Alternative Universe

She said she would go through the gates of hell and back for him and he couldn't help but think how would have been if they met earlier in life. She probably would be the girl next door, recently moved into the Jones' old farm. They wouldn't have met at first, but only on Monday when the pre-school started. The children in his class would be mocking him because of his high IQ and his absent father and she would shoo them away with threats and some fisst. And then, they would fight because he didn't need a girl to defend him, really didn't.

But the problem was that Jim Kirk was antisocial child so then the only person who was brave enough to approach him was the new girl. And man she was stubborn. It didn't help that both seemed to be equally stubborn.

They started to stuck together because they seemed to have the same problem: one dead parent and the other was always away from home. But she was lucky, she had a kind nanny to take care of her. He had Frank, and man how he hated him. Hated him enough to fight with his fists against him, even if he was so small that he didn't stand a chance against the man, but he always could scream. And scream he did and Selece came to his rescue again, like in pre-school, and broke Frank's jaw. Jim was stunned. She was just a little girl and when she smiled at him and explained why she could do what she did he started do call her "his warrior goddess".

And the fights keep going. Sometimes Sam would come to his rescue, other times Jim would just run away to his best friend's house seeking for refuge. But one day Sam got sick and tired of that and decided to be the one to run away. Jim only stood on the road watching his brother leave and getting more mad by the seconds. It was all Frank's fault and he should suffer like he was suffering. So he stole the red Corvette and drove.

Drove until the cop asked him to stop and he didn't. Drove until he saw the cliff ahead and smiled, because he could end everything now, he could be free, but something, in the last minute, made him change his mind. And he found out what when he saw himself in the police station and a crying Selece came to him and slapped him... Hard. He got a bruise that stayed in his left cheek for weeks as a reminder of how stupid he was.

And the red Corvette incident finally brought his mother attention to him. And her disappointment. He couldn't understand why she was so disappointed. She was the reason for that family to be falling apart but was incapable to see that. And so, as a brilliant solution, she decided to send him to Tarsus IV. It would do him some good, a new scenario and new friends. He protested, vehemently, he didn't need a new friend, he had Selece and Selece also didn't like the idea. But her father agreed that they should spend some time apart. Jim was becoming a troublemaker and a bad influence for his little girl. But they still talked, every week, for hours no end and Jim was happy, he truly was happy even if he missed her a lot and she was happy for him.

And then the fungus came, the famine came, Kodo came. All the communications were cut and they were isolated from any form of outside contact. Isolated to die. And Jim saw himself fighting again, fighting for his life, for other children's life, and wishing that Selece was beside him. And after this thought he would feel guilt because she didn't deserve what he was going through. But sometimes, only sometimes, when the despair was big enough, when the little ones were crying with hunger, he let himself to be selfish again and wish she was there.

And then the Starfleet came, came to save everyone who survived the genocide. Came to take them home and Jim was back do Iowa to a crying mother and to a house minus Frank, thank goodness. He was back with hate and nightmares and coldness. His mother tried to talk to him with no success, the school counselors tried to help in vain... Selece tried to help, she tried to talk, tried and tried while ignoring the screams to leave him alone. And he was angry because now she wanted to make amends, but she wasn't there when he needed her most, when he wished with every fiber of his being for her. And he screamed more, and pushed her away and said things he really didn't mean but the rage was blinding him and changing his words.

And he made her cry. Selece cried, tears of pity, tears of rage, and reacted with the only way she knew. She broke his nose and screamed back for him to stop being so stupid because the worst had passed and he was there, with them. He was a survivor, because Destiny has decided that it still needed him for something big. He still needs to prove that he was something more than George Kirk's kid. With that Jim's rage was gone and he was back to be the same rebellious kid from before. The nightmares also were gone.

They were each other first sexual experience. It was awkward, messy and they laughed a lot of each other when it ended. After that they never shared a bed again if wasn't only to sleep. Jim beat to a bloody pulp the first boy who broke Selece's heart. Selece threatened with horrific scenarios the first girl that used Jim just because he was the son of a hero. She was there when he graduated at high school only to say how proud she was of him. She was there to save his ass from the bar fights and sometimes she would join him, and she let him sleep away his hangover in her bedroom, far away from her father's ears and eyes.

She was the first one that he ran to when Christopher Pike appeared. It was another night of drinks, another fight and Chris really had a loud whistle. And he challenged him, challenged Jim to be something better, something great, and he couldn't say no. As also Selece. The moment he said that he was joining Starfleet her only answer was that she was going with him. And he let her because it was what he wanted, he was being selfish and wasn't giving a damn. And then they met Bones and suddenly he saw himself with something he never had: a family.

Damn, he thought one day, but Selece really acted like she was his mother and Bones like his father. And he didn't give a damn, because he like it. He would never confess, but he loved it. Finally somebody cared. Cared enough to advice him it was a bad idea to take the Kobayashi Maru for the third time, cared enough to sneak him into the Enterprise. Cared enough to be there.

"I would go through the gates of hell and back for you Jim." She said to him once, and she kept her promise. Now that everything was calm, that the Enterprise was limping back to Earth after defeating Nero, he couldn't help but think how true she was.

"Captain?" The call made him snap out of his thoughts and turn his eyes away from the passing stars to the beautiful woman at the door.

"I'm not the Captain." He protested and she smiled, walking to Jim and seating in front of him.

"Pike is still unconscious and Spock emotionally compromised. So I think you still have the post."

"Bones sent you, didn't he?"

"Well, I don't blame him. It will be need the strength of ten men to drag you to the sickbay. And I am these men."

"Worrywart."

"He has his reasons. You were strangled, marooned and had to fight angry romulans twice. Even me would have some aches here and there."

"Not him... You." Selece blinked repeatedly and Jim smiled, having caught her in her mother hen mode again.

"I'm proud of you Jim." She said after some minutes in silence and Jim felt a warm emotion run through his body with these words.

"And I thank you... For being there."

"You're welcome." More silence. "Now, what were you thinking when I came here?" It was Jim's turn to blink repeatedly.

"How would have been if we met earlier." Selece smiled.

"I don't know, maybe you would have been a pain in the ass... But we still would be friends." She got up and caressed his face with her fingertips. "We went through hell and back, didn't we?"

"Yes... But I'll always be invincible if I have you with me." She smiled.

"So I shall to always be by your side my friend. Always."