And so we begin our Starfleet Academy Month

This first one was suggested and it’s not completely Academy but Academy related, so I figured, it might as well be the first one. Once again I am not sure I did it justice. But I tried!

“Of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world, she walks into mine.”

“What?” Uhura gave Jim a funny look.

Granted after pretty much knowing her for the last five years, Jim had been on the receiving end of a lot of funny looks from her.

Beginning from that first meeting in this very bar in Riverside.

Five years flew by, honestly.

Jim thought since they were in Riverside anyway he might as well go to one of his old favorite hangouts.

They were on Earth, briefly, to pick up Jaylah after she had successfully completed Academic training. That was in San Francisco, of course. Her graduation ceremony was in two days. But since they were here, Jim had decided a quick trip to see his mother might be warranted.

So here they all were. Well some of them anyway.

He’d been surprised when Uhura wanted to come there to the bar with him. Not all of that had been good memories, after all.

He’d told Spock of his intention, of course, but as usual his Vulcan boyfriend had decided not to come along to the bar. He’d stayed behind at the Kirk farmhouse where they were staying before heading out on the shuttle in the morning to San Francisco.

Jim had bellied up to the bar next to Uhura to order a drink when he’d made the quote from Casablanca.

“Old Earth movie,” he told her.

She shrugged and got the bartender’s attention. “I’d like a Klavnian fire tea, three Budweiser classics, two Cardasians sunrises, and uh…”

The bartender said, “Try the Slusho, it’s good.”

Jim blinked. Déjà vu.

“The slusho mix, thank you.”

Jim tried to remember his words from five years ago. “Uh. That’s a lot of drinks for one woman.”

“And a shot of Jack, straight up.”

“Make that two. Shots are on me.”

“Her shot’s on her.” Uhura smirked. “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“Why are we…?”

“I’m fine without your name.”

“Lieutenant—”

“Don’t you remember what you said?”

Jim snorted. “I remember. And I get it. Five years and all that crap. But no offense but your dumbass friends tried to beat me to death that night so I’d really rather not have a repeat performance.”

She shook her head. “Captain, I assure you, no one is here to beat you up.”

Jim sighed and gulped down his shot. “Fine. What are you studying?”

“Xenolinguistics. You have no idea what that means.”

“The study of alien languages, morphology, phonology, syntax. It means you have a talented tongue.”

“I’m impressed. For a moment there I thought you were a dumb hick who only has sex with farm animals.”

“Well, not only.”

“This townie isn’t bothering you, right?”

“Hendorff? You do know I can throw you in the brig now right?” Jim asked, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Hendorff reddened. “Sorry, sir, I was asked to—”

But he never got to finish because suddenly a hand fell on Hendorff’s shoulder, violently pulling him away.

“That townie is off limits to you.”

Jim’s eyes widened when he saw Spock standing there looking angry and not fake angry.

“Ow,” Hendorff cried, holding his arm. “I think you dislocated my shoulder, sir.”

“Spock!” Uhura admonished. “You weren’t supposed to really hurt him. This was a reenactment! For fun.”

“The captain does not appear to find it fun.” Spock glared. “Please leave.”

Uhura sighed. “Good luck,” she whispered to Jim as she moved away to check on “Cupcake”.

“Hey!” the bartender yelled. “Someone has to pay for these drinks.”

Spock moved in to take Uhura’s place.

He gave his boyfriend a quizzical look. “What was that all about?”

“A misguided effort to right a wrong,” Spock admitted. “You had told me about your experience here that night and how your ultimate meeting with Captain Pike after influenced your decision to enlist in Starfleet.”

“Yeah, it did. You asked them to reenact it?”

“I wanted to assure you had I been there, it would have gone differently.”

“Or you would have joined in with the beating,” Jim joked.

“Never.”

“I don’t know, Spock. You were with Uhura then and even you yourself have told me how much she manipulated you back then. You might have thought I was being obnoxious to her like the rest of them did.” Jim smiled though, to soften his words.

“I cannot know, I suppose. But I would like to believe I would have stopped it.”

“Babe, I’d like to think we’ve all changed in these last five years. And if it all brought me to you and what we are now, how can I complain?

Spock moved his hand to Jim’s, putting their fingers together.

Jim smiled. “Want to get out of here and go somewhere a lot more private?”

“I thought you’d never ask.”

“Hey! The drinks!” the bartender shouted after them.