A/N: Hi! I hope you enjoy this chapter! Please Review they make my day! Remember though I don't own anything Star Trek, I only own Sophie and Pike's family!

Year 1 (continued)

An hour had passed and Jim and Sophie arrived at Pike's office, changed out of their Cadet uniforms. The car ride to Pike's house was mostly silent, but comfortable silence in the car. Arriving at Pike's house they found he lived in 2-story white house. It had 2-car door garage, and a beautiful front porch.

"Home sweet home." Pike said pulling into the driveway and leaving the car out. Jim and Sophie climbed out of the car following Pike to the front door as Sophie looped an arm through Jim's. The front porch was very inviting with brick steps leading up to the door, which Pike opened and walked in.

Walking inside they found Pike standing there with his wife in the front foyer talking. Jim closed the door behind them and took a look around. He saw the stairs at the end of the hallway, with a living room off to the left and dinning room and kitchen off to the right. They could also see a door in the back most likely leading out to the back yard.

"Jim, Sophie this is my wife Andrea." Pike told them.

"Nice to meet you both." Andrea said walking towards them. "Sorry I'm hugger."

She told them right before pulling both Sophie and Jim each into a hug.

"Nice to meet you too ma'am." Jim replied for them.

"Oh please, no ma'am. Call me Andrea."

"Andrea, nice to meet you. I love your house." Sophie commented looking around.

"Thank you dear. Now dinner will be ready in about 20 minutes. So why don't you two go meet our kids, well they aren't exactly kids anymore I guess. But anyways they're in the living room I think. Chris would you show them?" Andrea asked kissing her husbands cheek before walking off to the kitchen to finish dinner.

"Come on." Pike told them before pausing and turning around, "And you can call me Chris here. No sir or Captain. Just, Chris all right? We aren't at the academy, when we're here no need to be formal."

Sophie nodded while she noticed Jim get a huge grin on his face. "Of course Chris!" Jim said smiling causing Chris to roll his eyes at them and continue walking towards the living room with the two cadets following him.

"Kids. I'd like to introduce to you our dinner guests." Chris said to his children who were gathered around in the living room talking. "Kids this is Jim Kirk and Sophie Pace. And these are my rambunctious children home for dinner. My eldest Nick, my daughter Lena, and the youngest Brad."

"Hey." Nick said first breaking the silence and standing up. He walked over towards them as he brother and sister followed and shook Jim and Sophie's hand along with Lena and Brad as well.

"Nice to meet you all." Sophie said.

"Well I'll leave to all to get to know each other. I'm going to check in with dinner." Chris said before leaving and going into the kitchen, leaving his children, Sophie and Jim standing there.

"Well, come in and have a seat." Nick told them gesturing towards the couch. Jim and Sophie both sat on the love seat together, Nick and Lena sat on the couch while Brad at in a soft chair across from the love seat all getting comfortable.

"So you two are Cadets huh?" Nick started out by saying.

"Yeah. This is my first year and Sophie's second." Jim replied politely.

"Congrats I guess I should say." Nick replied warmly.

Sophie shrugged and leaned back feeling Jim's arm across the back of the love seat, "So what do you all do? Are you all in Starfleet?"

"No, not all of us. Just Nick and I." Brad said from his seat. "I'm an engineer on the USS Stargazer."

"And I'm the CMO of the USS Phoenix." Nick told them.

"Wow. What do you do then Lena?" Sophie asked curious.

"I'm a music teacher at a local elementary school." Lena replied.

"She's always loved music." Nick explained to everyone. "Ever since she was little. Quite annoying at times actually."

"Hey!" Lena replied slapping Nick playfully on the arm. "You loved my music."

"Yeah yeah."

The five of them then started to talk and got quite relaxed with one another in the span of 15 minutes. Sophie already felt like they were going to get along great, but Jim on the other hand was quiet; quiet for him at least.

"Alright kids…" Chris said coming into the room just as Jim's comm. went off.

"Sorry." Jim said digging in his jeans for it.

"It's alright answer it if you need too." Chris told him gently.

"Oh no I forgot to tell Leo where we were going. If that's hi…" Sophie started to say before being cut off by Jim.

"It's not Bones." He replied softly seeing the caller's ID, still not making eye contact with Sophie.

"Then who is…" Sophie said again before seeing the look Jim was giving her and she knew exactly who it was. "No. No Jim."

"Excuse me." Jim said softly ignoring Sophie and getting up to leave the room.

"James Tiberius Kirk don't you dare answer that call." Sophie snapped at him from her seat, and he stopped to turn around to face her.

"Don't you dare answer that."

"But Sophie maybe she'll…" Jim said starting to plea.

"No she won't Jim." Sophie pleaded trying to get him to see reason. "She hasn't said that to you since you were 12! She's not going to start now. Please Jim, I don't want to have to put you back together again."

Jim studied his best friend before sighing and flipping open his comm. "Hello? … Hi mom." He said softly leaving the room to go out onto the front porch for some privacy.

"Damn it James." Sophie muttered to herself watching him leave.

The room was silent for a moment or two before Chris spoke again. "That was Winona?"

"Yes, Jim's mother." Sophie responded surprised. "You know her?"

"I did, back in the day. I was assigned to the USS Kelvin for a while before being transferred. I knew them both but was closer to George than her."

"Oh." Sophie said lost in thought.

"Why did you say not to answer the call if you knew it was her?" Lena said asking the question they all wanted to hear.

Sophie sighed. "Because every time she talks to him she breaks him, emotionally and every time I have to pick up the pieces and put him back together."

The room was silent when Sophie was done talking, mostly because they didn't know what to say. Soon Andrea came into the room looking for all of them only to find them sitting silently in the room.

"What's going on? Where's Jim?" she asked looking around.

"He got a call." Chris answered his wife just as Jim came around the corner.

Everyone turned to see Jim standing there his hands in his pockets, not making eye contact with anyone except Sophie who was staring right back at him. Jim to say the least looked shaken up, and defeated almost.

"Come in when you two are ready." Chris told Sophie quietly before motioning the rest of them out to the room. They all quickly exited the room and were heading towards the kitchen and dining area when Nick tugged them back silently and nodded his head towards the living room again. "We can't listen in." his father said quietly.

"Dad think of this as a learning experience. They don't have to know, but don't you think you should know what's going?" Nick said quietly seeing his mom, brother and sister standing there ready to listen in too.

Chris sighed and nodded slightly, motioning everyone to be as quiet as possibly as they stayed out of sight from Sophie and Jim. Jim and Sophie didn't notice the family watching and listening either as Sophie nodded towards the love seat for Jim to join her. He walked forward slowly and sat down on the love seat with their backs to the family who was listening in and rested his head on the back of couch, slumping down as Sophie sat next to him looking straight head like he was.

"I'm sorry Sophie." Jim told her quietly. "I should have listened to you."

"It's ok Jim. I shouldn't snapped at you like that in front of everyone, I'm sorry." Sophie replied.

"Even?"

"Even."

"What'd she say this time?" Sophie asked him turning her head to face him.

"Nothing new." Jim said smiling slightly before resting his head on her shoulder.

"She cry again?" Sophie inquired.

"Yep." Jim said.

"Yell at you again too?"

"Yep."

"What'd did she say Jim?" Sophie asked again.

"Nothing I haven't heard before. I'm a disappointment. I'm use to it Soph, the rejection I mean." Jim told her quietly.

"But you shouldn't have to be." she hissed wrapping her arm around him to pull him closer to her as his head rested on her shoulder.

"Why do you think I answer? Why do I always answer her call? I know she's going to yell at me, tell I'm a disappointment, that I look so much like him she can't stand me. She actually told me that this time before hanging up. Her exact words were 'I can't stand to look at you Jim, you look so much fucking like him.' And then she hung up. It happens every time Soph. Why can't I stop answering?" Jim asked her

"Because she's your mom." Sophie answered him simply. "I know if it was my mom I'd answer her call ever damn time, but I can't."

"I'm sorry."

"That's not the point though. The point is you answer her calls because you're hoping that's she changed. That when you talk to her she's going to tell you she's proud of you, that she loves you, and for the love of God she'd say Happy birthday to you." Sophie continued to tell him. "You're wishing she's changed but she's not going to Jim. And you wish she was someone like Andrea don't you?"

"Yeah." Jim responded softly causing Andrea to gasp from her position next to her husband as they listened in. She had her hand over her mouth as unshed tears formed in her eyes as while as Lena who was next to her mom. "We've known her for like a half hour."

"Yeah but still, she's everything I would want in a mom. Everything I know you want your mom to be. I bet she'd tell you happy birthday, and not yell at you. I get Jim. I mean Lord, what if we had family like the Pike's how different our lives would have been, how better they would have been then the shitty childhood we had."

"No kidding. Jesus, if we had them as parents that would mean no Frank…"

"And thank the heaven for that Frank was an asshole of step-father who had no rights beating the hell out of 8 year old kid." Sophie responded in disgust.

"I know." Jim replied. "And hell we wouldn't have been sent off to that place. That would have been a blessing." He added laughing slightly with her.

The Pike family stood silently all listening intently on what the pair had to say and frankly they were shocked. They never excepted the two to have this kind of relationship, let alone a tragic childhood as it seemed and they didn't know what to do.

"I'm proud of you. You know that right?" Sophie told him firmly after a few minutes.

"I know." Jim replied softly smiling up at her.

"You have a lot of people proud of you. He probably never tell this to your face but Leo is proud of you. He's told me, so is Chris even though he might not tell you. And you know who else is oh so proud of you?"

"Who?" Jim asked tiredly.

"Your dad." She answered smiling at him as he pushed himself up to facing her. "He is. Don't you give me that look. Your dad is proud of you, trust me how could he not be? Yet you know what? He wouldn't want you just…su… he'd want you living life."

"You were going to say surviving weren't you?" Jim asked raising his eyebrow with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah but I think we've over used that word in the past few years." Sophie replied smiling as well.

Jim let out a laugh, "No shit."

"Anyways James." Sophie said mock glaring at him. "You need to find out who you are, because trust me you're not just some Starfleet hero's kid. You're James Tiberius Kirk. To me you're JT, Jim, James T. Kirk the man in front of me who is going to make a name for himself. Got it?"

"Yes ma'am." Jim answered as he smiled.

"And I know you probably don't want to hear this but your mom isn't healthy for you Jim. I'm not going to tell you to stop answering her calls but I want you not answer her calls until you are 100% sure of who you are, that you are satisfied with yourself. Because I think when you find that out you'll see that you're going to give it right back to her and I'm going to be so proud of you for that."

"I think I can do that." Jim said.

"Good. Now come on." Sophie said standing up with Jim. The two stood there for a moment before Jim drew her into a hug burying his face in her hair and breathing deeply.

"I love you P." he said softly calling her by one of their many nicknames for each other.

"I love you too J." she replied pulling away after a moment. "Now come on I want some food."

"Alright alright." Jim said getting tugged along.

Out in the hallway Chris shooed Lena, Brad and his wife into the kitchen before Sophie and Jim saw them. Chris and Nick were about to leave when Jim's voice stopped them again.

"Hey Soph." Jim asked pulling her to a stop right before the hallway where Nick and Chris stood listening out of view.

"Yeah?" she replied turning up to see him.

"Do you still see JT in me still?" he inquired.

Sophie tilted her head to the side thinking about an answer to that question, "Yeah sometimes."

"When?"

"When I'm in danger, when you're trying to protect me, and when we're eating." Sophie said with a small smile.

"Eating?" repeated Jim confused.

"I don't think you realize it but when we're eating you wait until I've started to eat before taking your first bites." She said.

Jim cocked his head and looked at her. "Really? I hadn't even noticed."

"I don't think you realize it. It's not everyone…just me. It's a habit that you haven't gotten rid of sub-consciously. And I bet you 5 bucks you do it tonight." Sophie said challenging him.

"5 bucks? You're on." Jim said smiling.

"Now tell me…do you see Fee in me still?"

"Yeah. Just now on the couch. Mostly when you're calming me down or 'mothering' me." Said Jim wrapping his arms around her.

"Is that bad?" Sophie asked.

"No. Not at all, as long as it's not bad when you see JT in me."

"No Jim it's not. Now let's go eat."

Chris and Nick realized this was their cue and hurried to the kitchen before they came and luckily they didn't see them. Moments later Sophie and Jim came into the kitchen, his arm on her shoulder.

"You two ready for some food?" Chris asked.

"Yeah!" Sophie replied for them.

Everyone was soon gathered around the table with plates full in front of them. They had said a pray and now it was time to eat and Sophie smiled to herself when she noticed Jim wasn't eating yet. She took a big bite of her food and saw out of the corner of her eye Jim exhale after glancing at her and start to eat his own food.

"JT." Sophie coughed loudly at Jim who quickly looked at her, his eyes wide as she smiled.

"Damn it Sophie!" Jim cursed before looking around the table and noticing them all staring at them. "Sorry."

Sophie simply laughed and soon Jim and the rest of them joined her.

"I can't believe I did that." Jim said laughing.

"I told you, you can't help it. You were doing it for too long." Sophie replied grinning. "And now you owe me 5 bucks."

"Ugh." Jim replied digging in his pocket for the money before handing it over. "Mutt." He said under his breath.

"Thanks love." She replied in a singsong voice patting his cheek lightly and pocketing the money.

The dinner continued smoothly from there on out. Sophie and Jim got to know the Pike's better and vice-versa. They found out Nick and Brad were on shore leave, and Andrea was an art teacher at the university in town. Both Sophie and Jim were slowly beginning to love this family, how they interacted with each other, how their parents were and how they instantly included the two of them in things. Dinner was long over and everyone was out in the back yard on the deck with a small fire they were gathered around as they had drink or two.

"You know," Jim started after a long period of silence from his place between Sophie and Nick. "Soph and I know you all were listening in earlier."

"We'd rather you talk to us about it then just continuing like you didn't hear anything." Sophie chimed in.

Chris and his family looked at the two of them guilty and ashamed that they were not only listening in but that they were caught. So instead of denying it Chris asked a question.

"Does your mother always talk to you like that?"

"Yeah." Jim replied taking a sip of his beer.

"How did you know we were listening?" Lena asked quite confused.

Jim and Sophie shared a look, "We heard Andrea gasp." Sophie replied.

"Mom." Brad whined breaking the tension. "Lord you always get us in trouble."

"Well I'm sorry how was I suppose to know it was that loud." She retorted to her youngest before facing Sophie and Jim. "Why don't you tell us about your mom Jim?"

"Um well…" Jim started sighing. "Everything was fine until I was about 8 when she married a man named Frank and he was fine for about a year. Then my mother started getting, assigned missions off planet for month's at time…"

"More like requested them James." Sophie muttered bitterly.

Jim sighed, "Ok maybe she requested them, I don't know. All I know is she wasn't around for months at a time and then she was only back for a short while, maybe a month at most. Anyways, Frank he liked to drink…a lot and well he didn't particular like me. I wasn't an easy child but I didn't…I don't know. Anyways he…well you heard the conversation. I got broken ribs, concussions, bruises you name it I had it."

"Oh my dear." Andrea said softly.

"Listen I don't want to be a pity, or a sob story. I just this was my childhood. It's over now and I'm over it."

"You clearly aren't over it." Nick told him. "Especially if what you two said in there was any consolation."

"Ok I'm trying to get over it." Jim amended looking down at his hands, which had intertwined themselves with Sophie's.

"How did you two meet?" Brad asked.

"We were 10 when we first met." Sophie answered him. "My parents lived in the next farm over from his step-dad's and we met while we were both out walking around. I didn't have many friends then and neither did he and we sort of hit off. We've been best friends ever since. He helped me when my parents died and I helped him when Frank would well beat him. We both hate hospitals, so we'd always patch each other up."

"Why do you hate hospitals?" Chris wondered. "You have to get a physical to get into Starfleet you know."

"We both took them don't worry." Jim replied with a laugh. "But it's long, complicated story that we don't…we don't feel comfortable sharing right now."

"Fair enough." Chris replied. "Now we have a little surprise for you Jim."

"A surprise?" he said confused looking at Sophie who looked equally confused. They watched as Andrea and Lena quickly went back into the house and 2 minutes later come back out with a yellow cake with chocolate icing on top with candles in it and his name written across in white icing. Andrea came over to Jim and Sophie, cake in hands, and stopped in front of him holding it down for him.

"Happy Birthday Jim." She said softly.

Jim stared at the cake then at Andrea then at Sophie who was smiling at him and nodded at the cake.

"Make a wish bro." Brad called out smiling.

Sophie nudged Jim and he closed his eyes taking a deep breath and blew out the candles. Opening his eyes he noticed everyone was staring at him. Chris looked proud of him, Nick, Brad and Lena all looked like they were happy for him like he belonged, Andrea was standing there smiling at him while Sophie had a look on face that he couldn't quite place.

"Happy Birthday James." Sophie told him smiling.

Jim smiled at her before looking up at everyone. "Thank you. Really."