A/N: So my update took ages. I apologize, I've been soooooo busy writing essays and with my job and agh. An odd and rare feeling of responsibility settled over me and I just wanted to get it all done first, but I started to feel really guilty because I was taking so long, so I devoted the past two days to finishing the chapter! I must say, writing fic is a great way to motivate you to get your work done. Just convince yourself that you won't write anything until you finish all your work and you are much more productive. haha I hope that the updates start coming in their usual flow, but I start school soon so we'll see. I'll try to get these essays done beforehand so that I can start the next chapter, but no matter how long it takes me to update, I will not drop this fic! I love it too much 3

There is another easter egg in this chapter. Write it down in a review if you find it! ALSO... a shout out to PrettyHateMachine9266 for recommending deConstruction's "Flaws and All", and excellent fic, and I will also get around to reading the sequel sometime soon :) I think everyone should give this story a shot.

In conclusion, I hope you enjoy this chapter and sorry for the wait!

I ONLY OWN THE PLOT. THE CHARACTERS, IDEAS, TERMINOLOGY, LAYOUT OF THE ENTERPRISE, ETC BELONG TO THE BRILLIANT CREATORS OF STAR TREK, FROM GENE RODDENBERRY TO J.J. ABRAMS. THIS APPLIES TO THIS CHAPTER AND ALL THE CHAPTERS THAT FOLLOW IN MY FIC. I THANK THEM FOR THEIR BRILLIANCE AND INSPIRATION.

6. Staring Contest

He was the last to arrive at the transporter room, having stood pensively in the exact spot where Uhura had left him for a few minutes, and arrived breathless after realizing that he was delaying the mission. He made quite a bit of noise as he hurriedly entered the room, and several members of the landing party looked away from their conversations to find the source. Kirk was able to recognize the worry that was on Bones' brow, as well as the self-satisfied smile, the one usually infamously plastered across his face, that Uhura was now sending his way. She seemed all too pleased with herself for her discovery, and Kirk had been desperately searching for ways to disprove it. His search was unsuccessful, and he decided that it was best for him to get on with the mission on hand rather than worry himself over something that obviously wasn't true.

She's wrong. He thought. I don't have crushes. It's not in my nature, it's just not what I do. I don't know how to like a woman. I am James Tiberius Kirk, Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise and renown womanizer.

As much as he tried to reassure himself, a sense of security never overcame him. His mind tuned in and out of McCoy's harsh voice explaining what reaction to expect from their bodies during the first few moments after materialization.

"…and your first breath will feel insufficient. Breathe as intensely as possible, this is not a situation where a ship is running out of oxygen and you must breathe conservatively, this is a planet-full therefore don't get yourself in that mindset. You'll need as much air as your lungs can take because…"

I might as well give Uhura's theory a test. He cringed at the idea, but figured that it was the only way to prove her wrong. The hope of being able to rub in her misjudgment of his personality afterwards somewhat warmed Kirk up to the idea. He smiled to himself, now truly excited for their expedition.

Suddenly, all eyes were on him. He blinked at his crew, confused.

"Jim…" Bones encouraged. "Do you have anything to tell us?"

"That's a silly question, Bones. Of course I do." the Captain teased back, regaining the air of superiority that he needed to help the landing party feel secure trusting in him. Looking and acting distracted wouldn't do him any good. He quickly pulled together some orders and stumbled the words out over his tongue. "Science crew, I leave you under Spock's command. You are to fully obey his orders and in no way shall you question him unless I do so myself. I believe you are all aware of the odds of that happening." A few chuckles bought him some more time to think and he shot a pleased grin at his First Officer before continuing. "Chekov, you can shadow cadet Navarro once they split up; cadets Thomson and Gherciou, you're also a team. Uhura, stick with Spock, and medical, keep us breathing."

Kirk noticed McCoy scowl at being referred to as "medical", but chose to ignore it.

"Unless anyone has any questions, I think we're good to go, Scotty."

"Aye, sir." he said after a short, expectant pause. "The transporter is powered up and ready to go when you are."

With a nod, Kirk ordered the landing party to prepare for arrival, and Christine stepped aboard the transporter along with the rest of the crew, her heart racing. As if her excitement in over taking part in a mission wasn't enough, her nerves were screaming at her over dematerializing and she was experiencing an acute fear of the unknown. If it weren't so unprofessional, Christine would have injected herself with a sedative to help herself calm down. She was unsure as to whether she would be able to function properly while she was experiencing such strong excitement and mulling over what she might see and do on the mission when she felt herself becoming lighter and lighter, slowly fading, and then nothing.

Kirk's first breath after materializing was a desperate gulp of air that left his head spinning momentarily, causing him to get thrown off balance. He put his hands in front of his body, ready to catch himself, and fell forward. It wasn't until his hands broke the water's surface that Kirk noticed that Scotty had beamed him into the shallow bed of a river, along with a furious McCoy, who was hotly cursing under his breath.

"…his idea of a damn joke… God only knows what disease ridden creatures could be in that water…"

Kirk only caught fragments of his friend's insults as he, too, climbed onto land to regroup with his crew. He felt that there was no need to debate whether or not this act was committed with purpose, knowing Scotty's sometimes-strange sense of humor all too well, and decided to ignore it for now. He currently had more important things to focus on, like breathing.

"Captain, Mr. Scott seems to have gravely miscalculated your position, which I find most unacceptable… unless it was what you refer to as a human prank, which under the current circumstances I find completely illogical." Spock suggested as Kirk squeezed some water out of his yellow sleeves.

"Leave it alone, Spock. I'll talk to him about his timing later; it was harmless." he said, doing his best to hide his annoyance from his First Officer. "Back to the mission!" he commanded, changing the subject in his usual dramatic fashion. "I don't think I need to go over orders again. All I have to add is that we regroup here in four hours, and pay attention to any transmissions your fellow shipmates send. This is uncharted territory so any warnings or observations are the most helpful aid we'll have and should be reported on all frequencies immediately."

He glanced at the crew, allowing time for any of its members to ask for any sort of clarification. When no one did, he continued.

"All right then, split up as requested and fulfill your orders." Kirk said with a nod towards them all. The cadets and Chekov gathered around Spock, who after a few words sent them in different directions, and Uhura followed him. McCoy, Chapel, and Kirk were the only ones left standing in the same spot.

"So, Jim, what are you going to do during the mission?" Bones pried.

"I'll just look around, group with the cadets, switching around if I ever run into another group. Observe. You know Spock wouldn't let me touch his plans." he said with a laugh. "As for now… I think I'm going to observe Pavel and Ana Sofia." A mischievous grin spread across his face before he turned away to his destination.

"Ana Sofia?" Bones shouted after him, his tone demanding clarification. His only answer was Kirk shouting after a pair of figures setting off in the distance.

"Chekov! Cadet Navarro!"

McCoy turned back to face Christine, her quizzical expression challenging his worried one.

"Please, Doctor McCoy, there is something I must know about the Captain. Is he always like this?" she wondered.

"That's a difficult question to answer, Christine." he replied quietly. He used her first name again. "He's always had his moments, but since this morning, I can't differ the two. I don't know if he's recovered or not. I-I don't know what to do."

After one year of working side-by-side with the infamous medical practitioner that Leonard McCoy was on a strictly professional level, Christine had given up hopes on becoming close to her co-worker. Suddenly, the heavy baggage of friendship was being dumped upon her much too quickly for her liking and she was carrying it as best as she could. She wasn't the type of person who dove into anything besides emergency medical procedures; Uhura had always told her that she needed to stop wasting her time testing waters, but it was the only way she felt safe in any situation. Now, not only was she on an unexplored class M planet, but the man who was supposed to be the rock in her career was starting to crumble. Christine cursed Kirk's choice timing on becoming suddenly "ill" (she wasn't sure what to call it) and labeled it the cause of this unnecessary stress, as well as what was inhibiting her from enjoying the fact that she was finally allowed to see beyond the Doctor's scowling veneer.

"We should probably follow the teams." she said after some hesitation. Bones frowned.

"Right. I'm going to keep and eye on Jim then. You're good?" he asked.

"Yes, Doctor, I think I can handle it."

"Well then, Nurse Chapel, call my frequency if you need anything. I'll be doing the same for you."

With that, she watched him leave in the same direction that the Captain took. Still bemused by her exposure to the side of McCoy that extended beyond anger and snark, she pondered it momentarily before wandering towards the cadets that she had gotten to know so well through their various chemical burns.

His pant-legs had finally dried when Bones arrived to where he thought Jim and the other two might be. It was an interesting setting that he had entered, having noted along the way that the planet's landscape was very irregular, with giant rocks randomly jutting out of sections of incredibly flat plains, forming cliffs and small mountains and other shapes. Normally, he would have tried to understand how the planet's seismic activity could have formed these wonders, but didn't bother as he approached the roughly forty foot tall, narrow, perfectly vertical rock towering over him. God knows how, but water poured out of a hole just before the rocks summit, forming a small cascade of water that soothingly trickled into a pool at its base. Life flourished around it, and Bones gawked at several strange plant and animal species thriving in the little oasis, noting that almost all the species, besides a few larger varieties of what resembled terran shrubs and vines, were very small. The only familiar thing the Doctor spotted out was the grass he was walking on, if he could call it grass; but now was not the time to crawl on the ground analyzing foliage. Bones was determined to make sure that Jim was all right.

A sudden noise of frustrated protest caused him to look up intently as he approached the base of the rock, but he was only able to make out two blue clad figures against the incredibly bright glare of the planet's sun, much brighter than the one he was accustomed to. The figures were extremely close to each other, and had Bones had poor vision, he may have mistaken the two for one large person. Hoping for his eyes to adjust, he continued to observe. They were standing in a niche that was very close to the mouth of the cascade of water, and McCoy could only wonder how they got up there. Luckily for him, he didn't have to wait for his vision to adjust to the glare before he was able to identify the two figures by the fountain. There was another whine, seemingly begging without words.

"No, no, we can't. Not now Pascha. We're… on duty. We're on… a… mission…"

Pascha? Bones thought. I sure as hell know who that is, but who calls him Pascha? He had no memory of having heard the ensign being called by any other names besides Chekov, Pavel, and Pasch, the latter being a pet-name reserved for the Captain's use only when he felt like having what he deemed to be a serious conversation with him, or when he was drunk. It must be the cadet…

"You hev enough data for zee whole team, Sofi." he heard the boy plead. "Zis view is wery beautiful, can ve not take little break? Da?"

McCoy's vision adjusted just in time to see the ensign lean in and kiss cadet Navarro. Despite her earlier protests, she kissed him back, matching Chekov's intensity while running a hand through his curls. The kiss lasted a few seconds before she pulled away from him again, looking incredibly flustered. Bones, in shock from what he was witnessing, tried to bring himself around to say something to the two of them. This was Chekov, the ensign that probably over more than half of the crew onboard the U.S.S. Enterprise had at least once considered what it would be like to adopt the kid, simply because they saw him as just that. A kid. If he had liked kids, Bones was sure he might have as well.

"Pascha, later, please. This is my first mission and if first officer Spock finds out you know how unprofessional he'll think this is." She leaned in for another kiss before continuing. "You've worked just as closely with him as I have."

"Vell, yes, but zee Keptin said…" Chekov stammered as his statement faded into another quick kiss.

"I knew he knew the moment he suggested you be put on the mission as well." Ana Sofia laughed.

"Our Keptin knows me too vell for me to keep secret from him, and he had noticed us beforhend. He is wery obserwant." he teased back. As Bones noticed the warning signs of yet another kiss, he felt the overwhelming need to interrupt.

"Hey, kid! Pavel!" he boomed. Both figures snapped their heads downwards to see who had caught them. From about thirty-seven feet below, Bones was still able to see their faces flushing red with embarrassment, the scarlet in Chekov's cheeks, as usual, greatly outdoing that of cadet Navarro's.

"Um, hello Docter." Chekov shouted back nervously. "I'm sorry, ve vere just…"

"I don't give a damn about that, Pavel." he interrupted. "Where's Jim?"

"The Captain left, Sir. He was only here for a few minutes before he started following what resembled a very small light-green cat." Ana Sofia informed him, her hopes being to distract him from the display he saw a few moments earlier. Regardless of the fact that the Doctor "didn't give a damn", she was equally nervous and ashamed of having been caught. "I didn't get the chance to analyze it." Bones smacked his palm to his forehead.

"So you're telling me that Jim made a huge deal out of seeing you two only to leave after a minute?"

"He came to speak to Pas- ensign Chekov, Sir."

"What did he have to say to you, Pavel?" Bones asked as he turned his gaze to the ensign.

"He told me to zank him later, and to stay avay from Spock in zee meantime."

"That's all?" Bones asked in mild disbelief.

"Yes, Docter."

"Which way did he go then?"

"East. He vent away ten minutes ago."

"Great." McCoy mumbled to himself as he started to walk away, due East. He heard the ensign call after him, and had all intention of ignoring him until he heard cadet Navarro's high-pitched scream, causing him to spin around just in time to see Chekov in mid-fall, hurtling towards the base of the rock. Shit. Chekov hit the ground at the edge of the pool with a loud thud. Bones ran towards him.

"Damnit, Pavel, why is it that you're always falling off the tops of thing?" he scolded the unconscious figure as he rummaged around for his tricorder.

"How is he?" Cadet Navarro's anxious voice startled him, still unable to figure out how they got up to the niche in the first place, and now he hadn't noticed how she got down. It seemed that her method for the decline was much more conventional than Pavel's. The Doctor continued scanning.

"His vitals are stable, but he's suffering from a concussion, a broken radius in his left arm, and a fractured clavicle in the respective shoulder." he informed her. "How did he fall?"

"He just stepped out too far. He was trying to get your attention…" she drifted off as she stared at Chekov's rapidly bruising body.

"The lower levels of oxygen probably affected his depth perception. He'll be fine as soon as I get him to Sickbay. I just need him awake and to keep him stable. Pavel! Pavel!" McCoy's shouts seemed to have no effect on the ensign. He contemplated how else to wake him without moving his body. "Pavel, Jim confirmed that the hypospray was invented by Aaron Ismach!"

At this, Chekov stirred, but simply groaned.

"That's right kid, stay awake." Bones encouraged while giving his uninjured shoulder a squeeze, then took out his communicator. "Scotty!" The engineer's voice sounded at the other end.

"Aye?"

"I need you to beam Pavel and I up. He's had an accident and I need to get him to the Sickbay as quickly as possible. Do you have our coordinates?" Bones said in a rush.

"Yes, indeed I do. What happened to Chekov?"

"Beam us up, damnit! I'll explain later."

"Nurse Chapel, you hear me?"

The voice of Leonard McCoy emanating from her communicator startled her.

"Um… yes Doctor McCoy, loud and clear." she replied.

"We've encountered a problem. Chekov had a pretty big fall and I'm back in the Sickbay with him."

"Oh! What happened? Is he alright?"

"He's stable, a few broken bones that I need to fix, but he's currently suffering from a concussion so I need to stay and watch him. Do you remember the favour I asked of you earlier?"

Christine groaned inwardly. As much as she wanted to help her co-worker, she didn't feel like babysitting her Captain.

"Yes sir." she replied with an almost inaudible sigh. "What's his location?"

"From your coordinates… he's only 3 minutes north of you. Thank you, Christine. You can reach me on this frequency if you need anything." Bones' voice was gone in a snap.

"Great."she muttered as she headed in the direction as advised by Doctor McCoy. Spock and Uhura obviously didn't need any of her help, and she found that she'd much rather keep the other two cadets safe, but they were going to regroup with cadet Navarro since she was now alone. Regardless, she had made a promise.

Only a minute into her walk, she heard an all too familiar yelp; the very same she had heard earlier this morning when McCoy injected Kirk with the hypospray. Christine ran towards the sound, which was coming from behind a small rock surrounded by plants that resembled single, large leaves. As she rounded to the backside of the rock, she saw Kirk cradling his hand.

"What are you doing alone?" Her tone successfully converted the question into a scold. Kirk looked up from his hand, surprised. The instant he laid his eyes on Christine, the familiar heart-racing returned, and though he was standing still, he was starting to feel more out of breath than he had his entire time on the planet so far. He tried, unsuccessfully to push the feelings down, which only made it worse.

"Oh, ummm… I was following that."

Christine looked at the spot on the ground that the Captain had signaled with his head. Sitting just a few feet away from them, was a small catlike creature, only it was much leaner than any cat she had ever seen. There was nothing "cute" about it, which is how one would usually describe a cat; it simply looked important. Christine shook her head. The thought made no sense to her. Important? She almost laughed. The tiny green creature sat perfectly still, unblinkingly staring up at Kirk with huge orange eyes, the only movement being the twitching of its long tail. She guessed that it was just over two times the length of the creature's body.

"Why?" she asked, a little bewildered as to why he would follow it.

"Because of what it's doing." Kirk answered as best as he could. He felt like his stomach was halfway up his throat, and if he fought it any longer, his gag reflexes might kick in. Nurse Chapel looked back down at the creature.

"You followed it because it was staring at you?" Kirk nodded. "I don't think it was watching you because it found you sexy. Sorry to disappoint you." she said sarcastically. Christine didn't feel like being playful. Her sarcasm was the product of sheer annoyance. Whether or not it was her intention, Kirk laughed, and found that as he did so, he relaxed. His heart rate, although fast, had slowed down reasonably, and the knot in his stomach was replaced by a more pleasant feeling, too subtle at the moment for him to describe. He made to run a hand through his hair, but the moment he flexed his fingers, he yelped in pain again. Christine grabbed his wrist to inspect his hand.

"How did you manage to do this?" she asked. The skin was very raw, and looked as if he has burnt it.

"I followed the thing to this rock, and it stopped and just kept staring at me. I didn't know what it wanted from me, so I tried touching it." he said as he grimaced at his hand.

"You touched it…" Christine said slowly.

"Yes, yes, I know, stupid. I just couldn't figure out what it wanted me to do."

"And it did what, breathe fire?" she asked mockingly as the passed her medical tricorder over his hand.

"No… I didn't even get to touch it. It put out some kind of force field that did this to my hand."

Christine looked back at the tiny creature, having trouble understanding how something that seemed to primitive had developed a self-defense as advanced as a force field, not to mention she could see no source for one.

"You're burnt pretty badly," she said "but nothing I can't fix." She let go of his wrist and rummaged through her standard medical kit, pulling out what looked like an electric hairbrush, minus the brush.

"What is that?"

She didn't answer his question, but simply started to move it slowly across the palm of his hand. It put out a light blue light, healing the skin as it passed over it. She flipped his hand over and repeated the action. "It's a dermal regenerator." she finally replied.

Kirk had stopped watching her heal his hand after a few seconds to watch her expression as she worked. Her eyes were focused, but her face was very passive. He felt an involuntary thought creeping in, and unlike so many other times where he fought it, he allowed himself to register it. She's beautiful.

As she finished healing him, she put away the dermal regenerator, and then took his hand one again to inspect it for any areas that she may have looked over. While running her fingers over his, she looked up. "Does it feel better?"

Looking into her clear blue eyes and feeling her touch was enough, and for the first time, Kirk understood what it meant to feel butterflies in his stomach.

"Y-yes." he stammered, feeling the heat rising to his face. Kirk was unable to recall a single time he had blushed before; this was two firsts in a matter of minutes and he was afraid that he wouldn't be able to handle it. Also, the fact that there was a blush tingling his cheeks made him feel extremely vulnerable and exposed. Kirk kept his expression as neutral as possible, hoping that Christine would make nothing of it.

"Are you warm?" the Nurse asked, frowning at him.

"What?"

"Do you have a fever?" She pressed the back of her hand to his forehead. The Captain laughed to himself, extremely grateful for the fact that Christine definitely had the mentality of a nurse.

"Maybe. I do feel a little hot." Kirk said with a shrug. His confidence was slowly rising again, knowing that he wasn't compromized, and he felt more in his element as he watched her scan him with the medical tricorder once again. "Do you enjoy scanning me with that thing, Christine? This may be a record for the day."

"I'm not the one touching unfamiliar life-forms and having mental breakdowns, Jim." she shot back, still in no mood to be anything beyond condescending towards the man before her. "Your body temperature is at thirty-seven point eight degrees centigrade. That's a mild fever." A concerned look spread across her brow. "From what?" she wondered aloud.

"Maybe it's some kind of side effect of being exposed to that thing's force field." Kirk said, signaling the creature. His perfect excuse remained immobile as Christine studied it, it's orange eyes still locked intently on Kirk.

"It's possible…" she mused, while looking back at Kirk. As she was just about to put her tricorder away in the medical kit, a voice startled her.

"Don't lie to her, James."

Christine looked up at Kirk questioningly.

"Hey, it wasn't me." He threw up his hands defensively. They both looked around, trying to locate the owner of the voice, but there was no one in sight. Suddenly, Christine gasped and pointed the tricorder at the little creature in order to scan it. It started running away from them immediately, and Christine ran after it, desperate to complete the scan. The cat-like creature seemed to notice that the Nurse wasn't giving up her pursuit, because after a minute's chase, it disappeared into thin air.

She was out of breath. The extremely low levels of oxygen hadn't aided her at all during the chase, and she stumbled slowly onto the floor, sitting in an awkward position. Her first breath after materializing was like the first breath of one takes after swimming under water for longer than the body can handle; a desperate gulp, and for her first few minutes on the planet, no amount of air she breathed in seemed to help eliminate that sensation. Over the past couple of hours, her breathing had become more adjusted to the environment. Now, Christine felt as if she were back at square one.

"Are you ok?" Kirk asked, jogging up to her. Christine nodded.

"I'll be… fine. You might want to… send a message to… Spock." She even felt too out of breath to speak properly. "Only… if you approve… of course…"

"It is his little mission." Kirk didn't take his eyes off of Christine as he took out his communicator. "All teams regroup at rendezvous point. Spock, we've made an interesting discovery that I think you'd be excited to hear about. Kirk out."

A buzz of "aye Captain"s and "we're on our way"s buzzed through his communicator. Spock's familiar voice stood out.

"I do not believe that excited is an emotion to expect from me, Captain, but I'll do my best to express my interest if in fact the discovery is worthy."

"Try not to get my hopes up." Kirk muttered. Well, he thought, I guess that this planet wasn't all hype.

A/N: So I hope you enjoyed! Reviews fuel my fics so please leave one. They really catalyze my writing speeds :p

hace