Fic: Recreational Activities
Title: Recreational Activities
Author: laughter_now
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Star Trek franchise. Really. I can only repeat it.
Wordcount: 4477 words
Summary: Just how this away mission turned into a camping trip, including a campfire and shared stories, Nyota had no idea. It might be that she's somewhat distracted by the sudden display of PDA between her Captain and his CMO...
Answer to this prompt at the buckleup_meme . Also, by chance it totally fits the prompt "camping" on my schmoop bingo card.
Recreational Activities
"Are you sure about this?"
Nyota resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew Kirk wasn't questioning her abilities or deliberately trying to provoke her. It was his job as Captain to make sure before he gave an order like this.
"Yes, Sir. The Shri were very clear - their council needs to deliberate about whether making first contact is in their best interest."
Kirk nodded, and while his face seemed otherwise impassive, there was a slight tension around his eyes.
"And if we transport back aboard to wait out their deliberation, the Shri are going to interpret that to mean that we're not serious enough about wanting to meet them."
One of the Captain's strong traits was that he had always been quick on the uptake.
"It will definitely make our interest seem more sincere if we stay until their council has reached a decision."
Kirk sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he brought his communicator up. "You heard all that, Spock?"
"I did, Captain, and I have to agree with Lieutenant Uhura's assessment. Waiting until the Shri council has settled on a decision seems the most prudent course of action right now."
"What about using the transporter to beam down supplies? We weren't exactly expecting to spend the night down here."
Nyota had to admit that she didn't exactly fancy the prospect of a night on the surface either, not without at least the standard overnight gear. The only thing they had brought down with them were phasers and the medical equipment Leonard never left the ship without. No camping gear, sleeping bags, not even a single blanket. It was going to be a long night. But even before Spock spoke, she knew what his answer was going to be. Judged by the expression on his face, so did Kirk.
"My advice would be not to do anything that could possibly make the Shri doubt our commitment to this encounter. It might be the wisest choice not to change anything about the initial beam-down parameters. According to our scans, the weather conditions during the planet's night hours are not averse to sustaining human life. Even without any additional gear at our disposal, staying on the surface for the night should not pose any threat."
"Of course not," Nyota heard Leonard grumble beside her. "Because spending the night in an unknown and possibly hostile environment surrounded by who knows how many unexplored spores and bacteria never harmed anyone before. It'll be just like an awesome camping trip."
There was a moment of silence during which Leonard noticed that he had spoken more loudly than intended. His eyes widened a little, and Nyota swore she could see the corners of Kirk's mouth twitch in amusement.
"Doctor McCoy," Spock replied through the still open comm line, "in your esteemed medical opinion, is there any reason to transport back aboard Enterprise and discontinue the mission?"
The laugh lines around Kirk's mouth deepened for a second before he forced them away, and Nyota guessed that the Captain suspected what she knew - Spock's voice or demeanor might not give it away, but he enjoyed his occasional verbal spars with Leonard. And while he'd never admit to it, from time to time he did indulge in deliberately riling up the good doctor.
Leonard harrumphed, shifting from foot to foot for a moment before he answered.
"No," he eventually grumbled. "None of the scans revealed any perceptible threats. But that doesn't mean there aren't any. If we already spend the night on this damn rock, I want you to keep scanning and I want those readings checked continuously. If there's just the slightest sign that something's off here, we're beaming out immediately."
"These conditions are acceptable," Spock replied.
"They'd better be," Leonard grumbled.
"Indeed." There was barely a pause before Spock readdressed Kirk. "Keep me appraised of the situation on the surface, Captain."
And before either Kirk or Leonard had the chance to reply anything, Spock had closed the connection. Nyota had to stifle a smile. Sometimes, it was all about who had the last word between Spock and Leonard. It was a petty competition - and admittedly somewhat childish - but she was never going to say that to either man's face. Never mind that it was extremely entertaining to watch. Judged by the expression on his face, Leonard wasn't too enthused about the fact that this time, Spock got the last word in. The fact that they were going to spend the night on the surface probably didn't help improve his mood any.
Kirk put away his communicator before he addressed the assembled away team.
"All right folks, you all heard it. We're going to wait out the Shri council's decision down here. It probably won't be the most comfortable night you've ever spent, but I'd say we'll just have to make the best of it. Lieutenant, judged by all the messages you translated, does anything speak against building a fire for the night?"
Uhura shook her head. "There is no sign that the Shri are worshipping the local flora and would take offense. Our scanners picked up signs of fire pits on the rocky ground near the plains, so it's safe to assume that the Shri use fires when they're above ground as well."
Kirk nodded. "Good. Lieutenant Matthews, what do you say we set up camp against that cliff face to the north?"
Matthews turned and surveyed the site for a moment before he nodded. "Seems like the best spot in the immediate vicinity. There's a slight outcrop that provides shelter, but we still don't maneuver ourselves into a trap in case of an attack."
"All right then. Matthews, Sulu, why don't you go and see if you can find some wood while we set up camp?"
"Yes, Sir," Matthews replied sharply before he and Sulu vanished from sight. It still surprised Nyota each time she saw Kirk interact with his Chief of Security. Their interaction was so far removed from the first encounter she had witnessed all those years back, when Kirk had still been the cocky, arrogant brat with no ties to Starfleet, and Matthews the big brawny cadet who had nearly beaten Kirk into a bloody pulp. Seeing them today, seeing the way Kirk trusted Matthew's assessments without question and the way Matthews followed Kirk's orders the same way, it seemed almost impossible that those two had gotten off on such a bad start.
It was testament to Kirk's ability to draw people and lead them that this bar brawl all those years ago had never once come up again since Kirk had taken command of the Enterprise. And Nyota thought she caught hints of most onboard gossip, but never once had she heard anyone, much less the Captain, refer to Matthews as 'Cupcake' again.
Their small group set up camp in the spot Kirk had indicated. It went quickly, because there wasn't much for them to set up in the first place. Other than the standard gear of outdoor clothing and phasers, all they had brought was Leonard's medical kit, and the standard emergency rations. There was a stream nearby, and after a lot of scanning, testing and grumbling Leonard deemed the water safe for drinking. That and the rations were enough to keep them supplied over night, and while Leonard went to fill their water supplies, Nyota helped Kirk collect stones to build a small fire pit.
It was done in a few minutes, and though their camp didn't look much more inviting than the empty rocky surface had done before their efforts, it was going to be sufficient for the night. The slight overhang of the rock face would shield them from most of the wind, and they'd simply have to use their jackets to lie on. It wasn't going to do much to soften the ground, but they had spent similar nights during outdoor training at the Academy.
Sulu and Matthews returned after a short while, their arms laden with dead wood to stoke and sustain a fire for the night. The planet's small sun was already setting over the horizon, casting the area in a dim, purplish light. It was Kirk who started the fire with his phaser, and almost automatically the five of them settled around the crude stone-ring they had built to contain it.
Nyota wasn't a big fan of emergency rations. She guessed nobody was, since the energy bars tasted of cardboard and had the consistency of molasses, but it added to the atmosphere of a peaceful camping trip as they all sat around the fire and chewed on their rations. It wasn't quite marshmallows and smores like on the old-fashioned camping trips she had taken with her grandfather as a child, but it definitely was…unique.
Night fell quickly here on the planet. Dusk fell as they settled around the fire, and a few minutes later when they were finished with their meager dinner it was already completely dark around them. Twin moons were illuminating the woods in the distance softly, but outside of their circle of light from the fire, everything was cast in shadows.
"We should set up a watch, just to make sure," Matthews spoke up once they were done eating. "I can take the first shift."
Kirk nodded. "Good suggestion, Lieutenant."
"I can take the second watch," Nyota found herself saying without conscious thought. "I'm on gamma shift rotation this week anyway, and I can use the time to go over some aspects of the Shri language again."
"Then I'll take the third watch."
As if Kirk's words were a signal, their small group started to settle around the fire for the night. Matthews sat down with his phaser within easy reach, surveying the plains behind them. Sulu spread his jacket on the ground and rolled himself into it, shifting in an attempt to find a comfortable position, and Nyota tried to do the same. She managed to wrap her upper body up and shift into something that at least resembled a comfortable position, but her legs were another matter entirely.
Not for the fist time, she found herself cursing Starfleet's gender specific uniform policy. It didn't disturb her while on duty aboard the ship, but during a mission like this the short skirt was not only impractical, it was a downright disadvantage compared to the men on the away team. They could wear pants and didn't have to worry about whether or not their legs were freezing.
Just great. As soon as they were back aboard, she was going to file a request with the Captain. Female officers in Engineering didn't have to wear the skirts, either, and she was going to make sure everyone else could at least wear regular pants for planetside missions.
She had nearly submitted other fate of a sleepless night - and really, it wasn't that bad since thanks to her gamma shift duty her body was used to staying awake for the night, anyway - when a jacket settled warmly over her legs. Looking up, she found Kirk crouching beside her, a sly smile on his face.
"Guess Starfleet didn't exactly have this kind of mission in mind when they designed these uniforms."
Nyota found herself smiling back. "I have the sneaking suspicion that no woman was involved in the designing process, either."
Kirk chuckled. "To be honest, there are times when I find it hard to begrudge Starfleet for their uniform policy. Think you'll be all right like this for the night?"
Nyota nodded and pulled the jacket a little more tightly around herself. "I'll be fine, thanks. But what about you?"
Kirk just waved her off. "I'll be good. I got my own personal warming blanket."
Before Nyota had any chance to reply to the cryptic remark, Kirk got up from his crouch and rounded the fire to the spot where Leonard had already stretched out, his jacket spread over himself rather than lying down on it. But instead of settling down in the empty space between Leonard and Sulu, Kirk lay down in front of Leonard, shuffling back until his back was pressed up against Leonard's chest.
Nyota was sure that her eyes were wide and her mouth gaped open - and distantly, she was aware that she was staring in a way that was not polite at all - but she couldn't help herself. Not when she saw how Leonard practically spooned up against Kirk from behind. There really was no other way to describe the way he pulled Kirk flush against him, pillowing his own head on his hand so that Kirk's head ended up lying on his upper arm.
Kirk pulled Leonard's jacket down a little so that it covered them both, and underneath the hem of the jacket Nyota saw Leonard's arm sneak across Kirk's chest until his hand came to rest over the Captain's heart.
Both their faces were relaxed, though, as if their current position was nothing out of the ordinary. They weren't watching the rest of the away team for a reaction, just as if the way they were curled up against and around each other was so ordinary and normal that it didn't require a reaction at all.
Looking around, Nyota realized that Sulu was watching the two of them, too, and if the expression on his face was anything to judge by then he was just as surprised about the display of proximity as she was. Matthews wasn't staring openly, but he did sneak the occasional glance at the pair, and for some strange reason Nyota felt relieved. At least she wasn't the only one who was completely stumped by this display.
Kirk shuffled around a little, as if searching for the one perfectly comfortable position, then he turned to look at them across the fire.
"So, anybody got any good camping stories to share?" When there was no immediate reaction, he shrugged. "Okay, I'll start. It's the most hilarious story, and it happened about five years ago in…"
"Jim, I swear to all that's holy, if the next words out of your mouth are Yellowstone Park, I'm gonna sedate you before you can even finish thinking about telling the story."
Much to Nyota's surprise, Kirk shut up immediately, and remained silent for a good five seconds before he pulled a face. "Pity. It's a good story."
"Except for the part with the bear," Leonard grumbled.
Kirk's face lit up. "Especially the part with the bear. Come on, Bones, for how long are you going to be sour about it?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe until I have forgotten what it feels like to be woken up by the sound of a grizzly tearing up our camp because someone forgot to secure our supplies out of reach of wild, carnivorous animals."
"One little bag. I forgot to pull one teensy tiny little bag up into the tree. Who could have known that bears have such an exceptional sense of smell?"
"Everyone, Jim! Everyone who knows just a little bit about terran wildlife. Everyone who read the damn information pamphlet the park handed out when we got our camping permit. Even the Eagle Scout group we met earlier the day knew to secure their food away from the campsite. But no, James Tiberius Kirk cannot be apart from his beef jerky for one single night, and as a result I nearly got eaten by the biggest bear that ever walked the face of the earth!"
"I think you're exaggerating a little, Bones. It wasn't that big."
Nyota smiled at the well-known sound of the pair's bickering, almost able to see the scene play in front of her mind's eye. She couldn't help but feel a little relieved that their scans of the planet had shown no indigenous wildlife bigger than an average terran housecat. She didn't particularly fancy a similar encounter, even if Kirk seemed highly amused by it, and not even Leonard was able to completely stifle a smile at the memory.
"All right, all right. If I'm not allowed to share my story, someone else has to step in. Come on now, at least one of you must have gone camping at some point. Academy outdoors training doesn't count."
"We threw all our supplies to a cougar once," Sulu broke the silence before it could get oppressive. "Two cousins of mine and me were camping in the California mountains, and right on the first evening a cougar started circling around our camp. Well, what sounded like a cougar, anyway, it's not as if we ever saw the beast. There weren't even supposed to be any predators in the area where we were, and my oldest cousin panicked. He threw all our supplies into one direction and started dragging us off into the other, yelling at us to run for our lives. We were damn lucky we started running into the direction of the nearest settlement, and I swear the whole way I thought I could hear the cougar growling behind us. In reality, if there was a cougar at all it was probably far too stumped by all the canned beans my cousin threw at it to even think about following us. My uncle threw a fit when we came home without our gear, he drove us right back to the campsite and made us get it all back and he made us retrieve every single can and package of food my cousin had thrown out for the cougar. He didn't let us go on another unsupervised camping trip for nearly a year."
Nyota chuckled as she imagined a teenaged Sulu run through the Californian mountainside, trying to escape a cougar that might or might now have been imagined in the first place. Who knew that something as simple as camping would reveal stories she would have never imagined?
It turned out - and really, who would have thought? - that Matthews had been leading a Boy Scout group for a couple of years as a teenager and was a living well of stories about camping trips that hadn't gone quite according to plan. Nyota's parents had never been the outdoorsy types, but her grandparents on both sides had taken her on a few trips in Africa and Asia back when she was little. She still remembered those holidays fondly, and even though her stories had no aggressive man-eating animals to offer, the others listened raptly as she described the Himalayan high planes and the African steppes they had visited.
They did get to hear the full story of Yellowstone Park and Kirk's and Leonard's flight from the grizzly in the end, no matter how much Leonard grumbled and complained about it, and somewhere along the way Nyota must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew was the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently as a voice softly called out to her.
"Lieutenant?"
Nyota blinked her eyes open to find Lieutenant Matthews kneeling beside her. The fire was still burning low on her other side, basking her entire right side in a warm and comfortable glow. Pulling her own jacket more tightly around her shoulders, she sat up.
"Is it time already?"
Matthews nodded. "It's been two hours. I contacted Enterprise a few minutes ago; they expect you to check in again before you wake the Captain in two hours. There's still plenty of wood to keep the fire going."
Rubbing the last remnants of sleep from her eyes, Nyota nodded. "All right, Lieutenant. Thank you. Now go get some rest."
Matthews smiled and nodded at her before he stretched out in a free spot beside the fire and rolled himself into his jacket. He seemed to have no problem falling asleep pretty soon after that, if the sound of his soft snores were any indication.
Nyota stretched a little to get her body accustomed to being awake again. She could use these two hours to catch up a little on the Shri's language. The universal translator matrix had some problems recreating and interpreting the trilling sounds that were an integral part of their language, but Nyota found that those sounds rolled surprisingly easy from her tongue. If she expanded her vocabulary a little more, it might help in case the translator got stuck during their first encounter.
Before she picked up her comm on which she had saved some basic samples of the Shri language, she let her eyes roam over her fellow crewmembers around the fire. Lieutenant Matthews seemed fast asleep by now, and beside him Sulu was lying on his back, one arm covering his eyes as if the soft glow of the fire was too bright for him to sleep by.
Across the fire, Kirk and Leonard were still lying in the same position Nyota remembered from before she had drifted off. Both seemed fast asleep, with Leonard still spooned up against Kirk's back with the Captain's head pillowed on his arm. Leonard's hand was still resting against Kirk's chest, but at some point during the past hours Kirk had brought his own hand up to cover Leonard's, their fingers now intertwined.
The sight stopped Nyota short, all thoughts about improving her knowledge on the Shri language forgotten.
She had known that Leonard and the Captain were close. Everyone knew that the two were inseparable, and had already been back during their days at the Academy. And Kirk was a tactile person in general, and especially with Leonard. She had seen them touch countless times before - a hand to the shoulder here, a punch to the arm there, none of that was new. Not to mention the numerous touches that were a result of Leonard being Kirk's primary physician, and Kirk's tendency to get himself scraped and banged up at any given opportunity. And everyone who had ever witnessed an injured Kirk brought to Medical knew that there was a strong attachment and friendship between these two.
Just…right now, Nyota wasn't too sure that friendship was the right word to describe it.
Of course there was nothing suspicious about two friends getting into close physical contact. Especially not on an impromptu camping trip with insufficient gear in an admittedly chilly environment. And Kirk had given her his jacket, after all. But their position, and the implicitness with which they had assumed it, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, had nothing to do with sharing body heat to ward off the chill.
Nyota considered herself Leonard's friend. Maybe they weren't the closest confidantes, but still. Surely they were close enough that she would have known if Leonard and the Captain were more than friends. Then again maybe not, because while the embrace could be interpreted as friendly and nothing more, Nyota's gut told her differently. There was something infinitely tender about their position, about the way their hands were intertwined even in sleep, that gave her the feeling that this was no merely friendly position. It seemed like a natural extension of the proximity with which they interacted every day.
It seemed comfortable, Nyota realized. That was the word she had been looking for. They looked comfortable and at ease with one another. Comfortable enough to not worry about what the others on the away team might be thinking, even though she had no idea why they acted so openly about it now. Then again, maybe they had never tried to hide anything, and she just hadn't seen it until now.
Or maybe there was nothing to it, and her imagination was running away with her when there were better and more productive things she could be doing. Like improving her knowledge on the Shri language, for example. With a last glance at her sleeping crewmates, she pulled out her comm device and set the volume on the lowest setting to go over the known vocabulary and improve her conjugations.
It was peaceful, working like this, for once not confined to one of the various stations aboard the ship, but outside and with a slight breeze blowing through her hair. There seemed to be hardly and night active animals around on the planet, and rarely a sound broke through the stillness and made her reach for her phaser. But always it was either the wind or what she guessed to be one of the rare animals roaming the planet's surface at night. No sound really repeated itself, and nothing came close enough to their camp to really pose a threat, so she kept on working on her translations.
It was a much closer sound that raised her attention a little over an hour after the start of her watch. There was a rustling from across the fire, and when she looked up she saw Kirk turn around. Leonard didn't move, so the two of them ended up lying chest against chest. Kirk didn't settle, though, even as Leonard's hand which had been resting against his chest before settled against the small of his back. Kirk kept nuzzling his face against Leonard's neck as if he was looking for something. As Nyota watched, Leonard eventually shifted his head a little. Kirk immediately moved in, pressing his nose against a particular spot against Leonard's neck that had been revealed by the movement. Kirk nuzzled closer, and almost immediately relaxed against Leonard with a small sigh.
Leonard for his part didn't seem to have woken up during the shifting, but his hand against Kirk's back moved until the tips of his fingers slipped underneath the hem of his gold command shirt, and just as Nyota was about to look away, he pressed a kiss against the top of Kirk's head before he, too, relaxed back into deep sleep.
It was just a small movement, but at the same time it answered all of Nyota's questions just fine. The next time she and Leonard met for lunch, there were a couple of questions the good doctor was going to have to answer. For now, though, she almost regretted that she'd have to wake Kirk in less than an hour. The two of them looked…peaceful together like this. Restful, and with someone who seemed as perpetually in motion as Jim Kirk was, that was an achievement all in itself.
But this was still a mission and not a camping trip, no matter how much Kirk had tried to make it feel like one. Come tomorrow morning, the Shri were going to tell them their decision about whether or not they were willing to initiate first contact, and then they'd all have their roles to play again. She was awake already anyway, and probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep again even if Kirk relieved her from her watch. She could as well let them sleep for a little while longer.
Just this once.
The End.
Thanks for reading. As always, please let me know what you think. Thanks a lot.
Author: laughter_now
Rating: PG
Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to the Star Trek franchise. Really. I can only repeat it.
Wordcount: 4477 words
Summary: Just how this away mission turned into a camping trip, including a campfire and shared stories, Nyota had no idea. It might be that she's somewhat distracted by the sudden display of PDA between her Captain and his CMO...
Answer to this prompt at the buckleup_meme . Also, by chance it totally fits the prompt "camping" on my schmoop bingo card.
Recreational Activities
"Are you sure about this?"
Nyota resisted the urge to roll her eyes. She knew Kirk wasn't questioning her abilities or deliberately trying to provoke her. It was his job as Captain to make sure before he gave an order like this.
"Yes, Sir. The Shri were very clear - their council needs to deliberate about whether making first contact is in their best interest."
Kirk nodded, and while his face seemed otherwise impassive, there was a slight tension around his eyes.
"And if we transport back aboard to wait out their deliberation, the Shri are going to interpret that to mean that we're not serious enough about wanting to meet them."
One of the Captain's strong traits was that he had always been quick on the uptake.
"It will definitely make our interest seem more sincere if we stay until their council has reached a decision."
Kirk sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he brought his communicator up. "You heard all that, Spock?"
"I did, Captain, and I have to agree with Lieutenant Uhura's assessment. Waiting until the Shri council has settled on a decision seems the most prudent course of action right now."
"What about using the transporter to beam down supplies? We weren't exactly expecting to spend the night down here."
Nyota had to admit that she didn't exactly fancy the prospect of a night on the surface either, not without at least the standard overnight gear. The only thing they had brought down with them were phasers and the medical equipment Leonard never left the ship without. No camping gear, sleeping bags, not even a single blanket. It was going to be a long night. But even before Spock spoke, she knew what his answer was going to be. Judged by the expression on his face, so did Kirk.
"My advice would be not to do anything that could possibly make the Shri doubt our commitment to this encounter. It might be the wisest choice not to change anything about the initial beam-down parameters. According to our scans, the weather conditions during the planet's night hours are not averse to sustaining human life. Even without any additional gear at our disposal, staying on the surface for the night should not pose any threat."
"Of course not," Nyota heard Leonard grumble beside her. "Because spending the night in an unknown and possibly hostile environment surrounded by who knows how many unexplored spores and bacteria never harmed anyone before. It'll be just like an awesome camping trip."
There was a moment of silence during which Leonard noticed that he had spoken more loudly than intended. His eyes widened a little, and Nyota swore she could see the corners of Kirk's mouth twitch in amusement.
"Doctor McCoy," Spock replied through the still open comm line, "in your esteemed medical opinion, is there any reason to transport back aboard Enterprise and discontinue the mission?"
The laugh lines around Kirk's mouth deepened for a second before he forced them away, and Nyota guessed that the Captain suspected what she knew - Spock's voice or demeanor might not give it away, but he enjoyed his occasional verbal spars with Leonard. And while he'd never admit to it, from time to time he did indulge in deliberately riling up the good doctor.
Leonard harrumphed, shifting from foot to foot for a moment before he answered.
"No," he eventually grumbled. "None of the scans revealed any perceptible threats. But that doesn't mean there aren't any. If we already spend the night on this damn rock, I want you to keep scanning and I want those readings checked continuously. If there's just the slightest sign that something's off here, we're beaming out immediately."
"These conditions are acceptable," Spock replied.
"They'd better be," Leonard grumbled.
"Indeed." There was barely a pause before Spock readdressed Kirk. "Keep me appraised of the situation on the surface, Captain."
And before either Kirk or Leonard had the chance to reply anything, Spock had closed the connection. Nyota had to stifle a smile. Sometimes, it was all about who had the last word between Spock and Leonard. It was a petty competition - and admittedly somewhat childish - but she was never going to say that to either man's face. Never mind that it was extremely entertaining to watch. Judged by the expression on his face, Leonard wasn't too enthused about the fact that this time, Spock got the last word in. The fact that they were going to spend the night on the surface probably didn't help improve his mood any.
Kirk put away his communicator before he addressed the assembled away team.
"All right folks, you all heard it. We're going to wait out the Shri council's decision down here. It probably won't be the most comfortable night you've ever spent, but I'd say we'll just have to make the best of it. Lieutenant, judged by all the messages you translated, does anything speak against building a fire for the night?"
Uhura shook her head. "There is no sign that the Shri are worshipping the local flora and would take offense. Our scanners picked up signs of fire pits on the rocky ground near the plains, so it's safe to assume that the Shri use fires when they're above ground as well."
Kirk nodded. "Good. Lieutenant Matthews, what do you say we set up camp against that cliff face to the north?"
Matthews turned and surveyed the site for a moment before he nodded. "Seems like the best spot in the immediate vicinity. There's a slight outcrop that provides shelter, but we still don't maneuver ourselves into a trap in case of an attack."
"All right then. Matthews, Sulu, why don't you go and see if you can find some wood while we set up camp?"
"Yes, Sir," Matthews replied sharply before he and Sulu vanished from sight. It still surprised Nyota each time she saw Kirk interact with his Chief of Security. Their interaction was so far removed from the first encounter she had witnessed all those years back, when Kirk had still been the cocky, arrogant brat with no ties to Starfleet, and Matthews the big brawny cadet who had nearly beaten Kirk into a bloody pulp. Seeing them today, seeing the way Kirk trusted Matthew's assessments without question and the way Matthews followed Kirk's orders the same way, it seemed almost impossible that those two had gotten off on such a bad start.
It was testament to Kirk's ability to draw people and lead them that this bar brawl all those years ago had never once come up again since Kirk had taken command of the Enterprise. And Nyota thought she caught hints of most onboard gossip, but never once had she heard anyone, much less the Captain, refer to Matthews as 'Cupcake' again.
Their small group set up camp in the spot Kirk had indicated. It went quickly, because there wasn't much for them to set up in the first place. Other than the standard gear of outdoor clothing and phasers, all they had brought was Leonard's medical kit, and the standard emergency rations. There was a stream nearby, and after a lot of scanning, testing and grumbling Leonard deemed the water safe for drinking. That and the rations were enough to keep them supplied over night, and while Leonard went to fill their water supplies, Nyota helped Kirk collect stones to build a small fire pit.
It was done in a few minutes, and though their camp didn't look much more inviting than the empty rocky surface had done before their efforts, it was going to be sufficient for the night. The slight overhang of the rock face would shield them from most of the wind, and they'd simply have to use their jackets to lie on. It wasn't going to do much to soften the ground, but they had spent similar nights during outdoor training at the Academy.
Sulu and Matthews returned after a short while, their arms laden with dead wood to stoke and sustain a fire for the night. The planet's small sun was already setting over the horizon, casting the area in a dim, purplish light. It was Kirk who started the fire with his phaser, and almost automatically the five of them settled around the crude stone-ring they had built to contain it.
Nyota wasn't a big fan of emergency rations. She guessed nobody was, since the energy bars tasted of cardboard and had the consistency of molasses, but it added to the atmosphere of a peaceful camping trip as they all sat around the fire and chewed on their rations. It wasn't quite marshmallows and smores like on the old-fashioned camping trips she had taken with her grandfather as a child, but it definitely was…unique.
Night fell quickly here on the planet. Dusk fell as they settled around the fire, and a few minutes later when they were finished with their meager dinner it was already completely dark around them. Twin moons were illuminating the woods in the distance softly, but outside of their circle of light from the fire, everything was cast in shadows.
"We should set up a watch, just to make sure," Matthews spoke up once they were done eating. "I can take the first shift."
Kirk nodded. "Good suggestion, Lieutenant."
"I can take the second watch," Nyota found herself saying without conscious thought. "I'm on gamma shift rotation this week anyway, and I can use the time to go over some aspects of the Shri language again."
"Then I'll take the third watch."
As if Kirk's words were a signal, their small group started to settle around the fire for the night. Matthews sat down with his phaser within easy reach, surveying the plains behind them. Sulu spread his jacket on the ground and rolled himself into it, shifting in an attempt to find a comfortable position, and Nyota tried to do the same. She managed to wrap her upper body up and shift into something that at least resembled a comfortable position, but her legs were another matter entirely.
Not for the fist time, she found herself cursing Starfleet's gender specific uniform policy. It didn't disturb her while on duty aboard the ship, but during a mission like this the short skirt was not only impractical, it was a downright disadvantage compared to the men on the away team. They could wear pants and didn't have to worry about whether or not their legs were freezing.
Just great. As soon as they were back aboard, she was going to file a request with the Captain. Female officers in Engineering didn't have to wear the skirts, either, and she was going to make sure everyone else could at least wear regular pants for planetside missions.
She had nearly submitted other fate of a sleepless night - and really, it wasn't that bad since thanks to her gamma shift duty her body was used to staying awake for the night, anyway - when a jacket settled warmly over her legs. Looking up, she found Kirk crouching beside her, a sly smile on his face.
"Guess Starfleet didn't exactly have this kind of mission in mind when they designed these uniforms."
Nyota found herself smiling back. "I have the sneaking suspicion that no woman was involved in the designing process, either."
Kirk chuckled. "To be honest, there are times when I find it hard to begrudge Starfleet for their uniform policy. Think you'll be all right like this for the night?"
Nyota nodded and pulled the jacket a little more tightly around herself. "I'll be fine, thanks. But what about you?"
Kirk just waved her off. "I'll be good. I got my own personal warming blanket."
Before Nyota had any chance to reply to the cryptic remark, Kirk got up from his crouch and rounded the fire to the spot where Leonard had already stretched out, his jacket spread over himself rather than lying down on it. But instead of settling down in the empty space between Leonard and Sulu, Kirk lay down in front of Leonard, shuffling back until his back was pressed up against Leonard's chest.
Nyota was sure that her eyes were wide and her mouth gaped open - and distantly, she was aware that she was staring in a way that was not polite at all - but she couldn't help herself. Not when she saw how Leonard practically spooned up against Kirk from behind. There really was no other way to describe the way he pulled Kirk flush against him, pillowing his own head on his hand so that Kirk's head ended up lying on his upper arm.
Kirk pulled Leonard's jacket down a little so that it covered them both, and underneath the hem of the jacket Nyota saw Leonard's arm sneak across Kirk's chest until his hand came to rest over the Captain's heart.
Both their faces were relaxed, though, as if their current position was nothing out of the ordinary. They weren't watching the rest of the away team for a reaction, just as if the way they were curled up against and around each other was so ordinary and normal that it didn't require a reaction at all.
Looking around, Nyota realized that Sulu was watching the two of them, too, and if the expression on his face was anything to judge by then he was just as surprised about the display of proximity as she was. Matthews wasn't staring openly, but he did sneak the occasional glance at the pair, and for some strange reason Nyota felt relieved. At least she wasn't the only one who was completely stumped by this display.
Kirk shuffled around a little, as if searching for the one perfectly comfortable position, then he turned to look at them across the fire.
"So, anybody got any good camping stories to share?" When there was no immediate reaction, he shrugged. "Okay, I'll start. It's the most hilarious story, and it happened about five years ago in…"
"Jim, I swear to all that's holy, if the next words out of your mouth are Yellowstone Park, I'm gonna sedate you before you can even finish thinking about telling the story."
Much to Nyota's surprise, Kirk shut up immediately, and remained silent for a good five seconds before he pulled a face. "Pity. It's a good story."
"Except for the part with the bear," Leonard grumbled.
Kirk's face lit up. "Especially the part with the bear. Come on, Bones, for how long are you going to be sour about it?"
"Oh, I don't know. Maybe until I have forgotten what it feels like to be woken up by the sound of a grizzly tearing up our camp because someone forgot to secure our supplies out of reach of wild, carnivorous animals."
"One little bag. I forgot to pull one teensy tiny little bag up into the tree. Who could have known that bears have such an exceptional sense of smell?"
"Everyone, Jim! Everyone who knows just a little bit about terran wildlife. Everyone who read the damn information pamphlet the park handed out when we got our camping permit. Even the Eagle Scout group we met earlier the day knew to secure their food away from the campsite. But no, James Tiberius Kirk cannot be apart from his beef jerky for one single night, and as a result I nearly got eaten by the biggest bear that ever walked the face of the earth!"
"I think you're exaggerating a little, Bones. It wasn't that big."
Nyota smiled at the well-known sound of the pair's bickering, almost able to see the scene play in front of her mind's eye. She couldn't help but feel a little relieved that their scans of the planet had shown no indigenous wildlife bigger than an average terran housecat. She didn't particularly fancy a similar encounter, even if Kirk seemed highly amused by it, and not even Leonard was able to completely stifle a smile at the memory.
"All right, all right. If I'm not allowed to share my story, someone else has to step in. Come on now, at least one of you must have gone camping at some point. Academy outdoors training doesn't count."
"We threw all our supplies to a cougar once," Sulu broke the silence before it could get oppressive. "Two cousins of mine and me were camping in the California mountains, and right on the first evening a cougar started circling around our camp. Well, what sounded like a cougar, anyway, it's not as if we ever saw the beast. There weren't even supposed to be any predators in the area where we were, and my oldest cousin panicked. He threw all our supplies into one direction and started dragging us off into the other, yelling at us to run for our lives. We were damn lucky we started running into the direction of the nearest settlement, and I swear the whole way I thought I could hear the cougar growling behind us. In reality, if there was a cougar at all it was probably far too stumped by all the canned beans my cousin threw at it to even think about following us. My uncle threw a fit when we came home without our gear, he drove us right back to the campsite and made us get it all back and he made us retrieve every single can and package of food my cousin had thrown out for the cougar. He didn't let us go on another unsupervised camping trip for nearly a year."
Nyota chuckled as she imagined a teenaged Sulu run through the Californian mountainside, trying to escape a cougar that might or might now have been imagined in the first place. Who knew that something as simple as camping would reveal stories she would have never imagined?
It turned out - and really, who would have thought? - that Matthews had been leading a Boy Scout group for a couple of years as a teenager and was a living well of stories about camping trips that hadn't gone quite according to plan. Nyota's parents had never been the outdoorsy types, but her grandparents on both sides had taken her on a few trips in Africa and Asia back when she was little. She still remembered those holidays fondly, and even though her stories had no aggressive man-eating animals to offer, the others listened raptly as she described the Himalayan high planes and the African steppes they had visited.
They did get to hear the full story of Yellowstone Park and Kirk's and Leonard's flight from the grizzly in the end, no matter how much Leonard grumbled and complained about it, and somewhere along the way Nyota must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew was the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, shaking her gently as a voice softly called out to her.
"Lieutenant?"
Nyota blinked her eyes open to find Lieutenant Matthews kneeling beside her. The fire was still burning low on her other side, basking her entire right side in a warm and comfortable glow. Pulling her own jacket more tightly around her shoulders, she sat up.
"Is it time already?"
Matthews nodded. "It's been two hours. I contacted Enterprise a few minutes ago; they expect you to check in again before you wake the Captain in two hours. There's still plenty of wood to keep the fire going."
Rubbing the last remnants of sleep from her eyes, Nyota nodded. "All right, Lieutenant. Thank you. Now go get some rest."
Matthews smiled and nodded at her before he stretched out in a free spot beside the fire and rolled himself into his jacket. He seemed to have no problem falling asleep pretty soon after that, if the sound of his soft snores were any indication.
Nyota stretched a little to get her body accustomed to being awake again. She could use these two hours to catch up a little on the Shri's language. The universal translator matrix had some problems recreating and interpreting the trilling sounds that were an integral part of their language, but Nyota found that those sounds rolled surprisingly easy from her tongue. If she expanded her vocabulary a little more, it might help in case the translator got stuck during their first encounter.
Before she picked up her comm on which she had saved some basic samples of the Shri language, she let her eyes roam over her fellow crewmembers around the fire. Lieutenant Matthews seemed fast asleep by now, and beside him Sulu was lying on his back, one arm covering his eyes as if the soft glow of the fire was too bright for him to sleep by.
Across the fire, Kirk and Leonard were still lying in the same position Nyota remembered from before she had drifted off. Both seemed fast asleep, with Leonard still spooned up against Kirk's back with the Captain's head pillowed on his arm. Leonard's hand was still resting against Kirk's chest, but at some point during the past hours Kirk had brought his own hand up to cover Leonard's, their fingers now intertwined.
The sight stopped Nyota short, all thoughts about improving her knowledge on the Shri language forgotten.
She had known that Leonard and the Captain were close. Everyone knew that the two were inseparable, and had already been back during their days at the Academy. And Kirk was a tactile person in general, and especially with Leonard. She had seen them touch countless times before - a hand to the shoulder here, a punch to the arm there, none of that was new. Not to mention the numerous touches that were a result of Leonard being Kirk's primary physician, and Kirk's tendency to get himself scraped and banged up at any given opportunity. And everyone who had ever witnessed an injured Kirk brought to Medical knew that there was a strong attachment and friendship between these two.
Just…right now, Nyota wasn't too sure that friendship was the right word to describe it.
Of course there was nothing suspicious about two friends getting into close physical contact. Especially not on an impromptu camping trip with insufficient gear in an admittedly chilly environment. And Kirk had given her his jacket, after all. But their position, and the implicitness with which they had assumed it, as if it was the most natural thing in the world, had nothing to do with sharing body heat to ward off the chill.
Nyota considered herself Leonard's friend. Maybe they weren't the closest confidantes, but still. Surely they were close enough that she would have known if Leonard and the Captain were more than friends. Then again maybe not, because while the embrace could be interpreted as friendly and nothing more, Nyota's gut told her differently. There was something infinitely tender about their position, about the way their hands were intertwined even in sleep, that gave her the feeling that this was no merely friendly position. It seemed like a natural extension of the proximity with which they interacted every day.
It seemed comfortable, Nyota realized. That was the word she had been looking for. They looked comfortable and at ease with one another. Comfortable enough to not worry about what the others on the away team might be thinking, even though she had no idea why they acted so openly about it now. Then again, maybe they had never tried to hide anything, and she just hadn't seen it until now.
Or maybe there was nothing to it, and her imagination was running away with her when there were better and more productive things she could be doing. Like improving her knowledge on the Shri language, for example. With a last glance at her sleeping crewmates, she pulled out her comm device and set the volume on the lowest setting to go over the known vocabulary and improve her conjugations.
It was peaceful, working like this, for once not confined to one of the various stations aboard the ship, but outside and with a slight breeze blowing through her hair. There seemed to be hardly and night active animals around on the planet, and rarely a sound broke through the stillness and made her reach for her phaser. But always it was either the wind or what she guessed to be one of the rare animals roaming the planet's surface at night. No sound really repeated itself, and nothing came close enough to their camp to really pose a threat, so she kept on working on her translations.
It was a much closer sound that raised her attention a little over an hour after the start of her watch. There was a rustling from across the fire, and when she looked up she saw Kirk turn around. Leonard didn't move, so the two of them ended up lying chest against chest. Kirk didn't settle, though, even as Leonard's hand which had been resting against his chest before settled against the small of his back. Kirk kept nuzzling his face against Leonard's neck as if he was looking for something. As Nyota watched, Leonard eventually shifted his head a little. Kirk immediately moved in, pressing his nose against a particular spot against Leonard's neck that had been revealed by the movement. Kirk nuzzled closer, and almost immediately relaxed against Leonard with a small sigh.
Leonard for his part didn't seem to have woken up during the shifting, but his hand against Kirk's back moved until the tips of his fingers slipped underneath the hem of his gold command shirt, and just as Nyota was about to look away, he pressed a kiss against the top of Kirk's head before he, too, relaxed back into deep sleep.
It was just a small movement, but at the same time it answered all of Nyota's questions just fine. The next time she and Leonard met for lunch, there were a couple of questions the good doctor was going to have to answer. For now, though, she almost regretted that she'd have to wake Kirk in less than an hour. The two of them looked…peaceful together like this. Restful, and with someone who seemed as perpetually in motion as Jim Kirk was, that was an achievement all in itself.
But this was still a mission and not a camping trip, no matter how much Kirk had tried to make it feel like one. Come tomorrow morning, the Shri were going to tell them their decision about whether or not they were willing to initiate first contact, and then they'd all have their roles to play again. She was awake already anyway, and probably wouldn't be able to fall asleep again even if Kirk relieved her from her watch. She could as well let them sleep for a little while longer.
Just this once.
The End.
Thanks for reading. As always, please let me know what you think. Thanks a lot.