Chapter Text
Braceleted around Chris’ wrist, Kat waited with the rest of Enterprise’s senior officers in the transporter room. No one else knew she was here, but she let Chris feel her happiness and excitement.
Una was coming home.
It had taken a while for Kat to gain complete control over her non-corporeal form, but now she could make herself invisible when necessary and engage with matter while going unseen.
Invisibility had given her a welcome level of freedom on Enterprise, and elsewhere. No longer did she have to sulk about in the shadows to avoid detection. And being able to handle objects while invisible had most definitely come in handy. Tormenting the pirates who had dared to attack her crew had been especially fun. The looks on their faces, the way they had run screaming “ghost!” still made her laugh.
The memory caused her to vibrate against Chris’ wrist. His fingers twitched and he glanced down at her. Thankfully the smile tugging at his lips could be written off as his own excitement for Una’s return.
He had asked her why she didn’t show herself, now that Una had won this small victory for Illyrians. She had tried to tell him, but emotions could only convey so much. She couldn’t tell him that while Una had been granted asylum, Kat had never needed asylum herself. She couldn’t explain the risk, not only to him and his crew, but to every Illyrian in Starfleet she had sheltered.
No. She was dead. She would remain so to others. Her part in this fight was over.
“Captain,” said Chief Kyle. “Corrections reports ready to transport.”
Chris looked up, grinning now. He shifted, shoulders squaring as he adjusted his stance and made to clasp his hands behind his back before he caught himself and left his arms at his sides. “Energize.”
A moment later, Una shimmered into view. Kat smiled, the expression distinguishable to others only as another slight vibration against Chris’ wrist. As much as she wanted to dart over and welcome her friend home, she stayed quiet and remained where she was.
“First officer on deck,” announced Chris on the heels of the shrill boatswain’s whistle.
Una’s expression as she took in her friends and crew mates was a mixture of relief and gratitude. She went first to Neera, a knowing smile tilting her lips. “You figured it all out...”
Kat was still angry with Una for turning herself in, though everything had turned out all right in the end. She didn’t blame her friend for not wanting to hide any longer, but still, it had been a massive risk, one Kat would never have let her take.
But a dressing down could wait. For now, Una deserved this moment of celebration and reunion.
Kat watched as Una said goodbye to Neera. Elbows clasped, an Illyrian gesture. Hands sliding along forearms, fingers tangling together, reluctant to let go of rekindled friendship as Neera stepped towards the transporter.
Kat slid off Chris’ wrist so he could welcome his first officer home.
He didn’t know. Not yet. One day Una would tell him now that her secret was out. Now that she didn’t have to hide who and what she was, keeping her culture and language carefully tucked away. One day she would tell him in the same words she, ignorant of Kat’s true identity, had told Kat what it meant for Illyrians to clasp elbows, forearms, wrists, each an expression of one of the three Illyrian definitions of love. And then he would know what Kat hadn’t had a chance to tell him in life and could only show now in death.
One by one, Enterprise’s senior officers welcomed Una home and then filed out of the transporter room. And then it was just Chris and Una, and Chief Kyle, who was currently doing his best to disappear into the background behind the transporter control console, his ears growing redder as Chris slowly stepped towards Una and—
Hugged her.
A hug? Really, Chris?
After everything Chris had said about Una’s loss being devastating to him? A hug?
This would not do.
Una, startled by the overly affectionate display, relaxed after a moment and sighed, her eyes closing and her lips tilting up in a shy smile as she hugged him back.
Oh no. This would not do at all.
Kat loved Chris, but sometimes he could be a real dunce. She should know. It had taken him how many years to admit his feelings for her?
Far too many.
Left to his own devices he would probably spend the rest of his life mourning the memory of what might have been, blind to what was literally right in front of him.
Well. Kat may be dead, but she’d be damned before she let him make the same mistake twice.
Remaining invisible, she crept down from the ceiling.
***
Pike reluctantly pulled away from Una’s embrace.
Suddenly, he couldn’t remember the last time he had hugged Number One, though, it seemed like something he would remember. Was that something they did often? How long had they known each other? Surely, they had hugged before. And yet, he couldn’t remember ever doing so before and surely, he would remember holding her against him like that. Wouldn’t he?
But looking at her then, that hug, it was like he was seeing her for the first time, noticing things about her that he had never noticed before. Things that always were, but that he’d never internalized until now. She was a beguiling combination of soft curves and finely-honed strength. And she smelled good. Somehow, even coming straight from a holding cell, she smelled beautiful, like wildflowers and honey.
The thought made him acutely aware of the fact that he was still staring at her and he hadn’t said a word. Suddenly very unsure of himself, he clapped Una on the arm.
“Wel—”
Something shoved him from behind and he stumbled, falling into Una. She caught him, sure hands steadying him, but they were of a height, and the shove had come at an angle, and his lips landed on hers.
They both startled at the contact, but frozen with shock, Pike didn’t pull back right away. And this felt…right. And Una wasn’t pulling away either. So rather than break the kiss, he settled a light hand on her waist, felt the hand that had steadied him grip his shoulder just a little tighter.
Right.
He deepened the kiss slightly, eyes closing, enjoying the sweet taste of her lips and the feeling of her hands curling into the fabric of his uniform. He couldn’t pull her close, not here, but he held her face in his hand, her hair soft against his skin, wildflowers and honey filling his senses.
They let the kiss continue for a moment longer, but all too soon, they pulled apart, putting a reluctant step of distance between them, hands slow to release the other, her eyes sparkling beneath the bright lights.
What did this mean? The kiss had been an accident, but she didn’t look upset. In fact, she looked…
Mesmerizing.
Pike didn’t ever want to look away. But some distant part of his brain recognized that they were standing in the middle of the transporter room, Chief Kyle right there.
“Welcome home, Number One,” he managed.
Una smiled. A smile he hadn’t seen from her before. One that lit up her whole being. One that said that she was just as thrown but just as happy about the kiss as he was. It made him want to jump, shout, float away on a cloud of joy. To hug her again and twirl her around until they were both dizzy and breathless.
He wasn’t sure where they went from here, but he was positive that he wanted to find out. With her.
“It’s good to be back, sir.” Her eyes held his for a moment longer and then drifted passed him, suddenly all business. “Chief Kyle.”
“I saw nothing, sir,” said the transporter chief quickly.
“That’s what I thought,” Una said wryly. And then to Pike, “Shall we?”
Pike made a sweeping gesture with his arm. “After you.”
On their way out of the transporter room, Pike glanced behind him. He thought he saw a flash of yellow-orange light near the ceiling but wrote it off as just the glare of the overhead lights. After all, there was no way she would meddle like that, was there?
On second thought…