Year 2224, San Francisco, CA, Earth
Chris had a spring in his step as he walked onto the large plaza at the center of Starfleet Medical. He hadn't seen Alathea since he had chosen to stay for postgraduate studies in Command while she had moved on to Starfleet Medical School. Although the two campuses were not far apart, their respective curriculum had kept them busy. But with finals now behind them, he was looking forward to spending the evening with her.
His smile faded when he found the gorgeous brunette in deep conversation with her classmate, a red hair he knew to be Nathaniel Luna. A second year student, he had been assigned to help Alathea navigate her first year. From what she had told him over their rare chats, the pair had become close.
Alathea waved and smiled at him as soon as she glanced at Pike standing on the other side of the plaza. Chris managed a smile of his own as he hid his jealousy as best he could. He knew he had no rights to feel this way. He and Alathea were just friends.
Yet, they were more than friends. After her return to high school in the spring of junior year, they had no other friends left. Alathea did not have many to begin with and the rumor that she was dating the most coveted boy in school had created even more resentment. As for Chris, he had to let go of his spot on the football team, a choice the coach had blamed their championship loss on. Overnight, Chris had gone from school hero to pariah.
Consequently, they had spent their senior year together, even skipping prom night to go ride in the California mountains. Their bond had grown closer at the Academy where they had spent nights studying together. After they both graduated -despite Chris' F in astrophysics, they had decided to pursue their own careers, a move that had separated them for the first time in seven years.
The transition had been difficult at first but they had both made new friends. He had grown closer to his roommate, Leland, and the most promising cadet in the command training program, Phillippa Georgiou. The three of them were scheduled for an experimental flight tomorrow morning, an honor not often bestowed upon first-year graduates.
"Hey," he greeted as he reached the table his friend was sitting at. "Sorry I'm late." Chris pulled up a chair next to Alathea, kissing her cheek before sitting down next to her.
"No worries. Nathan was helping me with course selection for next semester." She smiled at the man in question. "He thinks I should go for the advanced cross-species surgical techniques."
"The best students take this class. It gives you an edge for your second-year internship." The man hesitated, unsure of what to make of Pike's coldness. He had heard of Christopher Pike. Everyone who knew Alathea did and he had been afraid to meet the legend himself.
"What would you like to take?" Chris asked her, ignoring Nathan's remark.
"Well, I was thinking about taking Clinical Medicine. Dr Boyce will be teaching it next semester…" She looked up towards Chris expectantly.
Chris gave her a warm smile and squeezed her hand. "I think you should take it." He told her sincerely. Alathea revered the doctor who had helped her through her treatment and he knew better than anyone how much learning from Boyce meant to Alathea.
"Second-year internships are the most important step to secure a research position." Nathan countered.
"Nathan wants to work at the Pasteur Institute in Paris." Alathea explained, sensing that Chris was about to crucify the man for his comment. "He wants to study delta radiation poisoning."
"Delta radiation?" Chris asked. He had never heard of it before.
"Produced in warp cores." Nathaniel explained. "Extremely lethal. No one has ever been known to survive and the slow death is agony. Accidents are rare but the injuries are so severe… I want to help."
Chris nodded. "Why the Pasteur Institute? Wouldn't working on a deep space station be more productive?"
Alathea laughed. "Nathan is afraid of space."
"And you enrolled in Starfleet?" Chris asked incredulously.
Nathan shrugged. "They have the best medical school but I'm not planning to ever set foot aboard a starship."
"How did you get away with flight training at the Academy?"
"I explained to my professor that if he passed me, I would never sit behind the console of a flying vessel in my life. He seemed more than happy about the arrangement."
Chris laughed heartily. "Are you seriously telling me that you told April off?"
"He did put me in a simulator…"
The grimace on Nathan's face made Chris laugh harder. "I wish I had been there to see that."
"You and half of the senior class." Nathan stood up. "If you'll excuse me, I have a meeting with my biochemistry professor. Alathea, see you tomorrow?" The brunette nodded. "Chris, it was nice to finally meet you." He extended his hand.
Chris shook it firmly, his jealousy mostly forgotten. "Likewise."
As Nathan departed, Alathea slapped Chris on the wrist. "Ouch! What did you do that for?"
"For being a jerk to him at the beginning."
Chris rolled his eyes. "I'm sorry. I'll never do it again."
"Liar." She laughed. "Come on, we should get going if we want to be back before 10pm." She stood up, dragging Chris behind her. He followed her to the nearby transporter and seconds later, they found themselves standing in the middle of Mojave.
They both breathed the suffocating warm air in, smiling. No matter where they would both end up, this would always be home. "I heard they have a new Chinese spot downtown." Chris offered.
Alathea shook her head. "Let's go to Lupe's." Lupe's was the local Mexican spot. It had been a fixture of town since the late twentieth century, passed down to generations of the Mexican family. To Chris and Alathea, it was their safe haven. The pair had spent hours there studying, watching the latest holo or playing board games. It had been away from their classmates, the reality of Alathea's deteriorating condition before her treatment, and Chris' father's expectations.
Chris wrapped his arm around Alathea's waist. "Sure."
She leaned heavily against him as they made their way towards the cultural center of town. As usual, Lupe was packed with locals who knew where to find the best food in town but as soon as the current owner saw the couple, she waved them to the back, towards their private booth.
"And what can I get you two?" She asked as they settled for dinner.
"Two cheese burritos, a side of queso and guacamole. And beers." Alathea ordered for the both of them.
"Add extra rice and beans." Chris added. "I'm starving!"
"They don't feed you at flight school?" Alathea joked.
"It's called Command and yes, they do feed me."
"I know. But your plan is to fly around on a starship, right? Captain Pike," she mused. "It has a nice ring to it."
Chris chuckled. "I doubt I'll ever make captain. Not sure I want to." Alathea frowned, prompting Chris to clarify. "I don't think I can be responsible for so many lives."
Alathea squeezed his hand. "And that is exactly why you'll be the best captain Starfleet will ever have. You care about people. And that's a rare quality among those in command."
Chris raised their hands and kissed the back of Alathea's. "You know, I've always wanted to go to the Academy... ever since I was a little boy and my father told me about the men and women of Starfleet and the history of space exploration. But I never thought about what I would do after."
Alathea frowned. "Your father… He expected you to go to the Academy, didn't he?"
Chris nodded. Few people knew about the frayed relationship between Josh Pike and his son. On the surface, they were the perfect family. But in private, Josh had placed so much pressure on Chris' shoulders that it was a miracle the father had broken his son's spirit. Chris had been expected to maintain a perfect GPA while helping out on the ranch and at the school where Josh had been teaching comparative religions on Sundays. His extra-curricular activities had been a mile long to ensure his admittance to the pre-Academy program in their senior year.
"If you hadn't gone to the Academy, what would you have liked to do?"
Chris shrugged. "Work on the ranch. With horses."
Alathea knew better than anyone that this was no longer a possibility. After Chris had been kicked out of the football team, Pike Sr. had shut himself off from his son. No matter Chris' scholarly achievements, it was never enough. And on the morning of his eighteenth birthday, Chris had left the ranch, at first living in the car he had bought while working at the local dealership over the summer. "And now?"
"I like flying." He answered sincerely. "We're supposed to be on an experimental flight tomorrow morning. Just observing… but they usually don't let first year cadets anywhere near these ships."
Alathea knew the "we" he was talking about: Pike, Leland, and Georgiou. They had been nicknamed the "red squad" by their fellow cadets because of all the privileges Command had given them. The squad was more of an inspiration than a cause for jealousy. After all, if everyone worked as hard as the trio, they would also catch the eye of Command. "Chris, be careful up there."
Chris gave her a reassuring smile. "Always."
Although Alathea wasn't convinced by the words, she could never resist Chris' dimples. And she knew he had that effect on most women. If his reputation was anything to go by, Chris had slept with half of the female recruits. Alathea knew that the rumors were false but she understood why women would brag about going on a date with Christopher Pike.
Their discussion was interrupted by the arrival of their food. As soon as the burritos were placed in front of them, the pair devoured the food, remaining mostly silent through their meal.
"Thea, have you seen Boyce since the hospital?" Chris finally asked.
Alathea shook her head. "I wanted to keep in touch with him. But I didn't know whether it was appropriate. When I applied to Medical, I thought about asking him for a letter but what could he have recommended me for? Surviving Aggarwal's treatment?"
"You did a lot more than survive. You're walking! In normal gravity!"
"His treatment worked. Despite the side effects." Alathea looked away from Chris.
"Have you talked to a doctor about it?" Chris prodded carefully. This was not an easy subject for his friend.
Alathea shook her head. "You heard Boyce that day. I'll never be able to have children of my own."
"Medicine is progressing everyday." Chris insisted. "You don't know what's possible now."
Alathea snorted. "I do. It's not like I don't have access to a library full of medical journals and the knowledge to understand them. Aggarwal didn't care about the side effects. He never told my parents. And even if he had…"
"The admiral would have authorized the treatment." Chris finished. "If you had had a choice,..."
"I would have done the exact same." Alathea interrupted. "I was in extreme pain in the harness. All the time. There were only two solutions: the treatment or lower gravity. And I didn't want to spend the rest of my life away from the people I'd learned to care about. I had already lost my parents. I wasn't ready to lose the Mayweathers. Chris, I don't regret what happened. But I admit that I'm nervous about seeing Boyce again after all this time. He's the reason I enrolled in Medical. And I'm seriously considering applying to his internship program next year."
"I think you should." Chris smiled. "Besides, if I ever become a captain, I'll need the best CMO!"
Alathea laughed. "Oh, and I thought you'll never be the captain." She teased. "But I'll consider it."
"Consider it?"
"Well, I'll be the best doctor coming out of the Academy so I'll have my choice of assignment… and Captain Georgiou will definitely need the best there is!"
Chris' eyes widened and he placed his hands above his heart, faking a wound. "This hurts, you know!"
"I know." Alathea winked at Chris before stealing the last chip and finishing the queso.
STSTST
"Leland to Mayweather!" The urgency in the other man's voice propelled Alathea off her bed to the small comm unit in her door room.
"Mayweather."
The face of a man she had only met once filled the screen. His brows were furrowed and his eyes were full of worry. "Chris… he can't breathe." Leland repositioned the camera so she could have a look at Chris. He was sitting in his boxers on the edge of the bed, barely able to breathe.
"He is having an asthma attack! You need to get him to the infirmary ASAP!"
"He's refusing to go."
Alathea cocked her head and rolled her eyes in exasperation. Of course, Chris was. The attack would disqualify him for the flight tomorrow. "I'm on my way. His inhaler should be in his bedside table. Have him use it every five minutes until I get there." She killed the comm link before Leland had a chance to reply. She dressed quickly in exercise clothes before grabbing her med kit. As she was about to leave the room, she remembered her roommate and wrote a quick note for her not to worry. She would probably be spending the night with Chris. First, to try to get him breathing. And then, to convince him not to get on that flight in the morning.
Alathea ran through the Medical Plaza towards the transporter pads. Ten minutes later, she was sneaking into the boy's dormitory making her way towards Chris' room. She knocked softly at the door and a desperate Leland opened almost immediately, worry etching deeper into his rather handsome features.
Alathea rushed into the room with a word of greeting and immediately kneeled in front of Chris, who was still not able to breathe. "When was the last time he used his inhaler?" She asked Leland, her eyes still glued on Chris.
"About five minutes ago…" Leland answered, barely audible over Chris' wheezing.
Alathea pushed Chris' hands up, forcing him to take another dose of his medicine. "How many so far?"
"This would be the third."
After a few minutes, Chris' breathing sounded easier. "Hurt…" He pointed towards his chest.
Alathea opened her medkit and filled an hypospray. "I'm going to give you a steroid." She informed him just before injecting him.
A few more minutes after the injection, Chris was able to breathe almost normally. "Is he ok?" Leland asked, worryingly.
Alathea nodded. "Yes, he will be." Turning her attention back to Chris, "When was the last attack?" she asked him.
Chris shook his head, trying to remember. "I don't know. High School."
"When you were under severe stress?"
Chris nodded. As the wheezing started to become more pronounced, she helped him with his inhaler again. "Just keep breathing slowly, ok?" Another nod. "Do you want to lie down?" Another nod. Alathea helped Chris on the bed, running her fingers through his hair soothingly. "You're going to be ok." She whispered. She knew how scared he must have been and she hated for him to have to hide his vulnerability to his roommate.
"Stay with me?" He asked her in a small voice.
Alathea nodded as she removed her sports jacket and kicked her shoes and yoga pants off. She climbed in bed after Chris, covering them with the blanket. "Get some rest, ok?" She doubted that Chris heard the words. The moment she had laid next to him, he'd been fast asleep. Alathea placed her hand on Chris' bare chest, reassuring herself that her friend was still breathing.
Leland sat down on his bed, watching the strange couple. When he had met Alathea at the beginning of the academic year, he had mentioned to Chris that he wanted to ask her out. Although Chris had told him to do whatever he wanted, he had seen the hurt in his eyes and had decided against the possible romance. Today, he had learned that the relationship would have been doomed for the start. Whether or not they admitted it, Chris and Thea belonged together.