Author's Note: I'm not a Trekkie, but I saw the movie three times. Absolutely loved it. This was a random idea I thought up after watching it for the third time. Hope you enjoy!

Disclaimer: I only own the kids.

"The Proposition"

Chapter 1: Kirk's Boy

Adam Kirk didn't know why he was doing this – why he had made an appointment to meet with Commander Spock at his home in San Francisco, why he had donned his Starfleet Academy uniform, cut, and spent twenty minutes perfecting, his hair, why he had beamed down to Earth fifteen minutes early so he could get his bearings ... As he materialized onto a quiet block in the San Francisco Bay area, he was still wondering what had possessed him. It wasn't like it was required, right? No one really did it anymore. He was anxious over nothing. Asking for permission to marry fathers' daughters was so 20th century. An ancient practice. A past tradition. If Dad and his grandfather hadn't done it, why should he?

Spock. Spock was the reason for all this preparation and anxiety. Spock was all about tradition. It didn't make things easier knowing that, for reasons unknown, he also wasn't particularly fond of Adam. In order to win Spock's approval, Adam had to be traditional. It was, after all, the Vulcan's daughter whom he intended to marry.

So, yes, in this case, a request to marry was required. But is she really worth it? Adam asked himself. Well, that was ridiculous. Of course she was worth it. It was acknowledged by everyone on the Enterprise that he loved Commander Spock's daughter, Liora Amanda Grayson, or Leelee, as Adam liked to call her. If time and reputation permitted it, the hidden romantic in him would have burst out and shouted for all the universe to hear that she outshone all the galaxies put together; that she was, dare he say it, gravity holding him where he should be. Cliché and corny, no doubt, but it was the only way he could explain it.

Adam's gaze flickered to the solemn-looking townhouses with gaping bay windows. Every window had been obscured with blinds except the one he was standing below. A vase full of exotic flowers, no doubt from an exotic land, like Africa, sat cheerfully behind the glass.

Adam touched the communicator lodged in his ear.

"Kirk to Scotty," he barked.

"Wha'?" came the confused reply.

"I told you to leave me down the block." This would have allowed Adam enough time to dawdle and think of the right words to address his future father-in-law. A shiver rumbled down his back. He'd known the guy since birth, but he'd never dreamed of being related to him.

"An'? Didn't I?"

"Any closer and I would have been in Spock's lap."

"Och, laddie, stop ye gripin' an' jus' get it o'er with. It's only Spock, yeah?"

Yeah, only Spock, Adam groaned internally. That's what Dad said too. "Aye, aye, sir. Kirk out."

Adam straightened out his Starfleet Academy uniform. Formal attire was the first step in making a good impression. Maybe if Spock saw he was well-dressed, he would consent and Adam would be free to hightail it out of there, beam back onto the Enterprise, and get on with life. He squared his shoulders, cleared his throat, and marched up the stairs to the door. There wasn't a doorbell; an automated motion detector in the door's center detected that someone had arrived and asked for his name.

Adam jerked at the suddenness of the question and paused. The detector recorded his bewildered "Uhh…" and played it back to him. "No, no. It's Adam Kirk. Adam Kirk, you stupid – " The door slid open. "Hullo," and for a moment he didn't know how to address the woman, "Mrs. Grayson." Spock's family had taken that surname upon returning to Earth.

"Adam?" Liora's mother inquired in disbelief. The man nodded. "Adam, how are you? Come in, come in. For a moment there I thought you were your father. You sound so much alike." He stepped inside and kissed her cheek, all the while sporting a trademark Jim Kirk smile.

"I get that a lot," he admitted. Adam used to wreak havoc on the bridge when Jim had stepped out. Since their voices were pretty much identical, Adam would plunk himself in the captain's chair, the root of all power, when everyone was focused on something else on the bridge. He'd turn on the intercom built conveniently into the chair's arm and very quietly order new cadets around. He tried it out on Mom, Uncle McCoy, and Scotty, but they were never fooled.

"I'm sure you do. Please call me Nyota, Adam. I believe we're past formalities, aren't we?" Nyota said.

"I'll try my best, Mrs. Grayson." Adam grinned again. Nyota shook her head slowly, chuckling.

"It's a shame you couldn't make it to dinner last month."

Or the month before that, Adam reminded her mentally. He hadn't yet had a proper dinner with Spock and Nyota – not as Leelee's boyfriend, anyway. Another nonsensical tradition. "I was…," Adam peeked past her shoulder into the living room, "indisposed." Not in the mood to be glared at by your husband. "Hey, Leelee's not here, is she?" If she was, his whole proposal was kaput.

Nyota grew serious. "Liora's in class, where someone else ought to be." She raised an eyebrow at him.

He pretended not to notice and strolled over to the wall of hologram and paper family photos. He folded his hands behind his back and immediately unfolded them after he spotted a hologram where Spock held the exact same stance. "I'm taking a short break. I intend on becoming a captain by next term." With my luck. Leelee had offered to tutor Adam. He had yet to enroll in a required course Spock was teaching. Something about Vulcan culture. It sounded easy and mildly stupid, but Adam knew better.

He found the most recent family portrait nestled amongst baby pictures. They were all standing around Mrs. Grayson – Nyota – who was sitting in the foreground. Everyone was smiling; even Spock, upon closer inspection, had a corner of his mouth lifted imperceptibly. He had one hand on Nyota's shoulder. The boys had their arms slung around Leelee, who was wedged in the middle. She was caught in mid-laugh, her dark eyes shimmering with tears and her mouth opened in a wide smile. Her brothers were better at keeping their composure. Malcolm, 27, and Desi, 26, had taken the places of their parents on the Enterprise. Both appeared to be full-blooded Vulcans, with slanted eyebrows and pointed ears. The only indication of their humanness was in their unruly hair. Their features were severe, but their personalities were anything but. Growing up, they had been Adam's accomplices in many pranks on the Enterprise.

Liora was the youngest of the Grayson clan at 22. She had inherited little of her Vulcan heritage. Adam glanced at Nyota. Leelee was her mother's clone, save for the slight slant of her eyebrows and her curly, bobbed hair. Unlike the rest of her siblings, she could mind-meld and deliver the Vulcan nerve pinch. Adam had experienced both. Normally, Leelee was subdued and took to solving things in a calm, logical manner. Sometimes she didn't. He rubbed the base of his neck, remembering the numerous times she had pinched him out of anger or frustration. The first had been when she was two and he was four. They were sitting amongst a bunch of Tribbles. He had snatched one out of her hand, just to see how she'd react.

"Mine," she had whimpered. Adam hurled it across the chamber.

"Nope," he said, a little remorseful. Leelee's eyes were streaming tears and she reached in his direction.

"Mine," she repeated. Her chubby fingers touched his shoulder, like she was going to pat it, and squeezed. Adam slumped over and must have squashed a Tribble, since something squeaked in fright. His vision dulled to black. He was awakened minutes later by Nyota and his mother, Liz.

Leelee had also pinched him when he had first kissed her several years later. After he had come to in sickbay and listened to her desperate apologies – "I was in shock, Adam. Wonderful, delirious shock, but shock nonetheless," she'd claimed – he asked Uncle McCoy if repeated nerve pinches would result in permanent nerve damage. It was unlikely, but Liora was told to cut back. Adam suggested ending them entirely.

The young Kirk turned away from the wall of memories, smiling. He half-wondered if he'd be up there one day, posing with his and Liora's family. His and Liora's. Whoa. The reality of it felt all too real.

"That's certainly an ambitious move, Adam. Jim was also twenty-five when he took command of the Enterprise," Nyota remarked.

"Yes, I know. I'm reminded often," Adam sighed. "Hey, maybe he'll pass the ship to me come graduation. I highly doubt it, but you never know."

"Another Captain Kirk of the U.S.S. Enterprise?" Nyota feigned shock. "Whatever will we do? I remember when your father took the Kobayashi Maru for the third time. He asked me if he passed, would I tell him my first name. This was as I was pushing him half-naked out of my dorm." Adam laughed and rolled his eyes. Dad, the ladies' man. He'd probably still be a swinging bachelor if he hadn't met Mom on shore leave so many years ago. As Nyota continued, she seemed … different, like she'd become twenty years old again. Her gray-streaked hair and laugh lines had all but vanished. He was so focused on watching this transformation that he nearly forgot what time it was.

"Dammit!" Adam fumbled for the mini PADD in his pants pocket. "I apologize for cutting our conversation short, Mrs. Gray – Nyota, but … I'm late for …" He gestured around the house.

Nyota raised her hand in recognition. "I understand completely. Follow me."

"It's just … I don't want him to think …" Nyota nodded and led him down the hallway to the last door on the left, behind the staircase. Adam swallowed hard.

"You might find that Spock had mellowed these past few years," Nyota said. Whether she meant it as a general observation or a note of reassurance, Adam didn't know. Either way, Spock's personality change was doubtful.

His hands involuntarily trembled and he clenched them into fists. Why was he so anxious? Adam felt stupid and childish. Maybe it was because he was exactly one minute and forty-five seconds late for a meeting with someone who did not appreciate tardiness. Maybe it was because he feared this Spock's answer. Regardless of his decision, Adam would marry Liora. That much was for certain, right? He wouldn't let some pointy-eared, green-blooded –

Nyota knocked gently and a muffled voice saying, "You may enter," floated past Adam's ears. The door slid open and Nyota gave Adam an encouraging smile as she stepped aside. The white, stolid walls of the room blinded him as he walked over the threshold. Firm handshake, keep eye contact, don't screw it up.

"Spock knows you, son, and he sure knows me. I don't see why he wouldn't give his full consent. Besides, you're a Kirk. Who doesn't like a Kirk?" Jim had said twenty minutes earlier in the transporter chamber.

Adam hoped to hell he was right.

Author's Note: Did the new characters seem realistic? The idea is a bit far-fetched, but it seemed fun! Next chapter will probably be up in two weeks. Thanks for reading!