p style="text-align: center;"span style="text-align: center;"Amanda/span/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center" /p
p class="MsoNormal" Amanda walked into Spocks classroom to find a very panicked looking class and teacher crowding around her son. He was lying on the floor as if he had fallen from his desk. A little girl was holding onto his arm and crying while everyone else either looked confused or concerned./p
p class="MsoNormal" "What happened?" She demanded. The teacher opened her mouth to speak but the little girl holding on to him beat her to it./p
p class="MsoNormal" "He started crying. I wanted to ask him what was wrong but I thought he wouldn't appreciate me calling attention to him, so I pretended I didn't see. Then he fell out of his desk and wouldn't wake up. What's wrong with him?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "He'll be okay. I think he's just in a healing trance. I've got to take him to see a healer."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I'm sorry. I just saw him fall out of the desk. I didn't know anything was wrong before then. An abulence is on it's way." The teacher added looking sincerely concerned for her son./p
p class="MsoNormal" "He wouldn't have thanked you for noticing. There was nothing you could have done."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Why don't you all head out to recess a little early?" The teacher said to the kids surrounding them. All of them took off running except for the girl who still had a tight hold on Spock's arm./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Are you his friend?" She asked the girl hopefully. She looked away./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I want to be. I just don't know how he's not very easy to talk to, but I've been doing research on Vulcans so I can understand how to approach him better. That's how I knew not to say anything when I saw him cry. There's not much I can find, but I'm trying. The language is beautiful." Amanda smiled at the girls enthusiasm for trying to be her son's friend./p
p class="MsoNormal" "His father died. That's what happened." She explained to the girl and the teacher as they waited for the ambulance. "Vulcans have telepathic bonds with their children so he heard and felt his father dying, and when the bond broke when he died the backlash sent Spock into a healing trance." The teacher looked shocked and the girl just looked heartbroken for him. They sat in silence a few minutes more before the ambulance arrived./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"Winona/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" She had never been so frustrated while not on planet in her entire life. Between Jim exploring every inch of the ship and getting in trouble more times than she could count, and Chris going back and forth between flirting endlessly and ignoring her existence for no reason, she was ready to kill them both, and it had only been three days. She flipped open her comm./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Jim where are you? We're supposed to have our stuff repacked today and you're room is still a disaster."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Science labs…well the green house in the science labs to be exact." She sighed./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Any reason why you're in the green house?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "It's got some really interesting stuff in here mom. One of the plants tried to bite me a while ago."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Just get up here and try to avoid getting killed or getting into trouble on the way! We have got to get ready. We'll be arriving on Tarsus IV tomorrow. Aren't you excited to see a whole new planet?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Alright alright I'm coming. See you in a few minutes."/p
p class="MsoNormal" She was really starting to understand why Starfleet wouldn't usually allow children on board. She sank into her chair with a sigh. She was going to really miss him though. They were talking about a three year exploratory mission. He would be almost 14 before she saw him again. emWould he be okay that long?/em emOf course he would he's been doing better and better every day and he'll have Amanda to help him. Everything will be fine. /emThe door slid open and Jim came in looking almost nervous./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Hey mom? I was wondering. Can I just stay with you and Chris?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "On a starship? I thought you were excited to see a new planet?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I am. I just…I love it out here. I think I'll miss it. Plus the crew keeps talking about the three year mission after dropping supplies on Tarsus. That sounds so exciting and fun, but I would miss it and you two if I was on a planet that whole time."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Jim...You know that Starfleet doesn't let children go on starships in most cases. This is a special case. I can't just keep you with me. Besides exploratory missions can be really dangerous. I don't want anything else to happen to you." He sighed and looked away./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Yeah I know. I guess I'll get packing." They packed in silence for a while finishing the job much quicker than she had expected. He started to leave without saying anything./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Where are you going?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Observation deck. I want to watch the stars for a while." She nodded and he left looking sadder than he had since they left Earth./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"Chris/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center" /p
p class="MsoNormal" Toward the end of his shift his Comm beeped. He got up and gave the con to his first officer heading to his ready room to take the call./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Pike here." He answered gruffly./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Can we talk?" Winona's voice came through./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Of course. Want to meet in the mess hall or our quarters."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Our room if you could."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Okay be down in a few minutes."/p
p class="MsoNormal" He headed there quickly unnerved by the worried tone in Winona's voice. He knew he had been distant lately, but there had been a lot on his mind, including news that he had yet to share with her./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Jim doesn't want to go stay on the colony." That wasn't exactly where he thought the conversation was going to go but it didn't surprise him in the slightest./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Let me guess he want's to stay on the ship?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Of course." He shook his head./p
p class="MsoNormal" "There's no way. Starfleet is cracking down on regulations. Even fraternization policies that have always been very loosely enforced are being enforced regularly with more consequences for breaking them. There's no way they would let us get away with bringing a kid along."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I know…Wait is that why you've been so distant outside of our room?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Yeah Number One saw me kiss you when I left before a shift and told me that is anyone else had seen that they would have reported it, and you wouldn't be allowed to be assigned to my ship."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Shit."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "My thought's exactly. Nona there's something else you should know. Frank is no longer in jail. Apparently he has friends in higher places than I do. He's out on bail until the trial, and unfortunately there's a chance that he could run."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "What!? When did this happen?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "The day we left Earth."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Jim can't know."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "I know. Trust me he won't."/p
p class="MsoNormal" He pulled her into his arms as she started to panic thinking of situations that were extremely unlikely, but now possible with him out of jail. They both fell asleep thinking of Frank and Jim and Starfleet and how nothing was ever simple for them./p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center"Jim/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center" /p
p class="MsoNormal" Jim fell asleep in a completely different way than his parents instead of being filled with panic and worry. He was filled with awe, longing and a hint of sadness. The stars passing him by lulled him closer and closer to sleep even though he didn't want to sleep. He didn't want to miss a second that he could spend in space staring out at the stars./p
p class="MsoNormal" He woke up to his comm beeping. He flipped it open with out even opening his eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Yeah?" he asked with a yawn./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Where are you? It's time to beam down to the planet." His mom asked sounding amused. He opened his eyes to see that they were indeed in orbit around a planet that looked nothing like earth./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I just woke up I'm in Observation Deck five I think. I'll head to the transporter room."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "You slept there again?" She laughed. He only slept in a real bed once the whole trip./p
p class="MsoNormal" "Yeah be there in a minute."/p
p class="MsoNormal" He tried to smooth his hair, knowing it stuck up in a million directions in the morning. Despite wanting to stay on the ship he was excited to see a new planet, and to see his aunts that he hadn't seen in over a year. He ran through the shit to the transporter room running into Chris as he skidded to a stop. He laughed./p
p class="MsoNormal" "I think he's excited to get rid of us Winona."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "No just excited to see somewhere new."/p
p class="MsoNormal" He stepped up on the transported next to his mom and the next minute they were on the planet. Tarsus was immediately very different from earth. The grass like plant under their feet was more of a blue than the green of earths grass and it was curly almost resembling something like moss more than grass. The dirt was a rusty reddish brown. Some trees were recognizable as things brought from earth but others had light tan trunks and bright reddish purple leaves. Flowers of different shapes and colors grew in people yards and gardens some that he had seen before and some that were completely new./p
p class="MsoNormal" They got a car and drove out to his aunts farm. They lived on the outskirts of the colony about 10 miles from the last house. At the edge of their property stood dense woods that he was excited to explore. They were both really excited to see both him and his mom. He also met the boy they had adopted after his parents had died, Kevin."/p
p class="MsoNormal" Once again Jim was in love there was so much to see and so much to do. He talked with Kevin about what life was like on the colony while his aunts talked with his mom about her adventures in space. When the subject turned to what had happened with Frank there voices got quieter and he got up and went outside not wanting to hear them talk about it anymore. Kevin followed behind him./p
p class="MsoNormal" "How old are you?" He asked the kid./p
p class="MsoNormal" "6." He answered quietly. Everything he did was quiet as if he wanted to make himself as small and unnoticeable as possible./p
p class="MsoNormal" "That's cool I'm almost 11. So want to go check out the woods with me?"/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Aria says we aren't supposed to go in the woods."/p
p class="MsoNormal" "Well you can stay if you want, but I'm going exploring."/p
p class="MsoNormal" The kid looked indecisive but didn't follow when he stared heading for the treeline. He hopped the fence that surrounded the property and ventured into the woods. Only a few steps in he accidently disturbed a weird looking rodent about the size of a house cat with six legs. It hissed at him as it scurried away. He walked farther and farther seeing more strange plants and glimpses of a few strange animals as well. After a while he figured it was time to head back, but as he looked around he realized the forest was so dense he couldn't tell which direction the farm was. emShit mom's going to kill me./em/p
p class="MsoNormal"em /em/p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center" /p
p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;" align="center" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal" /p