A ver moving and touching piece of work.I love how you have defined the t'hy'la here perfectly.Nice work indeed.

Awww.... this is lovely, a terrific read on a cold rainy night in the wild mountains.

Thanks.

Aawww ... that was so cute b29;

A good approach on how friendship can turn to love, I liked the progress very much! But I believe you would not have needed to place the story under "adult", since there are no graphic descriptions.

Only one aspect seemed a little "illogical" to me: of course this is a k/s story, but why would Spock need Kirk in the first place? I would have expected him to need the aid of some, any kind of, female, since he was betrothed to a woman in the first place. If his longing was now directed towards Kirk, the only explanation seems to me that there ought to be a link between them, though Spock later denied it. Also, the cycle was unfortunately not mentioned, i.e. how long this next pon farr occurred to Spock after the first one, and why it did not adhere to the usual seven-year-cycle.

Dana Austin Marsh is one of my favourite TOS K/S authors.  The reason is because she manages to combine great characterisations with great stories, and The Deep End of Emotion is no exception.

There are a number of reasons why the Enterprise is the most successful ship in the fleet - and it's all to do with her unique command team.  At the start of the story, Kirk's intuition, which plays such a vital role in many of their missions, is telling him something's wrong, even though they're on shoreleave.  I love the way Dana actually shows some of the cues he unconsciously picked up in the days leading up to the situation, showing us how in this case his intuition worked, how that brilliant mind pieced it all together to figure out what was wrong.

Of course, the reticent Mr. Spock says nothing of the fact he's gone into pon farr, prefering to die than ask anyone to help him.  Thankfully, Kirk uses his persuasive charms to talk him round.  This part of the story is almost a prologue.

So the main part of the story begins - and what a great story it is.  Both men are concerned about whether their friendship can survive the intimacy they were forced to share, as they go back to being the colleagues they were.  This is the where Dana demonstrates her wonderful abilities as an author, as she deftly shows us in a series of vignettes over a period of time, how the two of them gradually become closer, gently and naturally moving from friends to something akin to 'brothers'...and of course in the end, it's only a small step to lovers as they become true t'hy'la.

It's wonderful to see how they fall in love - it's so organic and utterly believable - all testament to Dana's writing skills, as she takes us with them on that subtle journey.

It's her wonderful and profound understanding of Kirk and Spock's characters and their special connection with each other, togther with a recognition of the level of responsibility their roles entail on board ship, as well as their duty to StarFleet, that makes Dana's stories work so well.  They are so believable.

I read this story this morning, and on and off through the day it's come back to me - which doesn't often happen unless a story has affected me profoundly.  This story has been added to my favourites and is an absolute must-read.

Awwww!!

Dana Austin Marsh is a great author!!  Or, thee is, lassie, if so happen thee reads this...

There was a D.A.M. story in the first zine I ever bought, and I've had a soft spot for her work ever since.  Great to see 'em showing up here!!!

^_^ Very sweet, and well-written!

Author's Response:

Thank you.

Wow! I really liked this a lot. My favorite line: "It couldn't make me hate the best part of myself." Awwwww! Melted right there. ^_^

Yes a wonderful story... When the writer can make you see them and hear them...ah wow..what a gift..thanks so much....

"Every time he and Spock were together, he wanted to somehow...extend the time."  Perfect line.  Excellent story.  Thanks so much for it.