A/N: This chapter is rated between T and M for adult situations.

~Nadiea

Disclaimer: 'Star Trek' and its existing characters belong to Paramount/CBS.

Chapter 29 - Friends, Lovers, & Enemies

18:30

"And T'Pring designed a program for me like they do for the kids on Vulcan, so I can keep my schooling up while I'm here." Jenny chatters on as she spears a piece of broccoli with her fork.

"I heard about that," Nyota says with a smile. "I think it's a great idea and we'll make sure you get additional lessons from every department as well."

Jenny nods eagerly. "I still would really like to learn about Communications, Nyota. I just didn't want to bother you. You've all been so busy with reviews. How long until it's all done, Jim?"

Nyota and I share a look. "Well," I begin, once again trying to find the balance between avoidance and the truth I obviously can't share at the moment, "Reviews generally last for about two to three weeks. There are a lot of people on board, so it's going to take time to formulate the paperwork on everyone plus the command staff meetings where we go over any issues. Then there are the actual reviews, so it's time consuming. And of course, we're still in the middle of the…situation, so… Bottom line, I'm sorry we haven't spent as much time together as I intended. It will calm down...eventually." I finish, hoping I sound more convincing then I feel.

Once glance at Nyota's expression tells me the opposite. She looks torn between laughing and crying.

I think we all know the feeling lately.

But Jenny just nods encouragingly, thankfully. "I know. It's just part of the life of a star ship, T'Pring told me."

And I am again grateful that T'Pring and T'Pyla are on the Enterprise. Since this emergency has wreaked havoc on the scheduling, they've been able to fill in for Spock and Bones without any issues. Not only that, but I think they've settled in pretty well and seem…well I'd say happy, but that's not accurate for a Vulcan. What does Spock say again? Content? Yes, they seem content and I'm relieved that at least that is working out how I hoped. And Jenny is obviously doing fine, too.

"Dessert?" Nyota asks us a few minutes later as we finish eating.

"Captain Kirk, Lieutenant Uhura, Jenny," Lawson greets before either of us can answer her. Esquival is also in tow. "I hope you are enjoying your evening together."

I smile and hope it doesn't look too strained. "We are; thank you. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"We realize that you're in the middle of reviews, but we would like to ask a few more questions."

I was expecting this, so I prepared an answer. "That's fine, commander. However, we've been assigned an additional review exercise by Admiral Pike. It's time sensitive, so it would help if we could schedule the interview for the day after tomorrow?"

They show no surprise at my request. "We were told this by Admiral Pike when we spoke with him, Captain Sato, and Admiral Snow this afternoon. We were hoping that you might finish early. But the day after tomorrow is fine, at 09:00 again?" Esquival asks.

I nod. "That's perfect."

"We'll see you then, Captain." The two take their leave and I wait until they're actually out of the Dining Hall before taking a breath.

"I mean, they were nice to me on the way here, but they are kinda of scary sometimes, too." Jenny says into the silence.

Nyota and I both laugh. "That's their job and they do it well, Jenny." I reply.

"Well, I wouldn't want their job," Jenny says firmly. "But I do want a piece of the blueberry pie that Chef made."

"I second that." Nyota agrees.

"The women have spoken; blueberry pie coming up." I say, standing to make the trek over to the dessert area.

I'm halfway there, when I almost trip seeing Bones with T'Pyla, her arm looped through his. They look like they're in deep conversation, but Bones looks almost happy. He finally notices me as they pass by and tries to scowl, but fails horribly.

I can't help but smile back brightly in return. I look back at our table and find Nyota practically bursting with excitement.

"Don't." Bones manages calmly.

"Captain Kirk." T'Pyla greets politely. "You are here with Nyota and Jenny tonight?"

I nod. "Indeed, I am. And please call me Jim, since we're off duty. And you, you are here with Bones."

Bones is actually glaring at me now.

"Yes, we are to sample an Earth dessert I have not yet tasted: Blueberry pie."

"That is excellent. I know you'll love it. Can't go wrong with blueberries really." I reply, nodding, purposely ignoring Bones. I haven't had an opportunity to tease him in too long and I really need it. "You can sit with us, if you want. Unless this is a-"

"We were going to sit up near the windows, actually." Bones interrupts pointedly.

T'Pyla nods in agreement with Bones. "Perhaps we can all dine together another time, Jim? We are still in the presence of the nebulae and Leonard and I were having a fascinating conversation in Sick Bay."

"Of course, of course." I say with throwing an encouraging smile at Bones. He's not looking at me though, but at T'Pyla.

Well, I won't hear the end of it now from Nyota, Hikaru, and Pavel, who will all think they had something to do with this new romance. If anything, I did the match making by getting her on board the ship in the first place.

Not that I'm trying to take the credit or anything.

I walk ahead of the apparent lovebirds to the dessert bar, grab three pies and head back to the table.

"Did I just see what I think I saw?" Nyota asks before I can even sit the plates down properly in front of them.

"If you mean Bones all googly-eyed over T'Pyla, then yes," I say as I sit down again.

"They're really cute together." Jenny offers as she digs into her pie. "I could tell Bones likes her."

Nyota and I share a look. "He lets you call him Bones?" I ask.

Jenny nods. "He said you're family and so I am I. So I get to call him Bones, too."

Just when I'm enjoying tormenting him, I find out something like that.

Nyota looks as touched as I feel. "He's right. One thing to remember is that Bones is usually right. Just don't let him know it all the time. It'll go to his head." I finally reply. Feeling some bizarre childish impulse I reach over and tousle Jenny's hair.

She squeals and bats my hand away laughing. "Jim!"

"Don't worry, Jenny. You remember what I told you about big brothers?" Nyota asks with a secretive smile as she takes another bite of her pie.

Jenny smiles back. "I do."

"I don't like this," I say pointing between the two of them.

They just laugh.

19:45

We're walking back to Nyota's quarters after dropping Jenny off at hers. Discreetly making sure the hall is empty, we quickly enter. I'm sure some of the crew has started to suspect something about us, but we're still not certain if we want to acknowledge it formally or when it would feel appropriate to do it at this point. I know that Nyota is probably leaning against doing so, and I understand why. So, we'll continue on as we are for now. Then there's the added stress of avoiding the Commanders lurking around the ship. I don't think Section 31 would care necessarily about our relationship, but Admiral Snow would. I don't need that added headache right now.

We've worked out a system of alternating whose quarters we sleep in the nights we stay together. Tonight, it's Nyota's place.

"Want to take a shower?" Nyota asks as she begins to undress.

"With you? Always." I reply with grin.

She rolls her eyes and shakes her hair out of her ponytail. She combs her fingers through as she enters her bathroom.

Stripping of my clothes, I follow her into the bathroom and open the door of the sonic shower. Joining her under the spray of synthetic water, I take her into my arms for a moment. And it's peaceful, those few seconds. It's just me, her, and the sound of water. I pull back and she smiles at me. I lean down to kiss her, letting go of everything and just feeling like I said I wanted to that night on Starbase 25's Observation Deck.

She responds with a moan. I carefully lift her in my arms, her legs wrapping around me automatically. Entering her, swiftly, I slow the pace, until we find a rhythm.

I can feel her orgasm hit her and I coming with her. "Jim." I hear her whisper breathlessly.

"Nyota," I manage, my voice sounding hoarse to my ears.

I don't know how long we stay that way, before finally untangling from each other and finishing our shower.

Not bothering with night clothes, we slip under the covers of her bed. It's not long before I hear the regular sound of her breathing. I drift for a while, but I keep waking up. I'm tired as well, but my mind keeps racing along trying to analyze everything that we found out today. And trying to figure out one Admiral Christopher Pike. I always knew he defended me to Starfleet whenever the need arose and again needless to say I wouldn't be here captaining this ship at all without his help. But I never imagined it to go this far. All that time wondering what he knew and why he never brought it up and he was protecting me. I've done a pretty good job of convincing myself that I did not need a father. That Pike was simply a good mentor and friend. But for the first time today, I kind of felt what it might be like if I did.

It's not so bad.

I sigh without thinking.

"Are you still awake?" Nyota asks sleepily against my chest.

"Yes," I say softly. "Sorry for waking you up. I did sleep a little. Just thinking."

"Mmm, it's okay...want a message? Remember, we got...distracted after you demonstrated what quick learner you are last time. So, you didn't get one." Message is kind of becoming our thing and I've been able to get the hang of it pretty quickly from Nyota. It's not as simple as just rubbing an area. There are muscles, specific joints, etc. as well as a certain way to apply pressure. Needless to say, these are like the best lessons ever.

I smile and kiss her on her temple. "We did and you'll also recall that you got no complaints from me. Sleep. I'm good tonight."

"You were good tonight." She whispers playfully.

I laugh. She still manages to surprise me sometimes. "Well, my sexy, intelligent, beautiful girlfriend is pretty inspiring." Then a thought hits me. "Wait, not just tonight, right?"

Nyota laughs softly. "You can't see me, but I'm rolling my eyes right now," She whispers into my chest. "My compliment is not a judgment on any other nights of lovemaking, Jim. Now go to sleep."

"But-" I start, just trying to clarify.

"Nope," She says, finally propping herself up with her arm to look at me in dark. "We are not having this conversation, Jim. It's ridiculous and unnecessary. Or I could just never compliment you on it again?"

Damn. "Okay, fine. Thank you for the compliment. Better?"

I see her nod. "You're welcome." She says, clearly amused. "I'm going back to sleep now." She lays back down on my chest.

"Okay. As will I." I reply.

"Okay. Goodnight."

"Goodnight."

06:00

"Scotty, is there anything out of the ordinary about the ships yet?" I ask, looking up from my PADD. We've managed to get an efficient order of analysis going here. Spock and Nyota continue to translate the maps, giving the translations to Scotty, Hikaru, and Pavel to plug into our mock up maps they made up yesterday.

"Aye, there was one thing particularly interesting. A lot of the smaller class ships from Ceti Alpha V were seen close to the Romulan neutral one accordin' to Admiral Pike's map placements. He's got them meetin' up with Romulan warbirds along the zone every three months during the time Kodos was in charge on Tarsus IV."

Romulans. Not really a surprise, but now it only blows this situation up even further.

"Why would the Romulans care about Ceti Alpha V?" Bones asks.

"It is likely they were interested in the genetic capabilities of the humans," Spock replies from where he and Nyota are still translating the last few areas of the maps. "In return, they might aid the Ceti Alpha V settlement in its grievance against Earth, Starfleet, and the Federation."

I nod slowly. "So, taking my mother and Frank was just to set something larger in motion?"

"If the Romulans are indeed involved, then there is a larger plot in play," Spock replies definitively and I know he's thinking of the destruction of Vulcan in that moment as well as the Romulan War a century ago.

"But what about the ship that did that took them?" Hikaru asks as he goes to stand by the view screen and looks closely at the Alpha quadrant map. "Starfleet couldn't identify it at all."

"That's easy," Scotty interjects. "We don't know what the Romulans have been up to on their side of the galaxy. We only know their existin' ship designs and signatures. If they were able to come up with a new design, say with the help of these Ceti Alpha V people, then that's your answer as to why we couldn'a id it."

"It's true," Pavel agrees. "One of Section 31's long term goals is to get someone into Romulan space so that we could find out information like this. I know they regularly monitor the neutral zone, so I'm sure they noticed the Ceti Alpha V ships wisits there."

"How likely is it that they could get someone inside of Romulan space without detection?" I ask. "It would take genetically altering someone's genotype and physiology to appear Romulan. I know that's possible, but I'm guessing the Romulans would anticipate something like that and possess ways of detecting genetic alterations."

Bones nods. "It is possible to make the alterations successfully, in fact we studied a few cases of it from the Romulan War. The process is even more sophisticated now, but you're right the main challenge would be to infiltrate Romulan Space and successfully replace a Romulan citizen. As far as we know, there are no Romulans in the rest of the galaxy."

"As far as we know, doctor." Spock repeats ominously. "If we are aware of the ability to alter genetic and physical appearance, then certainly the Romulans are also aware of this medical technique as well."

"Damn," Bones replies looking alarmed. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Damn is right.

"If Spock's speculation is true, then we've got four issues at hand: The Romulans and their possible activities in the rest of galaxy, which violate the neutral zone agreement; the Romulans link to the Ceti Alpha V humans and the technology resulting from that cooperation; Thirdly, the Ceti Alpha V connection to Kodos and Tarsus IV. And finally, how all of that connects to the kidnappings." I state, standing up and walking over look out the view port. "I thought kidnapping people close to me might be about revenge for Kodos, but I'm not so sure now. It still might factor into it, but if the Romulans are involved, it looks more like a smaller part of bigger plan against the Federation. Now it's possible that they wanted my mom and Frank for several reasons; revenge, Starfleet hostages, their personal and professional knowledge, medical experiments, etc. In fact, it's more than likely all of those since we've still heard nothing from them."

"It is definitely unusual behavior from as far as standard abductions go," Nyota agrees. "If this was a typical case, we'd have received a demand or some type of communication from them within twenty-four to forty-eight hours of the kidnapping. Otherwise, it's usually some other motive at play."

"So, what is our next move, though?" Hikaru asks. "We've got all these possibilities, but how can we pursue them without tipping someone off. I mean we've got Section 31 officers on board. There's no way they don't ask questions or alert Starfleet and Section 31 if we suddenly head to the neutral zone or to Ceti Alpha V."

And it comes to me.

"We just make sure they're not here to ask questions." I say. Everyone looks at me blankly. "Starbase 25: We're going to pass by it on our way out of the system. If we can somehow convince them that they're needed there…"

"Then we're rid of two unwanted Section 31 officers." Bones finishes nodding his head. "Not bad, Jim. Not bad at all."

"It is indeed a sound proposal, Jim." Spock replies. "We will however need to formulate a scenario above reproach that would convince them that such a diversion from their orders is necessary. We must remember that they are well trained in the art of subterfuge. An obvious attempt to divert their attention will prove damaging to all of us."

There's that massive understatement once again. "So, we don't fail. We just can't. We've got the rest of today to come up with something. I meet with them in the morning tomorrow, so it would be ideal to head to the Starbase in the afternoon. We need to finish up these maps so we can decide where we're going after Starbase 25. Then, we'll try to figure out the plan to leave them there."

"I think I may know just the way, Keptin," Pavel states confidently.

"Jim." I correct. "I know we're still working on this first name thing, but it's just us, sooo..."

"Jim." Pavel repeats obediently with a grateful smile.

I know this has been hard on him, coming clean like this and feeling doubted by people he considers friends. But this is such as mess, that it couldn't be avoided. Like Pike said, we need to be able trust each other and if I couldn't leave them in the dark about anything else, then that included Pavel's secret as well. Hikaru is already coming around. But if it was me, I know I would want to prove my loyalty anyway I could. And I can tell that Pavel's been waiting for an opportunity to do so.

"Let's hear it, Pavel." I say.

"Well, we've been working with a population of nanites in the science lab. We'll just need to create a few additional populations of nanites in order for the plan to work." Pavel states as if saying, 'the sky is blue'.

"Nanites." I repeat, just to make sure I heard it correctly.

Spock's eyebrow is on the move, along with everyone else's.

Pavel nods. "Nanites and the chip with Kodos' files, too. Don't vorry, everyone. If we do it correctly, there's only a one percent chance that the nanites could alter the programming encoding I install."

I nod. "Hmm, one percent. Pavel weren't you the one telling me about the Enterprise phenomenon?"

Pavel seems to consider this for a moment. "Yes, but that was only studying the rate of chance happenings among ships. This is not a chance happening. Not if we are the ones orchestrating and carrying out the happening."

That's true enough, I guess. "Okay, carry on." I say with a nod.

But a part of me just can't help but hope that the universe is otherwise distracted at the moment.

Just in case.

Defying the odds seems like an Enterprise specialty.

TBC...