DISCLAIMER: The Star Trek characters
are the property of Paramount Studios, Inc and Viacom. The story contents are
the creation and property of Djinn and are copyright (c) 2011 by Djinn. This
story is Rated R.
Idle Chit Chat
by Djinn
Kirk
came to slowly, groaning as he opened his eyes and saw
that he had been thrown clear of the personal transport when it crashed. No one knew where he was. No one knew to look for him out in the
desert. His friends thought he was in
the high sierras, climbing mountains.
He'd headed off that way, but then turned, filled with a sudden
hankering to see the desert in bloom.
Goddamned
idiot.
He
was going to kill whoever had last serviced the transport. The thing had clearly seen better days.
He
got up, limping in pain, and made his way back to the transport, to see what he
could salvage. His communicator was
buried under twisted metal--crushed beyond utility. He took a deep breath and forced himself to
think. What did he need to survive out
here long enough to find help?
Water. He dug through the still-hot metal and found
his canteen--made to survive a fall off a mountain, which had struck him as an
odd claim since the user of the thing wouldn't need it if he fell with it, but
still, impressive. And he'd been known
to fall off a mountain or two in his time.
Before he got his ship back. Again.
The
new Enterprise wasn't all he had hoped, but it was still light years better
than being stuck behind a desk. Hell,
they could have given him a garbage scow and he'd have been happy.
He
turned his attention back to the wreckage.
His climbing jacket was sort of salvageable--enough was left to use as a
headcover in the blazing sun.
He
eyed the ruined communicator one last time, then set
off in the direction he'd been heading before he crashed. A settlement had to be around here somewhere.
Miles later, he realized that maybe a settlement didn't have to be around
here.
Damn,
he was hungry.
He
saw a figure come into view, climbing with effort up a rise. Had he been out in the sun
long enough to hallucinate? And
why would his hallucination be swearing and sweating?
"Hey!"
he said.
The
hallucination turned. "Who the hell
is there?"
The
voice was really familiar. And very female. Also annoyed.
"What
are you doing out here?" As the
woman got closer, he realized it was Chapel.
"Chris?"
"Captain
Kirk? You look like crap."
"Yes,
well, that's a funny story. And why am I
running into you out in the middle of nowhere?"
"I'm
doing survival recertification. What the
hell are you doing here?"
"Surviving?" He pointed back in the general direction of
his crashed transport, made the sound of a ship going boom, and she winced in
sympathy. "Is there a settlement
anywhere nearby?"
"We're
in the middle of the desert."
He brushed sweat away. "I'm
actually aware of that."
"No,
I mean really the middle. No town for
miles."
He
frowned. "You're here."
"I
was dumped. Hence the
survival aspect of survival recertification." She slung her backpack off, reached in and
pulled out something that she quickly set up into a shelter. It was open on the sides but blessedly shaded
on top. "Get in here before you
pass out."
He
crawled in. It was just tall enough to
sit upright. She crawled in after him
and handed him a pill.
"This
is..?"
"It'll
help with the dehydration if you take it with water."
"Water
will help with the dehydration if I take it with water."
She
laughed. "It helps more than plain
water. New thing Emergency Ops developed
for drought areas."
"Handy." He swallowed the pill, then
studied her. She looked good. Had gained weight just like
he had but wore it better.
"Do
I meet with your approval? Jesus."
"It's
been a while since I've seen you."
"If
you hadn't been all wrapped up in Gillian, you would have noticed me at your
hearing."
He
laughed, a little bitterly.
"Gillian made her escape rather quickly."
"Yeah,
poor you. She was pretty focused on herself, if you ask
me."
He
nodded. He'd thought she'd lived for
those whales, but she'd abandoned them for a ship in a heartbeat.
Bitch.
"What
are you thinking?" She was laughing
as she pulled out some nutrient bars from her pack. "Hungry?"
"Starved." He took a bite; it was horrible but would hit
the spot. "Thank you, by the way,
for calling Sarek to get my ass out of hot water."
"No
problem. Nearly got him
killed in the process. Amazingly, he
does not hold a grudge over that."
"Vulcans are good that way."
She
nodded and went back to eating. "You
realize I'm supposed to finish this test alone, right?"
"How
do you know I'm not part of your test?"
She grinned but didn't look up.
"And what part of the test are you in charge of. Desert sex?"
"Owwww.
Man, you are so much harsher since you became an Ops person." He laughed.
"I'm the injured man; you're supposed to treat me."
She looked up as soon as he said the word "injured." "Are you hurt?"
"My
pride is horribly wounded. My knee isn't
terribly happy, either. Other than that,
I'm fine considering I was thrown clear of a really crappy transport."
"Do
you want me to look you over?"
"Can
I answer that without getting into trouble?" He grinned and was relieved when she grinned
back.
"Let
me at least make sure you don't have a concussion. Did you lose consciousness?"
"Yep."
"Okay,
we're gonna do this the hard way because I don't have
my normal gizmos." She ran him
through the standard neuro tests: push hands, follow
finger, etcetera. "You seem
fine. Let me look at your knee."
Before
he could argue, she was gently rolling up his pant leg.
"I
normally don't let a lady do this till the second date."
"Uh
huh." She was absorbed in checking his knee, seemed
immune to his banter. But then she
looked up and grinned. "This isn't
a date, sir."
"Jim."
"Jim?"
"Well,
if you're going to be fondling me..."
"If
you think this is fondling, Jim, then
you've been doing it wrong." She
patted his shin. "You're fine. It's probably just wrenched."
"You've
still got the touch." He took
another bite of the nutrient bar.
"If I asked you to come back to the ship, would you?"
"As
what? Len's co-conspirator? I've done that twice." She leaned back on her elbows. "Besides, other than emergencies like
this, I don't really practice medicine much anymore."
"There
are other places on the ship you could work. You've grown a lot since you
left. I could use someone with your
planning ability."
She
met his eyes. "Have you been
talking to Cartwright?"
"The
man can't shut up about you. I didn't
bring you up, believe me."
She
made a face and turned away.
"That
came out wrong."
"No,
it's all right. But I can't help but
think you just want to get the old gang together. And I'm not sure I really want that."
"Why not?"
"Well,
been there, done that."
"Okay,
glad we had this little chat." He
busied himself with eating.
"I
didn't mean to offend you."
"You
didn't. Really. It's okay.
I'm good."
She started laughing softly.
"No,
I can take rejection. You don't want to
be part of my crew? Fine." He smiled, knew it was a bit lacking in the
warmth department. "Will you at
least be part of my crew till we get out of this damned desert?"
"You
can be part of mine."
He
could feel his eyebrow giving Spock's a run for its money.
"This
is my survival recertification. I'd like to recertify in one try. If you're running the show; I won't. You can, however, tag along." She smiled at him, in a way he was finding
more and more annoying. "I can't
imagine they'd expect me to leave you behind..."
"Chapel,
you are a pain in the ass." He
yawned. Crashing was hard work.
"Take
a nap. You probably need it."
He
realized his mouth wasn't as dry as it had been. "Those pills really work." He lay back, closed his eyes, and fell
asleep, then woke in what seemed like only moments when he felt Chris shaking
him gently.
"Time
to go, Jim. I have to get to a
checkpoint by nightfall or it's curtains for this
girl."
"Okay." He crawled out of the shelter, started to
pack it up, and heard her make a clucking noise.
She
eased him out of the way. "I have
to do it if I want to pass."
"How will they know?"
"They'll
ask me. I'll tell them."
"Truth
can be overrated." But he liked
that she was an adherent of it.
"Says
the man who's usually quite honest--when he isn't doing some 'trick them up the
yin-yang' maneuver to get us free of the latest unspeakable killing
machine."
He
stood back and let her work. "It
always works. Don't see why I should
change now."
"Oh
I like those maneuvers. I like living,
ergo..."
He
laughed. "I'm glad it was you who
happened along."
"Yeah,
yeah, that's what all the boys say."
She motioned for him to follow her.
He
did. He enjoyed the view while he was at
it.
--------------
They
barely made the checkpoint before dark, largely due to his knee giving him more
and more trouble. "You know, Chris,
you could leave me."
"Yes,
I'm going to leave the savior of Earth to die in the desert because I'm too
lazy to retake the test." She gave
him a stern look.
"I
won't die." He sounded sulky, a
side effect of being in pain.
She
got the shelter out and pointed at it.
"Sit down before you fall down."
"Are
you always this bossy?"
"You
know I am. Nurse, doctor,
pain-in-the-ass Ops person, doesn't matter." She smiled as she busied herself with pulling
out a survival blanket and more of the bars.
"We're going to have to share."
"The
bars?"
"The
blanket."
"I
don't mind if you don't."
She
looked over at him and sighed.
"You
mind?"
"That's
not what that sigh meant."
He
watched her as she worked. "Aren't
you going to catch and cook us a rabbit or something?"
"No. If you want bunny for dinner, you go catch
it. I have plenty of bars."
"But
only one blanket?"
"Hey,
I wasn't expecting you to just drop in."
She sighed again.
"What's
wrong?"
"Nothing." She finally sat down, stretching her legs out
and closing her eyes for a moment.
"I'm tired."
"I am, too."
They
ate in silence for a while, sipping occasionally from their water containers.
"Is
it me?" he finally asked.
"Is
what you?"
"Why
you don't want to come back to the ship."
He turned to look at her.
"You came back for Decker, but not for me?"
"Really? You're going to bring that up as relevant to
this discussion? Next you'll tell me
that you always wondered about Will and me."
"I
may have." He held a hand up at her
glare. "Until Ilia
came on the scene and you were clearly not too upset."
"I
reached out to him after his father died.
I felt bad for him. He thought of
me like a big sister or something. I
don't know. He trusted me."
"I
trust you."
"Yes,
that's why I've been calling you by your first name all these years." She practically spat the words at him.
"Did
you want to call me by my first name?
You never said."
She shifted, as if she couldn't get comfortable. "It's not the kind of thing you say,
Jim."
"Hmm."
"Yeah." She went back to eating, but this time the
silence was more angry than peaceful.
"I'm
sorry."
"For
what?"
"For
making you mad."
She
laughed, a sharp, harsh sound. "Don't worry about it."
"Not
like it's the first time?"
"That's
right." She seemed to realize what
she'd said and looked over at him.
"I mean..."
"Did
you want me?"
"Everyone
wanted you, Jim. You were the golden
boy. The star. The savior. Fill in the damn superlative,
that was you."
"You
never said."
"Prettier
women than I never made any headway with you.
Why would I try?"
"I
don't know what to say." He finally
reached out, touched her arm.
"Chris, you were in love with my best friend."
"He
didn't want me."
"I
wasn't sure if he did or not. I thought
he might come around. And you never let
on that you liked me."
She
took a deep breath, let it out slowly.
"You
do like me?"
"We're
not having this conversation."
"We're
in the middle of the goddamned desert about to share a blanket. We are going to have this conversation."
She
started to get up and he pulled her back down.
He thought for a moment she might fight him, but she finally gave in,
and he let her go.
"I
quit being in love with Spock sometime after V'ger. We...he was amenable to getting
together. But we weren't very compatible
as it turned out. We parted amicably." She was looking away, her face lit by the
last of the sunlight. "I was with
you a lot. On landing
parties. We had fun, or I thought
we did. But it never went anywhere. You didn't even seem to see me, Jim. And I wasn't going to be the pathetic Chapel again,
the one who chased what she couldn't have."
"Why
the hell do you think you were on all those landing parties? We had a blast. Why didn't you say something?"
"Like
what? Gee, Captain, this is a nice
planet, can we fuck now?"
"Direct. I like that." He smiled, tried to bring them back to a
place where he didn't feel quite so off balance. "Chris, Jesus, how
many years have we wasted?"
"We? I
didn't waste them. I didn't wait around
for you. And you didn't wait around for
me. You quit Starfleet and went off with
Antonia."
"Look
how well that turned out." He
sighed. "I liked you, Chris. I wanted you.
I thought you wanted my best friend.
I tried to turn any feelings I had for you off because of that."
She
nodded and stared off into the distance.
"Could
you look at me?"
"Why? So we can have a romantic night under the
stars?"
"Would
that be so bad?"
She
didn't answer, and he had the feeling that she wasn't going to, even if he sat
all night.
"I'm
really tired," he finally said.
She
nodded and lay back, then turned to her side.
"You'll have to get close if we're going to share."
He
slid next to her, tried to find a comfortable way to lie that didn't involve
putting his arm around her waist.
"Back
to back, Jim."
"Oh,
sure." He turned over, feeling very stupid.
She
settled the blanket over them. It almost
fit. Neither of them was as small as
they had been in their prime.
In
their prime. Jesus, how much fun could they have had back
then?
---------------
The
next day was more walking, more sweating, and a whole lot of not saying much to
each other. He was shuffling on
autopilot when he saw Chris freeze in front of him.
"Snake."
"Okay." He peeked around her. "It's not that close."
"I
really don't like snakes." She
sounded a little panicked.
"Back
up. Slowly. Here"--he gently took her by the arms,
pulled her to him. "It's
okay."
As
soon as he had her back a safe distance, she wrenched free of him and made her way
around the snake.
He
stood for a moment, then hurried after her. "You're welcome. Really. Don't mention it."
"I
would have managed without you. I've
seen my share of snakes. I just don't
like them."
"You
froze."
"For
a moment. I'd have turned around and gotten clear
without your help."
"You
can quit being strong for five minutes."
She turned and her expression was empty.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm
just trying to help." He pushed
past her. "You know, I'm starting
to be sorry I ran into you."
"You'd
be dead if you hadn't." She moved
him aside, took the lead again.
He
hurried to catch up. "I can take
care of myself, sister."
"Yes,
you were doing a bang up job of that when I happened on you."
"I
would have done fine."
"You
just keep telling yourself that."
They
kept walking, the silence punctuated by huffs and sighs.
He
started to laugh. "You know, it
would help if we weren't both drama queens."
He
heard her laugh, then she slowed and held out her
hand. "Truce?"
"Yes. Oh, God, yes." He took her hand, but only for a moment. It was too damn hot to make that kind of
contact, and he was sweaty and stinky.
"Commander
Chapel," a booming voice sounded.
"Explain why you have help on your survival recertification."
"I'm
not helping her," Kirk said. "She
saved me."
Chapel
shot him a grateful look.
"Is
that accurate, Commander?"
"Sir,
yes, sir."
"Wow,
look at you with the regulation response."
She
hit him.
The
voice boomed back, "Hitting a superior officer is not a good idea,
Christine."
"Cartwright,
you old dog. Is that you?" Kirk peered into the bright sunlight, trying
to figure out where the voice was coming from.
"I'm
not even going to ask why you're on Chapel's survival test, Jim." There was a roar and a transport lifted
off. "Congratulations,
Commander. You passed."
It
left them.
Kirk
watched it go. "Uhhhhh."
She
laughed. "Come on. There must be a bunker up ahead." She led him to where the transport had been
parked, then pointed to a metal hatch. "There we go."
He
lifted the hatch and let her go down the ladder first, holding her backpack,
then dropping it down to her once she'd made the short climb. He followed her down, pulling the hatch shut
before descending into the blessed coolness.
The room they were in was full of monitors. "Oh, crap. Were they listening in on us the whole time?"
"If
they were, I'm going to kill my boss."
She sat down at the terminal, seemed to be checking a schedule of some
kind. "They'll be back for us
tomorrow. I'd say he's been monitoring
us. Old
busybody."
Kirk
laughed softly. "Come to think of
it, he did seem to be playing matchmaker the other day. I just thought he was trying to find you a
new assignment."
"Silly
boy." She spun in the chair and studied him. "There are showers here."
"Those
are the sweetest words I've ever heard."
Grinning, she led him to a small closet, where she grabbed them both some clean
clothes, then pointed him to the nearest bathroom, leaving him alone to get
cleaned up.
A
shower had never felt so heavenly. He
wanted to stay in it forever. Finally,
he got out and dried off, pulling on the clean clothes and feeling like a new
man.
He
wandered into the hall, called out, "Chris?"
"Down
here." She was in a small kitchen,
hair still wet and looking damned good.
"Real food, if you want?"
"I
want." He caught the apple she
tossed to him and sat at the counter, eating it happily while she piled some
other food on a plate for them to share.
They
ate like they'd missed meals during their two-day adventure, and when the plate
was empty, they went back for more.
She
put the dish in the recycler, and he walked up behind her, stopping her from
turning around by putting his arms around her.
She froze.
"I'm
sorry, Chris. I'm sorry I wasn't paying
attention--or that I didn't just act on what I wanted."
"I'm
sorry I didn't say anything. I feel
pretty stupid now."
"Don't. It's done now. We can't change it." He nuzzled her neck. "Do you want me to stop?"
"No." She leaned into him. "But you're going away. On your ship."
"On
my ship that..." He waited for her
to get it.
She
laughed. "That I
could be on, too, if I wanted."
He
smiled and continued with the nuzzling.
"For the record, I wanted you on it for your competence. This will just be an extra added bonus."
She
turned in his arms. "This?"
He
waited.
"You
think there'll be more of this cuddling and nuzzling and possibly
kissing?"
"I
do." He started to laugh. "Also probably the
fighting and the silences."
"I
don't want to fight with you." She
started to smile. "But that doesn't
mean I won't."
"I'll
talk to Cartwright. We can make it an
Emergency Ops billet. You'll report to
him technically."
"How
convenient."
"I
think so." He pulled her with him.
"Where
are we going?"
"In
search of a bed. Unless you object?"
"Will
I still get the job if I do?"
He
stopped, let go of her hand. Then he
turned around and waited until she met his eyes to say, "If you need to
ask that, then we won't do this. And
I'll still talk to Cartwright and arrange a billet."
She
moved closer. "Asked and
answered. I think that's enough talking
for now, don't you?"
"I
do. Finally, we agree on
something." He pulled her the rest
of the way to him.
She
kissed him. He'd spent a lot of time
imagining what it would be like to kiss her.
It was as good as he'd imagined. He
hoped to hell he wasn't disappointing her.
They came up for air, and he murmured, "So?"
"Oh
my God, what the hell was wrong with us?
Promise me, in the future that if we want, we ask."
"I
promise." He pushed her against the
wall. "Let's start now. I want you.
May I have you?"
Her
smile was luminous. "Oh, yes."
Turned out, they didn't really need a bed.
FIN