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Date: Sat, 12 Jun 2004 23:57:52 -0400
Subject: [ASC] NEW: TOS Motivational Maneuvers 1/2 (PG-13) Humor
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Forwarded by the ASC-VSO 
Posted: 11 Jun 2004 21:13:26 -0700  
In: alt.startrek.creative 
From: djinn@djinnslair.com (Djinn) 
 

TITLE: Motivational Maneuvers
AUTHOR: Djinn
CONTACT: djinn@djinnslair.com http://www.djinnslair.com
SERIES: TOS
RATING: PG-13
CODES: HUMOR
PART: 1/2
SUMMARY: Is there anything worse than mandatory training? Only if
making them act silly. <EG>
Thanks to Rabble Rouser and Trekki for the beta!



Chapel looked around the crowded conference center.  She couldn't
believe she had to come to this motivational seminar.  She was
motivated enough for three people.  Working in Emergency Ops didn't
give her any other choice.  Do or die.  How much more motivated did a
person need to be?

On the other hand, she was also about ready to transfer out of
Emergency Ops, and Cartwright had thought she should go rub shoulders
with the brass, give those who would be fighting over her an up-close
and personal look.

It wasn't necessary.  She already knew what she was going to do.  Kirk
had asked her to come back to the Enterprise, and McCoy had followed
up with a call of his own.  He'd even offered to be her deputy if
she'd just say yes.  Of course, she'd said yes--to the deputy
position, she had no desire to be in his job.  After two years chasing
fires, being deputy sounded nice and quiet.

She shook her head.  What was it about the Enterprise crew?  They just
couldn't get enough of each other during the last two five-year
missions?  They all had to sign up for more time in space together? 
They had to track down their lost lambs like Kirk and McCoy had done
for her?  She'd barely announced her intention not to extend in
Emergency Ops for a third year when Kirk's call had come through.

"God, I hate these things." 

She turned.  Saw Kirk and Spock behind her.  Spock's expression was
neutral but Kirk looked like he'd rather walk through coals then be
there.  He looked like she felt.

"I didn't know you were going to be here," she said.

"Neither did we."  Kirk gave her a hug.

"Doctor Chapel," Spock said with a pleasant nod.

"Captain Spock." She glanced at his rank.  "It is still captain?"

Before Spock could answer, Kirk said, "Call him lieutenant.  It's what
I'm going to bust him down to for not making up a creative excuse for
why we couldn't be here."  He glared at Spock.

The Vulcan did not look upset.  "As I have indicated, the comm
informing us took me by surprise.  I did not have time to assemble a
colorful excuse."

"Didn't have to be colorful.  Black and white would have worked.  Or
the old standby."  He turned to Chapel.  "You know it, right?"

She acted like she was hitting a switch.  "Command, we've lost
visual."  Then she started to make staticky sounds.  "I can't read
you.  Your signal's breaking up."  She pretended to hit another
switch.  "Oops, lost them."

He grinned.  "See, Spock.  Chris knows."

"Yes, I can see that you two are well versed in deception.  I regret I
did not spend more time in Command when I was an instructor at the
Academy.  Perhaps I could be as accomplished."

Chapel laughed.  "I think we've just been insulted."

Kirk made a "so what else is new?" face.

"If we continue to stand here debating my merits as a prevaricator,
the available seating will be gone, and we will have to separate."  He
shot Kirk a stern look.  "I know you do not wish for that to happen." 
He did not wait for them, headed off to the nearest group of three
seats.

They followed him

"Guess he told us," Chapel said. "At least he's not going for the
seats in the front."

"We had a long talk about that on the shuttle."  Kirk grinned at her
as he sat down.  "It's good to see you again."

His grin was infectious.  She'd forgotten that.  

"It's good to see you."  She nodded at Spock.  "And him."

"How long has it been?"

"Since what?"  She shot him a look.  If he was going to bring up her
damned crush, she was going to slug him, higher rank be damned.

He seemed to be reading her mind.  He shook his head.  "Since we've
all seen each other?"

She relaxed.  "Oh."  At his look, she laughed softly.  "Sorry.  Guess
I'm a bit sensitive.  Seeing Spock again is not why I said yes."

"Of course not."  He glanced over at Spock, who seemed to be absorbed
in the program.  "Although, he's changed since you knew him.  He's
warmer."

"Yes," she said, making a face.  "He seems warmer."  She rolled her
eyes and he laughed.

Spock glanced over at them, then went back to his program.  

Kirk tried to hide a grin.  "Well, he's perhaps overly focused at the
moment on our agenda.  But he'll warm up, you'll see."  He leaned
forward in his seat.  "So when was the last time?  The post-Whale
Roundup victory party?"

She laughed.  "I believe so.  You spent the whole party waiting for
Doctor Taylor to show up."

"Well, not the whole party.  Just most of it."  He laughed, but there
was something else in his expression.  "She'd shipped out.  I knew she
wasn't going to be there."

"Shipped out?"

He nodded.  "She said she was on a science vessel."

"No, that would be 'Science Vessel.'"  At his look of incomprehension,
she said, "The remedial science simulator?  She's not going
anywhere--or touching any Starfleet machinery--until she is fully up
to speed."

He looked shocked for a moment, then began to grin.  "It's wrong and
bad of me, but I suddenly feel so much better."

"Feeling a little used were you?"

"Well, she did convince me to let her hop to the future on the pretext
that the whales needed her, then she just took off."

Chapel smiled.  "She's still in the bowels of command on her
make-believe ship.  But she's doing quite well from what I hear."  At
his look, she shrugged.  "I got to know her while we were waiting for
the hearing.  I liked her.  Even if she did use you."

"She was impetuous.  It's not a completely bad trait."  He grinned at
her again.  Then he turned to look at Spock, rubbing his arm from
where the Vulcan had just elbowed him.  "What?"

"The first speaker is about to start."

"Chris and I need to go to the bathroom."  Kirk started to get up, sat
down again slowly as Spock shook his head.

Chapel had no doubt he'd narc on them to the seminar coordinator if
they skipped out, then wondered what the coordinator could do to them.
 She leaned in, whispered in Kirk's ear.  "Tell him it's my medical
opinion that if we don't go, we might risk bladder damage, possibly a
kidney problem."

He snickered, then fell silent as Spock glared at him again.  The
Vulcan turned the glare on her.  She suddenly understood why Kirk
minded him.

"I'll be good," she muttered.

He turned away and she had to resist the temptation to stick her
tongue out at him.  She saw Kirk grin, and wondered if he was fighting
the same urge.

The coordinator introduced the first speaker.  She was an admiral. 
Tough, starchy, and possibly the worst public speaker Chapel had ever
heard.  She was so bad she was de-motivational.

Chapel snuck a look at Spock, who seemed in rapt attention, then
pulled out the padd she'd brought to take notes on.  She cleared the
screen, called up a special program and slowly tilted it so Kirk could
see it.

"Hangman?" he said so softly it barely disturbed the air.

She nodded.

He grinned.  "E."

She input the letter, ___ ___ ___  E  ___ ___.

He smiled.  "R."

She shook her head; typed the letter in and a head appeared on the
little figure hanging from the tree.

He ran through the most common consonants, tried a few vowels.  Was
down to his last foot, when he picked, "L."

She nodded.  ___ ___  L  E  ___ ___.

"What the hell?" Kirk said, frowning at the screen.

A large, greenish hand suddenly covered her own, and Spock pulled the
padd away from her.

"Busted," Kirk mouthed, and she tried not to laugh.

She expected Spock to put the padd away, but instead he input
something on the screen and then handed it back to her.  It said, "The
word is 'phlegm,' which is, by the way, an excellent choice for its
unusual consonant combination.  Now, put the padd away and stop
encouraging him to act up."

She glanced over at Spock.  He nodded toward the padd, and she stuck
it back in her pocket.  "Spoil sport," she mouthed at him.

A slow rise of his eyebrow was her only answer. Sighing, she forced
herself to pay attention.

Kirk suddenly leaned in, whispered in her ear.  "So what was the
word?"

She turned to him, her mouth close to his ear.  She noticed he smelled
good--some kind of subtle, spicy cologne.  "Phlegm," she said.

He gave her an impressed look, then his mouth was at her ear again. 
"If that was your opening word, I'd hate to see what you reach for as
your big guns."  He pulled away, then leaned back in.  "I like your
perfume, by the way."  He suddenly jerked.

"Another elbow?" she whispered.

He nodded, made a pained face.  "You're sitting in the middle after
the break."

"No way in hell," she said softly, then pretended to listen to the
deadly admiral.  For a very, very long time.

-----------------------

Chapel looked at the line for the bathrooms and laughed.  "I told you
that it was better to get up in the middle of a boring lecture than
wait."

Kirk grinned.  He'd snuck out too, although not when she did.  Spock's
glare had seen to that.

"I do not understand why Starfleet would choose such poor speakers for
this conference."  Spock appeared to give up on the bathrooms and led
them out of the stuffy conference room onto a large balcony.

"I think it's a Romulan plot," Kirk said, with a grin.  "Bore us to
death or maybe make us all so unmotivated that we quit and go become
latinum miners."

"I've heard there's a big market in that now."  Chapel sat down on the
bench that wrapped around the edge of the balcony.  She swung her legs
over so she was facing out, over the gardens, legs swinging free. 
"This is one pretty place."

Kirk joined her, legs swinging also.  She laughed. They were like two
juvenile delinquents set loose in an adult world.

"It is pretty.  Sin to be locked inside."  He shot her a look.

She knew what he was thinking.  It was a short drop to the gravel
path, and then they'd be home free. Lost among the lovely flowers and
liberated from boring speakers.

Spock sighed.  "Must I separate the two of you?"

"You could sit down.  Smell the roses for a moment."  Kirk indicated
Chapel's other side.  "Vacant seat over there."

She shot him a startled glance.  "Vacant seat over there too," she
said pointing next to Kirk.

Spock shook his head, moved to the far side of the balcony and sat
down, legs facing the correct way.

"What are you doing?" she said softly to Kirk.

"Me?  Nothing.  Why?"

"Well, stop doing it.  It's not nothing.  It's meddling."  She
realized she was kicking her legs with a great deal of gusto.

He put a hand just below her knee, pressed down gently, slowing one
leg at least.  "Sorry."

She nodded, forced herself to let her legs just dangle.  

He didn't move his hand.

She looked over at Spock.  "Are you enjoying this?"

"The seminar?"

"No, waiting for the damn bathroom.  Of course, the seminar."

She heard Kirk giggle.  There was no other word for it.

Spock shot her a surprised look.  She had never spoken to him that way
in the past.  She really hadn't spoken to anyone that way.  Emergency
Ops had been an eye-opening experience, both for her career and her
personality.  In that "react now, think later" environment, sarcasm
was a field to be mastered as diligently as medicine had been.  She
understood why being a smart ass had always held such appeal for
McCoy--it was liberating.

Spock shook his head, answering her question.  "I am not enjoying
this."  He looked out over the flowers, then back to her.  "How did
you make that noise?  I will need to know, should I be invited to one
of these in the future."

She and Kirk both made the crackling "we've got static up the
yin-yang" noise.  Spock echoed back a more than creditable version.

"Now, you're getting it."  Kirk smiled at her.  "You're a very bad
influence, Chris.  Who knew?"

"Me?  You started it."  She shrugged.  "They could have made this
motivational.  Either of you would have been more interesting."

"I am not sure that is a compliment," Spock said.  "I believe a
tribble would be a more interesting lecturer."

She laughed.  "Well, who would you want to hear?"

"Sakoth has published some groundbreaking work on translinear physics
as it relates to warp drives and subspace."

"ZZZzzzzzzzzzzz," Kirk said softly.

Spock didn't miss the sound.  "You have a better suggestion, I
presume?"

Kirk shrugged.  "Someone with charisma would be nice."  

"Khan perhaps?"

They both shot a look at Spock.

He was unperturbed, just went on with his list.  "Garth?  Gill? 
Karidian?"

"Why is it the people with the most charisma turn out to be evil
megalomaniacs?"  Chapel looked at Kirk.  "Are you going to turn evil?"

"Are you saying I have charisma?"

She laughed.  "You know you do."

He made a happy "what can you do?" face.  "Yeah, I think after lunch I
may turn evil."

"Does that mean we go from being sidekicks to henchmen?  Or would I be
a henchwoman?  That sounds odd."

"What is a hench?" Kirk asked.  "Is there a verb 'to hench'?"

"It probably is related to hengest.  Horse.  As in a groom or page." 
Spock rose.  "The line has dissipated somewhat."   He headed off to
the bathroom.

They watched him go.  

"He knows the strangest things," Chapel said, then she smiled.  "And I
can't say he's exactly bubbling over with that warmth you mentioned."

"Give him time."  Kirk seemed to suddenly realize he still had his
hand on her leg, had in fact moved it up a bit to sit on her knee.  He
pulled it away suddenly.

She grinned at him, tried to show him no harm, no foul.

He grinned back, relaxed.  "You should have seen him right after the
Fal-tor-Pan."

"Gave stiff a bad name?"

"And then some."  He shook his head, his grin fading.  "I wasn't sure
the Spock I knew was ever coming back."

"But he did."  She smiled softly.  "He always comes back to you.  He
loves you."

Kirk's face lost all expression.

"Hey, that's not a bad word.  He does love you, you know that."

He nodded.  "I just..."  He exhaled loudly.  "There are some who
think..."

She smiled, shook her head.  "That you two are lovers.  Yeah, I know. 
I used to wonder about it myself.  Why does it bother you?"

He turned to look at her, seemed to realize she was serious, not
teasing him.  "It bothers me because I think it trivializes our
friendship.  As if we can't have any kind of bond unless it's a sexual
one.  He's my best friend.  I would die for him.  He has died for me. 
What more is there to say?  Why does it have to be about sex?"

She laid her hand on his.  "I think for some people, that's all it can
be about.  Maybe they've never had a real friend?"

"Maybe not."  He shook his head.  "I didn't mean to snap."

"You didn't snap."  She realized that there was no one else left on
the balcony.  "Seminar's started."

"I know."  He didn't move.

"You don't want to go back in?"

"Do you?"

"No.  But Spock will hunt us down."  She grinned.  "And make us pay."

He looked down at where her hand was covering his.  "He was an idiot."

She sighed, pulled her hand away.  "Could you please let that drop? 
It's over."

"You don't have feelings for him?  You're mocking him pretty
intensively."

"McCoy does that too.  Are you saying he'd like to jump Spock's
bones?"

Kirk shrugged, gave her a silly smile.  "Maybe."

She laughed.  "I don't have feelings for him.  Okay?"

"Okay."  He swung his legs around and got up.  

She followed suit.  They snuck back into the room, which had been
darkened to show some strange picture of abstract art--or maybe it was
a disassembled warp core.  The speaker sounded like he had taken
training in how to drone.  And done well at the training.  In fact, he
could teach the class.

"Once more into the breach," Kirk muttered, as he led her to their
seats.

-----------------------

Chapel took another sip of her drink, following Kirk and Spock into
the lounge.  Dinner had been long, and the special guest speaker had
been so dull that one of the older attendees had fallen asleep in her
soup and nearly drowned.  Chapel had been worried she'd be called upon
to do emergency measures.  But another doctor had stepped in.

The food had been awful too.  Dry chicken filled with
something...brownish-green.  Salad that looked like it had been fresh
during Cochrane's time.  And desert that she thought was supposed to
be a soft brownie--or maybe exceptionally hard chocolate pudding.

Fortunately, the bread had been all right.  She'd made a meal of it. 
Good thing too.  Or the highball she was drinking would be going right
to her head.

The lounge was bigger than she expected.  And there was a large dance
floor.  People were dancing to recorded music.  She looked around the
room, saw Kirk do the same.

He drained his scotch, set it on the bar.  "Wish me luck," he said as
he winked at her, striding into the crowd toward an unattached woman. 
He wove a bit--he hadn't stocked up on bread.

She looked over at Spock.  He looked very uncomfortable.  

"He did it again," she muttered to herself.  "I'll kill him."

Spock turned to her, a quizzical look on his face.

"Matchmaker Tiberius."

Spock's expression lightened.  "His efforts seemed to be in that
direction.  I was hoping I was mistaken."

"Oh, no.  He's playing yenta."  She glanced at him; he seemed to know
the reference.  "Just for the record, you're safe from me."

"That is good to know.  However, I do not feel in danger."

She laughed.  "Well, that's a switch."  She sipped at her drink.  "I
don't suppose you dance?"

"I do not."

She smiled.  "I bet you can though.  Amanda probably made you go to
ballroom dance class, where all the Vulcan boys made fun of you after
school.  They taunted you with cries of, 'Your intelligence is
substandard, and your mother dresses you funny!'"

He actually looked amused.  "You have a vivid imagination, Doctor."

"It's true.  I do."  He'd be embarrassed if he knew just how vivid. 
In the past, he'd been a favorite fantasy.  Thank god that was in the
past.

"Do you enjoy dancing?"

She nodded.  

"There is a definite imbalance in the male-female ratio.  I am sure
someone will ask you momentarily."

"Yeah, I noticed that imbalance.  Not sure what it says for Starfleet
promotion policy, but it definitely means I'll be a popular girl
tonight."  She turned to him.  "But only if you go away.  Nobody is
going to ask me while I'm talking to you."

"I can leave?"  His face looked so hopeful, she burst out laughing. 
Quite a few heads turned.

"Yes, you can go.  I'll see you tomorrow." 

He nodded.  "Thank you, Christine."

She smiled.  "You're welcome, Spock."  

She saw him find Kirk in the crowd, his eyes were
thoughtful...concerned even.

"I'll make sure he doesn't turn into a pumpkin."

He nodded.  "His conviviality these days is often forced."

She took that in.  "David?"  She'd heard the tragic story from Uhura.

He nodded.  "David.  My death and the stress of the retraining. 
McCoy's mental imbalance when he carried my katra.  The destruction of
the ship.  The new ship--it has been slightly disappointing in its
performance, I think."

"All of it."

He nodded.  "He is depressed, I think."

They both turned to look at him.  Kirk was laughing at something a
pretty redhead had said, he swung her in the dance and they both
laughed again.

"Yes, he looks like the poster child for depression."

"We both know that depression can be masked.  And Jim is quite skilled
at hiding what he feels."

She nodded.  He was right.  Depression could be masked, and if anyone
could do it, it would be James "I'm having the time of my life" Kirk.

"I'll look out for him, Spock."

"Thank you.  Enjoy yourself, Doctor."

She smiled.  "You too.  With your meditation or whatever?"  

He did not answer, just shot her a gentle glare and left.

It took about thirty seconds for her to get an invitation to dance. 
As she switched partners, enjoying the opportunity to mingle and
dance, she realized she knew a good number of the people in the room. 
Many of them were men and women who had stopped into Ops during some
crisis or other.  She relaxed, enjoyed the warmth of this distant
intimacy.

"May I cut in?" Kirk asked her latest partner, a rather charming
lieutenant commander.

"Of course, sir."  He smiled at her, let her go.

"I left you with Spock."

"Yes, you did."  

"And where is he?"

"He was so unhappy that I couldn't keep him in captivity any longer. 
So I took him outside and set him free."  She tried to keep a straight
face.

He burst out laughing, his hands tightened on her.  "So if I want my
first officer back, I have to go out on safari?"

She nodded.  "Vulcan net in hand.  Calling, 'Spock!  Spock!' until he
comes to you out of love rather than fear and obligation."

"You've watched a few too many nature specials."

"Or read far too many of the old classics.  Born Free.  Thunderhead. 
White Fang."  She laughed, enjoyed the way he held her.  Such
assurance.  He was a good dancer.

"I used to read those."  He smiled.  "I used to read anything I could
get my hands on."

"Me too." 

They danced in silence for a while.  He pulled her close and she laid
her head on his shoulder.

"You did it again, didn't you?"  She could feel him laugh.  "Stop with
the matchmaking.  Even Spock is on to your clever scheme."

He pulled away enough to see her face.  "And is he upset?"

"Well, he's not turning cartwheels."

He pulled her closer.  "His loss then."

She smiled.  This time he sounded like he might leave it alone.  "So,
how are you?"

She thought she felt him tense.

"Are you feeling all right?" she asked.

"Depends on who's asking.  My new deputy CMO?  Or Chris, this lovely
woman I'm dancing with."

"I'm not sure you can separate the two."

He sighed.  "That's too bad."  He started to pull away as the music
ended.  "Doctor, thank you for the dance."

She didn't let go, saw his eyes narrow in surprise.  She was a lot
stronger than she looked.  Nurse's hands, used to dealing with
difficult patients, or just unconscious ones who needed to be moved. 
"Sir, please."

He sighed.  "You can call me Jim."

She smiled, easing him back into the dance as the music started up
again.  "Really?"  He'd never invited such familiarity in the past. 
Even when she'd been his deputy CMO the first time, she'd never been
part of his inner circle.  Never had actually wanted to be.

Until now.  She was enjoying his inner circle.  He was fun.  Hell,
even Spock was fun when he was around Kirk.

"Really," he said, pulling her closer.

They danced through several more songs.  She noticed that no one tried
to cut in.

-----------------------

Spock was thumbing through the program.

"Anything good?" Kirk asked.  He closed his eyes, rubbed at his
temples.  He looked like he had a bad case of too little food and too
much scotch from the night before.

"That would depend on your definition of good."  Spock put the program
away.  "It looks much like yesterday's agenda."

"That's tragic," Chapel said, handing Kirk two pills.  "Here."

He shot her a look.  "Antitox?"

She nodded.  "Don't leave home without them."

He smiled.  "You need them a lot, do you?"

She shrugged.  "Command parties get pretty wild.  Surely you
remember?"

He nodded.

"When you're on call twenty-four/seven, you need to be able to sober
up almost instantly."  She sighed.  "Not the best way to live, but it
cuts down on hangover time."

He took the pills, washed them down with his coffee.  "Thanks."

"Sure."  She glanced at him, realized he was staring at her.  "What?"

"You realize you could do a lot better than deputy CMO on the
Enterprise, right?"

She nodded.  "But frankly, I'm tired.  And I'd like to come home."

It was the right thing to say.  His smile was very big.  Spock shot
her an approving glance.  She hadn't realized he was listening in.

"And home is ready to welcome you back, Chris."

She smiled, couldn't say more because the coordinator got up and bored
them for about fifteen minutes with administrivia.  Then the first
speaker rose.  She had potential, started out interesting, but about
midway through, Chapel was dozing.  Maybe she should have taken some
of those antitox for herself?

She felt something being pushed into her hands, realized it was Kirk's
coffee.  Smiling at him, she took a large sip.  Caffeine.  Caffeine
was good.  She wasn't sure if he wanted it back, but he took the cup
from her, took another sip, then slipped it back in her hand.  He
winked at her, turned back to the speaker and pretended to fall
asleep.

She had to work hard to stifle her giggle.

The next speaker made the ones who had come before seem positively
brilliant.  It wasn't just his subject matter; his delivery was so
stilted and slow that Chapel wanted to fill in his words for him.

She was trying to do that in her head, making it a game, when she
heard Kirk mutter, "Get the hook."

She had a sudden vision of the speaker being hooked off the stage like
in an Academy talent show.  She started to laugh, trying desperately
not to make a sound.  It hurt, hurt badly to stifle her giggles.  She
couldn't stop her upper body from shaking.  She looked down, at the
back of the chair in front of her, anywhere but at Kirk.

She could feel his shoulder shaking where it touched hers.  He was
laughing too.

She leaned down, began to run through all the horrible diseases she
could think of, calling up symptoms disgusting enough to make her stop
laughing.  It worked.

Until she looked back at him.

He actually sputtered slightly.  Spock just sighed.

She turned back to staring at the chair in front of her.  Begin to run
through the effects of bubonic plague.  Finally, she felt the
inappropriate hysteria subside.

This time, she didn't look at Kirk.

On the break, as she stood, she heard a man behind Spock tell the
Vulcan, "Better not bring those two next time."

Spock just nodded.

She turned, and the man behind them winked.  

It was Commander Riffick from Supply.  "Hello, Christine."

"Tom."  He was friends with Cartwright.  Fortunately for her, he also
had a very good sense of humor.

Kirk turned to see who it was.  He grinned.  "Thomas, you old space
dog.  We were on our best behavior.  You saw nothing."

"Fine, I'll be part of the conspiracy.  I saw nothing."  Riffick
smiled.  "How the hell are you, Jim?  I would have said hello, but you
and Christine seemed a little preoccupied."  He winked at her again.

She hooked a thumb at Kirk.  "It's his fault.  I was listening raptly
until he made a snarky comment."

Kirk made a disbelieving face.  "Me?"

Riffick laughed.  "Face of a freakin' angel.  Nice to know time hasn't
taken away your ability to get out of trouble, Jim."

"Man will be eighty and charming his way out of situations," Chapel
said.

Kirk just laughed.

Riffick looked at Spock.  "How do you put up with these two?"

"We all have our crosses to bear, Commander."

Riffick laughed.  "Oh, I can see Jim's rubbed off on you."

"It is possible.  Cross-cultural contamination is always a danger in
these situations."

Chapel smiled.  Maybe Spock had warmed up a bit.  Certainly this
seemed to be a Spock more at ease with himself than she'd ever seen. 
Dying had apparently agreed with him.

Riffick held up his empty cup.  "I've got to get more of this if I
want to stay awake until lunch."  He turned to go, then looked back. 
"There's a pool going, by the way.  Name the mystery desert from
yesterday's dinner.  Just so you know, 'big pile of goo" is mine."  He
winked at them and walked away.

Kirk pretended to pout.  "Damn it.  I wanted 'big pile of goo.'"

"You snooze, you lose," she said.

Kirk nodded.  "I'll get some coffee while there's still time."  He
took the cup from her.  She was surprised to see him come back with
just the one.

"I can't have one of my own?" she asked, as she took the cup from him
and sipped.

He smiled, but his eyes weren't amused.  They were intense.  "Did you
want one of your own?"  He leaned in, said very softly, "I got the
impression that you were enjoying sharing."

His breath on her ear tickled, and she pulled away.  He was smiling
again, the intensity gone.  Maybe she'd imagined it?

"Sharing's good."

"Your preschool teacher would be so proud."  He winked at her, then
sat down.

She sat down too.

Spock leaned over Jim.  "Doctor, do you still have that pad?"

She nodded.

"Perhaps hangman would be a more beneficial pastime than nearly
injuring yourself from trying not to laugh?"

She grinned.  "Are you saying you're bored and want to play too?"

He took a deep breath, then nodded tightly.

Kirk looked at him. "Spock?  Really?"

"I believe that question has been asked and answered, Jim."

Kirk laughed, glanced at her.  "A very bad influence," he muttered.

She gave him her best innocent look.  "I learned it all from you." 
She pulled out the padd.  "Besides, he's going to wipe the floor with
us.  You do know that?"

"I don't know.  I wouldn't want to bet against our collective brain
power."

She smiled.  He was right.  They were all pretty damn smart.

Only, if that was true, why were they all still sitting in this stupid
conference room?

Sheep.  They were pretty damn smart...sheep.


End part 1 of 2

--
Forwarded to ASCL by:
Stephen Ratliff
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