Challenge Accepted

"He's looking at you again."

Victoria glanced over at her friend, Nyota Uhura, as the woman leaned in to whisper that to her. She rolled her eyes, looking over to see a young local sitting at a table, looking over at her before he looked away. She'd noticed him glancing over at the two of them…and every other girl in the bar…all night. He was handsome, she could admit that, with his sandy blonde hair and his blue eyes, she could see his eyes even from across the dimly lit bar, even with dozens of Cadets and locals walking past him and crowding around them all, she could see it. He seemed…kind, not kind in a doormat way though but more of the sort where he was genuinely good at heart. Like he was a decent man, something hard to come by these days, and that he had a strong will. He seemed the sort who, even when in the worst situation, was unable to genuinely hate or insult someone else. Despite what she assumed was his 'tough guy/rebel' countenance, she could tell he was probably a big softy when you got to know him.

"James Kirk has been looking at everyone," she rolled her eyes, turning back to the chips and dip sitting in the middle of their small 2-person table.

Uhura shook her head, "How do you manage to know who everyone is?" she gave her a suspicious look, "Have you been hacking again?"

She scoffed, "No, I learned my lesson," she held up a hand, recalling her most recent brush with the authority system that had nearly kept her from being accepted into the Fleet's program.

She'd just wanted to see who her competition was! That was all, she'd wanted to know who the other Cadets were, what she'd have to deal with if she did accept the Fleet's offer for a Cadet position. She'd…honestly been tempted not to accept, not to join the Fleet. It had been something she'd wanted to do ever since she was a child, since her father would tell her about all his own adventures with her mother in the Fleet. She'd wanted to go out there and see the stars and have adventures too…

But then she grew up.

She saw the strain it put on her parents. They had both started off on the same foot, both eager to join the Fleet, to see everything it had to offer, and both had loved it. But…her mother had claimed to love HER more. Her mother had wanted to leave the Fleet once she'd been born, a starship being no place to raise a child, but her father had just been made the Commander of a ship and he couldn't leave, he couldn't give up that opportunity. It had been the beginning of the end for her parents, the odd part was that...they didn't fight, not openly at least. Her mother just...progressively got more bitter in her remarks to her father, more accusing, more haughty. Almost all her remarks were centered around the Fleet and her father's dedication to it. She understood he loved it, he ought to, his entire family for generations all had ties to the Fleet, whether as crew members or captains or engineers or even as teachers at the Fleet's Academy…every single member of his family had dedicated their life to the Fleet, and he was no exception.

Neither was she it seemed.

Her mother had had enough only a few years ago, had sworn she'd leave and had really done it. She could still remember that day, when her mother had come into her room to see her preparing for one of the entrance exams for the Fleet, even though she wouldn't be eligible to join for a year or two more, and had sat with her. She could remember her mother's offer to leave with her, to escape the Fleet when she had the chance.

She'd said no.

And she honestly wasn't sure if her father appreciated her decision to stay with him or not.

Her own relationship with her mother had changed after that as well. Her mother hardly ever spoke to her save once or twice a year to wish her a happy birthday or a fond holiday, and her father…he'd thrown himself into the Fleet with a passion. And THAT was the reason she'd said no to her mother. She knew what her father was like, he had a one-track mind most of the time, and it had been divided in three before, between her, her mother, and the Fleet. When her mother had left it was just divided in two. She knew that when her mother left her father would focus more on the Fleet and she knew if SHE left as well...there would be nothing stopping him from fully committing in every way he could.

She knew that would get him killed one day and that would break her heart because she loved her father very much.

He wouldn't have cared for his own life if he thought his wife and daughter had abandoned him, so she'd stayed, she'd acted as an anchor, reminding him he had something to fight for, to be cautious in his endeavors for. She'd stayed because…it was the only way she could keep an eye on him as well, take care of him and make sure he'd be alright. Her own dynamic with her father had changed despite her efforts, becoming more like a commanding officer addressing one of his privates than anything. But she knew he loved her, it was his only way of coping with what her mother had done.

To him…the Fleet meant family.

If she could get into the Cadet program then they'd always be together, he could ensure she served on his ship and they'd be able to spend more time together in the Fleet. So she'd tried her best to live up to his expectations, to ace the entrance exams and pass the physical tests, to do everything she could to ensure she'd actually be able to join the Fleet when the time came…but it got a bit much at times. She 'acted out' as he liked to call it, really though she was just trying to learn more about the Fleet that her father loved so much. She hacked into programs to prove to the Fleet that it was easy to hack so they'd tighten up the holes in it…her father never seemed to see it that way. She would wander through the engineering departments of the ships he served on and fiddle with some components…none of the engineers seemed particularly thrilled when she did that. They liked the ships to run just as they always had even when she'd just wanted to see if she could improve them.

Her mother had been an Engineer on the starships, she'd grown up around her telling her how to fix them. Her mother had been quite exasperated when her daughter's idea of a favored bedtime story was how to fix a warp drive alignment or some other odd question. But she DID love the Fleet, as much as her father did, it was the past of her family, their legacy, and it was her future. And that was why it had been so hard for her to realize, as she held her acceptance note for the program, that…she was actually considering rejecting it.

It had become less about something she loved to do and wanted to be a part of, something she'd seen giving her parents so much happiness, to something that she'd ended up working towards to make someone else happy, something that just kept putting more and more pressure on her to succeed in, something that…was become more like a chore to do than a passion. Even when she'd jokingly (seriously) question her father what he'd do if she wanted to pursue history or botony or something...he made it about the Fleet, how she could be a tutor on the ships or work in the gardens that provided fresh fruit and vegetables to the crew for meals. She'd accepted, in the end, in a combination of not wanting to disappoint her father and a hope that she'd enter the program and, in getting away from him a little, be able to forge her own path, make her own friends, and find her passion once more.

She'd met Uhura and seeing the woman's own drive for Xenolinguistics was refreshing, the girl was interesting and fun to be around, even if she'd only met her a short while ago, during the first gathering of the recruited Cadets. She'd have liked to have Uhura as a roommate when they entered the program, but unfortunately those arrangements had already been made. Uhura's roommate was an Orion named Gaila, they hadn't met yet, but she'd gotten the information for her when she'd hacked into the system earlier to see who the new Cadets were in her class. She'd nearly been caught, Uhura with her, but the guards who showed up to the shuttle that they'd hidden in had taken one look at them, rolled their eyes, and told them to get out. Uhura hadn't any idea it was that common of an occurrence, Cadets sneaking into the shuttles to access the Fleet connected computers to try and hack in. She'd just laughed at that before telling Uhura who her roommate was. Her own roommate was a Karemma though she hadn't managed to get to the name before the guards appeared.

And there they were, with the rest of the Cadets for their last recruitment session before being taken to the Academy. It was an unsanctioned event, them being in the bar, but they'd wanted to all get together and, as the men had called it, have one last hurrah before they shipped off.

Little had they known that the local bar was the hang out for one James Tiberius Kirk.

"He's practically famous in the Fleet," Victoria continued, "Or at least an unofficial member of it, everyone whose ever heard of the Kelvin knows who he is through his father and he's not even in the Fleet yet."

"Yet?" Uhura frowned, she knew about the Kelvin, nearly every person who wanted to be a Cadet had heard about it, especially the ones recruited by Captain Pike. She knew who Kirk was now but she'd just wanted to make sure Victoria hadn't tried to hack in again somehow. As far as she knew, Kirk wasn't a member of the Fleet at all, not even in the program.

"Why do you think we're here?" she shook her head, "We could have had our last session anywhere on earth and they picked Iowa? They picked THIS town? His home town? That's too much of a coincidence, no," she looked across the bar, catching Kirk's eye as he glanced over at her once more, "We're here for HIM."

Uhura turned in her seat, seeing Kirk starting to smile at Victoria, before he gave her a nod and took a sip from what had to be his third beer at least. She rolled her eyes, already seeing a cocky nature in the man, and turned back to Victoria, "You want something to drink?"

"Cardassian sunrise," she nodded, "Two please."

"Two?" Uhura glanced at her, a little unsure of that, "Really?"

"I can hold my liquor just fine," she rolled her eyes, "This isn't exactly the first time I've 'snuck out' to a bar Ny."

Uhura held up her hands and turned to go to the bar, "Hey Uhura!" one of the other Cadets called as she passed their table, "Can you get a Klavnian fire tea, three Buds, and a shot of Jack too?"

She sighed but nodded, they would be on her way back so it wouldn't be hard to drop off the drinks too. The Cadets had all agreed to pool their money on the tab for the drinks they'd be consuming that night, it wasn't like she was paying for it right now. She made her way to the bar, smiling at the tender, "Hi. I'd like a Klavnian fire tea. Uh, three Budweiser classics, two Cardassian sunrises, and a…" she squinted at the drinks listed, trying to find at least one for herself before she finished up.

"Try the Slusho," the bartender recommended, "It's good."

She smiled, "The Slusho mix, thank you."

"That's a lot of drinks for one woman," a voice said beside her.

She glanced over to see Kirk had come to lounge against the bar next to her, given his tone she could tell he was, at the very least, buzzed, and shook her head at that. His eyes were still fixed on Victoria as she sat at the table though, speaking to someone on her communicator at her ear, "And a shot of Jack straight up," she added to the bartender, ignoring Kirk.

She'd had this happen to her before, numerous times, some skeeze in a bar came onto her to try and get in the pants of her friends. Not gonna happen, not this time. Not just because she hadn't known Victoria long and they were just on the way to being friends, but because the man was clearly trouble and…well, Victoria seemed to have a penchant for getting into enough of it on her own without someone like Kirk enabling her.

"Make that two, shots on me," Kirk turned his head to look at her, finally tearing his gaze away from Victoria.

"Her shot's on her," she countered to the bartender as the man held up his hands in surrender, before she turned to Kirk again, "Thanks but no thanks."

Kirk rolled his eyes, "Do you at least want to know my name before you completely reject me?"

"I'm fine without it," she shot back. She already knew who he was, yes, but he didn't need to know it.

"You are fine without it," he looked her up and down, before his head rolled to nod at Victoria, "And she's…more than fine," he grinned and let his head fall onto his shoulder, turning it to look up at her, "It's Jim, Jim Kirk. If you don't tell me your name, I'm gonna have to make one up."

"What, not going to make one up for her to?" Uhura quipped.

"Don't need to," he shrugged, "Already got one in mind."

She shook her head, NOT wanting to know, "SHE'S…"

"Victoria," Kirk cut in.

Uhura frowned, "How did you…"

"Her bag," he nodded towards the girl, to the bag resting on her feet, with 'Victoria' embroidered along the side of it, it was an old bag, too personal for it to have been generic, probably a gift from a relative that she kept with her. The faded pink color, which really didn't suit the girl at all given how she was wearing a black, long-sleeved version of a Cadet's uniform, a dress that went to her mid-thighs, and black flats…she wasn't the girly sort of girl that would own a bag like that if not for sentimental reasons.

"But you never said YOUR name," Kirk grinned at her smugly.

"It's Uhura," she turned back to the bar.

"Uhura, no way. That's the name I was gonna make up for ya," he chuckled, "Uhura what?"

"Just Uhura," she replied shortly, hoping her tone would be enough to make it through his drunken state and alert him to the fact she wanted nothing to do with him.

"They don't have last names on your world?"

"Uhura is my last name."

"Well then, they don't have first names on your world?" he slid closer to her, leaning in, "So, you're a Cadet, you're studying...what's your focus?"

"Xenolinguistics," she snapped, shying away from his closeness, "You have no idea what that means."

Kirk looked at her a long while before stating, "The study of alien languages, morphology, phonology, syntax," he smirked when she looked at him sharply…and had to add, "It means you've got a talented tongue."

"I'm impressed," she muttered, "For a moment there, I thought you were just a dumb hick who only has sex with farm animals."

"Well, not only," he quipped, "Your friend…" he looked at Victoria again, "She's quite the…chick," he tried to joke.

"And if you so much as go near her, she'll probably engineer a tiny bomb to strap to your…"

"So she's in engineering then?" Kirk grinned, cutting into Uhura's threat and getting more out of her about Victoria than the woman probably meant to reveal.

"This townie isn't bothering you, right?" both Kirk and Uhura looked to the side where a rather large, almost burly, Cadet stepped up to them, cutting into the conversation.

"Oh, beyond belief," Uhura remarked, "But it's nothing I can't handle."

"You could handle me, if that's an invitation," Kirk winked at her.

"Hey!" the man shoved him back, "You better mind your manners."

"Oh, relax cupcake," Kirk laughed, patting him on the arm as he tried to pass him, "It was a joke."

"Hey, farmboy," 'Cupcake' turned to him as he stepped by, "Maybe you can't count, but there are four of us," he gestured behind him as three other male Cadets joined him, "And one of you."

Victoria shook her head from where she was slowly getting up from her table, backing up to the side, just knowing where this was going to go, but taking a handful of chips with her to munch on as she enjoyed the inevitable showdown.

"Well, find some more guys and then it'll be an even fight," Kirk taunted…only for Cupcake to send a firm right hook at him.

And that was just the beginning as a massive fight broke out between Kirk and the four Cadets. Some others joined in, trying to stop it, trying to pull the men off each other, but Kirk took a brutal beating in the meanwhile. Uhura even got involved, trying to break them all up, shouting at them to stop, especially when Kirk hit the ground, his nose bloodied, his lip split, clearly in pain.

A group of Cadets surged forward, managing to pull three of the others off of Kirk…but Cupcake wouldn't be held back as he attacked the man, pulling him off the ground and readying another punch…

When he suddenly let go of him as a shattering noise reached them.

Kirk, stumbled back into a table to see Victoria standing behind Cupcake a broken bottle in hand, having smashed it on Cupcake's head to get him to stop. Cupcake whirled around, seeming ready to attack whoever it was that had done that…only for the prepared Victoria to land one hefty blow across the man's face, sending him to the ground. She panted a moment from the effort of that punch before she winced and shook out her hand, cursing under her breath, 100 percent certain that she'd just broken her hand in doing that.

Men, they got so into fighting that they sometimes failed to realize that it didn't taken numerous blows to fell an opponent, no, sometimes it just took one well-timed, wel-placed, well-thought blow. She'd seen her father knock out an unruly enemy with a single punch before, it had been something he'd taught her himself when she'd gotten older. Well, during her first date really, he'd wanted her to be protected, taught her the angle and power needed to knock someone out for a few minutes with a single punch. It was mostly because on one expected a woman to punch like that or attack that hard at all that most never saw it coming and didn't tense in preparation for it. It left them open to it and she always used it to her advantage.

Unfortunately, just as Cupcake hit the ground, a sharp whistle was heard as none other than Captain Pike, their recruiter, stepped into the bar. He stood there, looking around at the Cadets, before shaking his head at them, "Outside. All of you. Now!"

"Yes, sir," one of the Cadets who had taken part in the beating said quickly, the other two joining him to heft the fallen Cupcake up and drag him out with the others.

Pike frowned when he saw Uhura standing before Victoria, looking at her hand as the girl grimaced in pain and walked over to them. He reached out and gently took Victoria's hand, turning it over, trying to uncurl her fingers when she winced, "Go see medical," he ordered, "You," he nodded at Uhura, "Make sure she goes."

"Yes, sir," Uhura nodded, leading Victoria out.

Victoria sighed, she hated medical, she hated doctors. She didn't know why but she got anxious whenever she had to be around one, she just…didn't like them, how they poked and prodded and examined you. Their examination tables and instruments were always so cold and unfeeling and it gave her the creeps to have to go see one. She hated medicine too, if there was something wrong with her body she wanted it to tell her not be so chock full of medications that she had no idea what was happening.

She glanced over her shoulder to see Kirk leaning heavily on the table he'd fallen against, watching her go intently, offering her a nod of thanks which she returned before she stepped out with Uhura.

"You alright, son?" Pike turned to him.

"You can whistle really loud, you know that?" Kirk glanced at him, wincing at the sudden move before he rubbed his head…

That…had not been fun.

~8~

Victoria sighed as she stepped back to the bar later that night, grimacing at her hand in its small splint. She hadn't broken it as she'd thought, but she'd bruised her knuckles soundly and sprained her wrist, so she'd be forced to wear a splint for the next few weeks.

Wonderful.

That was the last time she was ever going to punch someone for James T. Kirk.

She moved to the door and peeked in to see that Pike and Kirk were alone in the bar, Kirk looking more patched up, his face washed, but with two napkins stuck in his nose for the last of the bleeding. Pike was across from him, the two men sitting at a table. She knew it was bad, but she'd always been a terrible eavesdropper, so she'd stood by the screen door, listening.

"…couldn't believe it when the bartender told me who you are," Pike was saying, seeming to have finished what was likely a long-winded speech about responsibility and respect and blah blah blah, she'd heard it a thousand times before, everyone probably had.

"Who am I, Captain Pike?" Kirk scoffed.

"Your father's son."

Kirk just turned and held up a glass to the bartender, "Can I get another one?"

Victoria sighed, clearly it was a sore topic for Kirk and she knew what was coming. Pike was one of the best recruiters that the Fleet had, his passion, his dedication, brought in more Cadets than any other. But she could tell he didn't know when to stop, he was going to keep bring it up, digging into Kirk's past till he relented, and that was not something anyone should do, they shouldn't use your lost family member to convince you to do something. She knew that well enough from her own mother and how she was constantly used by her paternal relatives to 'set an example' for her both to live up to, in certain ways, and avoid becoming in others.

"Captain Pike," she entered the bar, "There's a transmission waiting for you in the shipyard," she told him, walking over, "Medical ordered me to give you my report," she handed him a piece of paper detailing her injury, "And one of the communications staff requested I alert you to the transmission from the Academy on my way."

Pike sighed and stood, "Thank you Victoria," he nodded, before glancing at Kirk, "Don't waste your potential kid," he nodded, before heading out, pausing only when he noticed Victoria not following, "You want to take a swing at him too?" he asked her, amused.

"No," she shook her head, "Just…someone owes me a thank you and I intend to get it," she looked back at Kirk.

Pike stood there, looking between the two as they stared at each other a moment, before shaking his head and walking out.

"You're lucky," Victoria remarked as she sat down, waiting till Pike had left before she spoke, "Knowing him he was about to start on how he wrote about the Kelvin for his dissertation."

"He uh," Kirk winced, reaching up to pull the napkins out of his nose, not wanting to sit in front of a woman with them sticking out of him, "Does that a lot then?"

"His favorite story," she nodded, "From what I hear. Seems he gives it every time he's trying to recruit someone, that you could 'have the chance to be a member of a family like that, where the captain puts his crew first' and so on," she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms, slouching a bit, another little habit of hers, her posture was really terrible when she wasn't in a sort of formal setting, "I tend to think that he fantasizes about your dad…"

Kirk, who had just gone to take a sip of water (the only thing the bartender was willing to give him after that brawl), spit it out and started choking, "What?!"

She shrugged, but the smile on her face let him know she was only (partially) joking about it, "He admires him," she corrected, "Doesn't believe in 'no-win' scenarios because of your dad."

"Yeah," Kirk scoffed, "And dad learned his lesson didn't he?"

"I don't think there was a lesson to learn."

"No?" he frowned at her.

"You're alive," she nodded at him, "I think that's a win for parents. Could be a win for the Fleet as well."

"How's that?" he rolled his eyes, leaning forward to rest his elbows on the table as he crossed his arms.

"You're even worse than the stories say he was in just rushing into things, in making it up as you go, in being creative…" she eyed him, seeing him listening to her, seeing him almost…shocked that someone would classify all the things that had gotten him in trouble for years as a GOOD thing, "I could use help converting the Fleet to think like that."

"You?" he scoffed, his shock turning to amusement, "You expect me to believe you're like that too?"

"Well, I DO try to think a bit more once I've run into a situation," she smirked, "And YOU have the capacity to do it too," she leaned in, resting her own elbows on the table, a challenging look in her eyes, "I hacked into the system," she admitted, she really had, she just…hadn't wanted Uhura to know, "You're a genius, stone cold genius," he smirked at that, "But you're WAY too arrogant," his smirk fell, "You really expect me to believe you stick around here because you LIKE it?" she snorted, "You stay here because then you're the smartest person around."

Kirk eyed her, she was…the first person to actually guess that.

"But staying here?" she shook her head, "How is THAT impressive to a woman?" she shrugged, getting up, "We love a man in uniform," she told him, "So enlist in Starfleet."

"Enli…" Kirk started to laugh, "You must really be desperate to fill your recruiting quota for the month."

"Oh I'm not a recruiter," she shook her head, looking down at him.

"Then what are you?" he eyed her.

"Wouldn't you like to know," she shot back, smiling secretively at him, seeing his eyes narrow in curiosity, "Pity though, you never will," she let out a mocking sigh, "If you were an officer…might take you about four years though, but then you could order me to tell you."

"In four years I'd have figured it out for myself," he defended.

"Oh I doubt it," she challenged, Kirk stiffening at it, "But if you're game…Riverside Shipyard is where the shuttle'll be taking the new Cadets tomorrow bright and early. Why don't you put your money where your mouth is and see if you can work out just what sort of girl I am."

Kirk watched her as she turned and headed for the door, his gaze never leaving her so he wasn't surprised when she paused and looked back at him, just…staring, "What?" he frowned, shifting under her gaze, something he would deny to the grave that he'd done.

"Nothing," she shrugged, "Just…another challenge, if you want it."

"I'm listening."

"Your dad was captain for 12 minutes alone…saved over 800 people, including you. I want to know if you can do him one better," she nodded, done, and turned to head out the door, "See you tomorrow!"

"Maybe," he shouted after her.

"Definitely," she called back knowingly.

Kirk frowned, staring at the door as it shut before looking down at a small salt shaker shaped like the Kelvin…and back at the door.

~8~

Pike looked over as he stood in Riverside Shipyard the next morning, preparing the final Cadets to enter the shuttle…when he heard a motorcycle approaching. He grinned, seeing Kirk get off, "Nice ride, man," one of the engineers working on a piece of the Enterprise commented.

"It's yours," Kirk tossed him the keys, already on a path towards Pike, "That girl," he told the man, "Victoria…she said it takes four years to be an officer?"

"If you're lucky," Pike nodded, starting to grin.

Kirk scoffed, "I'll do it in three," and with that, he turned and strode past the man, into the shuttle where he could see the Cadets from the bar, Uhura and Victoria included, gathered, "At ease, gentlemen," he muttered to Cupcake and his friends, before he turned to head further into the shuttle, his gaze locked on Victoria…so much so that he ended up walking right into a low metal beam.

Victoria snorted at seeing Kirk smash his forehead against it, making him roll his eyes at having been caught, before he ducked under it and made his way down to her, taking a seat to her right, Uhura on her left, with an open seat on his right as well.

"And you call ME arrogant," he commented to Victoria as he sat.

"What, you think I am?" she lifted an eyebrow at that as he slipped his straps on.

"You were SO sure I'd turn up," he remarked.

"And look at that," she smirked at him, "Here you are. Not arrogance if it's true."

Kirk grumbled under his breath at that, feeling a small…he wasn't sure what it was. It wasn't discomfort or alarm but more…he wasn't quite used to that, to the thought that someone actually understood him. She'd gathered his reasons for staying in Iowa from just one meeting with him, had worked out JUST how to bait him enough to get him to get on that shuttle, and she'd KNOWN he'd go…he'd never had that happen before. Most women never knew what he was going to do short of feeling like he'd try to flirt with them. Not even his own mother had managed to work out things like that about him. There was one thing to be said…Victoria was…interesting.

"Never did get that first name," he mumbled to Uhura, if just for something to change the topic.

Before Uhura could even comment, a commotion rang out to their right, a young woman was leading a rather scruffy-looking man out of the restrooms, "You need a doctor!"

"I told you people, I don't need a doctor," the man rolled his eyes, a deep southern drawl to his words, "I am a doctor."

"You need to get back to your seat."

"I had one, in the bathroom, with no windows."

"You need to get back to your seat, now!"

"I suffer from aviophobia. It means fear of dying in something that flies."

"Sir, for your own safety, sit down or else I'll make you sit down."

The man glared at the woman a long while before relenting, "Fine."

"Thank you," the woman huffed, turning to walk away as the man made his way to the only open seat beside Kirk.

"This is Captain Pike," they all looked up, hearing his voice come over the speakers, "We've been cleared for takeoff."

"I may throw up on you," the man warned Kirk as he sat down and began to strap in.

"Please do," Victoria leaned forward slightly to smirk at the man, despite him having claimed himself to be a doctor…he didn't look like one at all, "It would liven up the trip to see James here dealing with vomit the entire time and forced to sit in it," ok, so she was a bit bitter about being called arrogant.

"James?" Kirk scoffed at that, "Call me Jim."

"Hmmm…" she paused as though to think, "No. That's not your name."

"Kirk then," he rolled his eyes.

"I prefer James."

"And I prefer Jim."

"Well you're not ME are you," she countered.

"Tory just call him Jim," Uhura cut in, "You hate it when people call you 'Victoria' too."

"No," she glanced at the girl, "If he'd ASKED me to call him Jim, I might have, I don't like being ordered around by someone who isn't my captain," she turned to Kirk, "You don't get to control what I say and what I call you James."

"Oh is that how you want to play it 'Tory?'" he mocked, "How about I call you Victoria then."

"And how long have you two been married?" the doctor-man cut in, looking between them.

"What?" they both blinked at him.

"...you're not are you?" the man grumbled, wonderful, he knew exactly where this was all going to lead.

"No."

"Well, how long have you been friends?"

"Friends?" they glanced at each other.

The man frowned, "Known each other?" he tried to think, he'd never met two people who hadn't known each other so long that they acted like that around each other.

Kirk shrugged, "9 hours?"

"9 hours and 34 minutes," Victoria corrected, making him roll his eyes as Uhura shook her head, already realizing what the man had about the two of them, she'd seen it herself in the bar when they'd glance at each other.

"Don't worry," Uhura turned to him, really wanting to get the topic of conversation away from either Kirk or Victoria, "The shuttles are incredibly safe."

"Oh don't pander to me," the man rolled his eyes, "One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. A solar flare might pop up and cook us in our seats. And wait 'til your sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles. See if you're still so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger after darkness and silence."

"You're quite the optimist, aren't you?" Victoria remarked dryly.

"I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space," Kirk added.

"Yeah," the man grumbled, "Well, got nowhere else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I've got left is my bones."

"That sounds like divorce alright," Victoria muttered, "Destroying lives everywhere."

Kirk glanced at her a moment, hearing a bitterness in her voice, before he shook his head, it wasn't any of his business what that cocky girl was talking about. So, instead, he smirked at the man, liking his cynicism, it was refreshing, "These are Uhura and Victoria, and I'm Jim Kirk."

"McCoy," the man reached out to shake his hand, "Leonard McCoy…" he winced as the shuttle started to shake, takeing off.

"Any time you want to vomit on James," Victoria called over the rumbling, "Feel free, PLEASE feel free."

Kirk just rolled his eyes, he'd let the girl rope him into joining Starfleet, but luckily he'd never have to encounter her again after this...that way she'd never be able to tell a soul that he'd grabbed her hand just moments before the shuttle actually took off.

But in his defense...she squeezed his hand back.

A/N: Lol, oh Bones, I think, really has their unique relationship pegged ;) But we'll see more hints of it tomorrow too ^-^

Some notes on reviews...

I'll be posting another story for the Archives when the 3rd movie comes out :) I have an original story planned as the final one in the series for when they officially announce no more movies with that cast too ;)

Oh she and Bones will get on very well :) Scotty will definitely bring out a testy side to Kirk as they'll both be engineering people and want to chat about it quite a bit ;) She just might do something when Kirk gets kicked off, but I won't say what :)

I can't say who her father is ;) It'll be a sort of running joke that Kirk is so focused on Uhura's first name he doesn't realize he doesn't know Victoria's last ;) But we'll find out what that is when he does :)

It's sort of a combination of things making her hesitant to join the Fleet. I think it comes down to pressure mostly, like it's just expected of her and she never really got a choice in it :)

Lol, that's awesome :) Victoria is in my top 10 favorite names :)