Best I Ever Had

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any related characters/situations from any of the shows, movies, books, fanfics, etc. I do not own the song "Best I Ever Had" it belongs to Vertical Horizon, though I am basing my story off of the version by Gary Allan. PLEASE DON'T SUE ME, I HAVE NOTHING!

Notes: Yes, I know that I should be working on "Welcome to My Life" and "Raiders of the Lost Valley" but my muses refuse to work on anything until I do this oneshot. So to appease my muses, and hopefully get some work done on said stories, this is my tribute. This takes place during Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, hope you enjoy.

They were dismantling her. He stood at the window looking out over his ship.

So you sailed away, into a gray sky morning.

She hung in the anti-grav chamber, glistening as the techs went over her again, cleaning her scarred sides before they began to scrap her. Like dressing a lady for her funeral.

Now I'm here to stay, love can be so boring.

Jim sighed. She had taken him through the best and worst of his career. Giving him her best, taking all the worst and now she was dying.
And nothing's quite the same now; I just say your name now.

Enterprise.

How could they do this? How could they just let his Queen, his royal lady die in such a way?
But it's not so bad... You're only the best I ever had.

His chest tightened.
You don't want me back. You're just the best I ever had.

So much had been given for her.

He remembered the first day that he laid eyes on her. She was sitting in a dock like this, fresh out of a refitting. She was already famous under Pike and now she was passing that fame to Jim.
So you stole my world, now I'm just a phony

Now she sat, breathing her last. Scorch marks still marred her perfect body. She had held together in ways that no other ship would. She had held together just long enough to save them all, and at such a price.
Remembering the girl leaves me down and lonely.

He had tried all he could to keep them from dismantling her. Pulled all his strings, called in all his favors, nothing worked.
We'll send it in a letter to make yourself feel better.

Nothing worked.
But it's not so bad... You're only the best I ever had.
You don't want me back. You're just the best I ever had.

They had gone after Spock, and she took them almost eagerly. Racing away from her quiet death, she took them once again into the fury of friends and enemies. She proved once again that this Lady does not go down without a fight.

And it might take some time to patch me up inside, but I can't take it so I run away and hide.

Jim could feel her pushing just a little harder, just a little longer, to redeem what had been given to keep her alive.
I might find it in time that You were always right; You were always right.

He gave that order. The one he had given in moments of desperation, but fortune had always smiled, and they had found a way around it. But that was not the case now. It had to be this way.

So you sailed away into a gray sky morning.

He stood on the planet's surface and watched her fly above him.
Now I'm here to stay, Love can be so boring.
She burst into a morning star, a light of hope in a darkening sky. She proved, once again, that there was always a way. Just this time, the sacrifice was hers and hers alone.

Was it what you wanted? Could it be I'm haunted?

But it still made him ache.
But it's not so bad...You're only the best I ever had.

Jim watched her last flames fall through the atmosphere. She had gone out as he always thought she would. Not in some shipyard, but here, on the field of battle, once again giving her all for him.
You don't want me back. You're just the best I ever had.

"Bones... What have I done?"
"What you had to do. What you always do: Turn death into a fighting chance to live."

But it was her death.

You're just the best I ever had...
His Enterprise.