Hello friends. One of my friends asked me to write a Kirk/OC story that didn't feature a sassy, kick-ass woman who was female Kirk. She wanted someone very average in their everyday life, but very compassionate because that's what it takes to be compatible with the over-the-top James Kirk that we love so much.

This will be short story, only about ten chapters or so, and will chronicle the friendship-turned-romance of our two main characters. The prologue takes place between the first and second movie. The first couple chapters take place in the first few years of Kirk being at Starfleet Academy, and then the main part of the story takes place after Into Darkness.

Without further ado, here is the prologue!

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters.

Sometimes, he didn't need what everyone thought he needed.

Bones always said he needed someone who could match his wit and intellect, and someone that could put him in his place. This appeared to be what everyone else thought as well; that he needed a challenge, a fight, and that it would come the form of some feisty, curvy girl who had just as much a desire for sex as he did. Maybe that's why he sought out those kinds of women; it was what everyone expected.

"Was your mother not that kind of woman?" Spock asked when Kirk relayed all this to him over a game of chess. He needed to talk about his love life—or lack there-of—to someone practically. Bones told him the same thing every time, and Uhura told him the same thing Bones did. Since Spock was basically his 'best friend' he was clearly the best option. Spock didn't hold back.

"What?" Kirk frowned in confusion—he did not like being confused. "What do you mean?"

"From what you've relayed to me of your mother," Spock spoke with measured words. "She seems as if she is rather feisty and witty, and was fond of putting you in your place."

"Yeah." Kirk couldn't deny it. "But it never made me happy. She also left me, and I have no idea where she is now. The woman lost it after my father died."

"Perhaps, this is why you think you need someone who could battle your wit," Spock shrugged casually—a strange sight to Kirk. "You find a challenge in these woman, a conquest in being with them, but you do not see any of them in a long term manner."

"Well..." Kirk trailed off. "I guess you're right, Spocky. You may have hit something there."

"What did you call me?"

"Calm down, bud, it's just a nickname," Kirk waved it off. He made a final move. "Check mate. Gotta go!"

Spock nodded in understanding. "Tell her I said hello."

Kirk felt a brotherly affection in his heart that Spock knew exactly where he was headed (or more specifically, who he was headed to) to receive emotional comfort. It made him realize he and his First Commander were closer than he thought.

When he arrived at his destination, a door was swung wide open. "Captain Kirk! Is everything alright?"

"I'm lonely?" he offered with his trade mark smirk. "Give a friend a warm couch...or bed...to sleep on for the night?"

"James," she blushed shyly, stepping back from the doorway. "You know you're always welcome here."

"On the couch or the bed?"

Cordelia blushed. "You know the answer to that, Jamie. Come on, I'm watching TV. You can join me if you like."

As Kirk walked casually into the apartment he knew all too well, a warm feeling developed in his heart that had nothing to do with Spock's brotherly affection or the heat of the fake fireplace in Cordelia's apartment. This was where he was comfortable...this was where he belonged.