Leah and the Space Pirate, 2

After a thwarted escape attempt, Leah did not let Pirate Dude Jim out of sickbay for another two days. He whined and griped about it, but she remained stone hearted.

"Tough it out, Edward Teach. You claim to be a hardened pirate. If you're going to keep me here, you're going to to follow my sickbay rules."

She coolly told him this while scanning him thoroughly and giving him some well-deserved hypos. Jim stuck out his lower lip.

"That's no way to talk to your captor," he teased, "don't you fear me?"

"Fear you?" Leah laughed heartily. "I'd sooner be afraid of a golden retriever puppy. You don't scare me. I don't even know why you try this whole pirate charade. You seem like a poster child for a Starfleet captain, not some Blackbeard wanna be."

"Appearances can be deceiving." Something painful flashed through Jim's eyes for s second. "I was tired of trying to be what everyone expected me to be."

He subsided into sullen silence. Leah wondered what happened to make him disillusioned with Starfleet, but she wouldn't press just yet.

When he did get out, and she saw him in action for the first time, Leah couldn't help but admire that confident strife and the efficiency with which he ran his ship. His crew adored him, that much was certain and they were always laughing and joking around. He was even more handsome than she first thought and kept up his flirtation attempts. He insisted on calling her 'Bones' because of the skeleton design on her medical bag. Leah had to repeat Uhura's advice over and over to herself. Despite her failed relationship, she was finding it hard to resist him.

One day at lunch, they had an interesting conversation. "So, Leah, what brought you to Ares 2?" Jim asked casually, while picking at his salad. (She had refused to sit with him unless he ate his veggies). She sighed and related the short version of her history.

"My ex husband cleaned me out in the divorce. Took me for every red cent. I couldn't even stand to be on the same planet with him. My old boss told me about an opportunity and I jumped on it. That's how I ended up in a little clinic, perfect for kidnapping." She couldn't help taking a shot.

Jim didn't take much notice of her snide remark, only gave her a sympathetic look. "That's rough, Bones. The man must be a complete idiot. Who in his right mind would want to divorce you? You're smart and sassy and gorgeous." He looked her up and down, causing her to blush.

"Someone who's a social climber and gets easily embarrassed by an unsophisticated southern girl. He wanted me to look and act like all the other stuck up society creatures who spent their time stabbing each other in the back. Turns out running for office brought out the worst in him."

Kirk frowned and wrinkled his cute little nose (she thought it was cute, anyway) in a very un-Pirate like expression.

"Ugh. Politicians. One of the many reasons I didn't make it in Starfleet. I'm sorry about that, Leah. You deserve better."

He looked like he meant it, too. Leah felt warm inside. Her name sounded nice rolling off his tongue.

Over the next few days, Jim was greatly absorbed in planning and carrying out a "mission". Rumor had it that they were going to sneak into Romulan territory to rescue some people who were stranded on a planetoid. Starfleet, Nyota explained to her, refused to intervene because it would tick off the Romulans and violate some treaty. But Jim couldn't let these people be captured and suffer the horrible fate that any Romulan prisoner did. He went around with a grimly determined face, and left off with the flirting. So there was the Space Pirate Dude coming out in him.

Leah kept to her room when they entered Romulan space, nervously dreading an attack and trying to distract herself with medical journals on her PADD. Jim took a team down to the planetoid to retrieve the stranded scientists and the whole ship collectively held its breath until he returned.

Leah was relieved to hear his voice calling her to sickbay and she rushed down there to make sure everyone was okay. Jim looked fine, talking to the scientists who were somewhat thin and battered, but mostly unharmed. The ship was currently high-tailing it back to friendly space, with no enemy fire so far.

"How did it go, Jim?" She asked, pulling out her tricorder. His eyes were flashing with the thrill of narrow escape, burning that bright blue. She quickly averted her eyes, scanning her tricorder over the weary looking guests.

"Good, Bones. Got them out without any major hang-ups. Smoothest mission I've had in a while." He sounded very pleased with himself. "Aren't you impressed with my mad pirating skills?"

She rolled her eyes. "As humble as ever, aren't you, Space Pirate Dude? If you really want to impress me, go get these good people dry clothes and a square meal. Those emergency rations ran out some time ago, I'm guessing."

"Two days ago", spoke up the pale looking woman she was examining. Jim was off like a shot.

Leah finished treating the scientists, then made sure they were fed and given quarters for the night. Jim was meekly obeying her; she really liked that for some reason that she didn't care to think about too much.

Uhura looked at her in amazement. "How are you getting Jim to obey you like that? He'd never do anything I ask without whining like a baby."

"Don't know," Leah shrugged, "maybe he really fears hypos."

"Or, he really likes you," Uhura suggested slyly.

"He's only known me five days," she scoffed. "He's just a flirt looking for the next pretty face." But why did she wish that wasn't true?