Nyota Uhura had been far less than thrilled when her friend Stefanie Graye suggested a trip to Riverside, Iowa. Why? Because the Washington County Fair was the big thing for three states around. A city-girl by preference, Nyota was not thrilled about spending a weekend in a little hicktown in rural Iowa just because her friend thought it would be fun.
"Oh, lighten up, Enya!" Stefanie scolded, "I bet you'll meet some cowboy and just get swept off your feet and never want to leave."
"Yeah right." Nyota rolled her eyes, "Like I'll meet some hick with no manners and just swoon over him. Oh, please."
"Not all of them have bad manners."
"Since you're so damn insistent." Nyota frowned, "Twenty credits says no way."
"You're on."
"Fine." Nyota shook hands with Stefanie and so they went to the County Fair to see if there was a boy who could sweep the Ice Queen off her feet. After a few hours, Nyota had all but given up, and then she and Stefanie went to the rodeo events. The billed act was six-time rodeo champion Danny Stilers, but the crowd booed when it was announced that Stilers would not be performing due to a training accident in which he had broken his arm. Suddenly, there was a commotion by the starting-gate and Nyota watched with the rest of the crowd as a bucking roan stallion literally exploded from the starting gate, the rider seemingly hanging for dear life as the announcer introduced the next act.
"Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys! Put your hands together for our next rough-rider! Give a warm Riverside welcome to James Tiberius Kirk! Today he rides our feisty Ronin!" Feisty indeed, that horse was doing everything in it's power to unseat it's rider. Nyota was quick to realize that the rider wasn't hanging on for dear life, in fact he knew exactly what he was doing. Suddenly, at the thirty-second mark, the rider took what looked like an accidental tumble. Nyota knew better and actually smiled. He'd fallen off on purpose, and she leaned forward to watch him, to see what he'd do next. His name was James Tiberius Kirk, a name commanding respect for a boy who was probably a lot more trouble than he was worth, but she found something about that appealing. He stood calmly on the sand, swinging a lariat, waiting for the roan to come back at him. Nyota was among those who yelled at him to get out of the way, he was directly in the path of the rampaging stallion. At the last possible second, he whirled aside, throwing out the lariat, and a lasso landed around the horse's neck. A good hard yank pulled it taut and Nyota watched the horse turn into the opposing force. A split-second later, Kirk was astride his stubborn mount and showing off for his now-adoring audience after fighting for dominance and winning. There were some close moments when Nyota was so sure he'd be thrown again, but he held on. When the horse admitted defeat, the trick-riding began. This one worked off the energy of the crowd, the positive energy of the crowd. And this crowd was on it's feet for the performers. Nyota abandoned her seat as Kirk began to wind up his act, leaving Stefanie who didn't even know she was gone. The first two rows of bleachers were now full of screaming girls ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-five. Maybe a little older. As Kirk did a circuit of the arena for his fans, the girls threw little trinkets, just worthless little things like token coins and flower circlets. Nyota wanted to give him something else. When he came past, she threw out something rather valuable. Stefanie would kill her when she found out what Nyota had done, but Nyota didn't care about that as she carefully tossed out her grandmother's silver-and-turquoise bracelet with Tuareg engravings and a cabochon turquoise setting. Kirk caught it mid-air, and after looking at it he dropped out of sight behind his horse. Nyota knew what he was doing and smiled. On another circuit, he passed right by them and stopped before her. Stefanie had come down by now, but it wasn't Stefanie Kirk looked at from under that hat of his. He could have stopped for any girl lining the bleachers to touch him, and a lot of girls were touching him, but she was the girl he stopped to touch back. Nyota had written him a note and she slipped this into his hand as he kissed the back of hers. The note vanished into his glove to be read later, and as he went back to the starting-gate, Nyota couldn't help the smile.
"And why are you smiling?" Stefanie sniped. Nyota just smirked.
"That is none of your business. Come on, I'm hungry." They went to find something to eat. Stefanie wanted to know where her bracelet was, Nyota just told her she'd put it in a pocket to keep it safe. Not telling Stefanie it wasn't safe in her pocket. The next event an hour later was bull-riding. The first rider out was Kirk. Nyota sat closer to the starting-gate this time, privately worried that this would be far more dangerous than the crazy roan earlier. Kirk saw her sitting up there and tipped his hat before he was out of the starting gate and hanging on for the longest ten seconds of Nyota's life. She didn't breathe for ten seconds, she didn't think, move, or blink until she saw him get up and wave. The minute he was astride Ronin, Nyota went down ring-side. Stefanie came with her. He did a short circuit of the arena for his truly adoring fans, and when he reached Nyota and Stefanie, he stopped. He touched his hat to them and smiled his best.
"Ladies." Nyota almost swooned. His smile…that smile was for her. Nyota asked him how long he'd stayed on that bull, he told her it was ten seconds. He knew riders who'd lasted twelve seconds. It wasn't the ride itself you had to worry about, he said, it was once you were on the ground that you really had to worry. When he kissed her hand, he looked up at her. He knew it was her bracelet, he kissed the faded red mark from where it usually sat on her wrist, and told her to come back for it sooner than later. Stefanie just about went postal on her. Nyota ignored her friend.
"You won the bet, I am not paying up."
"Cheater!"
"I weep for you." Nyota rolled her eyes and went off by herself. She wandered the fair alone, keeping one eye out for Kirk. After a decent amount of time, she wandered back to the arena and slipped around into the "backstage" area. She found the holding pens for the horses and found Ronin in a pen with another horse. Smiling, Nyota climbed the fence and sat on the top rung. She probably wasn't allowed to do this, but she wanted to do it just because it wasn't allowed.
"I guess I shouldn't be surprised you snuck back here, but I don't think you came to see Ronin and Lightening." The voice behind her startled Nyota, mostly because she hadn't heard anyone come up behind her in the first place and she lost her balance. She never hit the ground, though.
"Whoa!" she gasped, keeping her eyes shut.
"Sorry about that, I thought you'd heard me coming." It was Kirk. Nyota cracked an eye open and realized she had both arms around his neck so she wouldn't fall, not that she was really going anywhere.
"Oh, sorry." She blushed and let go of him, "I wasn't paying attention. That was my fault."
"No harm done." He set her on her feet and smiled, climbing the gate to face her direction, "Oh, you dropped this." He reached into his pocket and pulled out her bracelet, "I figured you might want it back."
"You remembered."
"You bet I remembered." He shrugged, "That's a nice bracelet. Where'd you get it?"
"It's my grandmother's bracelet."
"I figured it was a family heirloom, I've never seen one like it before." Kirk leaned back a little, "So, if you don't mind my asking, what's a city-girl like you doing in a middle-of-nowhere town like Riverside?"
"My friend thought it would be a fun experience."
"The ginger. Why did she think the County Fair would be even remotely fun?"
"I was wondering the same thing." Nyota blushed, "At least until I saw you."
"I'm flattered." He hopped off the fence, "What's your name?"
"Nyota. Nyota Uhura."
"You already know mine, but you can just call me Jim." He turned to the horses, "And these two trouble-makers are Ronin and Lightening. You know Ronin, I rode him earlier."
"And Lightening?"
"He belongs to Danny."
"Do you know Stilers?"
"Yeah, I know Danny Stilers." Jim smiled, "Believe it or not, he's my legal guardian. It's not such a big deal since I'm over eighteen, but back when I needed a guardian, I had one."
"Family trouble?"
"You could say that. Familial dysfunction is not a fun experience."
"What about your dad?"
"He died when I was little, I don't even remember him. I think he died before I was born. Mom doesn't talk about him much."
"Did she remarry?"
"I hate the guy, is that wrong of me?"
"No." Nyota shook her head. Well, she had that much in common with him, except it was different for her. She didn't speak to her mother at all, and she adored her stepmother. Her father was a wonderful, loving man, and her grandparents were just amazing people.
"Do you have any siblings?"
"I have three stepsiblings, but I'm the only child from my father's first marriage."
"I used to have an older brother, but he disappeared a few years ago and I haven't heard from him." So, technically, they were only children. As they talked, they walked through the fair together.
"So, I guess Stilers is pretty much your father, then? If he's your guardian?"
"And he makes one hell of a parent." Jim shoved his hands into his pockets and scuffed at the ground with one boot, "So, where's your family from, anyway? You've got a strange accent."
"My father's family is from Kenya. I live in Seattle."
"We get outsiders from places like Rapid City, the Dakotas, Jackson Hole, and Chicago, but…not that far away." Jim looked impressed.
"Seattle's not that far away."
"No, but Kenya sure is. How long are you in town, then?"
"Just for the weekend."
"The last weekend of the County Fair's usually the busiest, and the most fun. I'm gonna get my ass kicked this weekend."
"Why?" she noticed his smile was mischievous.
"How many times do I have to fall to please a crowd and come home covered in bruises?"
"Ouch. Maybe you won't have to ride bulls anymore this weekend."
"I hope not. I can do it, but I don't like doing it. I got trampled on a training ride a last year and it took six month before I could walk straight and breathe without coughing."
"Ouch! How did you get through today without freaking out?"
"I really don't know." He shrugged and Nyota knew bull-riding was not in his future. Everything else was fair game. Jim was wonderful company, fun to talk to, and when it got cold as it got dark, he gave her his jacket. There was a dance-floor and a live band on the other side of the ferris-wheel, Jim asked her to dance a few numbers, Nyota couldn't say no. They danced fast, they danced slow, they completely lost track of the time. Nyota was startled when antimatter fireworks arced high and burst into showers of multicolored sparks overhead. She looked up and then at Jim, who smiled.
"They always have fireworks right before the fairgrounds close for the night. Sometimes they do it at sundown, too."
"They're beautiful." Nyota watched the fireworks for a while, before Jim pulled her into a slow turn. She didn't know the name of the song, but she liked it. Finally, the fairgrounds closed for the night and everyone went home. Jim offered to take her back to the hotel, but Nyota didn't really want to go. For one thing, she really didn't want to put up with Stefanie. Jim seemed to understand and took her home. Home, for Jim, was a tiny one-room apartment in what constituted Riverside's downtown area. It was a little messy, but it was home enough for the person who lived there. There weren't a lot of family photos, and the ones she did see showed Jim and Stilers together doing the typical father-son things together. Most of the pictures were landscape portraits, or pictures of complete strangers. She picked up one picture of an Iowa sunset taken from a hill-top, marveling at the contrast of light and dark and all the colors.
"Did you take these pictures, Jim? These are incredible!"
"Those are just a hobby of mine. I like taking pictures."
"You're good at it." She set the picture down and looked around some more. A book sat on the coffee-table, all but begging to be opened. Nyota flipped open the cover and quickly realized this was a sketch-book. Page after page after page full of incredibly detailed drawings. People, places, events. One drawing showed a crowded place, there were a lot of people around, and she saw stalls or booths of some kind. The focus of the drawing was a child standing alone in the ebb and flow of people, just…watching them go by him without bothering. The drawing made her sad, but she didn't know why. Jim came over with a cup of tea, and saw what she was looking at.
"Do you know who that is?"
"No, but he looks so sad! When did you see this!"
"That's old." Jim looked sad as he studied the picture, and Nyota looked from the drawing to Jim and realized something.
"Oh my god! That's you! That little boy is you! Oh, Jim!"
"There's nothing like getting lost and realizing three hours later that no one's missed you. That's the day I met Stilers."
"Didn't your mother realize you were missing?"
"If she did, she sure didn't care enough to come look for me." Jim frowned, "I wonder sometimes if she didn't try to leave me there. If she didn't walk away on purpose."
"Why would she do that?"
"Because I look too much like my father and she doesn't like to be reminded of him."
"That's awful!" Nyota closed the book, set down her tea, and hugged Jim, "I'm sorry she tried to leave you behind. You're a wonderful person, Jim, people just don't understand you."
"I think that's the nicest thing anybody's ever said about me." Jim hugged her back and they just sat on the couch and cuddled. When it got late enough for bed, Jim gave her a pair of boxers and a tee-shirt she could wear for pajamas. They smelled like him, she noticed. And he smelled like heather soap and warm grass and horses. It wasn't bad at all. That night, she slept in the narrow twin-bed without batting an eyelash when Jim got close and cuddled. The next morning, they were up early and after taking showers, he took her out to breakfast at a little cafe two blocks from his apartment. She spent the day at the fair, wasting time between Jim's performances and sneaking backstage for the rest of it. He introduced her to Stilers, who just smiled and warned them to behave themselves. She was apparently a serious affair, and Jim wasn't known for serious affairs. His only other steady girlfriend had married last year, Jim had given her away to her then-fiance. They were at the County Fair, and Nyota got to meet Kitty Wilkinson and Andrew Pike. Nyota did not feel threatened by Kitty, she actually liked the girl. She had treated Jim right, the way girlfriends should treat their boyfriends, and that was good enough for Nyota.
Finally, and far too soon, the weekend was over and the fairgrounds closed down for the season. Nyota found it ridiculously hard to say goodbye to Jim, he tracked her down at the shuttle-port the morning of their flight back to Seattle, she heard him shouting her name across the hangar.
"Nyota! Wait!"
"Jim?" She turned around to see him pushing his way through the crowd of people waiting to see loved ones off or to board the shuttle.
"Enya, we've gotta go!"
"Wait a minute, Stef." Nyota pulled away and met Jim halfway.
"You've already said goodbye! I don't want you to leave!"
"I don't want to leave." She buried her face in his neck and tried to remember how to breathe on her own. She had secretly packed the tee-shirt and boxers she'd worn to bed every night of her stay so she'd have something to remember him by. Reaching up, she ran her fingers through his long hair and pulled back to look into his eyes.
"Nyota, this is crazy. I've only known you for three days and I love you!" He rested his forehead against hers, his eyes wild. Nyota smiled and leaned up to kiss him.
"Then that makes two of us." She kissed a scar on his chin, "I love you, too, James T. Kirk. I stole that tee-shirt you let me borrow."
"Oh, sweetheart, that one is all yours." He kissed her again and she tried to make it last. Finally, they had to part or she'd miss her flight. As tantalizing as that sounded, Nyota couldn't stay in Riverside forever. Before she pulled away for good, Jim handed her something.
"What's this?"
"You said you'd made a bet with your friend. I don't know how much you were betting, but that should cover some of it."
"Jim, these are yours! I can't take these!" Nyota was shocked. He had given her forty credits.
"I get paid more as a rodeo rider than I did working the gaming booths. I can afford to pay off a stupid bet."
"It wasn't stupid, Jim. Stefanie won the bet, I won the boy. I got the better end of the deal." She tried to picture Stefanie's face when she paid up, and kissed Jim goodbye. Her last sight of him was him waving from the ground as the shuttle took off, then she didn't see him anymore. As they finally reached cruising altitude, she gave Stefanie the credits.
"What are these?"
"Twenty for the bet, twenty for compensation because, for whatever reason, you're pissed that I was actually swept off my feet by some cowboy with a nice smile and the manners of a gentleman."
"Who said I was pissed?"
"Either you're pissed off, or you're jealous. Consider that fair compensation. I lost the bet, but I got something better."
"That's what pisses me off. When I made that bet, I wasn't actually expecting you to hook up with some rodeo hotshot with a million-dollar smile and eyes that make the sky look pale! What's his name?"
"James Tiberius Kirk. Jim." She blushed, "He told me I couldn't call him James."
"You know you're not his first girlfriend and I find it unlikely you'll be his last."
"There was only one before me. Ladies man, maybe, but he does have the manners of a gentleman. If it's the right girl, he'll treat her like a queen."
"I guess you were the right girl." Stefanie was jealous. For some reason, that made Nyota really happy.