Title: It’s Complicated (#14, The Drabble Bin)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek TOS
Characters: Kirk, Spock, McCoy
Summary: The ending to TOS.
A/N: Have some sad McSpirk on my birthday.
Previous Drabbles: The Old Four | Those Neighborhood Hoodlums | Trapped | A Cage of His Own | Of Perky Starfleet Bottoms | An Hour Past | War of the Bots | The Best Substitute | Surprise Meeting | Little Help | Dreaming | The Tower | Brother

Good things come to an end, and bad things too. In other words, all things end.

On the day James T. Kirk signs his name to a contract to officially accept his promotion, he reminds himself that what he is leaving behind is not family, friends, and a ship. It is just a title, easily replaced by a better one.

When the news breaks, the crew shows Jim how proud they are of him. They shake his hand and slap his back; they even salute him. Yet for a moment he finds himself straining to hear something beyond the congratulations.

What is Jim Kirk listening for? Distress? Dismay? Regret?

He does not know.

There is no one around him who asks if he has to go. No one conjectures if the man should fit the rank, or if the rank should fit the man—and Jim himself has given no thought to that question.

In truth, there is no reason not to be glad for the fruition of years of hard work, and so Jim increasingly feels good. He joins the celebration.

Leonard McCoy, skilled surgeon and Chief Medical Officer of the USS Enterprise, leans across the desk to hand the Enterprise’s First Officer a data padd, accompanied by the casual remark “He’s leaving us, you know.”

“You make that fact sound personal, Doctor.”

“Isn’t it?” counters the human, dropping his hand and flattening his palm on the desk, the ring on his smallest finger clicking loudly against its surface as he does so.

Spock lifts his gaze from the padd, something reflected in his eyes which belies his impersonal tone. “The opportunity is a remarkable one for the Captain.”

“I know.” Leonard sighs, then, the sound quieter than he intends it to be. He looks away. “I hate it too. But what can we say?”

“Congratulations.”

Leonard echoes, “Congratulations.” His fingers momentarily twitch against the desk before he tucks his hand out of sight and returns his gaze to Spock’s. “I guess it’s just the two of us now.”

His Vulcan friend neither confirms nor denies it.

The day before the Enterprise docks and is officially relieved of her mission, a med tech hears from a friend in Science that Mr. Spock has placed a request with the Command board for sabbatical leave. Why or where the Vulcan intends to go, or for how long, is anyone’s guess.

Eventually the news reaches Leonard, who pours himself a single shot of a malt liquor and toasts his empty office with “And then there was one.”

Because he is just an old country doctor, he takes a moment to swipe at his aching eyes before pulling up the first round of paperwork to retire his commission.

“Does anyone know why?” a young man asks.

“Why?” the woman next to him says, sounding incredulous. “Well, it’s obvious!”

“Not to us!” two others exclaim.

She crooks her finger, and her audience leans in.

“They don’t love each other” is her answer. “Yes, as friends, of course they do… but not as family. Don’t you think if they understood they are all each other has, they would not have parted ways so easily?”

Cries are heard all around:

“But that’s awful!“

“How could they not know?“

“Ludicrous! I can’t believe they didn’t even say goodbye!“

The woman crosses her arms and shakes her head slowly. “You asked for the truth, and I’ve given it to you.”

But then she smiles. “Now ask me what comes next.”

And once again, her audience leans forward, wanting to know.

-Fini

With Close Friends

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