Reviewer: SLWalker Signed [Report This]
Date: 07 Dec 2013 09:30 Title: Chapter 1

Hey, if I can quote Nickelback, you can quote Evanescence! As to the story: There's a reason why sleeping too much is a symptom of depression. And I think if not for his ship, Jim would probably be in no hurry to wake. Short, hard-hitting and to the point.

Reviewer: jespah Signed [Report This]
Date: 02 Jun 2013 03:24 Title: Chapter 1

Losing your other half - whether that's a lover or a perfectly meshed colleague and friend - is beyond hard. Kirk's very real pain is on display here, and it makes sense that his subconscience would pull up one set of memories. Fortunately, it's good memories or at least routine ones.

But then there's that damned waking life.

Moody and dreamy, it strikes all the right notes, as always.

Author's Response:

Thanks, jespah.  I was in a state of grief when I wrote it, so could easily identify with Kirk's pain, and his willingness to focus on the positive memories, not the negative ones.   Glad that came through loud and clear.

Reviewer: trekfan Signed [Report This]
Date: 26 May 2013 19:22 Title: Chapter 1

What a table you set you here in just a few words, LBD. We have Kirk, after TWOK, alone now without Spock. The crew is shaken to see their leader so saddened, unwilling to meet his gaze, and I can’t blame them. Spock’s death had to hit Kirk hard even after the initial bout of “I feel … young” from the end of TWOK.

Kirk’s thoughts about his best friend are appropriate but laced with something. I want to say sadness or disappointment, but both those words seem underwhelming to me. Is it regret? I want to call it a mixture of the three, some sort of melancholy that seems to weigh on Kirk like an anvil. He has to wake up and drag himself to the bridge every day, the one place where Spock and he existed in unison, a perfect pair.

Kirk, whatever he’s feeling here, comes across as someone who just wants to live in his dreams, to be in the past. The place where he and Spock could exist again as they were, young, a little brash, and oh so alive. That can’t happen, obviously, but it’s clear Kirk wishes that, at least to me.

Well done on this. For such a small piece, it really does hit the mark. .

Author's Response:

Thanks, trekfan.  To my mind, the "I feel...young" comment was for the benefit of those around him.  If we listen to Kirk's words, pay attention to his mannerisms at the beginning of SFS, I think it's obvious that Spock's death still weighed heavily on him.  Aside from the understandable guilt, his pain is palpable, visceral, and we see that manifest in the meld Kirk shared with Sarek in SFS.  This was a way for me to put into words that silent hurt that was unmistakable if you looked for it.

Reviewer: Miranda Fave Signed [Report This]
Date: 15 Nov 2009 20:21 Title: Chapter 1

I like how you link Kirk's pain here to his own belief /fear/conviction that he would die alone. So it ties in, in some strange fashion, that Kirk's waking fear is finding himself alone  with no Spock. I guess too the fact that he could be there for Spock in the reactor room at the moment of his death is a balm and may be one reason why he does not fear that particular moment, does not relive it in his nightmares. Instead, for Kirk man of action it is in the living present that the greatest fear/pain would manifest itself in the constant sense of loss. Good job. Brooding and effective in its own very short way.

Author's Response:

Wow!  You picked up on something I didn't even see. :)  Great explanation for his fear of being alone.  Actually, my take was he didn't see Spock's death in his dreams because that's where he goes to hide from the painful reality - but I love your explanation, too.  I wanted to get people thinking with this; obviously I did. ;)  And you got me thinking as well, viewing things from a different perspective.  Nice :D