In The Gleam of Eyes (Star Trek XI Mirrorverse, NC-17 with warnings)

[browngirl]

Title: In The Gleam of Eyes
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Rating: NC-17 with warnings.
Pairing: Admiral Pike/ Captain Kirk/Dr. Leah McCoy
Summary: Pike sits facing her, naked in Kirk's armchair beside Kirk's bed.
Content Advisory: Dub-con, some violence. Mirrorverse. Genderswap.
Acknowledgements: echoinautumn, and everyone who encouraged me to write more about my genderswapped Dr. McCoy.
Disclaimer: None of these characters or their settings belong to me.
Title from Robert Frost's "Once By The Pacific"
Author's Note: Once again, my Hallowe'en story is a terrifying threesome.



"Go on, Bones," Kirk says, oh-so-kindly helping her out of bed, one hand bracing the small of her back and the other supporting her arm. His voice is still a little ragged and her body's lax with warmth, her legs wobbling beneath her as he props her upright.

Then she looks up and her knees lock as if her feet are glued to the floor, until Kirk smacks her ass so hard she stumbles forward on a mumbled, "Ow, dammit."

Pike sits facing her, naked in Kirk's armchair beside Kirk's bed; he holds out his broad, seamed hands, and Leah physically cannot force her face into a smile. He just smiles wider, calm and amused, as he closes those hands crushingly around her wrists; she winces, and his teeth flash like daggers as he tugs her towards him.

It's not that he's not handsome in his frosty way, grey at his temples, as cool and collected as Kirk might grow up to be, good luck to the galaxy should he live so long. Kirk's still a little young for Leah; sometimes he seems to want almost maternal comfort from her, sometimes she feels like his big sister in the worst of ways. Pike's a weathered man, and she could possibly have found him attractive, if he weren't as brutal and sadistic a bastard as the Empire's ever employed, if she hadn't chosen to give her choices away.

"Looking lovely as ever, my dear," he tells her, the compliment smooth and meaningless, and she presses her mouth shut and ducks her head so he won't see her eyes narrow. Kirk snorts behind her, and Pike transfers both her wrists to one, mercifully looser, grip so he can slide a knuckle beneath her chin and tip her face back up. "In fact, I've often wondered how anyone let you become a doctor."

Pike actually means that one, his eyes glittering with icy interest. Leah's breath catches as she tells herself not to respond, she actually thinks 'don't say it,' and her mouth opens anyway. "I'm a damn good doctor, Admiral. Sir."

Kirk snickers. Pike pinches her chin between thumb and forefinger, hard enough to throb. "So say all the reports." He lets go to rasp his knuckles along her cheek, and the caress makes her shake where the pain didn't. "The Enterprise has had the lowest casualty rate of all Imperial warships, four of the last five years. I suppose it's a good thing you were surrounded by blind people in your youth."

Leah tries not to respond to that piece of nonsense, tries not to ask what the hell he means, but her eyebrows arch traitorously and Pike laughs like she's the funniest fucking thing he's ever seen. Kirk snorts, and she helplessly glances back at him for a hint and finds him simply watching her with hot blue eyes, his fingers loosely curled against his mouth.

Then he licks the two longest, and winks, and the memory of what he just got done doing with them, with Pike avidly observing the whole time, makes Leah's face burn. Pike's hand is broad and calloused on her cheek, turning her back to face him, sliding roughly along her throat and collarbones as he enlightens her. "I can't otherwise imagine how no one succumbed to the temptation to dress you in something flimsy and have you kneel at their feet."

Her father would've knocked the head off anyone who'd tried, Leah thinks, but manages not to say. She just looks at Pike, and he looks up at her, smile wide as a knife-slash as he cups her breast, weighing it on his palm. His strong, raspy touch feels good in a shallow, physical way, if she doesn't let herself remember all the people he's taught to kill and killed himself, if she ignores his prize student Kirk's laser-blue gaze searing her back.

She manages to think through the rising haze, her wrists are still trapped in Pike's grip and revulsion chases desire. "I suppose that's meant as a compliment, Admiral," she replies, sinking into the thin comfort of sarcasm, "in which case, thank you."

"Oh, Leah," Pike says, slow and warm and deadly fond, "With an attitude like that a man should put you over his knee." He tweaks her nipple, and she bites her lips to keep in the gasp. "But I think I'm a bit too impatient for proper discipline today," as his broad hand curves beneath her breast, as his fingers dent the flesh lining her ribs and press like heated bars over her belly. "Not that you don't have the ass for it." The heel of his hand judders over her mound, and that's how she realizes she's shaking. "But isn't this is the best of all possible worlds," as he rotates his wrist, sliding two fingers up and in, and at the first rough brush of a calloused fingertip she chokes on a yelp, clenching her fists tighter. "An accomplished doctor," as he pushes rhythmically, jagged sensation crackling through her and her thighs quivering, "and a pretty woman, all in one package. Maybe a little shopworn, but who isn't?" Leah tells herself she's not listening as she struggles not to part her thighs, to keep her knees from buckling. She tugs against Pike's one-handed grip around her wrists and he holds her effortlessly, smirking up at her as each stroke jars through her until she gasps and his eyes gleam like polished ice.

Kirk huffs behind her, and she nearly startles right off her feet. "You can have any ensign or yeoman or baby-faced crewmember you want," he says, waiting a beat before he adds, "Sir," and Pike's flaring grin makes Leah shiver and sway. "All perky tits and empty eyes, good for a fuck or two apiece. For the long haul I like my Bones."

Leah didn't think she had any blushing left in her until her cheeks prickle like fire catching in dry brush. "Why thank you, Captain," she drawls as best she can with her throat gone so tight, "for that lovely endorsement."

Kirk chuckles. "Indeed," says Pike, his cool eyes narrow speculatively, almost as blue as those she can feel focused on her as she wobbles under his rough ministrations. "Come here and show me what my protege finds so intriguing."

Leah shakes her head so her hair hides half her face. She doesn't know herself why Kirk wants her, why he keeps wanting her. Pike pulls his hand away and she quivers with frustrated reprieve, her clit throbbing; he slides his fingers over his lower lip and licks them, the same swipe as Kirk's but slower, and shuts his eyes for a long moment of evident enjoyment as her belly flips and plummets, as her diaphragm locks.

She braces herself, but still stumbles when Pike jerks her forward, her knees colliding with his. "Dammit," Leah mutters, sparks of pain in her patellae and her legs threatening to give way, and manages to turn her hips at the last possible moment to press her slick thighs together as she settles gingerly on his hard-muscled lap.

Pike chuckles, low and vicious, reaches up and brushes her hair back from her face. "Why so ladylike, Leah? Don't tell me you ride Jim sidesaddle." His fist closes in her hair joint by tightening joint, slowly enough to allow dread time to crescendo as he pulls her head back, as her scalp aches and her belly clenches. "Now sit properly," he tells her in a voice cool and clear as water.

There's no room, even if she weren't twisted between Pike's gripping hands, squeezing her wrists together, dragging on her hair. "If you want me to move, let go," she snaps before she thinks, distracted by her burning scalp, and Pike cocks a warning eyebrow. "Sir." Leah gulps another steadying breath or three, wishing they were neat whiskey, before she can make herself add, "Please."

Kirk makes one of his little fucking amused noises. Pike breathes a stripped-down sort of laugh and lets her go. Leah swallows her heart down out of her throat and carefully reaches for the chair's arms, carefully swings her leg over Pike's and straddles him. He grins at her, full of mischief; she can see the young devil he used to be in the creases of the mature bastard he is now, and splayed like this as he spreads his thighs to force hers further apart, she blushes. Again. Just what she needed.

Pike leans in and she flinches back before she can stop herself, her eyes squeezing shut. There's the bite of broad fingers into her upper arm and the rush of his breath across her face, the burn in her scalp as he clenches his fist in her hair and jerks her head back again, the crackle in her lips as he kisses her. Pike kisses like the conqueror he is, pushing Leah's lips open with his, shoving his tongue over hers like an invasion, and she gasps as he tightens his grip and pulls her forward, her nipples brushing his chest, her legs wedged open wider. "Touch me," he orders over her burning wet lips, and she obeys as he kisses her again, feeling him thicken and harden in her hand.

Kirk hums appreciatively behind her as Pike's hand slides down her arm and behind her waist, skin tingling in its wake, as he settles his broad hands on her hips and tightens his grip into an order. " Leah, come here," he murmurs against the patch of nerves beneath her ear, and the shudder goes through her like a fault line.

But she swallows hard, and manages to keep a sardonic edge to her gasped, "Yes, sir," as she grips the chair arms and pushes with her toes, rocking upwards.

Kirk snickers, his breath roughening. He would've pinched her for that tone of voice. Pike just chuckles, dry as dead bones, and jerks her down with both hands, shoving her onto his cock, knocking a whimper from her.

Leah struggles not to give Pike the satisfaction of an "ow." She ducks her head, muffling herself against the hard muscle of his shoulder, presses her palms to the suede-wrapped metal of the chair arms and puts a wave into her spine. The pain fades and she'd rather have it than the rising pleasure of being held and filled, gasping helpless open-mouthed puffs against his skin, moving on him as best she can while splayed awkwardly across his lap. Pike groans low against her ear, and she wishes she dared bite him, wondering if that would speed this up. It would with Kirk, though he'd bite her back.

Pike just slides his grip up to her waist, pressing their bodies together, murmuring over her head, "Fuck, boy, she's like hot velvet. Should've kept her for myself."

Kirk laughs, bright and sharp. "But you didn't. Now she's mine."

Arrogant bastards, Leah thinks as she bares her teeth against Pike's shoulder and squeezes her aching hands tighter around the inflexible chair arms, huffing as she works herself faster on Pike's inflexible cock, biceps and calves burning deep inside. Pike laughs in response, tightening his grip on her waist, and when he jerks her up and slams her down she sees stars pop behind her eyelids and can't hold back a high gasp. "Did he ever tell you," Pike whispers, hot breath curling in her ear as she grips the chair arms desperately and he bounces her like rubber against stone, "how I showed you to him on my console and told him I'd found him a new toy?" He pants heavily, lips drawn back and teeth a millimeter from her skin, and she grits hers and doesn't shake her head, doesn't move as he slams her up and down harder and harder, each thrust jarring her resolve. "How he got down on his knees and thanked me before he came out to meet you?" Pike bites her ear sharply, and Leah's breath hitches into a sob, waves of sensation rippling outwards and her core shaking loose.

"Trying to suborn my doctor?" Kirk calls from the bed, sounding as distant as on another mountaintop, and if Leah let her lips part she knows she'd whimper, she'd cry out as Pike moves her with his strong cruel hands and fucks her as mercilessly as she'd expected from him. "Let me see my girl, Sir." Kirk's voice rings like a trumpet, like the last time she saw him lead a charge, and Pike stops on a little grunt, easing his fingers' bite, letting Leah pant against his chest as he blows an amused breath into her hair.

"All right, Jimmy." Leah flinches, half expecting to be caught in Kirk's reaction to that, but he... doesn't, his exhale barely audible as Pike lets go only to wrap those big hands around her shoulders. "Turn around, Leah," Pike orders, the barest reedy edge to his voice; she shudders, caught between aching and coming, and swallows her first thought about how he and Kirk could just fuck each other and let her have one more night to watch her daughter sleep.

Instead Leah shoves herself up, wriggling until she's clear of Pike, and falls back to his lap, huffing, "Make up your mind, Admiral. I'm a doctor, not a doll."

Pike just laughs into her hair and grips her shoulders, turns her so her legs tumble over his knees, wraps his arms around her ribcage and hauls her tight against him so his cock slides slick in the crease of her ass. Her hair falls across one eye and with her arms pinned she can't reach it, but she can look up through it at Kirk, stroking himself with lazy deliberation, sprawled across the bed.

Leah shuts her eyes, blood burning in her cheeks and bruised hips, her throat tingling under Pike's hot hard mouth and her nipple sparking under his calloused palm, and wishes, like always, that what Kirk puts her through would just simply hurt. Pike flexes his tongue in a deliberate drag over her pulse, and she bites her lip until she tastes protein and iron but she knows he can feel her moaning deep in her throat.

Kirk laughs breathlessly, and she knows he sees it in her face. Pike rolls her nipple between thumb and forefinger like a control knob, snapping her spine into an arch, and she shudders and feels stray prickles across her temple as her head rocks back along his jaw. "I," Leah gasps, and she meant to say something sarcastic, something defiant, but Pike brushes her lips with two fingers and all she accomplishes is a moan.

"Back in the saddle," he rumbles, and she growls what she doesn't dare say, turning her face away from his mouth, from his fingers sliding under her chin. He just chuckles again as he slides them down her throat, pressing a threat over her windpipe like a kiss, his hands steely manacles closing on her upper arms as he tugs her up and hilts himself in her again. Leah grits her teeth as she moans helplessly, until she hears Kirk moan with her, and her eyes fly open wide.

He's sitting up now, watching them, watching her as Pike slams into her so hard her breasts bounce and she can't keep in a high-pitched sob or the next or the next. Kirk's eyes burn blue and he licks his lips as Leah's lids flutter with each crackling thrust, as Pike slides his grip up and squeezes her so her ribs compress and his wiry-haired chest rasps her back. Kirk's lips part and Leah's mouth opens and she has no idea what foolishness Pike's about to knock out of her, until he speaks first, puffing, "Jim, want to come over here?"

And that just runs ice through her veins beneath her steaming skin. All Leah can think of, squeezed and bounced, is Cupcake behind her and Kirk staring into her as they fucked and stroked her until she shattered. All she can do is stare at Kirk watching her, chill surging down her burning nerves, and when he demurs with, "Thanks, Sir, I'm good," she sags in gasping relief. Pinned like that again, pushed back to that moment -- she couldn't take it, she knows it.

Pike eases his hold, and Leah fumbles for the chair arms again to ground herself, something to cling to as he fucks her. "Look at Jim watching you fuck me," he rumbles in her ear, and she grumbles annoyance between her clenched teeth, shuts her eyes as they laugh breathlessly before and behind her. Pike rakes his hand through her hair, drags it down her shoulder and breast and ribs again, sensation flaring in his fingers' wake, and Leah shudders and hangs her head, feeling it bounce with each shockwave.

The tiniest push would tip her off this throbbing precipice, and she doesn't know if it's hope or resentment that makes her pant, "Where the fuck else can I look, Sir?" Kirk moans a laugh that streams molten down her spine, Pike snorts and jerks on her hair, and it's almost a relief to be tugged back from the brink.

Until Pike grips her hip again and shoves her down so hard she feels this thrust in the back of her goddamn throat, smacking a cry up out of her, her head rocked back on his shoulder. He chuckles darkly as he slides his hand between her legs and presses his lips to her temple, but his, "She always this mouthy, Jim?" is absolutely unmuffled, vibrating through skin and skull.

"Sir, this is her best fucking behavior," Kirk answers, and snickers at his own drollery. Leah's eyes roll back in her head, not because of him but because Pike strokes her firmly with two silk-rough fingertips and she whimpers a ridiculous capitulation, hating herself as he breathes a laugh against the hinge of her jaw, as he moves her one-handed and keeps stroking her. She doesn't want to like this. She's never wanted to like it. But, as Kirk's, "Yeah, just like that, she can't resist that," echoes against her thumping pulse, she rocks into Pike's touch, moaning in his rhythm, moving under his pulling hand until she shudders into coming, and as the spasms wrench through her he rumbles triumphantly in her ear.

Leah slumps back against Pike's hard chest, head lolling on his shoulder, wrecked and gasping with sweat trickling between her breasts, her eyes clamped tight as if by not seeing Kirk's grin she could ignore him watching. Pike reaches up to stroke her hair back, sticking strands together, and presses his knifeslash smile against her ear as she shudders helplessly despite gritting her teeth. "Don't try and teach me to suck eggs," he says mildly over her shoulder, and Kirk laughs in response. "And come here with that. Leah, up and on your knees."

She presses her lips on a curse as she pushes herself up on shaking arms and unstrung legs. Stumbling forward, she thinks, 'what next, a handstand?' but manages not to say it as she wobbles around and thuds to the floor.

She doesn't say, 'yessir,' either, and can feel the reproof in Pike's hands clamping onto the sides of her head, his fingers winding into her hair until strands twang taut. She can feel her heart jackknife as Kirk paces towards her naked back, not that a suit of vacuum-battle armor could shield her from either of them. "Do I need to tell you what to do?" Pike asks, falsely kind, avuncular crinkles around his hard blue eyes.

Leah shakes her head, or rather, presses it into Pike's unmoving hands framing her face. To Kirk she'd probably say, 'Don't you like giving orders?' and he'd probably make her wince for it, but her sense of self-preservation manages to win over her smart mouth one more time. When Pike eases his grip she just leans in, one hand on his thigh, one clutching the chair, and fits her lips over his cock. She knows well enough how she tastes and how a cock does, and the curling clench in her belly isn't anything like disgust. She shudders, wishing she could just hate this, as Pike twitches velvet-hard on her tongue and his fingers rub over her nape, as she keeps her hands well out of the way. If he wants more he can damn well speak up and demand it.

She shudders harder when Kirk kneels behind her, though she knew it was coming. She tenses, trying to relax her throat and breathe around Pike, braced for Kirk to fuck her, but he sets a gentle hand between her shoulderblades, fingertips overlapping Pike's for a bare but palpable moment before he strokes down her back as if he's trying to calm a startled creature.

Leah's heart judders against her ribs as she gasps through her nose, waves of warmth eroding her rigid stance as Kirk pets her sides with both hands and lays a trail of kisses down her spine, each featherweight touch resounding as a footstep. She swallows hard around Pike and prods Kirk's knee with her foot, nudging a question into his calf with her toes, struggling against hyperventilating. She never trusts him less than when he's tender.

He grins behind her heart, that familiar press of broad teeth against her skin, and she clutches the chair, lets her hand go limp on Pike's thigh, waits for one to shove her down and the other to bite her. But they snicker instead, and she can just picture their eyes meeting, blue fire and blue ice. "Taking your time, Jim?" Pike rumbles, setting one hand atop Leah's on his thigh. "When did you learn patience?"

"Sometime after you said fucking me was like a warp core breach." Kirk leans a little of his weight on her, just enough to blanket her solidly as he kisses her neck, her jaw, her ear, and Leah gurgles an uncertain noise. If she dared lift her head she'd ask what he wants from her already, but Pike's orders are clear, the restrained pressure of his fingers a potential shove.

"Indeed." Pike gathers Leah's hand in his as he tugs his fingers free of her hair, and he probably doesn't hear her snort under Kirk's tenor rumble but it's all she can have so she takes it. "But get a move on." Pike strokes Leah's fingers as if he couldn't break them, lets her suck him at her pace as if he wouldn't think of forcing her till she choked.

"Next best thing to fucking us both, huh?" Kirk nudges her thighs a little wider, and she can just picture him leaning his cheek into Pike's hand, purring like a lion playing at being a housecat. He curls light fingers around her bruised hip and pushes into her as gently as if he's never made her wince, his lips trembling against her ear as if tenderness were actually his style.

Leah presses her toes against the carpet to keep from kicking Kirk, and tightens her suction on Pike until he hums so deep she can feel him rumble. As Kirk moves in her, slick and steady and not quite his usual pace, as Pike's fingers start to tremble around hers, she feels the current between them above her head and a crackling knot winds in her chest, entirely apart from her sore, stretched mouth or the throbbing ache of being fucked. She'll be damned if she's just going to be a little wire in their circuit.

So Leah breathes deep, Pike's scent coating her nasal passages and the bruises over her ribs twinging with expansion, and ripples her tongue at the same moment as she squeezes down on Kirk. Maybe it's ridiculous to be pleased at startling them both, hard muscle quivering with reaction under her hand and down her back, but it's something. Kirk's panting opens out into a laugh as he snaps his hips harder, a slam of sensation knocking her breathlessly forward. Pike clutches her hair, strands pinging off her scalp, her chest imploding until she feels him shake, and she just about slumps in relief as he groans above her and starts to pulse in her mouth. "Nice job," Kirk hisses into Leah's ear, jostling her steadily as she struggles to swallow around Pike, and she squirms indignantly and only succeeds in aspirating something scratchy that makes her cough.

Pike lets her go with a pleased wordless murmur, and she pulls off him too fast for poise, still air-deprived with spit and more sliding down her chin. She reaches to wipe her face and Kirk swings an arm across her, grabbing her wrist, wrapping the other around her as he gathers her up and bounces her vertically, and the room seems to wobble but she knows it's just her own dizziness. Leah tries to curse and only coughs, caught tightly in Kirk's grip.

"C'mere," Kirk mutters, turning her face with her own hand, and licks right up her chin and over her bottom lip, fucking her mouth with his tongue as he bounces her towards his orgasm. "He tastes good on you," he breathes against her lips, and she tries to grit her teeth but whimpers ludicrously, struggling not to be moved by him, and like always failing. "You taste so fucking good." Kirk kisses her again, squeezing her until she can't breathe, and shudders like an earthquake as he comes with his mouth sealed over hers.

Kirk eases his hold a fraction as he shivers, recovering, and Leah drags in a whooping breath and untwists herself as best she can, wipes her hair out of her eyes and looks up at Pike, who sits like the satiated warlord he is, smiling benevolently down on them. Leah feels his eyes skimming her skin just like his hands did, blushes hard, and wishes she could rip out her sympathetic nervous system once and for all. Instead she curls her lip as best she can, though Pike only smirks a little wider. She's still catching her breath, her ribs ache, Kirk's a hot wall of muscle against her back as he slowly wilts inside her, but she's still not giving either of them a damn smile.

Pike's gaze flickers past her face, and before Leah can properly interpret that Kirk's arms tighten again, so hard she wheezes, "Whoa, hey --!" as he stands straight up, dragging her with him as he spins, and just about hurls her at the bed. She lands with a whuff, barely catching herself on her arms, and he grabs her legs and rolls her onto it, lunging over her, his eyes suddenly ablaze and his face hard.

Leah's heart clenches, her pulse spiking. Kirk looks half ready to kill her even before he settles a hand around her throat. "So what do you think, Bones?" he asks as mildly as if he weren't crouched over her with his other hand flat over her sternum, pushing her into the mattress. "Want to stay on Earth and serve the Admiralty instead?"

This whole evening he was all smiles, but now he's jealous, of course he's jealous. Leah struggles against hyperventilation under Kirk's hard constricting hands; she can think through adrenaline, she's been trained for it, but thinking through the careening terror sparked by Kirk's fury is another job entirely. "What are you asking?" she splutters, as his broad strong fingers slowly tighten beneath her chin. "That's not our deal?" Her voice emerges on a quaver but at least she gets the words out.

"I couldn't ship out empty-handed," he muses, as if she'd said anything like 'yes', and frustration pushes tears to the corners of her eyes. "I'd need someone experienced in Medical. Chapel would have to come back, and bring her little ward with her."

The 'no' rises on a swell of panic, on the tip of Leah's tongue as she gasps to shout it, but Kirk ruthlessly pinches her nipple until it sparks, until she screams. Suddenly he's all over her, pinching and prodding her, peppering her with fingertip agonies as she screams and twists and bats uselessly at his hands. She gets that "No!" out, and "You said they'd stay here!", "Ow, dammit," and "You're hurting me," "We agreed!" and finally, as her voice shatters into sobs, "Please, please."

Kirk stops. For a moment Leah doesn't even feel it, her ribs seamed with pain and her chest and arms breaking out in a rash of bruises as she folds up on her side sobbing frankly into her hands. Then she feels his stillness, his arms and legs a cage around her body, and she's still shuddering and gulping air when he turns her chin up and pushes his thumb across her cheeks, smudging away the tears. "Yeah, we have a deal," he says softly, and when she pries her eyes open, he's smiling almost sweetly, something like proudly.

"Ugh," Leah groans and presses her hands to Kirk's chest to push herself away from him, scooting up the bed to curl against the pillows, sore on too many levels to differentiate. "God dammit," she mutters sullenly, wrapping an arm over her head, shivering down to exhaustion. At least she's worn out enough to keep herself from ranting at Kirk in front of company. She gets that this little demonstration was for Pike's amusement even before he applauds.

At least Kirk reaffirmed their agreement in front of someone he won't, or maybe can't, kill. He reaches out to pat Leah, pressing his hand shallowly into her side, and when he cups her cheek she parts her lips against the heel of his thumb, hoping that'll hold him for the moment. The thought of having to thank him aloud sends a familiar queasy curl through her belly.

Kirk rumbles at her, patting her cheek as he looks over at Pike, proud as a boy showing off his dog's tricks. "Isn't she something?"

Pike nods, pushing himself up with both ropy arms. He barely shakes, though she can see the lopsided hitch in his gait as he walks over to the bed, and reluctantly has to admire the will that keeps him standing. Before he can see it and take it for pity, she closes her eyes, listening to the uneven thump of his footsteps, the suppressed struggle of his breathing, and tenses just in time for his hand to land on her cheek where Kirk's was. "Indeed. It's been a lovely evening, Jim. Leah."

Leah snorts wearily. "Admiral." A sudden impulse makes her add, "May I go now?"

She hears Kirk inhale, and she flushes cold all over, realizing what she's said by asking Pike in front of him, with the pinches and smacks he just gave her still throbbing. Pike chuckles and pats her cheek, saying, "Well, we'll have to defer to your superior officer, won't we?"

A frustrated little noise escapes her before Leah can turn her face down against the mattress, half expecting the whole way for Pike to stop her by knotting his fist in her hair. She's completely unsurprised when Kirk squeezes her arm sharply, hard enough to hurt but not to bruise, and says, "You look beat, Bones. Why don't you stay and get some sleep?"

Leah glances up on a rush of indignation; this is the second to last night she has left before she leaves Joanna on Earth in relative safety. She opens her mouth to say as much, looks at Kirk's pitilessly sunny smile and Pike looming beside the bed, and shuts her lips silently on a wave of self-loathing for her own pragmatic cowardice.

"Walk me to the door, Jim," Pike says, and Kirk trails a hand over Leah's hip as he swings himself over her, stands and gives Pike his arm. Pike takes it the way a man would hold a cane he wants people to believe is merely ornamental, cups the other hand behind Kirk's neck and kisses him hard, teeth glinting on Kirk's bottom lip. Kirk pushes into it with equal force, and Leah already knew they both kiss to bruise, but he tilts his head back the smallest angle into Pike's grip.

Leah watches, trying not to notice the purely aesthetic aspect of their little scene, and wonders if it's good or bad for her that Kirk's letting her see this.

Pike drops his hand and Kirk pulls away, but instead of going he looks down at Leah again. "I hear you're leaving something precious here for safekeeping," he says, and Leah's pulse spikes, but underneath her alarm she notes where Kirk learned the deceptively mild tone he uses for misdirection. "I did question why any captain would give up such an advantage --" and Leah sits up, fear knotting around her heart as she prepares to go to her knees again, to beg, to do anything to keep Pike from overruling Kirk, from changing his mind "-- but Jim impressed me with his strategy. I'll keep an eye on your valuable for you."

Leah wilts over herself, relief leaving her limp. She should insist that her daughter's a person, not a possession, but then, what else is she herself, sitting here naked, slicked and smeared and bruised all over, bitterness coating her throat? "Thank you, Sir," she says so earnestly she wishes she could roll her eyes at herself. But she means it, she has to mean it. "Thank you."

"It's the least I can do." Pike waves her up, and Leah pushes her spine straight, about to drag herself to standing until his heavy hand on her shoulder stops her. "Take good care of your Captain, Dr. McCoy."

"Of course, Admiral." Before she's done talking, Pike leans down, fast as a striking snake and only lurching a little, swings his hand up into Leah's hair and presses his mouth over hers. She gasps through her nose, her wide-eyed glance falling on Kirk, who's watching them with burning eyes, his smile sagging lopsidedly like it's falling off his face.

Leah exhales and lets her eyes fall shut, tips her chin up and feels Kirk watching as she kisses Pike back.