A/N: Thanks everyone for the reviews! I really appreciate them and love reading them! They make my day! I hope you enjoy this chapter! After the movie part is over, don't worry I think I've been leaving hints as to what is going to happen...I hope!
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Sophie and the Pike's family!
It had been hours since they left the black hole scene and the bridge was silent except for the hum of the ship as it flew steadily through space. Due to ejecting the core to get away from the black hole they weren't able to get back as quickly as they would like. Sulu's estimate was 2 days return to Earth and Sophie sighed as the she looked over her panel trying to see how everything was holding up. Being the tactical officer on the bridge she had to make sure the weapons, security and such were all making progress and nothing too major happened. She was looking over security when she heard a soft groan and looked up to see where it had come from.
She found the source to be Jim who was sitting in the Captain's chair with a PADD in his hand as he scrolled through some regulations and the ships damage. Taking a good look at him she noticed he looked quite pale, bruised and frankly beaten up.
"Jim?" Sophie said softly as to not make a scene on the bridge in front of everyone.
"Yeah?" he answered looking up at her.
You ok? She mouthed.
Jim nodded his head slowly smiling a little before looking down again at his PADD, groaning slightly again. Sophie shook her head knowing he was clearly lying to her so she got up and went over to Uhura at communications.
"Will you please get McCoy up here?" she said quietly to her friend. "Tell him its Jim."
"Sure. Is he hurt?" Uhura asked glancing at Jim.
"Yes and he's too stubborn to do anything about it. So I'm going to make him." Sophie said smiling and leaving a very amused Uhura behind as she walked over to Jim and stopped right in front of him looking him over.
Jim finally looked up noticing her standing there with her arms crossed starting at him. "Can I help you?" he asked raising his eyebrow.
"Are you hurt?" she inquired softly.
"I'm fine Soph." he replied giving her a smile.
"That's not what I asked."
"I know." He said cocking his head to the side.
Sophie rolled her eyes before kneeling down in front of him so that she was now looking up at him with her arms resting on his legs. Jim leaned forwards towards her putting his hands on top of hers and bringing his face inches from hers so as not to be over heard.
"How bad?" She asked softly.
"About a 7." Jim replied knowing it was useless to lie to her.
"Jim," Sophie said sighing as she looked him over. "Bruises?" He nodded. "Swollen ankle?" He nodded. "Ribs?"
"At least 1 broken." He said groaning a little.
"Jesus Jim. Concussion too?"
"Most likely."
"Alright here's what we're going to do." Sophie said quietly looking up at him still. "I'm going to give you three options and you are going to choice which one you do but you have to do one of them got it?"
"Sophie there are things that need to get done." Jim argued.
"I am aware of that but they can wait. You are Acting Captain I get it but once we are back to Earth you'll have to go straight to debriefing and a hearing and you won't survive that if you don't get patched up now. We won't be back for 2 days so resting for a few hours or so isn't going to hurt."
"Fine." Jim mumbled, "What are the options?"
"Number 1: You go down to sickbay without any complaint and get fixed up then you and I will go to my quarters and rest for a while. Number 2: We go straight to my quarters and I patch you up like I use too. And number 3: Leo gets up here sedates you then drags your ass to sickbay and you have to rest there." Sophie said giving him the options.
"I don't like any of those." Jim told her. "Can't I just stay up here?"
"No." She replied softly. "Pick one Jim."
"Ok well defiantly not number 3." He said with a small laugh making her smile. "Which one would you want me to do?"
"It's not my choice." She replied as they heard the swish of the doors open and saw Bones walking in but not approaching them.
"I know but I'd like to know."
"If you really want me to I'll be happy to patch you but up I don't know how much I could do for your rib or anything, especially if you have internal bleeding or something. I'd like you to go with number 1 but if you don't want to you don't have too."
Jim looked at her before glancing at Bones who was watching them intently and he debated over his choices. "1." He said softly.
"Ok." She said smiling. "Let's go."
"Ok ok I'm coming." He said standing up with Sophie's help.
"Captain we have incoming transmission." Uhura said from her station.
"Put it through." Jim replied taking a seat again as Sophie stood behind him her hands rubbing his neck from all the tension.
"God that feels good Soph." Jim replied his eyes shutting briefly before hearing his name.
"Jim?! Sophie?" a voice said.
Looking up Sophie and Jim found it to be Nick on the screen besides the Captain of another ship who looked at the Doctor before looking back at Jim.
"I'm Captain Logan Crimp of the USS Phoenix. Where is Captain Pike?" He asked.
"He's in sickbay. I'm Acting Captain James T. Kirk, we've had some problems." Jim replied in the best voice he could.
"I know we've been informed of your situation and are 8 hours from reaching you. We'll help you get back Earth. Is Pike going to be alright?"
"He's alive, I haven't heard from our CMO yet but I'm going to check soon." Jim replied with a slight wince.
"Captain may I?" Nick asked his Captain gesturing towards the Enterprise, the Captain nodded and Nick stepped up further onto the screen.
"You have some explaining to do Jim." Nick said glancing him over. "Are you hurt?"
"Yes." Sophie replied at the same time Jim said, "No."
"I see Sophie is still the more sensible one. McCoy take him down would you and wait how's my dad?" Nick said seeing Bones standing there.
"Hey! I was going all on my own before you called." Jim defended himself.
"Right and I'm the Easter Bunny." Nick replied sarcastically before looking at Bones for answers.
"Pike should make a full recovery. He had a parasite in him that took out most of his function in the legs but I'm hoping they recover. He's still asleep though, I'll know more when he wakes up." Bones replied.
"Good and tell your CMO that I'm coming over when we get there. I want to look at this." Nick responded.
"Bones is the CMO." Jim replied tiredly. "Dr. Puri died in a explosion. We lost a lot of the crew."
"Oh boy." Captain Crimp muttered. "We'll be there in 8 hours and will connect you when we arrive. Get yourself check out and some sleep. Crimp out."
The screen went blank as Jim slouched in the seat sighing. His body hurt and all he wanted to do with sleep next to Sophie and eat something. The entire bridge was now looking at Jim and Sophie as she continued to rub his neck when Bones came over.
"Come on Jim." He said quietly.
"Captain." Spock said approaching them. "We will take care of things until you get back."
"Thank you Mr. Spock. You have the conn." Jim said before walking off the bridge with Sophie and Bones down onto Sickbay.
Two hours later Jim found himself being led to Sophie's quarters by Sophie. She held his hand softly as she opened the door to her quarters and walked in with the now patched up Jim behind her. Bones said he would be fine, gave him medication and told him to go sleep for a few hours so here they were.
Walking in Sophie found her quarters to be bigger than she thought. It had a small living area with a sofa and table then to the right was the bedroom. The bedroom consisted of a full bed, a small table and a chair with the bathroom attached to it.
"You want to shower or anything or just sleep?" Sophie asked him.
"Sleep then talk then shower." He replied wrapping his arms around her waist and mumbling into her neck.
"Alright."
The two made their way over to the bed after she had shut the door, and turned lights down. She helped carefully take off his shirt and pants, leaving him in his boxers before helping under the covers and walking around to the other side. She stripped her shirt off leaving her in a black tank top while she noticed him watching her with soft eyes.
"What?" she asked him.
"Nothing." He replied smiling, one that he saved for just her. "You're just…beautiful."
Sophie blushed ducking her head before starting to climb in bed before he stopped her and she looked at him questioningly.
"Aren't you going to take those pants off? You'll be uncomfortable."
"I…" Sophie stuttered not really sure where they stood.
"Soph, take them off and get in." Jim said. Sophie rolled her eyes before stripping them off leaving her in a tank top and her underwear before getting in.
Jim scooted towards Sophie draping his arms around her holding her close to him as he spooned her from behind. He breathed in deeply while Sophie placed a hand over his and snuggled deeper into the covers that surrounded him and her. Laying there together the two felt completely at peace and safe in each other's arms.
Sleep was slowly taking Sophie but before she fell asleep completely she felt lips on her neck and hand run through her hair lightly as Jim whispered in her ear, "I'm in love with you Sophie and I'm sorry it took me this long to tell you." He whispered before laughing sarcastically to himself. "I can save earth from being destroyed but can't even tell my best-friend I love her when she's awake. Lord I'm pathetic Dad." Jim added softly talking to himself.
He thinks I'm asleep, Sophie thought as she smiled to herself before drifting off to sleep with a smile on her face making a mental note to talk to Jim about it later.
When Sophie finally woke up she found that she had switched positions and was now laying on her other side tucked in Jim's side, her hand our his waist as she lay on his back and her head resting on his bare chest. His arms was holding her close to him while other held the hand across his body. She sighed contently moving closer to him when he started to stir and turned towards her.
"Hi." Jim said softly his eyes opening to see her.
"Hi." she whispered back resting her head in the crook of his neck. "Jim?"
"Mhmm?"
"I," Sophie said taking a deep breath before looking up at him as he stared at her. "I'm in love with you too."
"What?" Jim replied his body tensing and pulling away from her slightly.
"I heard you last night before I fell asleep." She told him quietly searching his eyes from answers. "I love you too Jim."
"You…you heard me?" Jim replied quietly not believing.
"Yes unless you were just joki…" Sophie started to say but was cut off when Jim's lips collided with hers. Jim softly entwined a hand in her hair and moved so he was hovering over her in a longing kiss. Sophie's fingers stroked the nape of his neck slightly, and he sighed into her mouth as they continued to kiss until the need for air was too great.
"I love you Sophie Elaina Pace." Jim whispered while he rested his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."
"I love you too James Tiberius Kirk." She replied just as softly going in for another kiss.
The kiss was just about to get heated until they heard the door swish open and broke apart only for them to find Bones standing there with his arms crossed.
"Finally." Bones said smirking. "Took you two long enough Jesus."
"Thanks Bones." Jim said rolling his eyes smiling while he held Sophie close to him. "Did you need something or do you just like to interrupt us?"
"The Phoenix just arrived and The Captain and Nick are about to beam over." Bones told them. "So get dressed and meet me in Sickbay. I'll take a look at your wounds again before you talk to Captain Crimp and I'm sure Nick wants to see you both."
"Alright." Said Jim rubbing a hand over his face while lying back down on his face. "We'll be down in 15."
"Good." Bones replied nodding heading towards the door before turning back, "And hey I'm happy for you two."
"Thanks Leo." Sophie said smiling at him before he slipped out the door leaving them alone.
"Come on," Sophie said after a minute of lying there with him, "We'll talk later."
"Alright alright." Jim replied getting out of bed and heading towards the shower. "Love you." He added smiling at the doorway.
"Love you too James." She said watching him close the door while she flopped on the bed smiling.