From across the barn he watches her. She's so deeply asleep she looks unconscious. Her face looks different - he's not sure he's ever seen her this relaxed. Chris Chapel doesn't do relaxed - she's too efficient, too spiky, too quick witted for relaxed.

He watches her and he's jealous of her sleep - would love to join her, pull the covers up round them both, and hold her close and warm. Not to wake her, not to touch, caress, feel her respond. He just wants to sense her beside him, to match her breathing, to drift with her into undemanding sleep. But he doesn't move.

He's thinking. He made a promise. Jim Kirk keeps his promises. He's stubborn that way. Stubborn in lots of ways.

It's one of his less attractive qualities - according to Lori anyway. Jim Kirk doesn't give up, even when it's obviously hopeless. Outnumbered, outgunned, out-manoeuvred by aliens with brains the size of planets - he's been there, done that, got the internal and external scars to show for it.

He doesn't believe in the no-win scenario. It's a sort of atheism and it's got him into all sorts of trouble.

He's found it doesn't work in arguments for example. Arguments about the future, about where you're heading as a couple, about who wants what and where. About feeling useless, being in the wrong place, making the wrong choices.

It's not that he won't admit he was wrong. That's easy. He's always admitting he was wrong. But he won't believe he can't fix it. There's always a solution in the Jim Kirk universe. There's always an escape route, a way to rescue the situation, a way out.

For the umpteenth time he looks down at the communicators, the gleam of exposed circuits, the tangle of wire. He's just had the germ of an idea. He's been going about this all wrong.

-oOo-

When she wakes she has no idea where she is. The world makes no sense. She's been dreaming. Of fire and horses, wine and electricity. She aches and it's so deep, so much part of her, she can't tell if it's physical or simply an extension of the familiar emotional vacuum. There was something... someone. She raises her fingers, touches her lips. Remembers.

Jim.

He's standing looking at her. She can see his outline framed in the barn doorway. A dark shape. She shifts, lifts her arm above the covers, reaches for him. Smiles as she sees the shadow move towards her.

Her body realises before her sleep deadened brain can compute. She pulls away. The movement is wrong, the scent is wrong. Not Jim.

She wants to shout, but her throat won't open, her vocal chords won't produce sound.

Then his hand is over her mouth. She tries to bite but his skin is hard, calloused. She's gagging. The smell from his skin is as foul as his breath. He smells of wine - the wine she threw at him in a different world.

He says nothing. Not even a grunt. His eyes say it for him. She knows what he wants.

His other hand is in her hair, pulling her head back so hard her scalp screams in pain. She tries to raise her knee, the oldest female move in the book, but he's ready for her. He wrenches her leg to one side - the pain is intense. She hears a high pitched muffled sound - realises it's her. His weight pins her down. That's when she sees the knife.

Her mind is suddenly clear. Sharp. She knows exactly what's happening. But it doesn't help. She needs a muscle memory, an instinct she doesn't have.

She missed out on those Academy self-defence classes first time round and skipped them when she had the chance to re-take. She was medical - a healer not a soldier. She wore blue, she wore white - never red, never carried a phaser. Why would she need to defend herself? Felt safe surrounded by all that Starfleet muscle. Now she's never felt more alone. Or more furious.

Then the weight is gone, a release of pressure, her mouth suddenly free to gasp the air she wasn't aware she needed.

It's only when she opens them to empty space that she realises she'd closed her eyes. For a moment she can't focus. Then turning her head she makes out two shapes scuffling in the doorway, bodies outlined by starlight.

Jim... and Salvador.

Her attacker charges forward. Jim steps nimbly out of the way and lets him run into the door frame.

It's not an equal fight. A starship captain and a farmer. And not just any starship captain - Kirk's reputation for hands-on conflict resolution is legendary and he's more than earned it. Usually this is where she'd just sit back and enjoy the show.

But it's dark. And Kirk doesn't know about the knife.

She manages to get to her feet. Finds herself limping. Her hip hurts like hell.

Salvador lunges. Kirk ducks, steps in, lets his opponent's weight carry him over his shoulder. The Spaniard rolls in the dust, grunts back to his feet and lunges again. This time he's met by an upper cut worthy of the Starfleet video training manual. He yelps in pain, grabs his nose. Flails forward. The second punch into his gut sends him down on his back.

Kirk pauses.

She edges closer. Knows what he's thinking. He doesn't want to overdo it - doesn't want to seriously hurt the man, just drive him off.

He leans over the groaning shape on the ground, offers his hand. But his opponent gets a burst of energy, kicks out hard. It's enough to make Kirk stumble backwards.

Salvador's up on his feet then, spraying blood and bellowing. She sees the blade flash, shouts a warning, but he's seen it too, leaps back, pulling his torso in and away. The knife misses him by inches.

-oOo-

He's getting too old for this. Can't remember the last time he practised hand to hand combat - the moves are rusty.

And the adrenaline surge is ebbing. His hand hurts where it met Salvador's nose. That throw scraped off blistered skin - his shoulders are on fire. And now the brute has a knife. And apparently murderous intent.

He's rethinking his strategy. Circles into the shadows. Risks a quick glance around for a weapon to even the odds, but the walls and floor are bare. Somewhere there's that tool kit but he daren't take his eyes off his opponent for long enough to look for it.

He carries on circling. Salvador's breathing heavily, blood still streaming from his nose. Every few seconds he makes small thrusting movements with the knife. What he lacks in skill he makes up for in determination. The man has a one track mind. He hopes Chris has taken the opportunity to put some distance between them, that she's far away and safe.

Then Salvador attacks again, the knife thrusting forward and up. Kirk sees the move a split second ahead - spots the signal in his eyes. He spins sideways and chops down intending to break the knife grip but swipes empty air.

For a moment he's knocked off balance. Salvador grabs his opportunity and swings his arm heavily into Kirk's midriff, then down onto his raw shoulders. Gasping, he finds himself on his knees - catches sight of the blade gleaming and descending.

Raising his hands, he rolls forward and away. Just in time because, with a grunt, Salvador topples forward trapping Kirk's leg beneath his torso. He lies still - a dead weight.

Kirk stares down at the prone body, uncomprehending. What just happened? Then he looks up to see Chapel standing over them both. She's wearing a triumphant expression and holding a large lug wrench in both hands.

-oOo-

"Did I kill him?" The question is odd coming from a doctor - a physician who did harm. Her voice is strangely flat. She doesn't seem to care one way or the other.

Kirk rolls the body off his leg. Leans over, his fingers on the pulse points on Salvador's neck. There's a bump, but on the thickest part of his skull, and no blood. He's still breathing, heartbeat strong.

"No. He's just unconscious. He'll have quite a headache when he wakes up."

He raises his head to look at her. She meets his eyes for a second then her gaze drifts down to the man at her feet. She drops the wrench and turns away, hiding her face.

He's up by her side, gently holding her shoulders and pulling her to him. She resists - pushes him away with trembling hands.

"It's okay. I'm okay."

"I don't think so."

She sags then - buries her head in his shoulders. He can feel her shaking.

"Chris, it's all right."

Her voice is muffled. He can't hear what she's saying. "What, Chris? What is it?"

She pulls her head up, stares at him. "I thought he was going to..." She doesn't finish the sentence. For a moment she looks so vulnerable he's overcome by a sudden wave of tenderness.

He can't help it. He bends his head and kisses her. Intends it to be gentle reassurance. But she kisses him back hungrily and it turns into something else. Her lips are so warm, so welcoming. When they part under his it feels the most natural thing in the world, like coming home. He pulls her closer, feels her pressing along the length of him. She fits, feels so...right. It reminds him of earlier, in the field, after the explosion.

She seems to feel it too. Presses back. Pushes her thigh against him. His pulse is hammering in his ears. He knows she can tell he's aroused.

He groans, deep in his throat. "Chris."

The kiss deepens. He wants her. He's aware it's primitive. Prehistoric even. He's fought for her - the alpha male. She's chosen him and he wants to protect her, possess her. Her hands are in his hair. She's making small noises, running her tongue over his. She feels unbelievably good. Oh god.

Still kissing, he pushes her up against the barn door, runs his hands down her sides, over her curves, feels her respond. She's pulling at his clothes, her hands hot on his skin. He can't remember the last time he felt like this. It was never like this with Lori. He never felt this need, this connection, even in the first flush of romance.

Lori.

What the hell is he doing?

He stops. Pulls his lips away from her mouth. Leans his forehead against hers, breathing in short gasps.

She brings her hands up to his face, looks puzzled. When she moves to kiss him again he catches her hands in his. Takes a small step back.

"Chris, no." He's fighting to regain control. It's not easy.

"Jim, what is it?" The doctor is back. "Are you hurt? I'm sorry. I should have..."

He gives a short laugh.

"No, I'm fine." Although in truth his back is stinging like hell.

She's trying to look, peer over at his shoulder, but he stops her. "It's not that, Chris."

He brings her wrists down by her sides. Holds her away. It feels wrong to break contact, but he can't do this. He owes her. Owes himself.

He wants to explain but his words are tangled. "I shouldn't be... I can't... " He closes his eyes, takes a deep breath, steadies himself. "There's something you don't know. Something you should know." His eyes open - he just needs to say it. "I'm married."

"Married?" She pulls her wrists away from his hands. It's her turn to step back. "To who?"

"To Lori. Lori Ciani. Remember? That was who I came to Spain with."

"Admiral Ciani. Yes, I remember." There's an edge to her voice. Vulnerable Chris has gone. Spiky Chris is back. This time he doesn't like it. "So you're married. How's that working out for you, Jim?"

This isn't a conversation he feels like having right now. He decides to keep to the facts - keep it short. "We married last year, a term marriage. This holiday... we were supposed to be discussing whether to renew." He gives a twisted smile. "Didn't quite get that far."

"I see." She's not looking at him. They're back to the beginning, back to the train station when she didn't want to see him.

Frustrated he leans forward. Grabs her shoulders and tries to move into her line of vision, look her in the eye. "Chris, I'm sorry. Things aren't right with Lori. But it's...complicated. I made a commitment..."

For a moment she meets his eyes, raises her eyebrows, and he can see what she's thinking. He knows his reputation. Even though the reality always lagged behind the rumours.

But that was then. He'd got tired of the ephemeral. The superficial shore leave romances.

Wanted to see if he could find something more, even with the post-Edith walls protecting him. Others seemed to find long term happiness, why not him?

He'd had just a glimpse of that alternate universe on Amerind, with Miramanee. And that wasn't him, not really. Those months are still a blur, although it all came sharply into focus at the end. More scar tissue. But he does remember the glow. Feeling happy for the first time...

Once he was back on earth, behind a desk, he'd promised himself it could be different, he could be different. It hadn't taken long to realise the career decision was a disaster. But at least he could turn his love life around. Find the right woman, grow close, even grow old together.

Deep down he suspects that's not going to happen - at least with Lori. There was a reason she'd insisted on a term marriage. But it's unresolved. This isn't how he wants to resolve it. This isn't why he came to Spain. He tries again to explain.

"Chris, I wasn't expecting this...we've never been..."

"...friends? Attracted to each other?" Her laugh is hard, bitter. "No, Jim, we never have been. I'm not exactly your type, am I?"

"And what 'type' is that, exactly?" Dammit, here we go again. Does every woman in the galaxy get sent a set of Jim Kirk briefing notes?

"Oh, I don't know. Blonde, curvy, undemanding. Happy to hang on your every word, take your side in whatever the current crisis is - then take you to bed." She's taken another step back - a shutter's come down. "You don't want a real woman, Jim. You were always married to your ship, to the job. A real woman would be a challenge too far."

"Is that what you really think, Chris? Is that what you think I want?" His voice sounds harder than he'd intended. But he's disappointed - in her, in himself. He's heard this once too often.

For a moment he thinks he sees a flash of regret. She hesitates, opens her mouth to reply but she's interrupted. By a beeping noise. A beeping noise that sounds remarkably like...

Her face changes. "Jim, is that...?"

"...the comms unit. Yes."

He races into the barn. She's slower behind him. Limping.

It's two comms units actually - rigged together and transmitting a homing signal. He can't believe his ham fisted attempt has worked. It seemed a long shot, but once he'd remembered the locator chip, it hadn't been hard to set it to transmit rather than receive.

The chip is linked to his ID - the equivalent of shouting his name out on the network. He'd been relying on being reported missing, on Nogura's fury at his Chief of Ops disappearing in the middle of what appears to be an escalating crisis.

And fury's what he hears when he kneels and switches to a two way signal.

"Kirk here."

A clear voice cuts through the static. "Jim? Jim is that you? Where the hell have you been? And where the hell are you now?"

It's not Nogura.

"Hello, Lori." He can't resist. "Have you missed me?"

-oOo-

"Admiral! Admiral Kirk. Are you all right, sir?"

It's hard to see who's shouting across the dying engine noise. The dust from the shuttle landing is still swirling and the speaker is silhouetted against the door.

Kirk moves forward into the circle of light spilling into the paddock.

"Here, Lieutenant. We're fine."

She thinks that may be overstating it. She doesn't feel fine. Far from it. Her hip hurts. And that's not the only pain she's feeling.

Kirk's made it to the shuttle steps - greets the young man who seems to be leading this rescue party. And who seems to be somewhat starstruck by his passenger. He salutes.

"We came as soon as we could, sir. Shuttles are in short supply."

"As you were, Lieutenant. There's an injured man over there. By the barn. He's..." He hesitates, looks back at her. She gives a slight shake of her head. She can't face telling that story, not to the police, not to anyone. He nods back. "...He's the owner of this place. Head injury but he's conscious."

Conscious and furious, she thinks. You don't have to understand Spanish to get the gist of the swearing. They'd tied his hands when it became obvious he was ready for another go.

"Have you got a medic on board?"

"Yes, sir. Two."

He looks at her limping towards the shuttle. "Doctor Chapel needs medical attention too."

After that everything seems to happen really fast.

The shuttle crew decides to leave one medic behind with Salvador and call in a local medical transport. The other medic, a young blonde nurse, gives her a brisk examination, pronounces a sprain and administers a blissful hypospray of pain meds and anti-inflammatories. She then moves on to treat Kirk's shoulders - which seems to take a lot more time and be far less brisk. He doesn't appear to notice. Too busy trying to get up to speed with the crew.

"So just how bad is it, Lieutenant?"

"We have orders to bring you back to San Francisco immediately, Admiral. You'll be briefed on the way."

Kirk looks across the shuttle cabin at her as she straps herself in near the pilot.

"Belay that order, Lieutenant. We'll need to make a stop on the way."

"But, Admiral..."

Kirk gives him a look. "I said we need to make a stop, Lieutenant." Even out of uniform there's a steeliness. It would take a braver man than this to argue. The young man swallows.

"Aye, aye, sir."

She gives Kirk a small smile. Can't believe she's finally going to complete her journey. All the worry about her mom comes flooding back. She leans across to the woman piloting the shuttle to give her the hospital details. "I'd be grateful if we could place a call - I was supposed to be arriving yesterday. My mother will be worried."

The pilot turns to her. "She's not the only one. You've been reported missing by Starfleet too, you know."

She has? She'd left messages. And when she'd left San Francisco there was no urgency about the start date for her new assignment.

She looks across at Kirk who's pulled up a vid screen. As they take off he's already talking to Starfleet Command. And guess who's on the other end of the link? She doesn't sound happy.

"Jim, you just disappeared. Where's your sense of duty? Your sense of responsibility?"

"Lori, can we keep to the facts? This was a localised software glitch when I left Bilbao. Now you're telling me there's some sort of interference affecting networks across the planet. And the source is light years away. How is that possible?"

"Jim, we don't know. It's intermittent. But it's getting worse. We're struggling to keep even the emergency channels open. Civilian transport is gridlocked. I only just made it back to headquarters."

Kirk looks across at her. "Chris, you need to find out what's going on in Oviedo. You may get stranded again." She nods.

Lori sounds intrigued - and not in a good way. "So who's that with you, Jim?"

"Chris Chapel...Doctor Christine Chapel."

Lori's voice is silky smooth. "Ah, the elusive Doctor Chapel. Didn't she used to serve with you? Decker should have guessed you were together. He's issued an all points bulletin looking for her."

"Decker? Captain Decker?" He's confused. She gets a sinking feeling she knows what's about to happen. And there's nothing she can do to stop it.

"Yes, Jim. Captain Will Decker of the newly refitted Enterprise. She's due to report for duty as Chief Medical Officer. Over-due in fact. Didn't she mention it?"

His face is grim. "Must have slipped her mind."

And there it is. That look. It's only for a second before he turns away, covers it up, carries on talking. But it was there.

He's got no right to be upset. Yet somehow she knew he would be. No right to feel betrayed. So why does she feel guilty?

Because she's going back. Back to his ship. It will always be his ship - no matter who's in command. And he's going back to his desk. To a job he obviously hates. What are they thinking at Starfleet? To her it's blindingly obvious.

There's a chime from the console. The pilot exchanges a few words then leans over and offers her a headset.

"Is it the hospital?"

"No, it's your mom. She sounds feisty!"

-oOo-

He doesn't want to look at her. He'd trusted her - opened up to her. And she'd never even mentioned it, not a hint. He knows he's being unreasonable, unfair even. But that voice is back. The voice of self-pity, whispering poison in his ear.

Everyone leaves sooner or later - everyone leaves him in the end.

And to leave him for the Enterprise. That's rubbing salt in an open wound.

Of course, she's not really leaving him. How can she leave him when they were never really together?

He'd told her that. He'd pushed her away. Because of Lori.

Lori who's now taking it as read that they won't be renewing - telling him she's moved out, discussing who owns what, over a vid screen. Classy.

He interrupts.

"Lori, we're clogging up a Starfleet emergency channel. Do you really think this is the time or the place?"

She has the grace to look shamefaced. "No, well...okay. We'll catch up later." She looks over her shoulder. "Nogura wants a word."

At the sight of his old friend Kirk can't help but smile.

"Hello, Heihachiro - I gather things are getting pretty hairy."

Nogura's not smiling. "Jim, what's your ETA?"

He looks across at the pilot who holds up three fingers.

"About three hours. Think we've got network problems." He's hedging - doesn't want to mention the unscheduled stopover.

"Get here sooner. We'll route you straight through." He runs his hand through his hair. Nogura doesn't usually look this stressed. "We've just heard from Epsilon IX. I think we've found the source of this interference."

Kirk thinks. "Epsilon IX? That's a listening post, isn't it? All the way out by the neutral zone. Have the Klingons been playing up again?"

"No. In fact we think they just lost three battle cruisers."

Kirk sits up. "What? Are they at war? Are we?"

"No. At least not with each other." Offscreen an aide thrusts a padd into his hand. Nogura looks down, nods, and hands it back.

"Jim, there's some sort of enormous cloud out there. We've never seen anything like it. It's not responding to our signals. It's incredibly powerful, it's destroying everything that gets in its path, and Jim..."

"Yes..."

"It's on a direct heading for Earth."

END

And we all know what happens next...

I've stopped here because it feels like once Kirk's shuttle lands in ST: TMP that takes over as the end of this story.

But is it the end of their story? I know from the traffic stats that loads of you are reading but I'm not getting a huge amount of feedback (that's not intended to sound like a whinge – I'm as guilty as anyone else of reading without reviewing.)

So, if you can, I'm asking for a four word review. Or rather a four number review. Marks out of ten in these categories:

Did you like the story?

Did you think the pairing worked?

Is it possible to write/read a fight scene and see it as you would in a TOS episode?

Should I write a follow-up?

If I get a lot of high scores in first and final categories I'll do my best to comply… And of course if you feel like writing anything more I'd be delighted. Have really enjoyed myself. Thank you to all you wonderful people for reading.