The Stars Above Us

Chapter 14

"Bones," Jim whispered when she walked into his room.

He blinked his eyes open, "Hey, darlin'. You just gettin' back?"

"Yep," she said.

For the last month, Jim's been on the Farragut and Bones was with her dad on the Yorktown. It was a normal part of the ROTC program to send the midshipmen out just like the Academy does with the cadets. As much as Jim loves being on ships, being away from Bones annoyed the crap out of her. Most people would assume it was because they were boyfriend and girlfriend but Bones knew what bothered her before she could even tell him.

"You look like crap. Beautiful but still like crap," he muttered.

"I know. I'm tired."

"Plenty of room over here," Bones sighed. Jim kicked off her boots, slid outta her jacket and took off her jeans before she climbed into bed with him like she's done a million times before. "How long did it take for you to figure out that you couldn't sleep without me?"

"About a week. It's annoying," she muttered against his shoulder. She soldiered through her insomnia and nightmares, working her ass off in spite –or because- of her exhaustion. "Guess it just means I can't live without you."

"You just now figure that out, darlin'," he chuckled and pressed a kiss on her temple. "I've known that since we were at the cabin."

"Of course you did. You're a lot more observant than you let on, Mister McCoy," Jim whispered.

"Trait of a good doctor, Miss Kirk."

"Uh huh," she mumbled.

"I think you should get some sleep, darlin'," Bones chuckled, his heartbeat already lulling her to sleep.

"Mmm hmm."

Jim looked around the room when she woke up alone. "Bonesy?"

"Right here," he said as he walked back into the room all flushed.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Liar. Your face is red, ears too. What's wrong?" she asked.

"Let it go, darlin'," he mumbled. Jim knew she was onto something.

"Leonard, tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing, Jamison. I just…" he said before he mumbled something under his breath.

"What was that?" Jim asked.

"You're gonna make me say it, aren't you?" Bones asked. Jim just shrugged. "Fine. I uh… you and me… I… I had a b***r. Happy now?"

Jim felt the blush creep up her neck as she tried to come up with something to say without laughing. "That's a normal biological…"

"Stop. Just stop," he groaned as he sat on the edge of the bed. "We're not ready for… that."

This conversation was bound to happen at some point. Jim was actually surprised it hasn't come up sooner with all the making out, cuddling and sleeping in the same bed that they do.

"You're right, we're not. That doesn't mean you should be embarrassed about your b***r, Bones."

He laughed, "I knew you were gonna say that."

"It's what I do," she smiled. "Look, you're not the only one who gets all hot and bothered. I just… I know I'm not ready so I don't bring it up."

"Really?"

"Yes. Teenage girls think about s*x too," Jim smiled. "Especially when you have a hot boyfriend with a sexy accent."

"Says the gorgeous blonde with the bright blue eyes," Bones said. "You're really not upset?"

"Nope. When we're ready to go there, we'll talk about it, okay?" she asked. He nodded. "Can we go back to sleep now?"

"Yea," he sighed before he got back into bed with her.

"Hey, Bones?"

"Yea, darlin'?"

"I love you. You know that, right?" she whispered against his neck. Jim wished she could say she had some big moment where she realized it but the truth is that she just needed to wrap her head around what her heart already knew.

"I know, Jimmy. I love you too."

"So, what happened after that?" Bones asked as he looked up at her, his head was resting on her legs. They were still in Bones' bed but now they were eating pizza and trading tales of their training cruises.

"We saved the captain and the other officers," she told him.

While on the training cruise, Captain Nechama Rabin, the Farragut's CO and an away team were taken hostage by a group of dissidents while at a ceremony on Vulcan. Jim managed to avoid being captured thanks to Rabin's son and the Vulcan Ambassador's son. The three teens created a diversion and took out as many of the rogue Vulcans as they could so that the captured officers and Vulcans could get away.

"That's pretty badass, darlin'. The most exciting thing I got to do was patch up an engineer by myself. Crazy Scotsman… I don't remember his name."

"Poor thing," Jim smiled.

"I know. I was so bored," he groaned.

"I meant the engineer. I've been your patient before, you grumble at people for getting hurt," she told him.

"Only when they do stupid stuff," Bones said.

"Which is just about everything in your book," Jim pointed out.

"Easy solution to that is not to get hurt," he told her.

"You'd be out of a job before you even started."

"It's okay. I can be a kept man. You could be badass for the both of us," Bones chuckled.

"What if I want to be kept?" she asked.

"You'd never be able to not work, darlin'," he smiled. "You're always busy, always movin'. It's part of who you are."

"Very true. But a girl can still dream," Jim said with a smile.

"Of course you can. I just hope I'm in those dreams."

She nodded, "Me and you with our own ship exploring the universe is at the top of the list."

"That's your favorite one, isn't it?" he asked.

"I don't know why but I'm sure that it's our destiny. We're meant to be amazing."

"If anyone else said that, I would think they were crazy," Bones told her. "But I can see it. You and me with the whole galaxy at our fingertips."

"I don't want to go to class tomorrow," Jim mumbled.

"Today. It's one in the morning."

"Same difference. I just want to stay right here," she sighed.

Bones' arm tightened around her, "Unfortunately, I actually have to go to class. You can stay in bed if you want. I bet your work is already done for the semester."

"And part of the work for next semester too. I was bored without you," Jim chuckled. "I even got some of my engineering PracApps outta the way on the ship and freed up some space in my schedule."

"So, what are you gonna do with the extra time on your hands?" he asked.

"I'm gonna take some stuff early and an emergency medical class," she told him.

"Really?"

"Promise I made myself on Tarsus. Since I got the time and there's space in the class, I figured why not."

"If you need any help, just tell me," he smiled.

"I will. You schedule your basic engineering class yet?" she asked. "You know you can't get into the fleet without it."

"This semester. That's why I have to go to class tomorrow."

"You know I'll help if you need it," Jim said.

"I know. It's just… engineering isn't my thing."

"You said that about hacking but I heard that you do that pretty well," she reminded him.

"Not well. Just well enough. It was an emergency," he smiled.

"That's why you need engineering too. If we were in a shuttle crash and I was unconscious, what would you do?"

Bones chuckled, "Patch you up and pray that Klingons don't show up and kill us."

"Romulans. Most Klingons wouldn't murder a pair of teenagers, there's no honor in it. The Romulans don't care."

"It's scary that you know that," he muttered.

"I know a lot of things," she pointed out. "And you like it."

"Yes, I do."

Jim turned in her last final of the semester that morning and, in doing so, clenched the last of the credits for her bachelor's degree. Bones was behind her by a semester and he still had to study for his medical degree. She hadn't decided what to do. With ROTC, technically, she should go to the Academy for a term before joining the fleet but most people don't finish their degrees in two and a half years. Officially, she had a year and a half before she was required to go to the fleet as per her contract.

"Do you ever stop thinking?" Davison asked her as he handed her a drink. The end of the semester was always marked with a party. In all fairness, a good day was reason enough to have a party somewhere on campus.

"Sometimes. There's a lot on my mind," she told her friend. Davison was off to San Francisco in two days for the last of his Starfleet training.

"Don't wanna leave your boy," he chuckled.

"It's not that. I'm trying to decide if I want to get my master's or not. And if I do, do I want to get it here or at the Academy," Jim shrugged.

"What's McCoy think?"

"Has my back either way. Obviously he wants me to stay but he also knows how much I want to be a Starfleet officer," she sighed. "I hate being a grown-up." When Davison didn't say anything, Jim looked up at him, he was staring behind her. "What?"

"Don't turn around," he said as she made a move to do exactly that. "Seriously. You don't want to see… that."

Jim shrugged him off and looked over her shoulder. Now she knew what he was talking about. Bones and Pamela were in a serious lip lock. "Really?"

"I told you not to turn around," Davison muttered. "Want me to kick his ass?"

"Nope. I got this." Her knee-jerk reaction was to beat the s**t out of Bones and Pamela. Fortunately, she took a deep breath, counted to ten and watched them before she walked over and tapped Pamela on the shoulder.

"Hey, Jim," the other girl sing-songed.

"Hi. You done assaulting my boyfriend?" Jim asked. Some people at the party looked at her like she was crazy but Jim knew what she was talking about. The sigh of relief from Bones confirmed her assumption, he would never willing kiss Pamela.

"Oh, sweetie, we were gonna tell you…" Pamela started. Jim burst into laughter. Is this b***h serious? "I know you two were together…"

"Just shut up," Jim groaned. "He didn't even kiss you back. As a matter of fact, he was trying to get away from you. See, Bones has this very respectable character trait of not hitting women unless they're trying to kill him. It's a southern gentleman thing and it's the only reason he didn't punch you."

"I know you…" Pamela tried again but Jim wasn't letting her dig a deeper hole.

"If Leonard McCoy kissed you, your knees would be weak, your face would be flushed and you'd be breathless," Jim said, her voice dropping an octave. She stepped closer to Pamela and wrapped an arm around the girl's waist. "His hand would rest at the small of your back. Not pulling, just holding you against him." She reached up with her other hand and touched Pamela's face. "His fingers would lightly glide along your jaw before he buried them in the hair at the nape of your neck. Then, those hypnotic hazel eyes would lock onto yours and twinkle before he slowly brought your lips together." Jim was now whispering against Pamela's lips. "Everywhere he touched you would tingle and your whole body would crave more. When he pulled away, he'd close his eyes and rest his forehead against yours in an effort to regain some semblance of control. That's what kissing him is like. I should know, I get to feel that every day." She took a breath before she growled, "I don't know what you want from him but I do know that if you ever touch him without his consent again, I will beat your skanky ass to a bloody pulp. We clear?"

"Yes," Pamela whispered.

"Good," Jim smiled and let Pamela go. Not sure what to do, Pamela almost tripped over her feet as she ran from the room.

"Dude! That was hot and badass," Davison exclaimed. "Big question is how'd you know?"

"I know Bones," she chuckled. "You okay, hun?"

"I need to drink a bottle of mouthwash but I'm otherwise fine," Bones sighed.

"How about a beer?" Davison asked and handed over his.

Bones chuckled, "That'll do, man. Thanks. I thought you were gonna murder me for a minute, darling."

"Because she kissed you?" Jim asked. Bones nodded and she laughed. "Almost. Just be glad I took a breather before I came over here. I can't believe her."

"Yes you can," Davison said. "Pamela throws herself at people all the time. I thought she moved on from McCoy but I guess not."

"Oh, she has," Bones said. "I'm pretty sure that she just does it now to piss Jim off. Never works."

Davison looked at her, "That didn't piss you off?"

"It's mildly aggravating but I'm not pissed off," Jim shrugged.

Bones chuckled, "You don't want to see her pissed off. Trust me, it's not pretty."

"Are you sure that's what you want to do?" Bones asked after a moment.

"It depends, what do you think?"

"I'm your boyfriend, not your father. I think you should do what you want and I'd bet your dad would say the same thing," he told her.

Jim rested her head on the desk and groaned, "You're not helping."

"Yes, I am," Bones said as he rubbed some of the tension out of her shoulders. "You already made up your mind, you just want me to talk you out of it. Besides, I think you'll be done before the year and a half is up anyway."

"You think?"

"You already have more credits then you needed. Normal master's program takes two years, you'll be done in one," he chuckled. "And I'd never be upset that you want to say here with me."

"Of course not," she smiled.

"I won't apologize for being happy that you're not gonna leave."

"It's just until my master's is finished," Jim reminded him.

"Still happy," Bones said with a smile.

She chuckled, "Me too."

"Have a seat, Kirk," Commander Irvine ordered.

"Yes, ma'am," Jim said as she took the offered seat.

"As I understand it, you've made the decision regarding your graduate training," the officer said.

"Yes, ma'am," the Midshipman replied.

"Starfleet attracts the best and the brightest and I've had a handful of Midshipmen in the last dozen years that have sped through their academics nearly as fast as you did. It does create an issue with their ROTC training since it's not complete. The only options they have are to stay for graduate school or to do additional training at the Academy in order to catch up to their peers. What did you decide?"

"I decided to get my master's in engineering here at Ole Miss, ma'am," Jim said.

"I'm glad to hear it," Irvine told her. "You've always been open about your desire for command and after reading the reports from both of your annual training performance, I've made the decision that this upcoming semester, you will be named you platoon's commander. Don't let me down."

The Platoon Commander works directly for the Company Commander, McGraw in this case. She'll be responsible for everything her platoon does or fails to do. She'll be in charge of making sure that the Midshipmen in the platoon are kept informed about Company and Battalion activities, planning and executing their operation orders, briefing Irvine and her staff prior about assigned orders, and other stuff that would insure her platoon was in above standard condition.

"I'll do my best, ma'am," Jim nodded. She wasn't surprised, she was Davison's pick to replace him when he moved to company commander but they gave it to McGraw. Jim didn't mind, she wasn't ready then but she's ready now.

"That's all I got for you, Lieutenant Kirk."