Sam sat at his old fashion hardwood desk, a small lamp turned on the lowest setting illuminating his school PADD in the dead of night. The stylus in his hand frantically scratching at the surface screen as he tried to finish up his last essay of the year, an essay he should have finished three days ago. However, the teacher had excused both his absents from school and the missing homework when news got out of why he wasn't at school for the last week. Sam had to cringe at living in a small town such as Riverside for the very reason, there was no privacy whatsoever. It was none of their business what went on in at the Kirk farm, they had no right butting into his life and he absolutely hated the looks of pity everyone at school was giving him. The damn teacher had even tried to send him to talk to the councilor to help him. The only help he need was in getting this essay done by tomorrow or else he wouldn't pass the sixth grade.
A strangled snort crossed with a growl escaped his lips as he continued to work on his essay. "Why don't people mind their own fucking business?"
The chilly wind smacking the back of his head had the boy freezing in the middle of his essay. "Language Junior, language."
"But Dad, those stupid assholes wanted me to talk about what had happened. Telling me it wasn't my fault. For hell's sake, I know it wasn't my fault! Can't they just leave me the hell of alone?" Sam snapped, glaring towards his father.
"That still doesn't give you the right to cuss like a Starfleet officer," his father said evenly, the whole stern-fatherly pose in full swing. The very look had the boy deflating under the posture with only one glance. His shoulders slumped and a large sigh had Sam already calming down. "They're just trying to help you coop with your emotions. Not all kids can see death like you can, they don't learn from an early age what death is. None of them understand, but they still want to help. You've got to start letting people in, Junior."
For a few seconds, all that was heard was the scratching of the stylus on the PADD before even that faded away into nothing. "I've tried that, remember? Everyone only wanted to be my friend because I was your son. Not because I'm me. The kids at school don't care about me-myself, they only care about the popularity it will bring them if they become my friend."
"Junior," his father's voice made him turn in his swivel chair, looking his father straight into faded blue eyes. The young man tried to find the words to say in order to comfort his son, but this wasn't something he ever had to deal with in his short life. However, Sam seemed to read what he was still trying to find the words for just by looking in his eyes.
"I know, Dad," the blond grinned the same grin he had seen a thousand times on the ghost before him. It was a sad bittersweet grin, yet hope still lingered within. "I just gotta live with it."
The father and son talked for another hour or so, while Sam tried to finish his essay. Very rarely could they converse like they were, in fear of being spotted by someone else. Under the cover of the night, while everyone else was sleeping, there was no fear of getting caught. There was just father and son bonding moments that would never be allowed to see the light of day. Sam always thought these moments were better than nothing, and he wouldn't want to give them up, even if people started to think he had gone crazy after all this time.
It was just passing midnight when a creek from the room next to his stopped Sam mid rant. In the blink of an eye, the boy's full attention was on the door separating the two rooms from one another. The ancient doorknob slowly turned with a groan of the tumblers and a squeak from the hinges as the door swung open. Little Jimmy stood in the doorway, clad in his little blue footed pajamas and black starred blanket dragging behind him. His wheat blond hair was dull while his blue eyes popped out from sickly grey skin. Tiny white hands rubbed the sleep out of his eyes with one hand as the other tried to cover up the large yawn with the blanket.
"Jimmy, what are you doing up? You should be sleeping," Sam expressed his concerning as the boy wobbled into the room. The elder Kirk brother couldn't help but glare at the Grim Reaper following right behind his little brother.
"I can't shleep," the five year old got out between yawns. The tiredness in his eyes spoke volumes, yet at the same time, terror lingered at the front of blue eyes as well. "I 'ad a ni'tmare."
Sam couldn't blame the boy, after the week he had gone through and how much medicine had been pumped into his system, nightmares were not uncommon. Jimmy's immune system was already messed up with all the space radiation he had been exposed to as an infant, so his body was solely unprepared when he was exposed to vegan choriomeningitis by a fellow classmate. He had about died from the infectious disease and spent three days in ICU before moving to an isolated room. Sam had about died when he saw the Grim Reaper hovering over Jimmy while he was in the ICU. He had thought with the boy's release from the hospital two nights ago, the Grim Reaper would go away, but the death's reaper stayed.
"He still there?" his father's voice snapped Sam out of his glaring at the Grim Reaper. Sam just nodded his head, having to come to know that his father, while he could see other ghosts, could not see the collectors of souls. It would seem, ghost could only see their own reapers and a person only saw them once in their whole life, when they died.
"You want to sleep with me then? I'm just finished my essay." Sam asked, standing up and sweeping the teetering boy into his arms. The kid immediately wrapped his own arms around his brother's neck and nestled into older boy's arms. Together, the two made themselves comfortable in Sam's bed, the only light in the room coming from the twinkling stars on Jimmy's large blanket. In other words, nothing, not even the ghost of George Kirk or the Grim Reaper could be seen (Sam felt a little relieved at not being able to see the latter of which).
"Tell me a story about Daddy," the little boy encouraged after a few minutes of utter silence. "Please Sammy."
"Only if you go to sleep after, agreed?" He could feel Jimmy's nod of agreement more than he could see it. "Well, Dad was a Lieutenant Commander when he got assigned to the USS Kelvin for a six month star charting mission. It was during this first month of this very mission that he impressed the captain of the Kelvin. Captain Richard Robau was a stern but fair man. He didn't take failure well. Hence, when the current First Officer of the Kelvin made a mistake costing the lives of one crewman and injuring three others, the captain did not take it well when the man tried to blame it on someone else. Neither did the person who the XO was-"
"Sammy, what does XO mean?" Jimmy interrupted, sleep evident in his voice yet he was still full awake.
"XO is short for executive officers, who are the second-in-command and report to the CO, or commanding officer," Sam patiently explained to his brother.
"So a XO is the First Officer on a starship and a CO is the Captain?" the boy tried to clarify in his mind.
"You got it… Now, where was I," the older Kirk mumbled to himself.
"You had just got to the point where Commander Tahir was trying to frame me for Lieutenant Hemsworth's death and Ensigns Pine, Quinto, and Urban's injuries," the boys' father piped up from the direction of the desk chair only a few feet away.
"Ah, yes," Sam mumbled. "Anyways, the person who the First Officer was trying to frame didn't take kindly to being blamed. Especially since it was Dad. At the time, Dad was working down in engineering as the chief engineer and it was the First Officer's direct order that had the four engineers doing the unnecessary maintenance. Who had not sought out Dad to see what else was underway in the engine room, which was Commander Tahir, that's was the First Officer's name, mistake. Dad was working on the initial dampeners while the First Officer assigned a team to work on the dilithium chamber. The outcome was a minor explosion with major ramifications.
"Since Commander Tahir didn't believe he was responsible, he wrote Dad up on trumped up charges. And Dad didn't take it kindly. Dad fought the charges and didn't back down, because he didn't believe in no-win scenarios. In the end, Captain Robau sided with Dad and Commander Tahir was brought up on charges of fraud and dishonesty. When Starfleet found him guilty, Captain Robau needed a new XO and he knew exactly who he wanted. A man that didn't believe in no-win scenarios and would stand by his actions; he wanted Dad."
By the time Sam finished telling the story, Jimmy was fast asleep and the weariness of the day was catching up to him. He barely heard his father whispering words of sweet dreams as he dozed off. The next morning brought a healthier color to Jimmy's skin tone and the absences of the Grim Reaper. The latter of which had Sam smiling brighter than average smile.
This wasn't suppose to be in this story, but the idea just wouldn't leave me alone. Thus, this chapter, hope you all like. Thanks goes out to my two reviewers, Mikazuki Hime (once again) and AllOverInAus.
Riley Lee
