Its days after the Narada incident, which destroys an entire planet and murdering almost six billion lives and the same attempt on Earth, when Rose finally wakes from a fever induced state. The strain of mono that she'd caught almost two weeks previously, progressed into something wicked that felt like death was near. When she finally comes to, Leonard is standing over her bedside with a PADD in one hand and bloodshot eyes.
"How do you feel?" is the first thing out of his mouth, as he waves a tricoder over her. "Fever has broken, which is good."
She's too tired to even respond or protest, as blood is drawn and a nurse is called into take her to the showers. Four hours later, she's given a clean bill of health and transported back to her empty dorm room, with orders that she is to remain there for the next forty-eight hours until further notice.
But obviously she breaks that rule, after catching up on almost three weeks worth of news. She reads about the attack on the federation ships and how Vulcan was destroyed in the black, killing so many and putting a species in the negative. She then reads about the Enterprise, Chris's ship and how it managed to stop a very pissed off Romulan from doing to Earth what it did to Vulcan.
There are more blurbs and reports that contradict one another, and she gives up and hacks into the Starfleet network and finds the truth. Captain Christopher Pike, now Admiral, suffered life threatening injuries after a negotiation went wrong; he became a hostage and the newly declared Captain Jim Kirk and Commander Spock, manage to rescue him in a life daring rescue attempt. Forgetting Leonard's orders, Rose gets out of bed and shoves her feet into her boots and runs.
….
She skips the shuttle and stays behind, opting to catch up on her studies and start out slowly; to which Admiral Barnett signs off on, because technically she's still recovering from being out for three weeks in a biobed at Starfleet General. Jim floods her Comm with questions on why she didn't come, while McCoy wishes her the best and to keep in touch.
Chris is annoyed at first, because he wanted her to go. But after taking one look at him, frail and confined to a wheelchair, she couldn't. After taking care of her after the loss of their child, she couldn't go off and leave him to fend for himself.
"I'm staying," she snapped, after the last of the shuttles took off for the Enterprise. "I will not leave you here alone, Chris. After everything you've done for me?"
He sulks because he simply didn't get his way, along with the fact that his ship is now in control of a reckless cadet.
"Keep sulking, Chris," she shook her head, as she sorted through all the get well flowers and bottles of alien liquors that were sent to his new quarters. "You look like you've been sucking lemons for years."
He apologizes and tells her that he appreciates her want to help, but he can't help but question her critically as to why she stayed. Five years on a wonderful ship, with so many opportunities to move up in Starfleet; all thrown away to stay Earth bound to play nursemaid to a crippled old man.
"You're not just any crippled old man," she tells him as she helps him into bed, after a long morning of physical therapy. "You're my crippled old man."
Rose silences his protests with a kiss and climbs into bed next to him. "Now be quiet and let me cuddle my crippled old man," she whispers, snuggled against his side.
…
Six months go by and things between them start to fracture. Arguments blow up after long hours of work and therapy; she's trying to help after being on her feet for fourteen hours a day, while he wants to be left alone after being on his feet for fourteen seconds.
They argue about everything and anything- his health and her stupidity for throwing away her career. Some nights they argue over what to eat for dinner or which holo-vid they should watch, which sends Rose out of the apartment and down the block to the bar for an hour or two.
Jim still floods her Comm, asking if she's changed her mind and if she's ready to join them.
Rosie, we'll be so close that you could just take a shuttle onto the Sand-Sarath base and beam right onto the Enterprise! Bones could use an extra set of hands, since he claims that everyone on this ship is as dumb as a box of nails. Please? We miss you, Rose. I miss you!
Each message goes without a response, because she simply cannot tell him that she's in a relationship with the man he calls a father-figure. Leonard once told her, after a night of drinking, that Jim fancied her. "Says you're gorgeous and that he would settle down with you," he slurred over what was probably his eighth beer. "You two would be a good couple now that I think of it; if anyone but me can get him to calm the fuck down, it's you!"
She loves Jim. But not in the way that he loves her. Her heart was already captured, though now it's taken quite the beating over the last six months. A life with Jim would've been fun; exploring space and creating havoc for Leonard to curse about. But she made her choice a long time ago and again the day he left, and she couldn't go back and change it.
….
A year after the Narada, Chris finally takes more than six steps and walks across the room and up to Rose. She's only arrived to pick him up, when the door opens and he comes up to her; shaky but without the assistance of a walker or a cane. It sends her into tears, as he smiles at her, pulling her into a hug.
"Hi," she manages, as he pulls back to look at her. "You.. you can walk."
"I can walk," he confirms, smiling at her. "Still need to use a cane, but I can walk."
Over time, they've managed to work through the stress and rekindle what they'd left of on. The sex, while it's not as explosive as before, is still perfect. As time went on, Chris slowly came back to her as the man who swept her off her feet at every given chance, sending her flowers at work and staying up to listen to her whine about work.
By the middle of the summer, they decide to get married. They do it down at an old church, even though neither are religious, and quietly exchange vows. She goes from Rose Harrington-Conrad to Rose Pike, wife of Admiral Christopher Pike, in less than twenty minutes. They keep it quiet for the next three months, until a surprise visit by Richard Barnett spills the beans.
"You cannot punish her for this, Rich," Chris begged, as the older man sat in total shock and disbelief. "I didn't force any of this on her and neither did she. We both fell in love and this is it, Rich. She's my wife and that's how it's going to stay."
Rich goes on about how it'll be a controversy- how the Commandant of Cadets was screwing a Cadet for x-amount of years, and now shacking up with said Cadet. How it could ruin his image and name, and how the press would be up their asses for a long time. The potential threat it held against the Academy and how all the faculty would have to be watched closely now.
"Do you really think our marriage is going to be breaking news?" Rose laughed. "All everyone really cares about is the Enterprise and what Starfleet is doing to protect it and all other ships from another attack. No one, besides our close friends and Chris's co-workers, are really going to care that we got married, sir."
He leaves their apartment a bit miffed, but neither can find it within them to care. They're married and alive; nothing coming between them to tear them apart again.
…
Three years go by and it feels like ten, as life went on for them. Their work was steady; Rose working with Boyce as his PA, while Chris settled alien disputes and watched over Jim like a hawk. They never told Jim about the marriage, knowing how he would react. Chris knew his feelings towards Rose and considering the lack of communication between them; it wasn't his place to tell Jim.
The only ones that knew were Leonard, Spock and Nyota; Leonard because he'd saved both their lives after returning to Earth, Spock because it was his job to erase any news report of their marriage and Nyota because she was dating Spock and.
In three years, they moved from an apartment to a big house in the suburbs; creating whispers that Chris was closer to retirement than he let on. In the summer, just after their third anniversary, they become parents to a little boy- Joshua Robert Pike; a mirror image of his father, save for the red locks that cover his tiny head. He's the result of a very late honeymoon to the Italian countryside, to a villa nestled high up in the fields of wildflowers and peace.
"Mummy is going to give you a bath and then when Daddy gets home, he'll feed you this yucky jar of peas," Rose babbles, as she carries the three month old around the house. "Tomorrow we'll see Grandma and we'll all go to the park!"
Since his arrival, Joshua became the sole fixture of their lives. Work was more of a chore these days, as they woke up early to feed him and went to be late after watching him fall asleep. Chris was tried of dealing with the bullshit that came with a desk job; the paperwork, the meetings both on Earth and off, and having to worry about potential outbreaks of war. Instead, he fantasied about being home and playing with the baby, sitting around the house in sweats and not in a stiff uniform that made him look older.
"If you want to retire, then retire!" Rose said one night, as he fed Joshua. "You've been with Starfleet for almost thirty-five years, darling. If you feel that it's time to move on, then move on."
"It's not that easy," he sighed, wiping the remains of carrots and squash from Joshua's chin. "I could do five more years and make it an even forty and maybe they'll give me a big pension! We could sell the house and move out of San Francisco.. maybe buy that villa and raise our kids in the country."
Rose can help but laugh at his daydreams, because she knows it won't happen for a long time. But she secretly enjoys it when he says "children" instead of "child", because being the mother of Christopher Pike's children is something that doesn't sound bad at all. The villa could wait, for it would always be there.