fic: I Get That Line All the Time (One Drink Remix)
Title: I Get That Line All the Time
Fandom: Star Trek: AOS / Star Trek: First Contact
Rating: All ages
Pairing(s): Uhura/Lily Sloane, Kirk
Notes: Written for Remix Madness 2011. Based on One Drink by cosmic_llin. 1,735 words.
More notes: This remix was so much fun to write. The Lily/Nyota dialog is pretty much word-for-word what it was in the original. I brought Kirk in because I wondered why he would have told Nyota to flirt with Lily. I mean, I'm sure he would have been happy to have done the honors! Also, it gave me an excuse to write some Jim/Nyota dialog. I've been having a lot of fun with their banter lately. In Reboot, I'm really starting to like the idea that she could be his foil.
Summary: Stuck in the past, Nyota Uhura can't pass up the chance to flirt with one of her childhood idols.
Kirk picks her because she’s the Communications Officer and therefore the most likely to be able to extract information without blowing their cover. That’s what he says, but as they near the roadside bar and she notices the tell-tale quirk at the corner of his lips, Uhura has a brief flashback to their first meeting, and her heart sinks.
“Captain,” she says, catching hold of his sleeve.
He looks down at her quizzically.
“We need to blend in. If anyone suspects we’re from the future, it could cause serious--”
“Lieutenant,” Kirk says, sounding amused, “I know.”
“I know you know,” says Uhura. “I’m just saying…”
“I won’t get into any fights. Scout’s honor.” He tries to salute.
He does it wrong.
Uhura groans. “We’re going to create another alternate time line, one that will destroy Federation history as we know it.”
Kirk pats her hand and starts to steer her toward the bar again. “No, we’re not,” he says cheerfully. “We’re going to get the information we need with minimal fuss, and then we’re going to fix the ship and get back home.”
“Just don’t try to flirt with anyone, Captain, please.”
“I like how you say ‘try.’”
“Captain…”
He flashes her a grin, then pushes the door open, gesturing gallantly for her to precede him. “It’ll be fine. As I believe they say in this time period, it’ll be splurfing!”
Uhura raises her eyebrows. She starts to tell him that he has his slang all wrong, but then he gives her a gentle shove and she finds herself inside the stuffy, crowded bar. A cacophony of voices greets her ears and she cringes, even though she loves a good, rowdy evening as much as the next young person. It’s the temporal disorientation, she tells herself. It’s throwing her off her game. She swallows hard.
“Okay,” Kirk says in her ear. “Find someone who looks willing to talk to us, who’s too drunk to be suspicious. What about her?” The woman Kirk points toward is a fetching redhead. Uhura notes the creamy swell of her breasts and the tight leather pants, and shakes her head.
“No, Captain,” she says. “For one thing, she doesn’t look anywhere near drunk enough to fall for one of your lines.” Kirk makes a wounded sound. “Besides,” she points out, “you’d have competition.” A brawny young man has just appeared at the redhead’s elbow. She smiles as he hands her a pint of beer.
“Fine.” Kirk sounds deflated. He perks up again almost instantly, however. “Hey, for all I know, those two are my ancestors. I wouldn’t want to interfere and possibly deprive the universe of one of its most attractive features. What about her?”
The woman he’s pointing toward now is petite and dark-skinned, with close-cropped black hair. She’s seated by herself at one end of the bar, her pointed chin resting on the heel of her palm. She seems lost in thought, but then she glances up, revealing full lips folded in a half-amused smile and big dark eyes, and Uhura’s breath catches because she knows that face.
“Captain!” she whispers excitedly, turning toward him and grabbing at the front of his shirt. “That’s Lily Sloane!”
Kirk’s jaw drops. “No way. I mean, she definitely looks like Lily Sloane, but-”
“It’s her,” Uhura assures him. “I-” Feeling oddly shy, she lowers her lashes. “When I was very little, my Nyanya - my grandmother, I mean - gave me her biography for a birthday present. It was just a picture book, but … well, it was full of pictures. It was my favorite book for a long time. I’d recognize her face anywhere.” She’s babbling, she knows. She’s flustered. That’s Lily Sloane! Her cheeks are flushed now, and it isn’t because the bar is crowded and poorly ventilated.
“Okay, okay.” There’s no mockery in Kirk’s smile. It’s almost as if he understands what she’s going through. “I don’t see anyone with her. We should offer to buy her a drink.”
“We don’t have any money,” Uhura points out.
Kirk shrugs. “We’ll have to sneak out without paying. I know it’s bad form, but it’s the fate of the galaxy. How do I look?” he asks, combing his fingers through his hair.
He looks great. Even in the bar’s weak lighting, his blue eyes are vivid. His black off-duty uniform - less conspicuous, they decided, than his command gold - definitely flatters his masculine figure. But that’s a moot point.
“If you’re thinking about seduction, Captain, forget it,” Uhura says. “You’re not her type.”
“How do you know?”
“When I got older, I read her other biographies. Lily Sloane is even less interested in you that way than I am.”
Kirk doesn’t miss a beat. “All right, Lieutenant, you seduce her. After all,” he continues, grinning cheekily, “you’re almost as pretty as I am.”
She feels the blistering retort rising in her, but she bites it back. “Fine.” She straightens her shoulders. “I’m buying Lily Sloane a drink. You stay out of trouble.”
He gives her an angelic look. Then he winks. “Have fun. We’ll see who gets the most information.”
“You’re on.”
As Uhura approaches the bar, however, she starts to feel anxious. This is Lily Sloane, one of her childhood idols. This woman was - is - a pioneer in warp core engineering. If it hadn’t been for her, the Phoenix might never have had its first launch, and first contact with the Vulcans might never have taken place. Uhura wants to run up to her. She wants to say, “I had your action figure as a little girl! I’m a Starfleet officer because of you! Look, I’m saving the galaxy just like you!” She wants to just stand there and breathe her in.
Uhura finds a spot along the bar that isn’t too close to Sloane, but still within her line of sight. She leans against the bar and tries to appear casual. Hoping that Kirk isn’t watching, she runs her fingers through her hair in much the same manner he did, letting it spill down her shoulders. She knows that more than a few guys are staring, but she ignores them. She glances at Sloane a few times, then quickly looks away.
What am I doing? Oh, God, what am I doing?
Nyota, calm down! You’re acting like a schoolgirl. This isn’t your first time in a bar. This isn’t the first woman you’ve flirted with. This isn’t even the first time you’ve had to deal with a temporal anomaly. Grow up!
She looks up again and almost chokes when she meets Lily Sloane’s frank gaze. She smiles instinctively - really, it’s only Kirk who inspires her ire - and manages not to fumble her words or trip over her own feet as she glides up to her childhood idol and says, “Buy you a drink?” Okay, so far, so good.
“Sure,” says Sloane coolly. “You choose.”
Well, now she’s stumped. She glances over her shoulder at the drinks on order and doesn’t recognize a single label. Great.
Sloane sighs. “Are you from the future?”
It’s the last thing Uhura expected to be asked, and she turns back around quickly. After a moment, she realizes that her mouth is hanging open. She closes it and forces a laugh. “Why would you say that?”
“The last time travelers,” Sloane explains, “they didn’t recognize any of our drinks either. That had this stuff called synthehol.” She says the word with distaste.
“The last time travelers?” Uhura repeats weakly.
“Let me guess,” says Sloane, and now her lips are curved in a smile. “Somehow, you’ve wound up in this time, and you’re trying to work out what’s going on, so you figured you’d get me drunk and pump me for information.”
“I wasn’t going to get you drunk,” Uhura says, too startled to hide her hurt - or to lie.
“Seduce me, then?”
“The captain said I should.” And now she’s babbling again, but she can’t seem to make herself stop. This is unreal. Assuming they don’t mangle the time line completely, she is never going to live this down. Kirk had better not be watching. “I was just going to buy you a drink and, well, flirt with you a bit to get you to tell me what I need to know.” She’s a little bit breathless when she finishes.
“Nothing stopping you,” Sloane says with a grin.
Uhura’s heart flutters. “You’ll help, then?” The words come out softly, almost shyly.
Sloane shrugs. “One drink can’t hurt. What’s your name?”
She and Kirk came up with pseudonyms on the way over here, but Uhura decides to be honest. It’s a little “take that!” aimed at Kirk, one he’ll sadly never know about. “Nyota,” she replies, letting her lips and tongue caress the syllables; she’s always liked her name.
“Lily.”
“Nice to meet you, Lily.” She manages to sound sincere. Well, it is nice to meet Lily Sloane after having read about her and played at being her so many years ago.
Sloane leans closer. Her scent is a curious mix of vanilla and engine grease and something a little bit peppery. “Say, Nyota - do you actually have any money on you, or do they not have that in the future?”
“I was going to sneak out without paying,” Uhura admits with a conspiratorial smile. “I promise I wouldn’t usually, if the fate of the galaxy wasn’t at stake.”
“Sure, what’s what they all say.” Sloane’s grin is indulgent. She appears to think for a minute, then makes a decision. “This round’s on me, okay? And then … we’ll see.”
Sloane rises in her seat and tries to snag the bartender’s attention. As she does, her hip brushes Uhura’s. That casual touch sends a shower of sparks up through Uhura’s spine. To hide her blush, she glances quickly away - and catches sight of Kirk flirting blatantly with both the bosomy redhead and her date. Schooling her expression and willing the hectic color in her cheeks to fade, Uhura turns back to Sloane, who’s watching her with deep interest now, her eyebrows cocked.
“Sound okay to you, Nyota?”
“Sounds fair,” Uhura says, shaking her hair loose. Some of it catches on Sloane’s sleeve. Canting her hips, she leans back against the bar. Kirk can take notes if he likes. “So, Lily…”
It all goes positively splurfingly.
4/30/11
Fandom: Star Trek: AOS / Star Trek: First Contact
Rating: All ages
Pairing(s): Uhura/Lily Sloane, Kirk
Notes: Written for Remix Madness 2011. Based on One Drink by cosmic_llin. 1,735 words.
More notes: This remix was so much fun to write. The Lily/Nyota dialog is pretty much word-for-word what it was in the original. I brought Kirk in because I wondered why he would have told Nyota to flirt with Lily. I mean, I'm sure he would have been happy to have done the honors! Also, it gave me an excuse to write some Jim/Nyota dialog. I've been having a lot of fun with their banter lately. In Reboot, I'm really starting to like the idea that she could be his foil.
Summary: Stuck in the past, Nyota Uhura can't pass up the chance to flirt with one of her childhood idols.
Kirk picks her because she’s the Communications Officer and therefore the most likely to be able to extract information without blowing their cover. That’s what he says, but as they near the roadside bar and she notices the tell-tale quirk at the corner of his lips, Uhura has a brief flashback to their first meeting, and her heart sinks.
“Captain,” she says, catching hold of his sleeve.
He looks down at her quizzically.
“We need to blend in. If anyone suspects we’re from the future, it could cause serious--”
“Lieutenant,” Kirk says, sounding amused, “I know.”
“I know you know,” says Uhura. “I’m just saying…”
“I won’t get into any fights. Scout’s honor.” He tries to salute.
He does it wrong.
Uhura groans. “We’re going to create another alternate time line, one that will destroy Federation history as we know it.”
Kirk pats her hand and starts to steer her toward the bar again. “No, we’re not,” he says cheerfully. “We’re going to get the information we need with minimal fuss, and then we’re going to fix the ship and get back home.”
“Just don’t try to flirt with anyone, Captain, please.”
“I like how you say ‘try.’”
“Captain…”
He flashes her a grin, then pushes the door open, gesturing gallantly for her to precede him. “It’ll be fine. As I believe they say in this time period, it’ll be splurfing!”
Uhura raises her eyebrows. She starts to tell him that he has his slang all wrong, but then he gives her a gentle shove and she finds herself inside the stuffy, crowded bar. A cacophony of voices greets her ears and she cringes, even though she loves a good, rowdy evening as much as the next young person. It’s the temporal disorientation, she tells herself. It’s throwing her off her game. She swallows hard.
“Okay,” Kirk says in her ear. “Find someone who looks willing to talk to us, who’s too drunk to be suspicious. What about her?” The woman Kirk points toward is a fetching redhead. Uhura notes the creamy swell of her breasts and the tight leather pants, and shakes her head.
“No, Captain,” she says. “For one thing, she doesn’t look anywhere near drunk enough to fall for one of your lines.” Kirk makes a wounded sound. “Besides,” she points out, “you’d have competition.” A brawny young man has just appeared at the redhead’s elbow. She smiles as he hands her a pint of beer.
“Fine.” Kirk sounds deflated. He perks up again almost instantly, however. “Hey, for all I know, those two are my ancestors. I wouldn’t want to interfere and possibly deprive the universe of one of its most attractive features. What about her?”
The woman he’s pointing toward now is petite and dark-skinned, with close-cropped black hair. She’s seated by herself at one end of the bar, her pointed chin resting on the heel of her palm. She seems lost in thought, but then she glances up, revealing full lips folded in a half-amused smile and big dark eyes, and Uhura’s breath catches because she knows that face.
“Captain!” she whispers excitedly, turning toward him and grabbing at the front of his shirt. “That’s Lily Sloane!”
Kirk’s jaw drops. “No way. I mean, she definitely looks like Lily Sloane, but-”
“It’s her,” Uhura assures him. “I-” Feeling oddly shy, she lowers her lashes. “When I was very little, my Nyanya - my grandmother, I mean - gave me her biography for a birthday present. It was just a picture book, but … well, it was full of pictures. It was my favorite book for a long time. I’d recognize her face anywhere.” She’s babbling, she knows. She’s flustered. That’s Lily Sloane! Her cheeks are flushed now, and it isn’t because the bar is crowded and poorly ventilated.
“Okay, okay.” There’s no mockery in Kirk’s smile. It’s almost as if he understands what she’s going through. “I don’t see anyone with her. We should offer to buy her a drink.”
“We don’t have any money,” Uhura points out.
Kirk shrugs. “We’ll have to sneak out without paying. I know it’s bad form, but it’s the fate of the galaxy. How do I look?” he asks, combing his fingers through his hair.
He looks great. Even in the bar’s weak lighting, his blue eyes are vivid. His black off-duty uniform - less conspicuous, they decided, than his command gold - definitely flatters his masculine figure. But that’s a moot point.
“If you’re thinking about seduction, Captain, forget it,” Uhura says. “You’re not her type.”
“How do you know?”
“When I got older, I read her other biographies. Lily Sloane is even less interested in you that way than I am.”
Kirk doesn’t miss a beat. “All right, Lieutenant, you seduce her. After all,” he continues, grinning cheekily, “you’re almost as pretty as I am.”
She feels the blistering retort rising in her, but she bites it back. “Fine.” She straightens her shoulders. “I’m buying Lily Sloane a drink. You stay out of trouble.”
He gives her an angelic look. Then he winks. “Have fun. We’ll see who gets the most information.”
“You’re on.”
As Uhura approaches the bar, however, she starts to feel anxious. This is Lily Sloane, one of her childhood idols. This woman was - is - a pioneer in warp core engineering. If it hadn’t been for her, the Phoenix might never have had its first launch, and first contact with the Vulcans might never have taken place. Uhura wants to run up to her. She wants to say, “I had your action figure as a little girl! I’m a Starfleet officer because of you! Look, I’m saving the galaxy just like you!” She wants to just stand there and breathe her in.
Uhura finds a spot along the bar that isn’t too close to Sloane, but still within her line of sight. She leans against the bar and tries to appear casual. Hoping that Kirk isn’t watching, she runs her fingers through her hair in much the same manner he did, letting it spill down her shoulders. She knows that more than a few guys are staring, but she ignores them. She glances at Sloane a few times, then quickly looks away.
What am I doing? Oh, God, what am I doing?
Nyota, calm down! You’re acting like a schoolgirl. This isn’t your first time in a bar. This isn’t the first woman you’ve flirted with. This isn’t even the first time you’ve had to deal with a temporal anomaly. Grow up!
She looks up again and almost chokes when she meets Lily Sloane’s frank gaze. She smiles instinctively - really, it’s only Kirk who inspires her ire - and manages not to fumble her words or trip over her own feet as she glides up to her childhood idol and says, “Buy you a drink?” Okay, so far, so good.
“Sure,” says Sloane coolly. “You choose.”
Well, now she’s stumped. She glances over her shoulder at the drinks on order and doesn’t recognize a single label. Great.
Sloane sighs. “Are you from the future?”
It’s the last thing Uhura expected to be asked, and she turns back around quickly. After a moment, she realizes that her mouth is hanging open. She closes it and forces a laugh. “Why would you say that?”
“The last time travelers,” Sloane explains, “they didn’t recognize any of our drinks either. That had this stuff called synthehol.” She says the word with distaste.
“The last time travelers?” Uhura repeats weakly.
“Let me guess,” says Sloane, and now her lips are curved in a smile. “Somehow, you’ve wound up in this time, and you’re trying to work out what’s going on, so you figured you’d get me drunk and pump me for information.”
“I wasn’t going to get you drunk,” Uhura says, too startled to hide her hurt - or to lie.
“Seduce me, then?”
“The captain said I should.” And now she’s babbling again, but she can’t seem to make herself stop. This is unreal. Assuming they don’t mangle the time line completely, she is never going to live this down. Kirk had better not be watching. “I was just going to buy you a drink and, well, flirt with you a bit to get you to tell me what I need to know.” She’s a little bit breathless when she finishes.
“Nothing stopping you,” Sloane says with a grin.
Uhura’s heart flutters. “You’ll help, then?” The words come out softly, almost shyly.
Sloane shrugs. “One drink can’t hurt. What’s your name?”
She and Kirk came up with pseudonyms on the way over here, but Uhura decides to be honest. It’s a little “take that!” aimed at Kirk, one he’ll sadly never know about. “Nyota,” she replies, letting her lips and tongue caress the syllables; she’s always liked her name.
“Lily.”
“Nice to meet you, Lily.” She manages to sound sincere. Well, it is nice to meet Lily Sloane after having read about her and played at being her so many years ago.
Sloane leans closer. Her scent is a curious mix of vanilla and engine grease and something a little bit peppery. “Say, Nyota - do you actually have any money on you, or do they not have that in the future?”
“I was going to sneak out without paying,” Uhura admits with a conspiratorial smile. “I promise I wouldn’t usually, if the fate of the galaxy wasn’t at stake.”
“Sure, what’s what they all say.” Sloane’s grin is indulgent. She appears to think for a minute, then makes a decision. “This round’s on me, okay? And then … we’ll see.”
Sloane rises in her seat and tries to snag the bartender’s attention. As she does, her hip brushes Uhura’s. That casual touch sends a shower of sparks up through Uhura’s spine. To hide her blush, she glances quickly away - and catches sight of Kirk flirting blatantly with both the bosomy redhead and her date. Schooling her expression and willing the hectic color in her cheeks to fade, Uhura turns back to Sloane, who’s watching her with deep interest now, her eyebrows cocked.
“Sound okay to you, Nyota?”
“Sounds fair,” Uhura says, shaking her hair loose. Some of it catches on Sloane’s sleeve. Canting her hips, she leans back against the bar. Kirk can take notes if he likes. “So, Lily…”
It all goes positively splurfingly.
4/30/11