6. Bread

Kevin Reilly poked at his dinner and slumped in his chair. The room was reverberating with the noises of dozens of different conversations but the young lieutenant had grabbed a corner table and remained alone. As he went to lift his glass he paused and watched the tremor in his hand before lowering it and grasping it in his other hand, trying to still it. Perhaps he should just skip dinner.

"Kev?"

Starting at the nickname he hadn't heard in years he looked up at his captain who was standing over him, tray in hand. "Do you mind?"

Kevin hesitated; he didn't much want to sit with anyone but of all the people on board the Enterprise Jim Kirk was the one he thought he might be able to tolerate.

The captain was watching him closely and sighed, sitting next to him. "Kev. Is this all you've eaten today?"

The younger man looked down at his barely touched soup and nodded. "I know I'm being irrational, but I just…"

"Hey." Jim nudged his tray and Kevin glanced at his salad and breadstick. "I am the one person here you don't need to explain to."

Sighing heavily, the lieutenant pushed away his food. "I just can't."

Jim was watching him shrewdly. "Other than the food, how are you holding up? This has been a hell of a week."

Kevin laughed at that and rubbed at his eyes. "I'm grateful. I am. If you hadn't stopped me, and I had killed him it would have haunted me forever. I just…wanted to forget it all."

Patting his shoulder, Jim turned to his own food and listlessly prodded at it. With a little frown, he stood up. "Wait here."

Kevin watched his captain jog over to the replicators and felt a small bit of guilt as he thought about his earlier actions. Not a lot of people could deck their captain and get away with a stern word and a pat on the back but Jim hadn't so much as brought it up once since then. That was just like him though…he always looked out for other people…

"Nnngh…" Kevin curled forward, a wave of nausea making his head spin as his mind began to flashback.

"Kev? Kev!" Then Jim was shaking him and staring at him with a haunted look. "Are you okay?"

The young man took a deep breath and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. What's this?"

The older man grinned wickedly and revealed two large ice-cream sundaes. At his crewmate's incredulous look, Jim shrugged. "Hey, if we gotta eat, might as well eat something really good. Never tell Bones I did this or I will throw you in the brig."

Kevin laughed and accepted the food. "D'you remember when Molly took us to get ice-cream and we got lost?"

Jim's eyes lit up. "We ended up spending the day at the lake."

As the two young men continued to talk about their memories the younger man didn't notice that he'd eaten not only his ice cream but also his soup and half his captain's bread. Soon though, Jim's communicator went off and the older man had to stand, apologetically.

"I'm probably needed on bridge. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night Kev."

"…Good night, JT."

Jim's eyes lit up and he grinned. He paused, then reached out and pushed his plate toward Kevin. "You can have the rest of my bread if you want."

The younger man smiled brightly. Yeah, that was Jim all right. Some things never changed.

This is actually a pretty good companion to another of my 'Trek stories, Doubt Thou The Stars Are Fire. If you're interested, go check my profile.