Five Years

Chapter Five

Disclaimer: I do not own anything mentioned in the following fanfiction, except for the character of Penelope Richmond. She is of my own design.


"James, Jake, Momma's home!" she called into her house, pushing the front door open as she stepped in, back from a day at work.

She was just tossing her keys on to the table beside the door when she saw James skid along the hardwood floors out of the hallway, coming to a halt a few meters in front of her.

"Where's Jake?" she asked, pulling off her heels and chucking them on the sofa along with her purse and brief case, hanging her jacket up before turning to look at James, her breath catching in her throat.

If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn they were back at the Academy on a dress down day, the pair of them hanging out in his dorm. He was dressed in dark jeans and a plain grey t-shirt along with the black, square framed glasses Penelope even forgot he owned. This was the James she'd fallen in love with eight years ago; the jeans and t-shirt James, not the Captain James. She felt her heart skip a beat.

"He's hiding. Oh, by the way, I think I may have lost our son" James said, giving her a blank look as he scratched the back of his head, one hand in his pocket.

"Lost?" she asked for clarification, taking a few steps into the house to make sure she could hear him. Lost!?

"He's been hiding for over half an hour now and I have no idea where he is" he explained, giving her yet another blank look. Relief washed over her, stopping the panic attack that had begun brewing when he'd mentioned that he'd lost Jake.

"Don't do that to me James, I swear" she muttered, shaking her head before hitting him playfully on the shoulder, a small smile creeping up on both of their faces.

"Try the linen closet in my bedroom, he's small enough to squish himself in between the pillows on the bottom shelf" she said, moving over the kitchen as she gestured for him to go find Jake.

She was halfway through checking her messages when she saw James come back into the family room with a sleeping Jake in his arms, the little guy snoozing away contently on his Dad's shoulder.

"Out like a light" James whispered as he gently set Jake down on the sofa, Penelope watching from the kitchen with comfort as she recognized how gently and carefully James handled Jake.

"So how was your day?" he asked as soon as he'd finished setting down Jake, the pair of them moving out to the backyard porch to talk.

"Tiring, but then again I have to deal with hundreds of future James T. Kirk's so" she teased, sitting down on one of the chairs she had out and relaxing, closing her eyes to enjoy just a moment of California sun.

"How was your first day with Jake?" she inquired after a few seconds, opening a single eye to him.

"Good. God, he's a smart kid. He's definitely your son" James teased, sitting back in the chair opposite of her and leaning back, relaxing for a second.

"Externally, he's almost all you. He's practically your four year old twin" she joked, both of them laughing as she shut her eyes again, taking a deep breath.

"You did good, Pen" he said after a few seconds of comfortable silence, this comment opening both of her eyes. She looked over to see him looking at her proudly and if she guessed it right, with admiration.

"Pardon me?" she inquired, confused as to why he made that declaration. She wasn't used to being complimented the way he was admiring her now.

"Raising him. You did a good job. He's one hell of a kid" James noted, a small smile coming to his lips at the end of the sentence.

"Thanks James" she said, smiling at him before going back to her closed eyes, head tilted back position.

"But you should be saying 'we' did well, because he's just as much yours as he is mine. So really James, we did well. Jake kinda won the genetic lottery pool with us two as parents" she joked, opening up an eye as a smile came to both of their faces, a chuckle following soon after in appreciation.

"I still can't believe I'm a Dad. Is it normal to feel this worried and terrified all the time? I mean, I just gotta look at him and it's like I'm almost worried to death about everything that might happen to him" James said, Penelope smiling wisely.

"Welcome to Parenthood, James" she said, keeping her eyes closed as she enjoyed the quiet moment.

"Does it ever get any easier? This nonstop worry?" he inquired, Pen giving a small laugh at the way he'd asked it; insecurity was written all over his tone.

"Not a chance in hell" she replied back honestly, opening both of her eyes this time as she watched him take in the news, his face absolutely crestfallen.

"You just got to trust him and trust yourself. I know it may seem like it at times, but the world isn't that scary of a place" she said reassuringly, giving a smile as she watched him sit up in exclamation

"The world is a terrifying place!" he cried, looking at her in disbelief. She took a step back from the conversation and just looked into his eyes for a few seconds; they were so crystal clear and blue it was almost unhinging.

"I mean our world, Earth. Not your world, the universe" she teased, looking at him knowingly.

"I meant our world! We've got serial killers, child molesters, technologic terrorists. The world is one scary ass place" he declared, looking at her expectantly as if he thought she should know it already.

"That may be so, but that's no reason to stop living our lives. We've just got to keep our own and Jake's nose outta trouble" she replied, soaking in the sun for a few more seconds before rising, going back inside.

"I forgot to ask you, but how'd you sleep last night?" she asked, cutting through the kitchen into the living room and going down the main hall, entering her bedroom to change.

"Good. I haven't had a decent mattress to sleep on in over five years so I slept like a baby last night" he said, following her in to her surprise. She watched from where she was standing by her bureau, taking off her jewellery as he flopped down on her bed, automatically looking as if he belonged there.

She laughed, crossing into her washroom and disappearing for a few seconds before coming back out changed from her work clothes, now wearing dark jeans and a plain red tank top, glad to be out of the skirt suit she'd been in all day.

"What'd you guys do for lunch?" she asked as they walked back down the hallway and into the main foyer, Penelope moving over to the kitchen to start prepping dinner.

"I rehydrated a protein package I brought with me from the Enterprise" James replied, leaning against the counter top as she worked around him.

"You gave our son rations?" she exclaimed quietly, stopping in her tracks with a cutting board in her hand. She was glaring at him critically with her dark brown eyes, trying to figure out what the heck he'd been thinking.

"I didn't know what else to do!" he retorted, looking at her meekly with embarrassment.

She turned around and opened up her refrigerator door, pointing inside to the cornucopia of food it housed.

"Still have no idea" he replied, withdrawing a pathetic laugh from her as she just shook her head again in disbelief.

"Well then. Guess we're going to have to do something about that" she declared, setting the cutting board down on the kitchen counter before moving back to the fridge, withdrawing a bunch of stuff.

She chucked him a box of greens, two tomatoes, a cucumber and a carrot and then gestured towards the cutting board as she continued to gather things.

"How to make a salad 101. Wash the lettuces, dry it, cut the tomatoes, cucumber, and carrot, mix together and enjoy" she said, pulling out a package of chicken along with another column of green stuff, moving over to the counter top beside him.

"So what kind of stuff should I be feeding him?" James inquired a few seconds later, Penelope watching as he ran the lettuces under water, Pen sweeping her hair up into a messy bun as she began prepping the chicken.

"Good food. I try and stay away from the rehydrated stuff because it's just so full of preservatives and what not so we eat as fresh as possible. It's hard though, since it seems like fresh fruits and veggies now a days are a hot commodity" she explained, filleting the breasts in her hand with a sharp kitchen knife.

"How so?" he asked curiously, turning to look at her with a compassion in his eyes that she'd missed these past five years. Despite being rugged and somewhat arrogant, she knew James had a big heart. Something she knew Jake inherited from him.

"Well most of the land around California has been cultivated for shipyards or fuel manufacturing plants. Farmers are finding it tough to keep a hand on their lands" she explained, continuingly to filet the meat.

"So what to people eat?" he inquired, chopping up a cucumber now with vigour.

"Rehydrated stuff, not unlike the stuff you eat up on the Enterprise" she answered, finishing one breast before tossing it into a stainless steel bowl to be seasoned later, picking up another breast out of the package.

"I would have done anything for a fresh salad up there" he said after a few seconds of contemplation, biting healthily into the carrot, Pen laughing as she heard him groan appreciatively.

"Tell me more about the past five years, James. What kind of stuff did you see?" she asked, taking her eyes off the chicken in her hand briefly as she glanced over at him warmly, smiling as she saw him munch down on another carrot.

"Oh my god, Pen. I can't even begin to describe it. It was incredible, seeing new things every day, meeting species I'd never even imagined. It's been amazing" he noted, Penelope noting the obvious wistful tones in his voice as she carefully cut away the skin of the chicken, happy for him.

"I'm glad. You've done a great job" she commented, keeping her eyes locked on her knife and the chicken. She felt a pang of jealousy strike through her but she shook it from herself instantly, reminding herself of how amazing her last five years had been as well.

"You should have been there, Penny. It wasn't the same without you by my side" he commented with such sincerity in his voice that she looked up from what she'd been doing, her face a cross between surprise and appreciation, feeling her heart miss a beat at his words.

She turned to look at him for a few seconds, his blue eyes still piercing through his glasses as he smiled faintly at her, his lips curled in a crooked smile that seemed to strike her speechless.

She was just opening her mouth to say something, her eyes careful yet at the same time endearing, when she felt a sharp pain down at her hand. She cursed out loud as she looked down to find her hand oozing blood after cutting herself with the knife, the task she'd been doing pushed to the wayside of her attention after what James had said.

"Damn it" she muttered, moving her hand over to the kitchen sink and running cold water over it, feeling the sting as the wound was flushed with water, her mind cursing herself for being distracted by him.

"You alright?" he asked, setting down the carrot he'd been cutting and pulling her hand from the running water, examining the wound with his eyes.

"I'm fine, it's nothing big" she said as he released her hand a few seconds later, putting it back underneath the water.

"I'll get you a band aid, hold on" he said, backing out of the kitchen as he jogged through the living room and down the hallway, coming back a few seconds later with antiseptic wash and a thick bandage.

"Here, let me see that" he said as he pulled her hand once again from the water, going through the process of cleaning out her wound. She watched him as he went to work, his eyes carefully raking over her cut hand as he bandaged it up, Penelope finding it incredibly striking how delicately he'd helped her. It was old school James, a James she hadn't seen in a while.

"Thanks" she said finally as he looked up from her now mended hand, a grin on his face.

"No problem. Can't have the mother of my child loose an arm because it gets infected now, can I?" he joked, turning his attention back towards the salad he'd been busy preparing.

"Hey James?" she asked a few seconds later, still looking at him with kind eyes.

"Yeah?" he asked, looking over his shoulder towards her with a goofy smile on his face.

"You're going to be a great Dad. Jake's a lucky kid" she commented, punching him playfully on the shoulder before going back to the chicken, the foundations of what she felt towards James shaken ever so slightly by what he'd just done for her and how he'd did it. The way he looked, dressed in old school clothes, and the way he was being around her was reviving feelings she'd long ago buried. He was being the James she'd fallen in love with eight years ago but had since fallen out of love with him due to his absence. She didn't know if she wanted to bring those feelings back up again, but she was fearing that she really had no say in the matter.

((Author's Note: Thanks for the patient wait =] Here's the new update, lemme know what you think. Thanks for all the support, means so much! You all rock!))