DISCLAIMER: I'm a fanfiction writer, not owner of the Star Trek franchise.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: "The Good Shepherd" begat "The Measure of a Man," which begat this. This seems to be becoming a series. The inspiration came from the line in "The Measure of a Man" where April tells Kirk: "I was there. You probably don't remember." This could be seen as a prelude to "The Good Shepherd" and "The Measure of a Man," but it doesn't have to be.
According to Memory Alpha, Robert April is Captain of Enterprise before Pike and his wife Sarah is CMO under him. Their relation to Pike is my invention and probably a complete disregard of established dates and canon.
DEAL OR NO DEAL
By Christina TM
"Capt. Pike!"
"Hanson?" Christopher Pike asked the cadet-to-be who had come running out of the bar like it was on fire.
"You better get in there, sir," Hanson was huffing and puffing, his blond hair disheveled. "I think they're killing him!"
Pike stood up and started running to the building. "Who?"
"I don't know!" Hanson answered.
Pike pushed the door to the bar open. Four burly cadets in the center of the room were beating on…somebody,. He didn't look like a cadet. Everyone else stood back in horror. What in the world is this?
He put his fingers to his mouth and gave a sharp whistle. The silence that followed was deafening.
"Outside," Pike gruffly ordered the cadets who had instantly snapped to attention as if that meant he would somehow not see that they had just been in a bar fight. "All of you."
A muffled chorus of "Yes, sir" went around the room as the crowd filed out, leaving in its wake a bloodied kid sprawled on his back across the table.
"You all right, son?" Pike asked, though the answer was fairly obvious.
The kid gave a slaphappy smile. "You whistle really loud, you know that?"
Pike tilted his head at the kid. That's not possible.
"Hey, Chris," George slurred drunkenly as Pike hauled him off the barroom floor. "You whistle really loud, you know that?"
"What happened in here?" Pike's sister, Dr. Sarah April, asked from behind him.
Pike turned around. "Sarah, look him over." He gently pushed Sarah into the room. "Make sure he's OK."
Sarah nodded and walked up to the young man. "Let's look at you, darling." She started to sit him up.
"You call all your patients that?"
He looks like George Kirk. Pike narrowed his eyes. And if memory served, George hailed from Iowa…and his son would be about this kid's age now.
"Rob," Pike pointed Sarah's husband, Adm. Robert April, out the door. "Go watch them."
"What're you doing?" Rob asked.
"Intelligence gathering," Pike answered over his shoulder. He went over to the bar. "Who is that guy?" He asked the bartender in a low voice.
"Him?" The bartender looked over at the kid, who was batting away Sarah's scanner to no avail. "He's a townie. Comes around here a lot. Likes to pick up women. His mom's not around much. His stepdad…" the bartender looked away. "Well."
"What's his name? Do you know it?" Pike pressed.
"The boy? Yeah. Jim Kirk," the bartender responded. He eyed Pike's uniform. "Starfleet, huh? What are you doing in Iowa?"
"Recruiting run," Pike explained. "We just came from Atlanta. We're stopping here for the night." He looked at the bartender. "Thanks for your help." Pike walked out of the bar. "Sarah. Don't let him leave yet."
Sarah nodded.
"What happened in there?" Rob asked as Pike exited into the muggy night.
"Can I borrow your datapad?" Pike took the pad out of Rob's hands without waiting for an answer.
Rob puffed a sigh. "Sure. What happened in there?"
"The guy Sarah's with in there is George Kirk's son." Pike touched the stylus around the pad.
Kirk, James Tiberius. View file?
"George Kirk? USS Kelvin George Kirk?" Rob queried.
"Uh-huh," Pike confirmed distractedly as he checked "Yes."
"What are you doing?"
"Looking at his file." Pike's jaw nearly dropped as he read the results. "Rob, look at this."
Rob studied the pad. "Are you sure this is the same kid drooling on the floor in there?"
"It's gotta be," Pike said. "He looks way too much like George."
"I've been in Starfleet forty years and I have never seen results like that," Rob marveled.
"Take the cadets back to the hotel," Pike handed the pad back. "I'm gonna talk to him."
"You're not supposed to order around superiors like this, you know. Even ones who are married to your sister and have known you since you were fifteen."
Pike gave Rob a fond eyeroll. "It's my recruiting run. You just came along for the fun of it." When Rob continued to stare at him, he amended: "OK. Take them back to the hotel, please. Sir."
"So what are you gonna talk to him about?" Rob called to Pike's retreating form.
Pike turned around and smiled thinly. "Starfleet."
"Chris." April stood from the couch he and Sarah were sitting on as Chris entered the hotel lobby. "You need to look at this."
"At what?" Chris began loosening the high collar on his uniform.
"This." April stepped in front of Chris and held the datapad in front of him.
Chris took the pad and wiped the sweat off his brow.
"Did you walk all the way back here?" Sarah asked.
"Yes." Chris yanked off the jacket and revealed the black standard-issue T-shirt underneath.
"In your uniform?"
"No, Sarah, in my boxers," Chris deadpanned as his eyes scanned the pad. "This is nothing I didn't know. I saw it on his record."
April crossed his arms. "Looks like that kid spent more nights in juvie than he did at his own house. Robberies, traffic violations, shoplifting…"
Chris looked up, seemingly unaffected by the information. "Your point?"
"My point," April said testily, "is that Starfleet most likely won't take him."
"Yes, they will," Chris refuted. "My word counts for a lot, and the brass wants to keep me happy so I'll stick around until Enterprise is finished."
"Did he enlist?" Sarah piped up.
"I told him the shuttle for new recruits leaves tomorrow at 0800." Pike gave the pad back to April.
"You can't be serious!" April exclaimed. He knew his wife's brother had a thing for hard-luck cases, but this surpassed them all.
"Is he coming?" Sarah tried again.
"I don't know if he's coming," Chris answered.
"Please tell me you didn't use that line about how the Federation is a peacekeeping and humanitarian armada," April said.
A glare from Chris confirmed that he had, in fact, used that line.
"That's where you lost him, isn't it?" April said.
"Rob, stop it," Sarah admonished.
April regarded his brother-in-law. "Listen, Chris: I know you've got this St. Jude* complex, but that Kirk kid is dangerous."
As usual, Chris refused to meet fire with fire. "When I first got Tango,* I had to break him. I had to train him and show him who was boss. He had a strong will and now that it's broken and directed, he's a fine stallion. The same is true of a lot of cadets who come through Starfleet Academy. You know that."
Chris could be darn exasperating when he wanted to be. "What makes you think he'll even show up?" April asked.
"I issued a dare," Chris said, almost smugly. "I told Kirk his father was captain of a starship for twelve minutes and saved eight hundred lives. I dared him to do better."
"Well, then I've got a dare of my own," April fired back. "If he shows up, you have to get plastered."
Chris tried to keep his expression level, but April could tell he wasn't pleased with the idea. "I don't drink, Rob."
"Deal or no deal?"
The door to the elevator opened. "Fine. Deal. Good night." Chris stepped into the elevator.
"Wonder if that dare will be enough to get Kirk to show tomorrow," April wondered aloud as the door closed.
Sarah nuzzled her face into his shoulder. "I wouldn't be surprised." She looked up at her husband. "We Pikes are very persuasive."
April grunted. That was certainly the truth. He had rarely seen anyone, from potential recruit to four-star admiral, who easily resisted Christopher Pike once he got an idea in his head.
"Let's get everyone buckled in," Pike told the flight crew the next morning. Guess Kirk won't show up after all. He should have known. The boy couldn't have been more disinterested in Starfleet. Still, Pike couldn't help being a little disappointed. He had a feeling Kirk needed Starfleet almost as much as Starfleet needed Kirk. He just needs some direction, someone to point him where he should go. Starfleet could do that for him. It was one of the Fleet's finest unwritten benefits.
"The three hardest things to do," Pike's father's voice rang in his head. "Climb a fence that's leaning toward you, kiss a girl that's leaning away from you, and help someone who doesn't want to be helped."
An old-fashioned motorcycle engine sputtered to a stop behind Pike. He looked over his shoulder. Kirk? There he was, all right. Still in the same clothes he'd been wearing last night.
"Nice ride," one of the workers said.
Kirk tossed the keys into the worker's helmet. "It's yours." He strode up the ramp past the stupefied Pike. "Four years? I'll do it in three." Without waiting for a response, he disappeared into the shuttle.
Pike followed him up the ramp. "Commander, we all set?"
"Not quite, captain," Cmdr. Geary said. "There's…someone in the bathroom."
"Is he all right?" Pike asked, hand moving to his communicator to summon Sarah.
"I don't think he's sick, sir," Geary said. "But he won't come out. It's one of the ones we picked up in Georgia last night. The doctor."
Oh, yes. Pike had met some strange recruits, but that Dr. McCoy had to be in the top ten. At least. "Is he doing anything?"
"Sir?"
"Is he decent?" Pike clarified.
"I think so."
"Roust him," Pike ordered.
"Roust him?" Geary looked as if she'd rather negotiate a peace treaty with a Klingon.
"Get him out of there." Pike began heading toward the front of the shuttle. "We can't take off without everyone buckled up."
"Morning, Chris," Rob greeted. "What's the verdict?"
Pike took his seat next to his brother-in-law. "Kirk's here."
"You're kidding," Rob said.
"Nope." Pike fastened his seat belt.
"Impressive," Sarah remarked.
Geary poked her head around the wall. "Dr. McCoy is seated, sir."
"Good." Pike grabbed the microphone above him. "Kelley, we clear?"
"Yes, captain," the pilot's voice confirmed.
"Thank you." Pike pressed the button to address the shuttle. "This is Capt. Pike, we are cleared for takeoff."
"You're a better recruiter than I thought," Rob jabbed.
"He's one of the best recruiters in Starfleet." Sarah instantly jumped to her baby brother's defense.
Rob nudged him teasingly. "Gonna be a fun night for you…"
"I'll stand by to sober you up," Sarah added.
"Oh, be quiet, both of you," Pike grumbled good-naturedly.
"Good grief, Chris. I can't believe he got you this drunk."
"Sarah, keep it down," Pike begged from where he was sprawled on the couch in his apartment.
"Why did you agree to that bet anyway?" Sarah asked in a softer voice.
"I didn't think Kirk would come."
"And why did you make good on it?" Sarah gently pushed the sweaty hair off his forehead. "You haven't had a drink in almost thirty years. Your body's not used to it."
Pike would have squirmed away from the hated big-sisterly gesture, but he didn't hate it enough to warrant probably vomiting on her. "Because I thought one night of pain would be better than a lifetime of Rob hassling me," He brought his hand to his head. "I haven't felt like this since that flu I got before my junior year at the Academy."
"Here." Sarah pressed a hypo into his neck. "This should get you sober enough to function tomorrow."
"I really hate you for marrying that man," Pike mumbled.
"I'll trust that's the alcohol talking," Sarah dimmed the lights. "And I plan to have words with him when I get home, don't worry. I expected him to get you drunk, not...drunk.
"Sleep well, Chris. And I sure hope Jim Kirk turns out to be worth this."
Pike could only groan.
*In Catholicism, St. Jude is the patron saint of lost causes.
*According to the unaired Star Trek pilot "The Cage," Pike at one point owned a horse named Tango.