Raxsah: Hello all! We apologize for not posting sooner. I have been busy… and lazy.
Jeck: Which isn't different from any other day or chapter of the story. Although I guess I can't say anything, since I'm just as lazy if not more so.
Raxsah: So, since the next couple of weeks are about to get crazy, we figured we'd post this now. If we get the chance, we might post one after senior week and before I leave.
Jeck: If you're lucky. I'm not lucky. I fucking suck at gambling!
Raxsah: Yeah… Life just doesn't seem to be lucky lately… stupid drama…
Jeck: Preaching to the choir, my friend. And I'm sure we're not the only ones who get to enjoy the pointed side of drama's stick. Fuckin' A.
Raxsah: True… Anyway, we'd like to thank those few who added this to their favorites and alerts lists. We appreciate that.
Jeck: We take time out of our busy dramatic lies to enjoy that. The reviews especially brighten our days. Except that one bitch. She pissed us off.
Raxsah: Be nice! Everyone is entitled to their opinion. Jeez… give her the fucking fourth degree. Though, it was a bit uncalled for.
Jeck: There's a difference between "McCoy is out of character" and "your story makes me sick". Just saying. Criticism is nice, bashing is not permitted in this area. Or I'ma get out my shank. :3
Raxsah: Anyway, before we get too off topic. We hope you enjoy this chapter, and we appreciate reviews, as long as their constructive criticism. We have enough drama in our lives and don't want to deal with immature bashers on . Not enough patience in the world for that.
Jeck: Or shank-en knives. :3
Chapter 9:
The Sound of Madness
"Liam, I love you, but you need to shut up!" Claire said, placing her dinner tray on the table. Liam just giggled and sat next to Colleen, who looked a little sad.
"You love me, you just get all hot and heavy thinking about Kirk and his-"
"God, please stop mate. I don't know what you all talk about in sickbay, but here… we'd really rather not talk about that type of thing," Rupert said. Claire shot him an appreciative smile.
"Thank you, the man will not shut up," she muttered. Liam rolled his eyes and shot Alex a flirtatious smile as he sat down next to Claire.
"Hello, Alexander…" he said, his voice coated in seduction. Alex turned deathly pale and turned to Claire.
"Please go back out with me," he pleaded. She rolled her eyes.
"No." He frowned and turned to his dinner. Claire looked over to Colleen, who was moving her food around on her plate, but not eating it. "You okay?" she asked.
"Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm just… lonely, I guess," she replied. Rupert rolled his eyes, as if he knew what was going on.
"Lonely? What do you mean?" Liam asked. Colleen shrugged.
"I don't know. I've been going out with Ryan for almost five months, and with the distance between us… it's hard," she explained. Claire shot her a sympathetic smile. Though she could not relate fully to how she was feeling, she could relate to missing him.
"You should try having phone sex, works wonders on long distance relationships," Alex suggested. Claire became pale, while Colleen turned bright red.
"Oh my god, you are having phone sex with him! Is it any good?" Liam asked.
"Okay! Can we not talk about having sex with my brother? Phone sex or not, I don't want to know," Claire stated. Alex laughed and Rupert rolled his eyes. Colleen turned a bit red and frowned.
"Sorry, but… a relationship is difficult when your light-years away," Colleen said. Claire nodded and turned back to her dinner.
"I understand, kind of. Trying to stay close to Ryan while he's busy with boot camp is hard," Claire said while pushing her own mashed potatoes across her plate.
"He asks about you a lot when I talk to him," Colleen offered, realizing that her own sadness about the situation had caused Claire's mind to wonder to it as well.
"Dude, I really hope it's not during the phone sex," Alex said as he tried to shove half a steak into his mouth. Rupert dropped his fork, his face turning red as Colleen picked up her tray and walked away. Liam was giggling madly as Claire glared at Alex, her hand holding her fork was shaking.
"She's going to kick your ass, man!" Liam cried out as Claire picked up her tray, her dinner spilling everywhere, and leaned over to smack Alex upside the head with her tray. Someone coughed from the side of the table and everyone turned to Oliver.
"This would be a lot more fun if you guys weren't forcing me to take my meds," he stated, taking Colleen's seat.
"If we didn't force you to take your meds, you'd be bugging out right about now," Liam told him. Oliver nodded and watched as Claire glared at Alex, who was rubbing the side of his head.
"What the fuck?" he hissed. She glared at him and crossed her arms.
"You are just a complete asshole!" she snapped. Oliver raised his eyebrows and glanced back at Rupert.
"Are they always like this?" he asked. Rupert shrugged.
"More or less, usually there is pudding involved," he said.
"You can't just hit people with fucking trays!"
"No, but I can kick your ass, what the hell are you-"
"Oh look, the away team is back!" Liam said. The table paused as they watched the three senior officers walk into the cafeteria. All of them, except for Spock, looked quite tired and a little worn.
"Jesus, did they do reconnaissance, or did they run a marathon?" Alex asked. Liam smirked widely and nudged Claire.
"I told you, one giant orgy," he whispered. She rolled her eyes.
"Shut up, you are so immature," she hissed. She took a bite of her dinner and glanced up. She did not fail to take notice that Jim looked a little troubled, and contributed it to the lack of sleep he must have gotten.
"Is it just me, or does Kirk seem a little… out of it?" She asked. Alex shrugged and grabbed her dessert.
"I don't know, I don't pay attention to him. Apparently, you are the only one who takes time to actually watch him every minute of every day." Claire rolled her eyes. She saw Jim glance over, and for the first time in a long time, a flirtatious smirk was not plastered on his lips. Instead, a look of concentration was etched on his gorgeous face, and he quickly looked away.
"He looks really troubled…" Claire said, mostly to herself. Part of her could not believe that something could get under his skin, as it appeared to be now. Even while his crew was under attack by the rouge Starfleet members, he was determined and calm. Now he looked distressed and unsure. Claire hated to admit it, but it was kind of irking her.
"I'm the one who got smacked upside the head with your tray. I'm the one who should be troubled!" Alex snapped, causing the whole table to glare at him. Claire turned back to Kirk, but he was gone.
"You're just mentally disturbed," Claire shot back.
"I am too…" Oliver mumbled to himself as he began making a snowman out of the mashed potatoes that lay untouched on his tray, but no one paid any attention to him.
"I'm not above taking advantage of him," Liam purred, scooting closer to Alex who scooted closer to Claire to get away.
"I think I'm done, unless Claire plans on giving me her pudding." Without a word, Claire slid her pudding to him.
"He really doesn't deserve your pudding, Claire," Rupert pointed out, but Alex stuck out his tongue.
"You're just jealous because I'm Claire's pudding buddy. Man, I love pudding," Alex said happily, shoving his spoon into the cup of chocolate pudding.
"Oh yes, I'm so jealous. I normally just give my pudding to Oliver because I can't eat chocolate." Oliver happily grabbed the pudding off Rupert's tray and began using it to create hair for his snowman.
"That really sucks, Rupert. I'd go crazy if I couldn't eat chocolate," Claire stated as she watched Oliver concentrate on perfecting his food snowman.
"I'd go crazy if I couldn't eat pudding. Hey Liam, can I have your pudding?" Alex asked, placing his empty pudding cup next to the one he had gotten with his own dinner. Liam gave him a devious smile and leaned closer to Alex.
"If by pudding you mean my man juices, then yes. You can have my pudding all night long," he cooed in Alex's ear, who jumped up from his seat. His boot got caught on his seat and he fell to the ground with a painful thud.
"I-I'll see you g-guys l-later," he stuttered, scrambling to his feet and practically running out of the room. Claire paused before hysterically laughing, causing the rest of the table to do the same.
"You guys crack me up, you don't even know!"
"Liam, I need you to make sure Rocky is fed, I'm working graveyard shift with Alex tonight, so I can't stop by to feed him," Claire said. It was late at night, and most doctors had already taken off, including Doctor McCoy.
"I'll trade shifts with you," Liam said. She paused and sent him a knowing look.
"Liam…" he sighed.
"Alright, I'll feed your dog. Make sure you don't work yourself to death," he told her. She nodded and sat down at the main desk. Liam left and she was left practically alone. Alex was working, but by this time, he was probably passed out on a patient's bed. Claire ran a hand through her hair, happy that she got a chance to take a shower before her shift, and went to her work. Not even thirty minutes later, the doors opened and Kirk walked in. He froze for a second when he saw her, but walked over anyway.
"Is Bones in?" he asked. She shook her head.
"No, he decided to take the night off to catch up on sleep. Apparently he had trouble sleeping during the away mission," she answered. She did not fail to notice Kirk's cheeks tinting a very light shade of red, but ignored it.
"Damn, that's a shame," he muttered. Claire leaned forward a bit and looked up into his blue eyes.
"Jim… are you alright? You look a little worn," she told him. He paused, his eyes tracing over her face before speaking.
"I had a dream about you last night," he said. She blinked and shook her head, as if she was having a hard time hearing him.
"I'm sorry?" she asked.
"I had a dream about you last night, that's why I'm a little tired." She turned red looked away.
"Oh. By dream, you mean that you were having a dream about some random event and I happened to be there in the background. Right?" she asked.
"No… it was more like, you and I were in a room together with hardly any clothes on," he answered. Her face seemed to turn several shades darker than normal, and she had the urge to bury her face in her hands.
"Oh… that's… nice…" there was a silence before Kirk walked around and sat on the desk next to her.
"Come on, tell me the truth… why won't you just say yes to a date with me?" he asked.
"Captain, I-"
"Claire… please, let's just be honest with each other," he pleaded. She stood up, so she would be level with him, and took a deep breath.
"You really want to know why?" she asked. He nodded.
"Yeah, I do," he said. She paused before she spoke.
"It's just about the chase. That's all. It's all about the fact that I keep saying no, and that drives you crazy. If I say yes, and we do things your way, we'll go on a few dates, have sex, and you'll end up breaking up with me within a week. And I can't do that. I've been hurt too much in the past to have that type of relationship. My heart can't afford to be used than dumped." She stopped for a second, and they just stared at each other intensely for a second before she spoke again.
"I really do like you, a lot more than I should. But until it's more than the chase for you, I'm just going to keep saying no. So, if it's more than just the fact that you want me because I keep saying no, tell me now. If that's not the case, I would just give up and go for someone else. Because I'm too scared to let my heart get broken again," she said. There was a long silence before she turned around and walked toward a patient, leaving Jim alone back at the table to stare at her receding form.
"Are you positive?" Nurse Chapel asked. Claire nodded as she glanced down at Riley.
"He said take him off the sedatives. He's been under them too long, any longer and they will start effecting his health." Nurse Chapel nodded and pressed a few buttons on his monitor. After a second, Nurse Chapel looked back at Claire.
"It'll take about an hour before he will wake up, do you want me to stay with him?" she asked. Claire shook her head.
"No, I'll stay. I'll call you when he wakes up," she said. Chapel nodded and walked off to another patient, while Claire sat down in a chair near his bed and let her mind wander.
She was a bit worried about how the man would react when he woke up. There was a chance that he would wake up fine, a little sad, but all around fine. Then, there was also a chance that he could wake up, completely depressed, and maybe even loose the will to live. Lastly, there was the slight chance the man could wake up and feel nothing but anger, since he was sedated when he was angry. She wasn't sure which one was worse, but she knew that if he woke up angry, he was a danger to himself, and especially everyone around him. If that was the case, he would probably need to be secluded in order not to hurt anyone. She only hoped Jim Kirk was as far away from sickbay as possible.
Jim Kirk. Even his name was enough to put her in a bad mood. Ever since he had come down to sickbay that night, he had been sure to stay clear of her. She didn't see him in sickbay, nor in the cafeteria, he was careful not to run into her at all. A part of her was relieved, yet another part of her was disappointed. A part of her wanted him to leave her the hell alone, yet another part of her wanted him to convince her to spend the night with him, or something to that effect.
The sound of someone stirring made her abandon her thoughts and glance down at the bed, to see Riley beginning to wake up.
"Chapel!" she called. Christine ran over and looked down at the man, her eyebrows furrowing.
"He's not supposed to be up for another forty minutes," she said.
"Well, obviously he's waking up…" Claire said in panic as Riley's eyes slowly blinked opened. His confused hazel eyes stared up into her concerned grey eyes.
"What do we do, Dr. Conaway?" Nurse Chapel asked as she checked Riley's vitals.
"I don't really know… is he okay?" Claire asked, as she grabbed his wrist to check his pulse.
"His vitals appear to be fine," Nurse Chapel replied as her eyes rapidly scanned his machine.
"Where am I?" Riley asked, causing both Claire and Nurse Chapel to jump. His voice was weak and his eyes searched the room.
"You're in sickbay, Riley," Claire informed him as he tried to sit up. Claire tried to keep him laying down, but he grabbed onto her arm and pulled himself up.
"Where is my wife?" He asked in a hoarse voice. Claire looked up at Nurse Chapel, unsure of what to say.
"Mr. Kline, please calm…" Chapel said as she tried to push him back down, but he shoved her away.
"Don't tell me what to do, where is my wife?" He yelled, turning to Claire for the answer. Claire ran a hand through her hair as she realized that she was going to be in charge for ruining Riley's life a second time.
"Riley… she didn't make it off the ship…" There was a pause for a very long time as Riley let the information sank in.
"I… I remember…" Just as the words left Riley mouth, Dr. McCoy and Kirk walked back into the room.
"Nurse Chapel paged me that you were taking him off the- oh… you're awake, Riley," McCoy said as he walked up to Riley's bed. Riley didn't move or say anything as his eyes locked onto Kirk. Claire had to stifle a gasp of pain as his grip on her arm tightened.
"Riley…" Kirk said, a little unsure. Riley said nothing, but if his grip on her arm got any tighter, she would need a new one.
"Mr. Kline…" Chapel said, looking at his heart rate, which was climbing a bit.
"Get him out of here," Riley hissed. Even Claire had to flinch at the harshness of his tone. Kirk frowned, hearing his friend's obvious animosity with him.
"Riley… I'm so sorry," Jim said. Riley didn't move, but his grip tightened and Claire actually did give out a small cry of pain, causing everyone's eyes to land on her.
"His heart rate is climbing, Doctor McCoy," Nurse Chapel said. McCoy nodded and made his way over to the medicine cabinet. Jim just watched as Riley's hazel eyes glared at him, while his grip on Claire's arm seemed to unrelenting.
"Get out," Riley hissed.
"I went back for her, I just-"
"GET OUT!" Riley shouted. Kirk took a step back, but didn't leave.
"Riley…" Claire turned to him.
"Get out, you're making things worse," she hissed. He looked at her, then back to Riley. When he didn't leave, Riley tried to stand up, his heart rate elevating. Claire tried to push him back down, but had having much difficulty doing so. Eventually Kirk turned around and left, not being able to bear to see his friend like this much longer.
"We need some restraints," Chapel called. McCoy tried to help Claire hold Riley down, but Riley elbow McCoy in the face and caused him to fall back into Nurse Chapel.
"Riley, stop!" Claire called, trying to hold Riley back. Riley turned to Claire and back handed her. Claire felt the sharp pain as flesh smacked flesh and felt backwards onto a patient bed besides Riley. Riley threw the sheets off his bed and struggled to get to his feet. Claire looked up to see McCoy jumping to his feet.
"Nurse Chapel, get Alex!" McCoy yelled as he dove across the bed to tackle Riley, but Riley shrugged the man off and kicked his fallen body in the stomach. Nurse Chapel paged Alex who came running into the room. Claire watched helplessly as Alex tried to force Riley back, but Riley was much stronger than the doctor.
"I will not be stopped!" Riley screamed as he head butted Alex and kicked the smaller man's feet out. Alex fell to the ground and Riley took off running before anyone else could stop him.
"Someone notify security. We have a real problem on our hands!" McCoy yelled as he struggled to his feet. Blood was pouring down his face from where Riley elbowed him.
"Dr. McCoy, you need help…" Nurse Chapel said, running to his side, but he pushed her aside and turned to Claire.
"What happened?" He demanded.
"He didn't remember Amy's death at first… I had to remind him of it and he freaked out," Claire explained as Alex got to his feet.
"I'll get security," Alex stated as he ran out of the room.
"For fucks sake, what were you thinking?" McCoy snapped. Claire pushed herself up and absentmindedly rubbed her cheek.
"He needed to know, he would've remembered eventually," she argued. McCoy sighed and glared at her angrily.
"Stupid… so stupid. Go and find him, I'll alert the captain." Claire didn't say anything as she walked out of sickbay, her hand still on her cheek. Before she could get three feet away, she almost ran into Jim.
"Claire… what happened?" he asked. Claire sighed; she didn't have time to chat.
"He escaped, he's somewhere around the ship," she told him. Before she could walk away, he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to get a look at her cheek.
"Claire…" she pulled away.
"I have to go," she told him, walking toward the lift and hitting a random button, hoping she could find Riley soon.
Claire was sure that whoever made this ship, intended it to be a maze just to screw around with its crewmen. She felt like she had searched half the ship, and had heard no news of Riley at all. She had been in engineering, and had been told that Riley was there, but was now gone. The man was sneaky, she'd give him that. She was now checking out the shuttle bays, making sure that he wasn't hiding in there. She entered the first and noticed the lights had already been turned on.
"Riley!" she called. She got no answer and decided to venture farther into the bay. She heard a noise and looked over, catching him as he hid behind a pile of cargo boxes. She pulled out her communicator immediately.
"Security, we have a hostile patient in shuttle bay three, report immediately," she said. She didn't bother to hear the answer as she closed her communicator and took a step forward. Just as she did, the doors opened and Alex walked up to her.
"You found him?" he asked. She nodded and they both walked over to where they saw him run. When they turned at the corner to meet him, they both stopped short when they saw him standing in front of them, a phaser in hand.
"Riley…" Claire whispered.
"You knew what he did, yet he still is walking around free," Riley hissed. Claire froze and glanced at Alex, who was watching him carefully.
"Riley… it was an accident; there was nothing he could-"
"Shut up!" Riley hissed at him. His hand was shaking slightly as he held the phaser out. His eyes had gone from a sweet hazel to an angry light brown. Claire took a hesitant step closer.
"She wanted me to tell you something before she died," Claire said, trying to calm Riley down. Riley lowered the phaser slightly.
"She did?" He asked, his eyes welling up at the thought of his loved one. Alex took a step forward as well, but Riley returned his phaser to its former position.
"It's okay, Alex," Claire said as she took a few more tentative steps towards Riley.
"What did my wife say?" Riley demanded, though a lot more curious than angry.
"She wanted me to tell you that she loved you and to move on with your life. She also said to not be mad at Jim, he did everything he could," she explained as Riley finally lowered his phaser.
"She did?" He asked weakly, as his eyes welled up once again. Claire nodded as Alex coughed from behind her.
"Claire, don't lie to him," he snapped, glaring at Riley. A tear slid down Riley's cheek as he starred at Claire in disbelief.
"What?" He asked, astonished.
"Alex, shut up!" Claire snapped as she rounded on Alex.
"You lied to me? You lied…" Riley asked, still completely shocked at Claire's words. After a second, he raised the phaser again. No longer was the hurt face of a man scorned. Now before them stood a man out for blood.
"Claire, watch out!" Alex cried, running forward to tackle Claire out of the way as Riley's finger pulled the trigger of the phaser. They hit the floor just in time as the ray of red light shot above them. Claire looked up to see Riley's retreating form entering through a shuttle craft door. Jim and Spock came around the corner behind them, obviously hearing the phaser fire.
"Shit, where is he headed?" Jim asked as he fell to the floor next to Claire and Alex.
"He prepared a shuttle for launch. He's escaping the ship!" Alex replied as Spock fly past them to the shuttle.
"We've got to stop him!" Jim cried out as he jumped to his feet and followed Spock. Claire turned to Alex.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Claire snapped as she pushed herself up onto her knees. Alex mimicked her actions as he returned the nasty glare she was sending him.
"You were lying to him! The guy is already messed up enough and you lied to him!" He yelled, watching Jim and Spock try to open the shuttle door.
"I was trying to calm him down!" she snapped. Alex rolled his eyes and they both went to help the captain and Spock, only to fall back when Riley turned on the shuttle. Kirk and Spock fell backwards and Alex shielded Claire from the shuttle as he headed for the door. Claire noticed and broke away from Alex, running toward the control panel on the wall.
"Claire!" Alex shouted. Jim's head shot up and watched as she sprinted to the wall, her blonde hair falling out of its tie. What the hell was she doing? He thought. Claire reached the panel and quickly began to type furiously, watching as a force field appeared between the group and the shuttle. The men looked at her confused until they saw Riley shoot a hole in the bay and fly out, causing all the items between the door and the force field to fly out into space. Riley then flew out of the bay and warped into space, leaving the Enterprise in the dust.
The room was silent as Kirk stood up and began to call up to the bridge. Claire didn't hear a word he said as she leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. She briefly wondered what would have happened had Riley believed her. He probably would not have taken off so soon, that was for sure.
"Claire…" she glanced over at Alex, who was looking down at her.
"What?" she hissed.
"We should head back up to sickbay," he told her. He reached out to take her arm, but she moved away from him.
"I can take myself, thank you," she hissed. He sighed and walked after her, leaving Kirk and Spock in the shuttle bay alone.
"What is your problem?" he asked.
"Why did you have to say that? We could've gotten him to sickbay just fine and none of that would've happened," she snapped.
"So you're just going to lie to the guy? How the hell does that make sense to you?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.
"I tried to tell him the truth, but he flipped out. Obviously being honest with him was not the answer," she snapped. Both of them were so into their argument, that they didn't even notice Kirk and Spock walking up to them.
"You should always be honest with your patients, always Claire," Alex snapped.
"Don't talk to me like I'm five Alex. I am honest with patients. The man was about to kill us, you really want to tell him that we couldn't save her and she died alone?" she asked. He glared at her for a minute longer before speaking.
"I'd rather be told the truth, than have someone lie to me about my dead wife," he hissed.
"Good, well when that happens to you, I'll make sure to tell you that straight away," she snapped. He stopped following her and folded his arms.
"I would be happy if you did. Yes, I would be heartbroken that I lost my wife, but I'd want to know. I'd want the doctor treating me to tell me the truth," he stated as Claire stopped as well. She turned around to face him, her face red with anger.
"Stop saying that! I did what I thought was best for this ship and for Riley. He needs help," Claire yelled as Alex just glared.
"He needed someone to be honest to him and be there for him. You lied to him," Alex stated.
"Yeah, and you lied to me about my brother being in sickbay when he was here! I had to hear it from him!" Claire snapped, her eyes welling up as she gestured to Kirk. Alex unfolded his arms and pointed to Claire.
"I was always honest with you when Ryan was rushed into sickbay. If you had shown up when I was trying to save his life, I would have been honest with you. He was going to die, Claire, but I poured everything I had into saving his life. I was too busy saving his life to inform you that we found him. If you can't be honest with someone, then what?" He snapped and trudged past her back to sickbay. Claire paused, tears forming behind her lost grey eyes.
"Spock, please head back to the bridge," Kirk instructed as he walked up next to Claire. Spock nodded and left the two of them alone. When he was gone, Kirk looked back to her, only to see her trying to wipe away the tears falling down her cheeks.
"You okay?" he asked. She nodded.
"I'm fine," she whispered. She leaned against the wall and took a deep breath in order to calm herself. She couldn't continue to cry. She had to take another minute and go back to sickbay, acting as if she hadn't had a fight with her best friend. When she finally did collect herself, she glanced up at the Captain, who was leaning on the wall across from her.
"Are you okay?" she asked. He sighed and shook his head.
"He was right…" he muttered. She frowned.
"Who?" she asked, though she already knew the answer.
"Riley…" Claire sighed and pushed herself off the wall and walked over to the wall, leaning against it for support next to him.
"Why?" she asked. He looked at her, his eyebrows furrowing.
"I'm sorry?" he asked.
"Why is he right?" Kirk paused as he thought it over.
"I didn't save her," he answered.
"You got caught in an explosion, how were you supposed to save her if you were unconscious?" she asked. He paused before shrugging.
"I don't know…" they sat in silence for a minute before he spoke. "I let him down… I let one of my best friends down," he said. She looked down at the floor.
"Everyone let's someone down eventually. People have expectations of us, and sometimes we just can't meet them, no matter how hard we try," she told him.
"I killed his-"
"You didn't do anything… everyone knows that if you could've, you would've saved her. You can't do it all, no matter how much you try to. Stop feeling sorry for yourself and do something about it. Go after him, try harder next time. Don't sit around and sob about stuff that you have no control over," she told him, looking up to meet his eyes. He just stared at her for a moment before a small smirk made its way to his lips.
"Way to be so forward," he said. She gave a small laugh and rolled her eyes.
"Hi pot, this is kettle, just calling to let you know… you're black," she said. He laughed and pushed himself off the wall, only to position himself right in front of her. She felt her heartbeat quicken as he moved closer. She suddenly felt as if she would be nauseous, but she was sure that was just the butterflies in her stomach going off.
"Thank you," he whispered, his mint fresh breath hitting her face, like feathers caught in a strong breeze.
"O-Of course. What are friends for?" she asked, stuttering at first. He didn't frown, but he was no longer smirking either.
"Just friends… nothing more?" he asked. He leaned his head down, and she lost her breath.
"You know my position on that," she whispered. He raised a hand to stroke her cheek, and she felt as if her skin was on fire.
"I know…" he muttered.
"Do you have an answer?" she asked. He paused for a minute, his eyes searching over her face. The suspense was causing her heart to clench, and if she was stuck another moment without him saying anything, she was going to go crazy.
Without warning, he leaned forward, his lips hovering just centimeters above her own. His breath hit her lips, and she felt waves of excitement rush through her body, and they hadn't even kissed.
"No… I don't…" he muttered. She said nothing as he leaned down even more, and his lips pressed softly against hers. The moment they touched, she was positive that fireworks were going on in the background. His lips moved slowly against hers, and the only thing she could think of was how soft and warm his lips were. Her mind couldn't process anything, and before she knew it, her hands reached up, one intertwined in his dark blonde hair, and the other on his cheek.
His own hand dropped down to the back of her neck, pulling her lips a bit closer to him. His other hand was around her waist, making it impossible for her to pull away. She felt his tongue lick her lower lip lightly, and she responded by opening her mouth and letting his tongue explore her taste. She briefly enjoyed his own taste before he pulled away suddenly, causing her to gasp for breath. Before she could reply, he leaned in once more and gave her a quick, but sensual, kiss.
"Jim…" she whispered. He pulled away from her and let his hand caress her cheek for a moment.
"Captain Kirk…" A voice called. He sighed and pulled even farther away from her.
"Yes," he answered.
"You are needed on the bridge sir," he nodded.
"Be right there…" he answered. The two of them stood in silence before he rubbed the back of his head. "I'm sorry…" he muttered before walking off and leaving her in the middle of the hallway to collect her thoughts.
"Liam, we need to have a girl's night! I need to talk to you!" Claire demanded as she rushed into sickbay. Alex stood in the corner with a patient, glaring at Claire out of the corner of his eye. Liam looked up from his computer and walked over to Claire with a quick glance towards Alex.
"Would it have anything to do with the nasty glare that Alex is sending you?" He asked, pulling up a chair to face the distressed blonde.
"No, more along the lines of Jim's lips on mine kind of drama," she explained in panicked tone. Liam smiled.
"Really? That's great news! I don't understand why you seem so depressed about it," Liam stated as Claire ran both her hands through her hair.
"I'll explain it to you later, not here. I don't want any nosey assholes interrupting," she stated with a glance at Alex. Alex dropped his patient's chart on the bed, startling the engineer on the bed, and turned to her.
"I can hear every word you just said," he snapped. She crossed her arms and glared at him.
"What are you going to do about it?" she hissed. He walked up to her, his glare never faltering.
"You are a pain in the ass, you know that," he snapped.
"Guys, what's going on?" Liam asked.
"She's a fucking liar!" Alex snapped.
"I tried to tell him the truth, and he ended up flipping out on us. How the hell were you going to stop him?" she snapped. He just glared at her.
"You were wrong, and I'm not going to forgive you until you apologize," he hissed. They stood in a long silence before Claire finally gave a heavy sigh. Right now, the last thing she needed was to be in a fight with her best friend. She didn't think she was at all wrong, but he didn't need to know that.
"You're right," she whispered. Alex seemed a little shocked.
"Are… What?" he asked.
"You're right. It was wrong of me to lie, I'm sorry I yelled at you. Can you forgive me?" she asked. He paused before absentmindedly nodding.
"Sure… I have to get back to work. I'll catch up with you later." Claire smiled and watched him walk away. Liam raised an eyebrow and glanced at her.
"Did you just… you really think he's right?" he asked. She rolled her eyes.
"Of course not! I'm just… I'm so tired of fighting," she muttered. Liam paused.
"So you just lied to him? Confirming his accusation that you're a liar?" He asked. Claire shook her head at his statement.
"It wasn't so much that I lied, as much as me just trying to stop fighting with him," Claire defended as Liam rolled his eyes.
"Whatever you say. So shall we have a girl's night tonight at your room? We can play with Rocky and do each other's nails. Besides, I need to take some more medical shirts out of your closest," Claire nodded absentmindedly as Liam rambled off, turning to go do her own work. Just as she was about to pick up a patient's chart, she froze.
"Wait, you're the one who keeps stealing my shirts? I thought it was Rocky hiding them!" Liam scratched the back of his head nervously.
"I have no idea what you're talking about! I'll uh… see you later tonight!" He cried out as he ran into the other room, leaving Claire behind.
"Liam! LIAM! GET YOUR FLAMBOYANT ASS BACK HERE!"
"Hey, you three. Get over here!" Dr. McCoy called as he entered sickbay from his office. Claire, Alex, and Liam rushed over to the head doctor and waited patiently as he cleared his throat.
"What's up?" Alex asked. McCoy glared at him.
"Chambers, you're on graveyard shift tonight. Now, I just heard from the bridge that we're departing back to earth. After half our security team got wiped out on that away mission to that old Starfleet base, we need more crew members."
"So what does that have to do with us?" Liam asked.
"It means, that you won't have as much shore leave as you would like… you'll have to do a ton of physicals and good stuff like that. Peterson, Conaway, take the night off. We should be back at earth tomorrow. Get some rest," he said.
"Wait… why do they get the night off?" Alex asked.
"Because I said so, now shut up and get to work," he snapped. Alex sighed and turned back to his patient, while Claire and Liam said a quick goodbye and walked down the hall, stopping and waiting for the lift.
"So… what should we do tonight?" Claire sighed and ran a hand through her hair.
"I don't know. I'm so stressed and tired," she muttered. Liam raised an eyebrow.
"About Kirk?" he asked. She nodded and they bother entered the lift.
"I just… I'm so confused. I was not expecting him to kiss me like that, let alone to kiss him back so eagerly." Liam frowned.
"Claire… why would it be such a problem for you to just have a quick relationship with him?" he asked. She didn't answer as the doors opened and they headed to her room. She opened the door and almost fell back as Rocky jumped up and placed his front paws on her. He was much bigger than he was a few months ago, and Claire was sure he'd been in need of a new cage.
"Okay, what I'm about to tell you stays within these walls. Is that understood?" Claire asked as she kicked her boots off and headed for her head. Liam walked over to Claire's closest after giving Rocky a scratch behind the ear.
"You know me, Claire-bear; I can keep your secret a secret!" He declared, ripping the door of her closest open.
"That's what I'm afraid of," she mumbled as she let herself fall backwards onto her bed. The bed squealed under her weight, but the sheets were soft, warm, and oh-so-welcoming.
"So spill." Claire looked up to see Liam holding up her medical shirts up to his body and looking at himself in the mirror.
"I… was in a relationship with this guy a few years ago. It started right before we started at the academy. Darren, well, he didn't like the idea of me leaving him to go into space. He ended up picking a lot of fights with me and after a while, the fights turned pretty one-sided," she explained, nervously playing with the hem of her shirt. Liam looked up from trying on her shirts to see the nostalgic look in her eyes.
"Go on," he encouraged, setting the shirt in his hands down as he crossed the room to her bed. Claire didn't even bat an eyelash as the bed sank under his weight. She was too absorbed in her own thoughts to even acknowledge his presence.
"He just… I don't know. He started off so nice. He was charming, kind; sweet… it was hard to say no to him. He was my first serious boyfriend, my first sexual experience…" She said. Liam raised an eyebrow.
"You don't sound like you're too happy about it," he said. She sighed.
"We'd only been dating about two months before he convinced me that he needed to 'express' his love for me. I wasn't too sure about taking the next step, it just seemed so soon. He convinced me that if I didn't have sex with him, he wouldn't be able to love me, thus no one else would be able to love me. So I gave in…" there was a silence between them, where Liam just watched her carefully.
"Claire…"
"You know… most girls remember their first time being romantic. They remember the guy being sweet and caring. I just remember the pain, I remember the pain and waking up alone," Claire whispered. Liam watched as her eyes seem to glaze over, and he thought she was in a distant world for a moment.
"Did he leave you?" he asked. She shook her head.
"No… we were together for almost a year after that. Of course, there was a lot more sex. It eventually got better, and the sex didn't seem like such a bad thing, but there was nothing else. Just sex, and pretty much him controlling me every chance he got. When I didn't listen to him, he just told me how much of a bitch I was and how lucky I was to have a man like him, who could deal with my bullshit."
"Did you realize he was…?" Liam railed off and Claire looked at him.
"Abusive? No… I didn't realize until…" this time she trailed off, and she felt tears weld up in her eyes.
"Until what?" Claire took a deep breath and wiped away a few tears.
"I thought I was pregnant, it turns out I wasn't, but I was a bit late and I needed him to go with me to take a pregnancy test. Of course, he didn't like that, and we were already fighting because of crap with his and my parents. We were in front of his friend's apartment building and arguing. He wanted me to get rid of it, and I didn't. So he shoved me down two flights of stairs," Claire stopped, letting her mind wander once again.
"Oh my god…" Liam's jaw fell open as Claire nodded, struggling to fight back the tears that were brought up at the memory.
"Needless to say, Ryan was flipping shit when he found out. I was in the hospital for a few days because they thought that I might have had brain damage. Thankfully I was fine and got my period a few days later, signaling that I wasn't pregnant at all," she finished, wiping away at her eyes again. Liam laid down next to Claire and slung an arm across her stomach.
"I'm sorry, babe. That explains a lot of things about you and about Ryan too. That's why he was all overprotective and stuff, right?" He asked, pulling Claire closer to him. She leaned into his comforting hug and laid her head upon his shoulder.
"Yeah, he was always afraid that I'd get myself in another one of those relationships. I was too, actually, but I was still open to a relationship with a guy. But Jim…" Clair trailed off, her eyes glued to the ceiling.
"Yeah, Kirk isn't really the kind of guy that girl's like you would want a boyfriend to be like." She nodded.
"Yeah… but it's just… That kiss," she mumbled.
"What about it?" he asked. She sighed.
"It was… perfect. I felt like I was taking my first breath of fresh air. I've never felt so out of breath until that kiss," she told him. Liam frowned.
"You got it bad, Claire…" he told her.
"I know… but it's just… there is something about him. Just looking at him makes my stomach set off a ton of butterflies. His eyes make me want to melt, his smile makes my knees week. He can be so kind and sweet. He can make me laugh at the stupidest of things. He's the only guy who has made my heart beat faster and slower at the same time…" Liam sighed and patted her shoulder.
"Oh Claire… you have it so bad, I'm surprised you've made it this long," Liam said.
"I know… hopefully shore leave will give me time to clear my head," she muttered.
"I hope so, for both your sakes…"
Jeck:
You like, readers? I like. You like, Raxsah?Raxsah: Oh yeah, readers are awesome… you know what amazing? Reviews…
Jeck: You know what's more awesome than that? Well, other then random gropings, that is.
Raxsah: Uh… no… I don't.
Jeck: That doesn't constitute as a guess. Thanks for playing along buddy. Anyway, review reply time!
Cigarette Games
Jeck: Well, congratulations on jizzing in your pants. I'm sure your pants appreciate that a whole lot. I'm glad you're enjoying the story so far and I think you'll continue to enjoy it, seeing as we're actually almost done the story.
Raxsah: I'm glad you like it. I hope the story made you smile at least a little. :D We will be sure to keep it up. Though perfection is a bit much, the compliment is appreciated. I'd say we're almost perfect.
Parallel Days
Raxsah: I'm glad you like this chapter. I can't wait to see the reaction to my favorite chapter. Lol. I'm glad you can picture everything in your head clearly, I was a little worried I was being too vague.
Jeck: First, I just want to thank you for being such a loyal reader/reviewer. It makes me happy. Plenty of humor and good moments to come, so keep reading. We enjoy it. :3
Morgan
Jeck: Now this would be the review I wanted to reply to. Raxsah, I'm sure, wants to explain the reason why McCoy is an asshole, but I have to put my two cents in. First off, your opinion is welcomed, but not in a hostile way. Saying that our story makes you sick? Well then why are you reading it? We don't need your bashing. Your comment would have been fine without that last part. We'd appreciate it if we received no more comments like that. Okay? Thanks. :3
Raxsah: There is a reason McCoy comes off as an asshole. Number 1: we're going off of the Alternate Timeline McCoy, who came off as a bit of an asshole. 2: You have to realize you are seeing McCoy through Claire's POV, and Claire is a bit spoiled and is not used to having someone being so strict with her. So, from a spoiled brats POV, McCoy would be an asshole. 3: McCoy is being hard on her because he's running a sickbay, and if you screw up there, someone dies. He does get a bit better the more you read. The fact that you made it to chapter four and stopped is just sad. If you bothered to read further, than you would see he does get a bit better. Claire still thinks he's an asshole though.
amberhathaway
Raxsah: Glad you liked it. I thought the ending was great too. That's what comes up after mass amounts of sugar, and sitting at the heart to heart table talking about random shit. Hahahaaa
Jeck: Sadly, the heart to heart table is gone. But the random funny shit will continue to live on, so continue to read on. We is funny.
Lilly Romanov
Jeck: Raxsah was the one who really created Liam. And Claire for that matter. However, I am the one behind pudding cups. Don't worry, pudding cups have some drama in the future, so keep reading. Actually, so does Liam and Claire. Anyway, keep reading. :3
Raxsah: Funny what stuff comes up when your best friend get's her wisdom teeth pulled and your stuck listening to her talk about her favorite pudding cup while on drugs. Hashanah. Liam is one of my favorites too. We're glad you liked it. I'm glad you don't think Claire is a Mary-sue… it's hard for me to not make those.
Raxsah: Alright, since we're pressed for time, we'll say a quick goodbye and ask for more reviews.
Jeck: Yeah, we're quick and easy today. Next time though, you might not be so lucky. ;3 Later all!