A/N: So this is what you get when you have a cold and binge-watch Pero Like videos on YouTube and read too many fluffy family feels fics on ff. (Alliteration hee hee :) Anyways, you get Hispanic culture in the 24th century! Hope you enjoy :)
-ST-
Jim Kirk had been at the Academy for all of three days when he decided it was way too easy. So, during sign-up week he bounced from one club table to the other, looking for things to fill up his free time.
He signed up for Chess Club (to see if anyone could beat him), Linguistics Club (to mess with the oh-so-untouchable Uhura and work on his Andorian slang), and the Rube Goldberg Machine Club (just because he could). The club catered to engineering students, which was Kirk's chosen minor. He fit right in.
That was when he met Selina Morales. She was a 5'2" classic Latina woman, with an hourglass figure, waist-length black hair, eyes so big and dark she almost looked Betazoid, winged eyeliner so sharp it could cut somebody, and gold hoop earrings that were almost non-regulation. She was also one of the best engineers he'd ever seen, able to disassemble, modify, and reassemble a plasma injector faster than anyone in their year. She could also, he found out, throw a mean right hook when Hendorff (Cupcake) knocked over her scale model design on purpose.
Respectful of her power, Jim knelt next to her and helped her pick up the pieces. "Nice design," he said.
"Thanks."
He gave her a hand up. "Jim Kirk," he said, flashing her his best smile.
"Selina Morales," she said crisply. She gave him an assessing eye. "You going for command?"
He nodded.
"Joining the team?"
He nodded.
"You ever seen MacGyver?"
He nodded again.
"You'll do," she decided. She tucked her model under her arm and walked away, her long hair swaying as she walked away.
Kirk grinned.
-ST-
As the semester wore on, Jim found Selina to be a good friend. She was a dedicated team leader in the club, and her grades were in the top percentile. She was also completely uninterested in him, only having eyes for the Spaniard in Xenobiology. "You just like his accent," Jim accused her one day.
"Not denying it," she retorted. "Plus, his blue eyes are just so dreamy."
"Mas que los mios?" he asked, putting a hand over his heart and batting his eyelashes dramatically. "More than mine?"
She rolled her eyes and punched him in the shoulder. "Si."
"Ouch, Selina, that really hurts my feelings."
She smacked him again lightly. "I can give you something to cry about," she taunted, grinning.
He snorted a laugh. "Uh-huh."
-ST-
The end of first semester came. There was a mass exodus to homes of friends and families for the break, and it was sheer chaos. Jim and Bones resigned themselves to two quiet weeks on-campus, when Selina bounced up to them in the quad. "You guys leaving tomorrow?" she asked.
"Don't got anywhere to go," Bones drawled.
She frowned at them both and nodded decisively. "You're coming with me, then. Gaila's going with Uhura so we've got space. C'mon." She grabbed their arms and hauled them to their feet. "Bring your civvies and swim trunks if you got 'em."
"Where are we going?" Jim asked, grinning.
"Guadalajara, Mexico," she replied. "You'll love it. It's not even cold." She grinned. "Well, we won't be cold. Everyone who lives there's freezing."
"Well duh, it's December," Bones protested.
"Yeah, and my mom says it's 25 degrees standard right now. Or, what is it, 77 degrees to you Americanos," she said mockingly. She gave them a teasing grin. "What'll it be, boys? Cold and lonely here, or mountains of food and pretty beaches full of pretty girls?"
The two men shared a glance and Jim grinned. "I love Mexico."
-ST-
Selina conveniently forgot to mention that it wasn't Guadalajara City, the urban supercenter. It was Guadalajara adjacent, a tiny village tucked into an inlet. She also conveniently forgot to mention her whole family was going to be there - until they were confronted by a yard full of people. As in,
"That's my abuela, my abuelo, mami, papi, tia Elisa, tia Maria, tia Isaura, tia Isabel, uh, that's Paco, he's married to mi tia Elisa, that's Maria's husband Samuel, that's Marcos and Miguel, they're married to Isaura and Isabel respectively, and those are all my primas, my girl cousins, just know that one's Anayeli and she's boy crazy so stay away from her, and those are all my primos, and they will try and get you to eat grasshoppers, sorry, and those are my sisters Victoria, Herlinda, and Elisabet, and their husbands are lame and didn't come, and that's my brother Jorge. He's on shore leave from Starbase 12. Oh and that's our neighbor Julio." She let out a shrill whistle, making everyone turn and stare. "Todos, this is Jim and Leonard."
"Bienvenidos!" was the general cry of the 40+ people.
"Geem" and "Leonardo" were instantly adopted, and Selina's abuelita made it her personal mission in life to see these two skinny boys fed. "Es que they don't feed you enough in Star Fleet," she complained, piling plates with beans and rice and something with shrimp in it. "My Juan, he would get enough to eat back in the old days. But now? Look at you all. Look at my Selina. She's like a little matchstick." She kissed her granddaughter on the head and handed her a pitcher of juice. "Ve y give this to your mami, mija."
Selina went off obediently, and Abuelita Maria leaned in close to Jim and Bones. "How is my Selina?" she asked. "Truly? Is she doing well?"
They were able to promise her that Selina was not dying of malnutrition nor drowning under schoolwork. They were rewarded with fresh homemade tortillas off the comal.
-ST-
Jim had never seen such a large, or loud, family, ever. Neither the Kirks nor the Masters had large families, and they'd never really had a reunion. But here... hordes of kids ran around giggling and shrieking and stuffing themselves with tacos and fruit, older kids ran around after them hollering creative threats for misbehavior and delivering good-natured swats, parents sat under trees gossiping, and the older moms bustled around cooking and serving and scolding everyone equally.
Bones was being his charming Southern self and chatting with a few people, and eating at a steady Georgia-Thanksgiving-raised pace.
Jim had found himself sitting with the older boys and Selina's brother, talking about old cars and engines. Turned out the Morales' had been with Star Fleet since there had been a United Earth, same as the Kirks.
Selina came over with a plate of fried plantains. "Quien quiere mas?" she asked. "Who wants more?" She slid plantains onto plates efficiently, and looked at Jim. "How about it?" she asked.
He mock-groaned. "If I eat anymore I'll have to sign up for another gym class next term."
"You're much too skee-nee," Selina's mom scolded him, coming over to ruffle his hair. "Come, eat."
He took a few more helpings of food. Better to die fat and happy, he decided.
After that enormous dinner, all the mid-twenties young people took their two guests to the beach for the evening. They played around in the water until it got dark, and then lit a drift-wood fire and huddled around it, slapping at mosquitos.
Then people started arriving from the house, and all the tios started pulling out guitars. They sang old, old, Hispanic songs and Star Fleet ditties, everyone joining in a slightly tipsy chorus and waving bottles of cerveza.
As one of the four-year-old girls (she was enamored with his blue eyes) climbed into his lap to snuggle with him, Jim decided he really liked large families.
-ST-
The next morning all the kids were up early and started playing soccer outside. Jim and Bones, sleeping in the guest room, didn't even hear them. They did smell the food, though. Bones woke up with the smell of freshly-brewed coffee drifting on the warm air, and laid there a second appreciating the smells of coffee and beans and chorizo and tortillas. Then he nudged Jim with a pointy elbow. "Hey. Jim. Wake up."
"Whuh?"
"Get up."
Jim dragged himself out of bed and looked out the window. His eyes widened. "Everyone's already up?"
"Guess so."
They got dressed and ventured out into the main part of the house, a large open-air courtyard. Across the courtyard, the kitchen was bustling with people. Tio Miguel was expertly refrying beans, and Selina was sitting at the dining room table, peeling and chopping mangoes.
"Mijo ponte las chancletas antes que te mueres de frio," tia Isabel scolded, walking by with a literal bucket of corn.
Jim obediently put on his sandals. "You can die of cold here?" he asked Selina. "It's like eighty degrees."
"And yet we're the only ones in shorts and T-shirts, aren't we?" she retorted.
That was true. Everyone was else was in long pants and sweaters. Except for one small cousin who was running around stark naked, refusing to get in the bath. "No quiero!" he was shrieking, dodging his mother's hands and making a break for the outdoors.
Selina grabbed the chubby little boy by the armpits and hugged him close. "Heyy, Pato, why not?" she asked, handing him a piece of mango to eat.
"It's cold," he complained.
"It wouldn't have been cold if you'd gotten in the bath when I told you," his mother scolded, scooping him up and carting him away.
Bones snickered.
"Can we help?" Jim asked.
Selina shook her head. "We're almost done. Just sit and have a cup of coffee."
Bones took a deep breath of the dark roast vapor. "I can do that," he said, nodding fervently.
Breakfast was accomplished efficiently, and most of the family dispersed. A few parents were taking the kids to the beach to play, a few moms were already getting started on lunch, and Selina and Jorge looked at their two guests. "Hiking, or snorkeling?" Jorge offered. Bones winced. "Or, napping under a tree?"
Over the next two weeks, they did those things and more. Jim tied a hammock between two mango trees and declared it his castle. Subsequently, the kids took great pleasure in climbing into the hammock and trying to push him out of it. Except when he was napping. Siestas were sacred in this family. And good grief, the food. So much food...
-ST-
When the two weeks were up and the three cadets had to return, the hugs and kisses started. "You come back on spring vacation and Miguel will take you wind-surfing," Isabel promised Jim.
"Don't forget to eat," Abuelita Maria told him.
Selina's mom shoved a package of freshly-baked sweetbread from the bakery into his arms. "For your desayuno," she said.
Selina and Bones each received a similar care package, and with much fanfare and waving of arms, boarded the shuttle.
Captain Pike met them on the quad. "Brown, fat, happy as clams," he assessed, grinning. "Where did you three go?"
"My grandma's house, captain," Selina replied.
He grinned. "Ready for the next semester?"
"You bet sir," Jim said, returning the grin.
-ST-
Selina convinced Jim and Bones to come down for Spring Break as well. Bones had Joanna for that week, and she came too. She loved it, and gained two pounds on sheer fruit alone. Bones' ex-wife was not happy when her daughter came back sunburned and speaking Spanglish.
-ST-
The week between spring and summer, Jim spent with Bones in Georgia at his mother's home. "You didn't tell me you lived in a mansion," Jim hissed, awkwardly straightening up and tugging at his T-shirt as they entered the manicured garden.
"S'not a mansion. It's two bedrooms too small."
Jim elbowed him in the ribs. "Same difference! Bones!"
"Cut it out. You'll be fine."
And he was. Bones' mom was just like Selina's abuelita, and stuffed them full of chicken fried steak, mashed potatoes, and fried chicken, and gallons of ice cold sweet tea.
-ST-
A year passed. That Winter Break, Gaila came with them to Mexico. The Morales' accepted her just as easily as they had the other two. Too many late nights on the beach discovered that Selina was actually not a morning person, unless she got at least ten hours of sleep a night.
"Woman, how are you getting through your classes like this?" Bones asked her, amazed at how grumpy a 5'2" ball of blankets could be.
"Mmghffr," came the grumble.
"Excellent time management and selective napping," Gaila interpreted, kissing the top of the blanket's hair. "You sleep and I'll take the boys away."
"Tky."
"You're welcome."
-ST-
Another year passed. Kirk took the Kobiyashi Maru test once, twice. He didn't ask Selina for help in his plan. Three times.
Then the Vulcan distress call came in, and Nero happened, and it was all a blur until the Enterprise was limping back to Earth. Kirk, (Acting Captain Kirk!), was going over the casualty lists with tired, burning eyes when he suddenly saw, "Lt. Cmdr. Morales - Farragut - deceased." He nearly choked on his coffee. "What- no..." He pulled up the details, and sagged into his chair. Not Selina. It was Jorge. Her brother. He was dead.
But where was Selina? Kirk quickly input her name and prayed she wasn't a casualty somewhere. "Lt. Selina Morales - Engineering Dept, USS Enterprise. Injured."
He stood up, and went to go find her. She wasn't in sickbay, which was overflowing with critical injuries. She was on the observation deck, curled up in a corner, her arm in a brace. She was crying. "Selina," he said quietly.
She turned to look at him. "Jim," she said, reaching out a hand to him.
And that's how he knew she knew about her brother. He let her cry into his shoulder, and after a long while she kissed him on the cheek.
"Excellent job, captain," she said softly, and sat up straight. She looked at the time and wiped at her eyes. "I'm still on shift. I just needed a minute."
"No problem," Kirk said, realizing that she was reporting to him as a subordinate. "Dismissed. Don't work too hard."
She gave him a ghost of a smile. "As if, sir." She walked away, tying her hair into a fresh ponytail.
He sat on the steps of the observation deck and stared out into the black of space. He stayed there until Spock came to find him with a status update. That was the only break he allowed himself until they got back to Earth.
-ST-
After the debriefings, after the interviews, after the reprimands-that-weren't-really-reprimands, after the reshuffling of ranks and assignments and curriculums to reflect the losses of the fleet, after everyone had been informed they'd be assigned back to the Enterprise once it was rebuilt, after after after... everyone was given six weeks of shore leave. Bones went to Georgia for the first week to hug his little girl. Kirk stayed on at the empty campus and volunteered his services as an engineer to rebuild. Scotty stayed, too, still slightly in trouble for the whole transporter thing and not having any family to go home to. Bones came back six days later, looking better but still awful tired.
Selina appeared on-campus with Uhura a week into shore leave. They were there to pack up Gaila's things and ship them to her family on Orion. Kirk helped them, and afterwards they joined Scotty and Bones at a deli for a subdued lunch.
Everybody had lapsed into silence when Selina suddenly blurted, "Come with me back to Mexico. The only ones at the house are my parents and my abuela. There's lots of space to rest, to just, be."
"We wouldn't be intruding?" Bones asked, thinking of her brother.
She shook her head. "They would feel better with more than just me to mother. And, it's really quiet here, you guys." She looked at Uhura. "You're very welcome, too."
Uhura thought about her loud, overbearing-yet-well-meaning family that didn't understand what Star Fleet really meant, and nodded. "I'd like to come."
Selina, jokingly, asked if they should put on disguises since the Enterprise senior officers had become an overnight sensation.
Kirk ran with the idea and replicated everyone black wigs and moustaches. Well, except Uhura. With a glint in his eye, he handed her a bright pink wig and accompanying moustache.
She smacked him. "Infant." But, she was smiling.
Giggling with an edge of hysteria, the men donned their "disguises" and everyone headed to the shuttle. They got to Guadalajara without incident, and walked up to the house shedding fake hair by the side of the road.
"Selina, you're back," her mom said, hugging her. "Geem, Leonardo, welcome home." She hugged them and kissed their cheeks.
"Mom this is Scotty, my chief engineer, and Uhura-"
"Nyota," Uhura interjected.
"-my friends from the Enterprise," Selina finished, smiling at Nyota.
Mrs. Morales hugged both newcomers as well. "Come on inside, mijos, and I'll make you some sopes to go with the posole."
"Ooh," Kirk said, his appetite reviving instantly.
Fed, satisfied, and happier than they'd been in a while, everyone scattered to find places to nap. No one commented on the small black ribbon attached to Lt. Cmdr. Jorge Morales' picture in the hallway.
The only three other people in the house let the young people have their space to grieve, to recuperate. Bones didn't have to bully Jim into resting - the newly appointed captain just crawled up into his hammock and stared up at the mango leaves and the blue sky.
Scotty got along very well with Selina's dad, who was a retired Star Fleet engineer himself, and they spent the days talking. And partially disassembling the replicator to prove a point, but they put it back together before anyone noticed.
Selina and Nyota took long walks on the beach, and lay in the warm sand, and reminisced their way through a large pitcher of margaritas.
Sulu arrived on the doorstep a few days later, looking tired and stressed out. "It's too crazy in San Francisco," he complained. "My mom's house is surrounded by reporters."
Selina handed him a mango the size of his head and took his backpack. "Come inside. My grandma's making Caldo de Siete Mares."
Sulu smiled.
A day after that, a very small-looking Chekov was spotted by Kirk, who was up in a tree trying to get fresh coconuts. "Hey!" he hollered, waving the machete around like a crazy person. "Hey, Pavel!"
Chekov perked up and jogged the rest of the way to the house. Bones and Jim met him at the entrance. "I vas vondering which house it vas," he said, as they shook hands and bro-hugged. "Can I stay, for a while, keptin? I mean, Jim."
Jim ruffled his hair. "Yeah. Well, it's not my house, but I'm pretty sure they'll say yes."
They said yes, and bienvenido. Abuelita Maria took one look at him and adopted him on the spot. "Que chulo," she cooed, ruffling his curls. "You are too skee-nee. Are you hungry?"
Everyone laughed.
"Now all we need is Spock," Jim said, as they all sat down for dinner.
Nyota sighed. "That'd be nice."
And then, lo and behold, a day later, Spock beamed into the street in front of the house, and politely rang the bell.
"Cmdr. Spock!" Selina said, pleased to see him. "Come in, come in. Are you here for refuge or are you looking for Jim?"
"I am here to see the captain," Spock replied, his eyebrow going up as he spotted Chekov and Sulu sitting under the mango tree, eating fruit out of a five-gallon bucket. His other eyebrow went up when Nyota came out of the house wearing a swimsuit and a sheer wrap dress.
"He's in his castle," Selina said, pointing out the hammock, as a mango pit dropped out of the side and fell into a small bowl on the ground.
Spock's eyebrow brushed his bangs. "I see."
"And Scotty and Bones are waiting for us at the beach," Selina said cheerfully. "Stay for dinner, Cmdr?"
"I..." Spock saw Nyota's encouraging smile, and nodded. "Thank you."
"Not at all." Selina gave Nyota a significant look and turned to go back into the house. "Mami! Hay que cambiar el menu a vegetariano!" she hollered cheerfully.
"Spock," Nyota said, smiling at him.
He quirked an eyebrow. "Nyota."
She leaned up for a kiss, and he obliged. "Are you here on business?" she asked, eyeing his uniform.
"Unfortunately, yes. Captain Kirk must sign off on some requisition orders."
She grinned. "But you're staying for dinner."
"Yes."
"Can you stay the night?" She added hastily, "not like that. We're guests here. But just, for company."
Spock contemplated the area. It was certainly warm enough, if more humid than he was used to. "I believe that could be arranged," he said.
"Good." She pressed another kiss to his lips. "Now go get Jim to sign his papers and come back. We're going to the beach, mister."
He quirked an eyebrow humorously. "Yes ma'am."
-ST-
Spock intended to go to Mexico for one hour, maximum, factoring in everyone's need to engage in 'small talk'. He stayed for another week and a half. It was with great reluctance that he dragged himself back to the task of organizing the survivors of Vulcan. Now that he'd gotten to know his prospective crew, it would be harder to justify resigning to help restart his civilization.
-ST-
Six weeks passed, people coming in and out of the Morales household as the whim took them, and then it was back to work. Graduation, official promotions, ceremonies, and all the million details of launching the Flagship of the Fleet.
But every single one of them knew that if they needed to get away, to breathe, possibly put on some weight, there would be a place waiting for them on Earth.
And, by goodness, the care packages. Abuelita Maria sent an entire crate full of powdered mole, and after a particularly hard mission, Selina sweet-talked the commissary into making it for the crew. Scotty helped her make a giant vat of rich hot chocolate in engineering - "that is not what plasma coils are for, Mr. Scott", "Aye, ah know that, Mr. Spock" - and everyone breathed a little bit easier after that.
-ST-
Then Khan happened. Kirk spent two weeks flat on his back in Star Fleet Medical being hovered over by doctors and nurses and anxious crewmembers, and then Abuelita Maria herself shuttled up from Mexico to drag Jim and Bones back to her home for rest and recuperation. Selina wasn't even there - she was with Scotty rebuilding the Enterprise. It was Spock who commed Abuelita Maria a day later to make sure both captain and doctor had arrived and were resting adequately.
"You put her up to this!" Bones said, half-outraged, half-amused.
Spock gave him a placid expression. "It was only logical to ensure both you and Jim were taken care of while we take care of the Enterprise."
Bones rolled his eyes. "Don't work too hard, hobgoblin," was all he said.
Jim spent another month and a half flat in a hammock in Mexico, being fed coconut water ("muy healthy for you, Geem,"), and hovered over by maternal figures. That, he didn't mind so much.
-ST-
A year into the historic five-year-mission, Selina did end up marrying her crush, Lt. Cmdr. Mateo Esperanto. Kirk grinned his way through the entire ceremony, pleased as punch to be officiating his friend's wedding. "Giving you ideas, Spock?" he joked, after the ceremony, at the reception.
"Indeed," Spock said quietly, his gaze on Uhura.
Kirk nearly choked on his champagne. "Awesome," he said, grinning.
-ST-
"Three times you've basically destroyed the ship, Jim, I swear I'mma come after you with a chancla next time, hang the regulations," Selina grumbled, from somewhere inside the guts of the Enterprise. "Spanner."
He handed her the tool. He was still majorly bruised from his escapade with zero-gee in the Yorktown disaster, and he was restricted to light duty for another week. Which meant handing things to people and signing papers. "Spanner," he echoed.
There was a clanging sound, a muttering in quiet Spanish and a swift thump, and then silence.
"Selina?" he asked cautiously, wondering if Scotty's second-in-command had just collapsed in there. "Please don't be dead because Scotty's gonna kill me for sure."
She giggled. "No, it's fine. Just doing some percussive maintenance." She handed him the spanner. "Sonic screwdriver."
He handed it to her.
"So, are you still taking the promotion?" she asked casually, a couple minutes later.
Kirk nearly dropped the entire tool box. "What?!"
"The promotion. Did you decide yet?"
He shook his head slowly. "How did you even know about that?"
She stuck her head out of the Jeffries tube to smile at him and grab a set of coils. "Gossip, captain, is faster than all else," she informed him sweetly.
He frowned and leaned against the wall. "No," he said, "I'm not taking it."
"Good," she pronounced. "More wire."
He handed her another coil.
"Wouldn't be the same without you, sir," she added. Then, "Ow. Vindictive piece of poop, cara de chancla aplastada-" She slid out of the tube, pressing the back of her hand against her mouth. "Stabbed me," she explained.
He examined the oozing slash in her hand. "Looks deep," he said.
"That thing's held a grudge since we started," she muttered, as they walked to the nearest first aid kit, which a rightly-paranoid McCoy insisted they keep in every section of the ship. "Ever since Scotty tried to upgrade it, I swear it's been giving us problems since then."
Kirk laughed. "I believe it." He ran the dermal regenerator over her hand and stuck a bandage on it for good measure. "What is it your abuelita says, with the frog thing?"
"Sana, sana colita de rana," she said, and reached out to touch the bruise on his neck. "You need some of that, too." She gave him a scolding look. "You really need to stop getting yourself in mortal danger, sir."
"I'll try," he said, but they both knew he didn't mean it. As long as he could save other people by jumping in the line of fire, he would do it. "Have you and Mateo gotten your shore leave schedule yet?"
"Not yet. I don't want to leave Scotty here without supervision until he realizes that he's gotta sleep once in a while, too."
Kirk gave her a fond smile. "You know, you could be a great chief engineer."
She raised an eyebrow at him. "You trying to get rid of me, sir?"
He grinned. "Not ever. Scotty'd have my hide. I'm just saying, there's promotions coming up. You, and half the others on this ship, could do whatever you wanted."
She grinned. "Thanks, but no thanks, captain. I'd rather stay here on the Enterprise with my family."
"You could take Mateo with you," Kirk offered.
She scowled at him. "That's not what I meant and you know it, Geem."
His grin softened. "I know. Thanks, Selina."
"Thank you, captain, for not letting yourself be promoted." She picked up the tool kit. "Now go take a nap, sir, or I'll call my abuelita and tell her you're not taking care of yourself."
Kirk's eyes widened and he held up his hands. "I'm going, I'm going." He hustled out of there, grinning.
-ST-
The crew of the starship Enterprise was the most tight-knit family in the galaxy, and as the missions passed, groups of Enterprise officers could be found in places like Guadalajara, Mexico, a little farm in Nairobi, a mansion in Georgia, and a newly refurbished farmhouse in Riverside, Iowa.
That was a long while later, though, after Winona Kirk had permanently retired to a small colony on the other side of the galaxy, away from her son's ever-growing fame. He'd lived up to his father's name, surpassed it, and stood on his own merits. He wasn't alone though, despite the lack of Kirks. He had the biggest family in the universe.