Tonk'peh everyone! That's Vulcan for hello! Cool right? Well, unlike that, the uncoolest thing in the world is that I still don't own Star Trek. Damnit, where's that blasted petition I sent out? No one appreciates good old fashioned initiative anymore… mutters away

Either way, here's chapter 6, also known as 'plus one'!

Oh. This is the one in which there is ESTABLISHED K/S. That's SLASH folks! There's a simple solution to Homophobia. Don't read it…

.~*Plus One*~.

Jim lay there oh his chair, fully dressed, sleeping. Spock had just entered the room, having been delayed by a group of Engineers who required his expertise on dilithium crystals. Jim had no doubt been waiting up for him, and had fallen asleep due to his expected exhaustion. Spock did not mind. He was warmed by the fact that Jim had tried, but the world knew what Lt. Scotty's engineers were like. For the first time in a long time he felt exasperation at them, and didn't feel embarrassed. Jim had taught him so many things after they had confessed to having emotions for each other. Taught him things which Spock had not known existed, like how to not feel ashamed for every emotional slip.

He pulled off his boots and picked Jim up effortlessly, taking him to their bed (their bed!) and depositing him gently. Jim stirred, but didn't wake up, taking Spock's warmer-than-human hand and pressing it against his cheek in his sleep.

Spock smiled and took the rare opportunity to watch Jim sleep. They had had this opportunity less and less in the recent months. They (the recent months) were taking their toll. Jim had previously unnoticed wrinkles in his face, and grey strands in his head of otherwise gold hair. Not very noticeable to an average person, they weighed him down slightly and made him look older than he was. They lent a gravity to him which made people take him more seriously, though it wasn't necessary anymore. Jim Kirk was a name uttered like that of a king or a god, only with more reverence because Jim's actions could be seen; a god was not as obvious, and not as dependable.

Jim was wearing the same grey shirt he had worn to the meeting earlier, and it set off his blue eyes. But now his eyes could not be seen yet he looked beautiful. The tiredness of the day, though soothed at night, was still present. His soft lips were parted in what seemed to be joy; a small, almost invisible turning up at the corners of his lips. Spock remembered what it was like to be the recipient of that smile, and felt warmth in his spine.

Jim had lost all the confidence of the day, though. He had lost the erect posture, and the deliberate but casually placed hands and legs, instead lying sprawled in a tangle of bed sheets and limbs, on his stomach.

Spock was glad that after so many years Jim felt comfortable enough to sleep on his stomach in his room. Even in the privacy of the Captain's room the man slept facing up, ready for an emergency. He only relaxed around Spock. Spock wasn't sure he would be able to share it with anyone else; this privilege when the time came.

Hopefully the day would never come and he would remain Jim's soulmate.

T'hy'la they were, but Spock had his insecurities about Jim. Oft times he wondered why Jim had chosen him, why Jim was still with him. He was so special, why Spock of all people?

But this special aura too, was gone now. It was just Jim, lying simply on the bed, dreaming simple dreams of happiness and peace. His command gold was gone; dressed in casual attire, the urge to salute the man was gone. His hair did not shine in the darkness of the room, though it was most noticeable to Spock.

Jim Kirk, who was the colour of sunshine and had a smile as bright as a thousand bulbs was no longer there. In his sleep he was a tired, honorable, intelligent man of thirty, who had a job that took a lot out of him. He wasn't the man who had started and stopped wars, he was a man who might have two children and a wife and a home in the suburbs. He was the Jim Kirk Spock loved with every fiber of his being, not for his bravery or position or wealth. He loved him for his honesty and friendship which made Spock at home in a world which had rejected him a hundred times, and a hundred times again.

Jim was not golden now. He wasn't even bronze. Jim was Jim, and there was nothing more he could be.

LINEBREAK

Well? How is it? Like the fluff? I do. REVIEW!!! (I rhyme!)

Hope you all have enjoyed the ride, cuz I have!

"I'm a cat person, myself," she said, vaguely.
A low-level voice said: "Yeah? Yeah? Wash in your own spit, do you?"

Love,

Lady Merlin

P.S. Tomorrow I have THE biggest presentation I have ever given, because it's an A Level project which I've been working on this whole year. Wish me bucket-loads of luck, and hope that the moderators from the Minstry of Education moderate UP and not down. And that I don't completely forget my script and screw up. Oh god I'm scared. Wish me luck! and sorry for the delay. Life's a total bitch (then you die).