SORRY FOR THE DELAY! THINGS HAVE BEEN REALLY BUSY WITH THANKSGIVING AND BLACK FRIDAY! AND THE HARRY POTTER MARATHON WAS ON ABC FAMILY AND I COULDN'T CONCENTRATE WHILE WATCHING IT! TO MAKE UP FOR LOST TIME I HAVE THE LONGEST CHAPTER YET AWAITING YOU! AND I KNOW IT SHOULD BE CAROL'S POV, BUT I DOUBLED UP ON KIRK! I HOPE YOU ENJOY!
CHAPTER 10- KIRK
"L-Lenore?" I ask my heart racing, my hands suddenly becoming clammy.
"So the legendary Captain Kirk remembers an old face." She says with a smile, "I always wondered what happened to you, and next thing I know you're on headlines across the galaxy."
"What are you doing here?" I ask her, recovering from my initial surprise.
"It's a long story, but I'm willing to retell it if you board my ship." She says with a sly smile, and I don't fail to notice the confused expressions of my crew.
"That's probably not the best idea considering your ship has been destroying Starfleet vessels." I reply.
"Oh yeah," she pauses, "Well I needed a way to get in touch with you."
"Wait, so you killed hundreds of Starfleet officers, just to get in touch with me? Why not just come to Earth and find me?"
"Well, I don't have too many fans on Earth right now, and you know how much I loathe Starfleet." She replies.
"What did you do on Earth?" I ask in an accusatory tone.
"Well, I haven't always been associated with the best people, you know that of course. I got into some business with the wrong type of people, and long story short I may have killed a few on my way off the planet."
"Of course, well I would love to continue catching up, but I kind of have to detain you." I tell her, my voice turning serious.
"Here, how about a compromise. You leave, and we won't destroy anymore of your guy's vessels. You get a peaceful solution, and I don't go back to earth, win, win."
"You know I can't do that."
"Ugh, you have always made things so difficult, Jimmy." She replies with a smile.
"So, are you going to make us fire on your ship, or will you come peacefully."
"Well, you know I can't say no to you," she replies with a smirk, and her face disappears from the screen.
"Captain, I do believe I require some context," says Spock, turning my attention to him.
"Later Spock," I reply in a rather serious tone.
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"Wow, you look a lot better in person," says Lenore with a smile, behind the clear barrier of the brig.
"Well, the last time you saw me I wasn't really in the best condition," I reply with a grimace, and once I say it I am instantly glad know one is around but her to hear it.
"Sorry about that," she replies her face full of sorrow, the conversation turns serious.
"What are you talking about? You are the one who helped me." I reply darkly, remembering nothing but a dark basement, and I feel a chill run down my spine at the memory.
"I could have stopped it, kept it from happening, but I was too blind to see what was happening in my own home."
"But you did see, eventually, better late than never."
"I could have kept the worst from happening."
"I probably wouldn't be here if it weren't for you." I say, which is followed by an odd silence. "So Strawberry, you want to tell me more about how exactly you ended up shooting down Starfleet vessels?" I ask changing the subject, she gives me an annoyed glance at the use of my old nickname for her, but she otherwise ignores it.
"Well, long story short I started when I got involved with this guy, and he came up with this way for us to get money… one thing lead to another and well, we became wanted. I wanted us to turn ourselves in, thinking the courts would go easy on us, but he didn't like that idea, and when I threatened to talk he attacked me, and I ended up shooting him. After realizing what I did I stole a small one manned shuttle and took off, and that's how I ended up here."
"About that, how the hell did you take down Starfleet vessels with a shuttle?"
"Tony was a kick-ass engineer." She simply replies. "Now are you gonna tell me how the hell you ended up joining Starfleet?"
"I was drunk, let's just leave it at that." I reply.
"Drunk?"
"Yeah," I say and I reach up and brush my hand through my hair, "I kind of did that a lot a few years ago." She merely replies with a nod.
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Lenore and I talk for a while, but we are eventually interrupted by the hiss of the door sliding open, I turn my head to see Bones' striding in.
"Jim. Can I talk to you?" he asks, I simply nod.
"Excuse me," I say to Lenore and I follow him out the door.
"Are you okay?" he asks once the door hisses shut behind us.
"I'm fine, Bones." I say, but once the words leave my mouth I already know he doesn't believe me.
"Jim." He says sternly.
"I said I'm fine, Bones." I reply with more force.
"You're not fine Jim." He insists.
"Not now Bones, please just not now."
"Jim, you have to talk about it with someone, if not with me then at least talk to Carol." He says, and I instantly look down at the floor.
"Carol doesn't know." I reply.
"What? You guys have been together almost four months and the subject of your childhood hasn't come up?"
"It did, and when it did I told her about the good times, before Frank, and before Tarsus."
"I don't want to tell you what to do Jim, but if you plan to be with Carol for a while, you will eventually have to tell her."
"I will, I will. I just wish I had a little more time; I never wanted to put a weight like this on her shoulders. Or yours." I respond truthfully
"Jim, I will always carry some of that weight as long as it takes some of it off your shoulders." He replies, "So, are you going to introduce me?" he asks, as he nods in the direction of the door heading back into the brig.
I hesitate for a moment then I finally reply, "Sure, Bones." And I lead him back into the room.
"Lenore, I would like you to meet my friend and CMO, Bones" I say to Lenore once we enter the brig and reach her cell.
"What kind of name is Bones?" she asks with a grin, and Bones gives me a pointed look.
"My name is actually McCoy, Leonard McCoy. Bones is just an idiotic nickname this dumbass gave me in the academy," says Bones in his usual southern drawl.
"When I first met Jimmy he gave me the ridiculous nickname Strawberry." Lenore replies with a grin.
"It's not my fault you were eating strawberries at lunch!" I say in an exasperated tone.
"You're such an idiot." She replies playfully. "So, why did he christen you 'Bones'?" she asks turning back to Bones.
"Because I told him my ex-wife left me with nothing but my bones, the moron liked what I said I guess," he says. "So Lenore, I have to give you a full medical exam." She quirks a curious brow in response as if to ask 'why', "It's become standard procedure, we need to check your well being after taking you into custody." He explains.
"Okay then, let's get this over with."
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After Lenore's medical exam I decide I should go see Carol, and explain my absence throughout the day. I arrive at her quarters in a matter of minutes, but as soon as I arrive the door opens and I find myself face to face with Carol.
"Oh, I was just about to come looking for you." She says a grin spreading onto her face. "Where have you been?" she asks and she moves out of the way so I can enter her quarters, once I enter she follows.
"I was in the brig, talking to Lenore, the woman we took into custody." I explain.
"Yeah, I heard about that, but when I was talking to Uhura after her shift she said that she got the impression that you knew the woman?" she asks.
"Yeah I knew her when I was thirteen; we went to school together."
"Oh," she says looking slightly relieved; she probably thought that she was one of the women I have slept with. She walks over to her replicator and gets herself a cup of tea, when she does this I sneak up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist, which makes her laugh.
She turns around to face me, my arms still around her waist. She has her tea in one hand and rests her other on my chest. She looks up at me with a dazzling grin, I try and give one in return but it fails to reach my eyes, which she notices. "What's wrong, what's bothering you?" she asks, her eyes suddenly flooding with concern, "You can tell me."
"We need to talk," I reply, I have been dreading this conversation all day, but I cannot think of a better time.
"What is it, Jim?" she asks, and I lead her over to her small sofa, so we can talk.
Once seated I begin, "Carol, I haven't truly been honest about my past." I start, and I can see the confusion seep into her features.
"What do you mean? Did you not grow up in Iowa or something?" she asks, laughing a little at her own question.
"I did," I reply, but not without adding, "for the most part. When I was twelve I left to go live with my Aunt and Uncle and go to school on Tarsus IV." I say and I can see her eyes widen in shock.
"Oh, Jim." She says quietly, but I continue.
I take a deep breath before continuing my story, "Everything started off great, I made plenty of friends, Lenore being one of them. Lenore was my best friend, and I spent a lot of time over at her house. After being their six months things started to go awry, an exotic fungus destroyed the majority of the food supply, and we were suffering a large food shortage."
" Governor Kodos instituted a eugenics program in which he personally selected four thousand colonists to be executed, ensuring enough food for the survivors; my Aunt and Uncle were in the four thousand. I barely escaped when Kodos' soldiers came knocking, my Aunt snuck me out the window just as the door was busted open."
"Unsure where to go I went to the Doctor Riley's house, he was one of the head scientists on Tarsus IV, but when I arrived the soldiers were there already there.." I hesitate before continuing.
Carol reaches over and puts her hand on mine, "Jim, you don't have to tell me anymore." She says in a quiet voice.
"No, I want too." I reply, and I take another deep breath, "When I arrived both the doctor and his wife was already dead, and the three soldiers that killed them were closing in on their seven year old son Kevin Riley. Out of instinct I jumped on one of the soldier's backs and I slit his throat with the pocket knife my Uncle gave me shortly before he died."
" Once he fell the other two turned on me, I stabbed one in the stomach, and the other in the neck, once they were all dead I ran with Kevin, and we hid in my Aunt and Uncles basement. I decided to try and save as many kids as I could and I tried to sneak them food, and one became two, two became four, four became fourteen, and fourteen became twelve."
"I got the food from Lenore, she would try her best to sneak me food. One day when she was delivering us some food, Kodos followed her, though she didn't know. Once she left Kodos came, being on the first floor he found me first, me being the oldest I always hid the kids in the closet in the basement before Lenore came just in case someone followed, which I was thankful for. I probably should have mentioned that Lenore is Kodos' daughter." I explain and I see her eyes widen slightly at this new information.
"Well, he took me, and he kept me chained in his basement for days on end, with no food and very little water, and he tortured me for information on the location of the other kids. The kids moved on, I told them of a few places they could go if I got caught, and I told them that they would need to leave right away. Kodos' men never found them."
" One day when I was passed out after hours of torture Lenore found me; she was shocked, not knowing of her father's cruelty. She injected me with some pain killers, fed me, gave me water, and tried her best to tend to my wounds. When Kodos visited me again he found her helping me, and when she refused to get out of the way like he told her, he knocked her out and chained her up beside me. His own fucking daughter!"
"Well it was only a few days more until Starfleet finally arrived, and they found us in the basement. I was the only one tortured, but Lenore suffered severe dehydration. After we were rescued I informed them of the places the other kids may be there were only eight left when they found them Kevin Riley included, the ones who died, died of starvation… I will never forgive myself for that." I feel a tear run down my face and Carol wipes it away with her thumb as it reaches my cheek.
"When we returned to Earth, I was returned to my mother's custody in Iowa, since she quit her job to take care of me we no longer had to live with my Uncle Frank. I had nightmares constantly, and when I turned fourteen I would steal my mother's booze just so I could sleep at night. When I was seventeen I got a fake ID and I started to frequent bars, and that's the year I started to pick up women."
"Bones helped me get over my Tarsus nightmares in the academy, and I got a little better with the women, not much but a little. I never got the woman thing right until I met you," I tell her and she gives me a small smile.
"Jim, thank you for trusting me enough to tell me." She says quietly with a sad smile.
"Of course I would trust you, I love you more than anything. I am just happy you know now."
"So have you seen any of the others from Tarsus besides Lenore?" she asks her voice remaining quiet.
"The only one I have seen since is Kevin Riley, he actually an engineer on this ship."
"Lieutenant Riley, was on Tarsus? He's such a sweet kid."
"Always has been." I reply.
I HOPE YOU LIKED IT! I KNOW I CHANGED LENORE'S AGE, BUT I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE MORE INTRESTING IF HER AND JIM WERE FRIENDS ON TARSUS. WELL THANKS FOR READING! AND I WILL TRY AND BE ON TIME WITH THE NEXT CHAPTER!
LIVE LONG, AND PROSPER!