2 Months Later

Chris

Maybe Admiral Archer had a point in sending her out here. Jamie has been in heaven for the last 2 months; she spent hours in the engineering department working on the Yorktown's warp core and anything else the chief engineer would let her touch. Chris had a good laugh on the second night after leaving Starbase One when she came to him and refused to leave the ship, ever. Jamie took to life on board so well that you would think she grew up in the black. Now, Chris was standing near her feet while she worked under a console in engineering.

"Do I even want to know what you're doing under there, J?" he asked.

"Valas asked me to take a look at the system controlling the intake manifolds, it was refreshing too fast. I'm actually done fixing it, now. I'm just putting everything back where it goes," came Jamie's voice from behind a panel.

Lieutenant Commander Valas Shran was the Yorktown's chief engineering officer. The Andorian was the first to accept the civilian engineers; answering any questions about the ship they asked and allowing them to work without the fanfare and criticisms that the civilian scientists received. Shran even let Jamie, Loh and Hauser work in engineering when the crew needed a hand and the trio was more than happy to pitch in. Shran had told Chris that they need to get her into the fleet. Golden-top, as he liked to call Jamie, had one of the most adaptive minds he'd ever seen; having someone who solved problems that fast on the ship full-time would be so productive. Chris had to agree, but he wasn't going to tell Jamie that.

"All done," Jamie states as she pulls herself up from where she was working and replaces the panel. "Come on, Captain. Let's grab Valas and head to the galley, I'm starving."

Jennifer

Commander One was agitated as she walked into the galley; she hated dealing with the scientists. The whole lot of them were fighting over who got to use certain equipment, when they got to use that equipment and how the fleet scientists didn't want the civilians in their labs. The chief science officer wasn't much help, he was involved in the argument too. Jennifer didn't like having civilians on the ship any more then the next officer but they were technically Starfleet employees and they were on the ship for a reason. As far as Jennifer knew, the two civilians in working with Boyce in sickbay and the three civilian engineers were being treated well. Jennifer made her way through the chow line quickly and scanned the room for somewhere to sit.

"Over here, One," called Doctor Boyce. Jennifer looked to one of the far tables in the room and spotted Dr. Boyce sitting with Captain Pike, Lieutenant Commander Shran and Doctor Kirk.

The younger woman spoke up as Jennifer sat down, "Hey, Commander. Are those guys in the lab being idiots again?" How does she know that? Looking over at the captain, Jennifer could see the curiosity mixed with amusement cross his features. Kirk must have noticed the look of confusion on Jennifer's face, "We heard them this morning," she states while gesturing towards Shran, "they are always arguing with each other."

The Andorian nodded his head and spoke up, "If they would stop fighting for a few minutes, they would realize that they are working on the same theory."

"They're arguing over who gets what. I swear it's like dealing with a bunch of children." Jennifer was fed up with the group in the science department and she wasn't the only one, judging from the nods her statement received from Kirk and the other officers.

"I was hoping that they would be able to work this out themselves," the captain said after a moment. "When I get a minute, I'll go talk with them."

"Good luck with that, Chris." Jennifer and Boyce looked at Kirk as she, Chris and Shran gathered their trays in preparation to leave. "You think I'm stubborn? They have me beat."

Boyce couldn't contain his laughter, "I'm glad you haven't changed much my young friend."

"Of course not, I'm awesome. See ya later, Phil," the young woman said. As Kirk, Chris, and Shran left the galley Jennifer looked at Boyce. Since when was he friends with Kirk? Seeing the question in her eyes, Boyce shook his head slowly.

"I can't really talk about it, but I've known her as long as the captain has. Look, Jennifer, I know you have a thing for Pike, but I'm pretty sure that she is it for him. There is a lot more to their relationship that even I don't know about and I'm friends with both of them. What they have with each other can't be explained, they just are. You have two options: you can ignore her and glare when you think she doesn't notice, she does by the way, or you can talk to her. If you get to know her, maybe you'll see some of why he loves her so much."

Boyce had a point; over the last 2 months, Jennifer hadn't made much of an attempt to understand Jamie, she didn't get what the captain saw in the young woman. Yes, Kirk is smart and attractive but that didn't explain why a man like Christopher Pike was so in love with her. Maybe, Jennifer thought, it had something to do with Kirkk's parentage. It wasn't until a few days ago that Jennifer realized that the girl was George Kirk's daughter. Everybody in the Federation knew who he was and, for a few hours, Jennifer thought that the captain was just having a good time with the girl who held the Kirk legacy in her hands. She quickly realized that her captain wasn't that kind of man and let the thought go. Maybe getting to know Jamie wasn't the worst idea, at the very least, it would give her some insight to her captain.

Chris

Damn scientists, why can't they just get along? Shran was right, they have been arguing over the same thing. At least Chris got them to work together, for the moment. Walking into the nearly empty officer's lounge, Chris spotted the woman he was looking for sitting in a chair next to the large viewport with a cup of tea and a PADD, no doubt reading.

"What are you reading, J?" he asked as he sat on the arm of her chair.

"The Odyssey," was her reply. Chris always thought her taste in books was interesting; Jamie reads everything but she loves the classics.

"Homer, huh? 'My child, what words have passed thy lips? Can I forget Godlike Ulysses?' I always liked that one." Jamie looked up at him and smiled. Before either of them can say anything else, Chris' yeoman, Sanz, interrupted them.

"There is a priority message coming from Admiral Archer, sir," the young man told him.

"Thanks, Sanz. I'm on my way. Pike out." Chris looked at Jamie.

"Better get moving, Captain," she said with a chuckle.

Jamie

After Chris left the lounge to take Archer's comm, Jamie went to his quarters. The pair didn't broadcast their relationship, but they didn't exactly hide it, either. Most of the crew just thought that they were good friends; a handful knew that they were a couple and nobody else cared. Because he was the captain and she's a civilian, there weren't many rumors about them; the ones she had heard were either really tame or ridiculously hilarious. Her favorite rumors were the ones about Jamie being Chris' daughter or sister; they both had a good laugh when they heard those. The sound of the door opening pulled Jamie from her thoughts. She knew something was wrong as soon as she looked at Chris. He walked over and sat down on the couch next to her.

Taking her hand in his, Chris spoke, "There was an accident on the Hernandez; warp containment breach. We're being diverted to help them. Your mother was there during the breach, she sealed engineering and saved the ship but she didn't survive the radiation. She's dead, J."

Jamie took a deep breath; Winona was dead. She didn't know what to think, Winona was her mother but they didn't really have a relationship. Winona was heartbroken after George died, instead of taking care of her children; she blamed Jamie and abandoned them in Iowa. Jamie understood, in a way. If something happened to Chris, there's no telling what she would do. The difference was that they didn't have children, that's the part Jamie could never grasp. It would be easy not to care but she wasn't heartless.

"Are they having a service for her?" she asked quietly.

Chris nodded, "Yea, Archer notified them that you were in route with us, so they're waiting until you get there. We rendezvous in thirty-seven hours. Are you… I know you and your mother didn't have much of a relationship, but…"

"She was still my mother, even though she didn't give a damn about me," she finished for him. She was silent for a moment before speaking again, "The worst part is that I'll never get to really know her, to see the women that my father loved, to see the mom that Sam had for four years. She never gave me a chance to be anything to her but a burden. And I still loved her, even though she didn't love me back." Jamie felt the tears forming and she let them fall.

For the first time in years, Jamie cried. She cried for the life she missed out on, for the childhood she never got to have, for the parents that she never got the chance to know, for her brother who did his best to look out for her until his last breath, and for her grandfather who tried his best to show her that she was special. She cried for Aunt Marie, Uncle Jeff, Percy, the other children on Tarsus that she couldn't save, and she cried for Hoshi, the woman had no reason to care but loved Jamie anyway and taught her so much about life and what it meant to be a good person. Chris just pulled her into his arms and held her.

Chris

It started slow with a kiss to his neck, then his jaw and finally his lips. The look in Jamie's eyes when she straddled him told Chris that he was in trouble. When she moved to pull his shirt over his head, Chris stopped her.

"Are you sure about this, J? We don't have to..." She looked at him; her blue eyes hiding nothing, Chris could see the love, lust, certainty and a little sadness in them.

"I want to. I want you," was her quiet reply. They had talked about this before, he had always told her, "when you're ready," and he meant it.

He let her pull the command gold tunic and black undershirt over his head and closed his eyes as she ran her hands over his chest, when he felt her kiss the spot over his heart, Chris knew that there was no going back. He slowly pulled Jamie's shirt over her head, his eyes taking in every exposed inch of her smooth skin.

"You are so beautiful," he whispered against her neck. Not wanting their first time together to be on the couch, Chris stood with Jamie in his arms and she automatically wrapped her legs around him as he walked them to his bed.

Everything seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time. They somehow managed to undress each other without breaking contact. Each of them exploring the other with their eyes, hands and lips, Chris couldn't help but wonder how he got so damn lucky.

"Are you sure?" he asked again, just to be certain.

Jamie looked up at him, "I've never been more sure about anything."

Jamie

The moment Chris joined his body with hers; Jamie felt complete for the first time in her life. As they moved together, she could tell that he was holding back; worried that he'd hurt her or bring back memories of Frank and Kodos' men.

"You won't hurt me, Chris. You love me too much," she whispered, kissing any part of him that she could reach, "I trust you. You won't hurt me." She knew she was right when Chris gave her a look that could melt titanium. They say 'I love you' to each other all the time but Jamie had never said that she trusted him, she implied it but this is the first time she said the words.

He kissed her collarbone, her neck and then moved to her lips; she opened for him and he slipped his tongue inside. Whether he realized it or not, he owned her, heart, body and soul. She could feel every inch of him, when he picked up speed, Jamie felt like she had died and gone to heaven. She was so lost in the feel of him against her body, his hands on her skin, and his lips on hers. She was even lost in the way he smells of sandalwood, rain storms and regulation soap.

"Open those beautiful blues, J," he said to her in a voice that was his but full of so many emotions. Locking her eyes with his sent a rush of electricity through her, pushing her towards the edge.

"Chris," it came out as a chocked sob, she was so close. He moved harder and faster.

"Let go, J, I have you." His words, whispered into her ear sent her world shattering into a million pieces. Chris was right behind her; he moved a few more times before he exploded with her name on his lips. "You're going to be the death of me, J. But at least I'd die happy."