When Q Becomes Your Last Chance... Part 3/3
Title: When Q Becomes Your Last Chance... Part 3/3
Author: whiteraven1606
Artist: chosenfire28
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairings: Spock/Kirk/McCoy
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Non-graphic mentions of past underage non-con/rape
Word Count: 23500
Summary: Jim Kirk gets himself de-aged and his crew can't figure out a way to fix it until Spock Prime makes a suggestion that leads to drastic actions.
Disclaimer: This is for fun. Please treat it as such.
Author's Notes: Thank you to nightshadow_t2 for the beta work, suggestions, and listening to my whining when the story just wouldn't stop. Thank you to the moderators at au_bigbang for their patience. Thanks to chosenfire28 for the wonderful poster. :) I love it. Please note that any remaining mistakes are solely of my own making, usually because of my dyslexia.
Link to the Art
Post at AO3
(Part 2)
****
It took several days to straighten everything out. Jim stayed quiet when the android, Data, disappeared. He'd asked the older Spock and got the non-answer of vineyards are very good storage sites really. Jim was ready to kick the Admirals off his ship. They were driving him crazy with the backseat commanding. Turning to Uhura as she spun towards him all excited, Jim could see Pike shake his head at Archer out of the corner of his eye. Listening to Uhura report a small vessel just appearing out of nothing, with no warp signature and it screaming a weird-ass code she thought was familiar, he knew this was just going to suck.
Moving towards the tiny ship, Jim acknowledged the older Spock's arrival on the bridge with a nod. They got closer and Jim cocked his head. The little ship looked...
"Captain, the ship is hailing us. It appears to have been damaged."
Jim could see the damaged side as the ship rolled to a more broadside position as they slid to a stop. "Open a channel." Jim straightened and was ready to announce himself when the screen lit up with Bones. Jim gaped. Bones was ancient.
"Jim. Damn, you're too young to be Captain already." Bones shook his head. "And you!" The old Bones pointed a gnarled finger at the Ambassador. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to convince them to let someone come look for you? That stupid star system is still dropping in on itself. Then the damn thing exploded and started it all over again. Hell, they ordered the Enterprise to back off." The old Bones hit something on his console.
Jim jumped as Bones was suddenly in front of him and dumping a beagle in his lap.
"And if you ever disappear again, I'm totally sending Scotty after your ass." Bones waggled his finger at Spock, who was grinning with his eyebrows and a quirked lip, while the beagle squirmed off Jim's lap and bounded over to Archer. Bones grabbed Spock's arm and then he was hugging him.
Jim glanced at his Spock and then at the Admirals. As Bones pushed away from the Ambassador, his Bones stepped off the turbolift.
"Fuck." Bones stared at himself.
The older one grinned. "Pretty much. Spock's about the only thing that could get me to reinstate myself."
The Ambassador cocked his head. "You have been on bed-rest of several years. How did you persuade Starfleet to reactivate you?"
Bones shrugged. "I lied." Then he grinned. "Hell, Scotty was already calculating what would have to be built to get through that mess the supernova left behind to get to you by the time I knew what the hell had happened. I figured they'd tried to execute you again."
There was a gasp and Jim turned his head to find Spock's parents in front of the lift. The old Bones, nodded at them and then turned back to Spock. "You did tell me to start working on curing that thing, right?"
Spock sighed. "Admiral McCoy, you of all people know the dangers of altering the timeline."
Bones snorted. "Oh, that's rich, coming from the guy that went back in time to badger Q with logic and convince him to save Earth from an asteroid. Seriously, Spock. I just came through a twisted mess of spacetime and ended up with a dog and a massive headache. I want to smack LaForge for allowing Scotty to program the damn emergency transporter systems. And then there's a little problem."
Jim quit just watching and silently laughing. Watching Bones closely, Jim leaned forward. "What problem?"
Bones turned his head and Jim could hear the creaking in his neck. "Well, evidently there's a type of subroutine on the transporter thing that Scotty did..." Bones looked back at Spock. "What got him in Starfleet this time around if it wasn't the same as for Jim?" Bones jerked his thumb towards him and Jim blinked. He glanced at the beagle and then looked back to see the Ambassador Spock's eyebrows climbing.
"Your ship retrieved Captain George Kirk?"
Bones nodded. "Well, mostly. He's injured and I'm not up to surgery," Bones held up his shaking hands. "So, he's in the buffer thingy, but I figured you could get him out."
Jim felt like he couldn't breathe. Bones stepped up to Admiral Bones and started yelling. Spock was suddenly beside him. "Captain, let me take command." Jim nodded and someone, Lady Amanda he realized, led him to the turbolift. He went where pushed and tried to talk to Chapel, but she just smiled at him and told him to sit still for a bit.
Lady Amanda smiled at him. "I'm sure they'll get him out and he'll be fine."
"He's dead." Jim swallowed. "He...What the hell is Mom going to do if he's alive?"
Amanda smiled. "She'll hug him in front of anyone who happens to be there and never let go."
"She remarried." Jim fumbled his communicator from his belt. "I should call her."
Amanda was suddenly right there and she gently pried the unit from his hand. "I'll dial for you." Zar appeared from around the corner.
"Father asked me to check on him. He said Jim's Dad may not be dead."
Amanda nodded and waved her hand at Jim. 'He's shocky. There was a beagle on the bridge too."
Zar smiled. "Scotty's transporter project. Father told me that Scotty spent decades trying to figure out where that dog had ended up." Zar settled next to Jim and then Bones was rushing by with Chapel trailing him. Jim blinked at the wrinkled Bones Amanda was helping sit in the chair next to his bed. Zar smiled down at this version of Bones. "How did you find Father?"
"It took a couple of months. Some Vulcan in Starfleet named Tuvok insisted that Spock must have tried using the slingshot maneuver to get out of there." Bones looked at Jim. "I convinced Starfleet I was expendable enough to send. I came out in a battle and the ship automatically tried to retreat. I popped out somewhere not right and the ship's alarms were screaming and I was trying to figure out what the hell to worry about first and then I was here." Bones rubbed his paper-thin hands together. "Didn't know I had your Dad until I started checking the logs to figure out where to look for Spock first since I wasn't in a battle anymore."
Jim blinked and felt himself calming. He turned and grinned at Commander Spock as he approached who stopped and looked at Admiral Bones.
"Your ship supports your claim of coming from the future."
"Gee, thanks, Spock. Wonderful to know you believe the ship over the guy that hauled your soul around for a while."
Ambassador Spock appeared at his younger self's shoulder. "I believe we agreed that you would refrain from attempting to shock my counterpart."
Bones shrugged. "You agreed. I just drank my coffee. Hey, you all have food around here? I'm starving. Scotty's replicator program kicks out way too many versions of a sandwich."
Jim laid back. His life was nuts. Maybe if he took a nap it'd be normal, or at least less crazy, when he woke up. Jim closed his eyes and listened to the bickering of the older versions of his friends and wondered what had happened to him that he hadn't come for Spock himself. Maybe he didn't want to know. He certainly wasn't going to ask because he figured the old Bones would actually answer. He drifted away to the sound of talking over his head.
Jim shot upright and stared at his Mother. "Mom." He blinked and rubbed his face. When she didn't disappear he stared harder. "What are you doing here?"
She tilted her head. "Well, Jim. I got this call just as the news started blaring that you'd managed to bring the whole planet of Vulcan back from the dead. And this really nice lady, who you once said was dead, informed me that I might want to take an emergency leave and haul my ass halfway across the galaxy because a friend of your friend who are both not supposed to exist or some such managed to sort of, maybe, might have, saved George, but he might die." She raised her eyebrows. "I called your brother while I was on the ship that got me here."
Jim pulled his knees up towards his chest and wrapped an arm around them. "I was a child for a couple of weeks until the thing with Vulcan. I don't think anyone called you about that."
She snorted and shook her head. "Jeez, Jim, you can't have a single quiet moment, can you?"
He grinned, shrugged, and then lolled his head onto one shoulder. "Bones say how Dad's doing?"
She glanced towards the back of Sickbay. "The old wrinkled one yelled at the younger one and then told me he'll be awake in another couple of hours." She bit her lip. "I got to see a glimpse of him. He's really there, Jim. Breathing. I could see it."
Jim nodded and unwrapped himself enough to hold his arms open for his Mom to slid into. As she hugged him too tight, Jim decided he really didn't need a less crazy life.
****
Jim slipped into the room as his father pushed away his tray of food. They stared at each other until finally he approached. "Uh, did anyone tell you that you saved most of the crew when you rammed the Narada?"
Dad licked his lower lip as he stared. "No. That thing had a name?" George reached out and touched the side of Jim's face. "God. We named you in the middle of a firefight. I'm so sorry."
With a smile Jim leaned into his Dad's touch. "You saved a lot of people that would have died, Dad. Nero, the guy that ran that ship, was crazy. Completely nuts. He destroyed Vulcan and tried to take out Earth just because he was pissed that his planet had been destroyed by a nova and the Vulcan that had tried to save it had failed."
"I did hear you fixed Vulcan."
Jim chuckled faintly. "If you'd come last week you could have seen me as a kid." Moving closer, Jim grabbed up his Dad in a bear hug and clung tight.
"I'm sorry, Jim."
Jim dug his chin into his Dad's shoulder. "I'm not. You would have hated me. I was horrible." Stepping back, Jim grinned lopsidedly. "Want to see my ship?"
George smiled and levered himself up. "Your ship, eh? What's her name? Tiberius?"
Jim slipped under George's arm to help support him. "Yep, she's mine. She's a beauty." He wrinkled his nose at his Dad's suggestion. "Her name is the Enterprise. Mom gave me Tiberius as a middle name."
"Well, at least it wasn't your first name. Be happy."
****
Jim grinned at the beagle as he walked Admiral Archer to the transport. Pike was going to stay longer after being asked to visit by Ambassador Spock. Jim refused to ask, but he was sure it had something to do with the other timeline. Archer turned to him just before the pad and tucked his beagle tighter against his side.
"Captain. You've grown into a fine officer, just try not to resurrect another planet without warning Command first. Congratulations on the saving of your father. He's a good man."
His smile stiff, Jim nodded. "I will try, Admiral. Thank you."
The Admiral stepped up onto the transporter pad. "Oh, would you thank Ambassador Selek for the wonderful wine? I had never tried anything from Picard Vineyards, but it was wonderful."
Forcing his mouth to shut before Archer noticed him gaping, Jim nodded. As soon as the Admiral and his dog were safely gone, Jim raced out of the transporter room to find Bones. Bursting into Bones' office Jim made grabby hands at Bones until he handed over a glass of liquor.
"What the fuck is wrong?"
After downing his glass, Jim took a deep breath. "Spock is having Data delivered as wine in the future."
Bones cocked his head. "I thought you knew that. The whole ship knows that. Hell, Spock's mom knows that. Scotty only let him go because the old Spock promised he'd get to see something impossible if he did. Where the hell were you?"
He put down the empty glass and shook his head. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe keeping visitors from killing each other or blowing up the ship. Trying to learn how to talk to my parents, which I've never really had to do before. I mean, you know..." Jim flapped a hand helpless for the words to describe the difficultly he and his Mom had talking. Which didn't even being to cover his suddenly not dead Father.
"And here I thought you were keeping them from learning you're sleeping with your command staff."
Jim grimaced. "I'm only sleeping with you and Spock. Besides, we haven't really done anything but sleep."
"Yeah, about that. Old Spock said something about making a person come with their mind. It sounded kinky."
Jim laughed. "I'm telling Spock you said that."
Bones blinked and then grinned. "How do you know which one you're talking about?"
Jim grinned. "I'm just that good."
****
Jim settled down between Bones and Spock, pulling the covers from over Bones and piling them on Spock. "When are you going to bug me about food? I know you've both been waiting."
Bones tucked his head against Jim's shoulder blade. "Shut the fuck up and sleep." He was snoring within moments.
Spock skimmed his fingers across Bones' arm and Jim's side. "If it allows you to feel secure and it does not interfere with the running of the ship there is no need to 'bug' you."
Jim grinned into his pillow and relaxed as Spock's arm settled on his back. They were just waiting for the right moment, he was certain.
Bones rolled over and flung his arm and leg across Spock. The ship was humming and Jim lay there, warm and full, listening to her mutter at him.
He woke up to something beeping. Jim rubbed at his head until he realized it was the door. Untangling himself from his bed-mates, Jim stumbled to his door. It slid open to a far too bright hallway and his Dad. Who looked pissed. Jim stepped back and almost hit his Dad as he surged forward and grabbed him up into a hug.
"Oh, God, Jimmy."
Jim wrapped his arms loosely around the man and tried to think what the hell could have caused this.
"If I could I'd kill him."
Patting his shoulder, Jim tried to pull away, but couldn't get anywhere. "It's okay." He wasn't even sure who Dad was talking about. "It'll be fine, Dad."
"You've done so well, my boy. I love you so much."
Jim couldn't breathe. He froze until suddenly Bones was grumpily smacking his arm. "Say it back, Jim."
With a deep breathe, Jim tightened his hold on his Dad, who was alive. Real, solid, and definitely not a holovid. "I love you too, Dad."
Bones harrumphed his approval and trudged off towards the bathroom. Jim finally managed to get his Dad to sit. He glanced at his bed and saw Spock watching them silently. Smiling at him, Jim turned back and sat down.
"Dad, I...um, I'm not sure who you're talking about."
with a head tilt, George narrowed his eyes. "How fucked up was your childhood?"
"Huh..." Jim almost shrugged when suddenly Spock was moving between them and handing his Dad a PADD.
"This is a compiled history of Jim's childhood. I believe it is incomplete."
"Spock!" Jim tried to glare, but was sidetracked by Bones suddenly dropping to sit next to him and holding out another PADD to his Dad. "Bones!"
"What? It isn't like you'll talk to him about any of it."
"I might."
"You are, as Leonard says, most stubborn. It is statistically unlikely that you would speak to your father regarding your experiences as a child." Spock quirked an eyebrow as he spoke.
Jim sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Okay, I probably wouldn't have." Looking at his Dad, Jim licked his lip. "Uhm. Just, you know, don't get too mad about the car."
With a glance at him, George paged down a ways. "Oh." His eyes widened. "You nearly died. Your mother wasn't kidding."
"What'd she say?"
George looked up. "That you'd been on Tarsus IV, which I then looked up. She was trying to explain why I was going to find a police record on you. She didn't do you justice. You managed to break all sorts of records."
Jim snorted. "That's what you point out? Really?"
With a shrug, George put down the PADD he was reading. "I can't change it now. Well, I suppose I could, but you survived and you saved the Federation and will again if the arguments between the future versions of Spock and McCoy are any indication. You don't need to change. Just...know I would have tried to help you, if I'd been there."
Jim nodded, because...what the hell did someone say to that?
****
Amanda slipped into a seat across from George Kirk. "You are looking well."
He glanced up at her from where he was picking apart his lunch. "Lady Amanda. I'm feeling better." He poked at the purple beans with his fork. "How are you handling coming back from the dead?"
"Horribly, I'm sure." She reached across and laid her hand on top of George's to still him. "You feel like you don't fit. Like everything is just slightly off and nothing looks like it should."
He nodded and sat down his fork to pat her hand. "Exactly. Jim is..." With a shake of his head, George leaned back. "You ever worry your child is a changeling or infected by a mind controlling virus?"
Amanda hid her laugh behind her hand. "No. I was usually worrying wither Spock was going to be killed for showing up his classmates."
"Okay, I could see that. The communications officer showed me a vid of Jim goading Spock into attacking him solely so he could get control of this ship and try to save Earth." George shook his head. "I just...I know I'd have done the same if needed, but to see someone else...to see Jim doing something so coldly calculated...I never wanted that sort of thing for my child."
She knew what he meant. "You want them to stay safe, forever." He bit his lip and Amanda smiled at the way he moved so much like Jim. She leaned forward. "Spock told me he knew within one sentence what Jim was trying to do. He wasn't certain what Jim knew that made it necessary, but he understood even as it affected him."
"Jim is lucky he didn't get shoved out an airlock."
She giggled. "True." Tilting her head, Amanda touched George's tray. "Come on, you can sit and watch my grandson Zar, who is from 5000 years in the past, make my husband's first wife want to tear her hair out. On a Vulcan that sort of frustration is hilarious." Amused at the expression on his face as he tried to work out the timeline on that, Amanda guided him out of the mess hall.
****
Jim leaned his head back to touch the bulkhead he was sitting against. Concentrating on breathing, Jim calculated how long it would take Bones to track him down and suggest hard liquor. It just...His father. Making himself breathe deep, Jim picked at the knee of his uniform. Alive and caring what the hell happened to him. Which was just a little, okay, a lot unnerving. Plus, they hovered around him with him in the middle. Mom was uncertain and Jim hadn't seen her anything other than sad and determined in the whole of his memory. Uncertain just didn't fit. And his Dad wasn't uncertain at all. He'd seen pissed, upset, and hurting so far. If Dad hurt himself running around the ship, Jim knew exactly who Bones, both Bones, and that was a awful thought, would blame for the whole thing.
There were footsteps approaching and Jim was too stiff to get up fast enough to avoid them. Sulu rounded the corner and nearly tripped over him.
"Oh. Captain." Sulu gazed down at him. "Sir? You okay?" Jim shook his head and laughed. Sulu slid down the wall opposite him and nudged Jim's boot with his own. "Okay. You want to talk about it?"
Jim knocked his head back against the wall. "How do I talk to someone that's suddenly alive that I've always talked to even though he was dead?"
Sulu blinked and Jim reran that through his mind trying to see if it had actually made sense. Sulu frowned. "Same way you've always talked to him. Just talk." Sulu gestured at the ship. "You're life is solid. Him suddenly being alive is just a bonus."
"I can't talk to him like I used to do."
Sulu nodded. "You don't want to yell or complain. Okay, so talk about the ship. Tell him about your life. He'll want to hear anything you'll talk about."
"Shouldn't I be more, I don't know...shocked or something?"
Sulu gave him that look that said he was totally getting his ass kicked at the next time they sparred. "I've always found that you move through shock at an extreme rate." Sulu pushed himself up. "I'll walk you to Sickbay, Captain."
****
When Sulu guided Jim into Sickbay, Bones wasn't all that surprised. Leaving his older self with a PADD that he was marking up and laughing at, Bones helped Sulu settle Jim onto a bed. "What happened?" Jim wasn't bleeding, which was a refreshing change of pace.
"He was sitting in a corridor, but he's not acting normal." Sulu pulled him away from Jim by his sleeve. He lowered his voice, which didn't matter because Bones didn't think Jim was listening anyway. "He was worrying about how to talk to his father."
Bones glanced at Jim, who was staring down at his hands, and then back at Sulu. "Okay. I'll deal with him. Thank you, Sulu."
Sulu nodded and made his retreat. Watching Jim for another minute, Bones tried not to jump as the old him glided to a stop beside him. That hover belt thing was far too silent.
"He overthinking again?"
Turning his head, Bones looked at the other him watching Jim. "Your Jim was on Tarsus IV?"
Gliding further away from Jim, the other him glared at him as he followed. "What does that clusterfuck have to do with him all..." With a wave of his hand, the Admiral indicated the bed where Jim had just been sitting.
Bones sighed. He hadn't even heard the door. He hated when Jim escaped like that. Soothing his older self, Bones made a mental note to sic Spock on Jim as soon as he could.
****
Jim slid into the turbolift that was occupied by Admiral Pike. "Admiral."
He smiled up at Jim. "Captain. I hear your Father is doing well."
"Yeah, Bones did a great job."
Pike quirked an eyebrow at him and Jim had the feeling again. The one where he felt like a child being praised by a loving adult. It was still a weird feeling. "Spock, the older one, let slip you'd been turned into a child for a while. You okay?"
Jim shrugged. "I'm good."
Pike narrowed his eyes. "You lie worse than Spock does. Come on, kid. I've a cabin you can hide in for a little while. I think you're on medical leave until next alpha shift."
Following along, Jim dropped to sit on Pike's bed. "You ever feel like your life is all a dream?"
Pike sighed. "Sometimes." He reached out and patted Jim's knee. "You're okay. That feeling will go away eventually."
Jim snorted. "I suppose. How does all this look to you? Back form the dead and everything."
"Complicated."
Jim shot upright and started to pace. "Yeah. Spock's dad has a new bond-mate and now with Amanda back what happens? The new wife just gets pushed aside? And Mom's been remarried too. I'm not even sure Dad would know because Mom kept Kirk as her last name."
"He knows." Pike rubbed the side of his face. "Look, Jim, nothing is prefect. You know this."
Nodding, because he did know, Jim collapsed into a chair and sighed. "I just..." He leaned forward. "Mom wasn't a bad parent, just depressed all the time." He looked at Pike. "I never had to talk to her and I thought it was normal for a really long time." Jim rubbed his hands over his thighs. "I'd talk to my Dad instead of trying to talk to Mom."
"You imaged him there?"
"No. I just talked to the stars because I knew he was up there somewhere. I didn't understand was dead was until I was five or so."
Pike smiled. "You don't know how to talk to him now, is that what's bothering you?"
"Mom showed more happiness when she'd said she'd seen him than she ever did when I was growing up." Jim stood. "Thanks for listening." Jim left before Pike could do more than lift his hand.
****
Spock put down his fork as George Kirk approached Winona Kirk's table. They stared at each other for 4.2 seconds before George sat down. Spock tried to ignore their conversation, but found that their voices cut through the surrounding noise.
"Winona, I, ah, found out more information about Jim's childhood."
She sighed. "I...failed him."
Spock adjusted his focus to listen because they were speaking about his mate.
George frowned at Winona. "I didn't say anything about you."
"Not yet you haven't. I wouldn't blame you if you did. I had a really hard time connecting with him. I made stupid mistakes." She framed her own face with her hands. "I got married."
George nodded. "You needed help."
She snorted. "Yeah, okay, I guess that was part of it. He tried, but Jim was difficult and I was no real help." She shrugged. "We couldn't seem to talk to each other." She poked at her food with her spoon. "Jim nearly died and we decided that he needed something different."
"And that didn't go like you planned." George ran his finger up and down his glass.
"Not at all. He came back so mad at everything. So thin." She turned her spoon over and over. "I tried staying home, but he'd started to look more and more like you. I'd get too sad and I knew Jim didn't need that."
"So you went back into space."
She sniffled and nodded.
George tapped his finger on the table for several moments and then he stilled. "You've spent years without me. I don't think we should try to pick back up." He reached across the table and took her hand. "We've got a boy who won't talk about his childhood. You tried, but Winona, he wasn't even sure which person from his past I wanted to kill after you first talked to me about him."
Spock watched as Winona stared at her hands.
"He's so good at hiding his pain that I don't think you've got a clear picture, Win." George tapped the back of her hand. "I want to be there for Jim. As much as I love you, Winona, Jim has to come first."
She nodded and abruptly stood and fled. George gazed after her and then he turned to look at Spock. Standing, George moved to sit across from Spock.
"Your Jim's First Officer, right?"
"That is correct." Spock raised an eyebrow. "You have completely read the histories compiled by Doctor McCoy and myself?"
George nodded. "You know him better than I do. What can I do to best help him?"
"He requires patience. The difficulties of his past have destroyed Jim's ability to easily trust others."
"He trusts you."
****
Amanda cornered Ambassador Spock in the Captain's cabin. "I need your help."
"Of course, Mother." He smiled softly and gestured to a chair.
She'd never seen her son so at peace with himself. Sitting down, Amanda sighed. "Sarek took a new wife, which was only logical given the situation, but what do we do now?"
With a cock of his head, Spock spread his hands. "There's no bond. It is something I changed while I possessed Q's borrowed powers. Both Father and his new mate had lost their previous bond-mates. With her former mate restored there was no logical reason for the new bond to remain."
"And you did the same for the rest of Vulcan?"
"I did not."
"Spock."
He looked at the floor and then back up at her. "I am certain the rest of Vulcan will rearrange itself in due time."
Amanda smiled. "Most likely." She rose and wondered around the room. "I never gave a thought to having grandchildren. That Spock has chosen Jim doesn't surprise me."
"He has also chosen Dr. McCoy."
Amanda stared at the chess set, blinked, and turned to stare at this old version of her boy. "Oh?"
He was smiling again. "They are well suited to one another."
"That they are." Amanda dropped back into the chair she'd sat in earlier. "You hadn't intended to bring Vulcan back. You were looking for an way to change Kirk back into an adult."
"I had contemplated ways of correcting the problems in this timeline brought by Nero's reaction to my inability to save his world in my own timeline." Spock steepled his fingers. "When Q was threatening Jim I took his powers as once happened on accident. It was only logical to use those powers to restore Vulcan."
She smiled at him. "Logical." As he quirked his eyebrow at her, Amanda could only hope that her boy found peace enough with himself to smile one day. "Your being an Ambassador pleases your father." She frowned as his head jerked up to stare at her. "What?"
His face went neutral which she'd long ago learned meant he was hurting. "In my time there was much fighting between Father and myself over the manner of my work."
She wanted to ask where she'd been through that, but she didn't. Instead she stood and approached her boy. "Well, you won't have that trouble now." She wrapped him in her arms and all but shoved love at him as strongly as she could. He made a tiny noise in the back of his throat and wrapped his long arms around her.
****
Pike grinned as he hunted the ship for Kirk. Any Kirk, he wasn't picky. Running across George in a turbolift, Pike grabbed his forearm. "Just the Kirk I wanted. Where's Jim?"
George frowned down at him. "He's on the Observation Deck. Why?"
Pike just grinned and kept a hold of George as he headed to find Captain Kirk. They found Kirk sitting between McCoy and Spock. All three were watching the planet below. Pike cleared his throat. Kirk turned his head. "Well, Captain, you've been assigned a new Commander. Head of Security. If he accepts, that is."
George stared at him and so did Jim for just a moment before he started grinning. "Anyone tell Dad that?"
Pike smiled and pushed George towards a chair. "Just now." He turned to George. "What do you think Kirk? Can you take orders from your boy?"
George visibly shook himself. "Yes, I think I can do that." He looked at Jim. "If he wants me."
Pike just smiled as Jim grabbed up George into hug.
****
Two months later:
Jim dropped to sit next to Spock on the bed. He watched Spock remove his boots as Bones made noise in their bathroom. "He's grumpy."
Spock glanced at him as he sat his boots carefully beside Jim's boots. "That is not an uncommon occurrence." Spock brushed two fingers across the back of Jim's hand. "You have adjusted."
Jim smiled softly as he turned his hand to met Spock's fingers with his own. He was liking the stealth kissing. It was hot. "Thanks. I think." He leaned forward and met Spock for another kiss, this one with tongues involved.
Bones came out of the bathroom drying his hair. "Why the fuck can't sonics manage blood in a person's hair?"
Jim pulled back from Spock to laugh at Bones. "Bones! Why are you complaining about blood when you could be getting a blow job from Spock?"
Spock's eyebrow rose. "I was uninformed of this plan of action, Jim."
Jim grinned as Bones came to sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm sure you could wing it, Spock."
Bones fingered Spock's uniform shirt. "I think someone is over dressed for blow jobs."
Jim leaned back and freed his cock from his pants as Spock stripped efficiently for them. Bones settled himself beside Jim on the bed.
"How's your hording going?"
Jim rolled his eyes and stroked himself as Spock took Bones' dick into his mouth. "You really want to bug me now?"
Bones sucked in a breath as Spock's cheeks hallowed. "M-maybe...later." Bones threaded his fingers through Spock's hair. Jim leaned over and captured Bones' mouth as he jacked himself slowly. He moved on to Bones' neck so he could listen to the noises Bones made that he'd never admit to later.
Bones arched his back as Spock pulled off. "Dammit, you can't just..." He broke off as Spock slid a lubed finger behind his balls. Jim sucked harder at the good spot just below Bones' ear.
Soon Bones was bucking on three of Spock's slender fingers as he laid half-on Jim's chest.
"I believe Leonard is sufficiently prepared for your proposed penetration of his person, Jim."
Bones roused from his glazed eyed state just enough to lift his head from Jim's shoulder. "Whaa..."
Jim nodded and Spock pulled his fingers from Bones. With a swift reposition of Bones' limp body, Jim sank slowly into Bones' ass.
"Ooooh." Bones lolled his head towards Jim's neck and mouthed Jim's earlobe.
Jim grinned. "It gets better, Bones." He sank further in as Spock lined up with him. Bones moaned as Spock started to push in alongside him. Jim gripped Bones' hips and mouthed the top of Bones' shoulder as his balls met Spock's only stopping when they were both buried in Bones' ass.
"Fuuuck." Bones' arms came up around Spock's torso and Jim moved one of his hands to Spock's hair. They rocked in Bones, pulling grunts and cut-off moans from Bones as he bit along Jim's neck.
Spock settled his hand on the psi points on Bones' face. "Please, Leonard."
Bones bucked into their thrusts. "Oh, yes. Do...it."
Jim watched eagerly as they melded. Bones' hole tightened and Jim could feel everything where he and Spock were pressed together. Spock's thrusts wavered and Jim pulled him in tight with a hand on his ass. Bones gasped and Spock started that little jerky movements that came just before his orgasm.
Then Spock's other hand, wiped clean at some point, found the side of Jim's face and he was pulled into the meld. Their shared emotions slid down his spine and Jim knew, distantly, that he was fucking Bones as hard as he could. As the sensations joined and meshed they held for one prefect moment of still pleasure before breaking, shaking apart together.
Jim shook and shook as Spock thrust deep and hard against him inside Bones who splattered everyone when his semen. Jim shoved them over onto their sides as Spock collapsed. His chest was heaving, but he had to prop himself up on his elbow and whisper down into Bones' ear. "Want to talk about my hoarding now?"
Bones smacked him and Jim grinned as he laid back down. As they slid into sleep, Jim listened to his ship's sounds and smiled.
****
Author: whiteraven1606
Artist: chosenfire28
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Pairings: Spock/Kirk/McCoy
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Non-graphic mentions of past underage non-con/rape
Word Count: 23500
Summary: Jim Kirk gets himself de-aged and his crew can't figure out a way to fix it until Spock Prime makes a suggestion that leads to drastic actions.
Disclaimer: This is for fun. Please treat it as such.
Author's Notes: Thank you to nightshadow_t2 for the beta work, suggestions, and listening to my whining when the story just wouldn't stop. Thank you to the moderators at au_bigbang for their patience. Thanks to chosenfire28 for the wonderful poster. :) I love it. Please note that any remaining mistakes are solely of my own making, usually because of my dyslexia.
Link to the Art
Post at AO3
(Part 2)
****
It took several days to straighten everything out. Jim stayed quiet when the android, Data, disappeared. He'd asked the older Spock and got the non-answer of vineyards are very good storage sites really. Jim was ready to kick the Admirals off his ship. They were driving him crazy with the backseat commanding. Turning to Uhura as she spun towards him all excited, Jim could see Pike shake his head at Archer out of the corner of his eye. Listening to Uhura report a small vessel just appearing out of nothing, with no warp signature and it screaming a weird-ass code she thought was familiar, he knew this was just going to suck.
Moving towards the tiny ship, Jim acknowledged the older Spock's arrival on the bridge with a nod. They got closer and Jim cocked his head. The little ship looked...
"Captain, the ship is hailing us. It appears to have been damaged."
Jim could see the damaged side as the ship rolled to a more broadside position as they slid to a stop. "Open a channel." Jim straightened and was ready to announce himself when the screen lit up with Bones. Jim gaped. Bones was ancient.
"Jim. Damn, you're too young to be Captain already." Bones shook his head. "And you!" The old Bones pointed a gnarled finger at the Ambassador. "Do you have any idea how long it took me to convince them to let someone come look for you? That stupid star system is still dropping in on itself. Then the damn thing exploded and started it all over again. Hell, they ordered the Enterprise to back off." The old Bones hit something on his console.
Jim jumped as Bones was suddenly in front of him and dumping a beagle in his lap.
"And if you ever disappear again, I'm totally sending Scotty after your ass." Bones waggled his finger at Spock, who was grinning with his eyebrows and a quirked lip, while the beagle squirmed off Jim's lap and bounded over to Archer. Bones grabbed Spock's arm and then he was hugging him.
Jim glanced at his Spock and then at the Admirals. As Bones pushed away from the Ambassador, his Bones stepped off the turbolift.
"Fuck." Bones stared at himself.
The older one grinned. "Pretty much. Spock's about the only thing that could get me to reinstate myself."
The Ambassador cocked his head. "You have been on bed-rest of several years. How did you persuade Starfleet to reactivate you?"
Bones shrugged. "I lied." Then he grinned. "Hell, Scotty was already calculating what would have to be built to get through that mess the supernova left behind to get to you by the time I knew what the hell had happened. I figured they'd tried to execute you again."
There was a gasp and Jim turned his head to find Spock's parents in front of the lift. The old Bones, nodded at them and then turned back to Spock. "You did tell me to start working on curing that thing, right?"
Spock sighed. "Admiral McCoy, you of all people know the dangers of altering the timeline."
Bones snorted. "Oh, that's rich, coming from the guy that went back in time to badger Q with logic and convince him to save Earth from an asteroid. Seriously, Spock. I just came through a twisted mess of spacetime and ended up with a dog and a massive headache. I want to smack LaForge for allowing Scotty to program the damn emergency transporter systems. And then there's a little problem."
Jim quit just watching and silently laughing. Watching Bones closely, Jim leaned forward. "What problem?"
Bones turned his head and Jim could hear the creaking in his neck. "Well, evidently there's a type of subroutine on the transporter thing that Scotty did..." Bones looked back at Spock. "What got him in Starfleet this time around if it wasn't the same as for Jim?" Bones jerked his thumb towards him and Jim blinked. He glanced at the beagle and then looked back to see the Ambassador Spock's eyebrows climbing.
"Your ship retrieved Captain George Kirk?"
Bones nodded. "Well, mostly. He's injured and I'm not up to surgery," Bones held up his shaking hands. "So, he's in the buffer thingy, but I figured you could get him out."
Jim felt like he couldn't breathe. Bones stepped up to Admiral Bones and started yelling. Spock was suddenly beside him. "Captain, let me take command." Jim nodded and someone, Lady Amanda he realized, led him to the turbolift. He went where pushed and tried to talk to Chapel, but she just smiled at him and told him to sit still for a bit.
Lady Amanda smiled at him. "I'm sure they'll get him out and he'll be fine."
"He's dead." Jim swallowed. "He...What the hell is Mom going to do if he's alive?"
Amanda smiled. "She'll hug him in front of anyone who happens to be there and never let go."
"She remarried." Jim fumbled his communicator from his belt. "I should call her."
Amanda was suddenly right there and she gently pried the unit from his hand. "I'll dial for you." Zar appeared from around the corner.
"Father asked me to check on him. He said Jim's Dad may not be dead."
Amanda nodded and waved her hand at Jim. 'He's shocky. There was a beagle on the bridge too."
Zar smiled. "Scotty's transporter project. Father told me that Scotty spent decades trying to figure out where that dog had ended up." Zar settled next to Jim and then Bones was rushing by with Chapel trailing him. Jim blinked at the wrinkled Bones Amanda was helping sit in the chair next to his bed. Zar smiled down at this version of Bones. "How did you find Father?"
"It took a couple of months. Some Vulcan in Starfleet named Tuvok insisted that Spock must have tried using the slingshot maneuver to get out of there." Bones looked at Jim. "I convinced Starfleet I was expendable enough to send. I came out in a battle and the ship automatically tried to retreat. I popped out somewhere not right and the ship's alarms were screaming and I was trying to figure out what the hell to worry about first and then I was here." Bones rubbed his paper-thin hands together. "Didn't know I had your Dad until I started checking the logs to figure out where to look for Spock first since I wasn't in a battle anymore."
Jim blinked and felt himself calming. He turned and grinned at Commander Spock as he approached who stopped and looked at Admiral Bones.
"Your ship supports your claim of coming from the future."
"Gee, thanks, Spock. Wonderful to know you believe the ship over the guy that hauled your soul around for a while."
Ambassador Spock appeared at his younger self's shoulder. "I believe we agreed that you would refrain from attempting to shock my counterpart."
Bones shrugged. "You agreed. I just drank my coffee. Hey, you all have food around here? I'm starving. Scotty's replicator program kicks out way too many versions of a sandwich."
Jim laid back. His life was nuts. Maybe if he took a nap it'd be normal, or at least less crazy, when he woke up. Jim closed his eyes and listened to the bickering of the older versions of his friends and wondered what had happened to him that he hadn't come for Spock himself. Maybe he didn't want to know. He certainly wasn't going to ask because he figured the old Bones would actually answer. He drifted away to the sound of talking over his head.
Jim shot upright and stared at his Mother. "Mom." He blinked and rubbed his face. When she didn't disappear he stared harder. "What are you doing here?"
She tilted her head. "Well, Jim. I got this call just as the news started blaring that you'd managed to bring the whole planet of Vulcan back from the dead. And this really nice lady, who you once said was dead, informed me that I might want to take an emergency leave and haul my ass halfway across the galaxy because a friend of your friend who are both not supposed to exist or some such managed to sort of, maybe, might have, saved George, but he might die." She raised her eyebrows. "I called your brother while I was on the ship that got me here."
Jim pulled his knees up towards his chest and wrapped an arm around them. "I was a child for a couple of weeks until the thing with Vulcan. I don't think anyone called you about that."
She snorted and shook her head. "Jeez, Jim, you can't have a single quiet moment, can you?"
He grinned, shrugged, and then lolled his head onto one shoulder. "Bones say how Dad's doing?"
She glanced towards the back of Sickbay. "The old wrinkled one yelled at the younger one and then told me he'll be awake in another couple of hours." She bit her lip. "I got to see a glimpse of him. He's really there, Jim. Breathing. I could see it."
Jim nodded and unwrapped himself enough to hold his arms open for his Mom to slid into. As she hugged him too tight, Jim decided he really didn't need a less crazy life.
****
Jim slipped into the room as his father pushed away his tray of food. They stared at each other until finally he approached. "Uh, did anyone tell you that you saved most of the crew when you rammed the Narada?"
Dad licked his lower lip as he stared. "No. That thing had a name?" George reached out and touched the side of Jim's face. "God. We named you in the middle of a firefight. I'm so sorry."
With a smile Jim leaned into his Dad's touch. "You saved a lot of people that would have died, Dad. Nero, the guy that ran that ship, was crazy. Completely nuts. He destroyed Vulcan and tried to take out Earth just because he was pissed that his planet had been destroyed by a nova and the Vulcan that had tried to save it had failed."
"I did hear you fixed Vulcan."
Jim chuckled faintly. "If you'd come last week you could have seen me as a kid." Moving closer, Jim grabbed up his Dad in a bear hug and clung tight.
"I'm sorry, Jim."
Jim dug his chin into his Dad's shoulder. "I'm not. You would have hated me. I was horrible." Stepping back, Jim grinned lopsidedly. "Want to see my ship?"
George smiled and levered himself up. "Your ship, eh? What's her name? Tiberius?"
Jim slipped under George's arm to help support him. "Yep, she's mine. She's a beauty." He wrinkled his nose at his Dad's suggestion. "Her name is the Enterprise. Mom gave me Tiberius as a middle name."
"Well, at least it wasn't your first name. Be happy."
****
Jim grinned at the beagle as he walked Admiral Archer to the transport. Pike was going to stay longer after being asked to visit by Ambassador Spock. Jim refused to ask, but he was sure it had something to do with the other timeline. Archer turned to him just before the pad and tucked his beagle tighter against his side.
"Captain. You've grown into a fine officer, just try not to resurrect another planet without warning Command first. Congratulations on the saving of your father. He's a good man."
His smile stiff, Jim nodded. "I will try, Admiral. Thank you."
The Admiral stepped up onto the transporter pad. "Oh, would you thank Ambassador Selek for the wonderful wine? I had never tried anything from Picard Vineyards, but it was wonderful."
Forcing his mouth to shut before Archer noticed him gaping, Jim nodded. As soon as the Admiral and his dog were safely gone, Jim raced out of the transporter room to find Bones. Bursting into Bones' office Jim made grabby hands at Bones until he handed over a glass of liquor.
"What the fuck is wrong?"
After downing his glass, Jim took a deep breath. "Spock is having Data delivered as wine in the future."
Bones cocked his head. "I thought you knew that. The whole ship knows that. Hell, Spock's mom knows that. Scotty only let him go because the old Spock promised he'd get to see something impossible if he did. Where the hell were you?"
He put down the empty glass and shook his head. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe keeping visitors from killing each other or blowing up the ship. Trying to learn how to talk to my parents, which I've never really had to do before. I mean, you know..." Jim flapped a hand helpless for the words to describe the difficultly he and his Mom had talking. Which didn't even being to cover his suddenly not dead Father.
"And here I thought you were keeping them from learning you're sleeping with your command staff."
Jim grimaced. "I'm only sleeping with you and Spock. Besides, we haven't really done anything but sleep."
"Yeah, about that. Old Spock said something about making a person come with their mind. It sounded kinky."
Jim laughed. "I'm telling Spock you said that."
Bones blinked and then grinned. "How do you know which one you're talking about?"
Jim grinned. "I'm just that good."
****
Jim settled down between Bones and Spock, pulling the covers from over Bones and piling them on Spock. "When are you going to bug me about food? I know you've both been waiting."
Bones tucked his head against Jim's shoulder blade. "Shut the fuck up and sleep." He was snoring within moments.
Spock skimmed his fingers across Bones' arm and Jim's side. "If it allows you to feel secure and it does not interfere with the running of the ship there is no need to 'bug' you."
Jim grinned into his pillow and relaxed as Spock's arm settled on his back. They were just waiting for the right moment, he was certain.
Bones rolled over and flung his arm and leg across Spock. The ship was humming and Jim lay there, warm and full, listening to her mutter at him.
He woke up to something beeping. Jim rubbed at his head until he realized it was the door. Untangling himself from his bed-mates, Jim stumbled to his door. It slid open to a far too bright hallway and his Dad. Who looked pissed. Jim stepped back and almost hit his Dad as he surged forward and grabbed him up into a hug.
"Oh, God, Jimmy."
Jim wrapped his arms loosely around the man and tried to think what the hell could have caused this.
"If I could I'd kill him."
Patting his shoulder, Jim tried to pull away, but couldn't get anywhere. "It's okay." He wasn't even sure who Dad was talking about. "It'll be fine, Dad."
"You've done so well, my boy. I love you so much."
Jim couldn't breathe. He froze until suddenly Bones was grumpily smacking his arm. "Say it back, Jim."
With a deep breathe, Jim tightened his hold on his Dad, who was alive. Real, solid, and definitely not a holovid. "I love you too, Dad."
Bones harrumphed his approval and trudged off towards the bathroom. Jim finally managed to get his Dad to sit. He glanced at his bed and saw Spock watching them silently. Smiling at him, Jim turned back and sat down.
"Dad, I...um, I'm not sure who you're talking about."
with a head tilt, George narrowed his eyes. "How fucked up was your childhood?"
"Huh..." Jim almost shrugged when suddenly Spock was moving between them and handing his Dad a PADD.
"This is a compiled history of Jim's childhood. I believe it is incomplete."
"Spock!" Jim tried to glare, but was sidetracked by Bones suddenly dropping to sit next to him and holding out another PADD to his Dad. "Bones!"
"What? It isn't like you'll talk to him about any of it."
"I might."
"You are, as Leonard says, most stubborn. It is statistically unlikely that you would speak to your father regarding your experiences as a child." Spock quirked an eyebrow as he spoke.
Jim sighed and leaned back into his chair. "Okay, I probably wouldn't have." Looking at his Dad, Jim licked his lip. "Uhm. Just, you know, don't get too mad about the car."
With a glance at him, George paged down a ways. "Oh." His eyes widened. "You nearly died. Your mother wasn't kidding."
"What'd she say?"
George looked up. "That you'd been on Tarsus IV, which I then looked up. She was trying to explain why I was going to find a police record on you. She didn't do you justice. You managed to break all sorts of records."
Jim snorted. "That's what you point out? Really?"
With a shrug, George put down the PADD he was reading. "I can't change it now. Well, I suppose I could, but you survived and you saved the Federation and will again if the arguments between the future versions of Spock and McCoy are any indication. You don't need to change. Just...know I would have tried to help you, if I'd been there."
Jim nodded, because...what the hell did someone say to that?
****
Amanda slipped into a seat across from George Kirk. "You are looking well."
He glanced up at her from where he was picking apart his lunch. "Lady Amanda. I'm feeling better." He poked at the purple beans with his fork. "How are you handling coming back from the dead?"
"Horribly, I'm sure." She reached across and laid her hand on top of George's to still him. "You feel like you don't fit. Like everything is just slightly off and nothing looks like it should."
He nodded and sat down his fork to pat her hand. "Exactly. Jim is..." With a shake of his head, George leaned back. "You ever worry your child is a changeling or infected by a mind controlling virus?"
Amanda hid her laugh behind her hand. "No. I was usually worrying wither Spock was going to be killed for showing up his classmates."
"Okay, I could see that. The communications officer showed me a vid of Jim goading Spock into attacking him solely so he could get control of this ship and try to save Earth." George shook his head. "I just...I know I'd have done the same if needed, but to see someone else...to see Jim doing something so coldly calculated...I never wanted that sort of thing for my child."
She knew what he meant. "You want them to stay safe, forever." He bit his lip and Amanda smiled at the way he moved so much like Jim. She leaned forward. "Spock told me he knew within one sentence what Jim was trying to do. He wasn't certain what Jim knew that made it necessary, but he understood even as it affected him."
"Jim is lucky he didn't get shoved out an airlock."
She giggled. "True." Tilting her head, Amanda touched George's tray. "Come on, you can sit and watch my grandson Zar, who is from 5000 years in the past, make my husband's first wife want to tear her hair out. On a Vulcan that sort of frustration is hilarious." Amused at the expression on his face as he tried to work out the timeline on that, Amanda guided him out of the mess hall.
****
Jim leaned his head back to touch the bulkhead he was sitting against. Concentrating on breathing, Jim calculated how long it would take Bones to track him down and suggest hard liquor. It just...His father. Making himself breathe deep, Jim picked at the knee of his uniform. Alive and caring what the hell happened to him. Which was just a little, okay, a lot unnerving. Plus, they hovered around him with him in the middle. Mom was uncertain and Jim hadn't seen her anything other than sad and determined in the whole of his memory. Uncertain just didn't fit. And his Dad wasn't uncertain at all. He'd seen pissed, upset, and hurting so far. If Dad hurt himself running around the ship, Jim knew exactly who Bones, both Bones, and that was a awful thought, would blame for the whole thing.
There were footsteps approaching and Jim was too stiff to get up fast enough to avoid them. Sulu rounded the corner and nearly tripped over him.
"Oh. Captain." Sulu gazed down at him. "Sir? You okay?" Jim shook his head and laughed. Sulu slid down the wall opposite him and nudged Jim's boot with his own. "Okay. You want to talk about it?"
Jim knocked his head back against the wall. "How do I talk to someone that's suddenly alive that I've always talked to even though he was dead?"
Sulu blinked and Jim reran that through his mind trying to see if it had actually made sense. Sulu frowned. "Same way you've always talked to him. Just talk." Sulu gestured at the ship. "You're life is solid. Him suddenly being alive is just a bonus."
"I can't talk to him like I used to do."
Sulu nodded. "You don't want to yell or complain. Okay, so talk about the ship. Tell him about your life. He'll want to hear anything you'll talk about."
"Shouldn't I be more, I don't know...shocked or something?"
Sulu gave him that look that said he was totally getting his ass kicked at the next time they sparred. "I've always found that you move through shock at an extreme rate." Sulu pushed himself up. "I'll walk you to Sickbay, Captain."
****
When Sulu guided Jim into Sickbay, Bones wasn't all that surprised. Leaving his older self with a PADD that he was marking up and laughing at, Bones helped Sulu settle Jim onto a bed. "What happened?" Jim wasn't bleeding, which was a refreshing change of pace.
"He was sitting in a corridor, but he's not acting normal." Sulu pulled him away from Jim by his sleeve. He lowered his voice, which didn't matter because Bones didn't think Jim was listening anyway. "He was worrying about how to talk to his father."
Bones glanced at Jim, who was staring down at his hands, and then back at Sulu. "Okay. I'll deal with him. Thank you, Sulu."
Sulu nodded and made his retreat. Watching Jim for another minute, Bones tried not to jump as the old him glided to a stop beside him. That hover belt thing was far too silent.
"He overthinking again?"
Turning his head, Bones looked at the other him watching Jim. "Your Jim was on Tarsus IV?"
Gliding further away from Jim, the other him glared at him as he followed. "What does that clusterfuck have to do with him all..." With a wave of his hand, the Admiral indicated the bed where Jim had just been sitting.
Bones sighed. He hadn't even heard the door. He hated when Jim escaped like that. Soothing his older self, Bones made a mental note to sic Spock on Jim as soon as he could.
****
Jim slid into the turbolift that was occupied by Admiral Pike. "Admiral."
He smiled up at Jim. "Captain. I hear your Father is doing well."
"Yeah, Bones did a great job."
Pike quirked an eyebrow at him and Jim had the feeling again. The one where he felt like a child being praised by a loving adult. It was still a weird feeling. "Spock, the older one, let slip you'd been turned into a child for a while. You okay?"
Jim shrugged. "I'm good."
Pike narrowed his eyes. "You lie worse than Spock does. Come on, kid. I've a cabin you can hide in for a little while. I think you're on medical leave until next alpha shift."
Following along, Jim dropped to sit on Pike's bed. "You ever feel like your life is all a dream?"
Pike sighed. "Sometimes." He reached out and patted Jim's knee. "You're okay. That feeling will go away eventually."
Jim snorted. "I suppose. How does all this look to you? Back form the dead and everything."
"Complicated."
Jim shot upright and started to pace. "Yeah. Spock's dad has a new bond-mate and now with Amanda back what happens? The new wife just gets pushed aside? And Mom's been remarried too. I'm not even sure Dad would know because Mom kept Kirk as her last name."
"He knows." Pike rubbed the side of his face. "Look, Jim, nothing is prefect. You know this."
Nodding, because he did know, Jim collapsed into a chair and sighed. "I just..." He leaned forward. "Mom wasn't a bad parent, just depressed all the time." He looked at Pike. "I never had to talk to her and I thought it was normal for a really long time." Jim rubbed his hands over his thighs. "I'd talk to my Dad instead of trying to talk to Mom."
"You imaged him there?"
"No. I just talked to the stars because I knew he was up there somewhere. I didn't understand was dead was until I was five or so."
Pike smiled. "You don't know how to talk to him now, is that what's bothering you?"
"Mom showed more happiness when she'd said she'd seen him than she ever did when I was growing up." Jim stood. "Thanks for listening." Jim left before Pike could do more than lift his hand.
****
Spock put down his fork as George Kirk approached Winona Kirk's table. They stared at each other for 4.2 seconds before George sat down. Spock tried to ignore their conversation, but found that their voices cut through the surrounding noise.
"Winona, I, ah, found out more information about Jim's childhood."
She sighed. "I...failed him."
Spock adjusted his focus to listen because they were speaking about his mate.
George frowned at Winona. "I didn't say anything about you."
"Not yet you haven't. I wouldn't blame you if you did. I had a really hard time connecting with him. I made stupid mistakes." She framed her own face with her hands. "I got married."
George nodded. "You needed help."
She snorted. "Yeah, okay, I guess that was part of it. He tried, but Jim was difficult and I was no real help." She shrugged. "We couldn't seem to talk to each other." She poked at her food with her spoon. "Jim nearly died and we decided that he needed something different."
"And that didn't go like you planned." George ran his finger up and down his glass.
"Not at all. He came back so mad at everything. So thin." She turned her spoon over and over. "I tried staying home, but he'd started to look more and more like you. I'd get too sad and I knew Jim didn't need that."
"So you went back into space."
She sniffled and nodded.
George tapped his finger on the table for several moments and then he stilled. "You've spent years without me. I don't think we should try to pick back up." He reached across the table and took her hand. "We've got a boy who won't talk about his childhood. You tried, but Winona, he wasn't even sure which person from his past I wanted to kill after you first talked to me about him."
Spock watched as Winona stared at her hands.
"He's so good at hiding his pain that I don't think you've got a clear picture, Win." George tapped the back of her hand. "I want to be there for Jim. As much as I love you, Winona, Jim has to come first."
She nodded and abruptly stood and fled. George gazed after her and then he turned to look at Spock. Standing, George moved to sit across from Spock.
"Your Jim's First Officer, right?"
"That is correct." Spock raised an eyebrow. "You have completely read the histories compiled by Doctor McCoy and myself?"
George nodded. "You know him better than I do. What can I do to best help him?"
"He requires patience. The difficulties of his past have destroyed Jim's ability to easily trust others."
"He trusts you."
****
Amanda cornered Ambassador Spock in the Captain's cabin. "I need your help."
"Of course, Mother." He smiled softly and gestured to a chair.
She'd never seen her son so at peace with himself. Sitting down, Amanda sighed. "Sarek took a new wife, which was only logical given the situation, but what do we do now?"
With a cock of his head, Spock spread his hands. "There's no bond. It is something I changed while I possessed Q's borrowed powers. Both Father and his new mate had lost their previous bond-mates. With her former mate restored there was no logical reason for the new bond to remain."
"And you did the same for the rest of Vulcan?"
"I did not."
"Spock."
He looked at the floor and then back up at her. "I am certain the rest of Vulcan will rearrange itself in due time."
Amanda smiled. "Most likely." She rose and wondered around the room. "I never gave a thought to having grandchildren. That Spock has chosen Jim doesn't surprise me."
"He has also chosen Dr. McCoy."
Amanda stared at the chess set, blinked, and turned to stare at this old version of her boy. "Oh?"
He was smiling again. "They are well suited to one another."
"That they are." Amanda dropped back into the chair she'd sat in earlier. "You hadn't intended to bring Vulcan back. You were looking for an way to change Kirk back into an adult."
"I had contemplated ways of correcting the problems in this timeline brought by Nero's reaction to my inability to save his world in my own timeline." Spock steepled his fingers. "When Q was threatening Jim I took his powers as once happened on accident. It was only logical to use those powers to restore Vulcan."
She smiled at him. "Logical." As he quirked his eyebrow at her, Amanda could only hope that her boy found peace enough with himself to smile one day. "Your being an Ambassador pleases your father." She frowned as his head jerked up to stare at her. "What?"
His face went neutral which she'd long ago learned meant he was hurting. "In my time there was much fighting between Father and myself over the manner of my work."
She wanted to ask where she'd been through that, but she didn't. Instead she stood and approached her boy. "Well, you won't have that trouble now." She wrapped him in her arms and all but shoved love at him as strongly as she could. He made a tiny noise in the back of his throat and wrapped his long arms around her.
****
Pike grinned as he hunted the ship for Kirk. Any Kirk, he wasn't picky. Running across George in a turbolift, Pike grabbed his forearm. "Just the Kirk I wanted. Where's Jim?"
George frowned down at him. "He's on the Observation Deck. Why?"
Pike just grinned and kept a hold of George as he headed to find Captain Kirk. They found Kirk sitting between McCoy and Spock. All three were watching the planet below. Pike cleared his throat. Kirk turned his head. "Well, Captain, you've been assigned a new Commander. Head of Security. If he accepts, that is."
George stared at him and so did Jim for just a moment before he started grinning. "Anyone tell Dad that?"
Pike smiled and pushed George towards a chair. "Just now." He turned to George. "What do you think Kirk? Can you take orders from your boy?"
George visibly shook himself. "Yes, I think I can do that." He looked at Jim. "If he wants me."
Pike just smiled as Jim grabbed up George into hug.
****
Two months later:
Jim dropped to sit next to Spock on the bed. He watched Spock remove his boots as Bones made noise in their bathroom. "He's grumpy."
Spock glanced at him as he sat his boots carefully beside Jim's boots. "That is not an uncommon occurrence." Spock brushed two fingers across the back of Jim's hand. "You have adjusted."
Jim smiled softly as he turned his hand to met Spock's fingers with his own. He was liking the stealth kissing. It was hot. "Thanks. I think." He leaned forward and met Spock for another kiss, this one with tongues involved.
Bones came out of the bathroom drying his hair. "Why the fuck can't sonics manage blood in a person's hair?"
Jim pulled back from Spock to laugh at Bones. "Bones! Why are you complaining about blood when you could be getting a blow job from Spock?"
Spock's eyebrow rose. "I was uninformed of this plan of action, Jim."
Jim grinned as Bones came to sit on the edge of the bed. "I'm sure you could wing it, Spock."
Bones fingered Spock's uniform shirt. "I think someone is over dressed for blow jobs."
Jim leaned back and freed his cock from his pants as Spock stripped efficiently for them. Bones settled himself beside Jim on the bed.
"How's your hording going?"
Jim rolled his eyes and stroked himself as Spock took Bones' dick into his mouth. "You really want to bug me now?"
Bones sucked in a breath as Spock's cheeks hallowed. "M-maybe...later." Bones threaded his fingers through Spock's hair. Jim leaned over and captured Bones' mouth as he jacked himself slowly. He moved on to Bones' neck so he could listen to the noises Bones made that he'd never admit to later.
Bones arched his back as Spock pulled off. "Dammit, you can't just..." He broke off as Spock slid a lubed finger behind his balls. Jim sucked harder at the good spot just below Bones' ear.
Soon Bones was bucking on three of Spock's slender fingers as he laid half-on Jim's chest.
"I believe Leonard is sufficiently prepared for your proposed penetration of his person, Jim."
Bones roused from his glazed eyed state just enough to lift his head from Jim's shoulder. "Whaa..."
Jim nodded and Spock pulled his fingers from Bones. With a swift reposition of Bones' limp body, Jim sank slowly into Bones' ass.
"Ooooh." Bones lolled his head towards Jim's neck and mouthed Jim's earlobe.
Jim grinned. "It gets better, Bones." He sank further in as Spock lined up with him. Bones moaned as Spock started to push in alongside him. Jim gripped Bones' hips and mouthed the top of Bones' shoulder as his balls met Spock's only stopping when they were both buried in Bones' ass.
"Fuuuck." Bones' arms came up around Spock's torso and Jim moved one of his hands to Spock's hair. They rocked in Bones, pulling grunts and cut-off moans from Bones as he bit along Jim's neck.
Spock settled his hand on the psi points on Bones' face. "Please, Leonard."
Bones bucked into their thrusts. "Oh, yes. Do...it."
Jim watched eagerly as they melded. Bones' hole tightened and Jim could feel everything where he and Spock were pressed together. Spock's thrusts wavered and Jim pulled him in tight with a hand on his ass. Bones gasped and Spock started that little jerky movements that came just before his orgasm.
Then Spock's other hand, wiped clean at some point, found the side of Jim's face and he was pulled into the meld. Their shared emotions slid down his spine and Jim knew, distantly, that he was fucking Bones as hard as he could. As the sensations joined and meshed they held for one prefect moment of still pleasure before breaking, shaking apart together.
Jim shook and shook as Spock thrust deep and hard against him inside Bones who splattered everyone when his semen. Jim shoved them over onto their sides as Spock collapsed. His chest was heaving, but he had to prop himself up on his elbow and whisper down into Bones' ear. "Want to talk about my hoarding now?"
Bones smacked him and Jim grinned as he laid back down. As they slid into sleep, Jim listened to his ship's sounds and smiled.
****