J.T sat at a low table in the mess area, surrounded by his kids. He talked as they listened, laughed and requested. Pike smiled fondly as he watched the younger children idolize the teenager. It had been at least a week since the children had been moved from their cave and into Starfleet base on Tarsus IV. Many of the officer's knew about J.T by now and they all respected him for his responsibility and perseverance at such a young age to save so many children when Starfleet had failed. They also knew to give him his distance and refrain from physical contact – he treated his kids with warmth but with anyone else he was ice cold and incredibly wary. J.T still refused to reveal his real name – even his kids didn't know his real name and those few who did were extremely tight lipped. Pike had been busy throughout the last few days with missions and reports and he planned to have a talk with J.T after lunch – he hadn't talked to him since the incident in the tent and he wanted to know as much about the boy as he could find out. He watched as the children dispersed and J.T conversed for a few minutes with those of alien race and language. Pike marveled at the boy's fluency of languages and his ease switching from Andorian to Vulcan at each question. Eventually, the rest of his kids split and J.T made his way towards the medical tent where he had been receiving various treatments for his malnourishment and lacerations – many which were still infected. Pike chewed his food slowly, he could visit J.T in the next few minutes – the boy would most likely be receiving medical attention until then and Pike wasn't fond of watching. He finished his food and began to walk in the direction J.T had taken earlier.

Pike whistled as he arrived at the entrance to the tent in a mock knock.

'Mind if I come in?' he asked.

J.T looked up where he had been reading on his bed. A few children occupied the remaining beds but were practically asleep and failed to stir at the noise caused by Pike. J.T motioned the Captain in and Pike gratefully entered the tent.

'Hey kid, how you doing?' he asked.

J.T looked back at him with a stoic face, betraying no emotion. He was so serious, matured beyond his years, mused Pike.

'Okay'.

Pike nodded. He took the seat next to J.T's bed, the kid moving minutely away from him as he came closer. Pike noticed the wary movement with sadness.

'Why did you trust me?' he blurted out.

J.T blinked. He stared at Pike for a long time. Pike sighed.

'Someone who's been through something as traumatic as you, with the responsibility of over a dozen children's lives would have trust issues – understandable. Why then, did you let any of us help your kids?'

J.T watched him again, calculating, deliberating – give him the truth? Lie? Remain silent? Pike assumed it would be the first; J.T was not someone to avoid a challenge – quite the opposite in fact, he always had a headstrong approach to everything and if he trusted Pike in the first place, what reason would he have to lie to him now?

'My kids,' he answered finally, 'I may have been stubborn but they were more important, they needed help from someone with more resources which wasn't me. I didn't know any of the other men you came with but I trusted you were from Starfleet'.

Pike was taken aback by the certainty of the statement. How did the kid know him? Suspicions aroused within him.

'How did you know I was from Starfleet?' he inquired.

J.T hesitated before he answered; he seemed to want to say something but was unable to. J.T frowned slightly and scrunched up his face slightly in concentration. His breath became labored, as if he were exerting himself physically. Pike leaned forward to scrutinize J.T, frowning slightly at his strained breaths.

'Hey kid, you ok?' he asked worryingly.

J.T's brow furrowed deeper and he slid his hand up to his throat, clutching it gently as if it were irritating him.

'I… I… it's… hard…,' he wheezed through breaths.

Pike's eyes widened in alarm and he gently shook J.T as the boy's eyes began to loose their focus.

'J.T,' he said urgently.

The boy was gasping now, one hand clutching his throat the other fisting the blankets on his bed. His breathing was becoming ragged and Pike was becoming seriously worried. Without warning, J.T leaned forward and continued his forward movement over and off the side of his bed. He landed on all fours as he gasped for breath. Pike yelped in alarm and fell to the floor beside the boy who had fallen off his arms and knees and was now slumped on his side. Pike gently rolled him over onto his back and clicked his fingers in front of his eyes. J.T didn't respond, his breathing becoming shallower as his hands fell slack by his sides and his eyes glazed over.

'Can't… can't…,' he rasped.

'Kid! Wake up!' Pike looked around the room desperately, one hand on the teenager's chest to monitor his breathing.

'Medical!' he hollered.

A blue-shirt barged into the tent. He took one look at the suffocating boy on the ground and grabbed a hypospray from his med-kit. He dodged a bed obstructing his path and jabbed the hypospray into the boy's neck. Both Pike and the officer relaxed visibly when the struggling boy grew still, his eyelids dropped and his head lolled as he sunk into unconsciousness. J.T's chest rose and fell at regular intervals – no longer desperate and shallow.

'Allergic reaction, probably from his medication – the hypo's countered the reaction but we've got to find out what he reacted to in the first place,' the doctor muttered.

Pike looked at the man who had just saved the teenager's life. He offered him his hand.

'Thank you'.

The man accepted the gesture and shook his head.

'Just doing my job,' he said humbly, 'we'll get him back on the bed and then I'll check his medications. Does he have a medical record I should know about?'

Pike sighed and shook his head.

'No one know whether he has a record or not – he won't give anyone his name'.

The doctor raised his eyebrow.

'So this is the teen who saved those kids. Better get him comfy then,' he suggested.

The two men lifted the boy up with ease – given his starved condition – and placed him onto his bed. Pike pulled the covers up and smiled as he watched J.T's peaceful face.

'You can stay if you want,' the doctor nodded his head towards the sleeping boy, 'I'm going to find out what he reacted to'.

Pike nodded gratefully and the man left the tent, taking note of J.T's patient ID.

Pike watched the sleeping boy, willing him to wake. It had been a few hours since his medical incident and Pike's head was swarming with worry. He shouldn't have however, as J.T's eyelids twitched; he was waking. Pike sat up straighter in his chair and watched as the teenager opened his eyes, sweeping them around his surroundings in sluggish movements. He turned his head and groggily faced Pike.

'Thanks,' he said simply, his voice thick with sleep.

'Not me,' Pike shook his head, 'A doctor came and gave you a hypospray'.

J.T scrunched up his face and Pike smiled inwardly; their feelings for hypospray's were mutual.

'I know your face,' J.T suddenly told him.

Pike hesitated at the unusual statement. Then his mind raced back to their previous conversation.

'You knew me. You knew I was with Starfleet too?'

J.T nodded lethargically. His eyelids slid close again, those blue eyes still imbedded in Pike's mind.

'I moved from Earth to Tarsus IV a few months before the massacre,' he said with his eyes closed.

Pike wondered if the boy really did know him. He'd have to if he trusted Pike enough to say something about his real identity but refused to disclose so much as a name to the rest of Starfleet.

'So you knew Starfleet,' Pike said.

It was more a statement than a question. Earth was Starfleet's main base and everyone who lived on that planet knew exactly who and what Starfleet was. J.T nodded, confirming Pike's words.

'We had a mutual friend. I still remembered your face,' he said.

I guess he doesn't want to tell me yet thought Pike fair enough.

'Do you have a family back on earth then, someone to go back to?' Pike asked.

J.T frowned, his eyes still closed.

'No,' he said flatly, 'I'd rather stay here than go back to my step-dad and my mum died while I was off-planet'.

Pike was stunned into silence. He'd hoped against hope that Winona Kirk hadn't died but he knew in his heart that it was true. No wonder the kid was so bitter, so strong – only people who'd gone through tragedy and risen above it were as tough as him. But J.T was right, Pike knew. No kid who'd gone through what he'd been through should go back to an abusive stepfather especially without any of his true parents.

Which meant that J.T was an orphan.

Pike felt an overwhelming parental urge but he was still hesitant. What is he was jumping to conclusions? What if J.T really wasn't a Kirk? Only one way to find out, he took a deep breath.

'If I can guess what J.T stands for, will you tell me who you really are?' he asked.

J.T smiled mischievously.

'I told the same thing to my kids, none of them has guessed it yet'.

Pike cocked his head, he rose from his chair – J.T would appreciate the space so that his mind could think.

'James Tiberius,' he said over his shoulder.

J.T's eyes snapped open, but Pike was already gone.