Author's notes. Please read and review if you like. Any suggestions will be appreciated. I am still using Wookiepdeia as a reference so google if you don't understand. I have also started the prequel with Lauren Kirk under the umbrella Kirk Family Chronicle. Check it out and vote for her fate. Enjoy.

CH2 Happy Family

CAPTAIN'S QUARTER'S

Kirk knows there is something wrong with Kate. "At least it's not Jedi shit." He thinks to himself staring at her on her bed from the desk in the living room. She has not moved from that bed since Friday night when John and Ronin came by except to eat or go the bathroom. She also hasn't spoken. Although he loves her, Kate frustrates Jim to no end. He is trying to be patient and help her through everything but she can be so hot and cold that he is often stumped with what to say to her. He suddenly remembers the parenting manuals Bones downloaded for him the day she arrived. He is desperate for advice but is tired of running to Bones or Samantha O'Neill. He quickly finds the entries on his PADD and scans the titles. 'Star Fleets Guide to Happy Children on Constitution Class Starships' is the first one he sees causing him to chuckle. He saw right through the entire psyche test they gave him and doesn't think Kate will be any different. "Who wrote this shit anyways?" Kirk asks himself and sees Dr. Pamela Whitmore-Green pop up as the author. He doesn't know her but Whitmore-Green states she doesn't have kids in her biography. "What the hell could you know lady?" Kirk says aloud and flips to 'How to Talk So Your Kids Will Listen.' This is written by a guy named Peter Jones. It is a simple title with an author who has kids. Kirk decides to give it a try. He opens the first chapter and skims to where there is actually something of value to read.

"Children most often are able to confide in adults that aren't their parents because they think their parents will judge them, be disappointed in them or because the parent is unapproachable." Peter Jones states. Kirk doesn't think this applies to him at all and it is just telling him to go back to Bones or Sam which he didn't want to do in the first place.

Kirk exhales loudly and reads on. The next paragraph talks about making your child a priority. Peter Jones suggest for one to "spend time each day by turning off the GCN, telepresentor, and PADD's and engage your child in direct one on one human contact. This will create a connection between you and your child."

"If I spend any more time with her I think she will try to kill me Petey old boy." Kirk says and lays the PADD down. Fatherhood is really knocking him on his ass. He is trying to create the "balance" the rest of his team has with their kids but their situation is so unique. Both he and Kate have been thrown together not raised together. Bones, Sulu, and Scotty were able to slowly adjust to the changes but he had three minutes from when the blood test was taken to the results to adjust. Kate had about 30 seconds when he grabbed her off the transport. Well she at least has the other kids on the Enterprise. Kirk realizes that he is actually craving company with other adults. He hasn't played chess with Spock or really drank with Bones since she arrived. When he looks t his wife's picture on his desk he instantly realizes what else he hasn't done since she arrived. His reputation as a womanizer was so far from the truth. He actually enjoyed the playful banter stage of meeting women far more than the sex, although sex was great. Panic runs through his body for a minute when he thinks of having to be celibate for the next six years. He has very strong willpower but even the mighty James T. Kirk could not handle that. "Fuck you Lauren. I bet you've shacked up somewhere and I am still sitting on my ass waiting for you." He mentally thinks. Maybe he will take up the O'Neill's offer and go out on Deneva one night alone. "God I so need to get laid with no attachments." It has been weeks since he has been with a woman and maybe that will do the trick but it has to have no attachments. He doesn't think he can handle two crazy ass moody women in his life right now. He drums his fingers on the desk and decides they need to get out of that room. He prays she is almost done with the two essays because if he gives an inch she'll take a mile. "Katie baby, are you almost done with those term papers?" He inquires from the living room but he gets no response. He walks to her door and repeats the question. "Sweetie, you almost done?"

She glances up and shrugs. He motions for her to pass over the PADD and she does so wordlessly. It's pretty damn good Jim thinks as he reads the Coalition one over especially since she has had to research all the material because he has not went over it in class. He checks each page to make sure she is not cheating and decides she is done. "Did you fix Spock's essay?" He asks hoping she did that first and she nods her head yes. "Great. Let's get out of here and do something fun. Get dressed for the gym." He leaves her in the room once he sees her go to the dresser for clothes.

ENTERPRISE GYM

"We're not boxing again are we? I'm not in the mood." She says and he sees a small smile flash briefly on her face.

He lets out a chuckle and leads her to the far back left corner of the gym to a court. He starts to bounce a ball and explains, "I'm gonna teach you basketball. I loved this in high school and was on the team for a while." He quickly explains the game to a disinterested Kate and starts. She half ass plays and he can tell this is not really going anywhere. He tries a more direct approach. Fuck those parenting books he is going with this gut. "20 Questions. Why are you shutting down? What's happened Kate?" He says as she makes a move and scores a basket. "Nice one." He compliments.

"I think you're out of questions." She says and makes a play to steal the ball which he lets her do. She shoots but it bounces off the backboard.

"Aim more to the right." He corrects and shoots a perfect basket. "Fine, then you ask one. You are definitely behind in this game."

He sees a flash of something in her eyes but he can't tell if it's anger over the game or what's bothering her. "Don't need to know anymore about you Captain." She says frostily and following his advice making another basket. Kirk catches a pass noticing she has thrown the ball with far more force than necessary.

He passes the ball back to her. "So, what up buttercup?" He asks which usually makes her smile but this time she glares at him angrily.

"You're like a nek with a bone." She thinks silently knowing he is not going to stop unless she talks to him. Kate holds the ball and says, "Why are you forcing the Enterprise to leave the Neutral Zone Captain? Why are you trying to keep me here forever?" Her stare softens and her eyes dart back and forth searching Kirk's. "I thought I could trust you Kirk. I thought you would help me get back home but apparently you are no different than Zala Tsu. She was right. You are a faithless species who wouldn't trust the Force to guide you anywhere." She uses a normal speaking voice but each word is laced with anger and betrayal. Jim sees her gripping the basketball tightly keeping her hands from shaking when she speaks. She passes the ball to Jim again with far more force than necessary and aims slightly at his head.

Jim is shocked by Kate's revelation. He thought she was just pissed about the extra homework. Did she honestly think that the Enterprise was going to sit in the Neutral Zone and wait for Han Solo or Luke Skywalker to show up forever? He studies her eyes for a moment, her twelve year old eyes, and realizes yes she did. For all her demands and pleas to be treated like an adult he now sees she is only a kid and is handling this new information with a tantrum. Albeit she's throwing a more mature form of tantrum but it is still a child's tantrum nonetheless. She apparently had no idea what the Enterprise's five year mission really meant. In Kate's child mind he was supposed to stay in that spot, forever if needed, and wait for Han to show up. Jim remembers the day she sat on his couch and recalled the events from Sernpidal and staying put on her bench. The Enterprise was her bench. It was supposed to stay put until someone came for her and Jim has changed that. He is the moon crashing into her bench; destroying it and her life again and there was nothing she could do about it. Kate's eyes contained barely controlled rage just waiting to be unleashed on Kirk. He needs to proceed with caution in this conversation. Their relationship was just settling into something normal and now they would be back at square one where Kate hates him and blames him for everything wrong in her life. He needs to tell her the truth but a truth a child will understand.

"Yes, honey," he says in a placating tone. "We are on route to a planet called Deneva. There is a peace conference happening there in 3 days and the Federation needs the Enterprise there to make sure the Klingon's and Romulan's don't try to hurt each other. It's our job to," He tries to explain but she throws the basketball hard at his face and takes off running for the track surrounding the gym. "Fuck me! …. Kate." Kirk yells and runs after her. He easily catches up to her on the track and sees she is struggling to keep her tears in check. "Honey stop. I need to talk to you." He says jogging next to her and reaches for her arm.

"Fuck you." She says between gritted teeth, pulls her arm away, and picks up the pace. Jim increases his pace and jogs beside her. After a few seconds she says, "I trusted you. I thought you would help me get home. Me leaving didn't mean we couldn't still see or talk to each other. But that isn't good enough for you is it. You think that the only way is your way." She huffs slightly short of breath trying to talk and run at a quick speed. "I hate it here!" She screams and breaks out in a full on sprint.

Jim easily matches her and tries to make her see reason. "Kate, I had no idea you did not understand what was going on. I did not realize you thought we would be patrolling there permanently." When Kate turns her head and shoots him a condescending look, she loses her footing and tumbles to the floor gashing her knee on the pavement. Jim stops immediately and is it at her side. "Let me see." He says reaching for her leg.

"Get off. It's a scratch. I am fine and have had worse." Kate snaps back and begins to run again. The scrape on her knee hurts each time she bends her leg. It causes her to slightly slow her pace but the pain feels good. It gives her something to concentrate on instead of everything else in her mind. Kirk catches up to her and runs in front of her making her stop. "Move." Kate says firmly but without any emotion.

"No. I am sorry you did not understand that we weren't searching for a way home for you." Kirk says sincerely. "But I don't even know how to go about even doing that. Hell we still don't even know how you got here in the first place even with hyperspace travel. How are we supposed to send a message and to where even?" He asks as she looks up at his face. "I am not trying to trap you here. Yes I won't let you just jump on the next shuttle to the Sky River galaxy but I would love for you to see Han again." As she looks at his face Kate knows Kirk is telling the truth. Her body loses some of its tension and relaxes slightly with the anger slowly subsiding. "I would love to thank Han for everything he has done for you but I don't know how to right now sweetie."

Kate shifts her wait from foot to foot like she always does when she is ready to ask him something. "Can we try? I mean can we try to find a way to contact them?" She asks with those green eyes begging for a yes answer from him.

Kirk puts an arm over her shoulders and they start to walk back to the door. "Yeah. I don't know how but yeah." They walk for a few steps and he realizes she is limping a little from the scrape on her knee. He guides her over to a med station with a bench. Taking out a band-aid and antiseptic he fixes her knee up. "Right as rain." He comments when done and she throws her arms around his neck hugging him. "All better?" He says hugging her back.

"No but it will have to do." She says never giving an inch. Just as they get to their quarter's door Kate announces, "I don't actually hate it here. I was so mad and wanted to hurt you and I am sorry."

Kirk activates the keypad and as they walk in he responds by saying, "I know. I also know that you use the word 'dad' as a weapon. When you're pissed it's Captain, normally Kirk, and when things are really good you forgot to be an asshole and use dad." He turns to look at her. "That needs to stop now." He says in a calm voice. "I have never pushed you to use 'dad' but you need to decide what you are going to call me. I would love dad but settle for Kirk. This Captain thing though is off the negotiating table." He walks to the bathroom and turns on the shower. "Pick one." He says handing her a towel for the shower.

Kate swallows hard and is at a loss for words. That icky feeling is starting again because she knows he is completely right and she has to make a choice. If she calls him dad she is signaling for the world that she is now with them. Her old life is over. Captain she does only use to get under his skin. Kirk has been his name since she first met him. It's comfortable, easy, and familiar. "Let's go with Kirk for now. It's not that I won't call you dad ever but I don't feel," she sighs trying to think of what to say.

"Kirk it is then, unless dad rolls out sometimes. I will respond to that one too." He says smiling and gives her little nudge to the shower. "Scoot. And don't use all the hot water again." He yells as she closes the door. He opens his PADD and waits for her to get out of the bathroom.

SMUGGLER'S RUN

Kate is rummaging through the bag from the Jedi ship the next morning when Erika arrives at the hide out. She is so glad that John brought it here and not to her room. Kirk would shit if he found out what was in here. She laughs at that thought because he will shit when she gives them the looted stuff today. It has been a week and the adults are all still kinda pissed at her for the whole Jedi thing. She begins to separate the stuff into two piles.

"Kate!" Erika says excitedly entering the hide out. "We missed you! Learn your lesson?" She says joking but with serious expression.

"No. I just have to be better at not being caught. Hey did you guys go through this stuff?" Kate asks dumping the rest of the contents out on the floor. "I can't seem to find," her voice trails off for a second until she sees the backpack half hidden by their chair pillow. "Yes." She says excitedly opening the bag.

"What is all this….Holy crap is that guns, alcohol, and cigarettes?" She says inspecting the stash like it is alive and could bite her.

"And Sabacc cards." Kate says in a sing-song voice waving them. "I was hoping it was all here." She begins to stuff some items into the backpack. "It was a little crazy when I was packing up."

Erika sees a long silver cylinder rolling away. "What's this?" Erika says picking up the lightsaber.

"Don't touch that." Kate snaps pulling it out of her hands. "That's the most dangerous thing here. Stand back." Kate ignites the beam with a snap hiss. "It's a light saber." She says swinging it slightly. Kate sees that Erika looks panicked. "Look you can't tell anyone about this stuff." She says deactivating the light saber. "Okay." Kate says firmly.

"Yeah. Okay." Erika responds in a dazed voice. "Besides who do you think wouldn't have a problem with guns, alcohol, cigarettes, and gambling devices if I wanted to say something." She says it so straight faced Kate busts out laughing. Erika soon follows laughing hysterically. "Look we gotta go. School is in ten minutes." Erika says standing up grabbing the PADD she left last night.

Kate finished stuffing an array of items into the backpack and slings it on her shoulder. She follows Erika to the turbo lift but doesn't get off when the doors open. Erika looks back questioningly. "Don't worry about telling them I'll be late. They'll be comming Kirk about the time I reach the bridge." Kate says with a half smile as the door closes.

BRIDGE

Kate walks onto the bridge but doesn't see anybody from Alpha shift. She walks up to Lt. Sanders and asks where her dad is.

"Ready room." She says. "On Mondays they have staff meetings so our shift runs a little late."

Kate thanks her for the information and walks across the bridge to the ready room. She takes a deep breath before walking in and hearing Kirk say, "She left 40 minutes ago," before the opening door draws his attention. "She'll be there in 5 minutes, Kirk out." Everyone turns to look at her standing in the door. "Better be good young lady." Kirk says annoyed by her interrupting the meeting and skipping class.

'It is!" Kate squeals with delight and walks over to him. "I'd tell them I'm missing at least first and second periods." She says dumping out the contents of the bag in front of Kirk before he can tell her no. Everyone's face goes slightly blank as they stare at the jumble of tech mess on the table.

Kirk stands up and picks up the blaster lying on top. "What the hell is all this?" He says shocked.

"Peace offerings." She states in a matter of fact tone. "There is something for everyone," Kate remarks spreading the stuff out on the table.

Kirk all of a sudden realizes that this was the shit she was getting when they were trying to beam her out. "Are you telling me you were scavenging the ship for this as it was about blow? THAT'S why you wouldn't activate the communicator!" His temper is rising by the second.

"Naw Naw, Sir. The damage is done. It all worked out in the end. No pointin' yellin' at the lass now." Scotty says gently and picks up the nav com. He is inspecting it in his hands like it is a new born child.

"Sir, I think that's mine Sir. Security and all." Jack informs the Captain taking the blaster out of his hands gingerly like it's a loaded bomb. Once in his hands he begins to really scrutinize the weapon.

Kirk is fuming but his curiosity is also getting the better of him. He moves his chair over so that Kate is at the head of the table and examines the stuff in front of him. Although he doesn't want her to be a part of this, it could take weeks to figure out what this stuff does. With the peace conference two days away he doesn't have the luxury of time.

"You'll need these too." Kate says throwing the charging packs across the table at him. Everyone slides away from the table as Jack dives to catch the items.

"Jesus." Jack says dragging the word out while juggling the blaster and catching the charging packs. "Ever heard of WEAPONS safety?" Jack says balancing the two chargers and blaster shaking his head. "I'll expect a 10,000 word essay on why we don't throw WEAPONS to others by next class Kirk." He gives her a little scowl but somehow he still looks like he's joking to Kate.

Kate raises her eyebrows. "You seriously can't throw phasers?" She asks sincerely.

"Generally not a good idea." Jack says spreading his toys in front of him.

"Huh." She says with a slightly shocked expression. She purses her lips before saying "Dude these things are so much sturdier. I can't tell you how many times I have dropped"

"What is it exactly besides a gun?" Kirk cuts her preteen wandering mind off and gets her back on track.

"Oh. Ok. It's called a blaster and is essentially a particle beam gun. You switch the safety off there," Kate points to a button near the trigger "and shoot. It has a bite but little to no kick back like a sonic pistol. It can kill or paralyze depending on the setting. It is the most common weapon and comes in size from hand held to cannons on starships. They are loaded with the charging packs."

"Han gave you that?" Kirk says dejectedly resting his head on his fist. Kirk can't decide whether he likes this man or not.

"Yeah." Kate says like he is stupid. "We were always armed except during diplomatic functions. Well the kids at least weren't packing at dip funcs."

Kirk makes a rolling motion with his hand. "Moving on," he says. There are times he truly thinks she did live under a rock. He imagines this Han like a twentieth century pirate complete with eye patch and peg leg.

"These are Bacta patches for you and Bones." Kate says handing Spock one of the two packs of gel. "Corran Horn used to say that 'if there was a spark of life bacta will save you.' It's a bacterium that can be eaten, injected, rubbed on, anything really to treat wounds. The bacteria treat all illness and injuries regardless of species. There are even tanks to bathe in to treat the most critical cases. It's really the only thing we use for medicine because it treats everything."

"Fascinating. What are the biochemical components of," Spock questions but Kate cuts him off.

"Dude I just use the stuff." She says like he is stupid getting snickers from around the table.

"What's this?" Kirk says picking up a palm sized hexagon and examining it.

"That's a holographic communication unit. It lets us sent messages across space in real time using three-dimensional holograms. Larger units with more power use hyperspace so you can have basically have instantaneous communication from one end of the galaxy to the other. It stores messages also." She flips a switch and a teen girl and boy appear. The girl says "Where are you? He's gonna be pissed if you're not back in 10 minutes." Kate stares at the image for a long second before shutting it off. Her hand shakes slightly as she takes it from Kirk and gives it to Scotty. "Little easier to get bitch comms here because you don't have to see them pissed." She says trying to use humor to get over the internal struggle she is having. Kirk rubs the small of her back for support. He can tell she is having a hard time with the personal stuff. "Be careful. It's the only recording I have of them now."

"Aye lassie I will." Scotty says.

She stares off for a second remembering that conversation with Jaina but quickly gets back on track. "Uhura this is a PUT or personal universal translator. We use them for trade and diplomatic meetings both honest and covert. It allows anyone to verbally communicate in about two thousand forms of communication. You add a language chip and then you understand what everyone is saying. This one was hotwired by Ghent to contain about 500 of the most common languages. I kept losing the chips." She explains the reason for it being hotwired. "If you put in an ear piece you can be a spy. Zakarisz Ghent was a legendary slicer so it probably won't look like a regular PUT but it will do. This is a VoxBox which gives you a real time translation of a language. It is mainly used for people who can't speak Basic like Wookies or Gamorreans and such. See Shyriiwook is damn fucking hard to speak." She glances at Kirk who scowls but she quickly goes on. "Watch. You put it on here and viola." She clears her throat and says "don't judge me" and makes a growling dog like sound. When she activates the device and makes the sound again it is a garbled version of hello. She shrugs, "Trust me works better if you're a Wookie."

Kate signals over the Scotty with her head. "Sulu and Chekov that is a nav com or navigational computer, astrogation computer, navicomp. They go by a ton of names but they are how we make the calculations to jump to light speed. They give you the safest route and quickest route to someplace. You put in your coordinates and go. I thought that maybe you could somehow retrace the jumps we made to get here back to the Senex sector which is in the 9th quadrant near the Rimma trade route. It might give a direction at least to send the," she gives a drum roll "emergency beacon." She pulls out a small square slightly larger than the comm units they are wearing. This is an emergency beacon with both New Republic and Jedi signals. Han combined them so when they were activated either side could track it." She sees them staring at all the new toys and then back to her. "I brought all this stuff up because Kirk told me last night we had a treaty to broker and sometimes things can get rough. This stuff could give us an edge." Everyone murmurs a different response. "Also I thought it would also help to get a signal to Han and Luke faster." She bites her lip questioningly and shifts her weight between her feet. Alpha crew is not sure what to say and look to Kirk for an answer.

Kirk sighs deeply. "So that's why you came clean with this. Just another way to try and get back to those damn Jedi. God what am I going to do about this. You can't ever go back and we aren't gonna go looking either." He thinks but says "I'm sure it will help a lot honey," getting a deep sigh out of her and a smile. He has to get her mind off the Jedi. "You said everyone got something." He gestures to the blank space in front of himself. "What did I get?"

"Me! The brains of the operation," she says with a smile and a shrug of her shoulders. Maybe now Kirk will give her something to do besides term papers and math equations.

Kirk lets out a chuckle. "Get to class." He says hooking a thumb towards the door. When she has left the table gets serious.

"Sir, this technology is far more advanced that anything we have encountered so far. It will give us a superior advantage over the Klingons and Romulans during the conference." Spock concedes. "I was wondering how you did not see this before now. She could have only beamed it back on board before the Jedi ship was destroyed. Only one signal was transported so she had to come aboard with it."

Kirk thinks back to the moment he saw her on the transporter pad and realizes she did have at least two bags with her. In the moment however it did not register that she had them. "I dunno Spock but at least we have them now." Kirk makes a mental note to ask her where the bags were all week before she gave them to the crew.

"Sir, we aren't actually going to try and send messages to the Jedi are we?" Uhura asks holding up the emergency beacons.

Kirk clasps his hands in front of himself on the table and does what his job requires of him. He makes a command decision. "No. No one is to tell Kate that but no. We cannot risk a third border conflict with the Jedi whose technology far surpasses our own. We use the technology she gave us for the defense of the Federation from the Romulans and Kilngons. Understand. Dismissed." Everyone nods and replies with 'yes sirs,' and the meeting ends. Jack stays at the end of the table. Kirk assumes a more relaxed posture sitting sideways with one leg crossed over the other and drums his fingers on the table looking at Jack. "Opinion."

"You made the right call for the Federation but if she ever finds out she will never forgive you." Jack says without of trace of his usual humor. "I was amazed at the knowledge she had about all this stuff."

"Ya. Couldn't tell us how to save a life with Bacta but could sure plan how to covertly take one." Jim rubs his face with his hands and groans. "I hate those fucking Jedi. You pick up on all her 'we have a treaty to broker' and 'give us an edge' shit." Jim leans forward on the table locking eyes with Jack. "She truly thinks that she is going to be a part of this conference."

"She sees this all as a game she plans to win." Jack says seriously.

"So we need to make sure she never does." Kirk responds and is given a nod by Jack.

*****Nek-also known as Cyborrean Battle dogs were originally bred as an animal weapon for war. Their necks were filled with armor and cyborg implants making them fearless and increased their balility to fight in battles.