Lena paced in her room. She hailed Jim two hours ago with no response. She had messaged him one hour ago with no response. She was tempted to hail again, but maybe he was busy? They were supposed to meet up that night and go visit the hot springs near the volcano. Her bracelet lit up. She jumped with excitement, but it was only Laveen. Ugh. Lena would have ignored it, but she saw that it was marked urgent. Opening it up and reading it quickly she almost dropped her bracelet. Jim was leaving!
What? She re-read the message and it still made no sense. He was leaving her to go chase down an asteroid? She felt her heart speeding up. This was not happening! This couldn't be happening! Before she could even think about what she was doing she put on her flight suit and tore off into the night. She needed to talk to him.
Uhura saw a message come into her inbox. It was Lena asking to beam aboard. Why would she be hailing her and not Kirk? Fully aware that she could not refuse a request from the First Princess, she got up and went to the transporter room. Lena materialized looking rather pissed.
"I need to talk to the Captain", she said with sarcastic sweetness. "It's urgent."
Uhura was taken aback, what had happened, "Sure, his quarters are -"
"I know the way", she said curtly.
Uhura followed her to Kirk's quarters, sweeping by a Carol, who looked stunned to see Lena on board. She followed them around a bend until Lena stood in front of his door. Without bothering to announce her presence she punched the door key pad, breaking it, and let herself in.
"What the..?" Uhura heard Kirk from inside.
"Lock," she said, and the door slammed in Uhura and Carol's faces.
They looked at each other, and just stood there.
"I wonder what happened", Uhura said.
"The usual probably", Carol replied with a frown.
Uhura started to hear raised voices inside. "We shouldn't be here", she said, "This is none of our business."
Reluctantly Carol walked away, feeling a tingle of inward satisfaction. Jim had done it again.
"What exactly are you doing here, Princess?"
Lena was taken aback. He hadn't called her Princess since he was mad at her at the tournament. But that didn't make any sense. She had just blown him the other day for crying out loud – he seemed perfectly happy with her then. What could he be mad about?
"You didn't answer my hails, Jim, and then, I get this message from Laveen saying you're leaving to run off chasing an asteroid? What the fuck is going on?"
He looked at her, his beautiful blue eyes ice cold, "It interesting. We've lingered here long enough - now that the gifts have returned, there is really no reason to stay."
Lena gasped, like he had physically struck her. He didn't mean that, did he? She could feel panic welling up inside her. She pushed it down. If he was going to be like this… No, if she was really never going to see him again, she would get an answer.
"So, this… I… mean nothing to you then?"
Jim's resolve faltered. He had done this to girls before - cut them off. But never to one who had the nerve to not back away. No - she was a liar.
"Nope", he said.
"That's a double negative, you idiot", she snapped.
He merely glared at her.
She continued, "You're mad about something, you were fine a few hours ago. What. Happened?"
"I'm not mad."
"FUCK YOU JIM", she screamed. "I demand, no… You're going to tell me what happened! I am not going to let you just walk away."
"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING TO DO, ABOUT IT?" he yelled back.
Lena flexed her wings back like she was going to attack, but stopped herself. No, she wouldn't hurt him, though she wanted to.
"I just don't understand", she said quietly, regaining her composure.
"I think you'll figure it out."
She looked at him. Apparently it was something she had done. Jim walked over to the couch and picked up the black dress she had left there from the night of the feast. He handed it to her.
Unable to stop himself he said, "You know how to put this on, don't you?"
Lena felt her heart stop. He knew.
"I…"
He couldn't look at her, "I think you should leave now" he said quietly.
"Jim, I can explain."
"It doesn't matter", he said, "You broke my trust. I...I don't want to do this anymore. Besides, it sounds like none of this will matter in seven days anyways."
Lena felt an invisible knife slash at her chest. He knew about Bay-Lou, too.
He sat down with his hand at his temple.
She choked back tears, "Jim I ...I can explain...everything…please."
He looked up - she was crying. He hadn't known she was capable of crying. Against his better judgment he felt his resolve weaken, but there was nothing she could say to undo what she had done.
She continued, "Do you remember where I took you? When I extended the Privilege of Kavari?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you find it again?"
"Probably."
"Meet me there tonight - in three hours."
She turned to leave and he followed her out into the hallway; a small gathering of the crew members had heard the shouting and were outside his door. Great, he thought. "I might not come," he said with a cold malice.
She whipped around in anger, "Then I don't care."
He caught her hand and leaned his face close to hers, close enough to kiss her, "When are you going to stop lying to me?" he asked.
She swallowed small sob, "That was the last time."
