AN: I gave Number One a name, she needed one.
2250
Chris
"How long have you been standing there?" the sleepy figure asked from his couch.
Chris smiled, "Not long, just a few minutes."
He almost couldn't believe his eyes, this was not the skinny teen he hugged goodbye three years ago, Jamie had grown up. Everything about her appearance was older, her features had matured and even though she was thin, she had curves. Chris shouldn't have been surprised to find her in his condo, he was the one who gave her the code to the door, after all. Four years ago, before she left the Aldrin, he had given her his contact information and told her that if she needed anything, to let him know. A few weeks later, she had asked to crash at his place.
She had interviews at U.C. Berkeley's schools of engineering and physics, since his place was in San Francisco, she thought it was safer to stay with him. He gave her the code to the door and told her that she could come and go as often as she wanted. A few weeks before she turned fifteen, the Lake left on an assignment to survey and catalog a star system on the other end of the quadrant, Chris told Jamie that the spare bedroom she used was hers."So put some stuff in here," he had told her. He even listed her as part owner on the paperwork, just in case he got himself killed out in the black. "If she isn't here, the place would just be empty and since she'll be at Berkeley anyway…" was the explanation he used. While it was true, Chris could admit he liked having her in his home, even if he wasn't here.
"Are you gonna keep staring at me, or are you gonna give me a hug?" she asked with a tired smile, breaking Chris from his thoughts. He chuckled when he realized that she was wearing the old Starfleet Academy sweatshirt that he'd given her in sickbay after Tarsus. He still can't believe that it's been four years since he pulled her from that hell. Jamie stepped up to him, wrapped her arms around his frame, and rested her head on his shoulder. "I found out something about you today." Jamie said into his chest as they held each other. God, he had missed her.
"Oh yea, what would that be, J?"
"That you got promoted and you are now the newest and youngest Captain in the fleet?" She asked, looking up at him with her bright, blue eyes.
"How the hell did you find out about that already? The Admiralty only told me this morning," he smiled. It's funny how much information she seems to have access to. There isn't much she didn't know about what was going on with the fleet and Chris would bet just about anything that she's hacked into Starfleet's network more than a few times.
"I have my ways," was her reply.
Jamie
"So, are we going to celebrate? Want me to throw you a party? Not like I've thrown any parties but it's not every day your friend becomes a Captain," she asked, making her way into the kitchen to refill her glass of water. "Did you tell Charlie yet?" Jamie was happy, if anybody deserved to have good things happen to him, it was Chris.
"Yes, no and not yet," came Chris' reply to her rapid-fire questions. He had followed her and was leaning against the counter across from her. He had removed the jacket to his dress uniform and Jamie took a good long look at him. Chris, like most Starfleet officers was in good shape, he was lean and cut in all the right places. "Earth to Jamie. You still with me?" Chris' words brought Jamie back to reality.
"Sorry, I got lost in a thought, you say something?"
Chris chuckled, "Go get changed, I'll comm dad and let him know that I'm back. He and Hobelia want to take me to dinner as a 'welcome home' and you're coming with us. That is if you're done checking me out." Jamie glared at him for a second before heading to her room for a quick shower. Of course he noticed her eyes on his body, wouldn't be good at his job if he didn't.
Charlie
"Chris!" Charlie was too lost in his thoughts to notice that Chris and Jamie had arrived outside Perfecto in Presidio, where they agreed to meet. Hobelia had no such hesitation; she walked over and wrapped her arms around the younger Pike. "It's good to have you home, sweetie." Charlie watched on as his wife embraced his son, waiting for his chance to move in.
"Alright honey, let him breathe." As Hobelia released Chris and moved to hug Jamie, Charlie hugged his son. "Welcome back, son, we missed ya."
"Missed you too, old man. Can we take this party inside?" Charlie nodded. The small group walked the short distance to the restaurant's door and made their way inside.
Hobelia
She couldn't help but smile at them, Chris and Jamie were cute together. She knew that they weren't a couple, but there was something about the way they interacted with each other that reminded the older woman of her relationship with Charlie, it was almost magnetic. They had an ease with each other that few couples had. Even after being apart for three years, they were so in sync with each other. Beyond that, there was also love and protectiveness from both sides. Hobelia had no doubt that they would kill for each other if they had to. From the bits and pieces that Chris and Charlie could tell her about Jamie's past, there are already a few people who better never cross paths with her step-son. Hell, she hoped that she never met Jamie's mother… it won't end well. How someone could just throw their child away was something Hobelia didn't understand, Chris wasn't biologically her's but she would still walk through fire for him, Jamie too. The girl was such a sweet person, she's smart and helpful, as far as Hobelia was concerned, her mother was missing out big time.
Over the last few years, Hobelia had gotten to know the girl who lived at Chris' place. After Charlie explained what had happened to the girl, leaving out classified information, Hobelia made it a point to check on Jamie. The teen was suspicious at first but she eventually warmed up to having someone keeping tabs on her. Jamie had even asked for advice from the older woman after a boy who worked at the cafe near campus asked her out. She was so lost, the girl could build a replicator with a stylus and a rock, but ask her out on a date and she has no clue. Jamie went out with him a few times but she said it didn't feel right and ended it.
Hobelia's knew what the problem was, he was too young for her. The boy was a year older than Jamie but she had seen and survived so much that she couldn't relate to someone her own age, that was part of why Jamie and Chris made sense. Most people would think that their age difference would be a big deal, but Jamie seemed and behaved so much older than seventeen years old, unless you asked her age, you would swear she was in her twenties. To Hobelia, a fourteen year age difference was almost non-existent as far as Jamie and Chris were concerned.
Chris
After they were settled and had ordered their meals, Jamie spoke up. "Do you want to give them your good news or do you want mine, first?" she asked him.
Chris looked at her with surprise written all over his features, "I didn't know you had good news." Chris said to woman next to him. "Is it better than mine?" Jamie chuckled and thought about it for a moment.
"Might be, depends on how you want to look at it."
"Well. My parents raised a gentleman, so, lady first." His statement earned smiles from everyone at the table. Chris was curious; Jamie had good news too.
"I got a message from the academic review board at Berkeley. They have decided to approve both my Mechanical Engineering and Warp-Physics dissertations. As of today, I have two PhDs; I am officially Doctor Kirk," she says with a huge smile. Doctor Jamison Kirk. It has a nice ring to it. Chris isn't sure what to do, he wanted to hug her, hell, he wanted to kiss her silly. He settled for squeezing her hand.
"Congratulations, Doctor! This is better than my news," he said with joy and mock hurt, "Look at you stealing all my thunder." Chris smiled as Jamie, Charlie and Hobelia replied with laughter. Chris took a deep breath, it's now or never, "I made Captain, they're giving me the Yorktown."
Jamie
The USS Yorktown was a hot property, every captain in the fleet wanted a shot at her and she was Chris' new ship. The look on Charlie's face when Chris made his announcement was priceless, if Jamie had to classify it, she would go with 'terrified-excited' mixed with pride. Charlie always said Chris was a good leader and Jamie figured that whatever happened on the Lake, the powers-that-be were impressed. Being promoted to the rank of Captain at thirty-one years old was unheard of. The previous record was thirty seven. As they made their way down the hall to their shared home, Jamie couldn't help but wonder what this meant for Chris.
"Are you going to leave again?" Jamie could be honest enough to admit that she missed him when he was gone. They sent each other messages almost every day and had the occasional vid-comm but it wasn't the same as having a face-to-face conversation.
"Eventually, the ship just got back from a two-year tour. She'll be at Starbase One for the next three months, at least. I don't take command until then, right after your birthday," came his reply. Chris punched the code into the panel and stepped aside to allow her entry to the condo.
"Lights, 40 percent," Jamie spoke into the air as she sat her clutch on the coffee table, kicked off her heels and sat on the couch. Chris tossed his jacket over the arm of the couch and sat next to her. She rested her head on his shoulder.
"You know, that is my favorite spot. I guess I'm not the only one," he half joked. Jamie just smiled, it was good to have Chris back, everything felt whole with him here. "Want to tell me what's wrong, J?"
"Just missed you," she answered quietly, "I'm enjoying the fact that you're here instead of out there, somewhere." It was a safe answer, Jamie knew it and she was sure Chris knew it as well. She didn't know how to describe all these feelings she had. It would be easier if he wasn't her only real friend, but he was and Jamie didn't want to lose that, she'd lost enough.
Chris
"You know, I can tell when you aren't giving me the whole story. You missed me but there's something else going on in your head. I can see the wheels turning." Never let it be said that he wasn't observant. Knowing how to read people was part of being a good leader, knowing how to read Jamie was almost like breathing. Chris knew Jamie. "You'll tell me," he paused, "Might not be today, but you will." Chris was rewarded with a small smile and a kiss on the cheek.
"You're right, not today. Goodnight, Chris, welcome home." Jamie got up and made her way to her bedroom, Chris didn't move. Something was bothering her, she wasn't ready to tell him what but there was something. He knew that he shouldn't be worried, but he was. The Jamie he knew was never this… melancholy, she was the kind of person to see the good in everything. Knowing that he wasn't going to make any sense of what was bothering Jamie, Chris decided to head to bed. Tomorrow is another day.
6 Weeks Later
Jamie
"Chris, you are never going to believe this, well maybe you will because I'm awesome and you know I'm awesome and… you have company…" Jamie trailed off as she looked around the living room she shared with Chris. He was seated on the couch next to an extremely beautiful woman. "Didn't mean to interrupt, should I… go?" she asked, Jamie had a feeling that she had just walked in on something.
Chris chuckled, "Not unless you want to, you do live here last time I checked. Commander, this is Doctor Jamie Kirk, my friend and roommate. Jamie, this is Commander Jennifer One, she's going to be my first officer on the Yorktown. We were just finishing up." The woman, Commander One, gave Jamie a look of confusion.
"You're a doctor?"
"I'm a double PhD and I'm almost eighteen, before you ask." Jamie replied civilly. This woman was going to be working with Chris and the last thing she wanted was to cause him any problems, if that meant being nice to the attractive Starfleet officer who was sitting way too close to Chris, so be it. "I'm a child prodigy. Tested out of high school when I was five."
Jennifer
She looked at the teenager in front of her. She was thin and pretty with long blonde hair and the bluest eyes she'd ever seen, looking closer Jennifer could see that there was a wisdom about her that you wouldn't expect from someone her age. The way Jamie assessed the room when she entered told Jennifer that if this girl wasn't fleet, she should be. As curious as she was about why her new captain lived with a teenage girl who was obviously not related to him, she wasn't going to ask.
"I think that's all for today, sir. I'll get the requests in for the new personnel and equipment. There have been some requests to work with you, I'll leave those here so you can look them over. And we will still have to address the W.T.D.G. coming aboard for our first tour."
"I'll be with them," Chris and Jennifer both looked at Jamie, "The W.T.D.G. That's what I'm so excited about. Admiral Archer somehow got a copy of my dissertations and offered me a job as a Starfleet Design Consultant with the Advanced Starship Design Bureau. I'll work primarily with the Warp Technologies Development Group, on occasion, I'll work with the Propulsion Technologies Division. I'm going to Riverside next week for a few days and up to Starbase One after that. I'll be on the team assessing the Yorktown's new Warp system during your first tour with them. I'm one of the three civilians on the list. I'll miss my graduation ceremony but since I officially graduated already, I don't think it matters."
Chris
"Why am I not surprised by that?" Chris asked after the information sunk in. He wasn't even a little surprised, she was right, she is awesome.
"Because you know me," she replied with a smile. One must have taken that has her cue to leave, she collected her things and bid them both farewell. "I think old man Archer is trying to get me to go fleet. Everyone is waiting for me to join up and follow my parents, guess he figured that giving me a taste of ship life will convince me to apply to the Academy," Jamie says as she drops into the spot that One vacated. Chris wrapped his arm around her shoulder and thought about it, it was a valid point. The daughter of George Kirk, the Kelvin Baby herself, following in her father's footsteps would be a PR wet dream. She's brilliant, beautiful and charming, Chris could already see her on recruitment posters.
"Can't blame the man for trying, J. Too bad for him you're stubborn as hell."
AN: Starfleet Design Consultant, Advanced Starship Design Bureau, Warp Technologies Development Group, and Propulsion Technologies Division are all canon jobs/departments with civilian contractors in their ranks. How I configure them might not be canon but that's the joy of fanfiction.
I don't want Jamie to just join Starfleet, I want to give her a reason. Civilians on ships is also canon, I got the idea of a civilian engineer on the ship from a TOS episiode where the Enterprise's designer, Dr. Larry Marvick, was on the ship. They had a bunch of civilians on TOS over the course of the show (mostly to flirt with Kirk, lol).