Holy SHIT, I haven't updated in HOW LONG?!?!?!
Jesus, I just realized I haven't updated this damn thing in over a year!
Erm...
Oops?
Anywho, who was it that wrote Kirk/Bones for the ST kink meme? Was that mwah? Yes, I do believe it was.
Slash ahoy!
1.
When Jim was seventeen Sam was twenty. His brother had left home four years ago in the middle of the night and Jim had never expected to hear from him again. Sam had gotten out and left him behind. Left him behind with an angry stepfather and a mother who, when she could stand to be around her sons, was all silences and pain-filled eyes and disappointed sighs. He’d wanted to go with Sam, had begged to go with him, but he’d only been twelve years old at the time and only one of them was remotely old enough to make it on their own. Intellectually he knew that the cops would have come after them to drag them both back if he’d tagged along, but it still always hurt. His big brother, his protector, hadn’t been up to the job of protecting him anymore and so he’d had to learn how to protect himself.
Still, when the robotic voice at the other end of the phone line had informed him that Sam was at the Riverside Police Station with no way to post bail, Jim didn’t hesitate to head over to the sprawling brick building. It took most of the credits in his account, which he’d been saving for his own getaway plan, but he was able to put up the funds. When he saw Sam come around the corner he was struck by how much he looked like the pictures of his father his mother had squirreled away in the attic. His hair was longer and there was the shadow of a beard on his cheeks, but the resemblance was so striking that it shocked Jim.
“What’d they get you for?” he asked when he’d finally found his voice.
Sam glanced at him as they walked out of the building into the hot Iowa summer, “Drunk and disorderly conduct.”
“Ah,” was all he said because the words for all the questions and accusations just stuck in his throat.
Sam sighed, “Listen, Jim, I’m sorry you had to come down here. I’m going to pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re my brother.”
The expression on Sam’s face darkened and he looked away, “Yeah, well…”
Jim shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, “Why are you here, Sam?”
“I just-” Sam cut himself off.
“You just what, Sam?” Jim was starting to get angry and the heat was catching in his chest.
“Christ, I just wanted to check up on you!”
Jim snorted, “And ended up getting drunk and tossed in the tank to sober up?”
Sam’s shoulders dropped and he seemed to deflate a little. His voice, when it came, was low and rough, “I just couldn’t go back into that house, Jimmy.”
“Yeah, well, that house is where I’ve had to live without you for the past four years, Sam,” Jim managed to get our around the lump in his throat.
“I know. I know that, Jim. And I’m sorry, alright? I’m sorry that I’m such an asshole that I left in the middle of the night and didn’t tell you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for you anymore. I’m sorry that I never told you where I was or what I was doing or any of that, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve finally started to get my life turned around, Jim. I’ve got a job in a biology research lab and I’ve met someone. I’m in a better place now and I just thought… I didn’t want to lose touch with you this time.”
Jim sighed, and let all of the heat drain out of his chest. No matter what, this was still his brother. He reached over to grip Sam’s broad shoulder, “I’m sorry too. I know it was worse for you. So, who’s the girl?”
“Her name’s Aurelan. You’d like her, Jimmy, she’s amazing.”
He watched the way his brother’s face lit up and returned the smile, “Come on, I’ll get you a coffee and you can tell me about her.”
And just like that the distance between them started to dissipate. They had been close once and they would be close again. Jim just hoped that this time, maybe, it would stick.
2.
Leonard H. McCoy was Jim’s best and only real friend at Starfleet. Sure he had lots of acquaintances, lots of people that he knew or hung out with, but Bones was the only one who truly knew him inside and out. The reverse was true as well. Jim was the only one who truly knew Bones. Which was why, when he got the call from the San Francisco police, he wasn’t that surprised.
Yesterday was Joanna’s eighth birthday and Bones hadn’t been able to get the time off to go see her. Jim had planned to take Bones out to their favorite local haunt after his xenolinguistics class got out, but when he’d returned to their dorm room Bones was nowhere to be found. He figured that Bones had gone out to find some trouble. His friend didn’t often get into trouble, but when he did, he did so rather spectacularly. Which is why Jim had decided to stay close to home so he could answer the comm when the call from the police inevitably came.
“Is this James T. Kirk?” the middle-aged female officer on the viewscreen looked annoyed.
He decided being polite was probably a good idea, “Yes, this is James Kirk. How can I help you, Officer?”
Bones’ voice came from somewhere offscreen, “Is that him? Dammit, let me talk to him!”
The officer rolled her eyes, “You are listed as a contact in the citizen database for Leonard H. McCoy, is this correct?”
“Yes, Officer, that is correct.”
“We have Doctor McCoy in our custody and-”
Bones’ face appeared behind her shoulder, “Jim!”
Jim had to cover his smile with his hand at the exasperated expression on the officer’s face, “Hey, Bones.”
“Jim, listen-”
“As I was saying, Doctor McCoy is in our custody after being picked up for public intoxication. Since you are listed as the primary contact are you willing to post bail?”
Jim raised an eyebrow in Bones’ direction, “Oh, really?”
“Will you be willing to post bail, Citizen Kirk?” the officer asked again.
Bones’ face was slowly turning bright red and he was looking everywhere but the viewscreen. Jim snorted, “Sure, officer, I’ll put up the credits. Does he need anyone to pick him up?”
“Please.”
“Thanks, Jim,” Bones mumbled while staring somewhere off to the left of the communications unit.
“No problem, I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”
As Bones was escorted offscreen by a burly man in a navy uniform the female officer pinched the bridge of her nose, “Thank you, Citizen Kirk.”
He threw her his best and most charming grin. She didn’t know it, but she’d provided him with enough material on Bones to last for months of teasing. He was going to hold this over Bones’ head for a long, long time.
“No, Officer, thank you. Kirk out.”
3.
“Mister Scott.”
“Ah, Captain. I can explain?”
Jim just looked at the man that was attempting not to fidget while standing at attention behind the old fashioned metal bars, “Is that a question or a statement, Mister Scott?”
“Well, Captain…”
He just barely refrained from rolling his eyes. Six months into their five year deep space exploration mission and his crew was already causing interplanetary incidents. Fantastic.
“Just…at ease, Scotty. Explain the situation, please. You were on shore leave, correct?”
Scotty truly did begin to fidget now, “It’s like this, Captain. I was walking along through the streets looking for someplace to have a bit of a drink when I saw it.”
“Saw what, Scotty?”
“Well, there was a man walking a terran animal that I might have recognized and attempted to…” he trailed off here.
Jim did roll his eyes this time, “Did you try and steal it, Scotty?”
Scotty drew himself up and tugged on the bottom of his uniform shirt, “Absolutely no, Captain! It isn’t stealing when you know the dog belongs to someone else.”
“Who does it belong to, then?”
“Admiral Archer.”
That drew Jim up short, “What?”
“The dog…it’s Admiral Archer’s beagle, Sir. I saw it and I had to try and get it back. I admit maybe I was a bit hasty in how I went about it, but, I just couldn’t leave it here! That dog is the reason I got sent to that frozen rock in the first place! I just had to, Captain. I had to get him back.”
“I see. Is that how you got the, uh-” Jim gestured to Scotty’s face where a large purpling bruise encompassed his right eye and most of his cheekbone.
“The black eye, Sir? Yes. Yes, it is, Sir.”
“Alright, Scotty. I understand. I’ll take care of it. Just-no more interplanetary incidents while on leave, alright?”
“Thank you, Captain!”
“Come on. Let’s get you back to the Enterprise.”
In the end Jim located the beagle and shelling out extra credits to convince his new owner to give up the damn dog. Dogs weren’t typically allowed on starships like the Enterprise, but when Scotty had looked at him through the cell bars Jim had caved spectacularly. He could see the fear of being stranded again on a frozen planet far away from anything or anyone he loved. So, he’d brought the dog on board and tried not to swear too loudly when the dog disrupted the daily routine on the ship. Even when Scotty fed it too many sandwiches and caused the dog to have a massive case of the trots (which Bones had to treat). Even when the dog didn’t get along with his first officer and let everyone know by biting Spock’s ankles. And even when the damn thing shat in his ready room.
4.
Jim had always known that his communications officer had a bit of a temper. He’d just never expected to see it unleashed in public. They had gone down to Verex VI to begin diplomatic negotiations for the inhabitants to begin trading with other Federation planets when Ambassador Hafeth had addressed her in the native language and she’d just…well, exploded was probably the most apt description. The situation had deteriorated so rapidly that, before he’d been able to figure out what had started the incident, she’d been carted away by the blue skinned guards and tossed in prison.
He had managed, after a lot of diplomatic shenanigans, to get the ambassador to agree to her release. However, he hadn’t managed to get Hafeth to agree to let her go that night. His communications officer was stuck in jail until the following morning. When he’d attempted to get Hafeth to explain the situation the tall, bald humanoid had been silent and unwilling to discuss the incident at all.
“You know,” he said, when he finally made it down to her cell, “I can kind of see Scotty getting thrown in jail and having to bail him out, but I never thought I’d see you on the wrong side of the bars.”
Uhura didn’t answer him. She simply sat on the thin pallet and stared at the floor. He motioned to the guard to let him through the force field. The guard turned away after he stepped through and the force field shimmered back into place behind him. Jim sat beside his communications officer and tried to think of a way to diffuse some of the seriousness of the situation, but couldn’t come up with anything. Instead, he asked, “Lieutenant, I need you to explain what happened up there with Ambassador Hafeth.”
She still did not answer him.
“Uhura, please, I need to know exactly what happened and why it happened in the first place.”
After a long pause she said, “Did you know that Orions can have blue skin in addition to the more common green pigmentation?”
He blinked a little at the non sequitur, “I wasn’t aware of that, no.”
“Hafeth is an Orion.”
“Ah…I see?”
She clenched her hands in her lap, “Jim, he is…was related to Gaila. He was her uncle.”
His heart dropped.
“I’d met him once before when he’d visited Earth. Gaila and I were in our second year at the Academy. They didn’t have a good relationship.”
“I think I understand,” he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the details anymore.
She looked up at him, “I don’t think you do. You know that Orion women are actually in control of their men due to the pheromones they give off. Gaila didn’t have the same level of pheromones that normal Orion women typically release. Her mother was human and it dampened those processes. That’s why she entered Starfleet in the first place. She never would have been able to fit in with the normal Orion cultural practices. Her father’s family…they never really acknowledged her let alone accepted her.”
Jim rubbed his temples, “Hafeth said something, didn’t he?”
Uhura nodded, “He said that it was good that she’d been assigned to the Gallant rather than one of the other ships that survived the Narada’s first attack. He said that it was good that she’d died since she wasn’t a ‘good Orion woman.’ He said-he said a lot of things.”
“Hafeth is an idiot. You know that don’t you, Uhura?”
She nodded, but didn’t respond. He reached up and squeezed her shoulder gently, “She was a good person, Nyota, and that is more than anything Hafeth could ever hope to be.”
Her hand reached up to squeeze his, “She really liked you, you know?”
“Yeah, I do. She was good to me.”
“She was a good friend.”
All he could do was nod. They sat side by side in the cell until morning came and the guards opened the cell. They were silent on the long walk back to the site where Scotty could beam them back up to the Enterprise. They didn’t speak until they were back onboard the ship. She was about to walk away when he said, “Take the rest of the day to get some rest, Lieutenant. I expect to see you on the bridge tomorrow at 0800.”
She looked like she was going to protest, but then her shoulders slumped as she gave in, “Yes, Captain.”
He turned to head toward the bridge and her voice stopped him, “Captain?”
“Yes?”
She looked up at him and tried to smile, but failed, “I-thank you, Jim.”
He watched as she slipped into the crowded hallway and disappeared.
5.
“Why is it that I’m always bailing my officers out of jail?”
Spock raised one eyebrow, “Captain?”
“To date I’ve had to get Bones, Scotty, Uhura, and now you, Spock, out of prison. You, Spock! How exactly did you end up in an Andorian jail?”
“I believe that there was a misunderstanding caused by the differences between Andorian and Vulcan cultural practices.”
Jim just shook his head, “Oh? Care to elaborate, Spock?”
“I find I am unable to do so, Captain, as I am unsure what caused the incident in the first place.”
“You don’t know?!”
Was he imagining it, or did Spock look vaguely uncomfortable?
“No, Captain, I do not know. Though, perhaps…fascinating.”
“Yes, Spock?”
“I do believe that the Andorian female we met, the daughter of the Ambassador, was indicating sexual interest in me with the motion of her antennae during the reception. Perhaps, when I failed to reciprocate the interest, she took offence. This must be where the misunderstanding originated.”
Jim couldn’t help it; he burst into laughter, “Fabulous! You have got to tell Uhura that! Christ, the things we get into. Come on, I’ve posted your bail.”
Jim was still chuckling when they were beamed back up to the Enterprise and Uhura met them in the transporter room. He watched their reunion with a smile. The tips of Spock’s ears were turning green as she fussed over him. He just shook his head and clapped Spock on the shoulder, “Hey, Spock?”
“Yes, Captain?”
“In the future, if we ever meet with the Andorians again, take Uhura with you.”
Uhura looked confused, “Sir?”
He just smirked, “She’ll protect you from those passionate Andorian females.”
6.
The night after Jim got Spock out of an Andorian prison, Jim and Bones were sitting in the Doctor’s quarters sharing a bottle of Tennessee whiskey. They were well on their way to finishing the bottle, so Jim was nicely buzzed and slumped on the couch, legs splayed. He was still laughing at the look on Spock’s face when he’d made the comment about Uhura protecting him from aggressive Andorian females.
“You know, Bones, you’re part of a rather exclusive club?” he snickered.
Bones refilled his tumbler, “Really? Which club would that be, Jim?”
“The People-James-T-Kirk-Has-Bailed-Out-Of-Jail Club.”
Bones just rolled his eyes and sipped the amber colored liquid, “Dare I ask who else are the members?”
“Well, most recently of course there’s Spock…Uhura, Scotty, You, and my brother Sam.”
“How is Sam, by the way?”
“He’s good. I’m gonna be an uncle again. But, no changing the subject!”
He received a scowl in reply, “Aren’t you ever going to let me forget the fact that you had to bail me out of jail?”
Jim grinned and slumped further down into the cushions of the couch, “Nope. You’ve never had to post my bail, even with all the shit I’ve gotten into, but I’ve had to post yours.”
“I realize that, thanks. Who bailed you out? I know you’ve been arrested before.”
Jim’s glass waved through the air as he pointed in his friend’s general direction, “I’ll have you know I’ve only been arrested once! And it wasn’t for something as commonplace as ‘drunk and disorderly conduct,’ thank you very much. I drove my father’s antique car over a cliff!”
Bones paused with the glass halfway to his mouth, “What?! You never told me that! How old were you?”
“Eleven.”
There was a moment of complete silence and then, “You were arrested when you were eleven for driving your father’s antique car over a cliff?!”
Jim laughed, “Yeah. Frank wanted to sell it. Didn’t want to see the bastard get the credits so I did something about it. He was pissed!”
Bones wasn’t laughing, “Christ, Jim.”
“What?”
“Was Frank the one who posted your bail?”
This time, when Jim laughed he was surprised by how brittle the sound was when it left his throat, “Frank? Get me out of jail? Fuck, no!”
“Who did?”
Jim shrugged, “Nobody.”
Bones nearly dropped his glass, “Nobody?!”
“Nope. According to my mother, in her comm to me at the station, I was old enough to know better and needed to take responsibility for my actions.”
“You were eleven!”
He didn’t reply to Bones’ exclamation. The memory wasn’t as funny as he thought it would be when he’d first mentioned it. He wasn’t laughing anymore. He’d thought that after all these years it would have lost some of its sting. Apparently not. It still burned that his mother hadn’t understood…that she’d left him there…that she hadn’t come home. He’d spent the night in the Riverside prison and when he was released in the morning no one had come to pick him up. The walk back to the farm was a long one.
It was after that everything had begun to spiral out of control. Frank got worse. His mother almost couldn’t stand to look at him she was so disappointed and just spent more time in space. Sam left was constantly trying to run away until one time the police didn’t bring him back the next day. There was nobody to tell him which direction he should go, so he just struck out at every available opportunity. He’d only been arrested the one time though. He’d made sure that he never had to go back to that dark cell again.
“Jim?”
When Bones’ voice came from right next to him on the couch he startled and nearly dropped his glass, “Shit, Bones! When’d you move?”
Bones’ long fingers pulled the tumbler out of his hand and set it down safely on the coffee table, “I’m sorry, Jim.”
He shook his head, “It was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“But, it does! It does matter, Jim! Can’t you see that? I-”
“Hey, I’m OK. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”
A swath of dark hair shadowed part of Bones’ face, so Jim reached up to brush it back. Those intense hazel eyes stared at him for a long time before his friend spoke, “You know that I wouldn’t leave you there, right? You know that I’d come get you?”
Jim’s smile was genuine as a pocket of warmth blossomed in his chest, “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
In response, a long arm was slung over his shoulder and he was tugged to lay against a broad chest. He buried his face in the spot where neck met shoulder and inhaled the scent of pine, grass, and the antiseptic undertones of sickbay. Bones’ other arm wrapped around him as the shifted around to get comfortable and he hummed in contentment.
As he was drifting to sleep he heard a soft, gravelly voice murmur, “I’ve got you now.”
Erm...
Oops?
Anywho, who was it that wrote Kirk/Bones for the ST kink meme? Was that mwah? Yes, I do believe it was.
Slash ahoy!
1.
When Jim was seventeen Sam was twenty. His brother had left home four years ago in the middle of the night and Jim had never expected to hear from him again. Sam had gotten out and left him behind. Left him behind with an angry stepfather and a mother who, when she could stand to be around her sons, was all silences and pain-filled eyes and disappointed sighs. He’d wanted to go with Sam, had begged to go with him, but he’d only been twelve years old at the time and only one of them was remotely old enough to make it on their own. Intellectually he knew that the cops would have come after them to drag them both back if he’d tagged along, but it still always hurt. His big brother, his protector, hadn’t been up to the job of protecting him anymore and so he’d had to learn how to protect himself.
Still, when the robotic voice at the other end of the phone line had informed him that Sam was at the Riverside Police Station with no way to post bail, Jim didn’t hesitate to head over to the sprawling brick building. It took most of the credits in his account, which he’d been saving for his own getaway plan, but he was able to put up the funds. When he saw Sam come around the corner he was struck by how much he looked like the pictures of his father his mother had squirreled away in the attic. His hair was longer and there was the shadow of a beard on his cheeks, but the resemblance was so striking that it shocked Jim.
“What’d they get you for?” he asked when he’d finally found his voice.
Sam glanced at him as they walked out of the building into the hot Iowa summer, “Drunk and disorderly conduct.”
“Ah,” was all he said because the words for all the questions and accusations just stuck in his throat.
Sam sighed, “Listen, Jim, I’m sorry you had to come down here. I’m going to pay you back.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’re my brother.”
The expression on Sam’s face darkened and he looked away, “Yeah, well…”
Jim shoved his hands in the pockets of his jeans, “Why are you here, Sam?”
“I just-” Sam cut himself off.
“You just what, Sam?” Jim was starting to get angry and the heat was catching in his chest.
“Christ, I just wanted to check up on you!”
Jim snorted, “And ended up getting drunk and tossed in the tank to sober up?”
Sam’s shoulders dropped and he seemed to deflate a little. His voice, when it came, was low and rough, “I just couldn’t go back into that house, Jimmy.”
“Yeah, well, that house is where I’ve had to live without you for the past four years, Sam,” Jim managed to get our around the lump in his throat.
“I know. I know that, Jim. And I’m sorry, alright? I’m sorry that I’m such an asshole that I left in the middle of the night and didn’t tell you. I’m sorry that I couldn’t be there for you anymore. I’m sorry that I never told you where I was or what I was doing or any of that, but I just couldn’t take it anymore. I’ve finally started to get my life turned around, Jim. I’ve got a job in a biology research lab and I’ve met someone. I’m in a better place now and I just thought… I didn’t want to lose touch with you this time.”
Jim sighed, and let all of the heat drain out of his chest. No matter what, this was still his brother. He reached over to grip Sam’s broad shoulder, “I’m sorry too. I know it was worse for you. So, who’s the girl?”
“Her name’s Aurelan. You’d like her, Jimmy, she’s amazing.”
He watched the way his brother’s face lit up and returned the smile, “Come on, I’ll get you a coffee and you can tell me about her.”
And just like that the distance between them started to dissipate. They had been close once and they would be close again. Jim just hoped that this time, maybe, it would stick.
2.
Leonard H. McCoy was Jim’s best and only real friend at Starfleet. Sure he had lots of acquaintances, lots of people that he knew or hung out with, but Bones was the only one who truly knew him inside and out. The reverse was true as well. Jim was the only one who truly knew Bones. Which was why, when he got the call from the San Francisco police, he wasn’t that surprised.
Yesterday was Joanna’s eighth birthday and Bones hadn’t been able to get the time off to go see her. Jim had planned to take Bones out to their favorite local haunt after his xenolinguistics class got out, but when he’d returned to their dorm room Bones was nowhere to be found. He figured that Bones had gone out to find some trouble. His friend didn’t often get into trouble, but when he did, he did so rather spectacularly. Which is why Jim had decided to stay close to home so he could answer the comm when the call from the police inevitably came.
“Is this James T. Kirk?” the middle-aged female officer on the viewscreen looked annoyed.
He decided being polite was probably a good idea, “Yes, this is James Kirk. How can I help you, Officer?”
Bones’ voice came from somewhere offscreen, “Is that him? Dammit, let me talk to him!”
The officer rolled her eyes, “You are listed as a contact in the citizen database for Leonard H. McCoy, is this correct?”
“Yes, Officer, that is correct.”
“We have Doctor McCoy in our custody and-”
Bones’ face appeared behind her shoulder, “Jim!”
Jim had to cover his smile with his hand at the exasperated expression on the officer’s face, “Hey, Bones.”
“Jim, listen-”
“As I was saying, Doctor McCoy is in our custody after being picked up for public intoxication. Since you are listed as the primary contact are you willing to post bail?”
Jim raised an eyebrow in Bones’ direction, “Oh, really?”
“Will you be willing to post bail, Citizen Kirk?” the officer asked again.
Bones’ face was slowly turning bright red and he was looking everywhere but the viewscreen. Jim snorted, “Sure, officer, I’ll put up the credits. Does he need anyone to pick him up?”
“Please.”
“Thanks, Jim,” Bones mumbled while staring somewhere off to the left of the communications unit.
“No problem, I’ll be there in 10 minutes.”
As Bones was escorted offscreen by a burly man in a navy uniform the female officer pinched the bridge of her nose, “Thank you, Citizen Kirk.”
He threw her his best and most charming grin. She didn’t know it, but she’d provided him with enough material on Bones to last for months of teasing. He was going to hold this over Bones’ head for a long, long time.
“No, Officer, thank you. Kirk out.”
3.
“Mister Scott.”
“Ah, Captain. I can explain?”
Jim just looked at the man that was attempting not to fidget while standing at attention behind the old fashioned metal bars, “Is that a question or a statement, Mister Scott?”
“Well, Captain…”
He just barely refrained from rolling his eyes. Six months into their five year deep space exploration mission and his crew was already causing interplanetary incidents. Fantastic.
“Just…at ease, Scotty. Explain the situation, please. You were on shore leave, correct?”
Scotty truly did begin to fidget now, “It’s like this, Captain. I was walking along through the streets looking for someplace to have a bit of a drink when I saw it.”
“Saw what, Scotty?”
“Well, there was a man walking a terran animal that I might have recognized and attempted to…” he trailed off here.
Jim did roll his eyes this time, “Did you try and steal it, Scotty?”
Scotty drew himself up and tugged on the bottom of his uniform shirt, “Absolutely no, Captain! It isn’t stealing when you know the dog belongs to someone else.”
“Who does it belong to, then?”
“Admiral Archer.”
That drew Jim up short, “What?”
“The dog…it’s Admiral Archer’s beagle, Sir. I saw it and I had to try and get it back. I admit maybe I was a bit hasty in how I went about it, but, I just couldn’t leave it here! That dog is the reason I got sent to that frozen rock in the first place! I just had to, Captain. I had to get him back.”
“I see. Is that how you got the, uh-” Jim gestured to Scotty’s face where a large purpling bruise encompassed his right eye and most of his cheekbone.
“The black eye, Sir? Yes. Yes, it is, Sir.”
“Alright, Scotty. I understand. I’ll take care of it. Just-no more interplanetary incidents while on leave, alright?”
“Thank you, Captain!”
“Come on. Let’s get you back to the Enterprise.”
In the end Jim located the beagle and shelling out extra credits to convince his new owner to give up the damn dog. Dogs weren’t typically allowed on starships like the Enterprise, but when Scotty had looked at him through the cell bars Jim had caved spectacularly. He could see the fear of being stranded again on a frozen planet far away from anything or anyone he loved. So, he’d brought the dog on board and tried not to swear too loudly when the dog disrupted the daily routine on the ship. Even when Scotty fed it too many sandwiches and caused the dog to have a massive case of the trots (which Bones had to treat). Even when the dog didn’t get along with his first officer and let everyone know by biting Spock’s ankles. And even when the damn thing shat in his ready room.
4.
Jim had always known that his communications officer had a bit of a temper. He’d just never expected to see it unleashed in public. They had gone down to Verex VI to begin diplomatic negotiations for the inhabitants to begin trading with other Federation planets when Ambassador Hafeth had addressed her in the native language and she’d just…well, exploded was probably the most apt description. The situation had deteriorated so rapidly that, before he’d been able to figure out what had started the incident, she’d been carted away by the blue skinned guards and tossed in prison.
He had managed, after a lot of diplomatic shenanigans, to get the ambassador to agree to her release. However, he hadn’t managed to get Hafeth to agree to let her go that night. His communications officer was stuck in jail until the following morning. When he’d attempted to get Hafeth to explain the situation the tall, bald humanoid had been silent and unwilling to discuss the incident at all.
“You know,” he said, when he finally made it down to her cell, “I can kind of see Scotty getting thrown in jail and having to bail him out, but I never thought I’d see you on the wrong side of the bars.”
Uhura didn’t answer him. She simply sat on the thin pallet and stared at the floor. He motioned to the guard to let him through the force field. The guard turned away after he stepped through and the force field shimmered back into place behind him. Jim sat beside his communications officer and tried to think of a way to diffuse some of the seriousness of the situation, but couldn’t come up with anything. Instead, he asked, “Lieutenant, I need you to explain what happened up there with Ambassador Hafeth.”
She still did not answer him.
“Uhura, please, I need to know exactly what happened and why it happened in the first place.”
After a long pause she said, “Did you know that Orions can have blue skin in addition to the more common green pigmentation?”
He blinked a little at the non sequitur, “I wasn’t aware of that, no.”
“Hafeth is an Orion.”
“Ah…I see?”
She clenched her hands in her lap, “Jim, he is…was related to Gaila. He was her uncle.”
His heart dropped.
“I’d met him once before when he’d visited Earth. Gaila and I were in our second year at the Academy. They didn’t have a good relationship.”
“I think I understand,” he wasn’t sure he wanted to know the details anymore.
She looked up at him, “I don’t think you do. You know that Orion women are actually in control of their men due to the pheromones they give off. Gaila didn’t have the same level of pheromones that normal Orion women typically release. Her mother was human and it dampened those processes. That’s why she entered Starfleet in the first place. She never would have been able to fit in with the normal Orion cultural practices. Her father’s family…they never really acknowledged her let alone accepted her.”
Jim rubbed his temples, “Hafeth said something, didn’t he?”
Uhura nodded, “He said that it was good that she’d been assigned to the Gallant rather than one of the other ships that survived the Narada’s first attack. He said that it was good that she’d died since she wasn’t a ‘good Orion woman.’ He said-he said a lot of things.”
“Hafeth is an idiot. You know that don’t you, Uhura?”
She nodded, but didn’t respond. He reached up and squeezed her shoulder gently, “She was a good person, Nyota, and that is more than anything Hafeth could ever hope to be.”
Her hand reached up to squeeze his, “She really liked you, you know?”
“Yeah, I do. She was good to me.”
“She was a good friend.”
All he could do was nod. They sat side by side in the cell until morning came and the guards opened the cell. They were silent on the long walk back to the site where Scotty could beam them back up to the Enterprise. They didn’t speak until they were back onboard the ship. She was about to walk away when he said, “Take the rest of the day to get some rest, Lieutenant. I expect to see you on the bridge tomorrow at 0800.”
She looked like she was going to protest, but then her shoulders slumped as she gave in, “Yes, Captain.”
He turned to head toward the bridge and her voice stopped him, “Captain?”
“Yes?”
She looked up at him and tried to smile, but failed, “I-thank you, Jim.”
He watched as she slipped into the crowded hallway and disappeared.
5.
“Why is it that I’m always bailing my officers out of jail?”
Spock raised one eyebrow, “Captain?”
“To date I’ve had to get Bones, Scotty, Uhura, and now you, Spock, out of prison. You, Spock! How exactly did you end up in an Andorian jail?”
“I believe that there was a misunderstanding caused by the differences between Andorian and Vulcan cultural practices.”
Jim just shook his head, “Oh? Care to elaborate, Spock?”
“I find I am unable to do so, Captain, as I am unsure what caused the incident in the first place.”
“You don’t know?!”
Was he imagining it, or did Spock look vaguely uncomfortable?
“No, Captain, I do not know. Though, perhaps…fascinating.”
“Yes, Spock?”
“I do believe that the Andorian female we met, the daughter of the Ambassador, was indicating sexual interest in me with the motion of her antennae during the reception. Perhaps, when I failed to reciprocate the interest, she took offence. This must be where the misunderstanding originated.”
Jim couldn’t help it; he burst into laughter, “Fabulous! You have got to tell Uhura that! Christ, the things we get into. Come on, I’ve posted your bail.”
Jim was still chuckling when they were beamed back up to the Enterprise and Uhura met them in the transporter room. He watched their reunion with a smile. The tips of Spock’s ears were turning green as she fussed over him. He just shook his head and clapped Spock on the shoulder, “Hey, Spock?”
“Yes, Captain?”
“In the future, if we ever meet with the Andorians again, take Uhura with you.”
Uhura looked confused, “Sir?”
He just smirked, “She’ll protect you from those passionate Andorian females.”
6.
The night after Jim got Spock out of an Andorian prison, Jim and Bones were sitting in the Doctor’s quarters sharing a bottle of Tennessee whiskey. They were well on their way to finishing the bottle, so Jim was nicely buzzed and slumped on the couch, legs splayed. He was still laughing at the look on Spock’s face when he’d made the comment about Uhura protecting him from aggressive Andorian females.
“You know, Bones, you’re part of a rather exclusive club?” he snickered.
Bones refilled his tumbler, “Really? Which club would that be, Jim?”
“The People-James-T-Kirk-Has-Bailed-Out-Of-Jail Club.”
Bones just rolled his eyes and sipped the amber colored liquid, “Dare I ask who else are the members?”
“Well, most recently of course there’s Spock…Uhura, Scotty, You, and my brother Sam.”
“How is Sam, by the way?”
“He’s good. I’m gonna be an uncle again. But, no changing the subject!”
He received a scowl in reply, “Aren’t you ever going to let me forget the fact that you had to bail me out of jail?”
Jim grinned and slumped further down into the cushions of the couch, “Nope. You’ve never had to post my bail, even with all the shit I’ve gotten into, but I’ve had to post yours.”
“I realize that, thanks. Who bailed you out? I know you’ve been arrested before.”
Jim’s glass waved through the air as he pointed in his friend’s general direction, “I’ll have you know I’ve only been arrested once! And it wasn’t for something as commonplace as ‘drunk and disorderly conduct,’ thank you very much. I drove my father’s antique car over a cliff!”
Bones paused with the glass halfway to his mouth, “What?! You never told me that! How old were you?”
“Eleven.”
There was a moment of complete silence and then, “You were arrested when you were eleven for driving your father’s antique car over a cliff?!”
Jim laughed, “Yeah. Frank wanted to sell it. Didn’t want to see the bastard get the credits so I did something about it. He was pissed!”
Bones wasn’t laughing, “Christ, Jim.”
“What?”
“Was Frank the one who posted your bail?”
This time, when Jim laughed he was surprised by how brittle the sound was when it left his throat, “Frank? Get me out of jail? Fuck, no!”
“Who did?”
Jim shrugged, “Nobody.”
Bones nearly dropped his glass, “Nobody?!”
“Nope. According to my mother, in her comm to me at the station, I was old enough to know better and needed to take responsibility for my actions.”
“You were eleven!”
He didn’t reply to Bones’ exclamation. The memory wasn’t as funny as he thought it would be when he’d first mentioned it. He wasn’t laughing anymore. He’d thought that after all these years it would have lost some of its sting. Apparently not. It still burned that his mother hadn’t understood…that she’d left him there…that she hadn’t come home. He’d spent the night in the Riverside prison and when he was released in the morning no one had come to pick him up. The walk back to the farm was a long one.
It was after that everything had begun to spiral out of control. Frank got worse. His mother almost couldn’t stand to look at him she was so disappointed and just spent more time in space. Sam left was constantly trying to run away until one time the police didn’t bring him back the next day. There was nobody to tell him which direction he should go, so he just struck out at every available opportunity. He’d only been arrested the one time though. He’d made sure that he never had to go back to that dark cell again.
“Jim?”
When Bones’ voice came from right next to him on the couch he startled and nearly dropped his glass, “Shit, Bones! When’d you move?”
Bones’ long fingers pulled the tumbler out of his hand and set it down safely on the coffee table, “I’m sorry, Jim.”
He shook his head, “It was a long time ago. It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“But, it does! It does matter, Jim! Can’t you see that? I-”
“Hey, I’m OK. I’m here with you, aren’t I?”
A swath of dark hair shadowed part of Bones’ face, so Jim reached up to brush it back. Those intense hazel eyes stared at him for a long time before his friend spoke, “You know that I wouldn’t leave you there, right? You know that I’d come get you?”
Jim’s smile was genuine as a pocket of warmth blossomed in his chest, “Yeah. Yeah, I do.”
In response, a long arm was slung over his shoulder and he was tugged to lay against a broad chest. He buried his face in the spot where neck met shoulder and inhaled the scent of pine, grass, and the antiseptic undertones of sickbay. Bones’ other arm wrapped around him as the shifted around to get comfortable and he hummed in contentment.
As he was drifting to sleep he heard a soft, gravelly voice murmur, “I’ve got you now.”