AN: I don't own 'em.
"Go away, Jim. I don't need your help," Chris told his protégé. Jim Kirk, the beautiful, brilliant girl that he recruited from a bar in Iowa three years ago was trying not to laugh at him. She gave him a look that told Chris that she knew better. After the incident with the Narada, moving on his own power was difficult. "You're so stubborn."
Nero, the crazy Romulan who tortured him and killed Jim's father twenty-five years ago, attached a slug to Chris' spine to get Earth's defense codes. Getting the damn thing out of him was the easy part, dealing with the damage it left behind was the hard part.
Jim rolled her eyes at him and leaned against the open door, "Pot, kettle. Look, I got it, you don't need my help, but I'm not going anywhere. Bones would kill me if you hurt yourself and, I hate to break it to you, but he's scarier than you are." He couldn't contain the chuckle that her reply brought.
Her best friend, Doctor Leonard 'Bones' McCoy, was his doctor and hers. He was grateful for the man that worked a miracle on him but the southern doctor could be a bit much. If there was anything in the universe that could stop the overactive woman dead in her tracks, it was McCoy and a hypo.
"Are you really gonna watch me take a bath?" he asked.
She shrugged, "Like I've never seen a naked man before, Chris. But if it makes you feel better, I'll cover my eyes." Jim put a hand over her face and Chris shook his head.
"How the hell did I get stuck with you?" he chuckled.
"Stuck? You're the one that talked me into joining Starfleet in the first place. Besides, I'm just returning the favor. Or did you really think that I didn't notice that you were in my hospital room the last time I got hurt?"
At the end of her second year at the academy, Jim was part of a training exercise that went sideways when the ship she was on, the Farragut, was attacked. She helped save the ship but she was hurt badly and collapsed as soon as the adrenaline wore off. The medical staff had to put her in a coma for two days and she spent a week in the hospital after that. Chris didn't tell her, but he was in her room everyday to check on her.
"McCoy told you?" he asked as he lowered himself into the water.
"Nope. You just did."
He really should've seen that coming, "Smartass. You can move your hand."
"Not shy anymore?" Jim asked with a smirk. Sometimes, dealing with Jim was like dealing with a five year old. In all fairness, she never really got the chance to be a child so he didn't hold it against her too much.
"You're exhausting. You know that?" the captain asked.
She nodded, "Wouldn't be the first time you said that to me. I really am just trying to help. You're the person who taught me that it was okay to depend on someone else. Take your own advice for a change."
Jim's been taking care of herself since she was a kid. Her father, Lieutenant Commander George Kirk, died the day she was born. Her mother, now Commander Winona Rice, was always off-planet. Her uncle, her mother's brother Frank, ignored her. She was too smart to go to normal school, so she taught herself. Then, her brother ran away when she was eleven.
By then, she learned that the only person who would look out for her was herself. Jim's self-sufficiency was the only thing to save her life when she was thirteen. She went to visit her uncle, the other James Kirk, on Tarsus Four a few weeks before half of the colony was massacred by it's governor, the older Jim was among the causalities.
Chris didn't know the specifics, just that she saved a bunch of kids and sent the S.O.S. to Starfleet. When they were rescued, Jim was angry and bitter and she had every right to be. She disappeared as soon as Starfleet got her back to Earth. Turns out, she hopped a transport to Banea and attended the Banean Engineering Institute before she went to the Cochrane Institute of Alpha Centauri to study warp propulsion, starship design and transporter technology.
Their fateful meeting in that bar at the Riverside Shipyard was the first time someone actually cared enough about her to challenge her. He did his dissertation on the USS Kelvin and on George Kirk. He never expected to meet the hero's daughter, let alone, break up a bar fight that she was in. He couldn't believe it when the bartender told him who she was.
Chris learned that some of what he said to her that night was all kinds of wrong but she didn't seem to mind, as he's learned over the last few years, people read her wrong all the time. She told him that it was the look in his eyes, concern and curiosity mixed with determination, that convinced her to enlist despite her completely justified disdain of Starfleet.
From her first day at the academy, Chris looked out for the rebellious woman. In the beginning, it was because she had no one else. Her mother didn't want anything to do with her, still doesn't. And Jim has no clue where her brother is, or if he's even alive. Chris found himself inviting the blonde to hang out at his cabin during holidays or forcing her to grab dinner with him. Eventually, it turned into a friendship.
As careful as he was, people thought they were sleeping with each other, it was even brought before Barnett once. Jim laughed the whole thing off; she told the admiral that while she would do something that dumb, Chris wasn't that kind of person. As much as he would like to agree with her, a part of him thought about it, about her.
Jim was beautiful; she was a mix of the best of her parents' features. Long honey blonde hair that fell like spun gold over her shoulders, cerulean blue eyes that could see right through you, full lips that were probably as soft as they looked and, as he learned when she helped teach his hand-to-hand classes, she was in impeccable shape. Chris had to cut that thought off before his body decided to take the option away from him.
Chris finished his bath and looked over at Jim, she was sitting on the hall floor with her head against the wall and her eyes closed. He knew she wasn't asleep but she was exhausted; she saved the world and she hasn't had more than a few minutes to herself since.
"Jim."
Her bright blue eyes opened, "Yea?"
"You wanna help me up?" he asked.
"Thought you didn't need my help," she asked with a smile as she pushed herself to her feet. Chris gave her a looked but he wasn't about to admit that getting in was a lot easier than getting out. Jim grabbed a towel on her way to him and offered Chris her help.
"I might've lied. Happy?"
A look crossed her face but it was gone before he could tell what it was, "No. I'm not happy."
"Jim?" Chris glanced at her as she helped him to his bedroom.
"Hmm?"
He touched her face so that she would look at him, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing," Jim said with a shake of her head.
"I call bullshit, kid," he sighed. He knew she rolled her eyes, even though her back was to him. She handed him some clothes for him to sleep in.
"Nothing's wrong, Chris. I'm borrowing a shirt," she said quietly. The one she was wearing was wet thanks to him. Jim pulled her gray tank top over her head, Chris couldn't help but look at her flat stomach and the perfect breasts that were covered by light green lace, as she pulled one of his old academy t-shirts onto her smaller frame.
Jim didn't offer to help him get dressed, she walked into the bathroom to straighten it up for him. It took him longer than it should've but he managed to get dressed without too much trouble before settling himself in his wheelchair. "I'm good."
"You want me to make you something to eat?" she asked when she walked back into the room. Something was bothering the hell out of her and while most people couldn't –or wouldn't- see it, he had her pegged.
Chris looked at her, "I'm not hungry. What I want is for you to tell me what's wrong. I don't need your pity, Jim. If you got something to say, just say it."
"I don't pity you, Chris. I…"
"You what?" he asked.
"I wasn't fast enough," she said, eyes on her boots. "You're in that damn chair because I wasn't fast enough." Of course, she was blaming herself; she thought that she should've been able to prevent all of this.
He sighed, "It's not your…"
"Don't," she glared at him. Chris could see every emotion she was trying to bury in that one look. "Don't give me that 'it's not your fault' bullshit. I wasn't fast enough. If I had figured it out sooner or got Spock to listen... maybe Vulcan would still be there. Maybe you would be on your feet and not in that chair."
Chris tugged on her arm until she was sitting on his lap. Jim leaned her head on his shoulder and let out something that sounded like a sob and a sigh. He knew that she needed the contact but part of him knew that this wasn't the best idea. She felt so right in his arms, like she should've been there years ago.
He took a deep breath, "Jim, it's not your fault. You had no way to know that Nero would pop up. You had no way of knowing what he would do to Vulcan or me. I knew what I was walking into when I made the choice to go. Between us, I would've left you in command if I could've… maybe that's my own fault. I'm just glad you showed up. I knew you would come for me."
That was an understatement. He wasn't surprised when she shot the Romulans guarding him on the Narada. She knows what it's like to be left behind, she wouldn't do that to anyone if she could help it, especially him.
"That doesn't change the fact that you're hurt. You and Bones are the only people who give a damn about me and I couldn't get to you before... this," she made a motion to his chair. "With everything goin' on... I'm just so tired of fighting, Chris."
While it was obvious that she was physically exhausted, he knew that she meant mentally and emotionally too. Jim hasn't had the time to process what all this means because she was too busy taking care of everyone and everything. She needed a break and taking care of him was not it.
"I'm going to bed and so are you."
"I'll get out of your hair," she sighed.
He chuckled, "No, you are gonna take off your boots and jeans and you're gonna get in the damn bed, Jim. I know you, if you leave, you'll end up doing something on that long ass to-do list in your head. What you really need is sleep." Jim sighed in defeat and did as he asked after she helped him get into bed. The fact that she didn't argue with him told Chris just how tired she was.
She crawled into bed next to him, "Happy?"
"I will be when you get some sleep," he touched her cheek.
"Uh huh. I think you just wanted to get me into bed with you," Jim chuckled. At least her humor was back. Fortunately, or unfortunately, it was kind of true, but he wasn't gonna tell her that.
"Go to sleep, Jim."
"Okay. Night, Chris."
As tired as he was, Chris couldn't sleep; he couldn't turn his brain off. His ship was still a mess… if it was even his ship anymore. The brass did their debriefs and now it was a waiting game, not just for him but for Jim and a lot of the crew too. The Narada took out eighty percent of the third and fourth year cadets, Jim and McCoy's classmates. Lives that were far too young to be gone so soon. Maybe it was a little selfish but he was happy that Jim wasn't killed out there.
Chris studied the woman attempting to sleep next to him; Jim looked more her age like this, it was like the weight of the world wasn't resting on her shoulders. He didn't know if she did it on purpose but her whole body was pressed along his side and her arm was around his waist.
He lightly ran his fingers over the healing abrasions next to her eye and the bruise on her neck. She could've had them run under the dermal regenerator but Jim refused, she said that they weren't bad enough to waste 'some overworked medical officer's time.' He expected as much from her; she hated medical and the only doctor she listens to is McCoy.
Jim mumbled against his shoulder, "You're thinking really loud. Go to sleep."
"Can't."
"Restless?" she asked, her eyes blinked open.
He nodded, "Something like that."
"Been there, done that. Wanna talk about what's keeping you awake?" Jim asked. Hates to talk about herself but she was always willing to listen when someone -mostly him and McCoy- needed an ear.
Chris looked at her, "Honestly? You."
"What about me?" she asked.
"Nothing, I'm just being a worried old man."
"You're not old," Jim chuckled. "And you don't need to worry about me."
"I know I don't need to be worried about you but I am. You're taking care of me but who's taking care of you. McCoy's on leave."
She looked at him, "I'm fine, Chris. I told Bones to go see his family. I just need a little time to let this whole thing settle. I keep thinking about my father. I wonder what he'd think about all this. I gotta wrap my head around the fact that I killed his murderer."
"Nobody is expecting you to have all the answers, Jim," Chris said as he ran his fingers through her hair. They were way past appropriate at this point.
"Maybe I want the answers," she said with a quiet laugh. "I've spent my whole life figuring it all out by myself… maybe I want someone to give me the answers."
"I know the feeling."
Jim's eyes found his in the dark, "You got an answer or two?"
"I wish," he shook his head. "I'm trapped in my own body at the moment. If I had answers, I'd use 'em."
"'If I had answers, I'd use 'em.' I'm stealing that for the next time I get pulled in to see the brass," she laughed.
He nodded, "Go for it."
They were quiet for a few minutes until Jim spoke, "What else is on your mind, Chris?"
"You know, it's scary how well you know me."
"It's a gift and you're stalling," she shrugged. "Whatever you tell me, you know I won't tell anyone."
He was never worried about that, what scared him was what she'd think about his more than friendly thoughts about her.
"I… I…" He could command a ship with no problem but this infuriating woman made him stutter.
"I saw you checking me out earlier, Chris. Can't you just say 'Hey, Jim, I wanna bang ya'?"
Chris laughed into the dark room, "I would never phrase it like that. Besides, I doubt that it would go over well. I mean, what would you want with a crippled old man?"
Jim didn't say anything before she shifted and pulled him into a kiss that was both tender and urgent. Chris was stunned for a few seconds as the feeling of Jim's lips and the taste of her overwhelmed him. Her lips were as soft as he thought they'd be and she tasted like apples. He had to kiss her back. She touched his face, almost like she couldn't believe she was here with him. When they pulled away to breathe, she rested her forehead against his.
"One, you aren't crippled, all this is temporary," she whispered. "Two, you're only fourteen years older than me, which is not old. And three, did you ever consider that I might be open to the idea?"
No, he honestly never considered that. Jim could have anyone she wanted and many have tried. He didn't notice it before but now that he was thinking about it, Jim didn't really date her classmates, she dated people who were a little older than her, who were mentally on her level.
"I've never really thought about it, Jim," he said. It didn't sound convincing to his own ears and apparently not to hers either.
She sighed, "Liar." Jim carefully straddled his hips and kissed him again. This was not how Chris pictured this happening.
"Jim, I… We…"
"...Have wanted to do this for years. I know that there were a bunch of reasons for us not to but they aren't really valid anymore. Even if they were, I don't really care. You have two options, Chris. You can tell me I'm wrong or you can shut up and kiss me."
Chris looked at her, "You're sure?"
"Yes," Jim said with one of those beautiful smiles of hers. Whatever reservation he might've had went right out the window. Chris gripped her hip with one hand and tangled the other in her hair before he pulled her into a kiss.
Jim's hands roaming under his shirt and her body was pressed against him in a way that was torture. They were both vibrating with barely controlled need. He grabbed the hem of her borrowed shirt and pulled it over her head. He stared at her, drinking her in. Some part of him should've registered that she'd taken her bra off before bed but he wasn't actually paying attention earlier.
Chris had to touch her. He ran his fingers down her slender neck, over her collarbone and to her breasts, drawing a moan from Jim, "Chris." He pulled her closer and wrapped his mouth around one of her nipples, she rocked against him and he almost lost his damn mind. Jim pulled back and –gently- pulled his shirt off, tossing it on the floor. Jim ran her hands over his chest, dropping kisses as she went.
She pressed a kiss to his hip as she helped him get the rest of his clothes off, then she slipped off her sexy little blue panties.
Jim made a move to touch him and Chris grabbed her wrist, "Better not."
"Rain check?" she asked.
He nodded, "Yeah." If she touched him now, he was gonna lose his very tenuous control. Jim straddled him again; he held her hips as she slid onto him. "Oh, fuck."
Chris watched Jim suck in a deep breath before she started to move. He couldn't think of anything that came close to the feel of Jim wrapped around him, she was so warm, tight and wet. His hands roamed her skin as she moved and Chris wished that they hadn't waited so damn long. Jim rolled her hips and Chris groaned, "Jim."
"Somebody likes that," she chuckled against his lips.
"Are you teasing me?"
Jim nodded, "Maybe a little." Chris smirked and took over, grabbing her hips and changing the angle. His legs weren't useless, just weak and all he needed was a little leverage. "Oh, shit," Jim muttered, breathlessly. She rested her hands on his chest as they moved together, faster and harder. He had her and she knew it, "Chris."
She arched her back and he sat up to press kisses along her collarbone and under her jaw. He watched in awe as she completely fell apart. She tightened around him and Chris couldn't stop himself from following her over the ledge.
For a few minutes, they didn't move or say anything. Jim broke the silence when she whispered against his chest, "I'm not crushing you, am I?"
"Not even a little," he said with a quiet laugh.
She sighed, "We should've done this years ago."
"No. If we had, I don't think it would've been anything more than me sneaking you around campus so people didn't hold it against you," Chris told her before he pressed a kiss on the top of her head.
"I don't think I would've cared. Some people are worth it."
He ran his fingers through her hair, "It's not that you aren't worth it, Jim. I just know that you had to deal with enough because of your parents. I didn't want everything you did to get called into question because of me. I sure as hell didn't want to have to fight to get you on the Enterprise."
"I can't wait until we get her back. She one hell of a ship, Chris."
"I don't think they're gonna give her back to me," he sighed. Chris had hoped but he knew that Scotty, Spock, Chekov and Jim would have the ship fixed before McCoy had him back on his feet.
"I hope you're wrong. If they give her to someone else, I'll keep an eye on her for you," Jim whispered.
"I know you will." He looked at the woman sprawled across his chest as her eyes fluttered closed. Chris pulled the covers over them both and wrapped his arms around her. He had a feeling that his replacement was laying in his arms.
"This assembly calls Captain James Tiara Kirk," his friend, Admiral Richard Barnett said to the assembled officers. Chris watched Jim as she descended the stairs in the auditorium and stood in front of Richard. The admiral looked at her, "Your inspirational valor and supreme dedication to your comrades is in keeping with the highest traditions of service and reflects utmost credit to yourself, your crew and the Federation. It is my honor to award you with this commendation." Everyone watched as Barnett pinned the Medal of Valor on Jim's uniform. "By Starfleet Order two-eight-four-five-five, you are hereby directed to report to Rear Admiral Christopher Pike, USS Enterprise, for duty as his relief."
He wished that they would let him stand for this but McCoy thought it was too much strain on his legs. Jim stood in front of him, "I relieve you, sir."
"I am relieved," he said with a smile. No truer words have ever been spoken. He was relieved that his ship was in good hands, even though he wanted to be on the Enterprise with her. Chris had every faith that she'd do an amazing job out in the black and he hoped that he got the chance to see it.
She smiled and held her hand out to him, "Thank you, sir."
"Congratulations, Captain," he clasped her smaller hand in his. "I'm proud of you, Jim."
"I would hope so, this is all your fault," she chuckled.
"You know, if you ever need me, I'll be here."
Jim smiled, "I know."
