Louise stepped out into the hot, humid summer air that was Iowa. It was beautiful out, despite the fact that she was sweating so much that her clothes clung tightly to her eleven year old body. She was enjoying a stroll through the high grass that tickled her sides under the radiating sun when she heard the rumble of her father's antique car nearby. A smile appeared upon the young girl's face as she dashed to the house. "Louise, Louise! Where are you, hon?" he asked. "Right here Daddy," she smiled brightly up at one of the two men in her life, sensing something wrong. "Honey, I'm taking you to Jimmy's, Mommy's in a bit of trouble," he explained, ushering her into the red mustang. Louise clambered into the front seat, buckling the seat belt. The driver's side door slammed shut as her father sat in the black seat adjacent to his daughter's. "Is Mom okay?" she asked worriedly. "Yes, Lou-Lou, Mommy's going to be just fine," he replied uneasily. Louise was unsure if her father was telling the truth or not, but she had the feeling that he wasn't. He only called her by her full name if something was wrong and he certainly hadn't called her Lou-Lou in at least three years.

The trip to her friend's house lasted several minutes, all of which were spent in silence. The pair stepped out of the vehicle, walking to the front of the old house. "Frank!" her father called, banging harshly on the wooden door. The door opened, a young boy standing behind it. The boy looked to be twelve, his dirty blond hair ruffled messily on the top of his head and his bright blue eyes gazing to Louise. "Hey Jimmy; where is your Uncle Frank?" Louise's father asked quickly. "Sleeping," the boy replied. "Can I leave my girl with you for a bit? Her mother got into some trouble on the way home from work," he asked, explaining his reasons. "Sure," Jimmy said, smiling at the man. He pulled the door open further, allowing Louise into the house. "Do you know how long you'll be?" he questioned the older man. "No, I don't," he told the boy sadly. Jimmy nodded, "okay," he said. The older man looked down at his daughter's friend fondly, knowing how much the boy meant to her. He turned his back on the door in front of him, returning to his favorite possession.

"Hey, Lou," Jimmy said after closing the door and locking it. He turned to see her almost in tears. "My, God," he commented. "What's the matter?" he inquired quickly, pulling her into an embrace and dragging her to his bedroom. "Dad said Mom was going to be okay, but I don't think she is," Louise explained sitting down in the middle of his blue twin-sized bed. Pausing for a minute, Louise looked up at her friend before abruptly commenting, "Aren't you a bit big for this bed?" Her friend looked at her momentarily before sitting down next to her. "Yes, but Frank doesn't have the money to get be a bigger one," he replied. "He spends all of his cash on booze," he added. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, her head resting on his shoulder. The silence was broken when Louise asked if they could go outside and lay in the grass. "Sure," Jimmy responded. They then tip-toed out if the small house and lay on the green lawn far from the house as the summer day darkened around them. Jimmy turned his head to look at his best friend. She had her hands tucked behind her head, her curly reddish-brown hair splayed around her. Her sky blue eyes were closed and she looked relaxed. Jimmy sometimes worried about her; she was very determined and always got what she wanted. Not in the material way, but in the way that she would set her mind to doing something and would not stop until it was done. He had always thought of her as a little sister, someone he looked after. Her mother was a teacher at the local high school, educating students on the environment of not only Earth, but other planets as well. Her father, on the other hand, was an unemployed engineer who put all of his time and dedication into Louise and his mustang. Lou had never fit in at school, her only friend could be found in him, James Kirk. He looked back at the now dark gray sky, storm clouds ominously hanging down. He felt when the rain began to dump on him and Louise, startling the girl awake and soaking her to the bone. She stood up and ran barefoot to the house. Jimmy quickly followed suit.

Once inside the house, the thunder began to shake the dwelling's foundations, rendering the two pre-teens scared. The wind howled outside, sending a biting cold throughout the house. Louise shivered in her clothes next to her friend as they walked back to his bedroom. "Here," he said, passing her a towel, oversized t-shirt and a pair of boxers that he had recently grown out of. "Jimmy, did you wash these?" Louise asked, pointing to the pinstriped pants in front of her. "Yes, Lou, I did," he replied irritated. She smiled before walking into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Five minutes later, she walked back into her friend's bedroom. He was lying on the bed, staring at the white ceiling. "I was able to sneak onto Frank's PADD," he announced, glancing at the girl. "What?" she asked. Usually, about now, Jimmy would be jumping up and down at the fact that he had been able to sneak onto his cruel uncle's PADD. "There's a tornado watch in our area. One touched down not long ago," he said, "not far from your house," he added. "Okay," Louise said, not understanding where he was going. "Lou, your house is torn apart," he explained gently. "And your parents were there," he continued. Her heart leapt in her chest with worry for her parents. "Are they okay?" she questioned her friend, now on the bed next to him. "Lou, they're gone."

One week after learning of her parents' deaths, Louise was on her way to her aunt's house in Oklahoma. From what Louise could remember, her aunt was a vicious woman who always tortured her when she was small. Not long ago, Louise had said goodbye to her only friend who had helped her through the worst. The funeral was bad, people telling her how sorry they were, telling her stories of the wonderful people who had raised her. She had cried pools in those days, Jimmy the only one to help her. He promised to try and keep in touch, but Louise doubted that would happen. She could only hope the next seven years wouldn't be too horrible.

Fifteen years later…

"Congratulations, Dr. Hugh," the admiral said to Louise. "We are going to test your engine on a larger scale, we are going to put it onto the USS Enterprise and see how well it functions on a starship. The Enterprise is already here and ready for you to install it. The captain would like to meet you, I've told him a lot about your work," he added. "He is waiting for you down in hangar one and you will then board a shuttle to go up to the space dock and begin installation, will that be acceptable?" he asked. Louise nodded politely. She shook his hand and thanked him before leaving his office, a smile on her face and her heart racing in her chest. Walking through the hallways of Starfleet Headquarters, she couldn't help but think of her parents. If you could see me now, she said in her head. Stepping into the women's room, she looked herself over in the mirror. Her brown hair now was in a high ponytail, falling to her waist. She had on a red Starfleet uniform shirt and a black pencil skirt, all underneath a white lab coat that she was required to wear, no matter how many times she insisted that it interfered with her ability to work. On her feet was a pair of black engineering boots, which Starfleet had also argued her about, but she had eventually won with her argument that they were safer. Apparently, Starfleet didn't really care about the safety of their workers, but Louise had told them firmly that she either wore the boots, or didn't work. So, they caved and let her wear the boots.

Walking across the clean streets of San Francisco, Louise was practically skipping to reach hangar one, excited to see her hard work put into a flagship like the Enterprise. She saw the large warehouse-like structure looming ahead of her, and it took everything in her to not run the rest of the way. When she finally reached the building, she pulled the heavy doors open and walked in. She almost walked right into someone in a yellow uniform. "Sorry," she apologized to the man before continuing to look for the captain. She didn't know what he looked like, but knew how to find him; just look for the three stripes across the wrists. She glanced back at the man who she had just hit and noticed those bands of silver lining around his wrists and counted them. She darted back to the man and tapped his shoulder. He turned and looked at her briefly before asking if he could help her. "Hi," she stammered, "I'm looking for the captain of the USS Enterprise," she explained. "Well, you've found him," the man smiled. Louise studied the man in front of her and determined that he seemed familiar. "You must be the engineer who created the engine that they're going to put in my ship," he stated. The doctor nodded in response, confirming his beliefs. "James Kirk," he said, offering his hand. Louise could not stop her jaw from dropping, and the captain looked at her confusedly. "Uh, hi," she recovered. "Doctor Louise Hugh," she introduced, taking his outstretched hand. "L-Lou?" he asked. In response the young woman smiled. "Hi Jimmy," she said. He grinned in response and pulled her into a hug.

"Captain," a voice said from behind the two old friends. "You know this woman?" it asked. Louise turned to the source of the voice and was met with the striking image of a Vulcan man. "Spock," Kirk said, turning to the man in blue. "This is Dr. Louise Hugh. She created the engine that Starfleet wants to test on the Enterprise," he explained. Spock raised an eyebrow, looking at the pair. "Shall we take her to the ship?" he asked. "Sure," he agreed as the Vulcan began walking towards a shuttlecraft. "That's Commander Spock," Jim explained, looking at Louise, who in turn was staring after Spock. "Lou?" he asked, waving his hand wildly in front of her face. She turned and looked at the captain, a small blush creeping into her cheeks. "Come on," he said, tugging his friend towards the craft that would take her to her future.