In My Grandson's Eyes
Standard Disclaimers Apply
AN: This is a one-shot epilog piece for Blue Eyes and Through the Eyes of a Son. It can serve as a stand alone piece but it will make a lot more sense if you read the others.
Winona hated visiting Starfleet Academy. The place brought up bad memories and made her feel cold inside. If it were up to her she would have never stepped foot on the grounds again. Life seldom gave Winona choices. She had been called to the Academy to present the findings of her research work to the Science dept. She had tried to arrange for one of the younger researchers to go but Starfleet was footing the bills and they wanted her.
Presenting her findings hadn't been bad. Her team was making progress and she had no reason to doubt that Starfleet would continue to support the project. It was being on the Academy grounds that was driving her up the wall. The familiar sights and sounds were pulling her back into another time and place that she had no business revisiting. The past was dead and gone, there was no use going back.
A group of cadets brushed by Winona and she shuddered. It would help if everyone wasn't dressed in those damn uniforms. George had looked amazing in his and Jimmy…
No, she needed to stop. George had been dead for about fifty years and she hadn't spoken to Jim in twenty. It was better if she didn't think of them.
She moved carefully along the pathway, moving as fast as she dared. She was an old woman. She needed to be careful. The last thing she wanted was to be stuck at Starfleet Medical. She hated that place almost as much as she hated the Academy. Cadets streamed around her and Winona felt something tighten in her chest. She was almost there. She could see the exit.
Winona should have been paying more attention to the walkway in front of her. Then again so should the cadet that plowed into her. The boy was lucky her caught her before she hit the ground. She took a deep breath, ready to let the young man have it. The words died in her throat the moment she looked into a pair of unnaturally blue eyes set in a very familiar face.
"George?" It was a whisper.
The cadet look a little confused but gave her a smile anyway. "Ah no, sorry."
Something tickled in the back of Winona' s mind. Of course it wasn't George, George was dead but she had made that mistake before with…Oh God! The man in front of her was now giving her a worried look.
"Are you ok? I'm very sorry I ran into you. Do you help getting somewhere?"
"Jim?" Winona threw her arms around him. "Oh Jim it's so good to see you!"
Warm male laughter fill the air and Winona smiled. He hadn't changed at all, even his laugh was the same. He pushed her back a bit and looked her over. "Close, but still a miss. I'm Chris. It's very nice to met you Ms…"
Winona mind went blank. The tickle in her mind returned with a fury. Chris? Where had she heard that name before? This wasn't Pike, but she knew another Chris didn't she?
"Cadet!" The phrase 'Think of the devil and he shall appear' rang though Winona mind as a very familiar voice broke her thoughts. Admiral Christopher Pike was standing a few feet away looking down right hostile. He recognized her.
A young Vulcan woman, dressed as a cadet, stepped out around him and gave Winona a blank look. "Ki' du vesh' dash-tor?"
Winona cringed slightly embarrassed. She had never been very good with languages. She felt a little better when Pike shot the girl a dirty look. Apparently she wasn't the only one who didn't speak Vulcan. "I'm sorry I don't understand."
The girl nodded before repeating the phase in Standard. "Have you been hurt?"
"No, I'm alright. We just had a little bump. Neither of us was watching where we going." She shifted. The girl's gaze was starting to get to her. Winona was relived when she turned it to the boy, Chris. Were did she know that name?"
The Vulcan was speaking again. "Ashayam, we will be late if we don't leave now. We must hurry."
The boy must not have moved fast enough because Pike added an order. "Now Cadet Kirk!"
Winona froze. Chris Kirk, oh dear god Chris Kirk! She had been talking to her Grandson and she hadn't realized it. No wonder he looked so much like George and Jim. How could she forget her own Grandson? A hazy memory of the last time she had seen him swam before her eyes. A small day old baby with too blue eyes that she couldn't look at. The fight with Jim later that day was clearer. He had told her to stay away, to forget and she had. What kind of woman forgets her own Grandson?
Pikes glare was turning harder by the minute as Chris joined him and Vulcan. The girl must be the daughter of Jim's first officer. What was her name? Amanda! Yes she remember now.
Winona watched as the cadets hurried away. A pain born of a life time of doing the wrong things bloomed in her chest and brought tears to her eyes. She was a bad mother and she didn't even deserve the title of grandmother. What had she done?
The devil, better know as Chris Pike glared at her. Winona still couldn't believe Jim had named his son after the man. "You stay away! You're not wanted here."
"My Grandson…"
"Does not know who you are. You are not part of our family." God he was right. She hadn't remembered Chris and he hadn't recognized her. It didn't escape Winona that Pike said 'our' and not 'his.' The man didn't have to rub in the fact that he knew and cared for Chris and Jim.
He sighed and looked tired. "You hurt Jim every time you come around Winona. Don't put Chris though that too. Do what's best for the boys."
Winona felt the tears start to fall. She should do what was best, but was leaving the best? A hundred memories of Jim's childhood flash through her mind. She remembered the tight feelings in her chest and the looks of hurt and betrayal on her son's face. She had never separated him from George. The finally memory was rocking Chris and the moment she saw his blue eyes. He was another George to her.
Pike was right she needed to stay away. With slow even steps Winona turned and walked towards the exit. She never looked backed at Pike.
She really hated Starfleet Academy.
AN: So, what did you think?
Vocab: Ashayam - Beloved
Please vote at my poll - Which ST2009 couples do you like to read about? (you can pick more than one and it's ok to choose the same character twice. ex: Jim/Spock and Jim/Bones.)
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