Chapter Text
Ensign Pike was near-fatally wounded on his first mission on the U.S.S Hershel. He managed to save every single member of his away team, but at the cost of his legs. Starfleet Officials gave him an award for his heroic efforts, then politely suggested he find work in other sectors. No five year mission, no exploring, no chance of captaining his own ship one day. By the time he had been released from the hospital the U.S.S. Hershel was gone.
Chris drifted between 'fleet jobs for a while. He worked for Communications, accepting and transferring hails from nearby vessels. He tried his hand at teaching for a year, but the wide-eyed Cadets only made his chest ache with regret. He feared for these children; feared that they'd end up like him or worse. He worried that his resentment would bleed through into the classroom, but he was well loved by the students at the end of the year. In the end it was too much and he decided that academic life wasn't for him.
He worked from his apartment; coding and encrypting data for Starfleet. He hardly left his apartment and he ignored the outside world as much as possible. One morning Chris was woke by insistent knocking on his front door. He opened the door to find Majel standing on the other side holding a bag. He stared at her.
Majel had been on Command Track with Chris. In fact she as his main rival in all the classes they shared. She always seem to be one point or one extra credit assignment ahead of him. By graduation they had gone from friendly-rivals to good friends. When they were both assigned to the same ship they promised that they would work their way up the ranks until one of them was Captain and the other was their Number One.
Majel frowned at him then leant down and gave him a hug.
"What are you-"
"One year into our five year mission we ran into an electrical storm and had to return to Earth back for repairs." She shrugged, "So here I am."
"You chose to spend what little shore-leave you have with me? I'm flattered," he smiled for what felt like the first time in months.
She glared at him, "Don't be purposefully dense Chris, I resigned from Starfleet. We had an agreement. So now you're stuck with me."
Chris found he wasn't bothered by this at all and, still smiling, and rolled away from the door.
***
A month later they moved out of Chris' tiny apartment and into Majel's family home. She didn't say much when Chris asked her about it. She got a faraway look in her eyes, smirked slightly and said, "I'm the only one left now."
The next few weeks were full of cleaning and renovations to make the house wheelchair friendly. One day Chris stumbled on a room filled with actual books. Stacks of books from floor to near the ceiling filled the room.
"Holy shit, you have enough books to open your own library," he remarked dryly, already dreading the hours it was going to take to empty the room. Majel started at him for a moment before she smiled thoughtfully.
***
Three months later they opened The Enterprise Library in a small building near the academy.
***
One month after that they were married.
It was a small ceremony as neither of them had any living relatives and all their friends were spacebound. Chris cried during Majel's vows and she wiped his tears away before she kissed him.
Their life was fairly simple after their marriage. They woke up each morning and opened the Library at 9 a.m. and worked until closing at 8 p.m. They'd go home, bicker over whose turn it was to cook dinner, and fall asleep curled around each other.
After a while the Library gained popularity and two people just couldn't keep up this the influx of visitors. They put up their Help Wanted sign up for the first time.
Leonard McCoy was a bright young Starfleet cadet who was just starting on the Medical Track. His summer classes limited the amount of time he could work, but he gave them three nights a week from 3 p.m. to close and was willing to work all day Saturdays. He was grouchy and straight-forward in manners, so of course he and Majel got along great. He wasn't the most patient or well suited person for customer service, but Chris hoped (but doubted) it would help prepare him for the required bedside manner of a doctor.
Nyota Uhura was also a student in Starfleet. She was a bit younger than McCoy, but she was advancing through her Communication track at unprecedented rate. She was willing to work whenever they needed her. Now she was much better with visitors than McCoy, having much more paciens.
It was still difficult with only four people but they managed.
***
Majel started getting headaches. Then the headaches became migraines.
***
A month later doctors found an inoperable tumor in her brain.
***
As Majel started getting sicker it became harder to run the Library. Chris wanted to close it down and focus all their time on her, but she vehemently protested.
"We made this together Chris, you and me. You have to protect it."
They placed the help wanted sign up again.
James T. Kirk. "Yeah that Kirk," he had said with a defiant tilt of his chin, "That a problem?"
No way around it, the kid was a shit. He gave lip constantly and defied authority from everyone, but Majel. Majel loved him. She'd say to Chris, "That boy is my spirit animal. He's me if I was a teenage boy. That's why he likes me the most."
Now for the little shit that he was, he had some good qualities also. He always showed up early for his shifts, he was willing to work whenever since it was summer, and the Saturday Children Reading Day's were his idea. He carefully chose the books for the reading each Thursday and, Chris suspected, he rehearsed before every Saturday.
"He's an alright kid," Chris would concede to Majel.
***
Jim kept an arm around Chris at her funeral. Everyone from the Library surrounded the gravesite.
"There are more people here then there were at our wedding," Chris' laugh ended in a gut wrenching sob.