A/N: So this one is completely AU. The song "Freedom Fighters" by Two Steps From Hell started to play as I got ready to write one of these drabbles. For those of you not in the know, this is the song that played in the background to the 2009 'Star Trek' reboot. I bet you can see where this is going now. Anyway, enjoy, and reviews are kittens.

9. Falling

"It's no use!" he called against the wind. "We're going to have to jump!"
"There's no way we can make it, Captain!"
"Trust me, Commander, we'll make it."

The USS Freedom was crashing – how ironic.

If someone had told Lily Evans that one day she would join Starfleet, cross paths with the most ignorant, arrogant, pig-headed, arse of a cadet and then one day serve as his first officer, she'd have asked how much mead you had consumed. Lily Evans had no interest in joining Starfleet. There was enough work to be done here on Earth – enough research to be done on Earth to last eternity. There was no reason for her to go to space.

That is, until her parents died and everything had gone to Petunia. Petunia was supposed to give Lily her fair share when she had come of age – except it had all gone to spoiling that evil, prat, son of hers. Lily could have pursued legal action to get what was hers, but by that point was too fed up with the Dursleys. They weren't worth it. Money wasn't worth it. So she had packed what valuables she'd had, gotten hold of what possessions of her parents that she had always admired and felt a connection, and then was gone.

She lived meagrely for a time – a barista in a coffee/tea shop by day and a barmaid in a pub by night. She got little sleep, little pay, and little food after paying her taxes to the government. But she was free and making decisions for herself. It wasn't the ideal life (she had wanted to go to a university and study chemistry or pharmacy), but she wasn't living on the streets.

And then it had happened. She had been recruited. Her scores from college had been phenomenal – off the charts. If she joined Starfleet, becoming a scientist or a Chemist wouldn't be just a lost dream. They could and they would make it happen.

She'd been on the shuttle to San Francisco not even eight hours later.

And now, five years, many promotions, and a few degrees later, she was standing on what was left of the USS Freedom as it plummeted towards the Earth – Wales, if the instruments weren't mistaken.

Well, she had been meaning to visit the homeland…

"It's no use!" Captain Potter called against the wind rushing by them, "We're going to have to jump!"
"There's no way we can possibly make it, Captain!"
"Trust me, Commander, we'll make it!"
"Trust you?" she screamed. "I saw you in the Kobayashi Maru! There's no way I will ever trust you in a situation where I might die!"
"That was two years ago! Let it go!"
"IT MADE AN IMPRESSION!"
"Oh, for the love of –"

Lily was grabbed around the midsection and the next thing she knew, she had lost the floor. She was still falling, the wind was still screaming in her ears, and her heart was still racing against Death, and now she didn't even have anything solid under her feet. James had grabbed her and jumped. Staying on the Freedom offered a 25.6% chance of survival. But this… she didn't have to look at any instruments or do any calculations to know the odds.

She was going to die.

Or, if she didn't, then Captain James A Potter most certainly would.

An involuntary scream burst from Lily's lungs when suddenly her descent was slowed. They were still falling, that was a certainty, but not nearly as fast or as uncontrolled, thanks to a –

"YOU HAD A CHUTE?" she screamed, smacking his arm with the heel of her palm as hard as she could.
"Do you think I would have jumped without one?" he yelled in reply. "And stop that! Unless you want me to drop you!"
"I HATE YOU, JAMES POTTER, I HATE YOU!"
"That's Captain, James Potter, to you, Commander Evans," he said light-heartedly.

The landing left something to be desired; that was for certain. They hit the ground roughly and tumbled for several metres, the whole time becoming more and more tangled in the chute. By the time they came to a stop, they would need at least three knives and five people to cut them loose and somehow, he had ended up on top of her, his arms wrapped protectively around her shoulders and cradling her head against his chest.

"Are you alright, Lily?" he asked quietly, quickly looking over her for obvious injuries, such as broken bones or missing limbs.
"Fine. James?"
"Fine."

And then she craned her head back, her lips finding his easily. His right hand cradled the back of her head as he kissed her back. All too soon for him, however, she was pulling away.

"What was that for?" he asked.
"For being an absolutely awful git," she replied with a smile.
"You knew what you were getting into when you applied to be my first officer."
"Why do you think I did?" she asked moments before bringing his face back towards hers for another kiss. They were both breathing heavy from the adrenaline and both covered with dust, grass stains, and sweat, but they were alive, so they may as well have been in paradise, wearing elegant fabrics.