Chapter 16- Making Hay
I retrieved my shirt from McCoy's room and left him to shower. He should have gone to bed since he couldn't have had more than a few hours nap, but it made too much sense for his own good. He would probably sit up late working just to be contrary. I wandered the halls with nowhere in particular to go, trying my best to form a useable mental map so I wouldn't have to rely on the computer so much; it was starting to get embarrassing.
I was heading back to the lift on deck 2 when Jim stepped out looking drained. "You look like you have been drug trough a rat hole backwards." I smiled.
He gave his best boyish grin and replied, "I feel like it. It has been one looooooong damn day and I need a drink like a blind man wandering the desert. Care to join me at the watering hole?" He could be very charming when he wanted to and I could see how he got his reputation. Few mortal women could withstand that unassuming smile and those blue eyes that sparkled and danced when he wasn't in the thick of a crisis or stone drunk. But it seemed those moments were few and far between for Captain Kirk…
"I don't want to impose," I said quietly, "I would think you would enjoy the alone time. It seems that there isn't a moment when someone is not in your face."
He opened the door to the lounge and gestured for me to enter. "Nah, I don't mind. Truthfully, I hate being alone, especially when drinking. Never drink alone I always say, twice the alcohol for half the price."
I sat on the same stool I did for the after dinner party and wondered at how much had changed since then. I was still coming to grips with being adrift in time and also realized that my memory was faulty to say the least, but that seemed like so long ago…
"Pardon me, ma'am," He drawled in a terrible cowboy accent while setting a glass of Bailey's in front of me, "is this seat taken?"
"You are shameless," I smirked, "I am old enough to be your mother."
He took a drink of his beer and laughed. "Christ, you sound like Bones." He gave me a sly sideways glance. "What if I like older women?"
"From what I heard you like all women. Young, old, married, widowed, dead, different species…" I chuckled.
His eyes lit up and he blushed slightly. "Hey! You of all people should know that you can't believe everything you hear. It's a goddamn smear campaign I tell you. I would never have sex with a dead woman." He took a hit from his beer bottle and smiled. "Unless she was still warm."
"You are so not right." I laughed.
"You would know." He conceded studying the label on his bottle. "I'm sorry about making you do all of those evals in such a short time. I know Bones probably made a hash of it, he fucking hated doing that stuff."
"Not so much." I corrected. "For the people that did have notes, he was usually pretty close. But that reminds me, why were you and he smirking at me today when Pavel thought I was responsible for that whole thing? Why not tell him the truth?"
Jim smiled faintly and took another drink. "Bones would never take credit for that, it isn't his style. He is a tough bastard, but when the chips are down there isn't another fucking person I would want in my corner." He looked me in the eye and gave his famous lopsided grin. "You know it is because of him that I am even sitting in this damn chair."
"Did he keep you on track in the Academy while you were roommates?" I guessed. I could see McCoy being the type to be anal about crossing T's and dotting I's.
"Yeah, well he tried for the most part." He shrugged "He saved my ass from the fire so many times I can't even tell you, from doing my homework to having my back in bar fights, Bones was my wingman. But I got put on academic probation because I was accused of cheating on Spock's fucking Kobayashi Maru mindfuck of an exam when all hell broke loose and Starfleet had to call up the junior class of cadets, which Bones and I were in at the time. I was goddamn lucky that he was a doctor before he went to the academy rather than a real med student because that was what he used to sneak me onboard the Enterprise. If it weren't for him, I would probably have been kicked out of Starfleet and roaming the fucking cornfields of God forsaken Iowa."
"Did you cheat on the exam?" I queried.
He looked at me with a small, twisted smile. "That depends on what your definition of cheat is. I hacked the computer and changed the rules, I didn't break the damn thing."
"Why would Spock be giving an exam?" I puzzled, "I thought he was in the academy with you."
Jim laughed. "He was a fucking instructor! Can you believe that? He is so goddamn smart that he taught classes in computers and a bunch of other shit." He waved his hand dismissively and got another beer. "So you see how our relationship is a little….complicated. I don't know how he fucking does it to be honest. Don't know how it is he does his job day after fucking day looking down at me sitting in the command chair without wondering how it is that he, who is so motherfucking smart and does everything right all the time, isn't the one sitting there. I can tell you, if it were me I would beat the hell out of him the next time he asked for some fucking meaningless report."
"He gave me a verbal version of the test." I chuckled. "I told him to let the prisoners die."
"No shit?" Jim asked raising his eyebrows. "That is one solution, I guess. But not me. I believe in win-wins. The Maru was his baby. You know, you should examine his head to see why he would write such a fucking evil test that is meant to be impossible to win. There has to be something deeply wrong with a person that would do that kind of shit."
"So, Iowa 'huh?" I asked looking at the label of his bottle that depicted a field of wheat. "And you thought Chicago was a cesspool?"
He laughed remembering how he had accidently insulted me. "Yeah, but I got out of that shithole as fast as I could. Nothing but corn and cows. I would probably still be there if I didn't take a dare."
"McCoy dared you to join?" I queried. "He told me he was drunk when he joined, so it would make sense."
"No, I didn't meet Bones until he threatened to throw up on me on the shuttle to the Academy. Wouldn't surprise me that he was drunk when he enlisted, though." He shrugged. "I don't remember him being sober the whole first week I knew him. His ex really fucked him up." His voice was quiet and somewhat sympathetic.
"So who dared you to join?" I asked redirecting him. I smelled blood and it seemed to have something to do with Iowa.
"I met this guy at a bar. The former captain of this very ship." He smiled gesturing to the room. "He dared me to join, so I did. Told him I would finish the four year program in three. Thanks to the Romulans, I did."
"What was it about Starfleet that made you join?" I inquired. "Why not just stay in Iowa?"
"Iowa is fucking nowhere." He sighed. "There really wasn't anything about Starfleet itself that made me join. Fuck, both my parents were enlisted, so I knew the drill. I guess I joined because at that moment I had nothing else to do. My life was fuck all and if I hadn't joined I would have been killed by now in some seedy bar in a backwater town."
"What did your parents do?" I asked finishing my drink.
His eyes shifted abruptly and became darker. "It doesn't matter, it was a long time ago and they are both out now."
Bingo. He was noticeably irritated, so I decided not to prod him but I filed it in the back of my mind for later. "Well, regardless of why you joined, it seems like you are doing a fine job." I said lightly. "It can't be easy being so young, but it is very clear that your crew respects you.'
His smile returned and the clouds left his eyes. "They don't respect me!" He laughed. "They have all seen me in too many compromising situations to fucking respect me, but I know that they would fight with me to the end."
"That's the important part." I confirmed.
There was a moment of silence before he spoke up. "So, what's with Chekov? Will I have him tomorrow?"
"I think he will be fine." I surmised. "I think he will find the routine with his friends comforting."
He finished his beer and slammed it down on the counter. "He's tough. He would say it is because he is Russian, but what the hell ever." He sighed and looked at me. "So how are you and Bones getting on?" I raised my eyebrows and he blushed. "Not like getting it on, I mean the two of you…oh fuck. This isn't working out right."
I laughed at his flustered demeanor. "Don't worry, Jim. You threw me to the lion, but I am taming him like the mouse in the fairy tale."
He chuckled and said, "That will be the day."