Why This Candle? Why this Cake?

Chapter 1

"The universe wanted you to celebrate and appreciate your life

so every year she gave you a birthday."

Debasish Mridha

This story takes place in the first few months of Jim's assignment as the new Captain of the Enterprise

Bones, Bones, Bones?" Jim hurried into the Sick Bay, slightly out of breath. He'd just come from his briefing room on the bridge. He hadn't run, Captains never run in the corridors of their ship because it alarmed the crew, but he'd definitely walked really fast. "Christine where is Bones?"

Christine, busy at the computer inputting chart information, didn't even look up. She pointed a finger to the store room.

"Thanks, Christine."

Jim opened the door to the store room to see Bones sitting on the floor counting meds...cartridges were in neat little piles all around him and he was muttering under his breath. Jim waited until the muttering stopped, knowing better than to interrupt. When Bones finished, he put the number into his padd and looked up at Jim.

"Hey, Jim. What brings you to the storeroom, came to help me count meds?" He grinned up at Jim, the open happy grin Jim loved to see. It meant that Bones was happy and all was right in his worlds, both personal and medical.

"Ha, good one, Bones." Jim sat down on the floor beside the doctor. "I have news, Dr. McCoy, big news."

"Oh?" Leonard put down his padd. "Whatever it is, you sure look excited about it."

"Just got word from Komack..."

"Ugh," Bones grimaced. "That jackass. What did he say?"

"Weellll," Jim beamed, his hazel eyes alight. "We're going to be rerouted back to Earth. All the Constitution Starships are going on rotation for a big warp engine upgrade. The new upgrade will increase our warp capability to warp 8.5. It's been in the works for a while. It's darn expensive, but the C in C finally got approval from the Federation Council. And since we're the flag ship of the Fleet we're first. The upgrade will take the Mars Planitia yard dogs a full month to install soooo..."

Leonard whistled. "Warp 8.5, eh? I bet Scotty's beside himself. So...shore leave?" He asked hopefully.

"Shore leave! Much as it pained Komack to tell me that. Everyone must be off the ship including the Captain, only the Utopia Planitia yard dogs allowed on board." They grinned at each other, fully aware of Admiral Komack's petty and overt dislike of Jim, and how it pained him to grant Jim shore leave. "I've left the best for last, Bones?"

"Oh? It must be somethin' damn special then."

"It's Ma's 60th birthday next month! Now we'll be able to celebrate it with a big party, invite all the people she loves best. I'm going to give her the kind of party she deserves!"

"Jim!" Leonard's blue eyes sparkled. "That's a great idea, your mama deserves the biggest and best party you can come up with. And you can count on me to help out however you need me to. And I bet Nyota will help too, and so will anyone else you ask. We all love your mama."

"Thanks, Bones." He got up from the floor. "I'm going to comm Ma and tell her. I know she'll say not to make a big fuss about her birthday, but that's not going to happen. It's going to be a big celebration in her honor. I'll keep you posted. Don't forget we're on for dinner tonight."

Leonard looked after him affectionally. The jaunty set of the broad gold shoulders told him Jim was happy, and that always pleased the doctor. Jim's physical and mental health was his primary responsibility on the ship. Leonard knew that sometimes the weight of Jim's responsibilities as Captain weighed heavily on him but only McCoy and sometimes Spock ever saw it. To the crew, James Kirk was always the self assured, invincible, courageous, charismatic young Captain they'd follow to hell and back.

Leonard sighed and went back to the soothing no brainer task of counting his store of medicines. It was good to know that he could replenish his stock when they were in San Francisco, much sooner than their supply ship rendezvous schedule. He hummed contently under his breath. A party in Winona's honor would be great fun. It'd be a chance to see all the Riverside folks again as well as Gavin, Violet, Davy, Tom, Jonathon, maybe even T'Lane, Amanda and Sarek if they were on Earth. Also he and Jim would be able to spend some fun quality time together. They sure hadn't been doin' much of that lately. Maybe, he thought excitedly, he'd ask Jim if Joanna could come to the farm for a few days. Now that his custody agreement had been modified, he could see his little girl whenever he was on Earth.

Back in his quarters, Jim asked the Beta shift communications officer, Lt. M'Ress to patch him through to his mother. He was a couple of days early for their scheduled weekly comm call with her and Peter, but he couldn't wait to tell her the big news. M'Ress promised to do her best to put the call through as soon as possible.

Jim took a quick shower put on his most comfortable sweats and sat down with a book to wait for M'Ress to notify him his comm was ready.

His comm pinged. "Kirk here."

"Captain, the sssignal is ssstrong for your comm to your mother. Go ahead, Sssir."

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

His mother's visage came on the comm screen. "Ma, how are you?"

"Jim, dear. This is a surprise. We didn't expect to hear from you until your usual Thursday evening comm, and Peter is still at soccer practice, it ran late today. Is everything all right?"

"Everything's fine, Ma, and I'll talk to Peter on Thursday. I have a big surprise for you." Jim leaned back in his chair and grinned.

"Jim Kirk, you look like the cat who swallowed the canary, what's going on?"

"We're heading to Earth, Ma. A big warp engine upgrade for all Constitution ships and since Enterprise is the flagship, we're first, so a whole month off for the entire crew! It pained Komack no end to tell me, but this comes from Admiral Nogura himself. What with the Romulans escalating their skirmishes outside the neutral zone, the main line of defense of the Alpha quadrant are the Constitution and Destroyer class ships. The Destroyers will get their turn next so I've heard. The Romulans may have the cloaking device, but they can't fire when cloaked and we'll be able to out run them at 8.5 warp speed. Scotty, Spock and I will have to be on call, and do some paper work for the yard dogs, go on site occasionally, but for the most part they don't want pesky Captains, Firsts, and CE around to bother them, so we're free! I'll be working from San Francisco part time, Ma, but I can spend a big chunk of time with you and Peter at the farm."

"Oh, Jim! That's wonderful news and so unexpected! Peter will be thrilled, son. is Len coming?"

"Of course, he's coming. Couldn't visit the farm without Bones. It's going to great, Ma!"

Jim cleared his throat getting ready for the protests he knew were coming. "Anyway, since I'll have that unexpected time off, I want to plan a birthday party for you. It's your 60th, a big milestone, and I want to celebrate it with you and Peter in a big way. And you're not going to spend a single credit on this shindig, Ma! This is my gift to you, and no arguments." Jim rushed on. "We can have it at the farm or at Mama Salvatore's restaurant or in San Fran at my apartment. It's your call, Ma, but celebrate it we will."

There was a moment of silence while Winona looked at the implacable face and determined hazel eyes of her younger son, and accepted defeat without firing a single volley of protest. She knew when protest was futile, therefore giving in gracefully was the way to go.

"All right, Jim dear, if that's what you want to do then that's what we'll do. Thank you son, it's lovely that you want to do this for me." She smiled and her one dimple flashed. "And I do love a good party," she added.

There was a flash of surprise on Jim's face at her swift capitulation, but then he grinned. "Now there's the Ma I know and love, accepting defeat with a good grace." His eyes twinkled at her. "Where do you want to have the party, Ma?"

"I think here at the farm. The weather will be nice, spring in Iowa is always nice, and we can put up some lights in the front yard, open all the doors, and guests can come in and out of the house as they choose. What do you think of that idea, Jim?"

"I like the idea. I thought you'd choose Riverside."

"It'll be easier for everyone, and most of my friends do live here."

Jim snorted. "Ma, you have friends everywhere in the quadrant, but Riverside will be a nice central location, and the farm is your favorite place in the world."

"It is, sweetheart. My best memories are here at the farm...your father, you and Sam, Aurelan, Peter, your grandparents, and all our dear friends. When do you want to have this party?"

"It'll take us a few days to get back to San Francisco, so our leave doesn't start until then. How about three weeks after we arrive. That'll give us some time to plan and send out invitations. You better start on the guest list, Ma."

Winona nodded. "How many guests, Jim?"

"As many as you want. However many people will make you happy to have with you. As many as you think will fit in and out of the house."

"Jim!" Winona looked aghast. "That number could add up quickly!"

"I know, mama, and I don't care. I want to make sure that everyone who knows and loves you will be there to celebrate with you. No stinting on the numbers, Ma. I mean it."

Winona sighed. "All right, dear. Wait until I tell Peter, he's going to be so excited at the news you're coming, and about the birthday party."

"Tell him I'll fill him in on Thursday, and that I'm counting on him to help me."

"I will."

"There's my times up signal from M'Ress, Ma. I'll comm you again on Thursday. Love you."

"Love you too, darling. Be safe."

Jim closed the comm, a little bemused. That had been much easier than he thought, his mother had capitulated rather quickly. He smiled to himself. It was true, Winona Kirk loved a good party, having people she knew and loved around her eating good food and having fun. He was thankful that he'd had a full half hour to talk to his mother. M'Ress had worked her magic to fit him in. A non scheduled comm to Earth had to take its place in the outgoing communications queue, and Captain or not, he had to take his turn along with everyone else, unless of course, it was an emergency.

His door bell chimed. "Come," he called out. As expected, Bones came through the door. Jim looked at the time. "You're a little late, Bones. Something happened to hold you up?"

"Naw, just thought I'd wait to give you time to talk to Winona. How did it go? Did she put up a fight?" He grinned. He's seen first hand when the two Kirks had a stubbornness stand off, and it always tickled him that Winona usually won.

"No, to my surprise Ma agreed to the party pretty quickly." He went to his tiny kitchenette. "Tea or a drink?" He asked. They usually relaxed for a bit before dinner or after dinner. Jim frowned slightly. Come to think of it he and Bones hadn't done this is a while...why was that? Neither of them had been that busy... had they? No, he thought, not really, things had been pretty quiet lately, and it was a long standing ritual the two of them enjoyed a lot, so why hadn't they?

Bones' voice recalled him to his task. "Tea tonight, thanks. I have surgery in the morning." He answered Jim's questioning look. "Minor procedure. One of the engineers broke a finger sometime back and never came in to have it osteo-regenerated. It healed wrong, of course, crooked as can be, so I'm gonna' fix it in the morning." He shook his head. "What are we gonna' do with those crazy engineers, Jim? They have the highest injury stats on the ship...even higher than security. Spock, Scotty, and I have pulled our hair out over those stats, well I've pulled my hair out, Spock just raises an eyebrow and Scotty's brogue gets incomprehensible."

Jim raised his own eyebrow.

Leonard sighed. "Safety protocol sims don't seem to ever help much, we've done a lot of them. Komack isn't goin' be happy next quarterly report. We've got to get those stats down. Scotty does his best, but he can't be on every shift all the time. He's worried too, every time one of his 'lads' gets hurt he haunts Sick Bay until I release them."

"Which shift has the worst stats, Bones?"

"Gamma shift. Dead of ship's night, and they don't usually have that much to do during that shift. I don't understand it."

Jim handed him his mint tea with honey, Leonard's favorite. "I think I do," he said. "It's because they don't have enough to do, so they get sleepy and careless. I'll have a talk with Scotty, have him assign more work for the Gamma shift rotation and we'll see if the stats improve. If not we'll put our heads together to figure out something else."

Leonard's eyes gleamed in admiration. "We hadn't thought of that, Jim. Should've come to you sooner. You saw it right away. Even Spock, walking computer that he is, didn't see it. Guess that's why they made you Captain."

To Leonard's delight, Jim cheeks pinked. "Bones...," he protested.

"Jim...don't be embarrassed, you gotta' learn to take a compliment. It's true what I said,..none of the rest of us thought of that."

"Just doing my job," Jim muttered uncomfortably.

"Maybe so, but like I said, that's why they made you Captain. You think outside the box."

"Well lets see if I'm right, before you heap praises upon my head," Jim smiled at him affectionately, happy to see him relaxed and at ease here once again in Jim's quarters. Bones, his biggest supporter on this boat, unless for some reason or another, he was scolding Jim. "You ready for dinner? Or have you already eaten? I'm running a little late tonight, because of my call to Ma."

"Nope haven't eaten yet. I figured we'd be a little later tonight. I'm ready. Main or officer's mess?"

"Main mess, best way to keep an eye on crew morale. Do you know if Spock and Uhura have eaten yet. They're on Alpha with me this ten day."

"Nope, haven't seem either of them. I was holed up most of the day countin' meds." Leonard sighed. He'd really hoped it might be just Jim and him for dinner. "And you know the hobgoblin. If he's busy with somethin' he'll skip eatin'. 'As you know, Doctor, Vulcans can go long periods of time without eating,'" Leonard intoned in his best Spock imitation.

Jim grinned. "True. Sounds just like Spock. Bones, why don't you ever let your staff do the med counting? It's grunt work, your time would be much better spent doing something else."

"I know you think that, Jim, but I want to do it. I like the reassurance of seeing the actual number of meds we currently have on hand, all lined up and ready for me. It's not enough for me to just see the number on my padd. If I actually see when we're running out of somethin' I can push Boyce's people harder to send the medical supply ship with more. Just seein' the number on my screen doesn't have the same urgency, and neither does me sending an email to the warehouses. When they actually hear my voice, they know I mean business."

"And that's why they made you the CMO of this boat. You think outside the box."

Jim laughed out loud at the sight of Bones' face when he heard his own words echoed back at him.

The mess was still filled with Alpha shift personnel. Always happy to see their Captain among them, they greeted both men genially as they passed by taking their trays to their usual table.

"Wait until I tell them we're all having a month of leave," Jim whispered as the two men sat down.

...