The day had been absolute torture for Jim Kirk.

Worse than the day his uncle beat him for driving his car over a cliff.

It was his birthday, which happened to be the same day his dad died.

Jim had been at the memorial service on the Starfleet Academy's campus all day. Everyone was crying through the long, shallow speeches and Jim just sat there in his uncomfortable formal clothes.

Then he had to get up and give a speech about his dad. He had to talk about a person he had never met before. Ever.

It ended up being awkward and rambling, and just before the end, things got worse for James Tiberius Kirk.

He caught sight of his mother in the audience.

Their eyes widened as they met gazes, and Jim choked. He said the last line of his speech as fast as possible, eyes still locked on Winona Kirk's, too focused on getting off stage to care that it came out as garbled gibberish.

He sprinted away, ignoring the murmurs of the crowd, many of them cooing in sympathy, thinking he was running to hide his tears about his dad. They couldn't have been more wrong.

He didn't know that he was being followed by not one, but two people.

Running around the corner of one of the buildings on the Academy's campus, Jim slid down the wall, hugging his knees to his chest. He took deep breaths, trying to calm himself down. 'Why now? Why did she have to come here NOW?!' he thought desperately, anger beginning to replace shock.

He heard the clacking of high-heels nearing the corner and shot back to his feet.

"Jim?" Winona called, and Jim scowled as his mom rounded the corner.

"What are you doing here?" he growled.

Now Winona scowled a little. "I'm here to honor George. What are you doing here?"

Jim crossed his arms. "I'm a star ship captain as well as the son of famous captain George Kirk. I'm expected to give a speech, even though I never even met the man," he replied honestly, but somewhat bitterly. "So you come for a man who's been dead for twenty-seven years, but you never were there for me when I was being beaten by Frank," He stated, flatly.

Winona's cold, green eyes met her son's. "You lying little brat, Frank would never have done that!"

The young captain gave a bitter laugh. "You're just proving my point further! You were never on planet long enough to notice the bruises or even the broken bones, and if you did, you believed every lie that foul creature fed you! You never even called in! Face it, Winona, you. Didn't. Care."

Winona's face grew redder and redder as her son spoke. "Why you..." She wound up and there was a resounding SMACK between the buildings as she slapped him. "Frank is a good man, unlike you, you selfish, filthy vermin! How you even became a Starfleet captain is beyond me!" She shrieked.

Chekov had been hiding around the corner and had heard every word. His fists had slowly clenched in anger at this women, and that was the final straw. He stepped into view.

"Jim Kirk ees a Starfleet Keptin because he's brawe, strong, and clewer. He eez a good man and friend," he said. He then stepped closer to Winona and said in a lower, somewhat more dangerous voice, "Eef you cannot see zhat een your own son, you need something checked- I'd say start weeth your head,"

He grabbed Jim's arm and dragged him away, leaving a stunned Winona Kirk behind.

Jim snapped out of it and turned to the ensign, barely concealing a smile. "You didn't need to say that, Chekov."

"Da, I deed, Keptin. I meant eweryzing I zaid, too."

Kirk couldn't hold back any longer and grinned. "No one's ever stood up to her before."

Chekov smiled back, but then his expression grew concerned. "Vere you really beat as a child, Keptin?" he asked, and Jim nodded.

"Yes, I was. It doesn't matter any more. The old drunk can't get to me now," he replied grimly. "Let's get back, yeah Chekov?"

Chekov grinned. "Call me Pavel."

Jim's eyes gleamed. "Ok... Pavel. As long as you call me Jim while off-duty."

"Deal."

The two returned to the speeches, Kirk's arm slung over Chekov's shoulders.

A/N This isn't my first Star Trek fic, but it is my first one with Chekov. Writing accents is hard! I therefore apologize if I botched it up horribly.

Also, I'm sorry for the Winona bashing, for those who like her! I wanted to get to Chekov in this. And I've seen a lot of people call Kirk's step dad Frank, so I went for it.

Please let me know how I did!