I discussed this, among other things. The short version is - I asked him ‘how did you know that you are gay?’ ‘ You just do‘, he said. ‘But one big clue is an attraction to men.’ I do not feel that attraction, gentlemen, quite the opposite, in fact. When I says its not you it me - I‘m not talking clichés. I‘m hetero. I hope you can live with that." Jim tried for a little joke. His audience nodded in understanding and encouragement. "The galaxy has changed around me, for the better for the most part. I am trying to change for the better also. Bones, Spock, my friends, my dear friends, please, believe me when I say that I am glad that you have bonded. I can accept that you love each other in every way. However; I can’t dwell on the physical aspect of your relationship, but that’s my problem. I hope that you can accept that problem, that flaw in me." Finishing, he nervously scanned their faces. Leonard started; "Gee, I don’t know. We all ready have to put up with the way you crack your knuckles." "And your singing." from Spock "And your Galaxy class ego." Chimed in Carol. Leonard stood; he extended his hand to Kirk. "Friends, from the Rim to the Core." He gave Jim a quick embrace. Spock did the same. "That is one." Spock said with a sigh of relief as he sat down. "One?" Jim and Carol asked Spock explained. "One person we care about confronted with the truth; two counting you, Carol. Our marriage is not widely known off Vulcan. Only a few close family and friends know." He nodded to include Kirk and Carol. Kirk smiled Spock went on, "We are not just here on vacation, but to prepare ourselves for our first diplomatic mission together." Leonard took up the explanation; "Sarek has asked Spock to lead the delegation this year on P'Jem to commemorate the T’Pol Accord. I am going as his bond mate. There's a lot for an old country doctor to learn, about etiquette and diplomacy." "Ambassador Spock has a nice ring to it." Jim was happy for his friends, "Bones, I'm sure you'll do well, but what will they call you? Sir Leonard, Lord Leonard?". "Doctor McCoy, of course." said Carol "Thank you, Dr. Marcus." "You're welcome, Dr. McCoy." FIN