This actually was published earlier, I just forgot to add it here, oops. Book is complete!
I stand on the bridge, looking out as we continue to travel through space. Ashley walks over by me.
"What just happened?" Ashley asks.
"A typical day on the Enterprise," I answer. "The Romulans have met us and we've completed our mission successfully."
"Wow. Every day something tries to kill you?" She raises an eyebrow. "That's got to get tiresome."
"Just a day in the life." I shrug. "Sometimes it's on a planet. Can't wait to get back to base."
Then the bridge doors open, and I quickly turn my head to Jim.
"Can you not?" Ashley asks. Whoops. That was my hair she hit.
"Unclear," Jim whispers to me before taking his seat in the captain's chair.
Back at the base, Carissa's instantly rushed to the medical center, and more shore leave time is granted. Jim stays in medbay with her, and Ashley and Amber drag me around the base. Bones and I have always brought Jim stuff to eat, because he keeps forgetting. Nothing happens for a few days.
"Alana?" he asks one day. I don't even know what day it is. Tuesday? Wednesday? Saturday?
"Yeah?" I answer quietly.
"I'm going to the bar. Do you want to come with?" he asks.
"Sure." I nod, standing up with him. This is the first time I've seen him look so defeated. I think he truly loves her, but is afraid of losing her.
"Alright, go get dressed. I'll pick you up in ten." He drops me off at my room before walking into his next door.
I don't have any formal or clubbing outfits. However I do have heeled wedge ankle boots (for absolutely no reason), which I change into.
When Jim walks back over he's dressed in a black leather jacket and normal shirt with black pants. "Alana? Do you not have a dress?"*
I give him this look, rolling my eyes. "Why would I? I'd never get to wear it. Isn't that the point?"
Jim sighs, walking into my room and looking in my closet. "We've got to fix this. You've got your uniforms and two normal shirts."
"Three, counting this one," I reply, taking off my Starfleet Academy sweatshirt.
Technically, I'm an ensign and not a cadet, but I get to learn on the ship. Who knows I may not graduate and get a ship like Jim. I also get to be an acting ensign (and lieutenant commander in the Save Jim's Butt For The Second Time In One Week mission.) (Yes, I also had to pass the entrance exam, which was actually kind of easy because I listened in on classes as a kid.)
He laughs for the first time in awhile before grabbing my arm. "We'll fix that tomorrow. But first, I need a drink. And you need to get out."
"Says the one cooped up in medbay for the past few days," I mutter. "I've been out, you haven't."
"Wait, didn't Amber and Ashley take you shopping one day?" Jim gives me a look. "And you didn't buy a dress?"
"Number one, I don't have money. Number two, I did see some cute ones, but, like I said, I never get chances to wear them." I shrug.
"Whatever." He shrugs. "Wait, who's your legal guardian?"
"Probably you. I don't even know." I sigh. "Maybe I'm my own legal guardian."
Once we get to the bar, we hop onto the stools. The bartender walks over, and Jim gets a drink. I'm not allowed, but I don't really care. That's when he offers to get me something, and I nod, ordering a Sprite and thanking him.
"Is there a reason you brought me to the bar? Where I can't have anything?" I ask, raising an eyebrow Spock style.
"Yeah," he admits. "Just needed someone to talk to. And a drink. Bones says he doesn't think Carissa's going to make it if she doesn't wake up by tonight."
"Oh." I nod. "I'm really sorry, Jim."
"Yeah. I never really thought of serious relationships before." He sighs. "I'm a captain, they're officers. What if one of us were to lose the other?"
"Yeah, with your record, you'll be dead by Tuesday. I know how you feel." No guy's ever fallen in love with me, yet I can still understand- with a different kind of love... "One of my biggest fears is losing people I love. That's why I'm always following you around the ship. I lost Mom. And Dad. And you never knew, but I had a sister."
"Carissa mentioned her," Jim replies. "Alilla, right?"
"Yeah. She was 10 years older than me. That one fateful day on the Phoenix, I lost her and Mom." I sigh, stirring my soda before turning to Jim.
"I knew her..." He trails off. "We met at the Academy."
That's when I decide to continue. "I was so scared I was going to lose Dad. But the thing is, he taught me not to fear what might happen, but to concentrate on what is happening and fix one thing at a time. Not everything will go perfectly either."
"And then when Dad died, you came along and helped me through it. If she does die..." I pause. "Your friends have your back. Me, Bones, Spock... everyone. Sometimes it doesn't hurt to open up, like now."
"Yeah," Jim says as his communicator goes off. "Kirk here."
"It's Bones. You'll want to get down here."
Jim spins off the bar stool, running out. I follow him, dodging people who give us weird looks. We hurry to the hospital, where Bones stands. He looks like he's aged a few years.
"I'm sorry, Ji-"
Jim runs past Bones, not bothering to listen, and I freeze. Bones looks me over, trying to find something different.
"Did you grow?"
"Oh! No." I pull one leg up, showing him the heel, like one of those fashionistas. "I'm tall enough as I am."
Bones nods, and we walk over to find Jim trying to hold himself together, holding Carissa's hand. It's fallen off the side of the bed, and she looks so peaceful. Almost like she's only sleeping, not dead. However she has multiple wounds showing, which kind of kills the "alive" vibe.
"Carissa," he whispers.
"I'm sorry, Jim," Bones replies.
"I am too," I reply quietly.
After a few hours, Bones has to do some medical-y thing, so I take Jim back to his room, giving him a hug before I return to my own.
"You want me to stay tonight?" I ask. That's the same thing he asked a year ago, when I lost Dad.
"Yeah." He nods, leading me into his room. I kick off my boots, and he sits on the bed. "God... that's another family I'll have to meet after the end of the mission."
"It wasn't your fault," I whisper. "Things like this happen."
"I know," Jim whispers, lying down. I stand near the edge of the bed, my hand on his, like a mom and with her child.
"We're still going on that mission," I whisper back. "You promised me, yeah? Travelling through the stars together, right?"
He smiles, remembering that promise to me last year, and when I was ten. When I was ten he just promised to take me with him on whatever ship he got when he was captain. And last year he promised me the five-year mission after I nearly got killed by the Vengeance.
"Yeah," he answers.
"I'll see you in the morning." I turn to go sleep on the couch, when he grabs my hand.
"Stay with me?" he asks.
I raise an eyebrow, but he just shrugs. "We've known each other for so long I thought it'd be okay. If you're not comfortable with it, though, it's fine too."
I just shrug, and lie down with him. I don't find it creepy, even when he hugs me, head in shoulder. I'm turned away from him, and his arm is surprisingly not around me. It's so much like the night Dad died, except Jim was sleeping in the guest room next door.
"Goodnight, Lana."
"Night, Jim.
Meanwhile, in the shadows, two women stand. One has dark brown hair with fierce green eyes, and the other has dyed hair and paint on her skin, a girl pretending to be from Exaltron. The two meet eyes and nod.
"Now?" she asks. "Shall we take them now?"
"Not yet," the brown haired one replies. "Give it time. They're not ready to face the truth."
"We don't know when she'll die!" the painted one replies. "AC, we need to take them. Show them. Open their eyes to who they truly are."
"No," the brown haired woman, known as AC, replies. "Do not use my name. We must wait! She may not even die."
"Our queen has been thinking about resignation for years! What if she resigns and she's not there?" More of the paint was wiped off the second woman's skin.
"Our queen will not pass the power on without her chosen heir present. That girl may not be the chosen heir, but she need be present. We must also collect the others before the queen passes her power. That is the law. It is not time. I will decide when it is."
"I stole their ship!" the paint-covered one protested. "Was that for nothing?"
"You tried to some of them, but missed the point." AC shook her head. "I will send an agent to speak to them. They'll get a test."
"Alright. Fine. Your way. I trust you. Shall I see you back on our home world?" painted girl asked. "Or shall I be assisting you again?"
"No, you'll see me on our home world. I highly doubt you'll see me again for awhile." AC replied, nodding.
And with that, the brown haired woman steps into the shadows and disappears, leaving the painted girl alone. She soon also vanishes into the shadows.