[NVC Day 14, Early Morning] -- [And So the Sun Rises] -- [Open to All]

[kirktastic]

After a long night at the theater, meeting Spock and his brother, and everything afterwards, it had been difficult to sleep. Along with the tickets, Jim had received a message about the trial's start the next morning. He had refused to let it bother him all night, just wanting to enjoy some time with Bones despite everything they had been forced to go through recently.

That didn't make for good sleep, though. Sometime before dawn, Jim found himself wide awake, laying in bed, Bones curled up against his side dead asleep. It took some work to get himself out of Bones' arms, not wanting to disturbing the sleeping man, before he grabbed his discarded robe over the back of a chair and pulling it on. He brushed a kiss over Bones' hair, affectionate while no one could see it, and stepped outside.

The deck was level with the ground, so it was no trouble to walk out onto the deck and past it, out towards the beautiful area that surrounded their guest quarters. Jim had a working theory that because the Vulcans had been on a desert planet before, without the ability to use plant life because of the strain of water consumption, that now that they could they decided to use planets as much as possible. He wondered how logical it was, but decided that knowing Vulcans to a degree, they would find a way to make it logical and convince everyone else in the process. The thought made him smile, just slightly, as he found himself a low wall that faced the ocean and sat down.

It was both easier and harder to think while he watched the sun rise, watching the ripples of orange, red, and pink climb higher in the sky. So much hinged on this trial, one he would be going to each day of. He had choices to make about it, as such a major player in what had happened. He would have to explain his actions to the court and by addition, Starfleet.

Let me have done the right thing.

Comments

[nawigator]

Pasha panted, the increased gravity and early morning heat made it extremely difficult to run with relative ease like she was used to. She slowed down to a gentle jog along the Vulcan coastline, the air here reminded her of that of San Francisco and jogging downtown in the mornings before anybody else on the Starfleet academy campus was awake.

As she finally slowed down to a walking pace she took a long drag from her water bottle, wetting her lips again and glancing around. New Vulcan was certainly pretty. It made a nice change from the inside of a Starfleet gymnasium. Then Pasha blinked and squinted as she spotted a familiar head of blonde hair. She pushed her hair out of her eyes before raising her hand to wave at him to garner his attention. “Keptain?”

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim glanced over when he heard someone calling out his rank, surprised to see Pasha there with a slight sheen of sweat on her face and an outfit that, if what he guessed was correct, meant she had been running. He gave a little wave back at her. "Morning, Pasha. Not on duty... just Jim right now." He gave a little grin. "Too early for Captain."

[nawigator]

"Sorry si-" She stopped herself. "Sorry, Jim. Old habits die hard." Pasha glanced out in the direction he had previously been staring. "Vatching the sunrise? I vould not hawe thought you to be such an early bird." It was rare that she ever saw anyone on her runs, usually all were dead asleep.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Her slip and catch made him smile. "I'm not usually an early bird unless I have to be." He leaned forward, tucking his elbows onto his knees as he sat on the wall. "Just couldn't sleep and didn't want to accidentally wake up Bones."

He gestured out in front of him. "You always run this early?"

[nawigator]

Pasha grinned and nodded "Best time of day for it. I hardly ewer sleep anyvay so I may as vell be doing something productiwe." She found it hard to switch off her brain sometimes which often left her taking runs late at night, attempting to exaust her body so her mind could rest. Pasha lent lightly against the wall. "You get used to being up so early after a vhile."

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

George came up a bit later. He'd snuggled lazily in bed as long as he could, but he didn't bother trying to go to sleep. What with everything going on with the trial he could feel the nightmares chomping at the bit to come visit. So, he'd sleep when he'd physically exhausted himself and catnap. For now, since he'd spotted his son, he'd go say hi.

"Hey kiddo." He didn't touch Jim until Jim could see him in the peripheral, and then only rested a hand on his shoulder. If his reactions were sketchy, Jim's probably were to, and he didn't feel like wrestling this morning.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

He twitched a little at 'kiddo', but said nothing of it. "Hey," just quiet, since the world was quiet around them. The hand on his shoulder he could live with, but he was grateful for the pause to let him see it.

He was tired and wired at the same, wishing time would speed up and get the trial over with but at the same time, not looking forward to it in the least.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"Trial starts today." George observed. "Couldn't sleep?" He let his hand drop to his side, and looked out.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Easy enough to answer. "Nope." It was already heating up, proving that it was going to be a hot day, even for Sha'Kwai.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

George nodded, and fell into silence for a few minutes. "Wish the Admirality wouldn't pinch my ass quite so much. I know they're happy to see me..."

[dilithiumwanted.livejournal.com]

Scotty was just out for a wander around, and it was bloody hot outside already. He considered going back home and having a lie down, maybe read a couple of engineering journals. It was on this walk that he met the captain, deep in though.

"Hello, sir." He said, wiping some sweat off of his face.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim looked up when he heard the greeting, brows going up at the sight of his head engineer. "Scotty? What are you doing up so early?" Scotty seemed less an early riser and more the 'not awake until several cups of coffee' type to Jim. Work late into the night type and sleep it off in the morning type.

[dilithiumwanted.livejournal.com]

"Early? I was going to sleep, but you're here. What are you doing out here so late, anyhow?" Scotty said with a shrug.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

...Well, that confirmed what he thought about Scotty, didn't it?

It made Jim grin, relaxing a little. "Early, Scotty. Early. Most of us have slept already." He was teasing in a gentle way, laughing beneath his words. "Couldn't stay asleep so I decided to go for a walk, but got caught watching the sunrise."

[dilithiumwanted.livejournal.com]

"Alas, a Chief Engineer's job is never done!" Scotty shot a grin for a second before sobering. "How can you stand it? It's so hot here. I'm sweating to death, and I've only been on this planet for maybe fifteen minutes." Scotty tugged at his shirt impatiently, trying to cool himself down.

[lt-paula.livejournal.com]

Paula had entertained thoughts of an early morning swim, but had changed her mind when she dipped her toes into the ocean and found it as warm as bathwater. Instead, she'd wandered down the beach a ways. Making her way back, she spotted a solitary figure sitting on the wall outside the guest quarters. As she drew closer, she realized it was Jim.

"'Morning," she said with a smile.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"Paula." He gave her that warm smile of his, feeling almost relaxed after Scotty had come by. He wasn't exactly looking for solitude, so it was nice to just... see some of his crew. Or, in Paula's case, future crew. "You look exceptionally beautiful this morning." Never could resist.

[lt-paula.livejournal.com]

"Thanks." Paula perched on the wall next to him. "You don't look so bad yourself," she added with a grin. It was easy talking to him, falling back into that pattern of teasing from when they'd met. "Thinking about going in?" she asked, indicating the water.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

He grinned at her flirt back, leaning in so their shoulders touched for just a second. There was something easy about her that made him relax. "No, just wanted a few minutes to think. Bones is still dead asleep and he's a grumpy ass if you wake him up before it's time to get up. Unless its an emergency, then he's a grumpy ass afterwards."

[lt-paula.livejournal.com]

"One of those who requires a couple cups of coffee to function?" Paula chuckled. It wasn't hard to imagine.

"I can understand taking the opportunity to think. Today's going to be a circus."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

After the conversation with George, mood lower than he had hoped and a twitching pain flaring up in his left hand, Jim went back to the room he was sharing with Bones. He closed the deck doors to keep in the cool air from the environmental controls and walked over to the bed.

He sat down on the edge of it, smiling just a little as he watched Bones sleep. Finally he reached out, sliding his fingers through Bones' hair. Maybe he wouldn't wake Bones, just let him get some sleep.

[dctr-mccoy.livejournal.com]

Bones wasn't fully asleep, just lingering at the edge of dreams. He was just now starting to get back to a feeling of something normal, sleeping deeply for the third night in a row, curled up next to Jim.

But Jim was sitting up, too far away, so Bones reached out with his arms and pulled him down on top of him, burying his face in Jim's neck. He smelled like sunshine. "Hmmm," he murmured.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Unexpected.

Jim was in a less than comfortable position like this, awkwardly half off the bed and half in Bones' arms who was nuzzling into him like a puppy. He sighed, working on righting himself so he could urge Bones back to sleep and escape his arms at the same time so he could be on time for the trial.

He gently nudged one of Bones' arms lower then kissed his forehead, leaning the bridge of his nose there for a moment as he enjoyed the feeling of being close. Weird, almost impossible, to think there had been a time they were almost afraid to touch each other.

[dctr-mccoy.livejournal.com]

Bones wasn't letting go too fast. Jim felt so good, strong and substantial and tender. But he could also feel that Jim wasn't relaxing, not coming back to bed. He could feel the energy thrumming in him - Jim was never one to just sit still, the opposite of his lazy Bones, content to waste the day here in bed.

Especially today. It wasn't going to be easy to listen to, this fucking trial, and it would be a hundred times worse for Jim. A deep sigh and Bones opened his eyes, looking up at Jim. "What time does it start?"

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Well, that was jumping right to the point. "...bout an hour and a half. Gonna take a shower and head down there." He wasn't sure if he could eat right now, but maybe he'd force down something. He gave a weak little smile down at Bones, shifting his hip up so he could half sit up and lean on his elbow.