"That's all I have for you today, cadets." He watched as Kirk gathered her gear and moved to follow the others out of the room. "Kirk." She looked up at him with a smile, "Lieutenant Scott." It was odd hearing her call by rank after he insisted that she call him Scotty, "I got promoted last week, thank ya very much, lass." She chuckled, "Congrats. I got a meeting with my advisor, sir. Was there something you needed from me?" He punched some commands into his PADD, "I don't want to hold ya up, Kirk. I'm working on something and I think you'd be interested."
She glanced at file he just sent her, "This is…" Montgomery nodded, "I know. Let me know when ya have some free time to run through it with me." He walked out of the lecture hall and left Kirk standing there with a look of shock on her beautiful face.
Montgomery wasn't in the practice of being attracted to cadets, or anyone as of late, but that girl got under his skin in the worst way. Working on a project with her probably wasn't the best idea in the world but she was brilliant and he was curious about what she'd bring to the table. He likened it to a solving a complex puzzle; she was an enigma, wrapped in a paradox and dripping in a conundrum. Nothing about Jim Kirk made any sense in theory but it all worked in practice.
Part of him was starting to think that his sister's attempts as hooking him up were finally beginning to get to his head. Clara thinks that since she's the baby and already married, thirty-five is too old to not have a wife –or an ex-wife- and she's made it her mission to marry him off before he turns forty. He wondered what his sister would think of Kirk. 'She's too young for you' would probably be the first thing she says.
The engineer had to stop himself, she's not his girlfriend and she's barely a friend, introducing her to his sister was probably never gonna happen.
'Never say never' as the saying goes.
"Monty." He smiled as his little sister wrapped her arms around him. "Hey, Clara. Where's my nephew?" She smiled, "Chris stayed home with Hamish. They're gonna do some father/son bonding." Montgomery chuckled, "I missed the lad, I guess I'll have to wait 'til next time. So, it's just us?" Clara looped her arm through his, "Yes it is. Wanna show me around?" He nodded and started pointing things out as they left the large transporter room.
Clara was a ball of energy that he could never figure out but he loved her. Making their way through campus was a simple affair and they got to Tucker Hall, the engineering building, in no time at all. He didn't expect to find Kirk in the lab. It's been two months since he dropped this project on her and Kirk ran with it. "What are ya still doing here, lass? It's late." She spoke without looking at him, "I thought I figured it out but I hit a wall. I know it's possible, I just don't know how, yet."
"She sounds like you when you're working on something." The cadet looked up, "Uh… hi." Clara smiled, "Hi. Gonna introduce me to your friend, Monty?" He rolled his eyes, "This is Cadet Jim Kirk, one of our best and brightest, if I do say so myself. Kirk, this is my little sister Clara." Kirk rose to her feet with more grace than he could ever muster and shook Clara's hand, "It's nice to meet you. He talks about you and your family all the time."
"It's nice to put a face to the name, he's mentioned you." Montgomery sighed, "Just in passing. She asked what I was working on and I told her about our project and of course I had to mention ya. Then she started asking me questions about ye and…"
"You're rambling, Scotty." He took a deep breath as he felt his face turn red, "Sorry." Kirk laughed, "Not a big deal. I should get out of here. I'm supposed to grab a drink with Bones." Clara looked at her, "Your boyfriend?" Kirk laughed, "Oh God no. My best friend. Bones is hot and I love him to death but he's more like an annoyingly protective big brother than anything else. He's worse than my actual big brother sometimes."
"I know the feeling. Between Monty and Robby, growing up was interesting." Their brother Robert was two years younger than Montgomery and two years older than Clara. The Scott boys were very protective of their sister. Luckily, for Hamish, they liked him and he was a really good guy, otherwise they wouldn't have let him date Clara, let alone marry her.
"So, where would a cadet get a drink around here?" Kirk shrugged, "I don't actually know, Clara. Me and Bones are older than most of our classmates so we avoid the bars closest to campus just on principle. My advisor, Captain Pike, let me in on the instructor's hang out. That's where we go."
"Dillinger's. Nice place. I've been there a few times." Clara's face lit up, "Can we? I'll even buy you a drink." Montgomery glanced at Kirk, who was trying not to laugh, "Yea, we can go but I'm buying the drinks." His sister practically bounced next to him, "You don't mind?" He shook his head, "No, I don't mind." Kirk smiled, "I guess I'll see you both later." The blonde grabbed her bag and slid out of the room.
"You like her." Montgomery looked at his sister, "What?" She chuckled, "You like her, it's all over your face." He sighed, "She's a cadet." Clara shrugged, "Is she your student?" Montgomery sighed, "Sorta, I'm the aide for one of her instructors." His sister chuckled, "That's a no. You should go for it." He rolled his eyes, "You don't get it. She's a cadet, I'm an officer, it's just not… right."
Clara let it go long enough for them to stop at his place and change. He thought his sister would leave it alone but they walked into the bar, got one look at Kirk and he knew his sister wasn't done by a long shot. The command cadet with a knack for engineering was wearing jeans, an over-sized sweater, short boots and a leather jacket was hanging on the back of her chair. What caught his attention was Kirk's hair. She always wore it up in some kind of bun but right now, it was down and he couldn't believe how long it was or how soft it looked.
"Come on, lover boy." He glared at his sister as she dragged him further into the bar. "Jim," Clara called out. Kirk smiled when she spotted them, "Hey. Bones, Pike, this is Clara, she's Scotty's sister." Both men stood and waited until the ladies sat down, Jim in her original seat and Clara next to Pike, leaving Montgomery the seat next to Kirk. Clara smiled, "I guess chivalry isn't dead." Jim chuckled, "Not with the southern doctor and Captain Amazing." Pike laughed, "Where'd you get that one, kid?"
"Some of our hand-to-hand combat students said it this morning. If I have listen to anymore talk about how sexy you are or how nice your ass is, I'm gonna scream." Clara giggled, "Oh, my life is boring, do tell." Pike nodded and went into a story that Montgomery didn't really pay attention to. McCoy leaned closer to Jim, "I think Pike has another fangirl."
"I hope not. She's married." Kirk and McCoy looked at him and Kirk put her hand on his arm, "He's not that guy, Scotty. He'll talk to her but he's taken." For a second he thought that Kirk was talking about herself, he's heard the rumors but she shot him down before he could ask. Kirk leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Captain Alice Vance of the Yorktown, his old XO. They've been together for years but it's not public knowledge."
He understood everything she said but he was distracted by her warmth and the fact that she smelled like vanilla, amber and scotch. "I'm gonna get another drink, you guys want anything?" Clara orders some girly drink, Pike and McCoy ordered a bourbon and he went with scotch. Jim hopped down from her chair and touched his shoulder as she passed him. His sister sent him a smirk from across the table and he knew she set him up. Fortunately, McCoy brought up his engineering exam, giving Montgomery a suitable distraction.
"It's not that hard, lad. Think of it like a person." McCoy gave him a look and he sighed, "You're a doctor. We're all parts and pieces tha have ta fit together a certain way in order ta work. Engineering ain't that different." McCoy nodded, "I don't know how ya'll do it." Montgomery shrugged, "I don't know how you do your job, either."
Before McCoy could say anything, laughter from the other side of the table drew their attention. "In a kilt? No way." Clara nodded at Kirk, "Yep and Glynnis about had a heart attack. I'd feel bad for her but she broke Monty's heart when she married his friend, Angus." Kirk shook her head, "Her loss." Montgomery looked at Kirk for a long minute before he sighed, "Stop telling the lass stories of my misspent youth. I have a reputation to uphold." Kirk looked at him, "We all got stories like that. I drove a car into the quarry by the shipyard when I was twelve. It was a 1965 Chevy Corvette."
"Why would you do something like that to a classic, lass?" he groaned. She shrugged, "It was my father's and my stepdad tried to sell it when my mother was off planet. I told him that I would destroy it before I let him make credits on it. He thought I was bluffing. I wasn't." Pike shook his head, "Wasn't worth it, kid." Montgomery got the feeling that the captain wasn't talking about the car when he looked at Kirk's face. She sighed, "It was to me."