FIC: Shaped by the Stars (5/7) - (PG-13) - Star Trek AOS
Title: Shaped by the Stars (5/7)
Author: Zippit
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Character(s)/Pairing(s): James T. Kirk/Nyota Uhura
Rating: PG-13
Content Notes: N/A
Word Count: 2,182 / 10,691
Disclaimer: The characters portrayed within are not mine. This is merely a loving response to the original work.
Author’s Notes: This has been a challenge to write but it's been fun. I hope people enjoy.
Summary: Back on the Enterprise after a mission gone wrong, Uhura sits by a bedside in Sickbay where she reflects on the soft secret that is hers.
On the Enterprise, there are open secrets that everyone knows. Rumors about the bridge crew abound and the truth is known in some cases but not a single one of them would breathe them to outsiders. They are a family, forged together in the deep black of space.
Jim Kirk flirts with everyone and everything on board the ship. He graces everyone with a bright smile and that Kirk charisma that’s gotten him out of more situations than anyone can count. He’s the consummate captain but not in the Starfleet tradition.
He flirts with Uhura like he always has and for that she’s thankful. Her baleful glares have turned into fond exasperation at his antics. She monitors all their frequencies when she’s not on the away missions with them. She tries to ensure that Captain Kirk doesn’t get himself captured or throw himself into the middle of things to protect his crew.
When they beam back aboard, she ducks her head and breathes easier. Sometimes she leaves her station to check on both First Officer and Captain. On others, just the Captain. She’s tread the path to Sickbay many times more than she ever expected. She has a favored chair there, one she claimed after a long recuperation by their Captain. It awaits her at his bedside every time she appears.
There’s a soft secret bubbling under the surface that hasn’t filtered out beyond the close group of the bridge crew. She hopes it stays that way. It’s private and personal and her own little happiness. She doesn’t need to share it with the rest of the ship the way everything else is.
The rumors say she dated Commander Spock when he was her professor and they’ve carried on a relationship since but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Half human he may be but that was an ethical boundary no self respecting Starfleet cadet or professor would breach. A close friendship is what they have and if people want to spin lurid tales about them then so be it.
The rumors also say she earned her position on the Enterprise because of Spock’s favor. How little they know of Spock. He has been softened by his time among them but he is still Vulcan in many ways. Her scores and her abilities put her on the Enterprise, nothing else.
She shakes her head. No, she has not, will not, and never will be involved intimately with Spock, dear though he may be in other ways.
The soft chime of shift end sounds and Nyota pushes up from her station to head toward the turbolift. Her destination is Sickbay and as crew members drift on and off she gives them cursory nods. On her floor, she steps from the lift with her thoughts racing ahead of her down the corridor.
It’s another mission gone sideways like they tend to do with Kirk still hooked up to a biobed. Sulu and Spock had also been on the mission but escaped with minor injuries. They fought their way through to Kirk to drag him to a location where the transporter could pick them up, but Kirk, in his typical fashion, had been dosed with something. McCoy was working on clearing it from his system but it was a slow process.
Nyota smiles at Christine when she steps inside McCoy’s personal domain. The majority of biobeds are empty and the other nurses are engrossed in their PADDs. Christine envelops her in a hug and pulls back with her hands on her shoulders. “You look beat.”
“I feel it.” She gives her friends arms a squeeze then asks quietly, “How is he?”
“Still the same as before.” Christine’s face softens and she guides them over to her station, pulling out a chair for Nyota before sitting down herself. “Leonard’s making progress. It won’t be much longer before he’s awake and being his annoying self again.”
Nyota laughs and leans back into the chair. “And won’t that be fun.” She looks toward Observation Room 5 and sighs. “It just happens so often.”
“I know.” A cup of steaming tea is pushed into her hands. She looks down at it in gratitude and takes a sip. It’s one of her favorites and the soothing taste relaxes her. “You could have picked a less difficult man,” Christine says with a wicked gleam.
She rolls her eyes then says with a smile. “Oh yes, if I had only been logical about the matter.”
“Leonard and I could’ve won some serious credits off you.”
“I’m so sorry to disappoint.” Scotty runs the betting pool on the ship and had been kind enough to tip her off. She’d been linked with everyone on the bridge crew except Chekov, thankfully. He was far too young for her tastes. Kirk had been the long shot and Nyota had placed her own bet, known only to Scotty. She’d made out with a pretty hefty sum of credits. She’s still waiting for the day to reveal this to Jim and find out where he’d placed his bet.
She watches Christine scribble on her PADD then compare it with another one before pulling up some forms on the station console. “You don’t have to keep me company while I’m doing boring paperwork. Observation’s ready for you.”
“I just…need a few minutes.” She gets a look from Christine but she doesn’t say anything. They chat about what they want to do when they find a vacation planet and when they get back to Earth. It’s pleasant, normal, and Christine knows well enough to steer the conversation away from topics involving Jim.
It’s not that she regrets things. Sometimes it’s just hard. They’re good together and they’ve grown closer but sometimes she wishes Jim would change. But changing Jim is like changing the nature of a black hole. It just doesn’t happen. She knew what she was signing up for but this recent series of missions is wearing on her.
She’s talked to McCoy about this before and been told Jim wouldn’t blame her if she left, that he half expected it. That’s why she can’t leave. That’s why she took the leap in the first place. Jim’s already been left too often and for someone so willing to throw himself in front of and for others he doesn’t expect much of the same in return.
It’s why she finishes the last sips of her tea and smiles at Christine as she rises and heads toward the Observation rooms. McCoy, on his way out of his office, squeezes her shoulder in passing. There’s exhaustion written across his face but the PADD in his hand seems to hold answers as he marches toward the attached lab suite.
She pauses outside Observation Room 5 and looks at him so still and pale against the sheets. He looks nothing like the captain they’ve come to know. There’s no turbulent blue storm of possibilities in his eyes or the magnetic pull of his personality. He’s just a pale body lying on a bed surrounded by various electrical readouts.
She watches the even rise and fall of his chest and the constant uptick of his heartbeat for a long while before she keys in her access code and steps inside. The viewing window immediately turns opaque as she crosses the room to sink into her chair by his bedside. “Oh Jim,” she says to the silent room.
Nyota takes his still hand between her own and wills him to wake up. What she’d give right now for that smile of his or an outrageous come on. She laces her hand with his and squeezes, wishing for the reassuring squeeze back she’d always get if he were awake.
She tells him about her day from the boredom of alpha shift to the way everyone misses him in their own way. Sulu’s missing the opportunity to kick his ass at fencing and Spock’s despondent in his own way about the lack of their weekly chess game. McCoy’s been grumpier than usual and Scotty’s probably doing horrible things to the Enterprise’s code instead of arguing with Jim about their necessity or novelty. Chekov’s quieter than he normally is about how the Russians developed or discovered everything since his usual partner in historical pop culture is comatose in bed.
At some point she must’ve dozed off because she wakes to a warm blanket tossed over her while she’s curled against the bed in a position that her back will make her pay for. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the room until several fingers brush against her cheek. She looks up into Jim’s blue eyes and a soft “hey.”
“You’re awake.” She sits upright and takes his hand in hers. This time he squeezes back with a weak smile.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Her mouth thins as she glares at him. “I’m right where I need to be.”
He opens his mouth to protest but his words die in a series of coughs. She moves to the replicator to fill a cup of ice chips then drags her chair closer to the bed when she sits again. “Sssh, don’t talk.” She feeds him ice chips one by one and tries to remember what his medical report had said.
Only when he’s swallowed half the cup does she set it down then just run her hand through his hair. He’s not nearly the man he usually is. Silence isn’t a weapon he uses often. It’s more hers but this one isn’t about winning the argument. This one’s about knowing he’s okay.
She leans down to press a soft kiss against his lips, forehead touching his as she lingers. He raises a hand to rest against the nape of her neck where it trembles slightly. “This is getting to be a habit, isn’t it?”
“One I say you stop right now unless you want to start installing medical equipment in your quarters.”
Jim makes a show of gesturing around them. “What? You don’t like our accommodations here. They’ve worked well so far.”
She kisses him again to shut him up, curling her hand into his shirt. His mouth is sweet, a little stale from the days in bed, but still the taste of fire and the cool chill of space. “I have my own personal chair in here. I’d rather be in our quarters.”
“I could see what could be arranged.” But it’s an argument both of them wouldn’t win. McCoy wouldn’t let Jim out of Sickbay until he thought he was good and healthy, which would lead to a jailbreak or Jim driving everyone up the wall.
Nyota nudges him to scoot over and he carefully does. “You know McCoy would never go for that.”
He shrugs. “I’ve been working on him for a while. Maybe he’ll give in this time.” There’s enough space on the biobed for two if they’re careful. They’ve managed it enough times in the past. She lays her head on Jim’s shoulder and inches her way closer to him until they’re pressed together. Jim’s arm wraps around her to rest on her hip.
The bed in their quarters has been too empty without him to share it with. His scent’s also faded. She tucks her face into the side of his neck and breathes him in. “Took you long enough.”
Her heart thumps painfully loud in her ears and Jim must feel it pressed as close as they are. He doesn’t ask her about it. Maybe because he knows or maybe because he doesn’t want to know. He murmurs low in Swahili that he didn’t mean to.
“You always say that.” He brushes a kiss against her hair and holds her just a bit tighter. He knows she hates it when she’s waiting beside a bed. He hates being in the same position. It hasn’t happened often but it’s happened. She can take care of herself. She’s proved it many times.
She tucks her head against Jim so she can feel his heartbeat. He’s her blue-eyed boy of the stars, chasing down all the fairy tales for her despite her wishes. Sometimes it’s hard to remember he isn’t as invincible as he pretends to be. She slides her hand under his shirt and rests it against the middle of his chest. The steady rise and fall of his breathing starts to lull her back to sleep.
If she’s lucky, Christine will have hypoed McCoy and she and Jim will have til morning to be quiet and curled together like this. She doesn’t get him like this often. Usually it’s in Sickbay just like this, after having woken up from whatever mishap that took him out of commission. He’s too full of energy every time else. Too wrapped up in her and the stars that drag his soul toward them.
She falls asleep with Jim’s heartbeat in her ear and the warmth of him all around her. Sometimes she hates herself for cherishing these quiet moments. But she has them and Jim and in the end, that’s all that matters.
Author: Zippit
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Character(s)/Pairing(s): James T. Kirk/Nyota Uhura
Rating: PG-13
Content Notes: N/A
Word Count: 2,182 / 10,691
Disclaimer: The characters portrayed within are not mine. This is merely a loving response to the original work.
Author’s Notes: This has been a challenge to write but it's been fun. I hope people enjoy.
Summary: Back on the Enterprise after a mission gone wrong, Uhura sits by a bedside in Sickbay where she reflects on the soft secret that is hers.
On the Enterprise, there are open secrets that everyone knows. Rumors about the bridge crew abound and the truth is known in some cases but not a single one of them would breathe them to outsiders. They are a family, forged together in the deep black of space.
Jim Kirk flirts with everyone and everything on board the ship. He graces everyone with a bright smile and that Kirk charisma that’s gotten him out of more situations than anyone can count. He’s the consummate captain but not in the Starfleet tradition.
He flirts with Uhura like he always has and for that she’s thankful. Her baleful glares have turned into fond exasperation at his antics. She monitors all their frequencies when she’s not on the away missions with them. She tries to ensure that Captain Kirk doesn’t get himself captured or throw himself into the middle of things to protect his crew.
When they beam back aboard, she ducks her head and breathes easier. Sometimes she leaves her station to check on both First Officer and Captain. On others, just the Captain. She’s tread the path to Sickbay many times more than she ever expected. She has a favored chair there, one she claimed after a long recuperation by their Captain. It awaits her at his bedside every time she appears.
There’s a soft secret bubbling under the surface that hasn’t filtered out beyond the close group of the bridge crew. She hopes it stays that way. It’s private and personal and her own little happiness. She doesn’t need to share it with the rest of the ship the way everything else is.
The rumors say she dated Commander Spock when he was her professor and they’ve carried on a relationship since but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Half human he may be but that was an ethical boundary no self respecting Starfleet cadet or professor would breach. A close friendship is what they have and if people want to spin lurid tales about them then so be it.
The rumors also say she earned her position on the Enterprise because of Spock’s favor. How little they know of Spock. He has been softened by his time among them but he is still Vulcan in many ways. Her scores and her abilities put her on the Enterprise, nothing else.
She shakes her head. No, she has not, will not, and never will be involved intimately with Spock, dear though he may be in other ways.
The soft chime of shift end sounds and Nyota pushes up from her station to head toward the turbolift. Her destination is Sickbay and as crew members drift on and off she gives them cursory nods. On her floor, she steps from the lift with her thoughts racing ahead of her down the corridor.
It’s another mission gone sideways like they tend to do with Kirk still hooked up to a biobed. Sulu and Spock had also been on the mission but escaped with minor injuries. They fought their way through to Kirk to drag him to a location where the transporter could pick them up, but Kirk, in his typical fashion, had been dosed with something. McCoy was working on clearing it from his system but it was a slow process.
Nyota smiles at Christine when she steps inside McCoy’s personal domain. The majority of biobeds are empty and the other nurses are engrossed in their PADDs. Christine envelops her in a hug and pulls back with her hands on her shoulders. “You look beat.”
“I feel it.” She gives her friends arms a squeeze then asks quietly, “How is he?”
“Still the same as before.” Christine’s face softens and she guides them over to her station, pulling out a chair for Nyota before sitting down herself. “Leonard’s making progress. It won’t be much longer before he’s awake and being his annoying self again.”
Nyota laughs and leans back into the chair. “And won’t that be fun.” She looks toward Observation Room 5 and sighs. “It just happens so often.”
“I know.” A cup of steaming tea is pushed into her hands. She looks down at it in gratitude and takes a sip. It’s one of her favorites and the soothing taste relaxes her. “You could have picked a less difficult man,” Christine says with a wicked gleam.
She rolls her eyes then says with a smile. “Oh yes, if I had only been logical about the matter.”
“Leonard and I could’ve won some serious credits off you.”
“I’m so sorry to disappoint.” Scotty runs the betting pool on the ship and had been kind enough to tip her off. She’d been linked with everyone on the bridge crew except Chekov, thankfully. He was far too young for her tastes. Kirk had been the long shot and Nyota had placed her own bet, known only to Scotty. She’d made out with a pretty hefty sum of credits. She’s still waiting for the day to reveal this to Jim and find out where he’d placed his bet.
She watches Christine scribble on her PADD then compare it with another one before pulling up some forms on the station console. “You don’t have to keep me company while I’m doing boring paperwork. Observation’s ready for you.”
“I just…need a few minutes.” She gets a look from Christine but she doesn’t say anything. They chat about what they want to do when they find a vacation planet and when they get back to Earth. It’s pleasant, normal, and Christine knows well enough to steer the conversation away from topics involving Jim.
It’s not that she regrets things. Sometimes it’s just hard. They’re good together and they’ve grown closer but sometimes she wishes Jim would change. But changing Jim is like changing the nature of a black hole. It just doesn’t happen. She knew what she was signing up for but this recent series of missions is wearing on her.
She’s talked to McCoy about this before and been told Jim wouldn’t blame her if she left, that he half expected it. That’s why she can’t leave. That’s why she took the leap in the first place. Jim’s already been left too often and for someone so willing to throw himself in front of and for others he doesn’t expect much of the same in return.
It’s why she finishes the last sips of her tea and smiles at Christine as she rises and heads toward the Observation rooms. McCoy, on his way out of his office, squeezes her shoulder in passing. There’s exhaustion written across his face but the PADD in his hand seems to hold answers as he marches toward the attached lab suite.
She pauses outside Observation Room 5 and looks at him so still and pale against the sheets. He looks nothing like the captain they’ve come to know. There’s no turbulent blue storm of possibilities in his eyes or the magnetic pull of his personality. He’s just a pale body lying on a bed surrounded by various electrical readouts.
She watches the even rise and fall of his chest and the constant uptick of his heartbeat for a long while before she keys in her access code and steps inside. The viewing window immediately turns opaque as she crosses the room to sink into her chair by his bedside. “Oh Jim,” she says to the silent room.
Nyota takes his still hand between her own and wills him to wake up. What she’d give right now for that smile of his or an outrageous come on. She laces her hand with his and squeezes, wishing for the reassuring squeeze back she’d always get if he were awake.
She tells him about her day from the boredom of alpha shift to the way everyone misses him in their own way. Sulu’s missing the opportunity to kick his ass at fencing and Spock’s despondent in his own way about the lack of their weekly chess game. McCoy’s been grumpier than usual and Scotty’s probably doing horrible things to the Enterprise’s code instead of arguing with Jim about their necessity or novelty. Chekov’s quieter than he normally is about how the Russians developed or discovered everything since his usual partner in historical pop culture is comatose in bed.
At some point she must’ve dozed off because she wakes to a warm blanket tossed over her while she’s curled against the bed in a position that her back will make her pay for. There is nothing out of the ordinary about the room until several fingers brush against her cheek. She looks up into Jim’s blue eyes and a soft “hey.”
“You’re awake.” She sits upright and takes his hand in hers. This time he squeezes back with a weak smile.
“You shouldn’t be here.”
Her mouth thins as she glares at him. “I’m right where I need to be.”
He opens his mouth to protest but his words die in a series of coughs. She moves to the replicator to fill a cup of ice chips then drags her chair closer to the bed when she sits again. “Sssh, don’t talk.” She feeds him ice chips one by one and tries to remember what his medical report had said.
Only when he’s swallowed half the cup does she set it down then just run her hand through his hair. He’s not nearly the man he usually is. Silence isn’t a weapon he uses often. It’s more hers but this one isn’t about winning the argument. This one’s about knowing he’s okay.
She leans down to press a soft kiss against his lips, forehead touching his as she lingers. He raises a hand to rest against the nape of her neck where it trembles slightly. “This is getting to be a habit, isn’t it?”
“One I say you stop right now unless you want to start installing medical equipment in your quarters.”
Jim makes a show of gesturing around them. “What? You don’t like our accommodations here. They’ve worked well so far.”
She kisses him again to shut him up, curling her hand into his shirt. His mouth is sweet, a little stale from the days in bed, but still the taste of fire and the cool chill of space. “I have my own personal chair in here. I’d rather be in our quarters.”
“I could see what could be arranged.” But it’s an argument both of them wouldn’t win. McCoy wouldn’t let Jim out of Sickbay until he thought he was good and healthy, which would lead to a jailbreak or Jim driving everyone up the wall.
Nyota nudges him to scoot over and he carefully does. “You know McCoy would never go for that.”
He shrugs. “I’ve been working on him for a while. Maybe he’ll give in this time.” There’s enough space on the biobed for two if they’re careful. They’ve managed it enough times in the past. She lays her head on Jim’s shoulder and inches her way closer to him until they’re pressed together. Jim’s arm wraps around her to rest on her hip.
The bed in their quarters has been too empty without him to share it with. His scent’s also faded. She tucks her face into the side of his neck and breathes him in. “Took you long enough.”
Her heart thumps painfully loud in her ears and Jim must feel it pressed as close as they are. He doesn’t ask her about it. Maybe because he knows or maybe because he doesn’t want to know. He murmurs low in Swahili that he didn’t mean to.
“You always say that.” He brushes a kiss against her hair and holds her just a bit tighter. He knows she hates it when she’s waiting beside a bed. He hates being in the same position. It hasn’t happened often but it’s happened. She can take care of herself. She’s proved it many times.
She tucks her head against Jim so she can feel his heartbeat. He’s her blue-eyed boy of the stars, chasing down all the fairy tales for her despite her wishes. Sometimes it’s hard to remember he isn’t as invincible as he pretends to be. She slides her hand under his shirt and rests it against the middle of his chest. The steady rise and fall of his breathing starts to lull her back to sleep.
If she’s lucky, Christine will have hypoed McCoy and she and Jim will have til morning to be quiet and curled together like this. She doesn’t get him like this often. Usually it’s in Sickbay just like this, after having woken up from whatever mishap that took him out of commission. He’s too full of energy every time else. Too wrapped up in her and the stars that drag his soul toward them.
She falls asleep with Jim’s heartbeat in her ear and the warmth of him all around her. Sometimes she hates herself for cherishing these quiet moments. But she has them and Jim and in the end, that’s all that matters.