When the finally limped back to earth three and a half hours later (Scotty obviously miscalculated something) the first thing that went through Jim's mind was a hot shower with actual water (not those sonic shits they have on board) and a bed. She was so exhausted, both mentally and physically, she wanted nothing more than to collapse into a warm bed and sleep for three days.
But first she needs to face one more challenge.
Reporters aka the blood suckers.
And admiral Archer.
When the Enterprise docked, everyone left the ship, starting from the lowest ranking officers, going up to the top. Which means that Scotty, bridge crew, Spock and her will be one of the last people on board. Bones was the exception, because he, as Pike's physician, had to leave for obvious reasons.
As they were getting ready to leave the Enterprise, Jim got a call from admiral Archer. She and her first officer were to report to him right away for a report. She was also notified that the rest of senior officers were to report tomorrow morning because of the same reasons. Jim swallowed her response, the one that Starfleet admiral definitely wouldn't like and nodded to the rest of the gang to go on with their business.
When the last person exited (the last person being Uhura, and she didn't leave before she planted a passionate kiss on Spock's lips -a kiss that definitely did not set Jim's blood on fire, not at all- and gave Jim a warning look, to which Jim again responded with a beaming smile, just to provoke her) Jim turned towards Spock (that looked kinda uncomfortable, thank you very much) and asked,
"Well, shall we, Mr Spock?" To which he responded, "I believe we shall, Capitan."
A walk from the hangar to the Starfleet headquarters was relatively short, that is, in normal circumstances.
They were the last two people to exit the ship and as soon as they set their feet on the ground, they were swallowed in the sea of reporters.
The reporters flashed their cameras in their faces and were asking some very cringe worthy questions. They tried to get through, but they were too many of them. Few of them were shouting questions that were directed at Spock and were associated with his home planet. Spock was successfully ignoring the bastards, but Jim didn't have that kind of control and when one particular journalists asked him a question about his mother, Jim couldn't stand it anymore and she snapped like a rubber band.
She all but yelled angrily, "Alright, listen up here, you worthless piece of shit! What kind of monsters are you?! The guy just lost his home, and you are asking him this type of deranged questions! Save yourself some dignity, if you have any left that is, and ever so kindly fuck off !"
She was breathing hard but she was also ready to punch the next person that asked them any kind of questions. And also Where the hell is security?
Just as that question popped on her mind, she saw a bunch of security officers rushing towards them. Thank god.
Jim didn't think what she was doing and in the heat of a moment, she grabbed Spock's sleeve covered arm and started pushing the reporters aside. She could clearly hear the sounds of photos being taken, but she didn't care at that point. All she wanted was to get this briefing over with and to have a nice shower.
Jim still didn't realize that she was clutching Spock arm, that is, she wasn't aware of it until they made it to the building and Spock awkwardly cleared his throat. She stopped in her tracks and turned towards her first officer.
"You ok there Spock?"
She still wasn't aware of her grip, that has become stronger since they stopped walking.
"I am well, but I request that you release my arm from your grip, Capitan."
If Jim was less tired she would have blushed. But right now she had no strength to do so and reluctantly, she released his arm. She then turned on her heel and marched into the building, Spock right on her tail.
Admiral Archer waited for them in the hallway. He didn't utter a word when he saw a tall blonde girl and a stoic half Vulcan officer approaching, and just made a movement that indicated that they should follow him. They did so without any complains. Archer found an empty briefing room and rushed them inside, then closed the door.
"I realize you are both tired and exhausted, but the Starfleet needs these reports as soon as possible and if you cooperate this will be over sooner. "
They both nodded, even though the last part was obviously aimed in Jim's direction.
"Shall we then? Because I really wanna go to bed."
Archer glared at her for a moment but nodded never the less. He pushed a button for recording on his pad and began asking questions.
"Miss Kirk, how did you get on board in the first place?"
"Dr McCoy gave me symptoms of viral infection, because in his opinion he could not stand to see me looking like, and I quote 'a sick and wounded puppy that was left in the rain to die'. Ten he told me I would start losing vision in my left eye and that I will get a splitting headache. He also told me, and I quote again "You owe me one." We then boarded the shuttle with a bit of a resistance from an officer that was checking everyone who were supposed to be there, are on board."
"And how did miss Kirk gotten involved in the drama on the bridge and how did she know that Vulcan was under attack Mr Spock?"
"Miss Kirk based her assumptions on the fact that the anomaly that occurred then and on the night she was born, when a Romulan ship attacked the USS Kelvin. Also, lieutenant Uhura confirmed the accuracy of Kirk's statement when she told she came upon the message that was sent from Klingon prison that stated that 47 warbirds were destroyed and a Romulan ship was taken."
"What happened next, miss Kirk?"
"When we fell out of warp the only thing we could see were remains of the ships that came there before us."
"And why did they arrive there before you Mr Spock?"
"We had problems with disengaging the external inertial dampener."
Archer looked completely lost at that point. Serves him right, the bastard. Jim almost laughed out loud but she was able to mutter an explanation.
"A parking brake."
"You may continue, miss Kirk." He almost spat her name but Jim was able to bite her tongue and continued peacefully.
"There, Nero was waiting for us. He blamed Spock because his planet was swallowed by a black hole." At his questionable look she added, "He was from the future. He got here in out universe because he was sucked into a black hole and he traveled through space and time. Which would also explain why his ship had a technology we were not familiar with. He requested for Capitan Pike to beam aboard his ship to which he agreed. He set Spock as an acting Capitan and he promoted me to a first officer."
"Why did he take Pike hostage if he wanted you all along?" This one was directed at Spock.
"As a Starfleet Capitan he knows Earth defence codes. Earth defence codes were necessary to him as he also planed to destroy Earth."
"Why?"
"Because Spock is also half human, admiral. Nero's goal was to make Spock suffer. He did that by destroying his home planet, but apparently that wasn't enough for him."
"You see Kirk, the thing that I don't understand is what does Spock have to do with all this mess? Especially if Nero was from the future."
At that question Jim became stiff as a board. Spock turned to look at her too. She avoided his eyes and instead focused of admiral Archer and said in the most convincing tone she could muster,
"I don't know."
Archer narrowed his eyes but Jim just glared harder. It worked.
"Please, continue."
"Nero was drilling a hole to the Vulcan's core so that they could create singularity that will swallow the planet. Mr Sulu, engineer Olsen and I were sent to the drill to disengage it because it was jamming out communication sensors. We were able to do so, but unfortunately we were to late. They already dug deep enough to launch the red matter."
"The red matter?"
"A black hole device."
"Carry on."
"As I was saying, they launched the red matter and we were beamed back on board. Spock was in the transporter room. He was getting ready to beam down so that he could rescue the elders... He was able to rescue six of them."
Jim swallowed a lump that formed in her throat. Luckily Archer didn't ask any additional information on that matter. She looked at Spock. His head was down and he was starring at his hands that were clapped rightly in his lap. Without thinking, she reached out with her hand and squeezed his knee for some kind of support. He winced at that gesture, but didn't step away from it. In the corner of her eye she could see Archer rising an eyebrow at the intimate gesture, but she didn't care at that point. Archer cleared his throat and Jim slowly removed her hand from Spock's knee.
"What happened after that Mr Spock?"
"Miss Kirk insisted that we catch up with the Romulan ship while I insisted to contact Starfleet. We had an argument and miss Kirk became violent, therefore she had to be removed."
"You sent her to the brig, right?"
"As much as I am ashamed to admit, I have submitted to my Illogical wishes and instead of putting miss Kirk into the brig, I marooned her for mutiny and left her on the nearby planet."
"What happened on the planet, Kirk?"
"I woke up in a pod, ignored the warnings from a computer, decided to explore a bit, I was almost eaten by two types of creatures that lived there, I was able to get away, found a cave, settled there for a while and then I made my way to the nearest Starfleet base. There I met Scotty. I am sure you know who I am talking about, am I right admiral?"
Archer looked almost ready to exit the room and go in search of Scotty.
"How did you end up back on the Enterprise?"
"Trans warp beaming technology."
"And how did you end up being the Capitan?"
"I um..." She took a deep breath and then responded, "I provoked Spock into being emotionally compromised. What I am trying to say is that I insulted him to the point where he snapped like a rubber band and the promptly beat the shit out of me. And before you ask, no I don't blame him, it was my fault anyway. I deserved it. And no, I don't regret doing that either. The only thing that will say on that matter is that it was the best and the worst mistake of my life. The best because is was able to save billions and the worst because I took quite the beating from both Spock and Nero."
Archer looked shocked for a moment there, but he quickly recovered and then turned towards Spock.
"Do you agree with this statement, Mr Spock?"
Spock looked down again, only this time he looked down in shame.
"I agree."
"What happened next?"
"I took control over the ship, called a meeting that consisted of all bridge crew and we made a plan how to beam aboard the Narada to free Capitan Pike. Spock soon joined us. He and I beamed aboard the Narada while the Enterprise stayed hidden behind one of the Saturn's moon -the Titan. We parted ways -Spock took the ship that held the red matter and went to disable the drill. I on the other hand went to find Pike. But before I was able to do that Nero found me and I took a beating for the second time that day. Luckily, I was able to get free from his grip when Spock disabled the drill. I found Pike, Spock's ship with the red matter collided with the Narada and then all three of us were back on the ship. The collision destroyed the tank that held the red matter and drops of it flew all over the place until they combined and exploded in one giant black hole. We offered help to the crew of Narada but they refused and then we decided help them with their trip into the oblivion. The singularity caught us in it's magnetic field, but then Scotty suggested that we eject the core and detonate. The blast of it threw us away and... that's about it."
"Commander?"
"I confirm miss Kirk's statement."
Archer nodded and then asked one final question that had Spock blushing. Jim simply held a blank face.
"Mr Spock, are you and Miss Kirk in a romantic relationship?"
"No." It was Spock's automatic response.
"Mr Spock and I are not involved romantically admiral. I believe Mr Spock is currently involved with lieutenant Uhura."
Archer nodded and turned off the recording system.
"You are dismissed. And I expect from the rest of the senior officers to report tomorrow morning because of the report too. "
They both rose at the same moment, saluted the admiral and then they turned to get out. Spock being the gentleman, opened the door for Jim and let her out first.
As soon as they were out on the street, another thought hit her. She can't go back to her student quarters. She had a roommate. Her name was Julia, but now she's dead. She couldn't go there. The thought itself is disturbing enough.
She looked at Spock. His eyes were already on her.
"I really am sorry."
"You did what you saw fit Jim. Do not blame yourself for the destruction of my planet."
"I know. Still sorry tho."
Before she could change her mind she asked him,
"Hey, I know I may be intruding, but I really can't go back to my room tonight. I had a roommate, but..."
Before she could explain further, Spock interrupted her.
"You may use my quarters for as long as you need."
"But, where will you sleep?"
"If you feel comfortable, I would not be opposed to simply meditating tonight."
Jim's heart clenched at that. He was trying to please her. He didn't care that he wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.
"Thank you."
Jim meant it. She truly did. But she also felt like an asshole.
They made their way to his quarters.
He put in a pass code and opened the door for her. She entered first and set the lights on thirty percent. The light illuminated the room and she realized how much better professor's quarters were than student's. Spock's quarters were minimalistic but still more sophisticated than hers. The only thing that was out of the ordinary was a framed photo on the table. She stepped further into the room and made a beeline to the table so she could examine the photo.
There was Spock's father, (she knew that because he saved her from being killed by his son's hand) there was Spock, and there was a woman she could only assume it was his mother. She had a brown hair and brown eyes. Spock has those exact same eyes.
She was lost in her thoughts so she didn't notice when Spock came up behind her. She tried to take a step back but she collided with something that had hardness of a brick wall. She almost fell to the floor from the surprise but two strong arms supported her. It was just then that she noticed that he was standing behind her. And that his arms were supporting her. And that she liked the feeling.
Spock was having similar thoughts too. He came closer so that he could also examine the photo of his late mother. But then she took a step back and her back collided with his chest. She almost fell to the floor but his hands warped around her mid section on instinct.
He didn't know why he did that. The only thing that he was sure about was this weird tingling sensation that went through him when he touched her. And he also knew that he liked that. A lot.
Jim turned her head towards him and was about to thank him, but all words were forgotten and her mouth went dry at the sight of him. His hands were now on her hips and he was slowly turning her around to face her fully. She brought her hands up his arms and rested them behind his neck.
His eyes were starring at hers at such intensity that she feared that if he starred a bit harder, she would burst into flames.
Spock starred into darkened blue pools that fascinated him from the moment he first laid eyes on her. Her pupils were blown wide and you could barely see the blue of her irises. And if Spock's assumptions were correct, his own pupils were blown wide too.
Jim licked her lips. Spock did the same thing.
Jim ran her eyes all over his face. Spock copied her movements.
Jim brushed her long fingers through the hair on the back of his head. Spock tightened the hold he had on her hips and his thumb moved up and down on her hip bones.
Jim brought one of her hands, that were going through his hair, back to his neck and then slipped underneath the collar of his science blue. Spock's thumbs, that were still making circles, lifted the hem of her black shirt and made contact with her bare flesh.
They both had to suppress their moans at the feeling of their skin touching.
Jim stood on her toes and Spock landed in a bit. They both angled their heads so their lips were almost touching now. They started leaning in.
Spock instinctively pulled her closed and Jim did the same thing. They were so close now that they could both already feel brush of their lips. Jim tugged Spock by the neck so that they could finally kiss properly and then...
...the doorbell rang.