Oh goodness, two chapters in one day?

Am I boss? Because I'm pretty sure this makes me a boss. Bwahaha.

So. Yes. Hi. I was speed typing this up so that I could get it posted and not lag behind in what I have typed with what I have written, and then when it was typed, it was just there, and I was thinking, 'Well why not?' So here you have it. Chapter three of Reaching for the Stars. I like this chapter. A lot. Like, I am super pleased with how this turned out.

I hope I did Bones justice. He is maybe my favorite character ever, and I really wanted to capture my perception of him, and how I think he would act around James if James were a chick.

So, tell me how I did with a lovely review? You know you want toooooooo.

Kisses!

MD

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any part of the franchise. I gain nothing from writing this other than creative satisfaction.


"Look, Ziggie, I didn't mean – "

"Don't." Zig's voice was harsh. Addy ducked her head in shame. She had no idea what she'd been thinking, starting a fight like that in his bar during such an important event. Cupcake had touched her, and she'd just flown at the window. Which wasn't uncommon for Addy, she did not tolerate being manhandled by anybody. But the place was totally trashed. Broken glasses, tables turned over, sticky drinks all over the floor… she hadn't even thought they were moving around that much, but apparently she'd been wrong, and she'd fucked over the only person that had been nice to her in this God-forsaken town since her mother. She hadn't been thinking. She never did. Always dove right into something without looking to see who would get hurt if she did, and this time it was Zig.

"Here," he growled as he shoved a frozen pack of blueberries into her hand, even though his hands were shaking in his fury. "Fer yer eye." With that, Zig stormed off, snatching up a broom and trying to make the place look more decent. Angry at herself, Addy gingerly pressed the frozen fruits to her face, and shuffled over to the only standing table where the older man sat, waiting patiently. He had light brown (but slightly graying) hair, and soft green eyes.

Addy didn't trust him.

"My name's Captain Christopher Pike," he introduced himself politely as she fell in to the chair.

"Yeah, that's nice," she snapped.

"Ya know," he chortled, unperturbed, "I couldn't believe it when the bartender told me who you are." Adelaide sat up straighter in her seat and tense. What was he getting at?

"…And who am I, Captain Pike?" he blinked at her as if the answer should be obvious.

"Your father's daughter." She bristled. She wanted to flip this man off and go sulk in the privacy of her home where she could nurse herself back to a place where living here didn't hurt so much. She didn't, though, even though her bruised hand itched to, if only because she still respected and longed for the position Pike had. Still, she didn't like how this conversation was going. Pike smiled at her, only serving to stoke her anger.

"For my dissertation, I was assigned the U.S.S. Kelvin. Something I admired about your dad… he didn't believe in no-win scenarios." Addy stilled, and slowly set the blueberries on the table. Something else she'd inherited from her father, it seemed. Addy refused to believe there was a problem she couldn't get out of, if she thought hard enough, and she didn't believe in fate. Things happened in her life because she made choices that led to them, and on the flip-side, she could always find the right choice that would lead herself out of them. It's that thinking that had kept her alive on Tarsus.

"Well," she scoffed to hide her shock, "he sure learned his lesson, now didn't he?"

"I guess it depends on how you look at it," Pike countered. "You're here, aren't you?" She rolled her eyes. If he was trying to guilt her into something, he was going to be sorely disappointed. Addy did not take well to being manipulated, and often did the opposite of what people wanted her to, purely out of spite.

"That instinct to leap without looking – that was his nature, too. And, in my opinion, it's something that Starfleet has lost." Addy laughed out loud at that, pulling the tissue wads out of her no-longer-bleeding nose. She was done beating around the bush. Pike obviously had an agenda, and it had to do with her. He would get a much better result by being honest and open with her and explaining her options rather than trying to goad her into thinking a certain way and feeling convinced the process had been completely her choice. He had a speech all planned out, she could tell, but she was done. No more games. She just wanted this conversation to be over so she could go home.

"Okay, what the hell do you want from me, man?" Pike looked thoughtful for a moment before laying out his real topic of conversation. Her dad had only been a tool to lead her down a certain path. Addy wouldn't let anyone use her father's name like that against her, that was for damn sure.

"I looked up for your file while you were drooling on the floor." Addy flushed in embarrassment at being so vulnerable in front of strangers. "Your aptitude tests are off the charts," Well duh, "so what is it?"

Addy ignored him, choosing instead to play with the salt and pepper shakers modeled after Starfleet ships. Pike sighed.

"D'you like being the only genius-level repeat-offender in the Midwest?" Addy cocked a snarky smile at the table, leering up at the Federation Officer.

"Maybe I love it." Pike pursed his lips.

"Fine. So your daddy dies," he quipped bluntly. Addy lost her smile and glared at him again. "You can settle for a less-than-ordinary life. Or do you feel like you were meant for something better? Something special?"

Now she saw why Pike was Captain. He saw through all the bullshit lies and deceits she'd fooled everyone else with, and cut right to the heart of the matter. Adelaide had never felt like she was meant for the Podunk town of Riverside. Everything in her knew she was supposed to go out into space, leading an exploration vessel. She was too smart to be stuck here until she died, with nothing but the farms and Frank. Addy knew this about herself, but she didn't like that Pike knew this about her after only five minutes of his calm honesty, and her wounded snark. Wasn't she supposed to trick people?

"Come to think of it, I do want to feel special," she mocked, trying to hide her anxiety. "You know what I'll do? I'll go start a book club and –"

"Enlist." Addy froze, floored by how offhand the suggestion was.

'Yes! Yesyesyesyesyes!'

'No! Nothing comes for free. Don't trust him.'

"Enlist!?" she cracked a disbelieving laugh, opening the split on her lip once more. "Ow fuck!" Pike examined his immaculate nail, not buying her game. "You poor bastards must be low on your recruiting quota for the month."

"If you're half the person your father was, Adelaide, Starfleet could use you." Addy mulled this over, silent. There really was nothing for her here, now. Why was she even bothering to have her devil-may-care attitude in the first place? This was a siren's call of her one true wish being offered up to her on a silver platter by a Starfleet Captain himself. Why was she trying so hard to say no?

'Because,' Frank sneered in her head, 'you know that it will be the same for you there as it has been your whole life. No one wants you. No one needs you.'

Pike's eyes gleamed with hope. He could see the internal struggle, could see her resolve wavering.

"You could be an officer in four years, have your own ship in eight. You could be a part of something wonderful and inspired, Adelaide. The Federation is a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada –"

"We're done now, right?" she interrupted. No more. No more promises. No more words. No more Pike. She needed him to leave. Now. Pike searched her eyes, forest green clashing with Kirk blue before he nodded and rose to his feet. She tensed when he didn't immediately leave, but turned back to her with a final parting message on his lips.

"Riverside shipyard. Shuttle for new recruits leaves tomorrow, 0800." Addy nodded tersely, her head swimming with a confused mess of insecurity and desire. She was so confused. She needed time to think about this, and for that Pike had to fucking leave.

"Your father was Captain for 17 minutes. He save 800 lives, including your mother's. And yours," his voice was soft, passionate with his conviction. "I dare you to do better."

"We're done," she snarled. Pike hesitated a moment before finally leaving without so much as a backwards glance.

Starfleet. She'd been asked to join Starfleet. All that reading, self-teaching, loneliness, it had all be in the hopes that she was so impressive that Starfleet had no choice but to notice her and beg on their hands and knees. Now they were here, and they had offered, and she had no fucking idea what to do with it. Floundering, she stood up and grabbed her leather jacket off the back of the chair, preparing to leave.

"Hey kid," Zig called from across the room, stopping his task of cleaning. Addy froze, and turned around cautiously, her guilt crashing down on her. "Happy birthday." Taken aback , she looked up at the wall clock. 12:01 AM.

"If it's worthy any, I always knew you'd go on ta somethin' better," Zig mumbled grudgingly, turning his back to her and picking up the broom once again. Addy waited a moment and smiled at him and slipped out the front door. So… Starfleet.

Happy birthday to her, indeed.

Addy rode all through the night, her motorcycle whirring electrically beneath her. She made a pit stop at her small apartment to clean the blood off her face before she left again, without bothering to change her bloodied clothes. The skin around her eye was already turning blue, but she'd dealt with worse.

Much worse.

Addy had no real direction in mind. She just got on her bike and kicked up a trail of dust behind her. Really, she shouldn't've been surprised when she ended up at the shipyard. She always ended up at the shipyard, if given a choice. Sighing, she turned off her bike, and sat back on the seat, looking up through the early-morning gray at the nearly-finished Starship. It wasn't even named yet. But it was huge, and it was beautiful. Many things came and went in Addy's life, and she made it a habit of never expecting things to last, but that feeling had never left her. Ignored and buried under layers of doubt and lack of self-esteem, but always there. Addy didn't know why she believed this feeling so profoundly; she didn't believe in fate. It went against everything she'd grown up telling herself and living by, right down at her very core. But she couldn't ignore that hopeful voice, not quite her own, in her head, telling her that this ship would be hers someday, and she would be the best damn Captain Starfleet had ever had.

So, she wasn't surprised when, come 0730, she revved up her bike and rode around the perimeter of the fend and through the entrance. This was not because Pike had talked her into it. He'd just given her the means to accomplish something she'd spent her life dreaming she would do. She grinned internally as the sun hung low and bright in the sky, not a cloud in sight. Construction workers meandered around as Addy rode further onto the complex, ending up right under the belly of the beast. Some men wolf-whistled at her, some gawked (it was probably the blood on her shirt), and even more ignored her completely/ She pulled to a stop in front of the shuttle, Captain Pike smirking at her all smug 'I-told-you-so's' seeping from every pore.

One ship builder slowed, staring at her bike appreciatively. Addy's chest swelled with pride. She built this bike from the ground up with nothing but scrap and her own hands. Sadly, it couldn't come with her, but she wasn't bothered. She'd just build a new one in San Francisco. This bike wasn't anything special, just another thing made with metal and wires.

"Nice ride," the worker sighed wistfully. Addy swung her leg over the seat, pulling out the keys and kicking the stand in to place so the bike didn't fall over as she walked towards the shuttle. She tossed the keys at the man, and he reflexively caught them, gawking at the bright silver ring in wonder.

"Live it up, hot stuff." And with a wink and a sway of her hips, she strut right up to Captain Pike with a challenge (a promise?) on her face and put her hands on her hips, smiling like the devil herself.

"Four years?" she scoffed in derision. "I'll do it in three." And she walked right up those steps, pretending she hadn't seen the grin on the Captain's face.

It took a second for her eyes to adjust to the sudden darkness, and in that moment, all conversation between the cadets ceased. They were staring at her. Addy shifted her weight uncomfortable, scanning the rows of seats for an extra so she could slip in to the crowd and disappear. Seeing none, she walked further in, past all their saucer eyes, and smiled when she saw Cupcake and one of his goons from last night. The evidence of her brawl peered at her from the bruise on the goon's face, and the swollen, slightly crooked (was it broken?) nose Cupcake had. She winked her black at and blew a kiss.

"At east, gentlemen." Cupcake glared. Addy giggled.

Continuing her search for a seat leaf her to the near back of the shuttle where, miracle of miracles, Uhura sat gaping up at the blonde. And, fortunately for Adelaide, there was an empty seat next to her. She slipped right into it without even a 'how d'ya do' and stuck up the conversation from last night like there had been no time-lapse at all.

"Never did get that first name, Stacey." Uhura narrowed her eyes as Addy strapped in to her buckles.

"Stacey? Not even close."

"Well then maybe you could correct my errors so that I know what name to call out in my dreams, Clover." Addy responded politely, more with a conversational tone about the weather than the tease she was poking at the proud woman. Uhura spluttered cutely, her face flushing a pretty shade of pink.

"You are such a –" The shorter woman halted her rant she'd been gearing up towards when they heard a commotion up front by the bathroom. A flight officer was manhandling a tall, burly man out from the bathroom with pursed lips (which impressed Adelaide, because he was easily six inches taller than her) and towards the only seat left, across the aisle from Addy's spot.

"Are you people deaf?" the man growled. "I told you, I don't need a doctor, dammit. I AM a doctor!" Addy smiled and cocked her head at his smooth southern lilt. Not even ten minutes had passed, and already her life was more interesting. Oh yeah, definitely the right choice.

The man had chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes, and (her libido helpfully pointed out), an extremely handsome face hidden beneath untamed scruff and a gnarly scowl. His clothes were wrinkled and shabby, and she was so tall, he couldn't stand upright in the shuttle.

Adelaide liked him instantly.

"You need to find a seat –" tired the officer.

"I had one, Darlin'. In that bathroom. With no windows. I have aviophobia, it means the fear of dying in something that flies!" The woman's face tightened at the condescending tone in his voice. Addy and Uhura shared a look.

"Sir," she snapped, "for your safety, sit down or I will make you sit down, do you hear me?" The pair glared at each other, before the man grumbled something unintelligible and dropped into the seat across from Addy. He scowled at the officer as she strode off with her head high in the air, and hastily put on his seat buckles. Ripping a small silver flash from the depths of his coat, he took a swig and turned to the baby-face next to him.

"I might throw up on ya," he warned. The fresh recruit paled, his eyes wide and anxious.

"But… these things are pretty safe, I'm told…" Mr. Happy snorted at that and took another drink. Addy only now noticed how her amused grin was hurting her injured lip.

"Don't pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boil in 13 seconds." Addy couldn't contain herself any longer and barked out a sharp laugh at his cynicism. Southern Man glared over at her, blinking in surprised at the dragged-up-from-Hell abuse obvious on her face.

"Well, aren't you just a bundle of joy," she teased. He looked over her face for something before taking another gulp of liquid courage and sighing.

"Outer space ain't happy, darlin'. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seat. An' wait 'til yer sittin' pretty with a case o'Andorian shingles, see if yer still so damn relaxed when yer eyeballs are bleedin'. Space is disease and danger after darkness and silence." Adelaide grinned at the man, even as it opened (yet again) her lip, and she tasted blood on her tongue.

"You are going to be my friend," she declared. She loved the way that sounded coming out of her mouth. She'd never said those words to anybody in her life, before. Something in his faced softened, making kindness leek through. Ah, so he was really a big teddy bear under it all, was he? He quirked an eyebrow at her curiously.

"You tryna sweet-talk me?" Addy's grin widened and she waggled her eyebrows at him. He scoffed and sipped from his flask one last time before offering it to her. She gladly accepted, happy for the familiar burn of some really damn good scotch, as it trickled down her throat.

"I hate to tell you," Uhura drew both of their attention to her, "but Starfleet operates in space. If you're so scared, why enlist?"

The man's face darkened.

"My ex-wife took damn near everythin' with her in the divorce, includin' the planet," he shrugged angrily and accepted the near empty flask back from Addy with a nod. "Got nowhere ta go but up, with nothin' to take with me but mah bones."

"Well, Bones," Addy immediately dubbed him, "pleasure's all mine. My name's Adelaide. Adelaide Kirk." Uhura's eyes widened a fraction. Oh, yeah, Addy forgot to mention her name last night, hadn't she? "And this here is Ms. No First Name Uhura."

Bones frowned in confusion. Uhura glared. She couldn't correct Addy's lie without giving away her first name. Addy had no idea why it was such a secret, but it only made her want to know all the more.

"Is that so?" Bones asked Uhura disbelievingly. Uhura turned her glared on him then turned away from them both with an affronted sniff, talking to the other people around her. Addy giggled and Bones looked between the two women before deciding the story wasn't worth the effort. "McCoy. Leonard McCoy."

"Leonard McCoy…" Addy turned the name over in her mouth, chewing over the letters before shaking her head. "Nah, I'm gonna stick with Bones."

Bones finished off the last of his flask and looked at it forlornly before stuffing it back in his jacket.

"Do what ya like, darlin'."

"This is Captain Pike. We have been cleared for takeoff. Stand by." Bones paled and tightened the buckles on his seat as the shuttle sprang to life and lurched into the air. Addy chuckled at him, and her nervously narrowed his eyes at her.

"That attitude of yers get ya that shiner, kid?" Next to Addy, Uhura stiffened. Addy crowed inside. She just knew the linguist had still been listening.

"What do you think, Uhura?" The darker skinned woman studiously ignored Addy's sly voice, continuing her discussion with the green Orion girl on her other side. Oh this place was just too much fun. Addy smirked and looked back at Bones, who was starting to look a little green around the gills, and not at all amused with the curly blonde woman. She frowned.

"You really gonna throw up?" she asked, concerned.

"Maybe…" Bones groaned. The cadet next to him inched away nervously as much as he could with the buckles restricting his movement. Addy shook her head hopelessly, crossing her fingers for the best and looked out the window at the rising sun. She had the feeling that this was only the start of something truly great that would last her the rest of her life.


THREE YEARS LATER

Adelaide waited patiently on the steps of the library for her friend as he finished up his research project inside on some kind of festering disease or some other such disgusting menace. She fiddled with the program on her PADD that would change everything, smoothing it out, making it more elegant and clever. She knew it would be found, and with the way this would go down, they would know it was her program, but that was exactly what she wanted, so she wasn't trying to hide that it was her program. Just buy her time until things had cooled down and it didn't matter so much anymore. So she took the time Bones needed to study to give it some life, and attach it to a message to her "friend" Gaila, who would receive strict orders not to open it until eight. The only catch with this program would have to be opened directly on a simulation computer, and she couldn't do that herself as she would be testing.

Finished, she flicked it off the screen, sending her message out into the ether to be transmitted to Gaila's account and waited for her friend, impatiently bouncing her leg. She would have liked to go inside with him, but she'd been kicked out the doors like a puppy being punished, and forbidden from entering the building to seek him out. It had been hours already, and she was bored. Addy didn't really need to study, of course. Well, she did anyway, because it was her pride on the line with Pike if she didn't finish her studies (a double damn major, thank you very much) in the three years she'd promised, and studying was always good. She'd actually studied her whole experience away these past three years and said no to many a party or missed one-night stand, much to her own dismay. But she didn't really need to study for this term. All that was left were these wrap-up courses, and then her officer's examinations, and then the impending promotion everyone knew was coming her way.

Boom.

Done.

She'd already been into space, lucky her. She had the experience. As part of her tactical training she'd been assigned as an intern of sorts to the tactical department of the U.S.S Farragut, really only intended to be a shadow. Things hadn't gone exactly like planned for Captain Garrovick when he'd landed on a new planet, and there had been an unexpected… visitor. Well… six visitors. Well… six visitors and a lion that Kirk had stopped because the chief of the department wouldn't know what to do if his shoelaces untied, let alone under duress and coercion. So, she'd quite literally shoved him to the side and done her duty.

And hey, if she'd been showing off a little bit… that was neither here nor there.

Pike had personally handed her the small token of bravery and ingenuity for her actions, all pride and self-satisfaction, and the swiftly turned around and reprimanded her for her reckless behavior and risking the lives of the Farragut so brashly, but whatever. She knew he was proud with his investment, and she'd gotten a medal, so who cared? It's not like anyone had died. Addy had ignored how that look in his eyes had made her insides all warm with happiness when he praised her. Bones had called her a "damn fool" and then hugged her so tight she couldn't breathe. And now it was her turn to prove herself once again. There was just one thing blocking her way.

The fucking Kobayshi Maru test.

She'd failed it twice already. The first time had blown her completely out of her seat. She'd been using some pretty damn tricky moves and had managed to incapacitate the Klingon Birds of Prey ships without killing many (don't ask her how, it was mostly luck), and only lost a small portion of the Maru as collateral damage. She'd swooped in, ready to rescue the ship's crew, when a concealed ship appeared out of nowhere behind her and blew her own ship out of the stars. Which was impossible with the type of ships this program was simulating. And even the enemy race it chose. Most Klingon ships weren't built for stealth tech or were easy to hide from sensors, and Klingons didn't really use those types of tactics anyway. They didn't believe in sneaking around slinking in the dark; it defied their code of honor in battle. So there had been only one possibility left: the game cheated.

The second time had been to test this theory. Addy had gone back, much to the surprise of… well, everyone really. Her technique varied from old school to kamikaze and changing constantly, so fast that the program had problems keeping up and was glitching and lagging. The professors overseeing the test had looked nervous at that, but relieved when, like last time (and just like she'd expected) there had been some anomaly she hadn't accounted for and she'd died.

The game was cheating.

And that… that just pissed her off. She was the best in this damn Academy. She never lost. She'd been the president of the 3D chess club all three years. She's dread every book. She tested so ridiculously high, it made her professors' eyes bulge. She was Adelaide Kirk. She didn't lose. There was no situation she couldn't win. But what pissed her off the most was how everyone seemed to take this test just fucking expecting to fail. They didn't even question it. They just nodded and shuffled off like sheep at their defeat. They rolled over and lied down for a death that they didn't have to take. There was no fight in them. No creativity. They all really honestly believed the lie that there were situations where they wouldn't be able to do anything, when people could always do something.

They needed a wake-up call.

Addy contemplated this and the implications of this, and what it could mean for her if they found out. Cheating was punishable by expulsion, worst case scenario, and hold on being put on a Starship. Which would break her heart right down the middle, but she couldn't just sit down and accept this test for what it was. It was a fraud, run by liars, and since she was the only one who saw what was going on from this side of the fence, it was her job to put an end to it.

"Christ, kid, did ya really wait here the whole time?" a deep voice growled behind her. Addy smiled, and tilted her head back to smile upside down up at Bones' face. He'd been clean-shaven ever since they started school, and she had to admit, while it made the man look younger, she kinda missed the scruff.

"I had nothing else to do, Bonesie. The Krav Maga class was canceled, so my wondrous teaching capabilities weren't needed," she shrugged, standing up, referencing to the partial arts class that she was a teacher's aide for. She was two steps below him, making her shorter than usual standing next to the already-taller-than-her brunette. His heart was cleanly combed to the side, not a trace of the shabbiness she'd seen on the shuttle left on him. His bright red cadet's outfit matched her own red dress uniform. She hated it. She had specially asked for the winter dress with sleeves down to her elbows because the summer style only capped her shoulders, and she didn't want prying eyes asking her about the numerous white scars on her arms. Only Bones had that privilege, and that was because he was the only doctor she accepted. It wasn't entirely condoned by the board yet, since her chosen physician was still technically a student, but she had vehemently denied every suggestion, and her stubborn streak won out in the end.

"Well ya coulda gone and eatin' or somethin', I dunno. I wouldn't'a kicked ya out if'n I knew ya'd just sit here the whole damn time," he grumbled, looking down at her petulantly. She raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"Why, Bones, is that guilt I hear in your voice?" He flushed and his look turned irritated.

"No," he hissed. She giggled.

"Well if you feel so bad about kicking me to the curb," he ducked his head at this, "then you can make it up to me by being there at the Kobayashi Maru test I'm taking tomorrow morning." Bones' eyes widened, incredulous.

"Yer takin' that thing again?" Addy nodded, crossing her arms defiantly.

"Yeah, and I want you to be there. You'll do it for me, right?" bones shook his head in disbelief and strode past her down the steps, mumbling something probably nasty about her intelligence. Oh Bones. Addy sped after him, walking quickly to keep up with his longer legs.

"Ya know, I got better things to do than watch you embarrass yourself for a third time. I'm a doctor, darlin', I'm busy," he snapped. Addy frowned, falling behind a little bit, surprised at how much that stung. She didn't want to admit it, but she was scared to do this. This was serious business, and if she got caught, she was going to go down in a big ball of flames, and Addy didn't know if she could find the strength to do this without him. "I'm not interested."

Addy rolled her eyes and jumped in front of him, effectively stopping him in his tracks.

"I didn't ask if you have 'an interest,' Bones, I asked if you'd do it." He considered her, his arms crossed over his chest, a textbook and some papers cradled close to him.

"I'm about to ya an obvious question," he warned. "Why bother?"

That. That right there is why she bothered.

"Because I've failed the test twice."

"Yeah, I know, I was there," he hedged, not seeing where she was trying to get with all this.

"No, Bones. I've lost. Twice. Me. Lost. Don't you think that's weird that I, of all people, haven't won? That no one has ever won?" His eyes blinked at her before looking up to the sky where he was probably asking the good Lord for patience.

"Yes, ya said that already, I heard ya, ya lost, but guess what, darlin', even you make mistakes. Yer not God. I just don't see why yer goin' back fer thirds. It's the hardest damn test in the whole 'fleet. No one goes back. It's not like ya need it to graduate, and hell, yer already ahead'a schedule, Addy." Addy stuck her chin out stubbornly, even as she preened at the veiled compliment. Yes, she was ahead of schedule, and nothing, not even this stupid test, would be a blemish on her track record.

"Then why do they make us take it?" she challenged. Bones opened his mouth to respond, but Addy raised her eyebrows at him, silently telling him to stop and really think over his answer. He frowned and considered her question seriously, before groaning and giving up and tossing his hands in the air.

"Dammit, I'm a doctor, not a professor. How should I know?" Addy stared at him earnestly, really starting to worry he would say no.

"Please?" she begged softly. He stopped when he heard the concern in her voice, and his face softened like it always did with her. "I really need you there, Bones." He weighed his options before he exhaled and sagged his shoulders in defeat, nodding his consent.

"Fine! Jus' stop lookin' at me like that! I'll be there, but yer insane." Addy squealed in delight, and tackled him with a great big hug, pecking him on the cheek. When she stood back, beaming up at him, he was blushing.

"Then it's a good thing you're my doctor, isn't it?" He awkwardly scratched his head, and Addy was amused when the color of his cheeks darkened.

"Ya better study for it this time, because I'ma tell you, there won't be a fourth fer me," he muttered. Addy turned smug. There wouldn't be a fourth for her, either, not after tomorrow. He stepped around her, dropping his hands, and continuing on towards the male dorms, albeit, at a slower pace.

"Yeah about that…" she trailed off, "I have this hot date I can't let down. Don't wait up for me, honey bunch! You're the greatest!" She spun on her toes and walked away as Bones grouched at her teasing, and she disappeared easily into the sea of red cloth. She could tell him his warning tone that another lecture was around the corner, so she left earlier than she needed to, with a couple of hours to kill before she met up with Gaila. Her braided hair swished softly behind her as she moved, shining like a beacon in the California sunlight. The San Francisco building stood tall and glittering, and the Golden Gate Bridge stood tall and proud off in the distance. Addy danced through the crowd, smiling, a tuneless hum deep in her throat as she looked around at all of her peers.

It was time to wake up.


So. Yeah. Really liked this chapter. i tried to be better about my mistakes and errors, but again, apologize if there are any I missed.

Please, please, PLEASE tell me what you think with a review. It would make me so happy!

Peace.