The Vow au bc I love this plot twist and Aqua/Jim are adorable

[done_in_3]

Three years, nearly four, of wedded bliss. Jim was calmer, more focused and honestly a better captain. He had his wife, his beloved Aqua to thank for that, she was his light, his heart, his whole world. She kept him grounded and morally upright and he honestly took fewer stupid risks with his life thanks to her. The crew ran better, the Enterprise had better records, life was good.

Jim had bought them a house for when he was on Shore Leave on Earth, it barely got used but when Enterprise was docked, well they needed to crash somewhere. It was a nice place in San Francisco, in the heart of downtown and worth every penny of the millions it was worth.The property values were sky high but Jim was a veteran captain and got paid accordingly. He used his money on very little else besides charity so he was happy to spoil his wife with a comfortable home. Besides, if and when they had kids... well if their house just happened to be in an ideal school district he wouldn't call it an accident.

Everything was perfect, which begged for it all to come crashing down soon enough. Jim wouldn't remember the crash or the drunk kids in a truck behind him and Aqua on the road, he wouldn't remember that he shouldn't be alive, his wayfinder had saved him....but he doesn't know what this anymore. All he knows is he's laying in bed, he feels numb.. and he's waking up in what sounds and smells like a hospital.

"Mmm... mm." he was so tired and yet his mind was racing with questions. 'Where am I? What happened? Where's my ship?'

Comments

o.o!! /hands over floss.

[watersacrificed]

"No don't, he's got enough on his plate." Aqua, being stubborn as always. Maybe if she could cast a cure spell on herself it could make some of her sickness go away. It was a strange and horrible way to end their date. Honestly, Aqua wished she could've held up a little longer, but her stomach wasn't having any of it.

Once they stepped inside, she rushed over to the bathroom. A bowl wouldn't do for her. No, she wanted to be near the toilet bowl and hurl her guts out. That's where Jim would find her, hunched over and ready to make camp in the bathroom.

/flosses away.

[done_in_3]

He came to her, wincing slightly at the sounds of retching. Poor thing... awkward first date but he wasn't grossed out, just worrying about his need to blow chunks now too. Ugh, vomiting was contagious. But he held it in.

"Hey, here..." he got her water too, to wash and spit out. "Let me get something else for you..." he brings her a blanket and pillow. "This should help. You want me to sit with you? I feel bad leaving you alone."

yay!

[watersacrificed]

Vomiting was contagious because it just was. Maybe they should've contacted Bones for this. He wouldn't be on the verge of retching too.

She didn't look at him, only focused on clearing away whatever was in her stomach and flushing the toilet. She did take the water to rinse her mouth out, grateful that he was doing small things for her.

"You don't have to. I don't...I don't want you to get sick to." But dear god, why did her stomach continue to do flips?

[done_in_3]

"Well that's a little silly." he sat next to her, legs akimbo. "I've been with you all day and all yesterday. If you're contagious then I'm sick already." he shrugged. "So you can be on the other end of this later when I'm driving the porcelain bus." he smiled charmingly despite the circumstances.

"Come on, you sure you don't want to lay down? I can even tell you a story." she looked like shit. Yeesh, maybe she really was sick...

[watersacrificed]

Jim had a point. Whatever Aqua had, he would've been showing symptoms by now. Maybe it was all the stress of his memory loss that was finally getting to her. She was keeping it under wraps for a while and now it wanted to manifest itself in a new way.

"...if we both get sick we'll be screwed." Both of them acting like children who needed help and reassurance that everything would be fine. But, he was already here and if he was offering to take care of her...why should she push away?

"Fine, I'll lay down...I think...I think I've emptied out my stomach." It didn't feel like she had anything left and god help her if her stomach began to growl because she tossed up everything. Taking Jim's advice, she laid down on the pillow and blanket her grabbed for her.

"So is the story you're going to tell made up or real?"

[done_in_3]

"Wow, are you always this optimistic? Nevermind, it's the puke talking I know... and for your information it's every bit real. See I was running my ship this one day. And we ran across this stolen shuttle that was going kind of rogue, right?

I have Uhura hail it, no response, I have her hail it again. Nothing. This ship's busting through warp cores, it was never meant to be hurtling at the speed it is. We're concerned it's going to burn out but then out of nowhere we get this distress signal that the ship captain wants to take refuge on Enterprise. I accepted but only because I was curious, you know. He had the weirdest cargo..." his voice was conspiratory, almost like he was telling her a bedtime story.

[watersacrificed]

Aqua stayed quiet, letting her eyes drift to a close as she listened to Kirk's story. She loved how animated he was getting, as though he was telling the story to an excitable five year old. It helped her take her mind off her stomach which seemed to finally settle down. But she was in no hurry to leave the bathroom.

"Don't tell me there was a man-eating plant in the cargo...and McCoy nearly bit your head off for letting it come aboard the ship..." she teased, a smile playing on her lips.

[done_in_3]

" even worse. Women. Beautiful girls, but they were accompanied by the captain who was this creepy pudgy man named Mudd. He says they're his cargo and he needs a ride to the nearest mining planet. Now we were low on dilithium crystals do we were headed there anyway. Thing is... these girls had a weird power. They seduced men just looking at them. My crew was reduced to blathering idiots following them around like puppies..." never mind what his own reaction was. He was glad he could help get feel better. This was fun.

[watersacrificed]

Aqua's chuckling had turned into weak laughter. In her mind she was picturing all of Jim's male crew members acting like idiots. Or acting more like Ven whenever he was excited over something. Her mind didn't dare to think how her husband might've reacted. It was all in the past, nothing for her to think about.

"Please tell me when it was all over, Uhura made you give her a raise or a better room."

[done_in_3]

"She didn't ask, I gave her one anyway. The men were only ogling Mudd's women, they had this aura about them... turns out it was a drug he was making them take, he called it Venus. It was some sort of hormone supplement, it supercharged them with estrogen, it made their skin glow, their hair was shinier, their faces were more youthful... they looked like the magazine models only real. It was nuts. Thing is he wanted to trade them to the miners on the dilithium crystal facility were were headed to. We were prepared to buy crystals off them but damn Mudd... he got there first through a loophole he made for himself and traded the women to the miners first! They gave him everything they had for those three girls, so nothing for the Enterprise, Mudd has all the power in his money grubbing hands, and those girls are fed to those men and I tell you, they looked like wolves when they saw them. They were fine men until the women showed up, they turned into animals even though they still talked and walked as professionals. I couldn't leave them like that, I couldn't leave at all. Enterprise was starving for those crystals..."

...I thought I replied to this

[watersacrificed]

"So you figured out a way for the Enterprise to get those crystals, save the women and everyone is in your eternal debt?" Aqua lightly joked, waiting anxiously for him to finish his story. He was doing a great job of keeping her attention on him, practically hanging off his every word.

"You never told me this story before. What made you want to share it now?"

Happens to us all

[done_in_3]

"You're ruining the ending." he said sarcastically, though with a smile.

"Well the drugs were a thing the girls had to keep taking, and Mudd and I got caught up in a struggle for a while, just long enough for one of the girls to miss her dose. Apparently that drug was so potent, her system was so overloaded with Estrogen that if she didn't take it exactly on time her body started to go back to normal pretty fast. And it wasn't just their looks that changed. That drug made them more flirtatious, more nurturing, they just doted on the miners like it was their dream come true. You know, exactly what a bunk full of lonely miners dream of...they were nice enough to the girls, they were starved for female company. Worshiped their feet... but I knew that would only last until they wanted carnal relations and then they'd start fighting... the miners weren't interested in any deal with the Enterprise and Mudd had all the crystals and no ship to fly on. We were all at an impasse but that girl without her dose... she started going back to normal and the miners caught on, they were pissed as hell. She started looking more normal, started getting annoyed at things, started being a real woman instead of some fetishized living doll... they wanted Mudd to take them back, Mudd didn't want to trade, the girls... two of them were terrified they were going to lose out on the eternal youth the drug brought... the third one, she was almost normal again and she ran off, out of the mining facility, couldn't take it anymore. There was a sandstorm coming, a big one, the kind you could get lost in four feet from your front door. I ran after her, nearly got us both stranded out there in the desert.... ah, long story short... the miners got a dose of reality and decided to keep the girls as they were without the drug. The girls seemed happy enough. I was alright with leaving them there after that. Mudd had to hand over the crystals we needed and Enterprise was free to go.

"I tell that story because I... it made me think for a long time after that. Most of the men in my crew had a lot to say about those girls before they stopped the drugs but when they went off them and were normal, the boys weren't so impressed. In fact some of them said they wouldn't have taken the women the way the miners did, one even tried to find Venus for his girlfriend to start taking. It got me thinking.... I didn't find myself attracted to those girls beyond finding them beautiful. My men were dragging their jaws on the floor but those girls were never NOT pretty. They were never annoying or weird or angry. They were obedient and they were thrilled with anything you said to them and I just.... it rubbed me the wrong way. I never thought about it before them but I knew then I wanted a human being and not a 'yes girl'. I wanted someone real....

And you're real."

/luffs, shouldn't you be asleep?

[watersacrificed]

Aqua raised an eyebrow at him. Some of the men in his crew wanted their significant others to take the Venus drug. She shook her head at that, finding it to be a little sad. Why couldn't those men appreciate what they had? But at least Jim didn't fall for it. Hard to believe since he was a womanizer.

"....yes, I am." She was real, stubborn, really stubborn and able to keep a calm head on her shoulders. She was there to keep Kirk on his toes, to give him a witty retort and bring him back down from the clouds. They kept each other leveled, safe and happy.

"You've called ma 'real pain' at times, but I think you enjoyed that part of my personality. Especially whenever I became a 'mother hen' around you."

I did go to sleep then I plonked off for a while, sorry this is late!

[done_in_3]

"I'd prefer you be a pain than a facade." he pet her hair gently. He had a strange affinity to her now, even though he clearly didn't love her.

"Eh, that might be welcome... my mom didn't really... she wasn't really around much. But I bet you know all that." another thing he didn't really dive into though he had told his wife that his mother was emotionally absent from his life, she knew Winona Kirk wasn't much of a mother.

[watersacrificed]

"..I don't actually." It would be easy for her to lie and say she did, but Aqua wanted to remain honest with him. His past was a sore spot, she knew and never wanted to press on with it unless he was willing to talk about.

"It's...not something we talk about often, and after living with two kids essentially, someone had to remind them to pick up their things." Luckily Eraqus was there to tell them to eat their veggies.

"I think...I feel well enough to crawl into bed."

[done_in_3]

"Might as well get it out now then." while he was willing to talk. "Let me help you to bed first." he reached for her, helped her to her feet if she wanted he'd even carry her to bed.

"Sounds like what Uhura said I needed, a nanny who'd also sleep with me." he rolled his eyes. "I hated when she said that but I knew she was right... eh... my mom didn't want to be around me ever since I was born. Seeing me reminded her of my dad and she avoided me. Took every mission she could off the planet and said she was being a strong parent by providing for Sam and I financially when really we just needed someone around."

[watersacrificed]

Aqua greatly appreciated him helping her to her feet. She managed to get up just fine, no sign of dizziness or anything else. Maybe it was just a seven hour flu bug or something.

"Thank you..." she murmured, climbing into bed and loosely hugged the covers.

"You still had her, that has to count for something. I mean, I don't remember my parents, what they were like or who I take after. It's one of the reasons why I tend to hold tightly to Ven, Terra and you."

[done_in_3]

"Yeah? That's got to be hard... I get that with my dad. Well sort of. People talk to me about him and I can see his photos but I have no idea who he was. And him not being around seemed more like a presence than he should have been if he were still alive...anyway. Yeah I still had her. We aren't close though." in fact he resents her most of the time.

"That's got to be hard not knowing your family...What happened? Do you know?"

[watersacrificed]

For Aqua she had nothing. She had no pictures, no memories of her former parents. There were times when she imagined what her father and mother looked like, but that's all she could do. No spell or magic could give her a glimpse into the past.

"No, I don't. I didn't dwell on it when I was younger. I had my studies to worry about and Eraqus, was more than enough for a father." she laid her head down on the pillow, curling up against him slightly.

[done_in_3]

He wondered which was worse... so to speak. They both had their ups and downs. He had a shadow to live under even though he didn't know the man. Knowing about him just made it sting more. In a way her clean cut was easier... and harder because he at least had some closure about his father. He knew what kind of man he was. He knew he was a lot like him.

"I....can grieve with you." that was better than 'I'm sorry' in his book.

[watersacrificed]

It was touching Jim would be this understanding with her. That they were exploring what the other had kept hidden for years. While they knew each other, they rarely touched upon subjects like these. She reached out to squeeze his hand.

"We can grieve together." Though there was rarely any room for grieving. Not when he brought so much happiness in her life.

"Though I sometimes wished I had a mother figure around. Being the only girl...there were certain topics that were difficult to talk to Eraqus about." Or have the man tell her about. Like the birds and the bees, or what happened every month.

[done_in_3]

"Yeah. I like that." having someone to go to was a nice idea, having a designated person to be open and vulnerable to was good for him, even though he wasn't the type of person to actually take advantage of that. He knew better, he knew he should. He was starting to understand the idea of why a spouse was nice. Though he didn't think he had an easy time with the monogamy thing.

"I bet. Ah... you can talk to me about it but I make no promise I will be of any use." he's never been the kind of man who is rendered uncomfortable by the mention of periods. He loves women, he had to get used to the cycle, never bothered him with Aqua or previous lovers. But... that doesn't exactly make him helpful to her need for a mother figure.

"I kind of want one too..." even though she just said he should be happy to still have his mom.

[watersacrificed]

Sooner or later Jim would be won over the monogamy idea. Though, she wasn't in need of a mother figure. Not right now. She learned things about being a woman from Eraqus. She was raised to be a lady and a warrior. Sure, there were times when she wanted a mother figure around if only to spare her the awkward conversations about her adolescent development.

"Ahh, no. I meant when I was younger having a motherly figure would've been helpful in that respect..." she replied, letting out a soft chuckle.

"Well...I can't be your mother, since that's...that's just too creepy. But I'll be more than happy to be a mother hen to you," the bluenette teased.

[done_in_3]

"Oh. Right. Well at least that's over." he snuggled into his side of the bed, surprised at how ready he felt for a lazy nap. He could read one of the books he bought if she fell asleep before him.

"If you don't feel better tomorrow I'm calling Bones oh 'mother hen'."

[watersacrificed]

A frown appeared on her lips hearing who would be called in tomorrow. Okay, now he was worrying for nothing. There was no reason to tear Bones away from his vacation to fuss over her.

"Don't you dare trouble him. I'll be fine on my own. In fact, I'm feeling better already. So no need to call him." Her voice was stern then, making sure Jim knew she wasn't going to be pleased if he invited his friend and doctor over to their home for a silly check up.