Hi all! This is my first story... Hope you like it!

The chapter title is taken from the Guns 'n' Roses, no copyright... blah, blah. The song has nothing to do with the story, I just liked the title.
Disclaimer: If you know it, it isn't mine and if you don't... then chances are it still isn't. Although I own Charlie, Heradee and a few of the OCs. I don't even own the blanket that is keeping me warm because I stole it from an ex. Ha! The best thing about that relationship was the damn blanket. Sorry, I digress.

Enjoy!

He wasn't the type of guy she ever imagined herself falling in love with. He was rude, obnoxious and sarcastic at the best of times, a total asshole jackass at the worst. He was crass, crude and unfortunately to her – also very cute, and for that, she kicked herself on a daily basis.

As a child, a young girl growing up surrounded by brothers (four – all older), she soon found that for all of the trouble that they could get themselves into, Charlotte Houston could not only keep up but she had a knack for getting herself, and them, out of it. Her father had been a Lieutenant in Starfleet and died in battle when she was just six months old so even her brothers barely knew that man that catered to what she hoped was the better part of her DNA. However, if there was one thing that was clearly imbedded into her personality from her father it was stubbornness. Some called it pig headedness, Charlie preferred 'strong willed aggression', tales of her father growing up mirrored stories of Charlie's escapes early on and although she never admitted to it, she was damn proud.

Besides, there wasn't much to do as the only daughter of a woman who spent her time at a country club, the stepdaughter of a man who she didn't really know nor cared to and with four older brothers who were torn between protecting her because she was their little sister and letting her play ball with them because she had a good arm and could fight like one of the boys so she learned how to wheel and deal - if there was one thing that little Charlie Houston could do, it was orchestrate something illegal. Whether it was simply taking bets on a fight in the school yard or managing to get a hold on cases of Romulan Ale in her later years, she could get it, organise it, make sure that no one in authority got a hold of such information and create quite a business. Needless to say, that didn't change at all when she got to the Academy – in fact, her Romulan Ale trade more than tripled and she enlisted Gaila especially, the two often pulling Heradee and sometimes Uhura into their deals and making quite a name for themselves with the Cadets.

It had all started when Charlotte enlisted as a Cadet at Starfleet Academy. She was excelling in all of her classes and had made friends, her roommate and two girls who shared a dorm a few rooms down from theirs. Her roommate, Heradee was a small town girl from the outskirts Ohio with a quiet voice and a constant need to bake whilst down the hall, Gaila and Uhura completed their posse. Gaila was an Orion native which meant she had bright green skin, silver eyelashes, wild coppery hair and a wicked smile as well as an appetite for any man she could get her hands on, whilst Uhura was the exotic girl from New York who oozed class and sophistication, her long dark hair and her ability to look down her nose at everyone yet still keep them on her side was unmatched thus far. The four make an interesting group and Charlie found that she had a few classes with each which didn't hurt – she was taking more classes than necessary to graduate in three years instead of four. It had been done before by her father and by god, she wasn't going to let her father's record beat her.

"I swear that if Admiral Archer asks me one more time about the Andorian political system, I'm going to scream. I need a very, very large drink. Well, another one." Charlotte moaned as she and her friends pushed their way through Packers, the four girls laughing giddily from the couple of glasses of Romulan Ale that they'd already consumed. Uhura twirled the end of her long black ponytail around her fingers as they waved to a few other friends there with other Cadets, the small scattering of Lieutenants and the small table of Captains up the back who looked as though they were there more to make sure that none of the hot headed students caused any trouble with the scattering of locals who sat around the bar, most of them already drunk and already sauntering around like they owned the place. On cue, the Captains got up to leave so it was clear that the Cadets and small crew of Lieutenants were on their own for the night.

"You guys find a table, I'll get drinks. First round on me." She told the girls, already pushing her way to the bar to be served, Charlotte looked around at the place, ignoring the crowd and spying a table a few back.

"Got one!" She called, grabbing Gaila's hand and pulling her behind as they claimed the table, falling into their seats and glancing around, waving at a few familiar faces and chatting to a few other Cadets that walked over to say hello.

He saw her as soon as she stepped through the door, like he had a sixth sense that a beautiful girl was walking into the bar although the door was behind him and with a smirk to himself, he realised that being friends with Jim he'd clearly picked up some of his friends' traits. She was beautiful with dark blonde hair that fell to her waist which she brushed it off her face carelessly, eyes a bizarre shade of blue green scanning the room for either a person or place to sit, sparkling as they flittered with recognition before a smile met faces that she apparently knew. The green skinned girl that she was with looked vaguely familiar as did the darker girl who had gone to the bar but he didn't know them anymore than a vague recognition, it was more than likely they were Jim's concubines that he'd tripped over in the morning trying to get back into his dorm as they fled or Jim chased them out. Chivalrously of course – Jim Kirk wasn't a man who burned his bridges with women unless it was absolutely necessary. They however, mostly burned them when he didn't call... or hooked up with their roommate the next weekend which happened more often than anyone cared to admit.

Leonard McCoy had been in love before, he was sure of it. Hell, he'd been married – a stupid, half drunken decision in his second year of college had turned into a divorce only ten months later, which he personally thought had been eight months (nine and a half if he was brutally honest) too long. His high school sweetheart was the southern belle that he was expected to raise children with, become a top ranking surgeon and smile pretty at all of the benefits and dinner parties but what good was it when the trophy on his arm was a complete and utter bitch? How quickly a wedding dress could turn even the most placid of women into the devil, how quickly the promise of stature could turn even the most sweet of girls into conniving thugs. Needless to say he finished his medical degree and then stupidly (another half drunken decision) ended up in Starfleet. There was no way that he was going to be a trophy surgeon... and he hated dinner parties. Sitting at a table with insufferable fools eating awful food – he'd felt like he was drowning in responsibilities too early in life and now, well, he was friends with James Kirk. Make of that what you will.

He glanced back to the blonde girl just in time to see her looking back to her friends with a smile that immediately sent X rated thoughts to his brain, he glared at his drink. Damn it, a girl like her could cause him to lose his mind way too easily which ordinarily he wouldn't argue with, but with exams coming up the last thing he wanted was to screw up a surgery because his mind was a million miles away, imagining what those lips could do.

"See something you like?" Jim asked him quietly with a smile as the table full of girls all laughed suddenly, their giggles attracting every male eye in the bar though they failed to notice.

"I'm not you Jim." He emptied his glass and set it back onto the table in front of them, fixing his best friend with a stare that blatantly called him out, the other guy laughing and shrugging.

"Ouch Bones. But I'll take it. Heads up, there's a local going over there..."

So, what'd y'all think? The first few chapters were written after the rest of the story so this was, oddly, the hardest part to write. Hmm.

Hope you liked it and I don't want to beg for a review but... please do!!

Xx