fic: Courtship in Sickbay
Title: Courtship in Sickbay
Author: kousuke_blade
Fandom: Star Trek Reboot
Characters: George/Winona, two OCs for plot devices
Summary: Was it possible to fall in love with someone you hardly knew?
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,024
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Beta: The lovely and wonderful fiery_twilight. Bonus thanks to artic_fox for talking it over with me.
Notes: Written for darkangsty42. ♥
Probably considered an AU since in canon these two got married around the age of nineteen but the idea wouldn't leave me alone.
She was unconscious in sickbay when he first noticed her. She had been in his graduating class of Starfleet; they more than likely had classes together but never had they actually been acquainted - which, looking back on it during their wedding, he regretted. She always told him that she didn’t, to which he habitually responded to by saying that they could have made even more memories together. And she would always end the discussion by reminding him that they had the rest of their lives to make memories.
The USS Kelvin had received a distress signal from a rogue planet, not of the Federation. While they had been advised not to go, they set the course for the planet. The planet was composed of rainforest plant life and inhabited by an indigenous tribe. After offering their assistance and returning to their initial course, a crew-wide hypo was issued as precaution against any toxins that a crew member may have been subject to. It was in sickbay at that time that George Samuel Kirk Sr. first took notice of Winona Chayton.
“I’ve been on this starship for nearly a year and I’ve never talked to her. We graduated together!” George exclaimed in amazement as Frederick rolled up the man’s sleeve to administer the hypo. George couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her, making Fred roll his eyes and heave a sigh. “What happened to her?”
“Don’t give me that love at first sight crap, George.” Fred noticed that George hadn’t flinched over the hypo, making him think that perhaps his friend really had gone off the deep end. When George said nothing in response, Fred gave in. “She was exposed to some poison on the planet.” Before George could ever utter a single syllable, Fred cut him off. “She’ll be fine. She should wake up in a couple of days or so.” He began putting his equipment away and waved a hand in front of George’s face. “Get out of here. You’ll creep her out if she wakes up with you staring at her.”
Rolling his eyes, George chuckled softly and conceded.
He was passing by sickbay on the way back to his quarters, chancing a casual glance inside through the glass. She was still there and Fred seemed to be out. Looking in both directions, as if what he was doing was wrong, he stealthily slipped inside. The room was chokingly clean and smelled strong of antiseptics as he silently walked over to her bedside. Pulling up a chair, he sat beside her for no reason other than wanting to be near her.
Minutes ticked by and no one came into sickbay. George shifted occasionally to find a more comfortable position in the angular chair before his eyelids began to droop. Before he knew it, he was asleep.
“George Kirk?”
Mumbling as he woke, he instinctively shot a hand to the edge of his mouth, messily wiping as his eyes fluttered open. The image he met seemed unreal at first. Green eyes gleamed up at him, a brow furrowed against a pale white face. She was awake at last but still looked weak, so fragile that with one touch, she would break; she was beautiful. He pushed himself up and let a soft smile grace his features. “Hi,” he murmured, speaking as if they were old friends. And she knew his name, he noted with glee, feeling as though he was going through puberty again.
“What are…what are you doing here?” she inquired, voice breathless. “I didn’t even think you knew who I was.” The smile was returned, head tilted towards him.
His own smile turned rather sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, trying to come up with something witty to say, something to impress her. “Of course I did! How could I not?” he blurted out lamely, furrowing his brows as he gave her a look of incredulousness. “Winona…Winona…” He waved his hand, sputtering and pressing his lips firmly together. Last names didn’t really matter, did they? She’d just end up Winona Kirk in the end and that he knew he could remember.
“Chayton.” She supplied dryly. “It’s Sioux.” Her lips curled upwards into knowing smile and she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position.
“Sioux, huh? Never would have pegged you as being part-Sioux.” He mentally winced, knowing his words were scoring him absolutely no good points.
Her eyes did the talking for several moments as they lit up over his words. This wasn’t what she had been expecting to wake up to but she wouldn’t complain either way. While she had known who he was (and she was beginning to suspect that the same couldn’t be said for him), she had never actually paid him any attention. She hadn’t seen the need. “How about you? Good old American boy, I’m assuming.”
“You assume right,” he laughed and ducked his head for a moment before leaning forward slightly in his chair. “I’m from Iowa.’
“A farm boy? Interesting.” She smiled again which was soon interrupted by a yawn as her eyes started fluttering shut. “Never…would have pegged…” But she was asleep before she could finish her thought.
His visits to sickbay to see her became more and more frequent with each passing day. Soon it became a ritual - he would stop by at the beginning and end of each of his breaks. They fell into comfortable conversations, discussing various topics from Starfleet to family to their favourite kind of toothpaste. In the beginning she would continually fall asleep early on in their conversations, but as time passed, and her strength slowly returned, she was able to stay awake throughout his entire visit. He took notice of the color returning to her cheeks and the way she spoke with more animation and how her body fidgeted, eager to get out of sickbay and back to work as a Starfleet officer.
She often conveyed to him how cooped up she felt in sickbay. It had been nearly a week now and Doctor Mallery said she would be able to leave by the end of week. Until then, she needed to fully recuperate. George took notice of her anxiousness and desire to leave, prompting him to approach his friend and convince him to let her leave early. That earned him a quick slap across the head as Fred berated him for encouraging her to have a relapse.
In fact, George was rather convinced that Fred was both surprised and bothered by his new friendship with Winona. It was lunch in the cafeteria that gave it away.
“You know, if it was me, I’d be unnerved by someone watching me sleep while I was in sickbay. You’re like some sort of creeper, George.”
“George’s a creeper? Here I thought he was your regular farm-boy gentleman.” Abel Diederich, pilot for the USS Kelvin, said as he bounded up to them, swiftly taking a seat at the table with George and Fred.
“I’m not a creeper. Fred, stop giving people that idea. They’re going to start believing you.” George snapped, sighing as he brought a hand up to the side of his temple. Fred was a novel. In fact, George often thought he should be studied because it was quite remarkable how easily he gave people headaches.
“I can’t help it if they believe the truth. Would you rather I lie to them? Honestly, George, look at yourself,” Fred said haughtily, clearly enjoying his time taunting his friend. “He’s been wooing Winona Chayton in sickbay,” he supplied for Abel, who had just parted his lips to ask again why George was supposedly a creeper.
“How does that make him a creeper? She’s in sickbay, he’s giving her company. Isn’t that usually classified as sweet?”
“Yes, thank you, Abel!”
“Not if they had never spoken previously,” Fred began, clearly miffed that Abel was taking George’s side in this and aiming to get the pilot back on his side. “And suddenly he’s watching her sleep and she wakes up to him just sitting there. Horrible bedside manners, if you ask me.”
“Oh yeah, like yours are much better.” George snapped to the doctor.
“I’m just saying, George. What’s it going to be like when you meet the parents? When they ask how you two met? ‘Oh yeah, I watched her sleep in sickbay without even knowing who she was.’?” Fred raised his eyebrows and looked at Abel expectantly, who paused for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and conceding to the doctor.
Noticing that Abel had flipped sides, George threw his hands up into the air. “I knew her before this! We just…never actually talked.”
“Down, George. We don’t want you making a scene.” Fred muttered quietly, leaning back in his chair, knowing full well he had won this round.
The next day when George entered sickbay, eager to see Winona as this would be her last day and he wanted to escort her out, he was surprised when the sickbay consisted solely of Fred and two of his nurses. His eyes immediately shot to the bed Winona had been occupying for the week to find it tidied and completely void. He hesitated before turning and striding purposely towards the doctor. “You!” he exclaimed in an accusatory manner, holding up a finger towards Fred.
“Yes. Me. What did I say about scenes?” Fred said nonchalantly, refilling several empty hypos and storing them away. His eyes didn’t once slide over towards George who was standing, huffing and puffing at his friend.
“You let her leave before I got here!”
“You’ll thank me later.” As he finished with his last hypo, he finally lifted his head and looked at George. “Now be a dear and run off, would you? I actually work on this starship unlike some.” He said pointedly before brushing past the lovesick officer.
“Computer, locate crew member Chayton.” When George had left sickbay, determined to see her, he realized he had no idea where she could have been and the USS Kelvin was a large starship. Pinpointing one crew member, especially when they had the ability to move, would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Therefore, George expressed his gratitude towards technology and scanned the results the computer had given him: level three, the cafeteria.
“You were gone when I came to see you,” George stated bluntly as he approached Winona’s table, standing before her as she ate alone.
Looking up, just as she was about to put a spoonful of soup into her mouth, she blinked at the man standing in front of her. “Doctor Mallery insisted I could leave as I long as I returned at least once a week for the next three weeks for a check-up.”
“Doctor Mallery certainly is proficient.” George muttered, teeth clenched together, knowing full well Fred had done this on purpose. Taking a breath, he shifted on his feet for a moment, before blurting out if he could join her. When she conceded, he took a seat across from her and smiled. “Sorry. I was just hoping to walk you out. It’s always a pleasure to be able to leave Doctor Mallery, er, sickbay, after such a long stay,” he said plainly, knowing he was completely giving away the story at hand.
Quirking a brow upwards, she nodded absentmindedly to him. “I had been waiting for you but, as I said, Doctor Mallery insisted. He was absolutely sure about the fact that I should leave right away.”
“Well, he’s not here to insist anything right now.”
“Oh yeah? And just what would he insist right now?” Her eyes and tone were playful, as she twirled the spoon in her hand, grinning mischievously as she imagined any of George’s answers to that.
“He’d probably insist you refuse my dinner invitation.”
“Dinner?” she inquired.
“Yeah, dinner. We have shore leave next week. Perhaps I could take you out then.”
“Or you could meet me here tonight around seven.” She said simply, raising her eyebrows at him before returning her attention to her meal.
“The cafeteria? Hardly what I’d call romantic.”
“Then start getting creative, Kirk.”
Author: kousuke_blade
Fandom: Star Trek Reboot
Characters: George/Winona, two OCs for plot devices
Summary: Was it possible to fall in love with someone you hardly knew?
Rating: PG
Word Count: 2,024
Disclaimer: Don't own it.
Beta: The lovely and wonderful fiery_twilight. Bonus thanks to artic_fox for talking it over with me.
Notes: Written for darkangsty42. ♥
Probably considered an AU since in canon these two got married around the age of nineteen but the idea wouldn't leave me alone.
She was unconscious in sickbay when he first noticed her. She had been in his graduating class of Starfleet; they more than likely had classes together but never had they actually been acquainted - which, looking back on it during their wedding, he regretted. She always told him that she didn’t, to which he habitually responded to by saying that they could have made even more memories together. And she would always end the discussion by reminding him that they had the rest of their lives to make memories.
The USS Kelvin had received a distress signal from a rogue planet, not of the Federation. While they had been advised not to go, they set the course for the planet. The planet was composed of rainforest plant life and inhabited by an indigenous tribe. After offering their assistance and returning to their initial course, a crew-wide hypo was issued as precaution against any toxins that a crew member may have been subject to. It was in sickbay at that time that George Samuel Kirk Sr. first took notice of Winona Chayton.
“I’ve been on this starship for nearly a year and I’ve never talked to her. We graduated together!” George exclaimed in amazement as Frederick rolled up the man’s sleeve to administer the hypo. George couldn’t seem to take his eyes off her, making Fred roll his eyes and heave a sigh. “What happened to her?”
“Don’t give me that love at first sight crap, George.” Fred noticed that George hadn’t flinched over the hypo, making him think that perhaps his friend really had gone off the deep end. When George said nothing in response, Fred gave in. “She was exposed to some poison on the planet.” Before George could ever utter a single syllable, Fred cut him off. “She’ll be fine. She should wake up in a couple of days or so.” He began putting his equipment away and waved a hand in front of George’s face. “Get out of here. You’ll creep her out if she wakes up with you staring at her.”
Rolling his eyes, George chuckled softly and conceded.
He was passing by sickbay on the way back to his quarters, chancing a casual glance inside through the glass. She was still there and Fred seemed to be out. Looking in both directions, as if what he was doing was wrong, he stealthily slipped inside. The room was chokingly clean and smelled strong of antiseptics as he silently walked over to her bedside. Pulling up a chair, he sat beside her for no reason other than wanting to be near her.
Minutes ticked by and no one came into sickbay. George shifted occasionally to find a more comfortable position in the angular chair before his eyelids began to droop. Before he knew it, he was asleep.
“George Kirk?”
Mumbling as he woke, he instinctively shot a hand to the edge of his mouth, messily wiping as his eyes fluttered open. The image he met seemed unreal at first. Green eyes gleamed up at him, a brow furrowed against a pale white face. She was awake at last but still looked weak, so fragile that with one touch, she would break; she was beautiful. He pushed himself up and let a soft smile grace his features. “Hi,” he murmured, speaking as if they were old friends. And she knew his name, he noted with glee, feeling as though he was going through puberty again.
“What are…what are you doing here?” she inquired, voice breathless. “I didn’t even think you knew who I was.” The smile was returned, head tilted towards him.
His own smile turned rather sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck nervously, trying to come up with something witty to say, something to impress her. “Of course I did! How could I not?” he blurted out lamely, furrowing his brows as he gave her a look of incredulousness. “Winona…Winona…” He waved his hand, sputtering and pressing his lips firmly together. Last names didn’t really matter, did they? She’d just end up Winona Kirk in the end and that he knew he could remember.
“Chayton.” She supplied dryly. “It’s Sioux.” Her lips curled upwards into knowing smile and she slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position.
“Sioux, huh? Never would have pegged you as being part-Sioux.” He mentally winced, knowing his words were scoring him absolutely no good points.
Her eyes did the talking for several moments as they lit up over his words. This wasn’t what she had been expecting to wake up to but she wouldn’t complain either way. While she had known who he was (and she was beginning to suspect that the same couldn’t be said for him), she had never actually paid him any attention. She hadn’t seen the need. “How about you? Good old American boy, I’m assuming.”
“You assume right,” he laughed and ducked his head for a moment before leaning forward slightly in his chair. “I’m from Iowa.’
“A farm boy? Interesting.” She smiled again which was soon interrupted by a yawn as her eyes started fluttering shut. “Never…would have pegged…” But she was asleep before she could finish her thought.
His visits to sickbay to see her became more and more frequent with each passing day. Soon it became a ritual - he would stop by at the beginning and end of each of his breaks. They fell into comfortable conversations, discussing various topics from Starfleet to family to their favourite kind of toothpaste. In the beginning she would continually fall asleep early on in their conversations, but as time passed, and her strength slowly returned, she was able to stay awake throughout his entire visit. He took notice of the color returning to her cheeks and the way she spoke with more animation and how her body fidgeted, eager to get out of sickbay and back to work as a Starfleet officer.
She often conveyed to him how cooped up she felt in sickbay. It had been nearly a week now and Doctor Mallery said she would be able to leave by the end of week. Until then, she needed to fully recuperate. George took notice of her anxiousness and desire to leave, prompting him to approach his friend and convince him to let her leave early. That earned him a quick slap across the head as Fred berated him for encouraging her to have a relapse.
In fact, George was rather convinced that Fred was both surprised and bothered by his new friendship with Winona. It was lunch in the cafeteria that gave it away.
“You know, if it was me, I’d be unnerved by someone watching me sleep while I was in sickbay. You’re like some sort of creeper, George.”
“George’s a creeper? Here I thought he was your regular farm-boy gentleman.” Abel Diederich, pilot for the USS Kelvin, said as he bounded up to them, swiftly taking a seat at the table with George and Fred.
“I’m not a creeper. Fred, stop giving people that idea. They’re going to start believing you.” George snapped, sighing as he brought a hand up to the side of his temple. Fred was a novel. In fact, George often thought he should be studied because it was quite remarkable how easily he gave people headaches.
“I can’t help it if they believe the truth. Would you rather I lie to them? Honestly, George, look at yourself,” Fred said haughtily, clearly enjoying his time taunting his friend. “He’s been wooing Winona Chayton in sickbay,” he supplied for Abel, who had just parted his lips to ask again why George was supposedly a creeper.
“How does that make him a creeper? She’s in sickbay, he’s giving her company. Isn’t that usually classified as sweet?”
“Yes, thank you, Abel!”
“Not if they had never spoken previously,” Fred began, clearly miffed that Abel was taking George’s side in this and aiming to get the pilot back on his side. “And suddenly he’s watching her sleep and she wakes up to him just sitting there. Horrible bedside manners, if you ask me.”
“Oh yeah, like yours are much better.” George snapped to the doctor.
“I’m just saying, George. What’s it going to be like when you meet the parents? When they ask how you two met? ‘Oh yeah, I watched her sleep in sickbay without even knowing who she was.’?” Fred raised his eyebrows and looked at Abel expectantly, who paused for a moment before shrugging his shoulders and conceding to the doctor.
Noticing that Abel had flipped sides, George threw his hands up into the air. “I knew her before this! We just…never actually talked.”
“Down, George. We don’t want you making a scene.” Fred muttered quietly, leaning back in his chair, knowing full well he had won this round.
The next day when George entered sickbay, eager to see Winona as this would be her last day and he wanted to escort her out, he was surprised when the sickbay consisted solely of Fred and two of his nurses. His eyes immediately shot to the bed Winona had been occupying for the week to find it tidied and completely void. He hesitated before turning and striding purposely towards the doctor. “You!” he exclaimed in an accusatory manner, holding up a finger towards Fred.
“Yes. Me. What did I say about scenes?” Fred said nonchalantly, refilling several empty hypos and storing them away. His eyes didn’t once slide over towards George who was standing, huffing and puffing at his friend.
“You let her leave before I got here!”
“You’ll thank me later.” As he finished with his last hypo, he finally lifted his head and looked at George. “Now be a dear and run off, would you? I actually work on this starship unlike some.” He said pointedly before brushing past the lovesick officer.
“Computer, locate crew member Chayton.” When George had left sickbay, determined to see her, he realized he had no idea where she could have been and the USS Kelvin was a large starship. Pinpointing one crew member, especially when they had the ability to move, would be like finding a needle in a haystack. Therefore, George expressed his gratitude towards technology and scanned the results the computer had given him: level three, the cafeteria.
“You were gone when I came to see you,” George stated bluntly as he approached Winona’s table, standing before her as she ate alone.
Looking up, just as she was about to put a spoonful of soup into her mouth, she blinked at the man standing in front of her. “Doctor Mallery insisted I could leave as I long as I returned at least once a week for the next three weeks for a check-up.”
“Doctor Mallery certainly is proficient.” George muttered, teeth clenched together, knowing full well Fred had done this on purpose. Taking a breath, he shifted on his feet for a moment, before blurting out if he could join her. When she conceded, he took a seat across from her and smiled. “Sorry. I was just hoping to walk you out. It’s always a pleasure to be able to leave Doctor Mallery, er, sickbay, after such a long stay,” he said plainly, knowing he was completely giving away the story at hand.
Quirking a brow upwards, she nodded absentmindedly to him. “I had been waiting for you but, as I said, Doctor Mallery insisted. He was absolutely sure about the fact that I should leave right away.”
“Well, he’s not here to insist anything right now.”
“Oh yeah? And just what would he insist right now?” Her eyes and tone were playful, as she twirled the spoon in her hand, grinning mischievously as she imagined any of George’s answers to that.
“He’d probably insist you refuse my dinner invitation.”
“Dinner?” she inquired.
“Yeah, dinner. We have shore leave next week. Perhaps I could take you out then.”
“Or you could meet me here tonight around seven.” She said simply, raising her eyebrows at him before returning her attention to her meal.
“The cafeteria? Hardly what I’d call romantic.”
“Then start getting creative, Kirk.”