Fandom: Star Trek
Pairings/characters: Jim Kirk x female, Leonard McCoy, Montgomery Scott, Nyota Uhura, Pavel Chekov, Hikaru Sulu, Spock
Words: 1140

"Look a' her!" Jim slurred, half sitting, half hanging on the barstool. "Isn't she beautiful?" He pointed at me, his aim slightly off. "I can't believe she's still with me..."

The Enterprise was docked at Starbase Earhart to pick up a handful of new crew members, but some incident with their ride to the starbase had caused them to be delayed, and the crew of the Enterprise took the opportunity to unwind for a few days while waiting.

A few of us had gathered in mine and Jim's quarters on the Earhart, Scotty had brought his good scotch and Chekov had brought a couple of some obscure, age-old Russian bottles so thick with dust no one could read the labels. But judging by Jim's current condition, it was some good stuff.

"Ye bagged a good'ne, Cap'n Purrfuct 'air." Scotty slurred even worse than Jim and slapped his hand on Jim's head to ruffle that no longer perfect hair.

I felt myself blush as the two men stared at me, their gazes slightly cross-eyed and shifting back and forth, not able to focus.

Nyota and I were sitting at the other end of the room, a touch soberer than the two men. Chekov was asleep on the couch, Spock had left hours ago. Bones and Hikaru were attempting to play three-dimensional chess, but seeing as they were both tipsy, it didn't go so well.

Jim leant over the counter, staring dreamily at me. "I donnow what I did to desverve her. But imma marry her."

Nyota giggled and if I wasn't so busy trying to hide my blush, I would have punched her arm. I tried to ignore the two men, who got louder and louder with every sip of Chekov's devil juice. "You said you have started learning Ferengi?"

But she wasn't even able to answer when Jim nearly shouted again. "One day, imma marry her!"

"Ye'd be so lucky, Cap'n!"

Jim sat suddenly straight, and his face contorted. I was sure he was going to be sick, but instead, he downed the rest of his glass, then slid off the chair and began wobbling and careening over to where Nyota and I sat. "Marry me!" he said and dumped down on the couch next to me. "Will you marry me?"

"Jim," I started, feeling embarrassed now. He was being ridiculous.

"Please, marry me. I love you so much." He then used his shoulder to push against the couch and promptly fell to the floor, banging his knee. Somehow, he shuffled himself onto the other one and looked at me with red shot eyes. "Will you marry me?"

"Jim, you're drunk," I replied.

"You don' wanna marry me?" He sounded like a wounded puppy, and it seemed to wake the rest of the room up.

"Right," Bones said and stood up. "You win, Sulu. I think it's time to call it a night. Help me with Chekov, will you?"

Hikaru nodded, and the two lifted Chekov off the couch, who woke up enough to let Hikaru guide him out of the room. Nyota and Bones persuaded Scotty to come with them, Bones promising him some more fiery alcohol elsewhere.

By the time they had all left, Jim was back on the couch, head on my shoulder and both his hands on my arm. "Marry me..." he mumbled.

"Jim, come on. You're drunk and you're not gonna remember any of this tomorrow. Let's get you to bed."

I stood up and pulled him with me over to the bed. He sat down and let me undress him, sleepy heart eyes on me all the time. My heart was breaking. Yeah, I wanted to marry him. I wanted nothing else than to throw myself at him and scream yes. But he wasn't in his right mind. He'd never hinted at marriage, he always made it clear how happy he was with the way we were right now.

I managed to get him stripped down to his boxers and coaxed him further up the bed. He landed on the pillow, and I pulled the covers over him. "You're sayin' no?"

"I'm not saying anything, Jim. You're stupidly drunk. You're not serious, you can't spout this out of the blue. Should you come up with it again while sober, give it a good think and then try again. But you won't remember any of this tomorrow, so it's fine, Jimmy. It's fine. Now go to sleep. You're gonna need it."

My heart broke even more and as I strode into the bathroom to get myself ready for bed, I couldn't help but cry a bit while staring at my reflection. I finished quickly and crawled into bed next to Jim. I was sure he would be asleep, but I felt him shift and snuggle into my back.

Next morning, I woke to the sound of groaning. Turning around, I saw Jim sitting up, head in his hands, a string of curses passing over his lips.

"You okay, sweetheart?" I asked, laying a hand on his thigh.

"This is the worst headache I have ever head," he mumbled, his voice hoarse.

"You got pretty hammered last night. Are you gonna be sick?"

He was quiet for a few seconds. "No. Not nauseous at all. But incredibly thirsty and my head hurts and my throat hurts and my knee hurts for some reason."

"Yeah, you fell off the couch," I said, thinking I was right and he didn't remember anything of what he had said and done.

"I need water," he said and rose slowly from the bed and over to the counter where the replicator stood. It whirred to life and filled a glass of ice cold water for him. Next to the replicator was a hypospray that Bones must have left the previous night, and Jim injected himself with it while waiting for the water.

I settled back into my pillow, wanting to fall back asleep and forget all about yesterday.

But Jim soon came back and laid down next to me, propped up on his elbow and looking down at me. He looked better. "I remember everything I said last night."

My heart stopped for a second.

"And it wasn't out of the blue. I have thought about it for a long time, and I meant every word."

I stared incredulously at him, and it just made him grin.

"I had a whole thing planned, you know. But because my drunken self spoiled the surprise, I guess I have to do make up a plan B." He reached for my hand and held it to his lips, kissing the back of my hand. "I love you. I love you more each day and more than I thought possible. I can't – and don't want to – imagine my life without you. The ring is up in our room on the ship, but... Will you marry me?"