"That's my girl," Bones said with a kiss to her temple. Jamie honestly thought he'd be pissed at her. Bones was mad until Uhura told him what happened and how even she ended up fighting. "Barnett?"

"Wants to see us all as soon as you're done patching us up," she told him. He nodded and finished with the gash on her face and then he moved to Uhura.

"That guy is lucky he's not dead, you two and Braxim do a fuck-ton of damage, let me tell you," Bones said to the two women. Jamie leaned against the side of the biobed and watched Bones work on Uhura's hand. It was rare that she got to see him working on someone who wasn't her. Brax motioned for her from the hallway. She touched Bones' shoulder on her way past him.

"You alright buddy?" she asked Brax.

He nooded, "More worried about you and Nyota."

She smiled, "We're good, Bones has legendary hands." Braxim laughed and nodded, he was such a good guy; he spent the whole fight on Uhura's flank.

When they were all cleared to go, they headed to the Admiral's office. The officers that were in the room were already waiting, one of them looked at her, "He's waiting for you three before he kills us all." Jamie looked at Brax and Ny. Before they could say anything, Barnett's yeoman called for all of them to enter his office.

"I want to know who started it." Admiral Barnett was not happy, "I'm waiting." He paced in front of the line of officers and cadets standing in his office. Barnett stopped in front of a security officer –Freeman, if Jamie's memory served- and looked at him, "Who started the fight, Lieutenant?"

The officer took a breath, "I don't know, sir." At least there were still some men that believed in taking the hit together. Barnett moved to Uhura and asked her the same question, she said that she didn't know either; the Admiral was not amused. He glared at them.

Jamie took a breath, "Technically, Lartal started it but I threw the first punch, sir."

He looked at her, "Would you care to tell me why, Kirk?"

"You really don't want to know, sir. Trust me," she replied. It wasn't going to stop him from asking her again, and he did. Jamie told him the story from the beginning, when she finished he looked at the group.

"Is that what happened, Freeman?"

The officer nodded, "Yes, sir. Kirk really was trying to avoid an altercation but once he made those indecent comments to her and Cadet Uhura, there wasn't anything else she could do. She was defending her honor, sir. And cadet or not, she's one of ours. We don't leave our own in a fight without backup." Jamie made a mental note to buy Freeman a beer. Barnett looked at them and nodded.

"You are all dismissed. Kirk, stand fast." Jamie didn't like the sound of that. Uhura and Freeman gave her frustrated smiles and Brax touched her hand as they left the room. Barnett sat down at his desk, "You're lucky, if it was anybody else, I'd string them up. Unfortunately, I can't let you go unscathed; it'll look like I'm playing favorites."

She nodded, "I understand, sir."

Barnett chuckled, "For the rest of his stay, you will be Lartal's personal liaison when you aren't in class or seeing to your other duties."

"Huh… sir."

The admiral smiled, "You have a fan, Kirk. Lartal likes you. This is at his request and he asked that you not be disciplined for your behavior. He told me that two weeks in space is too long to go without a good fight and you were… 'just what the doctor ordered'." Jamie grimaced; she didn't want Lartal to like her more. Barnett continued, "This is still a charged situation; the fleet lost a lot of lives fighting the Varkolak at Vega Five and no one want's a repeat of that. I know you can handle yourself, Kirk." Barnett's faith in her made Jamie smile.

"I'll do my best to stay outta trouble, sir," she told him.

Bones was proud and annoyed when she told him what Barnett said, "They really couldn't assign this to someone else?" She shook her head and stole a pepperoni from his slice of pizza, "Hey, that's the third time you've done that, get your own."

She chuckled, "What if I don't want to?" Bones raised an eyebrow; he sat his pizza on his plate and whipped off his hands. The look on his face told Jamie that she was in trouble, she slowly moved away from him, "Len. Don't."

He smiled, "Too late, darlin'." She hopped up and ran into their bedroom; Bones was right behind her. She sprinted to one side of the room, when he got close, she hopped on the bed and tried to run past him; Bones must've seen it coming because he caught her around her waist near the door and pulled her flush against his body.

"Ok, I won't take anymore of your pepperoni. I promise. Now, let me go."

He chuckled, "We both know I couldn't keep you here against your will, you'd kick my ass. I think you let me catch you, darlin'."

She smiled, "Maybe."

"Now, why would you go and do a thing like that?" he whispered against her lips before he kissed her.

One of his hands slid down her back and pulled her even closer, the other tangled in her hair. Jamie's hands grasped at his shirt, blindly searching for the hem. When she found it, she pulled it over his head and let it fall to the floor. She unfastened his jeans and pushed them off his legs. The next thing she knew, she was moving backward, then she felt the wall against her back; he had her caged in.

"You gotta stop wearing my clothes," he said against her neck while he unbuttoned the shirt she was wearing.

"No promises, sweetheart." He chuckled before sliding the shirt off her shoulders.

"This new?" he asked tracing his finger over the edge of her lacy bra.

She smiled, "Yes."

"I like it, nice choice." Of course, he was pulling it off of her body at the same time. He kissed her again; he was driving her crazy and he knew it. She felt his hands at her hips before she felt her jeans against her skin as he pushed them off her body. He looked her up and down, but unlike Lartal, Bones' gaze was filled with so much love, "God. You're beautiful."

Every time he says it, it's like he's seeing her for the first time and it made her heart melt. Jamie could admit that they'd been off since the mission with Trip and finding out that David was sick. Bones distanced himself from her and like an idiot, she let him. Gaila joked that it's what happens when you put two people together who sucked at relationships. They were still them, still Jim and Bones but they were more worn down and less connected than they used to be. Everybody noticed, hence the rumors that they broke up and only tolerate each other because they're still roommates.

Bones still had her pinned to the wall, then the next thing she knew, he picked her up; her legs wrapped around him without any thought. Jamie let out a very girly shriek when he gently tossed her on the bed. Bones kissed his way up her body and brought his lips to hers.

"Len," tumbled out of her mouth as he slid into her. The movement of his body against hers was too much, too good. She moved with him, getting lost in the way he felt. Jamie ran her fingers along his jaw; Bones closed his eyes at the contact and kissed her fingers when they were close enough to his mouth. Locking her eyes with his sent a rush of electricity through her, pushing her towards the edge. "Oh God," it came out as a chocked sob, she was so close. He changed the angle of his movements and she felt his rhythm falter, becoming less controlled. Jamie was so close, "Len," fell from her lips. Her body tightened around him.

"I love you, Jim." His words, whispered into her ear sent her shattering into a million pieces, Bones followed right behind her. They shifted so that Bones was holding his weight off of her, "I'm sorry, darlin'." She looked at him and raised eyebrow. There was something about the way he said it. Bones moved to sit on the edge of the bed; Jamie didn't know what was going through his head. She moved to sit next to him, he started talking.

"When I got divorced, I swore that I wouldn't put myself out there like that again. I loved her; at least I thought I did. I was resolved with spending the rest of my life angry and alone, and then you showed up and tossed my whole existence on it's head. You're like nothing I've ever seen before, a mess of contradictions that shouldn't work but do. I couldn't figure out why this beautiful, brilliant and charming girl wanted to be friends with me. You never turned your back on me, even when I was an insufferable asshole. Eventually, I didn't want to function without you. Every time you came to me broken and bloody, it was like someone ripped out a piece of my heart. I didn't understand why you kept sticking your neck out for people until Trip called me a dumbass and explained. I know a lot of messed up shit happened to you but it never crossed my mind that you didn't feel like you're worth it. I never considered that you thought people wasted their lives by dying to protect you."

Bones paused long enough to find and put on his jeans, "Uhura smacked me in the head today when you left the exam room. She told me that what Lartal said to you didn't really bother you, that you were more pissed that he said it about her. She also said that I dropped the ball if my girlfriend didn't think she mattered enough to protect her own honor." Jamie nodded. She was used to insults, but Uhura was too good of a person for anyone to say something like that to her.

"It made me think about what Trip said and about the last few months. I've been so wrapped up that I'm never here and when I am, I'm researching or sleeping. I've been taking you for granted. You are worth so much, Jim. You're everything." Jamie could feel her heart thumping in her chest.

"If you're breaking up with me, just fucking do it," she whispered. Bones shook his head and went to the closet. He pulled something out that Jamie couldn't see. She looked around for clothes, at the very least, she was getting dressed before she got dumped. He handed her his Ole' Miss shirt and laughed. "What are you waiting for, Leonard?"

Bones shook his head and handed her the small object, "Now, who's the dumbass? I'm not breaking up with you. I… I told myself a million and three times that I would never, ever do this again but you have a way of making me see everything differently. There are a lot of things that I can live without, you aren't one of them. Jamie Kirk, I have loved you from the minute I met you and I will love you until my heart stops beating. I'm not perfect, but you never seemed to mind. Will you do me the honor of being my wife?"