disclaimer: i do not own any characters or anything else in this story.

warning: the end is really sloppy, but enjoy, read, and review anyways!

Sam Kirk looked over his shoulder, at his younger brother, making sure that he was still there. He didn't see him. Panic started coursing through him. This was becoming too much of a routine. He couldn't help but think about what his mother would do to him if he came home without her little baby. Sam argued with her, complaining that Jim didn't need an escort anymore since he was already twelve. They always lost.

He went back to searching the over-grown fields frantically.

"Jimmy! Are you there?" he shouted.

A sandy blonde head popped up, about twenty feet away from Sam.

"Affirmative, Captain," Jim piped up.

Sam shook his head, condescendingly, at his brother's dreams of being an esteemed Starfleet officer, like their father.

"Come on, Jack and Garrett are waiting for us," Sam ushered Jim along the dirt roads.

Jim nodded, happy to comply. He never minded hanging following Sam. Sam, on the other hand, minded very much that he was being held responsible for someone besides his self, despite the fact that they both had a common destination. Their friends all hung out together.

The two of them tread through the overgrown grass on the side of the road, single file. They passed all the familiar sights that they could hardly recall a day passing without seeing: the sparse houses that they could name every inhabitant of, the endless cornfields, and the middle school that they both attended during the school year.

When they finally reached the baseball field, they were surprised to find the usually bustling place empty. They ran onto the pitcher's mound to survey the radius of the area.

"Jack! Garrett!" Sam shouted.

"Steve!" Jim added his own friend.

They couldn't hear a thing.

"Well this sucks," Sam muttered.

"Let's go to the ship yard!" Jim piped up; trying to lighten the dismal mood that he could tell had fallen over his brother.

"Yeah, alright," Sam replied, "But we can't stay long, and you can't bug the workers, trying to find out about Dad."

Jim nodded, as they strolled back out to the deserted road. They started along again. An awkward silence passed over them. Jim could feel the Sam's tenseness, and he wondered where their friends could be. It was an unsaid, mutual agreement that the boys would start showing up at eleven, every day the weather was nice during the summer. It was already eleven-thirty, and the sun was beating down over all of Iowa.

"Do you think Dad's coming home soon?" Jim inquired.

"I don't know. Would you stop bugging Mom and me about when Dads coming home? We don't know!" Sam cried out.

He sighed dejectedly, "I'm sorry."

Jim looked up at his brother, "Yeah, I know."

"Hey, who knows, maybe, they'll tell us something at the launch pad," Sam attempted to console him.

Jim suddenly grinned, "I'll get there before you though!"

"Oh, no you won't!" Sam shouted at Jim, who was already ahead of him.

XXXXX

The Kirk brothers ran, panting, up to the fenced off Starfleet operations sector. Jim sidled up to the security station and pressed the intercom.

"Kirk to Reprise. Kirk to Reprise," he addressed his pretend star ship.

"Hey Jimmy, come on down," the guard replied through the speakers.

"Thanks Billy!" Jim replied as he followed his brother through the opening fence.

They clambered up to a small operations building where they admitted guests.

Jim let his brother go ahead of him, "Hey, I'm going to take a walk around."

Sam, fed up with his antics, sighed, "Alright, but don't talk to anyone or go anywhere you shouldn't be."

"Okay," he sped off.

He started wandering through the maze of buildings and Starfleet workers, aiming for the building that contained he workers of the base's communication officers. Locating it proved harder to Kirk than he would have preferred it. He wandered through the base, having a clear picture of his goal in his head, but he didn't see it. Before he realized it, Jim was standing right in the middle of a bustling of junior officers and activity. A bunch of red shirts were rushing into the command station in front of him. It was a far call from the communications center, Jim noted.

He caught a snippet of a conversation, "Prepare for landing party, being beamed down."

Jim walked through the door after an officer, hoping nobody would say anything. A bunch of them gave him looks, showing his inferiority. He dropped of the crowd and to the side, pressing himself up against a wall. Then he continued down a series of halls, until he finally reached the center of the commotion. He kept walking until he found himself in a transporting room. He had never been in one before, but he knew exactly what it was from his dad's stories. Then, right before his eyes, Jim saw six men materialize in front of him.

"Dad!" he shouts running up to one of them. Jim's father sweeps him into a hug.

XXXXX

Soon, they could see Sam in the distance, huddled around a group of others leaning against the fence.

"Sam!" he yelled, "Dad's home!"

Soon, Jim saw that it was their friends that he was with. They ran over.

"They all came here instead of the field, because we heard what was happening, but we weren't permitted in," he gestured to our friends.

"You're a real sneak, just like your father," George admired, "Let's go home to see your mother."

"Dad, I want to be Captain of a starship when I grow up," Jim declared.

"You will be if you work hard," his dad replied.

"I will."

o.k bear with me here, until i post spock's chapter, i hope you enjoyed it.