Summary: There he was the most amazing, intelligent, sexy, and to die for man; but he was also the most insanely frustrating man ever! How will Jim Kirk deal with a crush on the one man who doesn't seem to acknowledge her, let alone like her? How will she be able to face her past? What does T'hy'la mean and why does Spock call her that? Slight AU and female Kirk. Kirk/Spock. No Spock/Uhura!

A/N: Sorry about taking time away from "New Beginnings", but this story just would not stop haunting me demanding to be written! So here it is and I'm still writing "New Beginnings" it will just take some time to update it again, especially around my school scheduled for this semester.

Also what other pairings should I do? Who should be paired with an OC, what race should they be, what would you like to see for their background? If you have ideas send them as a review and depending on how many I get will dictate whether or not I let y'all chose what you want or if I just throw them into the story.

And I will also be adding TOS episodes in as we go! And I already have one planned out on how to incorporate it, but you'll have to wait and see!

Love y'all and thanks for the reviews (for those that send them),

Seph

Chapter one…

Many people ask me why I entered Starfleet. Truth be told, I entered on a dare, a dare from a man I greatly admired. Why? Cause I can never say no to a challenge. Now where to start… Oh, yeah. A bar… Like usual, well at least for me…

~0O0~

Stardate 2255, 2213 Hours…

Where is he?! I internally screamed, He was supposed to be here over an hour ago! Sheesh! Wait until mom hears about this. She's gonna be so, so mad at him. A slight smirk stole over my features, She's probably gonna make him sleep on the couch when she gets back.

I was waiting for my step-dad. Really it was step-dad number 2, but hey, he was awesome. And mom and I love him, even if he's late to a meeting he set up.

Ya gotta love Starfleet for the commitment it drags from its officers. Sheesh, come on dad, hurry it up already.

The bar was packed with the regulars and a bunch of Starfleet cadets waiting to ship out to Starfleet Academy. All the bright red uniforms made my head hurt from how glaringly bright they were. Not to mention the couple of drinks I had too. But still, why pick a color that was painful to look at for long periods at a time. Although… I wonder how much pain medication they dole out to their professors each term, and how much they spend on it. I smirked at that thought.

Come on dad. Where are you?

My internal dialogue gets cut off when a young woman comes up to the bar, where I was sitting waiting for my dad to show up, to order herself and a couple of friends a drink. She actually looked good in the red Starfleet cadet uniform.

"Hey," I called to her. "What's your name?"

"Uhura."

"Does that come with a first name?" I ask with a smirk, knowing I was baiting her.

"What's it matter to you?" She asked smirking right back.

"Just curious," I shrugged, smirk still in place. "Name's Kirk, Jim Kirk."

"Isn't Jim a boy's name?"

"And?"

"You're a girl."

"I wish I was a boy," I muttered quietly. "It'd be so much easier."

"Are you here alone or waiting for someone?"

"Waiting for my dad to get his buns in gear and show up."

Before Uhura could respond some random male cadet came over and started flirting with us.

"Dude," I said getting annoyed at him after a few too many pick-up lines. "Shut up and go away."

"Come on, cupcake. Ya know you want me," he said with what I like to call a flirtatious-smile-wanna-be. That's my term for a smile people use when they want to be flirtatious but end up with it being more like a creepy leer.

"What did you call me?" I ask getting more angry then annoyed now, as I never like it when guys hit on me cause I'm a girl and they're looking for a good night.

"Cupcake, cause you're sweet and looking oh so tasty," he said completely leering at me now. "Wanna go back to my room with me?"

"No, not interested. Go find someone else," I said turning back to the bar just knowing that dad would get angry at me for getting into another bar fight even though he'd agree that it was provoked… again. He still hates it when I get into fights.

"Now look here, Cupcake," the cadet said sneering at me. "If you're too prim for such actions why're you here? Waiting for another person to fu-"

He never got to finish his question as I cut it short with my fist in his face. The brawl was pretty much a guaranty at that point. His friends tried to hold me off of him while Uhura yelled at them to stop and that I'd "had enough". I never liked it when people assumed that I was a slut, or whispered it to each other. I wasn't, but that didn't matter to everybody else. My reputation in that department was actually my first step-father's action. He did it as revenge for me telling on what he'd been doing when I was younger. Now, everyone assumed I hopped beds for fun. Just because of one man. It was so not fair, but then again, when was life ever fair? Answer… Never.

The piercing whistle that echoed through the bar set my already pounding head into more pain.

"All of you, outside now."

My eyes refused to focus on the person who'd stopped the fight, who just happened to be, well, above my head as I was lying on my back on a table.

"You can whistle really loudly," I said still trying to focus on the person above me.

He tilted his head before asking, "Are you ok?"

"I just got the snot beaten out of me, so other than that, yeah, I'm doing great!"

"Really Jim, sarcasm?" He asked before gripping my arm. "Come on. Let's take care of that bloody nose before you bleed all over your clothes."

After helping me get slightly patched up we sat at one of the tables to "talk". Seriously I think that's just an excuse for the authority figures to give lectures on "proper behavior", you know, the "don't get into fights", "don't cuss up a blue streak", "don't do this", "don't do that", etc.

"You know, that tendency to leap before looking is something you got from your dad, and it's something I think Starfleet has lost."

"Yeah, and?"

"I looked at your aptitude scores. They're off the charts, Jim. I think you should enlist in Starfleet."

"Enlist in-" I laughed at that. Seriously, he didn't think that I should… Nah-ah… Not happening. "Come on, could you imagine me, in Starfleet. No that would not mix well, and you know it."

"Jim, if you're anything like your dad you'll excel in Starfleet. And… Starfleet needs you," He stood up before saying, "It usually takes four years to graduate from Starfleet Academy, and you can have a captaincy within seven years. Your father was a captain of a starship for twelve minutes. He saved 800 lives, including your mom's and yours. I dare you to do better. But you're an adult so it's your choice. Shuttle leaves at 0800 hours." He left with a smirk just knowing I'd be there.

~0O0~

The Next Morning, 0720 Hours…

Dang him for knowing me so well! He knows I can't turn down a dare! I had been pacing my bedroom floor for almost 30 minutes now trying my best to not give into my urge to grab the keys to my motorcycle and head to the shipyard. An urge I'd been fighting for almost an hour. Finally I caved blaming him for knowing me way to well.

I didn't grab anything from my room knowing I'd be back soon to grab whatever Starfleet didn't provide for my dorm room. I grabbed my keys, and headed out to my bike and headed to the shipyards hoping I would still be in time for takeoff, as it takes a little over half an hour to get there.

As I crested the hill to look down to the shipyard I saw that the shuttle had yet to take off. On my way towards the shuttle Someone commented on my bike being cool, so I tossed him the keys, cause why not? It's not like I'm going to use it in space. Walking up to the shuttle I saw him sitting in the door as if he was just waiting for me to show up.

"Four years to graduate? I'll do it in three," I said as passed him in the door.

Looking around for a seat I saw the cadet that was hitting n me the night before sporting some really nice bruises. As I passed him I had the urge to rub it in, just a little, and again, I caved.

"Looking good, cupcake," I said with a smirk. He just glared in response. I swear some people just don't have a sense of humor.

Two seats across from me I saw he cadet I had started a conversation with the night before.

"I still didn't get your first name, miss-oh-so-mysteri-oh-so," I said with another of my trademark smirks.

She just smiled at that.

I glanced to the back of the shuttle when I heard some auguring. I was confused. Why would someone want to sit in the bathroom for the entire flight? Eventually he sat in he seat next to me after telling the officer who had found him that he has "Aviophobia" which meant he had a "fear of flying". Who knew that was even a thing?

"I may throw up on you," he said turning to me.

"I think these things are pretty safe," I said not sure what to make of this guy.

"Don't pander to me kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. A solar flare might crop up and cook us in our seats. And wait until you are sitting pretty with a case of Andorian Shingles. See if you're so relaxed when your eyeballs bleed. Space is disease and danger wrapped up in darkness and silence."

"Well I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space."

"Yeah, well I've got nowhere else to go. Ex-wife to the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I've got left are my bones," he replied taking a swig of what I guessed to be an alcoholic drink of some sort.

I just watched him not sure if I should laugh or not. After a moment he passed me his drink and I took a mouthful noting that it was some type of whisky.

"Jim Kirk."

"McCoy, Leonard McCoy."

~0O0~

Once we arrived at Starfleet Academy we were directed to the lobby of the main office building for Starfleet's professors which, in my opinion, was way too big for just the professors and other academy administrator's.

"Ok, Cadets!" someone yelled over the noise of the lobby. "If you have pre-registered go through the door to the left of the doors you came through. Those of you who did not pre-register go through the doors to the right of the doors you came in through and follow the instructions given to you by the administrators there! Everyone got that?" He paused for a moment watching as we nodded, "Alright, Cadets dismissed!"

"Hey," Someone said to me.

"Hey what," I asked glancing over and seeing that it was that McCoy guy I met on the shuttle.

"Did you pre-register?"

"Nope," I said popping the "p". "Didn't even know I was joining 'til this morning."

He gave me a quizzical look. "What do you mean?"

I shrugged before saying, "I was dared to join Starfleet."

"You joined Starfleet on a dare," he stated as if it was incomprehensible that I joined Starfleet on a dare. Like, seriously, I'm fairly certain that I'm not the first to have joined Starfleet on a dare from someone.

"So," he said still slightly baffled by my previous statement. "I guess that means we're registering together?"

"I guess." I paused as we walked towards the doors for late registerees or whatever we're called.

"So, wanna be friends?" I asked with a smirk.

He just laughed before saying, "Sure, why not."

"Yes," I cheered with a fist pump. "First day and I already made a friend."

When we got into the room we saw tables with signs above them with the letters of the alphabet on them. Looking down I saw cadets lining up for the tables.

"Ok, cadets!" someone called out to us.

"Sheesh," I muttered to McCoy. "Do they think we're deaf or something?" He sniggered at my comment.

"Find the sign that has the first letter of your last name and get in line for that table!" The person I could only assume was the administrator for the room continued. "The people will ask you a bunch of questions, some personal, some not! Answer all of them! Understood?" He paused as if waiting for something. "Am I understood?" He demanded again. A chorus of "Yes sir" answered him. "Good! Cadets dismissed!"

"Well," I said spotting the sign with "J-L" on it. "I guess I'll see you later." I paused a moment. "What do you say about meeting each other for lunch at the cafeteria later?"

"Sounds good. So, yeah, see you later." McCoy said with a nod.

"See ya, Bones." I said with a smirk before slipping into the crowd hearing a startled "What?!" behind me as I headed toward the table so I could register.