This sucks. Plain and simple.

This is what she gets for doing everything Christopher Pike asks her to do. The man literally said 'jump,' and Jamie Kirk suited up to do just that. At least she managed to land on the drill, unlike Engineer Olsen, who didn't pull his chute in time. He was sucked under and into the damn thing.

Jamie and Lieutenant Hikaru Sulu had to fight a couple of big Romulans before they destroyed the drill the Romulan ship was using to put a hole in Vulcan. She didn't get to watch him a lot but she caught a few of his moves. 'Fencing, my ass' she thought to herself when she spotted the helmsman with the katana. He had to have had some other training, Kendo, if Jamie had to guess. Her musing was cut short because they had a job to do.

Using some ingenuity -guns, big ones- they took down the drill and reported to the Enterprise that the Romulans had dropped something into the planet. They were waiting to be beamed up but the drill moved before the Enterprise got a lock on them.

"Sulu!" She turned to look at the officer standing with her on the drill just in time to watch as he fell off. Jamie didn't think before she jumped after him. It wasn't like she had any other options, he was going to die without her, "Sulu!"

She careened through the Vulcan sky aimed at catching her classmate, "Hold on." Then she slammed right into him, "I gotcha. Now pull my chute." He held onto her and did as she told him but it only lasted for a few seconds as the chute registered that their combined weight was just too much and snapped, "Kirk to Enterprise! We're falling without a chute!" She didn't know what the ship was doing but they needed help, "Beam us up! Beam us up!"

They both heard the officer on the other end, "You're moving too fast."

She was not dying like this, not today, "Beam us up! Enterprise, where are you?" They were getting to close to the ground, "Now! Now! Now! Do it now! Now! Now! Now!" Her eyes locked with Sulu's just as the familiar swirl of the transporter surrounded them and dropped them on the pad. They hit it hard but they were both alive so Jamie was calling it a win.

"Thanks," Sulu sighed when he looked at her.

She chuckled, "No problem."

Fighting with Spock wasn't fun but the man was an emotional mess, his older self told Jamie as much on Delta Vega before telling her to get him to admit it. She expected a lot of things but the usually stoic man swinging at her wasn't one of them. She blocked Spock's attacks just fine but the fact that nobody jumped in was a little shocking too, although she did see security keeping Sulu back.

If she wasn't busy with Spock, she would glare at her best friend, he didn't do anything to help her. The security officers need a lot of mental help if they think it's okay to pin a woman down with a hand around her neck but she really had more important things to worry about. The Vulcan strangling her could see inside her mind, damn touch telepaths.

Jamie showed him her pain, the reality of being an orphan and she was hoping that he would loosen his grip so she could breathe. Spock stopped; she should thank his dad for helping her out. Jamie slowly stood up and looked around. Her best friend glared at her, "Well, congratulations, Jim. Now we've got no captain and no goddamn first officer to replace him."

She stepped over and sat in the chair, "Yeah we do."

Bones looked at her, "What?"

"Pike made her first officer," it was Sulu who backed her up.

"You've gotta be kidding me," the surly doctor looked at her.

Jamie was sure the hurt shone in her eyes, "Thanks for the support."

Uhura, also known as the girl who hates her for no real reason, stepped next to her, "I sure hope you know what you're doing, Captain."

Jamie took a breath and looked Uhura in the eyes, "So do I."

The looks everyone on the bridge gave her told Jamie that none of them expected that answer.

They had a plan.

It was a Hail Mary kind of plan but it was still a plan. Jamie and Spock were going to go to the enemy ship, steal the black hole device and rescue the one person who always gave a damn about her, even when she didn't give a damn about herself.

"Transporter room. We are in position above Titan," it was Sulu over the comm.

"Really? Good job, Sulu, well done." She glanced at the engineer next to her, "How are we, Scotty?"

"Unbelievable, Captain," the energetic Scot told her. "The ship is in position."

She nodded and turned her attention back to the helmsman she couldn't see, "Whatever happens Mister Sulu, if you think you have the tactical advantage you fire on that ship, even if we're still on board. That's an order."

"Yes, ma'am. Good luck, Jamie."

"Thanks, Hikaru," she smiled, even thought he couldn't see it. "Good luck to you too." She took a breath as she closed the connection.

They did it, a bunch of cadets and a Human/Vulcan Hybrid saved Earth. Jamie wanted to jump for joy but she was too sore and too tired. It was gonna take a few days to get home, but she didn't care, she just wanted to lay down. That's easier said than done when you don't have a room. Jamie wasn't supposed to be on the ship, Bones smuggled her aboard. She didn't have… well, anything.

"You can room with me." She looked over at the officer standing with her in the turbolift. She raised an eyebrow and he chuckled, "You aren't supposed to be here and you gave Pike's room to the Elders which means you don't have quarters. You can share with me if you want. It's small and I was assigned a roommate but the room is still in one piece, which seems to be the winning factor around here."

Bones kicked them off the bridge and ordered the young acting senior staff to get some rest. She had been running the options in her head of the possible places she could sleep. None of them were appealing but Sulu was saving her the added headache. Jamie smiled, "I… Thanks, Hikaru."

"No big deal," he said with a shrug. They walked to crew quarters and he keyed in the code for his door. The room was standard like all the others, they didn't have time before they left to do anything but drop off their gear and change uniforms. "Make yourself at home." She chuckled but didn't say anything as she dropped into the chair next to his desk.

"Where's your roommate?" Jamie asked, mostly out of curiosity.

Sulu checked his PADD, "According to this thing, my roommate is Lieutenant JG Sumner, Jackson, M. Engineering. He's on duty." She nodded; all the engineers seemed to be on duty. Sulu dug around in his bag for a moment then tossed a t-shirt and a pair of shorts at her, "They'll be a little big on you but I doubt you want to sleep in a dirty uniform. Should probably burn that stuff."

"Thanks for this," she smiled.

"Well, you did kinda jump off a drill for me, so…" He let the end of the sentence drop but Jamie understood what he was saying. She saved his life, Jamie didn't have to jump for him but she did it anyway.

They knew each other well enough since they were at the top of the command track, but they weren't exactly close. They didn't even bother to compete with each other like a lot of cadets did, neither of them ever saw the point in it. He was a helmsman who liked science, she was a tactician who liked engineering.

Jamie pulled her boots off, grabbed the clothes he gave her and slipped into the bathroom to take a quick shower. She didn't want to use his water allowance, so she opted for the sonic shower. Jamie stripped out of the uniform she was wearing, stood in the small room and let the pulse vibrations do their job. It had the added bonus of being relaxing, something the twenty-five year old acting commanding officer of the Federation's flagship truly needed. She could just imagine the riot act that Starfleet Command is going to give her when comms are back up. Jamie knew it would be nothing compared to what Pike would say to her.

He usually gave her a wide berth when she did something as long as she didn't break regs but she knew he wasn't going to be happy with her in command of his ship. If she was being honest, she wasn't happy about it either. She shouldn't be in command, she shouldn't have been the only one to figure it out, she shouldn't have had to relieve Spock of command in order for him to see the logic in her actions but at this point she should be used to being the one to fix the problem. People thought she was careless and reckless but she wasn't, she's just been in too many life or death situations to always play it safe.

She turned off the controls for the sonics, pulled on the t-shirt and shorts that Sulu gave her, tossed her clothes in the laundry recycler and left the bathroom. Sulu glanced at her from where he was sitting with food in his mouth. He swallowed, "Doc said we should all get something to eat."

"Thanks, Hikaru," she chuckled. He was just finishing up but he motioned for her to take a seat and slid a bowl to her.

"Stop thanking me. I'm gonna grab a shower," Sulu told her as he got up.

She nodded and ate the food in front of her; Bones would kill her if she didn't. Jamie wasn't picky, she'd eat just about anything; almost starving to death has that effect on people. Tarsus Four survivors weren't really secret but Jamie and her brother being there wasn't exactly public knowledge; they were each listed under a set of obvious aliases. Heaven forbid the public learned that not only were George Kirk's children were mixed up in that mess, but one of them died because of it. Jamie wasn't in the habit of thinking about it, let alone, talking about it.

She finished eating, put the bowl in the recycler and looked around the room. She hoped that they didn't kick her out of Starfleet for this. She wouldn't mind having a room like this on a ship, on this ship, but that seemed to be an impossible dream now. Jamie was almost sure that she'll be lucky not to get tossed in a penal colony for basically stealing a starship.

"They aren't gonna kick you out."

She looked in his direction, "Huh?"

Sulu smiled as he stood in the door to the bathroom with a towel around his waist, "You said you'll 'be lucky not to get tossed in a penal colony.' They wouldn't do that. How you ended up with command may not have been normal but it was valid. The captain accepted you on the ship, so, how you got on doesn't matter. Spock shouldn't have jettisoned you, but you went to our outpost and transported back with help. As the first officer, Captain Pike made it your job to question Spock's actions. You knew something was wrong with him, even when none of us backed you up. I'm sorry about that, by the way. You saved the world, Jamie. The billions of people down there owe you their lives. The brass would be idiots if they tried to kick you out of Starfleet, let alone, arrest you for doing what you had to do to save their asses."

She smiled a small smile, "It's just been my luck that doing the right thing doesn't always end well." Understatement of her life. He had crossed the room and stood in front of her. Jamie was surprised when he pulled her out of the chair and into a hug. It took her a moment but she eventually wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head on his shoulder.

"No one on this ship, including Commander Spock, is going to let the brass hang you out to dry. I promise."

Jamie doesn't remember the last time she had a real hug. Bones and Pike weren't exactly the touchy-feely types. Gaila gave out hugs but she was the flirty hugger. And she's been with a few guys, but it was more about scratching an itch than anything else.

It's been a long time since someone wrapped their arms around her and told her it would be okay; it was well before her world went to hell on Tarsus Four. She didn't realize that she was crying until he pulled back and wiped the tears off her face with his thumbs. "Sorry."

He chuckled, "Don't be. I don't mind having a pretty girl crying all over me." Jamie laughed. "There's that 'Kirk Smile' that everybody talks about. The one that lights up the room." She smiled even more as she tried to hide her face from him but he wasn't having it. "Don't you dare hide." He took her hands and pulled him away from her face and to his sides.

Jamie suddenly realized that they were very close and he wasn't wearing anything except a towel but she couldn't bring herself to move away. Sulu is an attractive guy -okay he's hot- she wasn't blind. He was tall and thin but in amazing shape and at the moment, he was pressed against her. "Hikaru."

The atmosphere of the room changed almost instantly when his molten chocolate eyes locked with her bright electric blues. Jamie could feel her heart going a thousand miles an hour; she could almost feel his heart beating too. She should back away, she really should but something wouldn't let her, something was keeping her rooted to that spot.

"We shouldn't," she whispered, more to herself then him. This wasn't the smartest idea in the world. He nodded but didn't move.

"I know," Hikaru whispered back right before he kissed her, devouring her mouth. She wasn't sure when she moved but her hands found their way to his chest. His skin was warm and firm under her fingers as she slid her hands around his neck to pull him even closer.

He held her against him; one of his arms anchoring her body to his, the other hand was tangled in her long, blonde hair. The kiss was demanding and intoxicating, all rational thought disappeared from Jamie's mind when he slipped his tongue in her mouth.

Slowly, he raised the shirt she was wearing over her head, his fingers gliding over her skin, leaving a trail of electricity in his wake. Jamie heard him suck in a breath at the realization that there was nothing under her shirt. Jamie was caught off guard when he scooped her up and lowered her onto his bed, tugging the shorts off her body as he did. She didn't have to do much to get the towel off him, all she did was pull.

Hikaru pressed himself on top of her and soon they were so entwined that it was hard to tell where one of them ended and the other began. He searched her face for a minute, no doubt seeking approval –which she gave- before sliding into her.

Jamie could feel every inch of him. She was so lost in the feel of him against her body, his hands on her skin, and his lips on hers. This wasn't love, they both knew it, it wasn't even about lust. They survived something that took so many lives and while they weren't dead, there was a part of them that needed to feel something real and alive.

When he picked up speed, she felt like she might've died and just didn't realize it, he was pushing her towards the edge. "Hikaru," it came out as a chocked sob, she was so close.

He moved harder and faster, "Let go, I got you." His words sent her shattering into a million pieces. He was right behind her; he moved a few more times before he exploded, mumbling her name. For a long while, they just laid there, wrapped in each other; Jamie didn't know for how long. "You okay?" He ran his fingers over the discolored skin on her side and her neck.

"Yea, I'm good, I've had worse," Jamie sighed, reaching up to touch a sore spot on her neck. She doesn't know the when or where of all her injuries, one of the nurses checked her over but she didn't keep track of anything other than almost getting choked to death a few times.

"That isn't comforting, at all," he whispered against her shoulder.

She chuckled and nodded, "I know, but it's the truth." They moved themselves under the blanket without bothering to put any clothes on. Jamie rested her head on his shoulder and felt his hand drawing circles on her back before she drifted to sleep in his arms.

AN: As always, I don't own 'em.