"No, she is not my girlfriend." Keenser looked at him and Montgomery sighed, "She's my friend, okay." The Roylan nodded, "Kirk." Montgomery nodded, "Yea, that's Jim Kirk." He watched as Keenser pulled a holo from his desk and handed it to him. It took the tired engineer a second to place the faces in the holographic image with his small friend but he'd know those eyes anywhere, they were the same as Jim's cerulean blues. "You knew George Kirk?" Keenser nodded at the question, "Recruiter."
"He recruited you into Starfleet?" Keenser nodded again. "Wait until I tell Jim. That girl could use some good news. It's her birthday tomorrow." If they were talking about anyone else, a birthday would be a good thing but since Jim's birthday is also the anniversary of her father's death, it was usually a somber day. For some reason, people seemed to forget that fact and they never let her have a few moments of peace. "George would be proud. She's smart. Good person."
"I think that's the most I've heard you say since I got here. Yer right, though. She's bloody brilliant and she's one of the best people I know." Keenser looked at him, "You like her." Montgomery sighed, "Why does everybody keep saying that? I mean, I get tha she's gorgeous and can sling a wrench with the best of us but I'm not good enough to be her friend, let alone anything else." Keenser didn't say anything, he just pointed to the holo on Monty's desk.
At the end of Clara's last visit, she forced him to take holos with her. For the last few, she managed to pull Jim into the mix. The one on his desk had Montgomery in the middle with an arm around each woman. McCoy managed to catch the exact second that Monty and Jim looked at each other. Clara decided to give him that holo to take with him. If he didn't know any better, he'd say that they looked like a couple. Keenser touched his shoulder, "Good enough."
Even though there was a time difference, Montgomery was awake to watch the Kelvin Day Ceremony. It was easy to spot Jim; she was in her cadet reds, sitting in the first row next to her mother, Commander Winona Davis. It was a little funny to him that people compare Jim to her father when the girl was clearly the spitting image of her mum.
He could tell just by looking at her that she didn't want to be there. Kelvin Day was already a big deal but the twenty-fifth anniversary meant extra attention on the Kirk family. Jim was doing her best impersonation of Pike's 'engaged but unaffected' attitude. To the rest of the Federation, she looked like the dutiful daughter but Montgomery knew her well enough to know that the second she's alone, she was gonna breakdown.
Contrary to what people think –and he's heard some winners at the academy- Jim wasn't as careless or reckless as people assume. She's just been through some things that would've brought a lesser person to their knees. He wanted to be there for her, with her. Since he was stuck on Delta Vega, he had an idea.
"Are you gonna let me see?" Clara smiled, "Yea." His sister turned the PADD in her hands and showed him the huge smile on Jim's face at her impromptu birthday party. Apparently, he and McCoy were on the same wave length. McCoy went with grabbing a few of their friends and some snacks from Jim's favorite bakery. Montgomery figured that Jim would get a kick out of what he sent her; he even talked Pike into letting the delivery guy into her dorm. His sister was visiting of her own accord and offered to comm him from Jim's so that he could see what happened. "Clara, put the PADD down," he heard Jim say. His sister responded, "Can't, Monty's my date."
"Really? Let me talk to him." Montgomery heard laughter as he noticed everything on the other side of the screen change and then Jim came into focus, "Hey, lass." She gave him one of those blinding 'Kirk Smiles', "You did this." He chuckled, "I'm in another system, lass. I don't know what you're talking about." She held the PADD up so that he could see her dorm room full of clear, red and gold balloons with stuff like 'Engineering Rules' and 'I play with warp cores' on them or lights in them. "They have Monty Scott all over them. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I love it."
"You're welcome, lass. You feel old, yet?" She rolled her eyes, "Ask me again when we're like eighty and ninety." He chuckled, "You think we'll still know each other?" Jim smiled, "Of course we will. I'll be the badass captain and you'll be my trusty chief engineer. And when we retire, we'll live in an old house near the shipyard. We'll eat sandwiches on the porch and complain about all the idiot kids that don't know what they're doing." Montgomery laughed, "Sounds nice, lass. I'm gonna hold you to that." She nodded, "Good. I got your gift, by the way. It was perfect, thank you."
"I picked that one especially for you. How's it taste?" She shrugged, "I haven't opened the bottle yet. I'm gonna wait until we're in the same place." He sighed, "Might be a while." Jim smiled, "It's okay, I can wait." That sounded more like a promise than she probably meant for it to. Before either of them could say anything else, he heard a voice that he didn't recognize call her name.
Jim didn't argue when the older woman took the PADD from her and Montgomery found himself looking at George Kirk's widow. Commander Davis didn't look like she was old enough to have a twenty-five year old daughter. "So, you're Scotty. I thought they were yanking my chain." He nodded, "That's me, ma'am." She smiled, "You helped Leo put this together, didn't you?"
"I did what I could. I'll do just about anything to see Jim smile." He closed his mouth when he realized what he just said to Jim's mother. Commander Davis didn't seem to mind, "A mother can't ask for much more than that from the people in her daughter's life. Thank you for being such a good friend to Jimmy. Growing up Kirk isn't the cakewalk that people think and I was worried about her joining up. I'm glad she has such great friends. Especially ones who want to see her smile from light years away."
"She's a good friend to me too. I don't know how I'd survive this post without her checking on me every few days." Commander Davis smiled, "That sounds like my girl." Jim rested her head on her mother's shoulder, "Alright, mom. Don't get all sappy." Montgomery laughed, "Too late for that, lass." Keenser tapped his shoulder and pointed at the screen. "Oh, someone wants to say hi."
He moved over and let the little guy in the frame, Jim smiled, "Hey, Keenser." Her mother sucked in a breath, "Keenser. That's where you ended up." He nodded, "Quiet." Commander Davis chuckled, "I'll bet." Jim looked at her mother, "You know Keenser?"
"Knew George," Keenser told Jim as her mother nodded. "Your father recruited him in 2230. I'll have to tell you about it later. You fellas take care of yourselves and stay warm." Monty and Keenser both nodded as she passed the PADD back to her daughter. "It's been an emotional day. I think she might cry," Jim whispered as she watched her mother walk away. "Go. We're not going anywhere." She smiled, "Okay, I'm handing you off to Bones."
"What am I supposed to do with this?" her roommate asked. "Ya can talk to me. How'd we do?" McCoy chuckled, "Opened the door and it took her a second to understand that we were throwing her a party. Then she got all teary eyed. I swear if you don't ask her out the next time you're in the same place, I'm gonna kick both of your asses." That was not what Monty was expecting, "What?" McCoy rolled his eyes, "Don't 'what' me. You know what I'm talkin' about."
"I told him that already, Leo. He's in denial," he heard his sister say. She took the PADD from the doctor who was glaring at him. "I'm not in denial about anything." His sister just looked at him, "Keep tellin' yerself that, Monty."