The Transport was dead. Dead as a doornail, of this there could be no doubt. If their emotions were not held in check, Saavik and Peter would soon follow it. They wanted to kill each other. The still-fearful boy shook his head.

"No Way! It wasn't my responsibility, Saavik! YOU used the transport
last."

"That, Peter Kirk, is a poor excuse. Routine maintenance, performed last night, would have avoided this charger problem entirely. But your mind was on other things, as always. I find it notable that after barging in on me---again---in the refresher, you locked the door to your room. Is your hand that good of company? You certainly spend enough time with it."

The remark was untoward, but this silly stupid human had been a pain since she rescued him, at the risk of her own life. He chose to repay her with constant efforts at seeing her naked. She wished both that he would stop this---and that she would mind it a little bit more than she did. She found him--desirable, and not merely for his looks. But everything had come so easy for him, and Sarek and Amanda forgave his every deed.

"You back the hell off--Bitch!!!"

Peter hated Saavik. He couldn't think straight around her, and couldn't seem to say the right thing, ever. There were two things he couldn't wait for in life. One was his Uncle Jim's arrival on Vulcan, and the chance to leave the Ice Queen to melt in the desert. The other was the opportunity to jump her bones.

"As you humans say, Sticks and Stones, Peter!"

"As you Vulcans say, Watch Your Emotions, Saavik! Oh, and By The Way---my door seems to fly open when I'm in the shower, as well. Do I have something you want, Snow Princess?"

She mock-clapped.

"Once again, my logic and rationality are undone by your rapier wit. Surely, you are the second coming of Surak. Shall I strip before I submit, oh Serpent-Slayer?"

Peter held his ground.

"You talk like there's something to see underneath those clothes. Plus, we all know the kind of serpent you are interested in, dear lady!"

The walk home took an extension as a rare-but-not-unheard of summer shower burst overhead. As the fuming pair stared each other down, they found out the one type of weather light Vulcan clothing really isn't designed for. The robes now clung so tightly as to be transparent. Saavik looked down at Peter's crotch. She chuckled.

"Speak of a serpent. You have no control, Peter."

Tired of her mocking tone, Peter didn't protest and instead ran with her accusation. He put out his hands and kneaded Saavik's chest through the robe.

"Wow! You're right, Saavik! I have no self control at all."

Her face showed her humiliation and rage. Saavik pulled back her fist, and punched Peter in the face.

"Neither do I."

Saavik was impressed when he didn't flinch. She was less impressed when Peter belted her back.

"Do tell."

Leaping at him, they wrestled with, kicked at and screamed at one another.

"Why do you have to be here?"

"You are ruining my life."

"You are such a hypocrite."

"My Hair!!"

"My eyes!!"

"Fight fairly!"

Falling down a sand dune that was now a small mudslide, Saavik lay on her stomach. Peter lay on her back. She shouted up at him in anger.

"I suppose now my robes will be raised, so that your 'serpent' may be satisfied, Pig!"

The look in his eyes, blackened and covered with mud and blood, was one of sheer horror at her suggestion.

"HOW DARE YOU!!!? Saavik, I don't care how high an opinion you hold of yourself, and how low a one you hold of me, but you just crossed the line with that one. Don't speak to me, don't look at me, and I will do the same for you, you stuck-up 'I've been raised on Perfect Vulcan and have no faults, BITCH!!!"

"You keep calling me that. But I will not insult the dogs of the universe by associating you with them. You think you suffered at merely being kidnapped? I was not born on Vulcan. As I told you before, I am half-Romulan. I was born on a world called The HellGuard. There, Vulcans were raped and children resulted from those rapes. Not only am I one of those children who survived, but I too was used for the sexual pleasure of my captors. Ten years of cryo-stasis sounds to me like Heaven."

Peter Kirk sat down in the mud. Saavik didn't even notice that the robes had almost lost all color in the rare downpour.

"I didn't know, Saavik. I'm sorry. I---before they put me into cryo---the Admirals passed me around like a party favor--or a slave. I wish they had killed me, instead. I can still feel them grabbing me. Still hear their laughter. Umm--Can we talk about this some other time? I don't feel very goo----"

He turned and vomited, and Saavik was hard pressed to say whether it was the subject they had discussed or the fight that made him ill. She had seen the Admiralty's tapes, but had forgotten that she at long last knew someone else who had been violated. She found that thinking around Peter Kirk was hard to do with any clarity. She offered him a hand up, and he took it. Her face now much gentler, Peter couldn't resist and kissed her full on the lips. He then caught himself.

"Sorry. But---your forgiveness for my actions meant a lot. Also---I like the way your robe clings to you. You look good."

She smiled.

"We shall have that talk, Peter, when we are both ready to. And your robe clings well to you, also."

They stood and looked at each other in rapprochement, and a determination arose to overcome the obstacles to a friendship and eventually, love. But there would be many. Sarek drove up then, in another transport. He looked displeased.

"Who failed to maintain the other transport properly?"

With the sparks of friendship lighting under them, the two spoke and answered Sarek simultaneously.

"He did/She did."

Sarek drove off as another argument ensued. Forced to walk home, the children yelled and screamed all the way, gesturing as they did. As they went in to change, Amanda heard them still shouting at each other through the vents. She laughed, and shook her head.

"Isn't one old married couple enough for this household?"