Disclaimer: SSDD – If I owned em I wouldn't be living with my mother.
Warnings: Jim cries a lot – but he gets hurt so he's allowed. Maybe some swears form Bones.
A/N: So the orig. draft of this turned out way longer than I anticipated – I therefore split it into three segments – so you will get postings tomorrow and the next day too as I work out the kinks. The downside is, the original name for the chapter no longer fit and I don't like the new names – but…. c'est la vie!
The next two weeks flew by fairly swiftly as Spock and Leonard settled into their roles as primary caregivers for a very large preschooler. Said very large preschooler had been given permission by Starfleet to remain on board indefinitely on several grounds.
First of all Captain Pike had intervened, reminding Starfleet that they were establishing new protocols which put families first and allowed families to remain together whenever possible, allowing key crew member's families to live aboard the ship they were assigned to, in family unit quarters.
Jim considered Spock and Leonard family and because he had a strained relationship with his mother. Jim's brother and sister-in law had their hands full with three young children of their own, so it was deemed in James' best interest that he remain with Spock and Leonard aboard the Enterprise. Therefore they were granted temporary guardianship of James until such time that James previous memories and adult personality were restored.
Pike also pointed out that because Jim's considerable computer skills remained intact. Therefore, James could prove to be very useful as a crew member himself. He was soon assigned minor duties as an IT technician and a schedule was worked out so that one of the IT techs took responsibility for watching James while he was 'on duty' in IT, before he was returned to Spock, Leonard, one of the other bridge crew or various volunteers who had agreed to help out with James.
Last but not least, the admiralty agreed that they wanted Captain Kirk back in command as soon as possible, and they made it known throughout the fleet that priority was to be placed on locating and identifying the alien race that had taken Jim and caused this transformation. They felt that once the species was found, a peaceful negotiation could be reached and the best place for Jim to remain was aboard the Enterprise, as she was the fastest ship in the fleet, and would be able to reach any destination necessary for returning Jim to his former self, in the least amount of time.
Scotty started constructing a makeshift playground for James on one of the observation decks. Sulu was growing some of his larger botanical plants in the back half of that deck, so it had taken on a park like atmosphere anyway. Scotty made sure that the swings, slides and various climbing equipment were large enough and sturdy enough for a grown man to rambunctiously clamor over, but would still be accessible to regular sized children as well.
As the flagship, the Enterprise was often tasked with escorting various dignitaries, stranded parties, and or refugees bound for new colonies and this often meant hosting families and children. Scotty figured the playground equipment might as well be a permanent enhancement that could be utilized by guests and crew member's families in the future.
James excitedly helped in the construction of the playground equipment, testing each finished piece to make sure it was adequately fun, along the way. Of course his excitement caused him to chatter a mile a minute, asking hundreds of rapid fire questions, the likes of which Scotty couldn't possibly hope to answer in his lifetime. He didn't mind at all though, as long as James was having fun, that's all that mattered to him and James was definitely having fun.
The playground took another week or so to finish, since Scotty and anyone else volunteering to help with the project had to do so in their spare time, and that was something the Chief Engineer didn't have much of. By the time they were done James and Keenser had declared the project a success and fit for both big and small sizes. James immediately began scheduling play dates with all his friends and asking anyone and everyone if they thought there would be any kids to play with on board anytime soon, but no one knew.
Kevin Riley, Hikaru and Pavel seemed to be the most willing to cavort around the newly constructed playground with James. They spent hours swinging and climbing and playing hide and seek. They'd pretend the tower was their fort or castle to keep out pirates and icky girls.
Kevin especially seemed to enjoy this time with Jimmy, as it reminded him of time spent with Jim when they were both young, before everything went to hell on Tarsus. Kevin often wondered if this version of Jimmy remembered anything about Tarsus, but he never asked.
He didn't want to explain if Jimmy didn't remember and he didn't want to bring up painful memories that were better left forgotten if Jimmy had somehow retained any of the horrid events in his memory. Instead Kevin just focused on playing with his friend, elated that he could recapture some of the cherished times they had spent together so many years ago. It filled them both with joy and Kevin felt as if maybe he'd regained some of the childhood he'd been robbed of back then.
He and Jim had stayed friends of course and had been close over the years. They'd even helped each other out on numerous occasions, though Jim had done most of the helping, since he was older. Kevin had missed the friendship they'd had when they were younger though, when Jim was still a kid. Really Kevin shouldn't be able to remember playing with Jim on Tarsus, because he'd been so little, but he'd idolized the older boy back then, so the memories had held fast. It had been different after Tarsus, but Jim had still come out to San Francisco often to spend time with him during the three or four years following the incident. Kevin cherished those times too, so getting his childhood best friend back was worth whatever silly games he had to play and whatever amount of babysitting he had to do.
About a week or so after the playground had been finished James had his first bad accident when he decided to jump from one of the swings when it was far too high to safely jump from. He of course overshot the padded safety surface that Scotty had surrounded all the equipment with, landing on the very hard, flat surface of the observation deck with a loud thud, which was immediately followed by James howling and rolling around in pain.
"Oh my gosh Jimmy!" Kevin had cried as he rushed to Jim's side.
Jim was curled up trying to clutch his leg and his arm at the same time and tears were streaming down his face, his chest heaving with wracking sobs. Kevin finally got James to stand though he didn't seem to want to put any weight on his leg. Somehow they hobbled him out of the observation deck where a couple of crewmen immediately came to assist Kevin in getting James to sickbay.
Jim was curled in the fetal position and sucking his thumb, clad only in his underwear and covered by a sheet when Spock got to Sickbay. Spock rushed to James' side and the man-child sat up and clutched at his would be Father's blue science uniform shirt, burying his face in the fabric and hiccoughing sobs into it. Spock wrapped his arms around James and soothed him as he stroked his hair and raised a questioning eyebrow to Leonard. Just then Kevin came back in carrying James' beloved bear and blanket, which had been forgotten at the playground in their haste to get James to sickbay.
"There, now you have your blanket, your Little Spock and your Papa Spock, now can I take the pictures of your leg and arm please?" Leonard asked in an exasperated tone. "He wouldn't let me do nothin' till his Papa got here and he had his bear. I think he's fine, but I want x-rays just in case," he added pointed in explanation to Spock who nodded his understanding to the Doctor.
Spock looked down at James and suddenly became aware that there were small scrapes and bruises all over the man's body. Most seemed to be a few days old, but the worst were three very large very black and very fresh bruises on James' left bicep, left thigh clear up to his hip and another on the side of his left knee. His eyebrows rose in alarm as he examined the bruises more closely.
"Yeah they look pretty bad, that's why I want in depth scans, just in case he has any hairline fractures. He landed pretty hard. As for all these other bruises and scrapes, I'd say our little ward here has been playing too hard the last few days, so I've told him no more playground until all of the bruises are healed. He didn't protest too much. I feel bad that I didn't notice he was getting so banged up though. I'm his Doctor for God's sakes, and his god damned other Dad." Bones declared reprimanding himself.
"I did not notice either Leonard. He has been dressing himself in the morning I have been on Beta shift for the past three days. Hikaru and Pavel have been tending James in the evenings, so they have been seeing to his bath and bedtime routine. They did not mention anything to me."
"I don't let them help me wif my baff and jamies Papa," James hiccoughed. "Just only you and Bones cuz you're my Daddies. My leg hurts bad Papa, I wanna go home," he sobbed.
"I know you do kiddo but I gotta take the pictures first okay? Then Papa and I can take you home and get you some dinner and maybe watch a movie or something before bedtime alright?"
James just nodded his agreement and tried to get down off the bed but it was hard for him to put weight on his leg and it sent him into another round of choking sobs. Spock deftly swooped James up in his arms, thankful that his Vulcan strength allowed him to carry a grown man without much effort and followed Leonard over to the scanning bay where he laid James back down on the bed there. While Leonard allowed the scanner to run Spock perused the array of bruises, cuts and scrapes riddled all over James' arms legs and torso, feeling just as guilty as Leonard had professed for not noticing them earlier.
"You're not a bad Papa, Spock," James suddenly declared, sitting up on his elbows, which caused Spock's eyebrows to shoot up in question once again.
"Lay still kiddo, I'm not quite done," Leonard admonished softly as James lowering himself back down from his elbows so that he was lying still once again.
"For what reason did you make that statement James?" Spock inquired.
"Cuz I can see you lookin' at all my bruises and stuff and I know you are thinkin' just like Bones. You guys are good Dads. You're the best Dads in the whole entire universe even and you ain't a bad Papa just acuz you dint see 'em before. I know yer busy wif work and stuff. If I was hurt bad I woulda told you I promise." James stated crossing his heart.
"Ain't is not a word James, but thank you very much for your reassurance. I must admit that I was feeling a bit inadequate in my parental duties."
"Yeah, me too, thanks for sayin' it isn't so kiddo," Bones said smiling and reaching out to ruffle James' hair. "We're all done with the pictures. You can sit up if you want. Are you cold?"
"Yeah. Can I have my blankie back and Little Spock?"
"I will retrieve them," Spock assured as he crossed the room to get the beloved articles from the other bed and bring them to James.
"Well the good news is that there are no fractures, the bad news is that big bruise on his hip and thigh seems to have taken the brunt of the impact. You can see the deep tissue damage here," he explained, pointing out the damage to Spock, "and this darker area here is evidence that the femur bone is bruised as well. I'll do what I can with the dermal regenerator but he's going to be in a lot of pain for a few days and I'd like him to avoid putting too much weight on his left leg for a day or so as well."
"I'm afraid you will have to stay in our quarters until the damage is healed a bit James. I am off for the next two days so I will be there with you."
"Okay I guess."
Leonard ran the dermal regenerator over Jim's thigh, the bruise on the side of his knee and the one on his bicep as well, and then gave him something for the pain.
"Okay sport, let's get you dressed and get you home, but listen, no more jumping out of swings, ever, and that's an order."
"One I second James. You are not to play so recklessly in the future."
"K fine, can we go now, I'm hungry."
"It looks like he's feelin' better since his appetite is just fine." Bones said with a chuckle as he and Spock helped Jim get his pants and shirt on. Spock had to carry Jim who rested his head on Spock's shoulder, nearly the whole way back to their quarters, which left Leonard to carry Little Spock and James' blanket. The three of them made a very cute little family, as they made their way down the corridors. They knew this because of all the "Awes" and "how cutes" the female crew member uttered as they passed them.
Leonard was a bit irritated at the position this co-parenting put him in. He didn't want people thinking that he was gonna up and marry Spock and become his domesticated house husband or anything, but he'd do anything for Jim, and Jim really needed him to be his Dad right now, and possibly for a good long time. He decided that as long as he didn't have to sleep with the pointy eared bastard, he could live with the arrangement and the oohs and awes and how cutes as well.