Christine Chapel Pike (ncc1701rn) wrote in the100, @ 2016-01-23 20:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | !log/thread, christine chapel (aos), james kirk (aos) |
Who: Christine Chapel and Jim Kirk and Lauren (NPC)
When: Tuesday January 19 after Christine’s arrival
Where:506A
What: Reunions and surprises
Rating: F for Feels..lots of feels
Kirk might have made his way to Chapel's room rather quickly, but it had been quite some time since anyone from their universe had come through and perhaps he was a bit too excited. He knocked on the door before pushing it open. "Christine? It's Jim…" It had been a long day and Christine was tired. She understood all the reasoning behind the intake process, it would have been no different had newcomers arrived at the base but this different. They’d come through another dimension apparently, a rift in time and space and now were about 100 years or so in their past. On an Earth very different from the one she remembered. Christine’s main concern of course was her daughter but the little girl had done well. She’d been around medical clinics since she was born as she often came to work with her mother and was watched by a woman who worked for the clinic. After a few hours though she was starting to get fussy so Christine was relieved when they told them they could go. When they arrived at their quarters, the first thing she did was get Lauren into her pajamas and settle her on one of the beds. Thankfully she’d had the diaper bag with her so there were some things for Lauren in it including her favorite stuffed toy which was a fluffy sheep and her blanket. The child was asleep instantly and Christine smiled at her, kissing her lightly on the forehead. She was just about to walk out of the room when she heard Jim’s voice and she hurried to greet him, throwing her arms around him in a hug. “You are not the captain here and I’m going to hug you,” she said. “I am so glad to see you.” Jim wasn't expecting to find his arms full of Chapel immediately, but he was nothing if not adaptable. He wrapped his arms tightly around Christine, hugging her close before taking a step back to look at you. "Damn, it's good to see you, Christine." There was so much to say, so many questions he had, but mostly he was just grateful to have her here again. Of course, he'd need to tell her about him and Spock. "You're okay right?" he asked, eyes roaming to check for visible injuries. "What's the last thing you remember before coming here?" “I’m fine,” she assured him. “no injuries, everything checked out okay. The last thing I remember was coming home from work. I had just walked in and then I was here. I’d been at Outer Rim Sation for two years so the last time I saw you was at the memorial service.” her hand unconsciously reached for the pendant around her neck, ,she’d had it made before she left San Francisco and hadn’t removed it since. One day she would tell Lauren about her father and give it to her. “So we have a lot to catch up on. I heard from Nyota now and again but the Enterprise was always out somewhere and sometimes Starfleet tended to forget we were out there but it wasn’t a bad place. I mean it’s a giant desert and hot as all hell but no Klingons or Romulans.” the Federation had been looking for a remote location to use as a shipyard and they’d certainly found it. “Come sit down,” she said, gesturing toward the couch. “I haven’t been here very long actually. I put things in the bedroom and then I heard you come in.” Christine had no idea how to bring up the subject of the toddler in the next room but the opportunity would present itself, she would just have to wait. "Two years?" Jim asked, eyebrows raising in a fair imitation of Spock. How could it have been two years. His eyes followed the movement of her hand, noticing the admiral's bars he'd given her after the memorial service. A lump formed in his throat, remembering Pike and the Narada and everything that had bonded them together as a crew. Jim followed her towards the couch and settled into it with the ease of someone used to being comfortable in any situation. "It was just the beginning of our five year mission when I got pulled through here. So right after the memorial.." He ran a hand through his hair. "Spock and Sulu are here too…" “Spock replied to my post,” she said. “and I found a listing somewhere and saw Sulu’s name on it. I’m glad that there are some people I know here.” Christine looked around the room. “What exactly is this place? Other than some kind of an alternate time travel universe of course. At least it’s Earth? Although from what they told me, things didn’t go so well. At least in our universe we didn’t end up destroying everything. Well not yet anyway and usually someone else wanted to do it for us.” She’d forgotten how many things they’d all gone through on the Enterprise. It had been easy to do when she was so far away from everyone but seeing Jim, she remembered. "As far as we can tell, an alternate version of Earth. Worse state in terms of the radioactive damage to the planet and ecosystem and without the technology we're used to. But the .. pod people as they call us, come from all sorts of universes. Takes a bit of getting used to." Jim studied Christine. "Look, there's some things I should brief you on. Our first mission - the Narada - it's… well, they made it into a film. And it's here. People have seen it." For a moment, she just sat there and looked at him but then his words sunk in. A film? That people had seen? “My god,” she said softly. “why would anyone want to watch that? I know what happened but I didn’t see it, I can’t imagine watching that. And Spock, he lived through watching his planet destroyed and now anyone can see that happen?” Christine shook her head. “Well I won’t be watching it. I can’t.” Christopher had told her the things Nero had done, she’d been with him from the moment he’d returned and then later she was there when he woke up in a cold sweat when the nightmares wouldn’t go away, held him when he was shaking...no, she couldn’t see that. What was more important, Lauren never needed to see it. “There’s something I need to tell you too,” she finally said. “actually it’s something I need to show you.” Christine stood up and gestured for him to follow her and walked to the bedroom door. Lauren lay on the bed sleeping peacefully, her dark curly hair spread on the pillow, her arms wrapped around her sheep. “Meet Lauren,” Christine whispered, watching Jim’s face to gauge his reaction. Jim nodded. "I've offered to hack the system and delete it, but Spock refused. So, yeah, it's there.. I watched it and then watched it with Spock and Sulu…" Jim trailed off. "It's fine. You don't need to watch it. If you ever want to though, I'll watch it with you.." Jim got up and followed her into the bedroom. Whatever he was expecting, it wasn't a little girl curled up on bed. He smiled softly. She looked like an angel. "Yours?" “Yeah, she’s mine,” Christine said with a smile. “eighteen months old. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the last two years without her. She’s the light of my life.” Clearly he hadn’t done the math. “I never asked you how you knew about me and Christopher I mean. Did he tell you? Or did you figure it out? Because we thought we were pretty good at hiding it. Maybe we weren’t.” She looked at Jim and then back at her daughter. “Doesn’t look a thing like me though, she looks like her father.” "Christopher's," Jim said in a whisper as he bent down to run his fingers through the little girl's hair without waking her. The man had been like a father to him and here was his daughter, on the same fucked up version of Earth that he'd landed on. The lump was rising in his throat again and he kissed the top of Lauren's head before looking back at Christine. "Please. I'm the king of sneaking around. I know these things. And you learn when your commanding officer is getting laid. Plus I almost walked in on you once in his office." “Christopher’s,” she confirmed. “that’s why I left. It probably wouldn’t have even mattered at that point but I couldn’t stay there, I was hurting and that assignment seemed like the answer. I heard the rumor was that you broke my heart and I ran off,” she raised an eyebrow. “which I found hilarious by the way but yeah, I was about 12 weeks pregnant when I left, not showing yet. I didn’t tell anyone other than my parents but they’ve never gotten to see her. I had some leave coming up but now we’re here so who knows.” She bit her lip to keep back tears as she watched Jim touch Lauren and saw the look on his face. The two men had meant a lot to each other and Christine was glad that he knew, that he got to meet his mentor’s daughter. “Wait…” his words sunk in. “You what? Oh my god...I remember that! I hid in the storage closet! I could hear voices but I didn’t know who it was. Usually we didn’t do anything at work but that day...well things happen.” "Christine.." Jim took a step towards her and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her into another hug. He couldn't imagine losing a partner like that, especially with a kid on the way. "Did Chris know, before…?" He still couldn't say the words easily. Before he died. He chuckled when Christine started babbling. "Hey now, nothing wrong with it." Jim held up his hands in surrender. "And besides, regs don't apply here. I mean, I'm with Spock, and there's always the chance Chris will show up here too.." “No, he didn’t know,” she said. “we were going to have dinner that night, I was going to tell him. But then everything happened. So no, he never knew.” She held tightly to him for a moment and then pulled back when she heard what he’d just said. “You...and Spock? Seriously? I didn’t even think you liked each other? Well I’ll be damned.” Christine was surprised but not in a bad way. She’d always liked Spock even though he was not an easy person to get to know. “How’s that working out? Are you happy?” She hoped so, Jim was a dear friend and he deserved every happiness. “and nothing would make me happier than Christopher showing up here but I’m not going to get my hopes up although it would be pretty amazing, wouldn’t it?” He couldn't imagine Christine dealing with all that on her own, but then she was one of the strongest women he knew, so he wasn't surprised that she was managing it all. He has a strange goofy smile on his face. "Yeah, me and Spock. It's good. Better than good, even. Phenomenal." Jim squeezed her shoulder. "Folks who have died in their worlds have shown up here. So it's possible, at least." She would have never guessed that Jim and Spock would end up together and maybe they wouldn’t have if they hadn’t been here but it was clear that Jim was happy. Christine reached up and put her hand on his where it rested on her shoulder. “I’m glad you’re happy, Jim. I mean it.” She sighed as he spoke of people coming here who had died in their worlds. “I would love that so much...I wish I’d been able to tell him but maybe a miracle will happen and he’ll show up and he can see for himself.” Just then Lauren stirred and Christine held her breath afraid that they had woken her up but she simply turned over and went back to sleep. Gesturing toward the living room, Christine returned to the couch and curled her legs up under her. “I can’t wait for you to meet her when she’s awake. She is so curious about everything, loves being read to and oh my god, she is stubborn. But what do you expect when her parents are two of the most stubborn people in the universe?” Jim gave Christine a goofy smile in response. Because he was happy with Spock. And it was odd, perhaps, to come back to the same person every night, to want to come back to the same person every night, but it wasn't bad. In fact, it was good. He joined Christine on the couch and smile. "A whole lot of trouble in an adorable package. But if you ever need me to babysit or anything let me know." “Be careful what you ask for, you just might get it,” she said but she was smiling. It felt good to see Jim, she’d missed him, she’d missed everyone although it hadn’t been that long since they had seen her, she hadn’t seen them in some time. “I’m really glad you’re here, Spock and Sulu too. I’m glad Lauren has the chance to get to know you. I tell her stories, not that she really understands them yet but some day she will.” She paused for a moment and bit her lip then looked up at Jim. “I miss him so much, Jim. Every single day. She’s so much like him but there’s a lot of me in there too and I wish he could have at least known before...well he would have known that part of him was going to live on.” Christine shook her head, she was not going to cry. She’d cried enough for a lifetime and she didn’t want to cry in front of Jim because she knew that he missed Christopher as much as she did. “I’m going to take her out in the snow tomorrow I think,” she said, changing the subject. “She’s never seen it. Hell, she’s never seen water for that matter. The planet we were on, Sahara III, was a big desert. There were a couple of places where there were water but most of it was essentially mined from the sky with moisture vaporators. When spring comes, she won’t know what to do.” Jim reached out, wrapping his arms around Christine and pulling her in for a tight hug. "I know. I miss him too. The Enterprise just isn't the same without him. Starfleet isn't the same without him." Jim sighed and ran his fingers through her hair as he hugged her. "But he knew you loved him. And hey, at least you have some of us here. And you know I'm going to spoil her rotten - well, as much as I can, things are limited here. But I know Chris' whole fleet history by heart. And I can teach her all about the Enterprise and starships and Sulu can teach her about plants and Spock can teach her chess. You've got your family back here, Christine. You don't have to do this alone anymore." She held on to him, finally letting the tears fall. Jim was right. They were her family, they’d been to hell and back together and she was happy to have them here. Gathering herself, she cleared her throat and sat back. “Good. I’m tired of being the Lone Ranger. Too bad she’s past midnight feedings, I’d have been really happy to bring over to you and Spock for a few of those.” Jim chuckled. "You know I'd be more than willing to do whatever you need. Especially if it helps you get a good night's sleep." He smirked. "And besides, if we can get Spock to sing to her, that would be priceless." “Oh we need to make that happen!” Christine laughed. “she loves being sung to. Even though I’m not much of a singer, she doesn’t mind. Not yet anyway. I’m sure some day she’ll hide her head and swear she doesn’t know me.” A noise from the other room caught her attention. “I think she’s waking up,” she said. “I can bring her over tomorrow so you can see her when she’s awake and in a better mood than she’s probably going to be in right now. And Spock can meet her too.” "Sounds good. I'm sure she'll love Spock's ears," Jim said with a grin as he leaned over and kissed Christine on the cheek. "I'm glad you're here, Christine. Both of you." “Me too,” she said and touched his cheek with a smile. “Me too.” |