"You should go, Jim," Bones muttered.

She looked at him, "Is that… You want me to leave?"

He shook his head, "No. No, I don't, but you don't have much choice. The fleet wants to make a big deal out of your birthday this year and you have to be there."

Jamie sighed, "I know. I just don't want to go. It's not like they can't do it without me. Wouldn't be the first time." Bones looked at her from his spot on the porch swing.

"Yea, they probably could but we both know they won't. Twenty-five is a nice round number for them to make a big fuss over, and now they can take pictures of you in uniform. Given the explosion at the conference, they need a distraction and you're it. I guess they also figured that if George can come in from Deneva, there's no reason for you not to be there. Go, I won't fall apart without you for a few days. You have to go back to class anyway." Jamie raised an eyebrow.

"Are you sure, Bones?" He nodded but she saw right threw him. He didn't want her to go and Jamie was sure that he needed her to stuck around but he was putting on a brave face.

David's funeral was two days before Christmas and it was hard for everyone. Jamie and Fred did the best they could to keep Bones' family functioning but the two of them were getting worn down. Jamie was surprised when her brother, Pike, Kevin and Uhura showed up on Christmas to distract everyone. Sam –even though Aurelan couldn't come with him- bumped up his visit, Pike brought Kevin and Uhura when they refused to just sit around. They even had to convince Gaila and Gary not to cut their honeymoon short. Jamie called them all crazy for spending their winter break with them instead of their families but she was thankful that they were there at the same time.

Jamie and Bones went inside to find Sam sitting on the floor with Joanna singing songs from Frozen, also known as 'the movie that doesn't die' even when it's over two hundred and forty-five years old and was remade a few times. That little girl was like a breath of fresh air, she kept spirits up. Joanna did a better job at forcing Bones and Donna to interact with people than anyone else did. Jamie loved that little girl something fierce.

"We gotta go, Sam," she said to her brother, who pouted and got off the floor. Pike, being Pike, was flying them back to San Francisco. Bones was on bereavement leave but Jamie, Kevin and Uhura had orders to go back; Barnett couldn't give them anymore time. Jamie was going to attempt to come back before her training cruise started; the date was bumped up to the twelfth instead of the twenty-third of January. There was a round of farewells before the group heading to the academy left. Joanna promised to keep an eye on her dad. Pike reminded Bones that his research could still be helpful to someone and once he thought about it, he would agree. They left Georgia shortly after that.

This is the last thing she wanted to do for her birthday, at least she got to spend the morning with her big brother. Front row center, that's where they put the Kirk siblings. Jamie and Sam were on one side of the aisle and there were admirals on the other side. Blue Squad, Kevin, Spock and Scotty were sitting behind them; Barnett or Pike's doing if she had to guess. The whole thing was about to start when she felt someone sit next to her in Pike's seat.

"Sir… Bones, what are you doing here?"

He smiled, "Didn't think I'd really let you do this without me, did you?"

She could feel the tears forming in her eyes, "But your family…"

"You're my family too, darlin'." Damn, she swore that she wasn't going to cry at this thing.

"I talked to you a few hours ago, you were still in Georgia. How'd you get here so fast?"

"Transporter. I know the right people." Jamie laughed. Bones hated being beamed anywhere. She didn't have to guess what he meant by knowing the right people, it was code for Trip.

"He's hiding around here somewhere, right?"

Bones nodded, "Yep. It's a good thing Jo said something when she did." Jamie raised an eyebrow as he continued. "Joanna, my sweet, beautiful little Joanna, kicked me in the shin and told me that I was crazy for letting you leave without me. Said that you just spent weeks taking care of me after dad and that it was my job to take care of you. I swear she gets that from you." The running joke was that while Joanna looked like her parents, she acted more like Jamie. Sam had to do a double take the first couple of times he interacted with the little girl, "Is there any chance at all that she's yours? I swear she's you at that age." Jamie just smiled as Bones took her hand. Pike took the seat next to him and the ceremony began.

Jamie hated these things. A bunch of people who didn't know anymore about George than she did, making speeches about him and his service to the Federation. Jamie looked at Sam, most people wouldn't be able to tell but she could read her brother like a book and he was pissed. At some point, he leaned over and whispered, "Dad would hate this shit." Apparently, her disdain for pomp and circumstance was genetic because Jamie and Sam both had the same feelings about this; George wouldn't want the attention. She may not know a lot about her dad but that is one thing she does know.

The only thing worse than the ceremony, was the reception afterwards. Seriously, they needed a reception? She put on her best fake smile and interacted with people who didn't know her, or anything about her, in her face talking about her dad. She, Bones and Sam sat together and with the exception of Archer, Reed, Barnett and Pike, they only held short and polite conversations with people. Jamie was already itching to leave when a reporter started grilling her, it was the last straw; she repeated the phrase 'no comment' about a million times until Pike -also known as her favorite captain in the known universe- got between them and had the reporter removed.

"Nothing he said was true, Jim. You aren't in Starfleet because of George and you know it," Bones looked at her and Jamie nodded.

"Get out of here, kid," Pike told her.

Jamie looked at Pike, "Sir?"

He glanced over her shoulder, "I'll cover for you guys. Get out of here. Go do something fun, it's still your birthday." Jamie, Bones and Sam took less than a second to think about it before they slipped out of the room. The trio was trying to decide what they were going to do with the rest of the dad when they heard Sulu's voice from behind them.

"So, how about a real birthday for our fearless leader?"