The attention-grabbing clearing of a throat finally made Alice remove her focus from the task at hand. She looked up from the document on her PADD she had been furiously been working away at. The essay was due tomorrow, and while she had, had the outline for it typed up for the past week, she had yet to make it acceptable to turn in. Last night was when she had planned on completing it, but one thing led to another and now she was just trying to crunch it out as quickly as she possibly could.

Jim's crystal blue eyes watched her from across the table. He had been there for a while, but after seeing how busy she was, had thankfully remained silent, working on whatever projects he had due. But he now stared at her, the clear pools of his eyes holding questioning depths.

"What is it, Jim?" Alice hummed, hiding her slight annoyance as she added the finishing touches onto one of her sentences.

"You've grown up around the academy, right? Your father being some hotshot faculty member or donor and all."

"Yes," she answered, frowning apprehensively, wondering where this was going.

"Is it normal for there to be a curfew enforced on campus?"

Ah, yes, Alice thought drolly, the curfew. Command had established it a week after the gala and it had now been in effect for three weeks. It stated that cadets weren't allowed to roam campus alone past 7:00pm alone, and if they were traveling after 7:00pm it was only permitted if there was one or more other cadets or instructors accompanying them. It was damned annoying and made life at the Academy even more arduous, especially since it meant that either Jim or Leonard would have to escort her off campus if she stayed in the library studying too late.

But no, it wasn't normal; and when Alice said as much, Jim only nodded, looking back down at his PADD, though his mind was clearly lightyears away from whatever was on the screen.

"Jim, you look like you're about to have an aneurysm," Alice said, drawing him from his thoughts. "And while, as your friend, I wouldn't mind dragging you to the hospital again, I really need to finish this essay."

"I'm sorry," Jim said, giving her a fake wolfish smile. "I was just thinking."

"I know. That's the problem," she teased him, giving him an honest smile in an attempt to draw whatever was plaguing his mind out.

"It's just…" he started. "The whole buddy system after dark… It's what you tell kids to do to stay safe. Or it's something you tell a populace to do when there is a threat at large. But command has offered no explanation about the curfew, and there isn't anything in the news about any kind of crime or threat."

Alice frowned. The same trail of thought had come to her mind as well after the first couple of days into the curfew. "You're thinking that the Federation is keeping whatever cause behind the curfew out of the news."

"Yes, and whatever it is, it's clearly big enough to require the secrecy," Jim agreed, before shaking his head in doubt. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just reading into it too much." But Alice didn't think so. "Has Pike told you anything?"

"No," she answered. And it was the truth. Her father hadn't told her anything about it when she asked. Not that Jim knew he was her father. "What about you?"

"No," Jim echoed. "He refuses to talk about it, saying I should just focus on my studies."

"How very Pike-ish of him," Alice said lightly, a small smirk. Jim chuckled faintly before his expression became more serious, he clearly wasn't going to stop thinking about the cause of the curfew anytime soon. "Seriously, now," she continued playfully. "I'm sure everything's perfectly fine and there doing a study to see if mandatory curfews improve grades or something." Those piercing blue eyes of his looked doubtful. "And if everything isn't alright, I'll protect you."

"Then I can rest easy knowing I've got Alice Khan watching over me," Jim said mockingly, though his lips tugged into the first honest smile of the night.

"Damn straight," Alice said, straightening up and jutting out her chin. If she had been standing, she would have placed her hands on her hips in a stereotypical hero pose. Anything to get him out of his melancholy.

Jim's laughter was honest and relaxing. As annoying as he could get sometimes, he always had a way of diffusing situations with his smile…or escalating them depending on the situation. If he didn't have a smile plastered on his face, a teasing tone, or soft laughter falling off his tongue, you knew without a doubt that something was wrong. The only time he was quiet was when he needed to be, when he was thinking, or when the world was about to end.

"So what did you do over the weekend?" Jim said, changing the subject with a painful transition.

Alice didn't mind letting him distract her if it worked both ways. "Nothing really," she lied. "Had dinner with my father," that was the truth, "but mostly stayed home alone, studying," another lie.

"How boring," Jim booed her with a frown. "You know, if you asked Cupcake from Warp Physics, I'm sure he'd take you out on a date." After the fight with Cadet Hendorff the night before he enlisted, Jim had refused to call Cupcake by his real name—Alice and Leonard had only heard the entirety of what had happened after Jim struck out and had gotten drunk with them at Joes.

There was no way for Alice to contain the disgusted scoff as she rolled her eyes. "That's why I don't ask."

"Too scared?"

"Too uninterested," Alice replied flatly with a charming smile.

"Well, you could always let me take you out for dinner sometime."

"I'll pass," she smiled. "Besides, you're like a brother to me," she added with a wink, knowing exactly how disappointed that statement would make him.

Jim groaned playfully letting his head crash with a soft thud on the table. "The only beautiful girl I'm truly interested in, and you keep turning me down."

Alice couldn't help but laugh at his little display. He had been trying to get her to give him a chance from the very beginning, and it had been sweet, albeit a bit annoying after it persisted for more than a couple of minutes, but Jim just wasn't what she was looking for. She needed a little control in her life.

"I'm pretty sure I've heard you use that line a couple of times for the only beautiful girl you found at the bar," she teased him.

"Yeah, but you can't trust what I say when I've been drinking," Jim smirked.

"You could have just have stopped after you can't trust what I say."

"You know, you act a little bit like Bones when he's not around."

Alice rolled her eyes exaggeratedly. "And he says I act like you when I drink."

"Guess that means you're not very original then," he teased.

"You have no idea," she scoffed, not realizing what she was saying before it rolled off her tongue. She made sure that her expression remained stoic, though, despite her slip.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jim asked, frowning slightly in his curiosity.

"Nothing." Alice quickly powered down her PADD and stuffed it into her old school—as Jim called it—messenger bag. "We should head out. Bones' shift is about to end."

"Bones?" he asked incredulously, his face scrunching up in a ridiculous scowl. "You never call him that."

"Eh," she shrugged, "It's growing on me." From behind her, she could hear Jim quickly throw his things together in a disorganized fury before rushing to catch up with her as she exited the library.

Some of Leonard's shifts ran past the curfew, so Jim and Alice had taken it upon themselves to walk over during the tail end so that he didn't have to scramble to find someone to walk back to his dorm with. Since Leonard's dorm was closer to Alice's apartment, they usually walked Jim to his dorm, then Leonard would walk Alice to the edge of campus and then enter his dorm from the back entrance. It worked out surprisingly well.

"So why tactical officer?" Jim said breaking the silence that Alice had thankfully let settle between them as they walked to the hospital.

"Wow," Alice said in mock amazement. "Three whole minutes of silence. That has to be a new record."

"Come on, Alice," Jim all but begged her. "You've been giving me non-answers the past two months."

"Maybe it's because my aptitude scores weren't high enough for command," she offered dismissively.

"I've seen your aptitude scores," Jim retorted. "In any other circumstance, you'd be considered a Vulcan."

Alice stopped dead in her tracks. "How did you see my scores?' she asked, already knowing the answer. The oh so familiar feeling of panic sent her heart skipping in her chest as she tensed up.

Jim gave her a puzzled look as he stopped as well. "I hacked into the database."

She inhaled sharply.

"Did you see anything else?"

"What—no!" he exclaimed, shaking his head. "I'm just saying, with your scores, you could literally have any position in Starfleet. Hell, you'd probably have a better chance at making captain than I would." Jim pressed forward turning his head slightly to make sure that Alice followed him. "Why settle for tactical officer?"

And exhaled in relief before considering her answer.

The question he asked wasn't one she hadn't heard a few dozen times before from her father. And that word was always used every time it was asked: settle. But to her, it wasn't settling. It was what she was designed to do, in a sense. Her mind, as her Vulcan instructors had put it, was a combative mind. She could understand combat in any form, predicting, planning, anticipating, and reacting in ways that were beyond the comprehension of most. It was something she was good at. Before a threat could become a threat, Alice could give you several options to deal with it ranging from peaceful to complete neutralization.

But there was no easy way for her to explain that to Jim.

Alice regarded him a moment. Every now and then, his eyes would flicker over to her as he waited for an answer, or a non-answer as it were. "I'm the best person you could ask for in a fight," she finally offered in and overly simple explanation. "But I'm not very good at leading you through it."

"I don't follow."

She sighed loudly before trying again. "I can tell you your options when it comes to a fight, I can talk you through it, stand by your side, or even win it for you; but I can't lead people through it." And then the explanation laid out before her. "I can control a starship's weapons and defenses, seeing her and her crew through anything thrown at them; but I can't carry her on my shoulders like a captain must." Alice locked eyes with Jim, offering him a small, honest smile. "I'm not strong enough for that. Not like you."

Jim ducked his head in slight embarrassment before flashing her a cheeky smile. "Aww… you're making me blush."

"You're such a child," Alice groaned playfully, reaching out and shoving him to the side. His laughter chased after her as Jim stumbled over a couple of steps.

"Maybe," he admitted playfully, "but you still love me."

"Only because I don't know any better." She smirked, "You're like the annoying brother I never had. You know, the one that's always pestering me."

"Again with the brother thing," Jim sighed sarcastically. "You're breaking my heart, Alice."

"Yeah, well, maybe Bones has a hypo full of something to help you with that."

"Knowing my luck, I'd probably be allergic to it," he grumbled.

"Then your broken heart really would be fixed," Alice chuckled.

"I think you have the wrong definition for the word fix there. The appropriate word would be dead."

"Eh," she shrugged teasingly. "Same thing."

"Definitely not the same thing."

"See, there you go, being that annoying brother again," Alice chided him jokingly. It was Jim's turn to roll his eyes at her. "What exactly are you allergic to anyway?" she asked, switching from bickering to a conversation.

"A better question would be what am I not allergic to," he scoffed.

"Well, you eat normal food," Alice pointed out.

"And that's about the extent of my immunity," he replied flatly with a shrug. "No medications of any kind, vaccinations, immunizations, drugs… if it isn't food or beverage of any kind, the odds are I'm allergic to it.

Alice frowned slightly. "If I'm overstepping let me know," she warned him gently before proceeding, "but does it have anything to do with the radiation you might have been exposed to when you were born?"

"That's one of the theories," Jim answered.

"And the others?"

"Classified."

"Hmm…" Alice hummed in mournful understanding. "I know a bit about classified."

"Do you want to talk about it?" Jim asked gently, his crystal blue eyes honest in their kindness.

"Do you?"

Jim let out a huff of sad amusement before shaking his head. "Maybe next time."

Alice opened her mouth to say more, maybe to open up to him a little. Jim was always so sincere when he wasn't goofing around. There was clearly a lot he could talk about, just as she could, she realized. But she was interrupted by a tall figure waiting patiently at the entrance of the hospital.

"It's about damn time you two showed up," Leonard growled.

Working hospital shifts was the only other time Leonard was able to wear something other than the cadet reds outside of final formation PT. He still had to wear a Starfleet-issued uniform, but it was a much more relaxed uniform, thinner and allowing for a much greater range of movement than the cadet reds: white trousers, white undershirt and a pale blue over shirt signifying science division. Alice had to admit, Leonard looked really good in lighter colors.

"Bones!" Jim exclaimed, quickly throwing up his façade of aloof happiness. "As charming as ever, I see."

"Yeah, well, you spend eight hours dealing with cadets who don't believe alcohol poisoning is a thing and then we'll see if you come out smiling," Leonard sneered, as charming as he ever was, really. "Bunch of goddamn teenagers…" he grumbled as they started to head towards Jim's dorm building.

"Not all of us can be as old as you," Jim said with a smirk. "Some of us still need to get our youthful shenanigans out of our system."

Leonard looked at him with a blank expression, only the slight raise of an eyebrow gave away any emotion, "Shenanigans?"

Jim shrugged playfully, "I thought you might appreciate vernacular from your time period."

The murderous glare Leonard gave Jim was enough to cause Alice to chuckle quietly from her place beside him as they walked. His response was almost immediate like he was realizing she was there for the first time, dropping the glare for a smirk as he looked at her, giving her a small nod in greeting before directing homicidal thoughts at Jim once more.

"Next time you need a doctor," he scowled, "do me a favor and lose my number."

"Don't be like that, Bones," Jim whined playfully. "You're the only one who won't accidentally kill me."

"Lucky me," Leonard growled softly in annoyance.

Their conversation ended abruptly when four men clad in tactical uniforms passed, eyeing the three of them carefully, not even bothering to hide their suspicion, before continuing onwards. Random patrols of both uniformed police and Federation security personnel had also been set up in accordance with the curfew, and they always had a way of making those out past the curfew feel like criminals under their scrutinizing glares.

"Has Pike said anything to you two about this damn curfew?" Leonard asked once the patrol was out of earshot.

"Nothing," Alice said, answering for Jim as well.

"Well I hope it ends soon," he grumbled. "It's becoming very inconvenient."

Jim nodded in agreement. "It's almost impossible to sneak into the women's dorm now." His face twisted into an obnoxious expression, the foolhardy grin he wore becoming the focal point of it.

"You're unbelievable," Leonard groaned, rolling his eyes so much so that Alice thought it looked painful.

Jim's laughter echoed around them when they finally arrived at his dorm, "We're still on for Saturday at Joe's, right?" he asked, quickly ascending the stairs to the entrance.

"Of course!" Alice called out to him playfully.

"Whatever," Leonard said dismissively, waving him off.

That left the pair of them to backtrack nearly all the way across campus to reach the dorms reserved for the cadets on the medical track and Alice's apartment. It was a beautiful night, the air wasn't unbearably humid for once and there was a soft breeze to keep Alice from overheating in her uniform; and she was in good company, so she didn't mind the distance quite so much.

Alice looked over at him, a small smile tugging at the corner of her lips. When he caught her looking at him, Leonard matched her smile with one of his own. "Do you need any control tonight?"

Control. It had become their code-word over the past month. One of them would mention it, either Alice saying she needed it or Leonard would ask after it, in conversation or a simple message through their communicators. It was how they managed to keep it from Jim and everyone else so far after deciding that it would be best for everyone involved if they kept their late night activities a secret.

"I still have that essay I need to finish," Alice sighed.

"I could always help you with it," he offered.

She gave him a disbelieving look, "Before or after you help me out of my clothes?"

A moment of hesitation. "Before," he answered sheepishly.

Alice chuckled softly, "You're terrible."

"That's not what you told me last night."

~~.O.~~

UGH! This chapter was supposed to have some Alice—Jim bonding in it, but it's just so difficult to get his character down for me…

Honestly, I'm disappointed in this chapter and understand if you are as well, which is why it's so short. I gave up on trying to salvage it and now it's just filler to get to Saturday Night at Joe's.

I promise that the next chapter will be better. I really just struggled with this one.