It took the Enterprise nearly a week to return to Earth without the warp core, but there was enough work to do on ship to keep everyone occupied. Bones had patients stacked on top of patients in Sick Bay, and it was a miracle that they hadn't gotten to critical on their supply level. It was close, though. Jim worked double shifts every day, one on the bridge as Captain and the other down in Engineering with the rest of her cadet class and Scotty, hurrying through repairs throughout the ship.
Nearly getting pulled into the singularity had done a number on the ship. Several decks had massive cracks in the hulls, and Jim and her crew managed to pull off the impossible in patching them up by the time the Enterprise docked.
Unfortunately, the massive amount of work for both Bones and Jim meant they rarely saw each other during that week, but each had spent countless hours replaying Bones's confession in the Captain's ready room. Work can only suppress so much.
The night before docking, Jim took some time off to keep Pike up to date with the ship's repairs. The two of them poured over reports from the different sections, editing here and clarifying there. Both would be questioned separately about the Narada incident, and neither wanted to go in unprepared.
"This all looks good, Jim."
"Thank you sir. We've got briefings with the admiralty at 1300. That'll give us two hours to get ready after we dock. If I can get your signatures on these," Jim passed him a PADD, "all the paperwork will be ready."
Pike signed the PADD and passed it back. "You've done good, kid. I'm proud of you." Jim bit her lip. "Spit it out. What's bothering you?"
She sighed, meeting his all-knowing gaze. "What happens now?"
"What do you mean?"
She got up and began pacing, as much as she could in the tiny room. "After this? All of this? When we left, I was on academic probation. Grounded. Now, I'm the acting captain of a ship I snuck on, after defeating a Romulan from an alternate reality. When we dock tomorrow, do I go back to probation? Go back to being a cadet? Neither of those sound pleasant to me. Not after seeing all this." She came to stand at the foot of Pike's bed. "I can do this. I can handle this kind of action. Going back to school just-"
"Seems boring?" Pike finished for her.
"Yeah?" she finished lamely. Jim crossed back and sat in her chair. "I'm so close to being finished, anyway. This sucks."
Pike chuckled. "Why?"
"Because I actually enjoyed the Academy. Now, going back after serving as a Captain - acting captain - I think I might hate it."
"Quit whining. Besides, we still have all the admiralty to get through tomorrow. You're thinking way too far in the future. Besides, what about me? I left you in a position to get to the chair. You think they're going to go easy on me?"
Jim laughed and patted his leg before leaving him to rest. She walked from the private area to the main Sick Bay where she saw Bones making his rounds. Jim watched him, completely at ease, joking with patients and calming them as he ran scans and administered hypos. It felt like he'd been avoiding her since their last real conversation. She knew she was being ridiculous, they'd both been too incredibly busy to spend time arguing over silly, in the scope of the past week's events trivial, things. Yet, Jim yearned to hear him tell her he loved her. Yearned to tell him the same, that she had probably loved him from the day they met.
She met his eye across the room. His face softened, and he nodded at his office door. She smiled in response and made her way over, greeting patients as she passed by.
McCoy had a couple more patients to see and the closer he got to finishing, the more nervous he got. He never should have told her how he felt, let alone how he did. He knew, deep down, that she couldn't ever love him the way he loved her. No, he was old, damaged, beaten down by life. She was young, fresh, and no matter what life threw at her, she bounded back better than before. They were friends. It was obvious. He'd ignore that little voice in the back of his head that kept repeating that they were both damaged and beaten by life, he was better because of her, maybe it could work.
He told the duty nurse that if there were any emergencies, he'd be in conference with the acting captain in his office. Jim was sitting in a chair by his desk, fidgeting, her exhaustion showing in bags under her eyes.
"You're working yourself too hard, you know."
She jumped, startled, and gave a brittle laugh. "Well, isn't that the pot calling the kettle black."
"Touche. How's the paperwork coming? You've got debriefs tomorrow, right?"
She nodded. "It's finished. Pike and I just walked through it."
"Ah."
An awkward silence fell over the office, one neither enjoyed but each were afraid to break.
"Well, I'm going to go send in this paperwork. I want to get it in before we dock," Jim said, standing suddenly.
Bones stood up as well. "Yeah, yeah. I'll, I'll walk you out?"
They walked slowly towards Pike's quarters, where Jim was currently staying. Bones cleared his throat and awkwardly stood to the side while Jim punched in the security code.
"Jim, I-" He was cut off as Jim reached up on her toes and gave him a small peck on the cheek. She entered the quarters and the door closed behind her, leaving a stunned McCoy in the hallway.
Docking procedures went smoothly, and from there the day went to hell, in Jim's opinion. She and the rest of the bridge crew, including Bones as acting CMO, were ushered into separate offices for debriefing. Hers was held with an admiral she'd never met before, but one she recognized from her academic hearing.
The admiral made it clear, in no uncertain terms, that the admiralty did not approve of her tactics, but admitted her actions were those of a competent captain, barring a few broken regulations. Spock would never let her hear the end of his Vulcan versions of "I told you so"s. The admiral cautioned her, that although she had saved the Federation from certain disaster, the academic probation still lingered in the background waiting to be settled and having a friend sneak her onboard a vessel was not going to count in her favor. He dismissed her.
"Oh, and Cadet?"
"Yes sir?"
"I served with your father. I think he'd be proud."
Jim smiled. "Thank you, sir."
Jim left the building, breathing the fresh Earth air. She found McCoy waiting for her on a bench outside. She was apparently the last to finish. He stood as she approached.
"How'd it go?"
She shrugged and kicked a pebble under her shoe. "About as good as can be expected. I still have that academic probation thing to be dealt with." She squinted in the harsh sunlight, looking up at McCoy. "They said having you sneak me on wasn't the most helpful thing either, so thanks for that."
McCoy paled. "Sorry, kid. I didn't mean to get you into more trouble."
Jim smiled. "It's ok. I told them it was my idea."
"Jim!"
"Well, I wasn't going to let you get into trouble. So what'd they tell you?"
"Told me I'd done a good job. I followed the correct procedures, and as senior medical officer left, I'd done the right thing and performed 'admirably' at the position of Chief Medical Officer. They said they could see me being CMO of a starship at some point."
Jim patted him on the back. "Hey, that's great, Bones!"
Without realizing it, they'd begun meandering through campus. Bones reached out and grabbed Jim's arm. "Look, Jim, about what I said-"
"What did you mean?" Bones gave her a confused look. "When you said 'the person you love'?"
"I meant-"
"Because if you meant, as like family, like how you love Ellen or Jo, that's fine. I'll take it. I just don't want to have the wrong idea."
"Would you let me finish a damn sentence please?" Bones's eyes flashed in irritation.
Jim blushed. "Sorry."
"I meant that… I meant that I love you. Not like Ellen, or Jo, not like family." He took a deep breath. "I love you, Jim."
"Good. I didn't have the wrong idea."
"Wrong idea?"
"Yeah, I didn't want to make things awkward if I did this."
"Did what?"
Jim threw her arms around Bones and kissed him. He stumbled back a bit, unprepared for Jim's attack, but steadied and wrapped his arms around her. They only broke apart when they noticed catcalls and whistles, laughing as the opened their eyes to a crowd surrounding them.
"You wanna go grab some lunch?" Jim asked, eyes bright.
"Lunch sounds good."