Who: Diana and Kirk What: Hiking! When: Sometime in May I think Where: Out in the wilds Status: complete Rating: PG The trail Jim had selected wasn’t exactly the easiest, but it wasn’t the hardest either. Somewhere in between, mostly, with a high part that circled around a valley with a stunning view. Jim had seen a lot of stunning views in his life, and each one had a unique charm. “Easy around this part. That’s a long drop.”
He hopped up, using a tree to guide himself to the top of the cliff, then turned to offer Diana a hand. “Enjoying the view so far?”
Diana may have lived in the OC her entire life, but she had never really seen everything. Her dad and grandma had taken her to the beach and parks, but neither of them had been avid hikers. So this was, in short, the first time that she’d gone hiking, but she didn’t mind it too much. She was pretty sure her legs were going to hate her for an entire year after (okay, that was exaggerating a little...okay, a lot), but it was actually nice to try something new and get such an amazing view out of it.
It was, however, vaguely terrifying to be so close to a drop that likely would not end well for her. But if Jim said it was going to be okay, she’d have to trust him. He hadn’t tried to shove her off any steep parts yet, so…
Taking his hand, she smiled a little before following after his lead. “It’s amazing. I didn’t even know the OC looked like this. At all. Unless you could drive to the view. Then I could see it.” She laughed at that, looking around again. “My dad’s a lawyer. We don’t get much of the outdoors.” She shrugged slightly. “I’ll just have to take pictures and bring the outdoors to him.” Giving him another smile, she said, “Thanks for not letting me fall to my death, by the way. I appreciate it.”
Well, if she couldn’t walk, Jim would carry her back down, fireman style. Or cheat and use the Enterprise, but he was saving that for an emergency. “There’s a lot of places you can’t easily get to, but they’re usually worth it. As long as you leave it the way you found it.”
He grinned at her, turning towards the view. “It’s no problem. I really don’t recommend long falls. Let’s find a nice place to sit, I packed sandwiches.”
Diana probably would be impressed either way, but she was just stubborn enough to force herself to walk back down. “I don't know if I'd have agreed before now, but consider me informed.” She had no intention of leaving it any way other than the way it was. She had a feeling that the Earth would not thank her for making it even more of a mess.
She laughed at that. “That's a relief because I am strictly against long falls myself. There's enough tragedy in this world without me adding to it.” Not to mention she couldn't bear the idea of her dad alone. Yes, her grandma would be there, but he really didn't need to lose more family.
Shaking those thoughts off, Diana went to take a seat, glad for a chance to sit down for a little while. “I'd say you're really good at thinking of things, but since it's your job...somewhat, I'm guessing it's habit now.”
“I wasn’t in the mood to go hunting,” he joked. And skinning a rabbit was not high on his lift of things he wanted to actually do unless he had to. This was a relaxing trip, and the cute little bunnies were safe. He sat next to her, and sorted through his pack. His voice was lightly teasing. “So do you always wander off into the wilderness with men you just met?”
Granted, Jim tended to attract women like that as friends pretty easily. It was probably a good thing he was genuinely caring about their safety, despite his pop culture reputation.
Diana hadn’t considered that, but now she was glad that she hadn’t. She had a feeling she might be okay at hunting, but she also considered the fact that she would be sad killing innocent animals. She let other people handle that part. “All the time,” she lied, managing a straight face for a few moments before a smile started forming and she laughed. “Okay. Not really, no. But I also fear for the life of anyone that tries to hurt me because my dad will probably ruin their entire lives. But I guess if they're trying to hurt me, they'll have brought it on themselves, so...” Side effect of having a lawyer for a dad.
She mentally reminded herself to also consider learning how to defend herself a little more seriously. Just in case she really did need it. She looked out at the scenery again for a little while, letting the silence linger before asking, “What's space like?”
“One of those dads, huh?” Kirk had a complicated relationship with his dead. Died when he was very young, except in his dreams where he’d been there and so supportive and inspiring that Jim sometimes wondered what his waking life would have been like with his dad around. His dreams had certainly changed him, and for the better.
He looked up towards the sky. “Depending on who you ask, either darkness and death, or unparalleled beauty and mystery. What’s out there is not unknown, just temporarily hidden.”
Diana nodded. “It's just Dad and I most of the time. He and my grandma raised me. He's not a helicopter parent or anything, but he also wouldn't be okay with people hurting me. He's pretty great, actually.” Had they had disagreements? Yes. But that didn't change things. At least not negatively.
She smiled a little. “I bet it's amazing. Probably intense at times, but amazing.” She'd seen pictures of galaxies and all matter of space anomalies and she really couldn't imagine how it could be viewed as darkness and death. “Are you by any chance also a philosopher? Just the way you said that sounded like some of the philosophy students I've run into.”
“That’s good. Any siblings?” The George Kirk of his dreams had been that kind of parent. Made him reach for the stars, literally.
“Very intense, and very amazing. Not just the visuals, though they’re breathtaking. But the science of it. How it works and how we discover how it works. And not just space either, but alien vistas that I couldn’t begin to describe.”
Jim handed over a sandwich with a smile. “I’ve always enjoyed philosophy, and literature. Not everyone would believe that just looking at me.”
She shook her head. “Nope. Just me. I’m pretty sure I’m good enough that I make the regrets that there aren’t more Meade children far and in between.” She pressed her fingers against her lips to suppress a laugh as her mind realized that Diana may be weak when it came to making puns out of it, but her last name was a lot better. She didn’t know if she could explain that at the moment, so she decided to subdue it and wait for the next time she spoke to Yang to mention it. “Plus, I’m not sure Dad could have handled more than one.”
Diana listened as he spoke, already fairly intrigued by the way he must have seen space.
“I have a brother. He is the responsible one. Family, good job. The one who’ll pass the name, so to speak. Got a third nephew on the way.” Something in his voice was tighter than usual. This was a touchy subject, he’d dreamed that George and his wife Aurelan had both died, leaving only one of his sons and Jim as the Kirk family. Needless to say there was severe cognitive dissonance and he’d been communicating with that part of his family on the regular ever since.
Diana smiled a little at that. She’d wondered before what having a sibling would be like, but she never got the chance to find out. Maybe in another life. “Well, that’s nice! I will have to live vicariously through others to know what that’s like.” She imagined if she had friends who she was close to that might call her an aunt even if she wasn’t technically. She took a small bite of her sandwich, allowing herself to finish chewing before speaking again. “I think I'm the responsible one. Wandering out into the wilderness with strange men I barely know aside. Or I would be if I had someone else to be the less responsible one.” A beat. “But it sounds like you have a pretty great family.”
Jim chuckled. “It’s better now than it was. Dad died when I was a baby. Mom moved us around a whole bunch and was a work-a-holic. Step-dad was an asshole, at least I thought he was when I was younger, but that might have just been me acting out.” He took a bite too, chewing and swallowing. “God, did I act out.”
Diana listened quietly as she ate. It was only at the last part that she laughed. “You? Acting out? I’d never have imagined it. You definitely seem like one of those homebodies that just sits around and watches Netflix all day. Pretty docile, really.” She pressed the back of her hand against her mouth. “Okay, so I was probably describing myself just then, but…” There was a slight shrug, followed by another food induced silence on her part. “My mom died when I was a baby. So I didn’t really know her. I just have pictures. No stepmom to speak of. Dad is a workaholic sometimes, though. But he always made time for me.” She wouldn’t have minded if her dad found someone he liked or wanted to date, however. He deserved it and she wanted to see him happy.
“There was the time I wrecked the car,” he replied, scratching his cheek sheepishly. “I’m sorry about your mom.” Obviously he knew how hard that was. “That’s good on your dad. I don’t know if I would have been as good at it. I mean, I’d want to try, if I had a kid. Don’t know if I’d succeed.”
One deep, deep secret of Jim’s was that he actually wanted a family. But career came first, the Enterprise came first. And it always would.
“It’s okay.” It wasn’t, but..it had to be or she’d get nowhere. It was a sort of detached, distant pain anyway. She’d never known her mother personally, so it was hard to miss her. It was more that she missed the chance to get to know her. But her dad told her stories sometimes, so it wasn’t too awful.
“You wrecked a car?” She couldn’t help the shocked expression on her face. “My dad would have been so mad.” SO MAD. She didn’t want to think about that level of anger. “I want to do that assuring thing where you tell the person that you’re sure they’d do a fine job, but we just met, so I can’t say yet. Give me a little while and I’ll tell you whether you’ll be okay or whether to run for the hills.”
“It was a nice car, and I was ten, and I was really, really pissed my mom married him.” Jim winked at her. “I feel guilty now but back then? I would’ve done it ten times over. I was a little asshole.”
That he could look back and admit it was important. He couldn’t excuse his behavior and if he was honest with himself it was his dreams that had finally turned him around.
Diana smiled at him then. “Well, at least you realize it now anyway. That’s something. I’m pretty sure no one makes great choices when they’re younger.” She was probably pretty alien for being relatively well behaved.