In Love With All Your Sins
Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, unfortunately.
Chapter Two: The Pros and Cons of Breathing
Christine Chapel was a light sleeper. Always has been, always will be. That's why when a near by medical apparatus tumbled over, she bolted upright and scrambled to get out of bed. Two strong hands caught her on her arms and stifled her movements. She sharply turned to her apprehend the culprit, but was faced with the same blue eyes that she met yesterday, only filled with curiosity more so than worry. She stiffened considerably and turned to the man in question, this time donning Star Fleet regulation black undershirt and opened her mouth to question him, but he quickly interrupted her.
"Good morning, Nurse Chapel, before we begin delve into any serious matters, I figured you may want shower, maybe change into new clothes and eat something so you feel a bit better than you may right now." Christine smiled lightly, albeit feeling a little patronized, and stared intently at the man in front of her, frustratingly unable to pin his face down, despite the fact that he looked incredibly familiar. "There's a Visitor's Quarters that's being prepared for your remaining crew, and one of them has your name on it," Jim's attempt at lightheartedness was lost on Christine, his smile faltered for a millisecond before he schooled it back onto his face, "I can get you down there if you think you're up to leaving Sick Bay." Christine nodded slowly, as the pounding in her head had yet to subside. Kirk slowly aided her descent from bed, gingerly handling her wrist and other bruised parts of her. While a bruise still graced the side of her face and lower on her neck, Jim was able to observe her soft features as she walked along side him. She seemed to be holding herself, and shivering just a bit. Kirk suddenly felt very uneasy about himself and strangely enough his ship, which clearly was unable to house those with slightly lower body temperatures. "I'm sorry if it's too cold on the ship." He blurted out suddenly. Chapel turned her head sharply towards him, jumping at the larger man's soft confession of self-consciousness. She stared at him bewilderedly, and just shook her head.
"Actually, I'm fine, I just am cold most of the time, but um…thank you for the sentiment, Captain?" She smiled hesitantly at him and looked away. 'What was he even saying?'
Kirk wanted to punch his own face in. 'Good one, guy.'
They finally reached her new Quarters and they stopped in front of it, as Kirk set the code for her and they stepped tentatively inside.
"How does around one hour sound for you? I can come back here around 1100 hours and we can discuss what happened and perhaps contact Starfleet to see what's going to go down?" Jim's hands clasped behind his back, and he was trying to ignore the sweaty sensation that coated them, as he watched her trouble her bottom lip with her teeth. She nodded and floated towards the bed, but he hovered near the door, fighting the urge to join her anywhere near, on, or around the bed. He wanted to hold her and comfort her and make her hard eyes relax and tell her that everything can and will be okay. Instead, Jim fidgeted with his hands and slowly counted from ten backwards in his head, a control technique he picked up from Spock which helped in diplomatic situations- as well as in bed. 'JIM.' His internal discipline sounded extremely similar to Bones' voice. Weird.
"Thank you so much, Captain, this has all been so kind. Can I just ask one tiny question? Uh-" She rubbed up and down her own arm, Christine hated being unsure of herself, she hated that more than most things. "Where am I? And, no disrespect, sir, but who are you?" Jim blinked a couple of times before registering that, no; she didn't know who he was at all. That was new for him. He smiled widely, realizing that she was still waiting and he was quickly ruining his first impressions. He strode forward and extended his hand.
"I'm Captain Jim Kirk, and Welcome to the Enterprise," Kirk took her delicate hand in his and smiled lightly as he saw recognition flash behind her eyes, and then saw a cool professional natural school her face. She wasn't fawning. This was still new for him.
"Christine Chapel, Head Nurse of the-," she stopped short. 'Oh wow.' There was a quick dull pain in her chest as she realized that she wasn't the Head Nurse of much of anything anymore. Kirk's smiled faltered and he stilled as she sucked in a quick breath and her eyes glossed over.
"Nurse Chapel-" Kirk stepped closer in order to brace the young woman's arms when he saw the trembling in her knees. She slowly brought her eyes from his chest to his eyes and her slightly darker blue ones pleaded with him to tell her anything but the truth and it broke his heart to feel that much pain channeled towards him. The actual physical pain this was causing was almost too much to bear, and while Kirk was anything but emotionally functional, he seemed to be more than willing to overextend himself for this chick. "Christine, I am deeply, incredibly sorry for your loss, and realize the amount of pain that you must be suffering from right now, and that I can do nothing to help. The only thing I can offer is maybe a shower and change of clothes to help a small amount?" Kirk shifted uncomfortably, and cleared his throat unwillingly, "However I can stay here as long as you need me too." Kirk smiled kindly, impressed by his own demeanor and mentally stored that he should high-five someone later over it. Christine offered a small smile, marginally less glossy and shaky.
"Thank you Captain, you've been too kind already. I should be ready for whatever you and Starfleet have in mind in around an hour. Thank you so much again." Christine pulled back, slowly and regrettably and retreated backwards towards the bed. Kirk nodded and turned to leave, and threw a look over his shoulder at the small figure, but caught a glimpse of her long legs as she stretched them out.
'Jesus H. Christ' Inappropriate didn't even begin to cover it.
A/N: Hey! Thank you guys so much for reading thus far, and so much for the reviews! This is my first story on here and I hope you're enjoying it. If you guys think there's anything totally outlandish that I write, just let me know and I'll quickly fix it. Thanks so much again!
