Prompt: Kirk, Gaila - Ledger

Keeping Track

Now that she had turned Jim into a captive audience with the help of several scarves and her own body weight pressing down upon his hips, it was time to have a little chat with the man who, within these quarters, was not her captain, but her lover.

″I have been keeping track,″ Gaila reached over to the bedside table and produced the PADD on which she had been keeping her data. Despite the dimmed lights she caught Jim's grin. She made a show of examining the information it displayed, though certainly did not actually need the reference. ″Of our sexual encounters since we embarked upon this mission with you as Captain and me as your Chief Engineer's Second.

At this, she could feel him stiffening below her, and not in the good way. She chose to continue anyways. Once begun, this was a conversation that must be finished to ensure that there would be no ensuing communication problems.

″Of the twenty-three sexual encounters we have had and the additional sixteen times we have shared a bed without engaging in sex, only once were you the initiator of a liaison. That one time occurred on a brief shoreleave when neither of us were in uniform, a fact which I believe important to this discussion.″

Jim wouldn't meet her eyes and she could see his hands, curled into fists, twisting against the bonds that held him in place. She sighed and could tell that this conversation was not going to have the desired outcome if she could not break through to him.

″Gaila, I'm so-″ His voice, when he started to speak, was low and rough, and she did not want him to finish that sentence.

″No,″ she interrupted. ″I am not complaining, exactly. Nor am I looking for an apology. My concern is that the reason for this inequality in our initiation rates is due to a bad assumption on your part.″

His gaze remained fastened on the bulkhead above, and his lack of eye contact was beginning to distress her. She stretched herself out atop his body keeping her knees to either side of his hips and pressing her hands atop his. After a brief hesitation, he allowed her to interlace their fingers. That's when she knew that there was still hope to make herself understood. She hovered above him, their faces inches apart and her curls hung like a curtain around them. He could no longer avoid meeting her eyes, and the new confidence in hers seemed to banish part of the worry in his.

″I wish you to know that when we are together, we mate as lovers and equals. Not as captain and subordinate.″

Jim didn't respond, but he kept looking into her eyes as she spoke, as though drawing the truth from her.

″I am not here because you are the captain and I think of our time together as an order, and if you were to ask me to have sex with you and I did not wish to, I would feel able to turn you away without fear of reprisal.″

The tenseness in Jim's body began to fade away, she could feel the muscles underneath her loosen slightly, and his face became less strained in appearance. She had been correct about his hesitation. She felt it appropriate to reinforce her words.

″I would not lie with you if I did not wish to be here, and I know that you are not the type of man to coerce or force me to do so against my wishes. I am safe here with you, and wish us to continue our association with a clear understanding of the situation.″ She leaned down to kiss him and he met her lips with eagerness and heat. After a few moments she pulled back. ″And if in the future these concerns return, simply ask and I will answer you truthfully.″

Gaila waited for his nod of agreement, and once she had it, leaned in again. This had been a successful venture, and she had good reason for celebration.