AN: Hello my dear readers! I have returned from my travels (to the other side of England and back) and so have a new chapter for you! I'm starting to realise that this is kind of becoming a bit of a Kirk/McCoy friendship fic as well as the whole Jim/Joanna thing I've got going on... huh. Well, I hope you enjoy anyway!

KEY

Italics - Jim's storytelling

Bold italics - Jim remembering speech


"Uncle Jim?" Jim looked up from the report he was reading to see Joanna poking her head around the doorframe of his office in Starfleet headquarters (he had an office now; after the business with Khan and the fact that he was arguably one of the most experienced and tested members of Starfleet there currently was, the admiralty thought he deserved one). The Enterprise was roughly half-fixed, with Scotty saying that she'd be 'good as new in five months'.

Jim was somewhat surprised to see his 'niece'; he knew that she was staying with Bones whilst Jocelyn was abroad for work, but he hadn't expected to see Joanna until he returned home that evening.

"Hey, Jojo," Jim said grinning, pushing the report to one side, "What are you doing up here? Where's your dad?"

"In medical," Joanna shrugged, "He said he had to shout at some cadets and told me to come and find you." Jim smirked; he definitely did not envy those cadets...

"So, you're staying with your dad for a while, huh?" he asked as Joanna climbed onto his lap. Joanna nodded, frowning before talking again.

"Uncle Jim? How come you never talk about your mommy and daddy?" Jim was silent for a moment; he had been wondering when, if ever, Joanna was going to ask him about his parents.

"Well," he started, "I could tell you about my parents, but that story's a bit short and dramatic and sad. I could tell you about my life, which is much more interesting, because I haven't really had a mommy and a daddy like you do. Which would you rather I tell?"

"The second one," Joanna decided after a moment of contemplation. Jim nodded approvingly.

"Nearly twenty-seven years ago, Lieutenant Commander George Kirk was made Acting Captain of the USS Kelvin after the ship went to investigate a lightning storm in space."

"Your dad?" Joanna questioned.

"My dad," Jim confirmed.

"The Kelvin was being attacked by a Romulan ship that came out of the centre of the storm itself. The Romulans on board the other ship hailed the captain, telling him to go aboard their ship, the Nerada, to negotiate a ceasefire, or he would condemn all of his crew to die in the Romulans' next attack. The captain left George Kirk in command of his ship with orders to use autopilot to escape the Romulans and to evacuate the crew if he hadn't returned in fifteen minutes... the captain never returned. Within minutes of his arrival on the Romulan ship, the crew of the Kelvin were alerted of the fact that the Romulans had killed their captain; Acting Captain Kirk advanced to Captain just as the Romulans fired another attack on the ship. He immediately gave the order for the crew to evacuate.

"Amongst the rush to evacuate, Winona Kirk was in labour, giving birth to her second child whilst her husband was trying to save as many members of his crew as he could. He got his wife and the medical team delivering her baby onto a shuttle and tried to regain control of the ship. But the autopilot malfunctioned; the shuttles couldn't get the crew to safety without something, or someone, controlling the ship.

"Without a second thought, he ordered the pilot of his wife's shuttle to go without him. He couldn't risk his wife's safety, or the safety of their child. He knew that he couldn't fight off the Romulan ship with the Kelvin in the state that it was in, and he certainly couldn't do it alone. The only way to give the shuttles a chance of getting away safely was to cause the Romulan ship enough damage to stop it being able to attack. The only way to do that with a damaged ship and weapons offline was to fly the Kelvin directly into the Romulan ship, sacrificing himself to save the eight hundred remaining members of the crew, including his wife and newborn son."

"Your daddy was a hero!" Joanna exclaimed. Jim smiled at that.

"Yes, he was, kiddo," he agreed, "Just like your daddy. He saves lives every day."

"Damn straight he does," Bones' voice startled both Jim and Joanna, as they both looked round to see the man himself in the doorway.

"Hey, Bones," Jim grinned, "I was just telling Joanna a story."

"You haven't finished it yet," Joanna reminded him.

"Oh, well, don't let me interrupt," Bones said, only slightly sarcastic, "Carry on with your storytelling, Jim."

He nodded, "I grew up in my Uncle Frank's house in Iowa with my older brother Sam."

"After my dad's death, my mom was off planet a lot working for Starfleet. Frank... he wasn't a nice guy, but he was my mom's brother; she never believed what Sam and I told her about what he did whilst she was working. Because she was away a lot, I didn't really get a chance to bond with her; not properly. When she was around, Frank would always tell her what a pain me and my brother had been whilst she was gone. In time, I think I realised that she was my mother, she was the woman who gave birth to me, but she didn't care. She wasn't really my mom."

"You don't love your mommy?" Joanna asked quietly. Bones was internally debating whether or not to intervene; there was very little of Jim's past that he didn't know, and he knew that the majority of it wasn't pretty. There were certainly parts that Joanna should be kept away from until she could definitely handle them.

"I didn't say that," Jim said, smiling slightly, "And I'm definitely not finished. In all fairness, I was quite a troublesome kid-"

"You drove your uncle's car off a cliff," Bones said gruffly, "I think you were a little more than 'quite troublesome'."

"It was my dad's car, actually, and Frank wanted to sell it," Jim protested, "But anyway, that's not part of the story."

"From the age of thirteen, I wasn't in Iowa a lot. My mom sent me off-planet for a year because of my bad behaviour, and when I got back to Earth I didn't really feel like seeing my family, so I travelled around by myself. There was nothing left for me back home except a disgusting uncle and a mom who didn't care. My brother left years before I did, and sometimes I wish I'd followed him. I lost all contact with my mom, and I didn't think I'd ever see her again... I was okay with that. When I came back to Iowa about a year before I joined Starfleet, I stayed away from her house, but I was known in all the bars, and with the police. That's just the person I was by then.

"One night, I got in a fight in a bar with a few Starfleet cadets. To tell you the truth, it was three on one, and I was losing. Badly. Captain Pike came in a broke it up, and he tried to convince me to join Starfleet. He told me all about my dad and what he did, and Pike dared me to do better. He told me that I could be an officer in four years and have my own ship in eight. I told him I'd be an officer in three years. I didn't know I'd have my own ship by then as well.

"Pike was my mentor when I was at the academy, and I was the only cadet he was mentoring at the time. We got close, to the point that, when your dad smuggled me onto the Enterprise, Pike made me his first officer. I don't completely know why, to this day, but I figured he knew me well enough to give me the responsibility. Pike was like a father to me, in some ways more of a father than my real dad. When he died in Khan's attack... I went out for revenge, and I should feel bad about that but I can't. Because I know that Pike's death, and my willingness to avenge it, have made me the person I am today."

"You're so dramatic," Bones muttered, "And you missed out all the good bits. Like that time at the academy when-"

"Yes, thank you, Bones," Jim interrupted quickly, making Joanna giggle.

"Uncle Jim, what does Captain Pike have to do with your mommy?" she asked, eager for Jim to continue his story.

"The next time I saw my mom after she sent me off-planet was when I was in the hospital after Khan's attack," Jim looked pointedly at Bones, who held his hands up in surrender.

"It was common practice to notify the next of kin when their son died," he said defensively, "And even though you're not dead, I couldn't not tell her Jim. Tell Jo about what your mom said when you spoke to her in the hospital." Jim sighed.

"I woke up one afternoon after your dad made me take a nap, and my mom was sitting by my bed. She looked like she'd been crying, and the second she saw I was awake, she grabbed my hand and just said two words:

"I'm sorry."

"At first I was too shocked to say anything. I hadn't seen my mom for over thirteen years. I didn't know how to react around her. Then she started crying again, and she started talking.

"I never stopped loving you, Jim. I know it must have seemed like I didn't care, and that I didn't love you, but I've always loved you and I've always cared. But seeing you as you grew up... you reminded me so much of your father, you reminded me of what I lost. I was selfish, and I pushed you away because I couldn't handle to face what happened and get to know you. By the time I started coming to my senses, it was too late."

"She explained everything to me, everything that I'd ever questioned about my place in my family. It was a turning point, a chance to get to know my mother all over again."

Jim paused as Joanna stared at him, mouth open slightly, waiting for the next part.

"What happened next?" she prompted.

"The next morning, my mom flew out on a recovery ship to help collect debris from the Enterprise that had been left in space," Jim shrugged. Joanna's mouth dropped open.

"She left?!" she shrieked, "She just left you in the hospital?!" Jim smiled slightly.

"Yeah," he said, "She did, kiddo. But do you know what? That's okay. Because, the next day, you came to visit."

Joanna smiled slightly, glad that she was the one to see Jim after his mom ran off, "Is that the end?" she asked.

"The end so far," Jim confirmed. Joanna could see that the smile he had on his face was fake; she knew how to spot sadness in Jim's eyes (she had seen it for herself when she told him she was angry at him for 'dying').

"I'm sorry the story made you sad," she said quietly, wrapping her arms around his neck and hugging him tightly.

"I'm not sad, Jojo," Jim said, "Just a little bit lonely." Bones sat back in his seat, wondering what it was about Joanna that made Jim be completely honest with her.

"You've got me," Joanna told him, "And daddy. And mommy says you're her friend. Mr Spock even said that you were friends when I asked him!"

"You asked Spock if he was my friend?" Jim asked, pulling back from the hug with a look of amusement on his face. Joanna nodded sincerely.

"And I'd ask every person at Starfleet if it'd prove to you that you weren't alone." Joanna said firmly. Jim smiled slightly.

"I don't think that's necessary, Jo," Bones said, standing up, "Besides, we need to go and get lunch. Jim, do you wanna tag along? If you're not busy that is..." he looked pointedly at the report, which was still sitting to the side.

"Well, that report has to be read and signed off by tomorrow morning... so yes, I am busy, and yes I am coming for lunch." He said as Joanna jumped off his lap.

"You're not a very responsible captain, you know that?" Bones asked.

"Where's the fun in being responsible? I'd never have found out that Spock and Uhura have made their relationship official in the eyes of the admiralty if I'd been responsible..."

"They did what?!" Bones exclaimed, "How did you find that out?"

"Well, this is a funny story, you see..."

Joanna sighed, slipping her hand into her father's as they walked down to the cafeteria; there were some things that she understood at seven years old (such as the fact that her Uncle Jim was only lonely when he didn't have her to tell him otherwise). However, the concept and practice of gossiping was something that currently evaded her knowledge, something that Jim was becoming more aware of as their lunch went on.

Well... he'd have to change that.


Ta-Da! Another chapter finished :3 I hope you guys liked this chapter and, as always, I'd love to hear your opinions on it! I'm aware that some aspects may not be strictly true, but I'm an author, I have a creative license that allows me to twist things a little bit! :D Remember, reviews and prompts are worded gold, favourites and follows are my best friends! Thanks for reading!