Disclaimer: I'm not nearly creative enough to own these characters.

ONE – Name Your Captain

"So." Myka saw Pete glancing at her in interest from the corner of her eye. "Star Trek fan, huh?"

"I never said that." She felt her fingers involuntarily tense on the steering wheel in front of her and forced herself to relax. As of yet, she couldn't quite pin down why Pete's desire to make small talk irked her, but she did know that he picked up on it when she did. She had promised herself that, even if the irritation didn't cease, her outward reactions to it would.

"Well, you picked up the 'red shirt' comment with ease. I figured only a Star Trek fan would pick up on that." He mock sighed and she saw the annoying sly grin on his face – her fingers tightened again slightly, the knuckles turning white. "You can't hide these things from me, Myka."

"I may have seen a few of the movies." She gritted through her teeth.

"Ha!" Pete's finger was suddenly out, accusing, shaking in her direction. That sly grin had become a full-on smirk and she made no attempt to hide the tension in her fingers now. "Now I know you're lying, because the 'red shirt' concept stemmed from the television SHOWS and not the movies."

"It's a part of pop culture, Pete, everyone knows about red shirts." She rolled her eyes and turned the wheel left as they approached Leena's. "You don't have to be a fan of Star Trek to know that one."

"Oh, well." He leaned back in what she knew was a practiced fake-out and waited for him to pounce. Pete Lattimer always had to pounce. "I was hoping to debate who your favorite Star Trek Captain was, but since you haven't seen all of them, you're just going to have to take my word that it was Captain Kirk."

"WHAT?!" Despite the profound promise made to herself only moments before not to engage in the ridiculous conversation that she just knew was brewing inside of him, the words were spewing out of her. "How can you say that? The man whored his way around the Galaxy."

"I knew it! I KNEW IT!" Pete was crowing now, the laughter reverberating around the cab of the SUV, the smile on his face wide. "You are a fan."

"Only an idiot would choose Kirk." She ground her teeth silently and wondered if her partnership with Pete would lead to serious dental work in the future.

"Because he had that certain je ne sais quoi. He was like a cowboy out among the stars, living it up, embracing the adventure." His face had taken on that small boy appeal, eyes staring somewhere other than the view in front of him. She was sure at some point that Pete had wanted to be the Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise.

"Embracing anything with breasts."

"Okay, so maybe he wasn't the most discerning when it came to playmates, but the other Captains were so BORING. All they ever did was follow the rules."

"Maybe that's because they were more intelligent. It takes brains to make things happen while following rules. How many times did Kirk get demoted?"

"Then who is your favorite?" He had turned fully in the seat to look at her. "You must be dying to set me straight by now."

"This conversation is ridiculous." The SUV slid into the driveway in front of the Bed & Breakfast and she cut the engine.

"No, it's not. A person's favorite Star Trek Captain can tell you a lot about someone's personality." He eyed her speculatively. "You loved Picard, didn't you?"

She could feel her lips pursing together and the vein in her forehead actually begin to throb when he crowed in victory.

"I knew it. Of course, you would love him. Mr. By-the-Book." Pete unbuckled his seat belt and was out the door, her own hand pausing on the handle as she took a deep breath and counted to five. I will not shoot my partner. I will not shoot my partner.

"So the fact that your Captain was a whore reflects a lot on your personality?" Myka couldn't help but retort as she pulled suitcases out of the SUV.

"Eh." Pete shrugged. "Never said I didn't like the ladies. I'd like to think I have standards that are a little bit higher." He strung out the word little and held two of his fingers up to signify how little. "I don't know if I could handle a chick with green skin or something."

"Don't sell yourself short." She slammed the back door shut and was up and moving toward her bedroom before he responded.

******

At two in the morning she was still trying to sleep, unsuccessfully. And now the reason keeping her awake was a strange succession of noises coming from the general direction of Pete's room. Sighing, she stepped into her slippers and a heavy bathrobe, moving across the creaky wooden floor of the hallway and knocking. The noises paused and there was shuffling before Pete opened the door, sweatpants and a clearly hastily donned t-shirt hanging off of him.

"What's up?"

"What are you doing in here? I can hear it across the hall." She frowned, although she knew he would say that was just how her face looked normally.

"Um." He actually looked a little embarrassed, but shrugged and held up his other hand. The DVD box for Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan stared back at her. "Watching a movie."

"You're kidding me. You brought that with you from DC?"

"Nah. I picked it up at Best Buy when we stopped for lunch in DC. It was two doors down from us." He shrugged again. "Guess I just had the urge."

"Well." She glanced away in discomfort before looking back at him. "Just keep it down, please?"

"Do you…uh…do you want to watch it with me?" He half-grinned at her in what she figured he thought was an inviting manner. And the truth was, she did want to.

"Well…it is the best of the movies with the original cast." She moved forward slightly and that was all it took for him to pull back and let her in.

His laptop was on the bedside table and she crawled up, Pete settling comfortable next to her against the bedspread. He leaned back and a sudden childlike impulse had her on her stomach, her feet up and swinging in the air. Pete grinned at her and she couldn't really stop the answering grin that sprung unbidden to her face as he restarted the movie. Sometimes she thought Pete Lattimer was alright.