TITLE: I Love You

CHARACTERS: George Kirk, Christopher Pike, Winona Kirk, nurses and doctors

PAIRINGS: George/Winona, one-sided George/Christopher

NOTES: Written for the Star Trek Kink Meme. This prompt just stood out to me: Teen!Pike has a massive, soul-consuming, invisible crush on the dashing first officer Kirk. During the evacuation, teen!pike somehow ends up in the same shuttle as Winona, listening to George's last words, and pretending they are for him. Let's hope this is good enough! Oh, and since I don't know how old Christopher would have been at this time, but I made him fifteen.

DISCLAIMER: George, Christopher, Winona, and any others are not mine, nor do I claim that they are.

Christopher Pike had been told by the doctors to be silent, to sit in the corner and make sure he didn't get in the way. He wasn't sure what was really happening. At age fifteen, no one had thought to tell him what was going on. All he knew was that the crew was evacuating. Even though his mother was on the crew, he hadn't been told anything. She was most likely with other crew members, or at least he hoped she was.

Christopher's eyes turned toward the door to the shuttle when the blond, pregnant woman was pulled on board. He recognized her almost instantly as the wife of First Officer George Kirk. Winona, that was her name. Winnie. George always called her Winnie. He blushed at the thought of George. George, his secret crush. George, the married man. George, the father. He pulled his knees to his chest and held them there. If Winona was going to give birth here, then that would mean that George would be joining them as soon as he could get off the bridge.

Christopher gasped when the doors began to close. George wasn't here yet. Why were they leaving? The shuttle jolted, and he slid a little bit. Both his feet scrabbled to put him back in the position he had been in, back to the wall. "Where's George?" He whispered to a passing nurse, who ignored him. Winona voiced his thoughts more loudly.

"No wait! We can't go yet!" Winona sat up, face flushed. She breathed deeply. Obviously, the baby was on its way. "Please, stop!" She whimpered, grabbing her stomach. It was another contraction. "Stop…"

Christopher could tell that not even Winona knew what was going on. She didn't know where George was either. He sighed, putting his head on his knees to hide his face. He didn't want Winona to see the pain in his face.

Winona's hand scrabbled for the controls of her communicator. "George, the shuttle's leaving. Where are you?" She looked like she was crying, but Christopher didn't want to look at her. She was George's wife, the mother of George's children. And there was a child coming right now.

"Sweetheart, listen to me. I'm not gonna be there." George's deep voice came over the communicator. He sounded stressed and sad. Christopher's head came back up with a gasp. George was talking. He could hear him.

"No…" Winona whispered, tears leaping into her eyes. "You're still on the ship…"

"This is the only way you'll survive." George continued, trying not to listen to his wife's voice. Christopher sniffled, moving closer to the bed. He wanted to hear George, to pretend that it was him George was talking to.

He and Winona were of one mind when they both whispered the same phrase. "You have to be here…"

"The shuttles will never make it if I don't fight them off!" George was stern. Christopher tried to make believe that George was defending him.

"George…" Winona whispered, voice cracking. "I can't do this without you."

Christopher shot Winona a look of disdain. He was having trouble imagining that George was his when Winona kept taking all of the attention. He wanted to make believe that it was him that George was talking to so lovingly.

"Okay, I need you to push now." The nurse between Winona's legs said, putting her hands under the gown. She looked up to see Christopher kneeling by the bedside. A smile crossed her face, albeit a stressed one, and she nodded to him to come closer. It was almost as if she wanted him to help her.

Christopher remained where he was, even as Winona screamed in agony as she gave birth. He reached down to take her hand. She squeezed his back, painfully grating the bones together. She was the closest thing he had to George, so he didn't mind. He wanted George to be proud of him when he got away from the ship. Maybe he would be willing to be closer to Christopher if he knew how much he helped with his wife. "Come on, Winnie." He whispered in his best impression of George. "Come on, Winnie, you can do it."

Winona shrieked in pain. Outside the ship, there were explosions, but those didn't matter. Christopher couldn't believe that George was still not here. He wanted desperately for George to be here, too. He continued to glance down at the nurses and doctors as they worked. A small cry permeated the air as a baby began to breathe.

Christopher watched the doctor wrap up the small child before bringing him back over. A little boy. He looked just like George, in Christopher's opinion. The baby was placed in his mother's arms. That's when Christopher noticed that George hadn't spoken in a while. He glanced down at the communicator, making sure there was no damage done to it. It was fine, though silent.

"Wh-What is it?" George was back a moment later. He had heard the tears of the baby.

"It's a boy…" Winona murmured back, almost shocked.

"A boy?!" George sounded overjoyed. His happiness made Christopher smile. "Tell me about him."

"He's beautiful." Winona sighed happily, smiling up at a grinning Christopher. She offered to let him hold the baby, which he accepted. "Oh, George, you should be here."

Christopher smiled down at the baby, before glancing at the tearful Winona. He agreed with what she said. George should be there.

"What are we gonna call him?" George ignored her wistful thought.

Christopher knelt down next to Winona as the small baby began to cry again. He bounced the boy. Again, he tried to pretend that George was his. That this baby was theirs. He whimpered when the baby opened impossibly blue eyes. They reminded him of George's. "His name should be George…" The teenager whispered down to the baby, but was promptly ignored by its mother.

"We could name him after your father." Winona offered, on hand smoothing over the baby's soft head. She smiled when the baby's tears stopped.

"Tiberius? You kidding me?" George chuckled. Christopher's insides fluttered at the sound. "No, that's the worst."

Christopher agreed wholeheartedly, still staring down at George's newborn son. He glanced back at the communicator as the man he loved continued to speak.

"Let's name him after your dad. Let's call him Jim." Now George sounded sad, almost tearful.

"Jim…" Winona repeated, reaching out for her baby. "Okay, Jim it is."

Christopher held Jim close for a moment longer. He was George's, after all. "Jim…" He whispered as he handed the baby over to Winona. A feeling of immense loss gripped him when the small child was no longer in his arms.

"Sweetheart, can you hear me?" George called. Christopher was the first to perk up, leaning over towards the communicator. He ignored that George was obviously speaking to his wife.

"I can hear you!" Winona called sadly to the receiver.

"I love you so much." George stated, voice filled with emotion. "I love you!"

Christopher had tears in his eyes. "I love you, George!" He said, though it was drowned out in the explosion that ripped through the transmission. "I love you, too!"

Winona was crying much too hard to say another word. George was gone, she knew. Her arms tightened around Jim.

Christopher fell back to the floor, pressing his back against the wall and pulling his knees up to his chest. He sobbed openly. It felt as if his heart had been torn out. The loss of the man he loved was a feeling so strong to him. The words kept repeating in his mind. 'I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you.'

The teenager was left alone by the nurses and doctors. His tears stained the knees of his pants.

'I always loved you, George.'