Disclaimer: They aren't mine, and this is unbetaed. Sorry.

Warnings…just like before. Torture. Genocide. Language. It's a dark fic. But it will be getting lighter. And this chapter is almost pure plot exposition. Sorry. It's also really freaking long, for one of my updates, which are usually less than half this long. I'm not apologizing for that, though.

Pike retraced the path back to his cabin in a better mood than he'd been in in a long time. He'd enjoyed telling Jimmy about his parents.

He missed them both so much right now it was like having a little hole in his insides. Especially George. So bright and full of life.

Always laughing.

Pike really wanted to talk to George.

He wanted to tell him about the boy. The kind of person he was becoming.

Right now, Pike couldn't imagine anyone more worthy of George's sacrifice. George had saved eight hundred lives. Pike wondered how many Jimmy had saved. At least thirty.

And he was only twelve.

He wondered how many other people in the universe could say the same.

Pike had talked himself hoarse, talking about nothing at all, just small vignettes about the exploits the two of them had gotten up to. He told them about the time George had stolen the mascot of one an opposing team just before a big football match. The mascot was a mule and George had been attempting to paint it bright pink when Pike arrived.

Pike had been mortified.

But George'd been using a dye that would fade in a few days, that was completely safe for animal fur. Whatever else George might have been, he wasn't cruel to animals. He wasn't cruel to anyone...or anything. But George did feel that the smack talk from the other team was getting a little bit excessive and that the other team might not be as eager for a confrontation if their mascot was ...well...bright pink.

Pike had caught him at it, and demanded the immediate release of the mule.

George had smiled and sometime later, Pike had helped him paint some yellow flowers on the mule's backside. The mule, for his part, didn't seem to mind at all. He'd held still for the painting, and George had fed him oats and carrots. The mule had actually been somewhat reluctant to be returned his home team. He'd stubbornly refused to walk away from George, and ended up having to be pulled away rather roughly by the nose.

But that was George for you. He made and impression. And then you never wanted to leave his side.

Just like Jimmy.

The opposing team had not been pleased. Neither had the Admiralty.

But George hadn't cared. He'd just kept right on being George.

Pike thought Jimmy had liked that story.

Pike didn't tell him about the wedding, or about the fact that he'd been on the Kelvin.

Jimmy didn't need to know those things yet. He'd had enough pain.

Pike arrived at his door and stepped in. He paced the length of his room, wondering what steps to take next. He had another briefing in the morning to discuss the headway the computer experts were making. As he paced, he found himself evaluating the size of the space allotted to him. Like all the command crew, he had the room to himself. He had a tiny sitting area with a desk, and a small bedroom. If he traded out his wall, you could fit two beds in here. If he moved his bed over now, then he was willing to bet he could squeeze in a cot.

Hmmm.

Damn it, Chris.

He was getting ahead of himself again.

But then again....

No one in the command track was known for making slow decisions. Slow decisions made for slow action. And slow action could kill you in a fight.

Pike wondered when Jimmy was getting out of sickbay. Because the kid would need a place to sleep, right? And it might not be healthy for him to bunk with all the other kids. Because if Jimmy was going to heal, then he needed to be Just Jimmy. And not always the great and powerful JT.

Pike was going to have to talk to Adamson about this.

Because he wanted Jimmy to bunk with him.

As soon as the kid was better and ready to leave sickbay. He figured that Jimmy would be okay with it. The kid seemed to like him.

Better to do it now.

Pike slapped the comm and called sickbay. Adamson answered, and Pike explained his idea. And just as Pike had expected, Adamson loved the idea. Only he didn't wish to wait until Jimmy was better. Adamson wanted to move him now.

Jimmy was still weak, and still trying to gain weight, but Adamson thought that Jimmy would be much improved by the restoration of some form of normalcy.

Or what passed for it around here, anyway.

Pike was somewhat taken aback by the doctor's insistence. But apparently, the young patient did not sleep well under the best of circumstances, and Kirk woke every time someone entered or exited sickbay.

That made sense to Pike, actually. Jimmy had led what had amounted to an insurgence movement, and likely had had to be awake and alert at a moment's notice.

Now he needed to feel safe.

Pike could provide that.

Adamson wanted to move the boy tonight, but Pike really didn't have room. He didn't even have a couch to sleep on if he gave the boy his bed.

Oh what the hell. It wouldn't matter for one night.

Pike commed Gregory in Engineering; he explained his problem and even though Gregory was off for the next forty-eight hours, he came right up to Pike's cabin. The engineer took a few measurements and called in a few reinforcements. Several ensigns appeared a few minutes later bearing more equipment than Pike would have thought they could have carried given their number. They couldn't do much about the wall tonight, but at the end of an hour, Pike had another bunk installed in his cabin.

Pike found he liked the idea of having someone in his quarters.

It would be nice to not be lonely all the time. Damn it, man. Get a hold of yourself.

The beds lay at an L shape to each other, and Pike wasn't sure which one Jimmy would prefer. Both had advantages, strategically. One of the beds was against the wall, under the windows. This would allow the sleeper to have a view of the stars, but also to have their back to the wall, which would probably increase the sleeper's feeling of security. On the other hand, though, the other bed was positioned in such a way that the sleeper could see the door and most of the room. Most people felt more secure sleeping so that they could see the entrance of a room.

Pike made up the other bed identically to his own. Right now you couldn't tell which one he'd been sleeping in. That way the kid could pick. He wanted the boy to feel secure, after all.

He was hoping that the kid took the bed under the window though. It would allow the kid to see the stars. That might help him relax. And it would also give Pike the bed by the other wall, where he could see the whole room. It would allow him to protect the kid, should the need ever arise. He wanted Jimmy to feel protected, not like he had to be the protector.

Pike looked about his quarters to see if there was anything else he should move around. His eyes fell upon the trunk that he and Matt had carted up from the surface a week ago. Pike'd nearly forgotten it. In a small attempt to push off some subliminal messaging, Pike pushed the trunk to the foot of the bed beneath the window. He could always move it, if Jimmy really objected to that bed.

He stared down the box, wondering if he should open it. After tonight, he'd have no other opportunity to do so. Once the kid moved in, it would be his space too, and Pike was not going to violate what remained of his privacy.

Pike wondered what else was in there. He decided to leave it be.

Pike moved around the room straightening a little. He was generally very neat, so there was little to do. He was not a man who attached easily to things, so there was little in the room in terms of personality. There was a shelf of antique paper books, and on his desk sat one lonely succulent: a night blooming plant that reminded him of his desert home.

God, he missed it there.

Pike moved on the closet; as with the rest of his rooms, there was little enough in there. He had uniforms, of course, and a couple of outfits for shore leave, but he never seemed to acquire much. There was ample room for Jimmy to hang stuff up in here. He could easily give the boy a drawer as well.

He wondered if Jimmy had anything to add to the closet. It wasn't like the boy had many possessions. Maybe when the danger was over Pike could take him back to the cabin on the planet, and allow the kid to bring up anything he wanted. But for now, he was making sure Jimmy stayed on the ship.

Against his better judgment, Pike crossed back the boy's bed. He'd already ceased to think of the bunk under the window as anything but Kirk's. Pike stared at the trunk and then with hesitation, opened it.

He wasn't sure what he'd been expecting, but it wasn't this. The trunk was nearly empty. It contained a chess set, a pale green threadbare sweater, and a photograph in a silver frame: George and Winona on their wedding day. Pike knew the picture well. He had taken it. It was an artistic black and white shot, that had caught the couple unawares, he'd snapped it just as a laughing Winona had flung herself into her husband's arms. Her head was thrown back, and smile had the radiance of a thousand suns. George's expression was open, laughing; everything George had always been.

Pike traced their expressions with his finger. God, he missed them. He replaced the photo reverently, hoping that some day Jimmy might bring it out again, and show it to him. As he put the picture back, Pike allowed his gaze to linger on the sweater. It had belonged to George, and Tiberius before him. It had been old the last time Pike had seen it, and that had been...well, a long while ago. It was soft, faded with age and use, but still serviceable. Pike smiled as he caressed it, and gently put it back down in the box. The chess set he did not recognize, but it was beautiful. The pieces were carved from jade and onyx; it was a work of incredible beauty. Pike wondered at the story behind it.

He shut the lid with a quiet thunk. It answered his question as to whether the kid had any clothes. Jimmy'd been beamed aboard wearing nothing but athletic shorts and one of Pike's own command jerseys. And those had likely been cut off him when he went into surgery. So the kid was stuck in medical scrubs for now. Pike would have the boy order up some new stuff from the replicator when he got settled in.

Well, that about did it. The room was pretty much ready. He placed the pile of holos he'd found under Jimmy's pillow on his desk, to give back to the kid.

Adamson commed a few seconds later to say that he had put Jimmy in a hover-chair and that the boy was ready to be moved. Adamson mentioned that he had not told the boy with whom he was moving in, only that he was moving. Apparently the doctor had intimated that boy would likely dislike his new roommate.

Well that was a possibility. Pike doubted the boy ever liked being strong armed.

But he wondered why Adamson hadn't had the kid moved before now if the doctor thought this was such a good idea.

Because he wanted the kid to feel secure, some internal voice supplied. And Jimmy didn't typically trust adults. He'd had no reason to.

Pike paced his room as he waited for the boy to arrive. What if Jimmy didn't like it here? Relax, Chris, this isn't permanent, he told himself. But was it? Was it meant to be, or was it just a trial run?

The door chimed. Well, shit, this is it.

"Come," he called.

Adamson entered, pushing Jimmy's chair ahead of him. In the chair, Jimmy looked small and dimutive and he clasped his mother's quilt to himself as though it was a lifeline. Pike was standing out of sight from the door. The boy must have been feeling trepidation at the thought of staying with someone he did not know.

Pike stepped into view, and saw the boy's eyes widen.

The doctor winked at Pike and then said to Jimmy, "You'll be staying with Commander Pike, Mr. Kirk."

Jimmy's eyes were large and disbelieving; he whipped around to face the doctor,"Really?"

Adamson smiled. "Yes, really. I think you'll heal better if you're in real quarters than in sickbay, so I'm releasing you under a few medical restrictions."

Jimmy's smiled dimmed a bit. "Restrictions?"

"Yes, boy, restrictions." It might have been Pike's imagination but he thought Jimmy's expression went a little icy at the doctor's use of the word "boy." But Adamson continued as though he hadn't noticed.

He probably hadn't noticed.

"You must get plenty of rest." Kirk nodded at that; he must have been expecting it.

"You must eat, and take ALL your nutritional hypos and immuno-boosters." Kirk nodded again, but this time, he grimaced. Pike hid a smile behind his hand. He hated hypos himself.

"For about a week yet, you may not walk more than a few steps on your own. Commander Pike will have to help you to the bathroom." Jimmy said nothing, but his expression was sullen. Pike wondered if maybe he and the doctor were pushing their luck.

"And finally, you are allowed NO visitors until I deem you ready." The doctor's expression and tone on this booked no argument.

Neither did Jimmy's. "WHAT?" he yelled. "No. I can't. I have to take care of my kids. I'm fine. I got through all this without your help. Starfleet wasn't here and we did just fine. You weren't here. We don't need you. I don't need you-"

He might have continued if Pike had not stepped in front of him. "JIM," he said. "You are a guest in my quarters, and you will not scream at the doctor, he is trying to do what's best for you."

Jimmy shut his mouth, but the look he bestowed on Pike was one that was black with rage.

Pike tried again, more quietly. "Jimmy, you have been very sick." The kid continued to glare. Stubborn as his father. He looked very much like George at that moment. Pike nearly smiled.

He continued speaking in his softer tone. "Right now, we have to get YOU better. Your kids are fine, and they have a whole new exciting spaceship to explore. They can concentrate on other things right now. But soon, that newness will wear off, and they may need you then. We're going to have to interview them about what they lived through and experienced. I need you to get better so you can help them for me. I'm not going to lie to you. It's going to be hard. They're going to need your help. I'm going to need your help. But I'm counting on you, Jimmy. I'm counting on you."

Jimmy met his gaze with the same assessing stare the boy had used on Pike the day they'd met. Pike could tell that he was being weighed and measured again. He hoped that Jimmy would not find him wanting. He willed himself not to look away, but to return the steady stare. After a long while, Jimmy spoke. "Okay."

That was all he said. Okay.

Pike showed the boy around the small set of quarters, and pointed out the closet and the restroom. He indicated the bed under the windows. "I thought you could have this one, if you want it." Pike was unaccountably nervous.

Was his voice shaking?

Jimmy looked at the bed. "Yeah."

Pike smiled. "Good." Why did he feel so relieved? It was only a bed.

But you made it for him and he likes it, he told himself.

Adamson beamed at Pike and told Jimmy that he would be getting checked on in the morning. Jimmy nodded solemnly as he agreed to the doctor's terms.

Well, it was going to be an interesting night anyway.

Please review. There will be more soon.