The First Time
She talked with him when he wasn't there
She trudged through the foreign greenery, the weight of her satchel digging mercilessly into her shoulder, every so often causing her legs to wobble and the muscles in her back to constrict.
"What's the matter, Laxely?"
She clenched her teeth, too focused on her next footing to roll her eyes.
"You're not here." She responded slowly, bitter with the admission and annoyed that he wasn't actually there to hear it.
She scowled as her load got caught in a low hanging branch. With a grunt, she jerked it free and continued.
"That's not my fault."
"Bullshit." She spat. A fallen tree lay across her path, large and moss-covered, and so unnecessarily in her way. She threw a foot onto it, hefted her weight up, sweat dribbled from the top of her head as she pulled her satchel along, then jumped off to the other side. "All you had to do was listen to me. Why is that so hard for you?"
Silence.
Typical.
She heard the soft trickle of a small creek in the distance and made that her next stopping point. Once she came upon it, the load was released from her hands to land on the ground with a loud clang from the assortment of items inside. Her eyes scanned the area, hands curling and uncurling at her sides. After a moment of deciding it was safe, she knelt down and deposited a reader into the stream. The numbers flashed: drinkable was all she discerned before cupping her hands and dipping them into the fresh liquid.
She could feel him across the stream from her, watching her. She ignored him for a beat. Then: "What?"
"You could just wait for me to get back to the ship. I'll go to the elders and set things straight. This is my mistake, I should fix it."
She bit back a snort. Even in her mind, him admitting to a mistake sounded false.
"I'm already out here, Jim..."
"Why are you out here?" He cut across. He'd found an opportunity to turn the table on her and true to form he was snatching it. "By yourself, no back-up with a communicator that can't reach the ship until you knock out their scrambler inside the high temple?"
"Spock needs all the hands he can get working on our escape-"
"You're not thinking this through."
She took to her feet, glaring across the stream. "You're the dumb ass who got caught up in this mess like a damsel in distress!"
"And you're the crazy lady arguing with someone who isn't really here!"
Her mouth twisted into a humorless smirk. She could feel how her eyes remained untouched by the action. Then, as she turned away, she responded flippantly as he sighed in resignation:
"I never said I wasn't."
"You never said you weren't."
She stopped by her satchel and stared down at the thing as if it were the cause for all the evil in the universe. The silence closed in on her. This time she felt the weight fall gracelessly upon her shoulders. Making her feel small. Making her feel weak. Making her feel so damn lost and alone.
"Jim Kirk." She murmured. "You'll be the death of me and won't even have to lift a finger to do it."
A/N: Thank you so much you guys for reviewing! Both signed and unsigned! It means so much to me that you enjoy these snippets. :)