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“It’s two weeks until Valentine’s Day, Jim, we need to figure these things out now!” You exclaim as you give him an annoyed look. You’d just walked into McCoy’s office to ask him if he’d seen Jim anywhere only to be greeted by the sight of the doctor and the captain sharing a drink. This was only your fourth month acting as the Enterprise’s Morale Officer and you had quickly become aware of the tactics Jim used to avoid things he deemed boring. Unfortunately this included “helping” you plan activities for the crew.
“C’mon, can’t this wait until we’re on duty?” He whines out.
“Well, I’ve been trying to talk to you on duty but you had, and I quote, ‘very important captain-y things you had to be doing’ every time I bring this up,” you pull up another chair to the desk and start laying out all of the papers your ideas were written on.
“Fine,” he says finally relenting to your not so gentle demands. Placing his tumbler down he starts to sift through the papers you had strewn about. Leonard watches on as Jim reads over everything, a look of amusement set on his face. One of the documents in particular catches the doctor’s eye and he grabs it before Jim can.
“You want to make hand made Valentine’s for the entire crew that have specific puns that relate to their jobs or personal experiences with the captain?” Leonard’s says as he raises one eyebrow in disbelief.
“Yeah, I think it will really brighten up people’s spirits. Not only by giving people the recognition they crave but by reestablishing the personal connection they have with Jim they’ll end up viewing him as a more compassionate leader than what they originally thought,” you tell them with a shrug as if creating a thousand cards for the crew was nothing. “I’ve been keeping a running list of cute jokes and another one of funny stories ever since I came aboard. I had this idea on my last ship but had no way to pull it off. Plus I already finished three quarters of them, all I need now is Jim to sign them and hand them out when the day comes.”
“Wow, you really thought of everything,” Jim says as he sets down the paper detailing the decorations you wanted to hang all around the ship.
“Well, morale is my specialty,” you answer nonchalantly.
“Bones, look at this, she even specially made a playlist for the dance,” the surprise was evident in his tone. A smug smile started to make its way onto your lips.
“Darlin’ is there anything you didn’t think of?” Leonard asks as he starts going through the pile with Jim.
“Maybe, but that means there’s just more to add to it next year,” you start gathering everything into a stack and hand Jim a pen. “All I need now is for you to sign off on it. I already have everything prepped and ready to go I just couldn’t do any of it without your written permission.”
“So you don’t want my help?” He lets out a relieved sigh clearly happy with this outcome when you shook your head in a motion signaling no at him. Once Jim was done signing everything you picked up the papers and left the room as both men looked at your retreating figure with admiration in their eyes. Apparently things weren’t as easy with the last person in your position.
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“So for the annual Jim isn’t dead party I was thinking we could have it in the senior officer lounge, so all the recreation rooms will be open for the after parties,” you told Jim as you walked with him down the corridor towards the elevator as he headed to the bridge.
“You’re still doing that?” He asked exasperatedly.
“Are you still alive?” You shot back.
“I’m taking that as a yes,” he sighed as he walked into the lift and you pushed the button to shut the doors, “and after parties? What after parties?”
“Oh, Jim, honey you’re not invited to the after parties because you’re the captain. Think of it like bringing your RA to a frat party with you, it just wouldn’t happen.”
“Then why do you know about them?” He continues to question you as the doors slide open revealing the daily activity of the bridge crew.
“The after parties are the things that actually keep the crew’s morale high, because that’s where they get to drink illegal alcohol. I just turn a blind eye to it, and you should too. Besides I don’t get invited either, that would be like taking your mom to a rave and-”
“It just wouldn’t happen, yeah I get it,” he says as he finishes your sentence before taking a seat in the captain’s chair. “Do whatever you see fit,” he waves you off before giving everyone their orders.
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You knock three times on the captain’s ready room door before typing in the code and entering the small space. Glancing around you find it’s only Jim in the room, sitting on the couch with a glass of amber liquid in his hand. His eyes are red rimmed and tired. He doesn’t look up at you. Walking over you take a seat next to him and pour yourself a drink. Taking a sip you glance at Jim before turning yourself to face him.
“It’s my fault,” he says, not even looking away from the glass in his hands.
“No it’s not Jim. There was no way you could have known that there was any life forms on that planet, let alone hostile ones,” you tell him gently, voice so quiet it’s barely above a whisper. Carefully you take the glass from his hands and put it on the table in front of you. You lace your fingers through his and lightly trace his knuckles as you look at him.
“I should have gone down there with them, I could have-” his voice cuts off.
“What? Gone down their and what? Gotten hurt, and left the ship without their beloved captain? Nobody blames you Jim, besides the away team was aware of the risks before they beamed down there.”
He finally looks up at you and shows you the pain, and guilt clouding his thoughts. He thinks it’s his fault that three of five of the members of the away team returned more broken then when they left, with one of them being in critical condition. Letting go of his hand, you instead wrap him in a tight hug.
“You did everything you could do, and if anyone else was in control I believe the situation would have ended much worse,” you whisper into his neck as you run your fingers over him-- down his arms, up his back, through his hair-- before settling on his shoulders as he clung tightly to your frame.
“You really think that?” He asks voice tight with emotion, sounding as if he was about to start crying again.
“Wholeheartedly,” you stay in that position for god knows how long, you holding him as if just your hug could protect him from the world.
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“I still can’t believe you not only convinced Jim, but the Admiral, into letting you have champagne at this party,” Nyota said as she walked up to you taking inventory of the leftover alcohol.
“Well, when your captain is considered a hero and has saved countless lives, it’s really not that hard to get what you want,” you shrugged as you wrote down the final number before turning around and handing her a glass.
“And Jim?” She asked winking at you. Blushing you look towards the man in question. He’s leaning against the bar smiling at a giggling ensign, but his attention isn’t on her, he’s scanning the room as if he’s looking for something, or someone. Finally his gaze finds you and Uhura chatting idly by the almost depleted stack of boxes the bartender had been pulling from all night. You look away as he realizes you were staring at him already and he gives your form a knowing smile before excusing himself from his conversation.
“You know he just signs off on whatever I want,” you defend yourself complete attention back on Nyota. You haven’t told Uhura about your long standing crush on the captain, but you didn't have to. She knows you well enough to pick up on it herself.
“Do you ever wonder why that is?”
“Ever wonder why, what is?” Jim questions from behind you startling you so much you almost drop your clipboard.
“I was just asking why she doesn’t seem to have a new years kiss,” and with that comment Nyota left you and Kirk alone with a knowing smirk.
“You don’t have someone to kiss?” Jim asks incredulously, while raising his eyebrows.
“Guess I was so busy planning the party I left that part out.”
“Well, were just gonna have to change that,” he said taking your clipboard before setting it down on one of the crates. Slinging an arm over your shoulder he guides you closer to the makeshift dance floor you had set up earlier that day. You stared at him in wide eyed horror with no idea what he was planning.
“What?” It’s the only thing you can think of to say.
“How much time do we have until it’s midnight?”
“About five minutes, why?”
“Perfect,” he says before leaning against a wall giving you two a view of everyone at the party, “let’s explore your options.” Before you can protest he starts listing off names. “There’s Leonard, but I don’t know, he seems a bit too forlorn for your taste. You could always go for Scotty.” At your expression he backtracks, “Okay so he’s not your type either. I’d say Chekov but you’re not really the type to go after younger men. That leaves Uhura and Spock but just the thought of trying to kiss two people at once sounds awkward.”
“So who does that leave me with?” The only person left is… but he wouldn’t really be hinting at that, right?
“Looks like you’re stuck with me, Starlight,” he tells you moving to stand in front of you, placing one of his hands by your head, leaning close to you.
“That doesn’t sound so bad,” you can feel his breath fanning across your face he’s so close to you. Around you people start counting down and once they reach one your lips collide with Jim’s. It’s a sweet slow kiss. You bring your hands up to run through his hair and settle at the back of his neck bringing him closer to you. One of his hands is on your waist while the other one cups your face, thumb brushing against your cheekbone. The feeling of his chest pressing into yours causes you to deepen the kiss. He licks your bottom lip asking for entrance and you willingly open for him. When you both pull away to breathe he tugs your bottom lip between his teeth before releasing you.
“It’s about damn time,” you hear a distinct southern voice calling out to you two.
“Wanna get out of here?” He asks you through a breathy laugh at the doctor’s comment. Glancing behind you at the party you find everyone still enjoying themselves. It looks like you’re no longer needed to boost their morale.
“I thought you’d never ask,” you tell him as you grab his hand and tug him out of the recreation room and towards the captain’s quarters.