A/N: Woah, what is this? A second chapter? I think that may be a first for me. But it was either this or write a paper for art history so this won.
If you were to ask anyone to describe Jim Kirk in one word, nine times out of ten it would be "relentless."
Jim, on the other hand, likes to think of himself as "goal oriented." He knew what he wanted and quickly went about getting whatever that was. He was clever and that usually worked to his advantage in these sorts of situations. (Not to mention being handsome. Yes, that definitely didn't hurt). But this Ensign Roberts seemed to have embedded herself in his mind the way no one else had.
It had started out innocently enough. After that first day, Eliza became a somewhat regular occurrence in his daily routine. Scotty had some message, she delivered it to the bridge, they exchanged a minute or two of playful conversation, Spock rolled his eyes, and then they all got back to work. It was nice. Kirk actually began to feel himself looking forward to the moments in his day when she came up to the bridge. He may not admit it, but his heart began to race just a little more when he heard the lift doors open and he turned around in his chair to find Eliza standing there. He enjoyed her company and found her banter a fun alternative to the always-composed Commander Spock. They fell into a nice habit of meeting at the mess or passing each other in the corridors of the ship and stopping to take time to talk to each other. After a week, their normal conversations began to grow longer. He started to notice that he would talk to her in the mess long after they had finished their meals, when they were the only ones left in the room save for the cleaning crew.
Jim shifted in his captain's chair, staring off into the vast blackness of space. He was distracted. True, he enjoyed the newfound friendship with the young engineer, but she was no doubt taking up more of his thoughts than he would like to admit to either himself or anyone else. He liked her that much was obvious. She was sharp as a tack and as stubborn as he was. She was clever and, frankly, he liked that she didn't put up with his bullshit so easily. She was a challenge that he was definitely willing to take.
But so far, he was concerned that maybe she was playing hard to get a little too adamantly. He flirted with her shamelessly, but each time he made a suggestive comment she would jut smile a false-looking smile and shrug him off. He had made her laugh and knew enough to tell that her polite smiles to his propositions were not really genuine. She always looked distracted and easily changed the subject.
For Jim Kirk, legendary lover of all galaxies, this was not a position he often found himself in. Being the captain of the best starship in the fleet definitely has its perks when it came to picking up women, but she seemed oddly immune to his usual flirtation methods. Every wink and playful hand on the knee was quickly laughed off. It was maddening.
Behind him, Jim heard the hydraulics of the lift moving and the door opening onto the bridge. He smiled to himself and turned.
"'Liza is it true that…" but Jim cut himself off when he turned to see that it was not Eliza who was delivering the files to Spock. A young male yeoman had replaced her and curtly handed Spock the files and headed back to the lift. Jim was confused.
Before the yeoman could leave, Kirk whipped his chair around and caught his attention. "What happened to Ensign Roberts? Is she sick or something?"
The young man looked bewildered that the captain was addressing him. He caught himself and replied, "No, sir, she was just taking over for me while I was in sickbay. She's gone back to work in engineering." With that he pressed the button on the wall and the lift doors closed.
Jim turned back around in his chair and was lost again in thought. I guess that was the end of that part of his day. As the shift dragged on, he realized just how much he missed her presence. Everything went back to being so serious. It wasn't just her conversations he missed, though. He missed being able to make her smile. He missed the way she playfully glared at him. He missed her legs. Oh God, those legs. He felt like a bastard for thinking it, but he wanted to write a letter to Starfleet suggesting they never, ever, change the female skirt uniform. If anything, they should make them a little shorter. Sure Kirk liked Eliza and her wit, but he was a hot-blooded male who, embarrassingly, hadn't gotten any serious action in a while. How was he not supposed to notice the way her skirt fell at just the right point on her thighs and the way her leather boots covered her shapely calves? He shook his head. It was really not the time for this. Jim looked up and caught Spock looking at him inquisitively. He simply smiled and turned back to looking straight ahead.
"Oy! Lass!" Scotty's heavily accented voice echoed through the machinery of the ship, causing Eliza to jump and hit her head on a low pipe.
"God damnit," she mumbled as she crawled her way out of the mess of machinery. Once she reached Scotty, she stood up and bushed herself off.
"Yes, Scotty?"
"Need ye to take this up to the captain. ASAP, dear." He handed her a file and grinned.
She brushed the sweat from her forehead, probably leaving a streak of engine grease across her face, but she didn't care.
"I thought yeoman Branch was back from sickbay."
"He is, but Kirk was specific."
"I have work to do down here, can someone else deliver it?" She had been in the middle of a project, did he really have to make her stop in the middle to run an errand?
"Nope. Take a break from the ol' girl and go make a delivery."
Eliza conceded, put down the oily rag in her hand, and took the file. "Fine," she muttered as she brushed past Scotty and made her way to the lift.
When she reached the bridge, it looked almost as if Kirk had been waiting for her to show up. She gave him a quick smile, handed him the folder.
"'Liza, how much you bet…"
"Captain," she stopped him mid-sentence. She stood with her hands clasped behind her back. I don't mean to be insubordinate or disrespectful, but may I remind you that yeoman Branch is perfectly capable of doing this job. I have important work to finish in the engine room. Good day."
She turned on her heels and left.
Kirk was left stunned into silence. Usually he didn't allow subordinates to speak to him that way. He knew she was right, though. He had taken her away from her job, which was really more important that running his errands (which, to be honest, had been fake anyway. Scotty sent him up a print-out of a picture of him riding the Enterprise like a horse when he had asked him to make up an excuse to end up his assistant).
Uhura chuckled from her spot on the bridge. Jim narrowed his eyes at her. She simply smiled back and said, "I told you so."
The hallways were empty when she finally left engineering. After her trip to the bridge, she had gotten so off track on her work that she stayed a full two hours after her shift ended in order to fix the problem. She swiftly made her way to her quarters, the heavy fall of her boots on the ground the only sound filling the silence of the corridor. She was covered in grease and sweat and just wanted to get in a real-water shower and stay there for days. She was dirty and tired and just wanted to wash off the problems of the day and go to sleep. It seems the universe had other plans for her, though.
As she made her way to her room, she ran into none other than Captain Jim Kirk. She had been purposefully avoiding him since their run in earlier that day. She felt bad for speaking to him in such a way and knew that he was justified in punishing her for the way she rudely spoke. She tried not to catch his attention as she rushed past him, but failed miserably.
"Ensign Roberts." Kirk's voice was firm, the tone of voice he usually reserved for commands in a time of panic. "Shit." Eliza stopped and turned to face him. His jaw was set in a firm line and the usual light that shone in his eyes was not present. It seemed he was not joking this time. She stood up straighter and decided to stand her ground.
"Engisn, while I realize that it is not your normal job, when you are given a direct order from your superior, I expect you to be able to execute it without attitude."
Eliza looked up at him with pleading eyes and he instantly regretted his words. Her skin looked pale and dirt-stained. She looked exhausted and dark circles were beginning to form underneath her eyes. She didn't say a word for a while. She simply looked down, a disappointed expression crossing her face.
As he scrutinized her, a young cadet walked past the two and nodded to the captain. He looked at their surroundings and realized it was probably not the best spot for them to be having a private conversation about her job performance. He turned and guided her off down a smaller side corridor, just outside one of the now empty labs.
She sighed and finally looked up at him. "I'm sorry, captain. It's won't happen again." She turned to walk away, when Kirk softly grasped her shoulder and turned her back to face him.
"What's wrong, 'Liza? What's going on?" He looked into her eyes, searching hard for something, any sort of emotion. She had avoided him twice in the halls and abruptly left the mess hall when she had seen him enter than night. Something was clearly wrong.
"Nothing Captain, it was just a long shift." Jim frowned. As they had been spending a lot of time together as of late, he had eventually coaxed her into calling him by his first name (although she usually just called him "Kirk" like everyone else). He had felt an odd sense of pride and satisfaction when she called him by his first name.
He sighed. He looked at her a moment, trying to choose his words carefully. She was biting her bottom lip and trying her hardest to avoid his gaze.
"I'm sorry," he said. She finally met his stare. "You were right. I should have left you alone. You've made it clear you don't share my attraction for you and it was wrong for me to have taken you away from your work earlier."
Jim turned to walk off and drown his rough day in a bottle of whiskey with Bones, but the light pressure of her hand on his arm stopped him.
"No," she said solemnly. "I was wrong." She slowly leaned in closer to him. He stood still against her. Eliza lifted her head to look him directly in the eye and smiled softly. Slowly, she leaned in, lifted herself onto the tips of her toes and pressed her lips against Jim's.