Reboot Fic: Walking a Tightrope 1/3 Draws IX [Pike/OFC, Pike/Kirk/McCoy, NC-17]

[syredronning]

Title: Walking a Tightrope 1/3 (Draws IX)
Author: Acidqueen
Series: Reboot aka ST:XI aka AOS - Draws Series
Codes: Pike/OFC (Dael), Pike/Kirk/McCoy, some f/f implied
Rating: NC-17; warning: much queerness, including hetero sex ;)
Word count: 23.000 in whole
Author's Note: This is the direct sequel to Fire Dancing. See also the masterpost for the whole series.

Thanks for the lightning-fast beta goes to cupidandpsycho! All remaining flaws are solely mine.

Disclaimer: Paramount/Viacom owns Star Trek, I own my brain.

Summary: The prince gets the princess and they live happily ever after. That's how a love story should be. Unfortunately, Pike never received a sensible briefing on such a situation. Also, nobody ever said something about two more princes and other associated people.



***

It's not how Pike thought his stay in rehab would end, as he's moved back to Starfleet Medical early on the next morning, the medical staff whirling around his anti-grav stretcher like a flock of shocked birds since the moment someone caught on his irregular brain patterns.

Guess someone should've told him that he's too fragile for a love affair now, although he could truthfully answer the question about his nightly activities with "nothing strenuous" because Dael and he had been so absorbed in their wondrous first exploration that actual sex just didn't happen. They had parted and gone to their respective rooms, unwilling to share their newfound love with the rest of the institution. A decision Pike definitely regrets this morning. Who knows if he ever gets another chance to hold her.

"It's nothing serious," he says soothingly and determined to lie through his teeth when Dael meets them in the corridor, eyes wide in her pale face. He clasps her hand.

"I could come with you, sir," she says in a strained voice and looks at the doctors in question.

"Better not. Check out as originally planned. I'll get some transport arranged for all of our stuff. Especially the dioramas. I'll contact you later for details." He reaches out with one trembling arm and pulls her head closer, placing another kiss on her forehead. "Love you," he whispers with the last scraps of Romulan he remembers and she mirrors the same words back at him; then he's moved away to the beam point.

Seeing Doctor Anumanchi shaking her head when he materializes doesn't really reduce his apprehension, but the lengthy lecture on how taking off the medical bracelet that is supposed to track his brain patterns and avoiding regular meals and several prescribed shots for two days will be the surest way to get him back under the neural stabilizer gets a little drowned in the memories of the evening before.

Her touch on his skin, the taste of her kiss on his lips. Running his fingertips over her skinny chest and each pronounced rib. Cupping her chin for another kiss and stroking through her hair when she leans her head on his shoulder at last, both sleepy and aching from the damn hard floor of the conservatory.

"I'm sorry," he interrupts the doctor's tirade and opens his eyes. "It won't happen again."

"It better not," Anumanchi scowls, reminding him of McCoy. "I had the impression you had something worth living for, so if that's the case, you should damn well know that this isn't some kind of game. Your health isn't self-sustaining anymore. It's either you taking care of yourself, or you ending up in nursing care, and I don't think you would want that."

"You're correct. I apologize for my poor cooperation."

"Good." She looks a little appeased. "I've had a look at the first data, and it's not as bad as it could be, but I'd still like to put you under the neural stabilizer for at least two days, and another day or two of supervision here."

"Can I take my voice-controlled comm with me?" is all he asks resigned. "I've got several calls to make."

"You can take it with you, but for the next two days, we'd like to keep you under sedation."

Pike sighs. "Understood. I need to make three calls now, but those are really important."

The doctor nods. "Make it short, sir."

The first call goes to Dael. As expected, he has to leave her a message.

I'll be out of order for two days and then stuck here for another few. Please contact Nastasha Winston ex. Solvay regarding the transport of our things and everything else. She's a very old friend of mine, you can trust her. Her number is… I'll call you again as soon as I can. Christopher.

Then he calls his assistant, briefing her that he's back in San Francisco, though not quite in the way it was planned. She's got to inform Nogura about his situation and to arrange the transport of all the technical equipment that has piled up in his rehab room, including securing all his PADDs.

At last he calls Natasha, the only person who's got the key codes to both his apartments, extremely glad when he reaches her right away.

"Nat - Chris here. I need your help. I'm back in hospital as an emergency. It's not too bad, I'll survive, but I had to leave all my personal belongings in the rehab."

"And now you need me to organize the transport?" Nat answers matter-of-factly. Gotta love a good Academy education when it comes to emergencies.

"Exactly. Not just for me but also for Dael. You remember the cadet?"

"Sure. She's also been there?"

"Uh, yes. And she's my - well, lover. It's very new and I'll explain the whole story when I've got time, but right now they're already waiting to knock me out. It's complicated."

"Your lover?" Nat asks incredulously.

"Yes. I told her to contact you and I hope that was okay because we just got together last night and she was quite shocked when they took me away this morning, so…ah, hell," Pike says a little desperately when he sees the disbelieving and frowning expression on her face. "Nat, please make sure that she's okay and gets back to San Francisco without problems. I'll cover all expenses but you'd really do me a gigantic favor with keeping in touch with her while I'm out for two days."

"If it's that important to you, I'll do it. Of course, Chris," Nat replies. "I'll take care of her."

"Thank you." Pike feels a large weight being removed from his shoulders. "Thank you so much."

She smiles a little, for the first time in this call. "Take care, Chris. Talk to you in two days."

When Nat signs off, Anumanchi comes back into the room. "Ready, sir?"

"Ready," Pike says. Half an hour later, he's on the table and actually a little relieved when they knock him out - at least it's better than to stress out about a situation he can't change right now. He just hopes Nat and Dael get along.

*

When Pike slowly comes out of the sedation, he's only two days older but it feels like twenty years, because everything is stiff and aching. He's still in the stabilizer and the lights are low, it has to be in the middle of the night. Someone comes looking after him and he gets something to drink, then is left along again.

It gives him some time to think about Dael and how completely irrational all of this is, until sleep catches up with him once more.

When he wakes up in the morning, he's still stiff and aching and desperately hopes Anumanchi would soon show up to release him from this table. They call it a bed, of course, but it's hard and flat and he's tied to it, so it's definitely a fucking table to him. With a sigh he glances towards the door, catching someone folded on the chair next to it.

"Christopher," Dael says immediately, and then she walks right into his limited view range, her face unusually white from the cover makeup he hasn't seen on her for quite a while. Her hand is warm as it catches his, and he takes a deep breath as a bunch of emotions threaten to drown him.

"Dael." He tightly clutches her hand, relieved to find that at least the coordination in his arms is just fine. "Did the transfer work well? Is everything back here?"

"Yes, your friend Natasha came to pick me up with a flyer. I helped her pack your private belongings and she took me back with her."

"Good." His fingers cradle hers, and it's possibly one of the most erotic touches he's ever felt.

It also reminds him that they badly need to talk.

"Dael - I had some time to think. Not much, but enough to know that if we start something, there will be problems. Lots of pressure to face for both of us."

"There might be." Her eyes are unreadable in her white face. "Do you want me to leave?"

"No." His chest aches, and not just from the stretched-out position. He knows what he wants, but he's not sure what she wants, if she still wants this, and he's going to give her the chance to back out now gracefully. When nothing serious by most people's standard had happened so far, just an hour or two of stolen time, touching and kissing - they hadn't even really lost their clothes.

"No. I just wanted to say… we can still end it here. Well, maybe I can't because I can't imagine being without you, now that I allowed my imagination to go there at all. But if we see it through, I'll be forced to step down as your academic advisor and inform Nogura, and he'll undoubtedly inform your instructors. Many will know about us, Dael. There might be repercussions."

"You mean, from those instructors who were suddenly a lot more supportive once your name turned up?" She gives him an aslope smile. "You have a certain reputation."

"I'm not always a nice guy," Pike admits. "As you may have noticed."

She shrugs. "I've heard some stories about you but that was already after getting to know you a little better. You were never anything but polite to me."

"Happy to hear that." He squeezes her hand.

"I want to be with you," Dael says quietly, seriously. "I won't demand that you change your life for me. I know you love them. I don't want to take anything away from them, but I'd want to be with you as long as you want me to."

"I want to be with you, too." God, how much he wishes he could fucking move. "Come here," he says, beckoning her to draw closer so that he could kiss her. Just his luck that the door opens and Anumanchi walks in on them, putting an abrupt end to all the things he'd still want to say.

The doctor eyes the scene without obvious reaction, just stating professionally that the admiral is due for a checkup and that his visitor should return tomorrow. Only when Dael is out of the door, Anumanchi gives him a critical gaze. "Seducing cadets? I thought there were regulations against it."

"I know. That's why I've got to call Nogura later." Pike tries to watch her actions, but she's outside his range of sight. "No need to tell McCoy, I'll do so myself."

There's a little grunted noise above his head. "Your relationship is not my business," the disembodied voice says, before the woman walks around him, slightly leaning over him to press a few buttons on the stabilizer's panel. "But McCoy's a good man, and a good friend of mine," she adds with a serious gaze. "I hope you know what you're doing."

"I hope that too," Pike says and closes his eyes.

*

Farnham is angry, no doubt about that. "I can't believe what you do. Cut that shit, man. I start to get nervous every time I get a call from Nat or Starfleet," he snaps the second he's through the door around midday.

"I'm sorry. It's was my fault this time," Pike says appeasing, still flat on his back, wishing he'd be out of that damn medical bondage yet.

"The desert was your fault too. Riding out with a beginner without checking the weather forecast and with no emergency fallback plan. You made a lot of errors due to carelessness that day."

Ouch - but not a completely unjust accusation. "Guess you're right," Pike relents.

"Dammit, don't just nod and agree with all I say, it makes me suspect your brain works less well than Nat told me." Farnham gives him the once-over. "How are you doing?"

"Actually rather fine. This is mostly a preemptive measure. I don't have any new symptoms."

"Good." Farnham takes a seat next to Pike's bed. "How's the kid?"

"Are you talking about Dael? She's fine. Attending some second semester classes today." Pike can't hide a smile. Just saying her name makes him happy.

"So - you did it?"

"Uh, we didn't do a lot so far, but we intend to."

"No kissing yet? No petting? No hands on her scrawny ass?"

"Ah well." Pike can feel his cheeks warming a little.

"I see," Farnham says ironically. "Not much, right." He shakes his head. "I saw it coming for a while but I just couldn't believe that the same man who wouldn't even try out Orion women on my recommendation would fall for a girl her age. Guess her look helps, doesn't it? She wouldn't have a problem to pass as a boy."

"Guess not, but it's about her, not her gender."

"You say that now. We'll talk about that in a month or two." Farnham shrugs.

Pike holds out his hand. "I'm sorry, John."

"Maybe you think you should be, but you're not," Farnham says without accepting his peace offer, the ironic little smile firmly in place. "So does that make you unavailable for sex in the future?"

"I have no clue," Pike says. "Ask me in a month or two."

"Fine. I'll give you a call," Farnham replies. He gets up and places a kiss on Pike's forehead, brief and dry. "See you around."

Pike closes his eyes as the door swooshes shut, the metallic taste of regret on his tongue.

*

Recording from Capt. James T. Kirk, Enterprise to Adm. Pike, SF HQ, Earth

"Chris, you're a great but also rather blind man at times," starts Kirk's recording, with Jim's smiling face filling the screen. "If you ever listened to your own recordings, you'd have noticed how much her name turned up right from the beginning. It was part of why I kept in contact with her - I badly wanted to know if she'd be right for you. Yes, I can be protective as well, and given that we're the reason that your love life got turned upside down over the last year, we feel a little responsible for your well-being. I'm damn glad to hear you finally got together.

"Regarding Bones - he won't kill you, I promise. We've talked about the possibility a few times, and while I don't deny that he's not as happy about it as I am, he loves you too much not to agree that you need someone on Earth. And he can't dislike anyone who's proven that she'll look after you. So send him a recording or tell him yourself. I won't say a word."

"As for me and Dael…" Kirk hesitates. "I really like her a lot and we speak once in a while. But I see her as your girl, so whatever might happen in the future - you've got veto rights. We never talked about that as it was never a point between us so far, but Bones has a veto right and you've got that too in principle, especially when it comes to her. You're too important to me to fuck anything up. You're too important to both of us.

"I'm so happy for you and I hope all works out with the two of you. Take care. I love you. Jim."

Veto rights, interesting concept, Pike thinks. Something to consider when they actually meet. Right now he feels so strongly about her that he can't imagine sharing her with anyone, but it's not really his decision.

It's not as if he owns her.

*

Natasha comes to visit him, and he expects a lengthy lecture - but none comes.

"You wanted Kirk and McCoy, and you got them and it was the right decision at that time. I have no clue why you want her - or for the matter, why she obviously wants you - but I'll just try to accept it," is all she states once she's seated next to him.

"Sounds fatalistic," Pike says. He's in bed again after having been up for some hours; the meds kill him a little.

Nat shrugs. "You made your decision. So it's sink or swim for everyone else, right?"

"Essentially, yes."

"Then there's nothing more to say about it." She brushes her hair over her shoulder. "By the way, Barnett is here too. On the fourth floor."

Pike jerks up his head. "Why?

"It's not official, but it's an open secret - Xenopolycythemia."

Pike feels his chest tighten. For all the trouble he had with Barnett over the last few months, they've known each other for ages, and it's an illness he wouldn't wish on his enemies - only a few selected maybe. "Shit. That's practically a death sentence."

"Yes." They sit in silence for a moment. "When are you going to be released?" Nat asks.

"Tomorrow, I hope." Pike's thoughts are still with Barnett. "Guess I should visit him."

"Yes, you should," Nat agrees. "I'm in town. Give me a call if you need anything else over the next days."

"You're the best, Nat. Thank you so much."

"Glad to know I don't only get on your nerves," she replies with a strange smile, then leaves.

An hour later he knows what he needs and gives her a call about it. It arrives two hours later.

*

"Knock-knock," Pike says after a real knock when he opens the door to Barnett's room in the evening. "Hello, Richard." The room is empty besides the occupant, so he walks in, a flat rectangular box in his hands. Barnett lays in bed, seated with his back a little upright, staring at the opposite wall with rather empty eyes, the face haggard.

He doesn't look good at all, in Pike's opinion.

"Pike." Barnett stares at him as if he sees him for the very first time. "Heard you were in here too. What do you want, celebrate your victory?"

Pike shakes his head. "I was reminded that life's too damn short to ride out petty disagreements." He gives him the box. "Got some of your favorite sweets for you, thought you'd like them."

Barnett automatically takes the gift, still a little distrustful. When he opens the cover, he gasps. "Vulcan almonds! Damn, they've got to be worth a fortune."

"I had them at home since before the Narada," Pike says. "Wanted to give them to you forever, but somehow I never managed. I heard they get better with time."

"They do, they do." Barnett gives him a sad grin. "Unlike old men like us..." He takes a deep breath, then reaches out to his visitor. "I'm happy to see you, Chris," he says with a tremor in his voice. "Really happy." They hug each other.

"I heard it's been a close call for you," Barnett says.

"Very close," Pike agrees and takes a seat on a chair next to the bed.

"How's the prognosis?" Barnett asks.

Pike shrugs. "It's hard to predict something that they don't understand."

"At least you're walking again."

"For now, but I consider it bought time."

"Still better than I do," Barnett says self-ironically. "I basically have an expiration date on my forehead."

"How long have you known?"

"For almost six months. And yeah -" Barnett smiles sadly, "I admit that sometimes I felt annoyed by you just for the way you seemed to be invincible. You were like Phoenix out of the ashes, suddenly taking up your career again and starting new relationships, while I could hear my inner timer counting down."

Pike shakes his head, sharing his colleague's sad smile. "I'm not invincible, far from it. One little mistake, and I end up in the neural stabilizer for two days. Great prospects for the future."

Barnett nods. "Still - I heard some rumors. You and your cadet…? Your female cadet?"

"It's true," Pike states, a little wary of another dispute, but Barnett only laughs, and it sounds genuine, without any condemnation.

"Of all the strange things you've done in your life, hooking up with a sexy young girl is probably the most common thing! Getting settled down at last?" Barnett twinkles. "What about Kirk and McCoy?"

"Still my partners."

Barnett rubs his chin, hiding a smile. "I never got your lifestyle, really I don't, but I guess I don't have to. This sounds like a rather complicated relationship and I don't envy you for it."

"We'll see how it will develop," Pike says. "As I said - it's all bought time in my eyes. I might as well enjoy my life as long as I can."

There's a moment of silence, in which Barnett looks down on the closed box. "Before your accident, you attended some receptions," he changes the theme. "Heard you were talking to various interested parties about the Borg." He looks up again, meeting Pike's gaze.

"Do you think we'll have a war on our hands in the future?"

"Not if we're faster," Pike says simply.

"That bad? It's us or them?"

"Yes."

"Do they at least have some opera?" Barnett tries to joke but sighs as he sees it falling flat with Pike. "Just when we thought the universe had no more surprises for us."

"It will always surprise us," Pike says, the memories of a large, dark, tentacled ship on the front screen of the Enterprise suddenly drifting through his mind. "Always."

There's a knock on the door, and a nurse pokes in her head. "Sorry, sir, it's time for the admiral's checkup…"

"Please give us two more minutes," Barnett says, and she leaves again.

"I'll be probably discharged tomorrow," Pike says. "How about you?"

"In a week maybe, or maybe not. Who knows." Barnett shrugs. His hands reverently cradle the box of sweets. "They are priceless. Sure you want to give them to a dying man?"

"They were always for you. Enjoy them, Richard." Pike gets up and shakes Barnett's hand once more, wishing he could warm those cold, stiff fingers. "We'll keep in touch."

"Yes, we will." Barnett sighs softly. "Take care, Chris."

With a heavy heart, Pike leaves the room, stopping at the next best window in the corridor to look out into the night.

Fuck. He squeezes his eyes shut as he heavily leans against the window sill.

Fuck.

*

Like hoped, he's discharged on the next day. As Dael won't be able to join him before six the next evening, it leaves him with almost two long days in reach of his console.

It also means he's got no more excuses for not calling the doc. The Enterprise is close to a star base, a real time transmission would be costly but manageable. He sends a priority message first, suggesting a time, and it's soon acknowledged.

Heaving a last deep breath, Pike leans back in the chair of his small home office and opens the connection in time.

"Hello, doc," he says, a little stiffly because he's nervous, and also because talking to McCoy in private and not about his health has been quite rare over the last weeks. The doc seems to sit in his sickbay office, and his expression is concerned.

"Chris - I hope this call isn't about any new health troubles."

"No. It's about Dael." Pike lets the name sink in for a moment. "My relationship with Dael."

"Ah." There's a brief pause before McCoy continues, "Can't say it's unexpected."

"For nobody but me, obviously." Pike smiles aslope.

McCoy tilts his head, not mirroring the smile.

"I wanted to tell you in person, because it's important to me that you are okay with this."

"As if my opinion would change anything," McCoy says, easing the statement with a light smile at last. "I knew it would happen. Still wish it would've been someone older, because she's a kid in my eyes, but I'm glad you found someone on Earth. I've been worried about you."

"Probably for all the right reasons," Pike admits. "Missed you, doc, and still do. She's no substitute for either of you but she's good for me. We've spent so much time together over the last months, and I was never once bored. She's challenging me in all the right ways. She makes me happy."

"Yeah, I could hear that between the lines of your recordings." McCoy sighs a little, rotating in his chair.

"I wish this wouldn't feel so strange," Pike says throatily. All he really wants to have is McCoy in this room to make love to him, but here he sits and speaks about a love that feels so different, for all the similarly intense emotions that accompany it.

"Do I do the right thing? One the one hand, I'm so sure about it, and on the other… The few times I was in a relationship, it was exclusive while it lasted. Then I met you, and the rules were laid out, you two were together and I was the addition but still free to seek out others. Now… what do we have now? I read some articles and skimmed a few discussions. I'm not even sure yet what exactly Dael and I will have, and I don't know how it will work together with what we have."

McCoy nods. "Nobody knows, Chris. I can tell you, no matter how much experience you gain with all that relationship shit, it'll never get really easy." Then he leans forward. "Don't think too much about it. That's something I learned the hard way - with you."

"With me?" Pike asks a little confused.

"Before you, everyone else Jim or I dated was some short-lived distraction. All perfectly clean and neat and limited, nothing to worry about the next day. But you aren't a safe option, Chris. You rattled the relationship between Jim and me quite a bit."

"I didn't realize that." Pike shakes his head. "I never wanted to do that."

"Strong emotions will do things to everyone," McCoy says. "You got under our skin more than anyone else." McCoy's jaw visibly tightens. "Under my skin especially."

"I know. It's the same here," Pike replies quietly.

"And now you've got Dael, and while she seems to be really good for you, I still have moments in which I'm egoistic and wish you'd be out here with us."

"Nice dream," Pike says solemnly, "but more than unlikely, now that my health is instable like shit."

"It will get better."

"Don't promise things you can't keep."

"Where is she now?" McCoy asks without transition.

"Away for two days, on an introductory trip. Should be here by tomorrow evening."

McCoy nods, a forced smile around his lips. "Try to be as good for her as she's for you. I'll give you hell if you fuck it up."

"You can line up with a row of people there."

"So you better get it right."

"I intend to." Pike curls his hands in his lap. "I love her. It's so strange to say that, because she's nothing I'd ever have thought of, but every minute with her is something special. I don't know how long it will last but until then, I want to be with her."

"Good." McCoy leans forward in his chair, hands loosely on the table. "I need to sign off. Take care, Chris. I still love you, don't think you'll get rid of me so easily. Glad to know you'll be happy even when I'm not on Earth to give you some much-needed therapeutic intervention." It's a lame joke, but Pike gives McCoy points for trying.

"Love you too," Pike says and then the connection ends. Like always the word sounds much too meager compared to his unbelievably deep feelings for the man. It's one of his biggest concerns that some part of him wants Dael just to fill the gaping hole the Enterprise men leave behind each time. On the other hand, John had offered and he hadn't taken it up, although it would've been so easy.

Shaking the thoughts off, Pike pulls himself out of the chair and starts cleaning his apartment, determined to get it as presentable as possible after months of absence.

*

The next morning, Pike goes to see Nogura in the admiralty. He's still on sick leave this week and out of uniform, but many people recognize him and exchange a few words with him, inquiring about his health. He's glad he's come well in time for his appointment, and happily escapes further questions by withdrawing into the restroom.

After splashing some water in his face, Pike critically eyes himself in the mirror as he wipes it off. There's too much grey in his hair and too many wrinkles in his face, and no doubt there'd be many people assuming that he's trying to fight a midlife crisis by taking a young lover.

If anything, it's a Narada crisis.

Pike is determined not to fall into the "I'm getting old" tirade so many of his peers enjoy. He gets older but not old, which is more than just an age written in a file to him. He'd do his utmost to avoid thinking himself older than he's got to be.

The door opens, and he half-turns to look at the newcomer as suddenly his left knee gives in. He barely prevents a fall by catching himself on the washbasin.

The other man is at his side in a second. "Everything all right, sir?" the lieutenant asks concerned.

"Yes, thank you." Pike takes a deep breath. "Just a momentary lapse." He dismisses the man's offer for further help and leaves the restroom, inwardly more shaken than he lets on. He's used to falling during strenuous trainings, he's prepared for that, but not once has the coordination in one leg failed like this, out of the blue.

Pike tensely walks down the corridor to Nogura's office with one hand near the wall, concentrating on every move. All seems to be fine, and so he finally steps in front of the office door, straightening his back. Had to be his nerves, Pike thinks, because he's definitely not looking forward to this particular meeting. He fingers the medical bracelet he's always wearing on his left wrist now, loosely wondering if the data showed anything.

It's a long thirty minutes in Nogura's office.

*

He falls asleep on his couch the second he sits down on it in the late afternoon.

All is neat and clean and he's been agonizing over what food he should buy and which tea she likes. He's put everything away that looked too much like kink and placed lube, condoms and medical gloves on a strategic spot on his nightstand. He's changed the beddings and closed the sunblind which is usually open. There are candles with and without scent although he rather likes fresh air, and he's checked if his lights still delivered the 'cozy atmosphere' setting. He's showered and shaven and has spent an hour on the question of what he should wear, until he settles with simple black pants and a black silk shirt. He feels like first dates must feel - only, that he's never had one before.

In every other relationship, it had been sex first, relationship later. Not once he'd managed what other people seem to have in terms of a romantic start. He'd never sat on a couch like this, dressed up and waiting for the person of his heart's desire - and frankly, he doesn't need that too often in his life, because he thinks it's a rather stressful situation.

And then he falls asleep because the medication really takes a toll on his body, and he regrets it strongly when the door bell rings, because now he's sleepy and nervous and just not cool.

When he opens the door and stares into Dael's face, he's almost unable to believe she's really here.

She cocks her head as he doesn't move. "Will you let me in?"

"Ah - yes." He sidesteps and lets her pass. When the door is closed, they face each other. She looks gorgeous, all in black too, her hair a little wilder than usual because of the current breeze outside, her face a little blushed under the tattoos. He could make time by offering her something to drink, doing some small talk. Maybe that would be considered good style if he did but someone must've displaced his edition of "A First Date Handbook for the Mature Single" and hers too, because she draws closer to him. The movement is enough to bring down the last of his inhibitions, and he launches forward, all but throwing his arms around her and pulling her into an embrace and a kiss that lasts for eternity and is answered with all the intensity he could ask for. When they break it, it's only to start making out right on the spot, as if every step could end the magic.

"You're here. You're really here," he murmurs into her ear between kisses, his hands pulling her groin against his. He should be nervous but that would need his brain and that is currently out of order.

"Where else would I be?" she says, a light smile playing on her lips. "You feel so good. So strong."

"Says my tough cadet," Pike mutters, instantly regretting it. But her smile only deepens.

"Some call me Pike's cadet, and I don't mind, sir." She's got dimples when she smiles like this, right next to some of the lines, producing interesting new patterns on her cheeks.

"My admiral…" Her hands pull the silk shirt out of his pants and slip underneath it, caressing his skin. He's barely able to breath, melting into the touch. One of his hands cups her head, brushing upwards until his fingers rest in the spiky hairdo, turning it into utter chaos. He'd wanted to mess with her hair for so damn long.

"So beautiful," he whispers, kissing her face all over again.

Somehow they move, he's not sure how, but next time he's really able to think again, they're undressed and on the bed. He's up on his left elbow because that gives him a better look at her, and his hand is on her chest, stroking down the patterns. For a moment, she just lays back and grants him his moment of reverent adoration of her body. She's an anatomy study, all angular, the sinews visible and the muscles smooth. She's so skinny compared to everyone else's he'd ever had his hands on, so different, that her actual gender seems unimportant compared to it. He runs his hands down her upper legs, almost touching her groin, but not yet.

His moment is gone, and she reaches out and starts an exploration of her own. Her fingers are feathery-light when they caress his skin, run through his chest hair down to his navel, over his hips and up to his shoulder again. They ease up to his neck, stroking his hair line, wander to the front down his throat and up to his lips again.

He pulls her close, lacing their legs together and kisses her again. Her lips are incredibly small and soft and the skin around so incredibly smooth. She tastes unnaturally fresh, a little of toothpaste, but he also remembers her taste in the observatory, of dinner and fruit tea. Her tongue dips into his mouth, taking on an exploration of its own, meeting his tongue in the middle. It makes his blood rush all down, and she smiles against him as his growing erection presses against her leg. A hand settles on it, and he gasps on the touch. He's not been sure how she'd handle a penis with what looked like an all-lesbian past but she definitely doesn't have a problem with his genitals. He's not yet sure the same can be said of him.

"I love to feel it," she whispers. "Love to know that you get hard for me." Her fingers run along its length, stroking it gently. He whimpers a little, it's unbelievable how he's putty under her touch. Her fingers leave his dick again, and she pulls him into a strong embrace, her hand on his ass, her body slightly rocking against him.

"Love you so much," she says, and it takes his breath away the way it makes him feel, the incredible warmth that fills all of him, the way he wants to melt into her, become one with her.

Some part of him knows that this is what he could feel with the doc if they ever really went there, leave the secure layer of rough actions and dirty words and dip into the lava beneath it, but that would mean facing the consequences. Here with Dael, there isn't a secure layer and it's like free falling, no security net, no excuses, no limits. He can just feel, and it blows his mind away.

"It's all right," she whispers, pulling his suddenly trembling body closer. "I'm here. All is good."

He swallows hard, trying to get himself under control. He's not used to this, holy damn, he's not sure he'll ever get used to it, feeling so bare - so vulnerable. And still so much at peace.

"It's all okay." She cradles his head and pulls his face closer to her, sweeping her tongue over the skin below his eyes, catching a tear he hasn't felt running. He inhales deeply and gets a hold on himself at last.

He's taking control and delving into the physical because it's what he knows to handle. He gently rolls her onto her back, cradling above her, kissing and stroking the length of her body down to her sex. There's a minute hesitation before his fingers run over her mons, stroke along her tiny labia. She spreads her legs farther, as much as she can with him kneeling over her, and encouraged he explores her a little more. The smell does nothing for him - he's not going to think of stronger adjectives - but she feels good to the touch. Her clit is well-visible and a pulsing red, and when he slips one finger into her, it finds a slick warmth. He's read up on female anatomy and what G-spots are supposed to be, and watched a hetero porn or three for research, but when he's unromantically honest, it comes down to a hole is a hole and so far, his erection has the same opinion. Adding a second finger, he's testing the waters. He kneels over her, his supporting hand next to her on the bed, and steals a kiss from her lips as he fakes intercourse with finger-fucking, his thumb on her clit, eyeing her body language for any discomfort.

She strokes through his hair with a quiet laugh and then a moan, when he finds a better angle. "I'm not averse to penetration."

"Glad to hear that," he says and places a few kisses on her neck. "I'm not averse either, in any direction."

"But I only come by clit stimulation," she adds, sounding almost apologetic. Not a tone he wants to hear.

"I'm sure we'll find a satisfying solution - for everyone - involved," he mutters while teasing her nipples with his lips and teeth, proud when they stand out from her flat chest at last, hard and wet from his spit.

"And before you ask, I'm on contraception and got a clean health bill."

"Good to know," he says, blushing a little because he probably wouldn't have asked about the first but is glad that she thought of that. The latter is standard for Starfleet members.

It means he could go on without breaking his stride, and makes good use of his freedom. Seeing her coming undone under his touch is incredibly wonderful and he's putting all of his heart into delaying the sexual act, although his dick is rather opinionated by now.

"Come on, do it," she gasps at last, and he's a tiny little smug that he would have been able to outlast her. Once he slips into her, though, in good old traditional tested-and-tried missionary style, his smugness is wiped away from the mind-blowing feel and the realization that they're really here and doing it and she's his and he's hers and it's perfect, perfect, perfect.

She moves against him and he joins into the movement with a moan. They settle into a rather frantic rhythm, too much foreplay, too much waiting - months, fucking hell - and it's still perfect and he bends forward and covers her body as he rocks into her, feeling his ass clench, his legs tremble. He's sure on a screen somewhere on the other side of the city his medical bracelet's data goes all up in spikes and he could only hope they won't send an intervention team because this is one of the best moments in his life and if it's going to be his last, then be it so. But nothing happens while they keep moving, nobody overriding his door, nobody beaming into his bedroom, it's just her and him.

Soon he can see she's almost there but not really yet, and he decides to do something about it. He has no illusions about coming at the same time; only in novels it works without effort, and given that they are both sailing in rather uncharted territory right now wouldn't make it one bit easier. He settles back on his heels, stilling his movements with much effort.

"Touch yourself," he says breathlessly, and after a moment of hesitation, her fingers delve between her legs, rotating round the red, blood-filled clit. A hot flush runs through him as he watches her movements, trying to memorize the gist of it for the next time he'll put his own fingers there.

"Move," she demands in a hush, and so he starts moving again, slowly and on the edge of his self-control. She arches a little into his movements, her features flushing further, her breathing quickening. He goes on for a while, but then abruptly halts as he realizes he won't make it as long as it would take her.

"I'll come any second," he gasps.

"Then come." She opens her eyes, first looking down between her legs, then up at him to meet his eyes. "Come for me, Christopher."

There goes the last shred of control and he makes two more pushes before he comes so hard that he's seeing stars, pumping into her with abandon with his full length, feeling it getting slicker and slicker with every spurt. When he's wrung out, he pulls back and scoots down on her. Her natural scent might do nothing for him, but lapping his own come out of her is all degrees of hot and he fucks her with his tongue while above him, her fingers settle into a breathtakingly quick rhythm. Then she suddenly cries out and arches, her pelvis jerking up from the bed, once, twice, and he moves a little away and watches her ride it out for quite a while, one finger dipping a little inside, the palm and the other fingers building a cover on her sex, doing some more slow circles before she sags back on the bed.

He crawls up and next to her, pulling her into his arms. "You're so beautiful when you come," he whispers. "Love you so much. Love you." She sighs and wiggles into his embrace, obviously still quite unable to speak. He fetches the blanket, covering them both with it.

"Wonderful darling," he says, curling around her because that's the closest he could come to melting into her, her still racing heart beat pulsing against his own chest, her body glowing and on her face, a beauteous little smile.

Really, best day of his life.

*

"When did you know that you had feelings for me?" he asks later, after a long shower together, when she lies in his arm once more.

She takes some time to think before she answers, "I think there were two phases. The first major turning point was after the accident on the Aurora. I was so nervous how you'd react about the tattoos - I knew how badly you reacted when you saw them in your barely conscious state. I expected you to hate me and end your mentorship, but you didn't. That was the moment I started to really trust you. I started to rely on you. I was glad for your support that always felt like an offer, never like an obligation. You didn't make me feel as if I would be a failure without you." There's a frown on her face as she obviously draws from memories, and it makes him want to caress it away.

"The second phase… it started when you went to rehab. You remember when I left you in hospital with barely a good-bye?"

"Yes, I do," Pike replies, surprised when the sting he'd felt back then suddenly returns as a faint echo.

"Roxanne, a friend of mine, had harped on me all morning about how stupid I was to invest so much time and emotion in you. She read me the riot act. That you can't possibly care about me, that you're gay and decades older and that it's all wrong. That I'm just looking for a father figure, that I should get over my obvious crush for you and stop making an ass of myself." Dael sighs. "A lot of her words hit home. When I came to see you, they spun in my head, and every friendly smile you gave me just seemed to underline her words that you like me but that there'd never be anything more. I wouldn't register on your radar - and frankly, a part of me wasn't sure if I really wanted more. My few encounters with men were less than satisfying and so I had decided they just didn't do anything for me."

Pike nods. "But three weeks later, you came to see me. What made you change your mind?"

"I missed your presence. There were moments when I sat with friends and discussed something, and thought that I'd love to know your opinion about it - and then thought that I could never again have such discussions with you, because I had run away like a coward. It felt like I betrayed the friendship that had developed between us. So I decided to give it another try. I wouldn't have been surprised if you had pushed me away but you didn't. You wouldn't believe how relieved I was about that." She curls in his embrace, cuddling closer.

"Then they maneuvered me into therapy. Of course I noticed what was going on, but I was really exhausted after the semester and the rehab gave me space to be with you without having the demands of the Academy on our backs. We spent so much time together, and it felt wonderful, but I still hadn't a clue what I really wanted from you, if it was really just a crush. Then we started these hand-to-hand fights - it's such a damn cliché -" Dael definitely whines a little, -"but we touched and I noticed how good you feel. You've got wonderful hands and a wonderful body. You used your strength but you never overpowered me. I never felt threatened by you."

The statement makes Pike tighten his hold on her shoulder, pulling her a little closer.

"It was fun, it was safe, and from a certain point on… I got turned on. I'm really glad my equivalent of a hard-on is invisible." She smiles at him, easy and relaxed and with love in her eyes. It's an expression he'd give a lot for to see it every day of his future.

"It still left me without a clue if you wanted anything more from me, and from the way you behaved over the dioramas, I concluded that you badly missed your lovers but that you never once gave a thought to the possibility of me becoming anything else but your protégée. And that you were resentful over them sending me a diorama too. That night you pushed me away, and while I had feared it would happen, it was so hard to take. When you closed everyone off over the next days, it was even worse because several people came to me and tried to console me by saying that I'd be better off without you anyway. I hated this so much. They seemed to think I needed protection from you, that you were some kind of big, ugly, child-seducing pervert and I was the sweet little virgin. Oh fuck this attitude," Dael snarls with a verve Pike had rarely seen from her.

"None of these people was around when I really would have needed help in my life. So they shouldn't try to manage my life for me when I'm finally in the position to make my own decisions. I knew what I wanted, and that was you, with all consequences, and I was heart-broken when I thought that you'd always be out of my reach. I wasn't even sure if our friendship would survive this - I wasn't sure if I'd be able to sit in your office without my feelings written all over my face. Which was the last thing I wanted, making you uncomfortable by having to face a love-sick cadet." She sighs, a sound that touches Pike deeply. So many moments where the development could have gone wrong, and then they'd never have been together like tonight. A terrible thought.

"I gave up and accepted that it was over, but then Doctor Will talked to me. She didn't actually say much - mostly that you hadn't had dinner and that she'd heard you were in the observatory and that maybe you'd be in need of company. I tried to tell her that you may need company but definitely not my company, but she tricked me into promising I'd look after you." She shakes her head with a light smile. "You know the rest…"

He kisses her, long and tender. "Guess we should send her a card," he says after a while. "Although her actions aren't indisputable. It could have been the wrong advice."

"I admire her for giving it," Dael says. "Because it was the push we both needed." Her hand drifts over his chest. "I love you so much. Even if it were for all the wrong reasons, so what? It's still love, and it's a beautiful feeling."

"So what…yeah," he echoes, thinking of the risk he takes with the doc and of the repercussions this relationship might have on both their lives and careers. But he agrees, it's love, and to have her here in his arms is worth it all.

"What about you?" Dael asks. "When did you start to feel something for me?"

"You were something special to me right from the beginning. I never had a female protégée before, but I felt connected through that current of queer and strange in you." Pike smiles as he remembers their first encounters. "Then the tattoos - they had a lot of effects on me, which are hard to describe. I should've noticed their importance when I hung up your erotic shots."

"You did?" Her eyes gleam.

"On the evening of the day you gave them to me. They're a part of my life for months." He runs his fingers over her chin, along one of the patterns. "I may have developed a slight fetish, though that is strictly connected to you. It helps that you look so different to Nero and his men." He's proud that the name comes out almost without hesitation.

"Seeing them on your face was a challenge for months - but I like challenges. I like to win challenges." His fingertips move down to her chest.

"So I'm just a challenge?"

"You love to dare me, don't deny it. There were many moments when you pushed me in rehab."

"You pushed yourself. I only made sure you wouldn't overdo." She looks at him, not straightaway reacting to his touch. "You didn't answer my question yet."

"I think I felt a lot for you for a very long time, and it definitely grew into something like love but I have always been good at shutting out things that just could not be. You were young, female, lesbian and my protégée. Point, end of story. There was no way the feelings I may have developed for you would get expressed in any physical way. My last date with a woman had been rather unsuccessful and I couldn't imagine I'd ever try again."

"Was it Natasha?" Dael asks.

"Yes," he replies surprised. "Why do you ask?"

"Just a thought," Dael replies evasively. "What made you change your opinion?"

"John, an old friend and part-time lover, sent me a photograph." Pike turns towards the nightstand and picks up the by now framed shot that shows them together, smiling. "This one."

She eyes it curiously.

"And he wrote on the back that he hasn't seen me so happy in decades, and that you probably haven't been so happy either for a while, and it was like getting slapped in my face for having been so stupid. It made everything fall in place. The way everyone seemed to assume we're getting together." Pike sighs. "It was the point when I realized that I was so much in love with you that the question of gender was simply moot between us. I probably still would not have acted on it if not for Doctor Will."

"Do you regret her interfering?"

"Not enough to want turn back time," Pike replies. "Not enough to regret anything that happened tonight, or what will happen tomorrow."

She ponders his words for a moment before inquiring, "Will they be good with it?"

He doesn't have to ask who she's talking about. "Jim is good with it. As for the doc - it's complicated."

She nods. "We barely ever talked but he sent me a message yesterday."

"He did?" Pike holds his breath.

"Just text. That he's glad you're no longer alone. That he hopes I'll be good for you, and that I should be careful with you because you're a lot more vulnerable than you let on."

"Ah. Great." Pike snorts a little. Not two, but three people messing around with his emotions - no wonder it gets harder all the time. Nice change that someone is concerned about him, though, considering that everyone else only thinks about Dael.

"You love him very much, don't you?" she asks.

"I love them both a lot," Pike replies, realizing how evasive he sounds.

She combs with her fingers through his hair. "You don't have to talk about it," and then adds the magic words in a whisper, like a secret oath, "I don't want to take anything away from you".

Words that would come back to haunt him in the most interesting moments.

*

Pike is going through a monumental shift in his life, in which so many of his former beliefs about himself are challenged. As if that isn't enough in itself, his newest relationship is out in a way no other had ever been. It's a brief but clear message that Nogura sends to Dael's instructors, in which the man informs them about Pike's resignation as Dael's academic advisor based on Starfleet Regulations C1320.2, a bloated piece of text that essentially says that they fuck.

So Pike waits for something, anything to happen - only to find out that the world at large is surprisingly disinterested in his whereabouts. Neither her new academic advisor nor her instructors call him about anything but some professional subjects. His assistant takes the news with barely a blink. Commander Okonkwo, who ran the Auditor department super-smoothly while Pike was away, just nods and then moves on to the pile of work they'd have to tackle. People still greet him in the corridor, still talk to him at the coffee dispenser and still invite him to meetings. The Borg task force keeps running smoothly too, with the Lexington on an early way home - Pike saw to that. And Nogura still discusses secret details of Starfleet politics with him.

Every day, Pike waits for the other shoe to drop, but so far, there's nothing. Maybe the fact that there is a specific regulation regarding such liaisons should have primed Pike that it's not a really rare event. Or maybe Barnett is right, and hooking up with a young girl is considered quite normal, because there'd definitely been a lot more gossip about Pike's affair with Kirk than about her. An annoying thought.

Pike opens his personal profile and puts Dael's name down in his emergency contact list, hoping that she'd never get the call but knowing it's not unlikely. Before closing it again, he stares at the empty spot next to the label "partner(s)". It would be easy to add names here; it's not based on a legal procedure like a marriage, it's only a statement towards Starfleet. It tends to make some proceedings easier, especially in case of death, and he's a little compelled to write something into the empty field. Dael's name alone would feel wrong though, and for Kirk and McCoy he'd have to talk to the men first. It may not be a legal thing, but it would still be a declaration of their relationship to Starfleet.

Dael speaks with Arissa, who promptly sends Pike a message with the subject line "Turning lesbian at last?" and the opening statement "I'm not surprised". Dael doesn't say much about anyone else's reactions, but he doesn't get the impression that she has to face a lot of criticism.

For the world, it all seems to have been settled already for a while. It should take pressure from Pike's shoulders about his decision, but somehow it doesn't.

*

Pike moves into his new apartment, and Dael basically moves in with him. She still has her dorm room but she stays with him most nights. With her, there come books - old-fashioned paper books that take up quite some space - and clothes and all those little things people need as personal belongings. Not unlike Alain, she's introducing a certain element of chaos into his originally Spartan lifestyle, but since he's living in luxurious spaces now, maybe it's only logical.

His new bed is a custom-made three times three meters playground with many gimmicks to make bondage easier, but so far his sex life with Dael is experimental without moving deep into kink county. She knows about this particular interest thanks to his diorama, and while she doesn't ask him for details, there are hints she'd be open for some things. However, he isn't sure if he'd be ready for any rougher things with her. He's used to handle resilient, muscular bodies, and has yet to get over his vague fear of breaking her to pieces during sex. It's stupid of course, Dael is a lot tougher than she looks, but there's so little flesh on her - he often fights the compulsion to wrap her into padding. Something she'd neither want nor need.

Pike shows Dael around in his club anyway on one quiet Wednesday evening, not the least because she should know the truth before someone informs her about his strange side business. He's relieved that she seems to take the club details and the rooms in a stride, but doesn't mind that she doesn't instantly ask for a session.

On their way out, the main barkeep grins and mutters a few words to his colleague. The man's bad luck that the words carry through the rather empty bar room.

"It's got to be her. You know, that story."

From the bright flush on Dael's neck, Pike is rather sure that the man knows something that he doesn't.

"That story?" Pike asks as they sit in the car, and is amused when Dael avoids his gaze. "What did he refer to?"

"Nothing special," she mutters.

"You look lovely with that blush," Pike teases her and starts the engine. "You know I'm bound to find it out sooner or later, considering that it seems to have been a memorable story."

She presses her lips together and crosses her arms.

"What happens in the club stays in the club," is Arissa's answer to his inquiry.

"I don't know the full story," Jim states in a recording. "But you might want to adjust your kink radar, because it seems to be as warped as your gaydar. Just an idea."

Pike could ask his barkeep but that would mean divulging his ignorance. So he decides to wait until Dael is ready for sharing.

*

Anumanchi strictly forbids Pike to play Holo Squash and tries to talk him into incredibly boring exercises instead. It makes him give up any coordination-building sports for the moment.

Determined to keep at least as much of his strength as possible, Pike still does weights and cardio trains three times a week, now always in the admiralty's building because it leaves him with more spare time in the evening - more time with Dael. When he does bench-presses today, his thoughts travel to Barnett; his colleague is still in hospital, and Pike had visited him twice already, watching the visible decay with concern.

It's just not right, he thinks with his grip tightening around the bar, and knows that it's a stupid thought. There's nothing right or wrong in life - it's just happening, no master plan. If anything, there are chances and the right people to leap onto them. Moments of crossroads, and the luck to make the right decision - or at least what looks like. Who knows what would've waited on the road not taken? Every decision put a thousand alternatives on hold.

That brings Pike's thoughts to Spock, and a sudden idea makes him stop and sit up, reaching for his towel to wipe his sweat away. It might be worth a try to ask Spock for a single, limited piece of information. Like the cure for an illness that's supposed to be untreatable.

He spends half an hour of his office time on formulating a message to the old Vulcan, sending it to the last confirmed contact address that he wrestles out of Farnham.

"Nobody heard anything from the old hawk since he left you on Luna," John writes below it. "And I'm not the only one who thinks it's better that way."

Pike transmits his message anyway. It feels like sending a carrier pigeon into the depths of space, and like he half-expected and feared, there's no answer in return.

*

They try to get it to work - communication squared. But it's clear from the first moment on that having Dael in the mix does not work when it comes to real-time transmissions with the Enterprise men.

Yet, Pike hopes.

Of course, communication works like charm between Jim and Dael. Pike has never supposed anything else, and is more than sure that when these two will meet in person, spontaneous combustion will look lame compared to it. Jim's Academy days haven't been over for that long and since he'd been in the same track, he knows several of her instructors. But while Jim and Dael animatedly discuss some class work during the transmission, the inevitable frown on McCoy's face only grows.

"It's not that he doesn't like her as a person," Kirk had put it in a message. "But she's so young. He just can't wrap his mind around it."

It makes McCoy tense during the transmission, which in return makes Pike nervous and self-conscious.

They don't repeat the experiment.

It puts even a strain on Pike's recordings to the couple, because he tries not to speak of Dael too often, which is naturally very hard as she's becoming a larger part of his life with every day.

"Goddamn, Chris, can you stop sending such a shit? It's not as if it will kill me to hear her name, so stop wiggling around the subject," McCoy berates him after one especially labored recording. It makes Pike decide to split up the communication channels.

So for now it's recordings between Chris&Jim and Chris&Leonard and Jim&Dael - a foursome where McCoy and Dael are only connected via the angles. Pike isn't satisfied with the situation, but as there's currently no solution to it, his major concern is to keep the whole structure together until they can meet in person. He can't imagine the doc not connecting to Dael once McCoy could find out that there's so much more to her than just her young age.

He tries not to think about what might happen if McCoy ever forced him to decide between them. Which the doc would surely not do, but the thought still creeps up at Pike once in a while, in a sleepless hour. He loves the doc, possibly more than anyone else - but the doc belongs to Jim, out in space, and he's here on Earth and so is Dael. This wonderful, queer, lovely person that stole quite a bit of his heart.

No, Pike doesn't want to be forced to choose between anyone, and he's thankful that so far, nobody tried to make him.

*

"Is she really worth the risk, Chris?" Nogura had asked when he'd admitted the relationship. "Is she worth risking your reputation and career?"

"Yes," he had answered.

For all the new, complicated aspects of his life, never once Pike wonders if it has been the right choice.

It's worth it for the text messages that brighten his days and for all those nights when he comes home late, and there's the light on and the smell of food in the air, the living room warm and cozy. For all the evenings they sit on the couch together with PADDs in their hands, working close to each other. For all the mornings he wakes up next to her, knowing there will be another evening to look forward to already, and for the way she looks when she's asleep in his arms, peaceful and happy. For all the things he's allowed to do for her, and for all the things she does for him - a give and take in a balance he never had before.

It's not like everything is perfect. They're both mediocre cooks and the only thing that rescues them is that they'll basically eat anything when they're hungry. Sometimes she steals his shower time in the morning because she loves long, hot showers, or drinks all the milk and then forgets to restock it. He tends to clean her pile of PADDs away which ruins the ordered chaos she enjoys around her, and often eats more than his share of grapes out of Tom's fruit boxes, although it's the only fruit she likes. Her hair gel smears on his pillow, while his liberal use of lube makes it land everywhere. And the one time he mentions horse riding, she looks like she's going to pack up and leave him.

But in any way that's really important, it's perfect for him.

*
Onto part 2