Complications

Chapter 14

Stardate 2260.79

Shuffling the PADDs on his desk, Jim searched for the requisition form Scotty had submitted. He had just seen it. It had been a long day of requisition forms, shore leave rosters, and looking over duty schedules. He had a departmental head meeting tomorrow and he wanted to be as organized as possible. Luckily, he had Rand and Spock to help him out or he'd be swamped. Abby had caught a flu that seemed to be raging through the daycare facility and she'd been grouchy and miserable for a couple days now, making things that much more difficult.

Now almost twenty-one months, she was much more demanding and harder to handle when she wasn't happy. He couldn't just give her a bottle or put her down for a nap. She had a definite opinion about things now and when she wasn't happy she wasn't easy to reason with.

Unfortunately for Abby, it looked like she had her father's immune system. McCoy had given her the standard hypo for the Savarian flu and she'd immediately turned bright red and began having trouble breathing, something that had freaked Jim out. McCoy had a gamma albuterol hypo at the ready and the allergy symptoms had magically disappeared, but it meant that Abby had to suffer through the flu with only basic medicines for aches and pains and congestion.

Feeling miserable, Abby had only wanted to be held and watch Smooglies, but Jim really wasn't able to accommodate her and he felt horrible about it. Rand had helped out, as had Uhura and Chekov during their time off, but it was especially hard on Jim to see her tears as he left her in the care of somebody else while he went to the bridge. At this point he was feeling as tired and out of sorts as Abby and the paperwork wasn't helping.

"Captain," Rand said as she stepped into the ready room, interrupting his thoughts.

"Rand, have you seen Scotty's requisition form?" Jim asked, still looking over his desk.

"I have it right here," she replied, reaching into the stack in her arms and handing it to him. "Remember we talked about getting Scotty to specify the number of transtator chips he needed."

"Oh, yeah," Jim shook his head, absently rubbing his eyes. He'd left his reading glasses in his quarters and he was paying for it now. "I forgot. Did you need something?" he asked after looking over Scotty's form again. Everything looked right.

"We've received another request from Starfleet," she said flatly, not looking happy about it.

"What now?" Jim asked in exasperation. In the past few weeks they'd begun receiving requests for information regarding duty rosters from various departments, shore leave rotation for certain months, and random weeks of communication records.

"They want the shore leave rosters for Starbase 17 and Belgernon II, as well as the duty roster for cartography from Stardate 2259.17 through 2259.66 and for the last three months."

"Cartography? Really?" Jim said in surprise.

"Yes, sir."

"This is getting ridiculous," Jim commented. "What the hell are they looking for and why now? This is getting to the point of harassment."

"I agree, sir," Rand said. "I've never heard of these types of requests being made unless a ship is being audited for something."

"Something like what?" Jim prodded, noticing the uncomfortable look on his yeoman's face. She'd handled the earlier requests for information for him. It hadn't come to his attention until just a week ago that Starfleet seemed to want more from the Enterprise than they usually did.

"I spoke with my old supervisor, Commander White," she told him hesitantly, "and she said that it sounds like the initial stages of an investigation into misappropriation."

"Misappropriation of what?"

Rand shrugged. "Misappropriation of resources, personnel, funds. It could be anything at this point considering what they've been asking for."

Jim ran a hand through his hair in frustration. "Couldn't they just announce what they're looking for? I mean all these requests for information… it's getting ridiculous. If they'd just say what the hell they want, I'd give it to them."

"I agree sir," Rand nodded. "Commander White said…"

"Captain," Uhura's voice interrupted. "You have an incoming comm. from Admiral Pike."

"Great," Jim sighed. "Patch him through. You're dismissed Rand. Send them what they want and keep me informed of anything else." He gave her a painful smile as she left and then turned to his screen. "Admiral, to what do I owe this pleasure?"

Pike looked a bit more haggard than usual and his lips were pursed tightly. "You didn't hear this from me, Kirk, but a shit storm is about to descend on you and the Enterprise."

"Excuse me?" Jim asked, sitting forward in his chair, suddenly tense and alert.

"You are about to be under investigation for misappropriation of Starfleet personnel, giving favoritism and preference for favors, using your position to punish or inconvenience others, and possibly…" Pike paused and made sure he had Jim's full attention, "sexual harassment," he completed ominously. "From what I've heard they might not have enough of a case for that, but…" he shook his head. "Even a hint can be enough to derail a career."

Jim just stared at him dumbfounded. "What the hell!"

"It appears you have a disgruntled crewmember," Pike told him. "And this person is stirring up all kinds of shit at the Admiralty. Dekker is looking downright smug, though he doesn't seem to have any connection to the investigation."

"Who the hell does?" Jim demanded. If he was going to get taken to task, he sure as hell wanted to know who was reaming him.

"I'm not positive, but I think it was Admiral Collins who initiated everything with Internal Affairs," Pike told him.

Jim laughed bitterly. "Great. And you say Dekker has nothing to do with it."

"I'm surprised you know their connection," Pike said.

"I have my sources," Jim told him wryly. "This is asinine, Admiral."

"I know, Jim," Pike agreed. "You should be getting the formal papers in the next couple days. So far it seems like a bunch of smoke and mirrors with no real evidence that I've heard of. Favoritism is hard to prove, so is punishing someone with a bad schedule or shore leave rotation. But the last accusation; Starfleet takes that very seriously, Jim."

Jim glared at the screen. "What are you saying, Admiral?"

"I'm not saying anything," Pike shook his head, "but I am wondering if there's going to be anything in your past that could bite you on the ass if this investigation starts in full."

"I have never played favorites," Jim told him, deliberately being obtuse. His personal life was just that, personal. "And I have never used my position to punish anyone for anything. If there are disciplinary problems they are settled by a committee of me, Spock and the person's department head. I let the department heads work up their monthly schedules and I rubber stamp them. I don't have any real input into them. Spock does the majority of shore leave rosters. He's got some weird algorithm that he uses or we have a lottery, and I'm fine with that. Rand has all the documentation. If someone is feeling slighted or persecuted, it's in their own mind, trust me."

"And the harassment?" Pike prodded.

Jim took several deep breaths and tried to control his anger. "Since I've become captain it's only been Marissa and I haven't had…relations…with anyone else since she…left," he admitted, angry that he had to discuss this, even with Pike. "I haven't even been interested. I have Abby and the Enterprise to look after. I don't have the time or energy to chase after someone."

"I believe you Jim," Pike said honestly. "But they have to have something to be able to even think of leveling such a serious offense. They can't just throw something like that at you and hope it will stick."

"I…I think I know who it is," Jim admitted.

"And does she have something on you?"

"No," Jim said instantly. "We have a…history; one night when we were cadets. After I failed the Kobyashi Maru the first time," Jim told him. "It was only that one drunken night, but she wanted more while we were at the Academy and I said no. I really had other things on my mind at the time. Then, on the ship," Jim sighed. "I guess she didn't like Marissa. There were always rumors about us, me and Marissa, and there was a pool after Abby was born, betting when I would leave her for someone else." Even now his anger at the pool settled quickly in his stomach.

Pike frowned disapprovingly.

"I had Spock put a stop to it, but that was it," Jim admitted. "I eventually found out who was running it, but as upset as I was I knew that if I did anything in retaliation I would be violating my position, so I let it go. She, the crewmember, already had a couple black marks on her record for conduct unbecoming and insubordination from her department head, so I just let it go; figured she'd hang herself eventually."

"So where does the harassment come in?" Pike asked.

"There was no harassment," Jim declared. "If anyone should be filing that charge it should be me! She came to my quarters late one night."

"And you let her in?" Pike asked incredulously.

Jim glared. "It was after 2200 and I was expecting Bones. Once she was in my quarters…well, call me a gentleman, but I didn't want to just kick her out if she wanted to legitimately talk to me."

"Did she?"

"No," Jim admitted heavily. "It was the night of Marissa's memorial and I was…I wasn't doing so well. She was all sympathetic, but then she…she began touching me – my knee, my leg. And then she propositioned me. I said no, of course, and then Bones showed up and she left. I never even hinted that I was interested in her, but she played up our past – the one night we spent together. Hell," he frowned. "It wasn't even a night, it was only a couple of hours. I didn't even remember her name until she cornered me, asking for another hook up."

"We should all be so lucky," Pike mumbled, causing Jim to glare at him again. "I'm sorry," he said immediately contrite. "It's just with your reputation…"

"Fuck it," Jim ground out. "I slept around. I was a horny bastard my first year, maybe even my second year compared to most, but by my third year…yeah, no. I had two friends that I'd meet up with when it suited us, but I was too into my studies to have time to screw around. And since then it was only Marissa. I shouldn't have to defend my sex life to anyone, even you, sir."

"I know, Kirk," Pike said sympathetically. "But I have to know the whole story if I'm going to help you. No way am I letting my protégé get hung out to dry. So don't bite my head off, okay? I'm going to see what I can do on my end to head some of this off."

Jim's anger calmed down. "I'm sorry, sir. I do appreciate the warning and everything. What do you think I should do?"

"Well, don't try to hide anything," Pike said. "Not that I think you would. Just give them what they want; answer their questions honestly. Don't lose your temper," he warned, narrowing his eyes. "I don't know what angle they are going for, but be ready."

"I will sir," Jim nodded. "Should I contact my lawyer from the JAG, or…" he thought about it for a second. "If Collins is in on this…that might not be a good idea."

"I only suspect it was Collins who started this, but you should probably leave the JAG out of this for now," Pike agreed, then paused. "Why the hell do you have a lawyer? What haven't you told me? Damn it, Jim. I told you to keep me in the loop on things like that."

"No, no, it's nothing…" Jim shook his head. "It's nothing official. Nothing Starfleet related."

"Then why the hell do you need a lawyer?" Pike demanded.

Jim sighed heavily. "Marissa's dad is suing me for custody of Abby," Jim told him.

"He's what?" Pike asked incredulously. "Now?"

"Yeah."

"On what grounds?"

"On the grounds that I'm an unfit parent and the Enterprise is an unsafe place to raise a child," Jim said calmly enough, though it still burned.

Pike just stared at him, a confused look on his face. "That just doesn't make sense. I mean…honestly? I just… it's ridiculous. He's got no case. He can't. Anyone who's seen you with Abby… That's just stupid."

Jim smiled wryly. "Thanks for you support…Pa pa."

"I'm serious, Jim," Pike frowned.

"I know, Admiral," Jim nodded. "And I appreciate it."

"When did this all start?"

"I was first contacted about a month after… after M'Qtobau," Jim explained. "The lawyer told me to drop off Abby at some starbase. I refused."

"Of course," Pike snorted.

"I contacted the JAG right away and then a week later the bastard made it official," Jim sneered. "He wants full custody of Abby. My lawyer had me ask some of the crew – those who know me best and who watch over Abby occasionally – to submit statements as to their opinion of me as a parent and Abby being on the ship." He shrugged. "That was about two, two and half weeks ago. Now we're just waiting for the judge to decide if Matthew has a good enough case against me to proceed."

Pike stared thoughtfully somewhere off screen, his mind obviously working on something.

"What?" Jim asked after the other man remained silent for too long. "What are you thinking?"

Pike shook his head slowly, his eyes coming back to focus on Jim. "I'm thinking that…it seems odd - this custody thing and now the investigation."

Jim snorted. "Welcome to my life."

Pike frowned. "Look Jim, I'm going to look into some things."

"What are you…"

"I don't want to talk about it right now," Pike interrupted. "It just seems too…coincidental for my tastes."

"We've thought of that too," Jim commented. "And maybe with this new investigation…"

"We'll talk about it later, Jim," Pike said, this time there was a definite warning in his tone. "In the mean time, do you want me to look into getting you another lawyer?"

"No, thanks," Jim said, shaking his head, forcing himself to let it go for now. He had his own suspicions, but he also had a ship to run and a sick daughter. He'd have to trust Pike to let him know if there really was something more going on. "You've done enough. I don't want you to get too involved in case this really does become a shit storm. Spock's been talking with Sarek," he told Pike. "I'll see if he knows someone."

Pike nodded, looking impressed. "You're in good hands then. Would you mind if I talked with Sarek? Just to keep on top of things?"

"Fine with me," Jim said. "Now, as much fun as this has been, Admiral, I have to go. Abby's been sick and I need to get back to my quarters to relieve Chapel for her shift."

"Take care, Jim," Pike nodded. "And give Abby a squeeze for me."

"Will do, Admiral. Kirk out."

xXx

The official statement came two days later in a special communiqué marked Captain's Eyes Only. There was nothing filed against him yet, he was simply notified that he was under investigation by Starfleet Internal Affairs for misappropriation of Starfleet personnel and resources, and abuse of his position. The last bit amounted to an accusation of favoritism in regards to shore leave and shift rotations.

Jim was thankful that Pike's warning of a sexual harassment suit hadn't been mentioned. Apparently they didn't have enough evidence, which was good, seeing as nothing had actually happened.

After he'd gotten off the comm. with Pike and managed to calm down, Jim had called Rand into his ready room and asked her about any rumors floating around the ship to do with him. He'd heard whispers of something in the past few weeks, but had ignored them, but now he needed to know. As usual his yeoman was a fount of knowledge when it came to the ship's gossip network.

Shortly after Marissa's memorial a rumor had started that Jim had tried to drown his sorrows in someone else's arms and then kicked them out of his quarters without a by-your-leave. No name had been attached to that rumor until a couple days after it had started and no surprises, Ensign Tenial was said to be the wounded party. She'd gained some sympathy at first, but her invective against Jim had increased with each telling and her credibility was called into question when she began talking about how Jim had confided to her that his relationship with Marissa had been a mistake and while he missed her, because of the sex and the fact that she looked after Abby, he was also relieved that she was gone.

Apparently no one had believed that.

Jim had seen red when Rand had explained it all.

She, Chapel and Marie from cartography had taken it upon themselves to counteract the rumors. Marie talked up Marissa and Jim's relationship and Tenial's obvious jealousy and baiting of Marissa in which Marissa had turned the other cheek. Chapel had gone to McCoy when the rumors became too prominent and he shared the little tidbit about Tenial propositioning Jim and getting tossed out on her rear, which Chapel had stealthily spread throughout Medical and the pharmacy. And since Rand was Jim's yeoman the crew easily believed anything she said regarding her boss and his deep grief. Blushing, she admitted to letting a conversation between herself and Chapel be overheard by Crewmember Foisy, a notorious gossip, where she said that she'd accidentally walked in on Jim crying.

Jim wasn't sure how he felt about that last little piece of information. He didn't cry. Ever. It was something that had been beaten out of him as a young teen, but he did appreciate their efforts.

Uhura had identified when Tenial had contacted Starfleet, but none of them could figure out why she had decided to take that major step. She could have gone to Spock and raised holy hell on the ship, or she could have just let it drop as obviously not many people believed her, but instead she'd gone straight to the JAG, not even human resources or their IOG section adninistrator. And she hadn't even needed to call around, she'd had a direct line to whoever she spoke with.

Rand had pointed out that she'd contacted Starfleet shortly after her shore leave on the outpost on 55 Cancri f., which made them all suspicious that someone was keeping abreast of gossip on the Enterprise and trying to stir the pot by encouraging crewmembers like Tenial to press charges. Jim had to wonder who else might have been approached and if anything else might be coming at him. As far as he knew he was on good terms with all of his crew.

In the Eyes Only communiqué the Enterprise was ordered to pick up Internal Affairs auditor on Lerocwen, but first they had to visit Ulvia and wave the flag and impress the natives. Jim was currently buttoning up his dress uniform, cursing the tight neck. This would be the first time that he would be off the ship and away from Abby for more than a couple hours. In fact, the away team was expected to stay two nights in order to witness the Uluvian Hosiatto, a springtime festival that celebrated the fertility of their planet.

"Abby will you be a good girl for Miss Christine and Miss Janice?" Jim asked the toddler who was currently flopping backwards on his bed, narrowly missing his small suitcase each time.

"Uh huh," she replied with a giggle as she regained her feet and flopped again.

Jim shook his head. "Come here, you," he said, grabbing her and giving her a loud kiss. "Do you remember that dada has to go visit the Ulvians and that you are going to stay with Miss Janice?"

This time Abby nodded. "Dada go bye-bye," she told him. "Come back soon."

"Uh, yeah," Jim agreed hesitantly. He really didn't want her to associate his leaving with Marissa's. After all, Marissa was supposed to have come back soon, too. "I'll be home in two days," he explained. "Today you go visit Ms. Daugherty and then you get to spend the night with Miss Janice and Miss Christine. And then Miss Janice will take you to visit Ms. Daugherty and then you get to spend the night again and then Dada will be home to get you from daycare. Okay?"

"O-tay," Abby told him, nodded her head enthusiastically.

Jim sighed heavily. She didn't understand and this wasn't going to be good, but he had no other choice. He had to go down to Ulvia and attend the festival. Sulu, Chekov and Scotty were staying on board, but he, Spock, Uhura and McCoy along with a small security detail had to go.

The door chime rang and Jim tossed Abby on the bed, making her giggle loudly.

"Miss Janice is here, Munchkin," he said as he walked to the door. "Are you ready for daycare?"

"Yup!" she declared, clambering off the bed and running after him.

"Hi Janice," Jim smiled at his yeoman.

"Captain," she replied. "Are you ready to go see Ms. Daugherty, Abby? I heard you get to paint today."

"YEAH!" Abby screeched, causing the adults to wince. She loved painting, but it always required another set of clothes. No matter how big or encompassing her apron was, she always managed to get paint everywhere.

"I guess you can get into our quarters if you need more clothes," he shrugged good-naturedly.

"We'll be fine, Captain," Janice reassured him, grabbing Abby's over night bag and blanket. Abby already had Sehlat in her grip.

"I know, I just…" he trailed off and picked Abby up. "Come here, munchkin. Can I have a kiss and hug good-bye?"

She instantly wrapped her little arms around his neck and squeezed, causing Jim's throat to tighten as he squeezed back. "You be a good girl and I'll see you in a couple days."

"Dada come home soon?" she asked, her lip suddenly quivering, her mood changing like flipping a switch. "Like mama?"

Jim's heart clenched and Janice let out a startled gasp. "No, baby, no. Not like mama," Jim told her, trying to head off the tears that seemed to be building. "I'm going to go visit the Ulvians for two days and then I will be back. Two days," he repeated, holding up two fingers. "Can you count to two?"

"Wun," Abby said, poking one of his upraised fingers. "Twwoo," she poked the other one.

"Very good," Jim smiled, giving her a kiss. "You will sleep in Miss Janice's quarters for two nights and then I will be home. I promise."

"O-tay," she replied, storm avoided and smiling again.

"Why don't you go pick out your favorite Smooglies vid to take with you? I'm sure Miss. Janice would love to watch it."

Putting her down, Jim turned to Janice. "I don't know if she really understands," he told his yeoman, seeing the sympathy in her eyes. "Just…just don't tell her I'm coming home soon. That's what we said…what I said about Marissa and…"

"I understand, Captain," Janice reached out a hand and squeezed his arm. "I know this will be hard on both of you, but you have to go. Abby will be fine. She knows us. She might get fussy, but we'll handle it."

"You could comm. me if she gets too bad," Jim suggested.

Janice just looked at him with her look that said, don't be ridiculous. "That's not such a good idea. What if you're at a function or in the middle of something important?"

"I know," Jim admitted. "Just…I'll try to comm. before she goes to bed if I can. You can let me know if it will help or not. And worse case, I guess…you can always try Chekov. She's always good for him."

"We'll be fine, Captain." She glanced behind him, holding out a hand. "Are you ready Abby? We better hurry if you want to get the good paints." Abby eagerly grabbed her hand. "Say bye to your daddy."

"Bye dada," Abby waved as she walked away, blowing him a kiss.

Jim pretended to catch it. "Bye Abby. Be good. I love you."

"Wuv yoo," she repeated before skipping off with Rand.

He watched them walk and then turn the corner before he stepped back inside and let the door close. "Shit," he muttered. This was harder on him than on Abby; at least for the moment. Going into his room he grabbed his bag and marched off to meet the away team in the transporter room. He could do this.

The looks of concern and veiled sympathy when he entered the transporter room to find the away team already assembled pricked his temper a little. He was fine.

"How's Abby?" McCoy asked.

"She's fine," Jim replied, piling his bag with the others and moving to stand on the transporter pad. "She's looking forward to painting."

"That's good," Uhura said, offering him an encouraging grin. "That'll keep her distracted."

"Yeah," Jim agreed. But what was going to keep him distracted, he wondered.

"Rand and Chris will take good care of her, Jim," McCoy offered. "You have nothing to worry about."

"I know," Jim snapped and then sighed. "Look, let's just get this over with. Scotty?" he looked over at his chief engineer.

"Ready when you are, Capt'n," he replied instantly. "I'll have your bags transported to their concierge as soon as I'm done with you."

"All right then, energize," Jim said. The sooner they got there, the sooner they could leave; at least that was how Jim was going to think about it.

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