Jim Kirk was never been a fan of birthdays. His most recent one started off with waking up in bed alone, the woman he'd brought home the night before having slipped out of his apartment at some point while he was asleep.
The perfect way to kick off number twenty-six, he had thought to himself. Add her to the list of people who didn't stick around.
He was actually impressed that he'd managed to avoid the beer in his refrigerator until noon when he'd flipped on the television to see the coverage of Remembrance Day. His father's photograph was repeatedly plastered across the news networks, followed by his own. As much as he hated to admit it, to give credence to his theory that his mother's distance had grown over the years the more Jim grew up to resemble George, the similarities were striking.
He wondered if Sam bore as strong a resemblance to their father as he did. Though, the notion that he might not recognize his older brother if he bumped into him on the street startled him more than he cared to admit.
Jim didn't know where Sam was anymore, not in years. He'd wandered into his new, bright and shiny office at Starfleet Headquarters to find gifts and letters sprawled out across his desk and shelves. To this day, only one envelope stood out to him. It wasn't even addressed to him, just held a card that read 'Jimmy, Glad you're ok. – Sam'
Over a year later, Jim still didn't know whether hearing from his brother was better than not hearing from him at all.
It was just short of Happy Hour when his doorbell rang and he found Danielle Blake on his doorstep with three boxes of pizza and Leonard McCoy standing behind her with an armful of paper bags that could only have come from a liquor store.
The following afternoon, the three woke up fully-dressed in Jim's bed in various states of sprawl. Leonard was face down across the foot of the mattress and Jim was laying diagonally, feet draped over the older man's back. Danielle was perpendicular to the doctor, his arm thrown over her ankles, while Jim's forehead was pressed between her shoulder blades. It was as pathetic a heap of skin and bones as they'd ever seen.
"This was not my idea of a threesome," Jim remarked, earning pained groans him his companions.
Three hyposprays later, the trio was sitting in a diner indulging in the best hangover food they could find and knocking back glasses of water like they were being exiled to the desert.
This year would be different though. The Enterprise was deployed the morning of Jim's birthday on a geological mission to a Class P planet three days away. On the one hand, Jim was grateful that he'd miss the bombardment of Remembrance Day coverage. However, he couldn't just bury his head under his pillows and drink until the day was over. He was Captain and he still had his job to do.
Danielle took it upon herself to plan a different kind of distraction this year. There would be no party of course, but instead, she planned a poker night for Jim and his closest friends on board the ship. There would be a spread of his favorite foods that she'd programmed the recipes for into the replicators, plenty of non-synthesized bottles of liquor she swore she did not know how they'd made it onto the ship, and enough company to keep him in better spirits.
However, she hadn't planned on Jim getting three glasses in before he'd even shown up to his observatory.
"It's boys' night," Jim lamented with a heavy sigh, blue eyes glassy from his buzz. "Danielle Blake and Nyota Uhura are not boys."
"So sweet of you to notice, Captain," Nyota retorted with an elegant arch of her eyebrow.
"Gee, Jim. With your knack for anatomy, I'll never know why you went command track instead of medical," Leonard remarked with a lift of his whiskey glass.
Jim rolled his eyes. "They probably don't even know how to bet."
"You figured it out," Sulu piped up, earning choking laughter from the CMO.
"Spock…" Jim sank into a chair at the angular table. "Tell them they can't come. Order them not to come!"
No one could be sure whose face had blazed more with rage: Uhura's or Blake's.
"Captain," Spock returned coolly, "I do not believe it would be in either of our best interests to do so. Additionally, I do not understand why having Lieutenant Uhura and Dr. Blake participating in the game would be unwise."
"Really? You think?" McCoy grumbled around the lip of his tumbler.
Jim waved him off. "It is a well-known rule that there are no women allowed on poker night."
"I am unaware of such a rule."
Jim groaned helplessly, sinking petulantly into his chair.
Nyota, on the other hand, plucked her plate of food from the table and swiftly turned on her heel. "On second thought, I did not get nearly as much rest tonight as I would have liked prior to this little get together, so I'm going to call it an early night." Her jaw clenched. "Gentlemen, Danielle…" She dipped her head to address each in turn as she strode towards the door. "Oh. And happy birthday, Captain," she called out flippantly on her way out of the room in an attempt to unsettle Jim.
It worked.
"Got any Jacks?" Scotty slurred as he leaned over his hand of playing cards, his cheeks pinkened by the alcohol.
"Meester Scott," Chekov addressed him, not a curl out of place, "I believe you are thinking of the wrong game. We are playing poker."
He furrowed his brows. "You mean we're not playing Go Fish?"
"No, dear." Danielle pressed the back of her hand to her mouth to stifle her laughter. "We're not. Sorry."
"Oh, well." He glanced down at his rapidly dwindling stack. "That would explain a lot."
"I say if the man wants to play go-fish while the rest of us play poker, it's his right to do as he wants!" Jim declared with a smack of his hand on the padded lip of the table, jostling his chips.
"Kid." Leonard winced and shook his head. "Do you ever stop and listen to yourself?"
"I do, thank you very much!" His eyes narrowed at Danielle next to McCoy. "Unlike some people who just don't listen to me."
"Wow, Jim." She fanned out her hand in front of her again. "With 20th century beliefs like that, I can't imagine why some lucky woman hasn't figured out a way to lock you down quite yet."
Jim's jaw clenched, blue eyes blazing. "Oh, fuck you, Blake. You're not my mother. Of all the people to pass judgment on me, you certainly aren't in a position to be one of them."
The room was silent almost instantly. Sulu and Chekov exchanged worried glances, though Spock's face remained as impassive as ever.
"Excuse me?" she snapped at him.
Jim threw his cards face down on the table. "You fucking heard me, Blake. We all put up with you being here to be nice, but I sure as shit am not going to sit here and be lectured by you on my behavior or my personal life."
Leo lightly grasped Jim's arm. "Take it easy, kid. She was just joking."
He batted his hand away. "No. Tell me, Blake… when was the last time you were in a relationship? Oh, that's right." He smirked. "You went on two dates with our illustrious former Chief Engineer Olsen before he went and got himself incinerated."
Danielle swallowed thickly as she stared back at Jim. No matter how drunk anyone at the table was, the wounded look in her eyes was as clear as day.
"You and I are more alike than you'd like to believe, Dr. Blake. Everyone leaves us." He leaned forward to fold his hands on the table. "Now get the fuck off of my back."
"Jim!" Leo barked at him, a deadly glare seeping through his hazel eyes. "That's enough."
Blake pushed back her chair and unsteadily made her way to her feet with her vodka cranberry in hand, ice clattering against the side with the trembling of her fingers.
"Well, I believe that's my cue to leave," she mumbled, averting her gaze.
"Oh, you think?"
She ignored Jim's sniped comment and pushed her chair in, not even bothering with her chips. McCoy's body moved the slightest fraction as if to follow or comfort her, but she found his eyes for just a fleeting moment to shake her head the tiniest fraction.
Leonard felt helpless. On the one hand, he wanted to grab Jim by the neck and throw him up against the wall. Maybe knock some sense into him, force him to apologize. But on the other hand, getting so emotional would tip everyone off in the room that something now ran deeper between CMO and SOO than the cords of friendship.
By her dismissal of his aid, Danielle effectively reinforced that thought.
"Have a pleasant evening, gentlemen," she bid them meekly and then shuffled out the door.
An hour later, Leonard finally mustered up the fortitude to leave. He'd spent the better part of that time debating whether to chase after his girlfriend to comfort her, exposure be damned. Yet, he also knew that if he let the cat out of the bag in a moment of her weakness, she'd never forgive him.
So he stayed, listened to Jim's drunken rants and boasts, until he couldn't take it anymore.
"I'm calling it a night," he declared, blunting out his cigar in the ashtray. "I'm getting too old for this shit."
"One of these days, Bones, we've gotta get you laid." Jim's grin was lopsided. "It'll take ten years off you, I swear."
"Do you really think I've been celibate since my divorce, Jim?" he sighed.
Jim's reply was lightning fast. "Yes."
McCoy wiped a hand over his tired features. "Goodnight, Jim."
A/N: Sorry that I've been MIA. The new job has been taking up so much of my life that my writing has substantially slowed down, but I'm still here, as are Blake and Bones. I have three more chapters of this story in the bank. It's funny because when I get random reviews weeks or months after the last chapter, I tend to remember: "oh, hey! I should post a chapter!"
And that's precisely what happened.
Are you all as excited for STB as I am, based on the trailer? I hear a new one is dropping sometime in the next month. Score!
Anyway, please feed the feedback monster! I'd love to hear what you all think!