The first time he got mistaken for a grandpa, Chris and Jenna got a lot of amusement out of the poor pediatrician's innocent mistake. Their newborn, Hayley, had had her first checkup and was thoroughly cooed over by Dr. Elliott. Chris couldn't blame her, he was pretty smitten himself. She was a tiny mini Jenna, blue eyes, button nose, and all. He imagined George Kirk would be incredibly proud if he could see his granddaughter and probably flabbergasted as to her parentage.
He was startled when the doctor turned to him and said, "Your grandbaby is beautiful, Admiral!" Jenna downright snorted. "Well, thank you doc, but Hayley here is my daughter. Jenna and I have been married for three years." The poor doctor turned red.
"I'm so sorry, Admiral Pike," she stammered. I...I can't believe I forgot you and Captain Kirk are married. The Wedding was all over the news that year. How utterly thoughtless of me." Chris hastened to reassure her. "It's an easy mistake to make, Dr. Elliott. Most people find it very hard to believe that a blooming young thing like Jenna hitched herself to an old geezer like me. You don't often meet forty-eight year old first time fathers I imagine."
"Not of the human species, I don't." She smiled faintly, relaxing a bit as Jenna wrapped Hayley back up in her snuggly warm sleeper with the starship on it. "She's doing wonderfully, Jenna. How's the adjustment to motherhood been?"
"Well, for one week of it, not too bad," Jenna said, smiling at Hayley's sweet baby face. "I'm getting used to weird sleeping habits and being a human milk machine. When she's laying there in my arms, blinking up at me, I feel such love and amazement that I'd get to experience this."
That last part was pretty much how Chris felt, too. He'd been resigned to bachelor hood for along time and then he'd gone and fallen for his late best friend's daughter, which he'd been more or less successful at hiding until they met up with a group of meddling aliens who'd made them talk about it and wonder of wonders, she'd felt the same way about him.
So, after the five year mission was completed and Jenna had managed NOT to get herself killed, they'd been married back on earth. Winona had been quite taken aback at her daughter's choice, but hadn't tried to dissuade her, only pleading for them not to elope. "Don't worry, Win," he'd assured her, "I mentioned it one time as a joke and my mother about had a stroke. She'd never let us forget it if we did."
Jenna dealt with a lot of ridiculous crap from the press and nosy admirals that wanted to stir up controversy. But she handled it all with the Kirk I-don't-even-care-about-your-opinion attitude.
So they'd tied the knot a few months later, with much celebrating and fanfare. Even his wildest daydreams hadn't prepared him for the stunning sight of Jenna all dolled up as a bride. White was definitely a good look on her and her pretty blonde hair was all curled and pinned up just so to show off her neck and shoulders.
Leonard McCoy, serving as groomsman, was grinning maniacally and he knew he could expect plenty of good-natured ribbing from the doctor. But, he'd taken it in stride, being too darn happy to care. Jenna had put her hands in his and looked at him like he owned the universe she loved to explore, voice steady and confident during the vows. They'd spent a lovely week away on the ranch and settled down to married life, content for the first time in a long time.
Jenna's pregnancy was a bit of a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. She'd handed him the positive test with a smirk and informed him "See? You've still got it, Chris. Never tell me you're over the hill again."
It certainly helped make their major decisions for them. Jenna withdrew from consideration for the next deep space mission and settled down to teach at the academy for a while.
Then Hayley arrived and their world changed forever. At first sight of her red, squirming, squalling, self, they were head over heels. Chris couldn't take his eyes off of the beautiful sight of Jenna rocking her to sleep at night and when it was his turn he'd tell his daughter just how very special she was and how glad he was that she'd got her mother's beauty. "Cause you sure didn't get it from me!"
The little misunderstanding at the doctor's office was probably going to happen again elsewhere because, yeah, he was kind of up there in years. But Jenna just grinned about it in the car and told him not to worry about it.
"If they'd do their research, they wouldn't make fools of themselves. We're kind of a well-known couple around here."
That was putting it mildly. They'd had to sneak Jenna and the baby out the back door of the hospital to avoid the media throng when they took Hayley home for the first time.
"And Chris, dear," she added, once they made it back home, "please don't refer to yourself as an old geezer. You know perfectly well I don't see you that way. I love everything about you. You're so strong and dignified and dead sexy. There's a reason all the female cadets wanted to be in your class, but none of them are in my enviable position."
She winked at him with the impudent half-leer that she used to do just to annoy him back in her academy days. But now, he could get back at her by wiping it off with a knee-buckling kiss. Seeing that Hayley was sound asleep, he put his plan into action.
