"Dad?" Jim choked out a whisper, his heart pressing against his ribs. Benjamin just stood there frowning, but his lips broke out into a pleasant looking smile.

"Hey, kiddo." He smiled and turned to close the distance between them. As he did, Jim's heart started to climb into his throat. "What's the occasion?" he gestured to Jim's uniform. Before Jim could respond, David weaved through the crowd and moved to stand behind Jim. When Benjamin saw they were the only two wearing such nice suits, his smile faltered. "Who's this?" Benjamin placed a hand on Jim's shoulder. Jim shoved his father's hand off violently and stepped back. This made the older man frown. "Aren't you going to answer me?" he laughed lightly.

"And, who are you?" David was sizing up the man before him, taking in Jim's reaction to the man's presence as a warning. Benjamin crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm James' father. Who are you?"

"I'm Jim's husband." David snapped back. "And you-"

"What are you doing here?" Jim's quiet voice interrupted. Benjamin turned his attention from David to his son and grinned.

"I was in the neighborhood. Thought I'd come check up on the old place."

"You wouldn't have come around just for that." Jim breathed heavily, feeling tears build up in the corner of his eyes. He looked up from the floor and glared at his father. "What do you want?" Benjamin's eyes softened as he reached out his hand toward Jim.

"Just like your mother, James. So stubborn-" Jim grabbed his hand by the wrist and squeezed, hard.

"Why are you here?" he asked one more time, his voice cracking. "What do you want? After all this time-" he felt a sob crawl up his stomach and heave into his voice. "Why are you back?" Jim looked down, angry that he was crying at such a pivotal moment in his life. His father just sighed and pulled his wrist out of Jim's grip.

"Because," to Jim, his voice was like poisoned honey. "I missed you, James."

Jim could feel his blood boil, and hot tears started to roll down his face. "Bullshit." He whispered.

"What?"

"Bullshit!" Jim yelled, his voice cracking. "That's bullshit! What did you think, huh?" he pressed his index finger into his father's chest in defiance. "Did you think you could walk right back in here like we're one big happy family when you left us for fifteen years?! Where the fuck have you been, huh? Not a letter or a note, or even a goodbye; you just walked out! Where the fuck were you ten years ago?" hot tears streamed down his face. "I needed you!" Jim sobbed and ran his hands across his eyes and through his hair. "I needed you…" his chest heaved as he stood there, naked in his vulnerability. There was a moment of dead silence in the room before Mr. Hawkins opened his mouth.

"James, I left because I had to. You wouldn't understand. If I'd have known what would become of you, I'd probably have taken you with me." Jim could only hear his blood pounding in his ears, and his father's voice echoing in his head. "I didn't think if I left, you'd turn into…" he gestured to Jim and David with a scowl. "this."

Something inside Jim snapped. All the anger, the pain, the questions, rolled into a giant lump in his throat. He felt sick, like he was going to vomit. Jim curled his lip into a snarl and raised his arm up. With an echoing clap, Jim's fist came crashing against his father's jaw, sending his head snapping back. Gasps could be heard amongst the crowd, as Jim's chest heaved. He felt an adrenaline rush surge through him. He reared up and swung again, but this time, Benjamin was ready, catching Jim's fist in his hand. Roaring, Jim kicked at his father's legs, but they stood firm like tree trunks. He could hear his mother in the background.

"Jim!" she cried. "Jim, stop it!" she came to Jim's side as David tried to pull him away. Benjamin held up a hand for them to stop and just stared down at his son. Jim was sobbing now and pounded his fists against Benjamin's chest. His grunts turned into heavy sobs as he started to lose his strength. Now, just holding on to his father's jacket and staring at the ground, Jim bit back his tears. Benjamin placed his hands on Jim's shoulders, making the young man twitch and push his father away.

"James-" he tried to speak.

"No one calls me that." Jim spat. "Get out."

"Look, can't we just talk about this?"

"NO!" Jim roared and shook his head. "I hate you!" his fists were shaking at his sides. "Get out!" he clenched his eyes shut as tears rolled down his cheeks. David came up behind him and placed his hands gently on Jim's shoulders. The younger man broke down into sobs and hid his face in his hands. Sarah was crying now too, and glared at her husband.

Benjamin watched as his son was pulled into an embrace by David and was sobbing so pathetically into his arms. He looked at his wife once more, searching for any reason to stay. When he could find none, he straitened his coat and turned to go. Before he could walk out the door, he turned to look at his old family once more. "Sarah." He called. The brown-haired woman rolled her eyes and turned to face him. He only hesitated for a moment before choosing his last words. "Tell James, if he's willing to listen," Jim stopped sobbing for a moment to listen. "to meet me in town tonight to find out what really happened." He shut the door behind him, and left the chaos he created to stew.

"Oh, god." Sarah held her face in her hands. Delbert came and wrapped an arm around her shoulder; helping her find a chair to sit in. Jim held onto David with all his might and hid his face in the folds of his new husband's jacket. He couldn't stop crying- even though he felt so utterly pathetic. David leaned down and whispered into Jim's ear before ushering him to one of the vacant rooms around the corner. Jim's heart was racing overtime, his emotions at war. He felt sick, and lightheaded, unsure of what to do. When they were alone, David leaned against the door and pulled Jim back into a tight embrace. Jim fell limp against his taller companion.

"I-" David rested his cheek on the top of Jim's head. "I'm so sorry, baby." He whispered. This one sentence, filled with so much heartfelt regret, turned Jim's quiet crying into sobs. He wrapped his arms around David and hung onto his shoulders as tightly as he could. David began to sway gently, trying everything to calm Jim down. The younger man just cried harder, letting out more tears than he'd let him self cry since he was twelve. "He's gone, Jim. I won't let him come back here. I promise." There was a low growl in the back of David's throat before his voice returned to a honey sweet tone. "It's alright. He's gone now." David whispered sweetly and kissed Jim's head.

"Why?" Jim sobbed. He rubbed his wet face against David's chest. "Why?!" his voice turned into a whine before he began to babble cries and unintelligible sentences. "I don't understand." He sniffled. "I'm so confused!"

David's heart was heavy for his sweetheart. It was killing him to hear Jim cry like this; it had never happened before. All he could do was hold Jim and let him cry it out. His sobs continued; soaking David's coat with his bitter tears. When Jim's legs began shaking from exhaustion, David picked up his groom and carried him to the bed. Jim could only cry onto David's shoulder, and clung like a vice to David's neck. When he finally let go and started to cry silently again, David cupped Jim's face in his hands and kissed him all over. When he pulled back, he could see that Jim's eyes had turned into waterfalls; relentless with tears.

"Oh, baby." David choked. "I wish I could do something." He pulled Jim into another embrace. "If there was something I could- I just-" he sighed and stroked a hand gently through Jim's hair. "I'm so sorry."

Jim shook in David's arms, before running a hand through his hair. "It's like, I was half a person- searching for myself in the darkness. He didn't even warn us before he left. And when he did, I couldn't catch him in time... When I met Silver," he paused to swallow at the lump in his throat. "I thought, that some part of me would be fixed- and I wouldn't feel this," he choked on a whispered sob. "broken anymore. It's like I don't even know who I'm supposed to be- because I don't even know the other half of who I am." He clenched his hands into fists and stared down at them. David took Jim by the shoulders.

"Hey." He shook one of them gently. "You are not broken." He pulled Jim's face up and looked him in the eye. "Look at all you've done without your father around. You've become a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, you've helped your mother rebuild a life for herself, hell!" he laughed. "You're the man who found Treasure Planet." He laughed gently. "Look at who you have become. Anything he could have given you, you've found on your own." David gently brushed Jim's bangs out of his eyes. "You're the best man I've ever known." Jim scoffed out a laugh. "I didn't just marry you for that face." He grinned, trying to coax Jim out of his sadness. He could see a smile start to peek out of the corner of Jim's mouth, but it was gone as soon as it had appeared. "You can take my words to heart, or you can't. But you need to know that you are not what your mother, or I, or your father think of you. You are your choices and your actions. And you have done so many great things, babe. Everyone is so proud of the man you are." He began to lightly rub Jim's arm and pulled him into his lap. "And we love you so much." He nuzzled Jim's neck and rested his forehead against Jim's jugular. "What would we have done without you?"

"You'd find some other little brunette to wrap around your finger." Jim smiled sadly.

"Never." David cooed and pulled Jim down onto the bed with him. The two of them sat for a while in silence, just enjoying each other's company. When Jim got to a point where he knew his tears were spent, he ran a hand over his face and sighed.

"Let's get back out there." He smiled sadly.

"We don't have to." David took Jim's hand in his gently. "Everyone will understand."

"No." Jim smiled a little brighter now. "Come on." He stood and pulled David to his feet. The two walked back into the main hall. Everyone was still socializing and enjoying themselves. Jim scanned the room for his mother, but she and Dr. Doppler were both missing from the main room. Captain Amelia was standing in one corner with all four of her children standing at attention beside her. She nodded in greeting at them and moved her eyes to the staircase; saying that was where Sarah and Delbert had gone.

David and Jim walked hand and hand into the room. They were greeted with nods and smiles; until a bubbly looking feline alien bounced toward them. "David!" She squealed. Wrapping her arms around his free one, she leaned her head against his shoulder and giggled. "What a day! I can't believe it!" she looked up at the bearded man and purred. "Never thought you'd find someone after me." She winked. "But here we are!"

David smiled politely and turned to Jim. "Jim-" he gestured to the young woman strangling the life out of his arm. "This is Julie. She and I dated." He was going to stop at that brief explanation; but one look at Jim's face told him that he'd better start explaining. David cleared his throat. "Ages ago. She's my cousin's plus one. They were friends for a long time."

Julie shoved David's arm. "It wasn't that long ago." She tossed some chestnut hair away from her face. "Besides, I know you miss me." She winked again, and Jim felt disgust bubble in the pit of his stomach. This Julie girl didn't seem to be David's type at all; big breasted, low hips, thin lips- why, she wasn't attractive at all! Jim bit the inside of his cheek to keep from saying so. "Don't ya?" she trailed her finger from David's shoulder down the length of his arm. After staring up into David's eyes for a couple minutes, she and Jim locked eyes. She looked him over as if seeing him for the first time. "Oh! Hi." She gave his figure a slow once over before locking eyes with him again. "You must be-?"