"I see I'm literally going to be a Starfleet Poster Child today," sighed Captain Jamie Kirk to her first officer as she hauled a rolling suitcase behind her.
Spock and Jamie were both dressed impeccably in their dress greys, with every hair in place and not a wrinkle to be seen. "It is a requirement for every officer to have an official photograph taken yearly. I do not see anything out of the ordinary in such a procedure."
"I know, Spock," Jamie sighed with gritted teeth. "This year, they're making me pose for a recruitment poster/booklet campaign and I have to have to have a camera in my face for an extra hour and bring more clothes so they can get different looks. Such a pain in the neck, but Pike wouldn't let me out of it."
"I confess I am unable to offer sympathy, because I fail to understand the annoyance in a photo session."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course you wouldn't, Spock. Have fun being all calm and serene about it."
Soon enough, she was being posed for her picture by a weary looking woman who looked like she'd been doing this all day. It was over in a few shots and she was pointed toward another room for the poster shoot.
She picked up her stuff and walked through the door, wondering who the other photographer would be. Hopefully, someone with a personality.
A tall, rather tanned looking man was fiddling with some equipment when she entered.
"Excuse me," she said briskly, "I was told this was where to go for the promotional photo session. Am I in the right place?"
The man looked up at her. "Sure are, ma'am. Captain Kirk, I presume?"
Oh, he had some nice eyes, and what a ruggedly handsome face! Suddenly, being a poster child didn't seem so bad after all. She put on her most winning smile.
"You assume correctly. Are you the photographer?"
"I am," said the man firmly. "Leonard McCoy." He offered a large hand in a firm shake.
"Jamie Kirk. Pleased to meet you," Jamie replied. "I have the requested duty uniforms for the alternate shots." She pointed to her suitcase.
"Good. I'll finish setting up and will get started. Have a seat, Captain." He motioned to a nearby chair where she could wait.
Jamie shamelessly stared as the man set up his equipment and got the lighting just right. He was certainly well-built. The T-Shirt he wore did little to hide nicely developed muscles and she liked a tall man, to boot. This might not be so bad, after all.
"Been a photographer long, Mr. McCoy?" She asked as he adjusted something on his camera.
"Yep." He answered shortly. "Ten years now."
So, he wasn't the talkative type. Well, she had a challenge on her hands then, but Jamie Tabitha Kirk was not one to give up easily.
She sauntered over to the seat he indicated and smoothed down her skirt, making sure to display her legs to great advantage as she did so. A quick peek in a reflective surface showed her her hair was still regulation tidiness, not a wisp escaping from her neat bun.
"Very nice, Captain. Just turn your head a little to the left," the man instructed. She did so.
"That's just right," he approved. Yum, he even had a southern drawl, too. Oh, this was going to be fun.
It certainly was. Jamie posed and modeled obediently for ten minutes before she was asked to change to her duty uniform. She grinned wickedly to herself as she pulled on the highly flattering, if impractical, yellow dress and high black boots. Then she sashayed back to stand in front of the backdrop, feeling quite pleased when he paused in his work and stared before flushing suddenly and retreating behind his camera again.
"Dammit!" She heard him mumbling. "I'm a photographer, not a teenager at a beauty pageant! Get yourself together!"
Jamie was blatantly unrepentant about the effect she was creating and alternated her posing with coy smiles and deceptively innocent dreamy stares into the distance.
"They teach you how to do that in the Academy?" He grumbled after the third pose when she'd winked at him.
"Do what, Leonard McCoy?" She asked, feigning oblivion.
"Flirt like you're God's gift to mankind?" His eyebrow rose sky high and she thought it was kind of cute.
"Oh, no." She replied. "I'm just naturally gifted with Kirk charm. Is it working?"
He directed her into the position he wanted for the next shot and snap, snap, snap, went the camera before he spoke.
"Ma'am, I've had way too much experience with womanly "charm" to fall prey to it now. Trust me, the last time I did, it all ended in divorce and her taking the whole planet. All I had left was my bones and my camera."
"It was worth a try," Jamie said with a shrug. Inwardly, she was only a tiny embarrassed and still very interested. She knew he'd been affected, even if it was against his will. "I don't believe in no-win scenarios, after all."
He snorted. "So I've heard. Good luck with that, Captain."
She simpered. "So you've heard of me?"
"Of course, who hasn't heard of the great hero, Jamie Tabitha Kirk?" He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "Plus, Chris Pike is always ranting about how you're going to be the death of him and how much trouble you are."
"You know Admiral Pike?" Jamie asked, forgetting her goal in her surprise.
"Sure do. He helped get me this contract with Starfleet that could really be a boost for my business. Seems to view me as his kooky nephew that he's gotta look out for for some reason."
This brought a knowing smile to Jamie's face. "Sounds like Chris. He likes taking broken and troubled people and molding them into something better. As you've heard, I'm clearly a work in progress."
"Looks pretty nice so far from here," Leonard said. Jamie was taken aback and rather touched at the genuine compliment even though he wasn't playing along with her "plan".
"Well, appearances can be deceiving," she sighed, looking down at the stripes on her sleeves: stripes that sometimes she still didn't know how she'd earned. "Let's just say I was about to hit rock bottom when Pike convinced me to make something of my life instead of being a bitter ne'er-do-well or a "genius level repeat offender".
"He asked me if I really wanted to wallow in alcohol and self-pity all my life," Leonard shared, with a rueful expression as he motioned her to step forward and turn slightly for the next picture. Jamie smiled for the camera and waited for the next pause before she replied.
"I think we understand each other better than you'd think, "Bones"", she said honestly. "Too bad you aren't on my ship. I'd enjoy getting to know a fine Southern gentleman like yourself."
"Nothing personal, but No thanks. I'm aviophobic and I'd prefer to stay alive on solid ground. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence. And who says I'm a gentleman, anyway?" He said abruptly, almost in a growl.
Jamie's mouth went dry at the
brief, intense stare he leveled at her before he changed the subject again, politely requesting she put on the flight suit for the final group of photos.
She was so flustered, it took her a bit longer to change than usually. Good heavens, he made her trembly in the knees with that look! The take charge type had always been her weakness and he oozed alpha male.
Jamie behaved herself for the rest of the shoot, only slightly daydreaming about those large hands on hers. She'd be planetside for awhile before the Enterprise was scheduled to leave on the next mission and perhaps she could persuade this gruff, but fascinating man to have lunch sometime.
"Hey, these are really great!" She said as he showed her the images he had taken on a screen. "I meant, the quality, not that I think I'm some supermodel or anything."
Bones grinned.
"You were doing your best to imitate one, that's for sure," he said, sass level at its highest along with his eyebrow.
Jamie outright blushed. "Well, Bones, you got me," she confessed. "But I promise to not tell all my friends about the super hot photographer I just met if you'll let me see you again in a non-professional setting."
"Unbelievable!" the man muttered, exasperation written all over him, but blushing hotly. "You just don't give up, do you, Jamie Tabitha Kirk?"
"I sure don't, Leonard," she beamed. "Now, will you have lunch with me sometime? My treat..." She looked up at him through her eyelashes, barely refraining from batting them.
He groaned and gave in. "Fine. But you're gonna be disappointed. I'm not that interesting."
"Let me be the judge of that, Bones," she said, scrawling her number down and handing it to him with a smile. "You might surprise yourself."
Four years and a lot of lunches, suppers, and long-distance calls later, Leonard had indeed been surprised at how well they hit it off-and how deeply he'd fallen in love. She'd grinned when she'd found the picture of her in the command gold dress on his PADD one day.
"So you DO like me in a dress, Bones?" Jamie smirked as she pointed it out.
He grabbed his PADD back and mumbled about "nosy people who can't mind their own business" but he was smiling at her.
"You bet your pretty self I do, Jamie," he whispered in her ear, "And I like you out of it, also." She grinned and kissed him hard.