A/N: And here comes the end. Huzzah!
Buckling Up
He woke on the biobed, wrapped in a blanket better than he remembered wrapping himself. Jim was nowhere to be seen when he sat and looked around.
"He left short time ago, Doctor," chuckled quiet voice to his right. 'Pike,' though Leonard, turning around. The Captain was very much awake, a small smile on his lips. 'How comes he is awake?'
"Now, Doctor, grant this man at least a short moment of consciousness," said Pike with roll of his eyes. Damit, was he speaking aloud or what? "Just wanted to tell you – you did well yesterday."
"Didn't feel like that back then," grumbled Leonard. Bloody hells. Part of him had been quite surprised that Jim was willing to even come near to him, with the trust issues the kid sometimes seemed to have.
Pike smiled knowingly. "It never feels that way, Leonard. But in the end, he will remember that it had been you who had been here for him. Not many people can say that about themselves."
Leonard just hoped that Pike was right.
The next few weeks were filled with fevered activity. Most of the systems of the ship had been collapsing at the worst of times, or at least very close to collapse. Jim and the rest of the bridge crew, as well as the rest of them are working their asses off just to ensure the ship's hull won't collapse at them.
Some good things happened, too, though. In all the years they spent together he never learnt that Jim can actually speak Vulcan – on a very good level, actually, and wouldn't even believe it, if he didn't see Jim speaking to one the elders, the elder looking as surprised as Vulcan can get by that when he responded to whatever Jim just said.
Or the singing. He heard the "come sing along the pirate song!" all the way from engineering, almost chocking on the coffee he was drinking. It was the worst cacophony of voices he ever heard – but the enthusiasm put into it was so overwhelming he caught himself humming along, stopping only when Chapel started to giggle at him. That made his scowl at her fiercely. No one, absolutely no one (well, except Joanna and Jim with his manly laughter, as the kid preferred to call it) will giggle at him, damit. And the fact that the Chekov's hero worship, aimed at Jim, was very much put on solid ground, when the two of them started to sing something in Russian (he had distinct feeling of the song being about Moscow), was also a sight to behold; both of them glowing happily, absolutely uncaring what the others are thinking about them, especially when they started to sing Katyusha. Heck, even he knew the song about girl longing for her beloved – so when he was sure no one could hear him; he was so humming the refrain.
After long silence they finally managed to get the communications repaired, sending in first bunch or reports – lists of casualties (which were long, too long), damage reports (also too long) and list of rescued people – either from Vulcan or from the destroyed ships. Those were the only lists which were too short. He also got his few moments to record a message for Joanna. Jim promised him that later he will be able to speak to real real-time, not just through a recorded message. When his few minutes started, Joanna on the other side of the screen, he couldn't stop tears from falling. He was alive and returning home, sending the word of it in time when most have already stopped hoping.
Return home had been strange affair. Families of crew of all the ships which managed to survive the battle of Vulcan had gathered at Academy grounds, waiting for their loved ones, while Vulcan refugees were still mostly in shock after losing their home planet. Could anyone be happy, when so many had been lost? Leonard wondered about that – but when his little girl run towards him, laughing happily, he threw everything behind him, hoisting her in the air, spinning with her in his arms.
That was when he saw Jim and his uncle falling into each other's arms. And he smiled.
It's another few months before they graduated (yes, imagine that, they actually wanted them to graduate!), Enterprise is repaired and Jim is named the flagship's Captain. All of them are on the bridge, waiting for permission to leave the orbit, when the doors to the lift open and Spock enters. Before they know it, Jim is smiling and finally appointing his First Officer. Good Lord, now he will never hear enough of the damn green-blooded hobgoblin.
Jim lays his hand on his shoulder. "Buckle up, Bonesy! Adventure awaits!"
Hearing that, he just groaned. Not only he will spend next five years in the blackness of disease filled space, he will also spend all his time by trying to figure how to keep the reckless idiot alive.
And to tell the truth, he couldn't imagine better place where he should be.
A/N: I wanted to finish uploading this, but truth to be said, this and "Jim" certainly will be getting a rewrite some time in the future, when I finish all my ongoing projects (and there are more and more of them - I really hate my Muse sometimes, let me tell you). Anyway, once again sorry for spamming your inboxes today, I'll try not to do that in the near future. Much.