Uhura wakes up in the middle of the night with a start. It takes her a few seconds to realize she is on her own bed. God, how can she feel so tired? These past couple of months have been cruel on her body, and this last mission was just as taxing. What was supposed to have been an easy diplomatic mission, ended up with her team stopping a coup-d'état from happening.
She gets up and decides to go for a glass of water. Her mouth has felt dry since earlier in the afternoon when McCoy ordered her to take hypos after getting back from mission. Her quarters are dark and lonely, so she goes for a walk around the ship. It is a quiet night. Apparently, no major incidents have happened and the ensigns on shift are just minding their own business. As she approaches the bridge, she listens to the quiet melody of 1940's jazz coming from the speakers. She thinks she knows who is the one responsible for it. Her suspicions are confirmed when she enters the bridge.
"Jim..." She whispers, watching how his body is spread out over the captain's chair as he hums to the tune. He is sitting sideways, his head on the back of the chair and his legs dangling from the right arm.
He slowly turns his head back to look at her, his eyes heavy with sleep. He brings his left index finger to his lips, signaling her to keep quiet and then gives her a heart warming grin. She goes around the chair to face him and what she sees brings her a happiness she can't describe. On top of Jim's chest lays a small bundle of baby girl sleeping peacefully wrapped in a warm wool blanket, her little hand clinging tightly to his gray t-shirt, and his right hand rubbing comforting circles on her back.
"The bed was cold without you..." she confesses as she lowers her body to his level and runs her fingers through his hair.
"I didn't want her to wake you if she cried, Ny..." he says softly, reaching his left hand to hers and entwining their fingers.
"Let's go back to bed, Jim."
Captain Jim Kirk follows her obediently. She always had that power over him. Once inside, he settles the sleeping little girl on her crib, careful not to wake her. Uhura walks up to him and wrap her arms around his torso.
"She's such a daddy's girl..." Uhura teases.
"She's so beautiful..."
That was something Uhura could not argue with. Of course she was biased as a mother, but Penny really was a beautiful baby. She had golden brown skin, a shade between the ones from her parents, and loose sandy brown curls. However, it was her eyes that stood out. They were bright blue like Jim's. Uhura sometimes worried that once Penny got older, it would be very difficult to say 'no' to her when she started giving her the puppy dog eyes. Somehow she had a feeling that, like her father, Penny would probably figure out what those blue eyes were capable of and she would use it on Uhura to her advantage. Anyway, Uhura decided she would not think about this possibility just yet. Penny was just three months old. If Uhura started theorizing if her daughter would be more like Jim than her, she would go crazy just by imagining what the terrible two's phase would be like and if the poor crew of the Enterprise was ready for it. She smiled against his back at that image. A few years ago she would never have imagined that she would end up like this, standing in the middle of her baby's room with Jim Kirk, Captain of the Enterprise. After a few minutes Jim takes her out of her thoughts.
"Ny, babe? Are you awake?"
"Yes, Jim...I'm awake..."
"What's on your mind?" He turns around to face her and brushes his thumbs on her cheeks and alongside her jawline.
"I should thank Spock for putting me on the Enterprise that day of the Romulan attack," she answers, resting her forehead on his chest.
"Should I be jealous of Spock?" he asks, pushing her back a little so he can see her face, raising a single eyebrow just like his good Vulcan friend.
"No, silly" she replies, slapping him playfully on the shoulder "I should thank him because if he hadn't obliged my request to change my name from Farragut to Enterprise, I wouldn't be here today. I wouldn't have this."
"Well, in that case, I should thank Mr. Spock as well," he says, kissing the spot where her neck and shoulder met. "And we should use this charm of yours on him more often! That damn Vulcan is trying to make me fill in reports again!" he whines. Sometimes her husband acted like a five year old, she thought, but she loved him with all her soul.
They finally make it back to their bed. She curls up to his side, flush against his body, while he plays contently with the tips of her hair.
"I love you, Nyota."
"I love you too, Jim." And with that she closes her eyes and gives in to a dreamless sleep.
In the morning she wakes up to the sound of her crying daughter. She takes the baby from the crib and sits against the headboard of her bed to nurse her. After feeding Penny, she walks her around the room, trying to get her to burp and takes a moment to watch her sleeping husband. Jim is stretched over the mattress, belly down, deep in sleep with sheets pooled around his waist. She still feels tired, but she can't help thinking that all of this is worth every second of it.