Disclaimer: not mine
It was times like these when Chris was really thankful that he was such good friends with the doctors on the Seymour. Boyce let him know as soon as Halloway and Grisk appeared in medbay the next morning, causing Chris to immediately abandon his path to the Bridge, and head down to Medical instead.
He couldn't decide whether to laugh or grit his teeth as he entered Medbay. The Captain and First Officer were standing by JT's bedside, while Boyce watched with a neutral expression on his face.
JT's expression conveyed nothing but contempt as he stared at the two men hovering over him.
"For the last time, kid, we're just trying to help. Tell us your name."
"JT," the teenager replied in a bored monotone. "You already know that."
Grisk frowned. "Your real name. My name is Jonathan Grisk, senior Communications officer aboard the USS Seymour. I need your name so that I can track down any family members you may have."
JT snorted. "Good luck," he muttered, just loud enough for them to hear.
Halloway sighed. "Kid, we need to know what happened to you. If you can help us find Kodos, why don't you want to?"
JT stiffened, and Chris winced. That was not the best play the Captain could have made.
JT was now glaring at Halloway, and Chris smirked internally. If he knew Jimmy at all, the kid had to have more than a little of his father in him. Which meant Halloway was about to get a piece of the teenager's mind.
He wasn't wrong. "Seriously? That's the best you got? Don't you guys have to take courses in dealing with people or something? You just showed up six months late for a massacre of four thousand people that ended up killing over a thousand more afterwards, and you have the nerve to ask me for help? But I guess that's Starfleet's MO, isn't it. Show up for the cleanup and the funerals, but too late to actually be of any use. Screw you, asshole."
Chris wondered where Jimmy got his information from, and was rather impressed. He was pretty well informed, considering he had been in a coma for days, and hadn't left his biobed or talked to very many people since waking up.
Halloway clenched his teeth, but forced himself to stay calm. "You've been through an ordeal," he acknowledged. "But you seem to have good instincts. The children in your group credit their survival to you. In a few years, Starfleet would love to have you." Chris knew the Captain was trying to endear himself to JT, and maybe flatter him a little, but Chris knew that he had just made things worse.
Sure enough, that was even worse than asking him for help finding Kodos.
JT's eyes flashed. "A recruitment speech now? Seriously? Fuck off. Not interested. I want to do something important with my life."
His tone was mocking, but it had the desired effect: Halloway and Grisk left without another word.
Boyce shook his head, and observed JT's vitals for a moment more. Then he sighed and focused on the teenager in front of him. "Try not to let your heart rate get up too high again. I understand your… frustrations, but you're still healing."
JT nodded, his eyes tracking the doctor's every movement.
Boyce turned around and gave Chris a significant look before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.
When they were alone, Chris took a seat next to JT's bedside. He didn't speak, just observed the teenager. After several minutes of silence, JT finally spoke. "He deserved it."
Chris nodded austerely. "He did," he acknowledged.
JT growled. "I don't like him."
Chris snorted. "He's a Captain, Jimmy. Sometimes that means he has to be the bad guy. He's not, always, but he's also a big picture kind of guy."
JT shrugged, glad he could do it now without hurting. Doctor Boyce had started him on the first of many rounds with the osteoregenerator that morning, and his collarbone had been the first bone he'd healed.
Chris sighed. "Jimmy…"
JT stiffened slightly. "Jim," he cut in quietly.
Chris stopped, confused.
JT bit his lip. "Jimmy's dead." His voice was soft, and there was a spark of something – grief, or sorrow – behind his too blue eyes. "I just… I'm not him anymore."
He wasn't even sure if that made sense, but Chris didn't ask any more questions, and just nodded. "Well, I don't think you did yourself any favors with Halloway, but I was impressed. You're going to be fine, Jim. If you don't want to talk to them, then don't. I won't try and change your mind."
JT actually almost smiled. It transformed his face, Chris thought, and for the first time, when he looked at Jimmy… Jim, he saw a kid. A fourteen-year-old teenager, not an adult in a child's body, a leader with the weight of the world on his shoulders.
A knock on the door signaled the arrival of someone else, and Chris turned around in his seat in time to see Boyce enter the room. "Chris, you should probably get back to the Bridge."
Chris winced as he remembered his destination before Boyce's call that had him diverting his attention to Medbay. He nodded, and Boyce left them alone once more.
Turning back to JT, Chris stood up. "I'll come back later, all right?"
JT nodded. His voice stopped Chris before the officer could open the door. "Thank you."
Chris turned around, confused. "For what?"
JT bit his lip. "For not telling anyone you know me. For not telling anyone my last name."
Chris nodded, understanding. He smiled lightly. "I meant it, Jim. I won't tell anyone until and unless you say I can. But you should talk to Cory. He's a little worried about where you two will go when we arrive at Earth."
JT suddenly looked worried. "Does anyone know he's my cousin? Have they been hounding him too?"
Chris held up one hand. "No, no one knows you're related. He's fine, just worried. He didn't seem to think Winona would come home if called, and isn't sure what will happen to him, or you."
JT tried to hide the flinch at his mother's name, but knew he wasn't successful when he saw the compassion in Chris' gaze. He shrugged. "We'll be all right," he said, hoping he sounded offhand.
Chris didn't call him on the bluff, thankfully, and simply nodded. "Well, you know I'm here, if you ever need anything." He didn't wait for a reply, and just left the teenager alone, heading up to the Bridge for his shift.
XXX
JT was grateful to have some time alone to think after Chris left. Boyce had told him to rest, but he wasn't sure how much more rested he could get. He hadn't even left this biobed in days. Of course, he had been unconscious for a lot of that, and he probably wouldn't get very far if he did try, but still.
JT thought about everything that had happened since Starfleet had arrived. Cory and April had done a good job of filling him in, so he was pretty much caught up. He wasn't quite sure what to think right now. He was grateful to be rescued, of course, but the fact that it was Starfleet just stuck wrong with him. Starfleet was the root of all his troubles. Why his dad was dead, why his mom wasn't around, why he had had to grow up with Frank.
Of course, not all of them were bad. Boyce was all right, for a doctor anyway. He struck JT as an honest man, who would never send a kid back to a questionable home situation based on a few flimsy lies spun by the asshole who had necessitated the doctor's visit in the first place.
And Chris… if he wracked his – admittedly large – brain, he could come up with memories that involved a younger version of the Lieutenant Commander. Chris had said that he had visited a lot before Winona had remarried, so he knew that those memories had to have been from when he was three or younger. He remembered being held by Chris. Chris would pay attention to him when Winona wouldn't. He remembered laughing and being read to. He remembered being taken for drives on starry nights, where they would stop at the Overlook – a cliffy lookout spot with an amazing view – and Chris would sit him in his lap, while he and Sam would sit on the hood of the antique car that his father had spent so many years fixing up, and point out the constellations, telling the two boys the stories behind them.
Those memories with Chris were things he hadn't thought about in years, mostly because the bad of his childhood far outweighed the good, but as he lay there alone, he remembered. A few tears even escaped as he pondered his father's best friend. He wished Chris had tried harder to stay as well, but he knew the officer regretted it.
The problem was, regret didn't really help him out at all. He believed in actions and deeds. He appreciated Chris promising to keep his identity a secret, but he wouldn't trust the man on words alone. If the officer actually followed through… well, he'd reassess then. He was good at reading people, and he thought Chris would earn his trust eventually. He wanted to trust the man. Maybe he would in time.
A knock sounded hesitantly at the door, and JT looked up, surprised, as Tom entered, looking tentative. "Hey," he said softly, closing the door behind him and taking a seat in the chair Chris had recently vacated.
JT smiled. "Hey," he replied. "How're you doing?"
Tom shrugged, reaching up with one hand to lightly touch the bandage that covered half his face.
JT smirked. "Do they know you're out of bed?"
Tom grimaced. "I was going crazy, JT," he pleaded. "Come on, tell me you're not bored out of your skull too."
JT allowed him that. He was getting rather bored as well.
The two spent the rest of the morning sitting and talking. It was nice to be able to do so without having to worry about being caught by a patrol.
When Boyce came in a while later, he just smiled and handed JT his lunch, before ducking out to get Tom's as well. "Try not to tire yourselves out too much," he advised, before leaving them alone once more.
JT watched him go, and when the door was closed again, he commented, "For a doctor, he's not too bad."
Tom snorted. "I don't know what it is you have against doctors, JT, but you're right, he seems like a good guy."
XXX
When Chris returned that evening, he was glad to see Jim sitting up in his biobed, with a smile on his face as he listened to something Tom said.
Tom was also looking better, Chris noted. Making a swift decision, he turned around and left Medbay, heading up to the Observation Deck that housed JT's kids.
He returned to Medical shortly thereafter, leading four very excited kids, and it was worth any wrath he might face from the Captain or Boyce to see the way Jim's face lit up at the sudden crowding of his private room.
Chris left them alone and went to go find Shay for dinner. He'd come back later to take them back to the Observation Deck.
XXX
Shay joined Chris as he went to collect Cory, April, Kieran, and Kevin from Medical, and she too shared in his joy at seeing the happiness the kids displayed.
Chris cleared his throat, as the conversation in the room died off. He smiled. "It's getting late, I think I should get you guys back to the OD." He didn't give into their pouts and simply waited until they sighed and said goodbye to JT and Tom.
Boyce came in not long after that, and implored Tom to return to his own bed to get some much needed rest as well.
XXX
The day before they were to arrive at Earth, Halloway called another staff meeting, to go over their progress, and to make sure their reports were in order.
It was a pretty straightforward meeting; not much new was discussed, it was mostly just review. Halloway also informed several officers of his recommendations for promotion. Chris, Flynn, and Shay were all getting put forward – Chris and Flynn for their work of finding JT and the other kids, and Shay for her help with tracking down several of Kodos' guards. Because of her, they had managed to find a group of them hiding out in the woods to the south of the city.
All three accepted the congratulations from their colleagues with humility, before the meeting broke up.
"Pike."
Chris turned around, and gestured for Shay to leave without him when he saw the look on his captain's face. "Sir?" he asked, coming to attention.
Halloway observed his officer. After a moment of silence, he sighed. "Has the kid told you anything?"
Chris furrowed his brow. "About what, sir?"
Halloway frowned. "Pike, I'm not an idiot, so don't play me for one. You've spent a lot of time with him, and you seemed to have gained the trust of all those kids." He sighed again, shaking his head slightly. "I don't like it either, but the fact is, he knows something about Kodos. With what the bastard did to the kid, there has to be something more there. And he won't give Communications a name. How are we supposed to find a place for him to stay if we can't search for relatives?"
Chris bit his lip. This was the moment where his promise would be tested. His commanding officer had just given him an order that he expected to be followed. Could Chris really lie to his Captain?
Thinking about Jim, lying in that biobed down in Medical, he realized that he really didn't have to think about it. He had made a promise, and he wouldn't let Jim down. Not again.
He looked straight into Halloway's determined gaze, and replied. "Sir, he hasn't told me anything. I don't know his name, and I don't know what the connection is between him and Kodos."
Halloway observed him for a moment, before he nodded austerely. "Well, if he does say something, I trust you will tell me."
It wasn't a question, so Chris just inclined his head, and left the room, feeling himself relax slightly once he was away from his Captain's scrutinizing gaze.
He couldn't wait for them to dock at Earth so that he could have some time to unwind. One of the things they had been informed of at the meeting was several weeks dirtside - for debriefs and shore leave - before they shipped off again.
As he sat at his station that day, the thought about what would happen when they docked the next morning. The civilians who had been released by their doctors would be taken to Starfleet Headquarters for debriefing. Those with more serious injuries would be transferred to Starfleet Medical. Since all of the kids besides Tom and JT were physically fine, other than a few lingering signs of malnutrition, they would be released to their families when they showed up. Starfleet had managed to contact all of the relatives that they could, and were arranging for them to meet the kids in San Francisco, so those that had living relatives would be able to leave after being debriefed. As they were minors, their guardians would need to be present.
Sha'al, Navan, and Trina would be met by the Ambassadors to their respective species, and after debriefing, would be released to their embassies. Of the rest of the kids, Cory, Matt, Jenny, Rose, and Diana didn't have any known relatives, so they would be placed in foster care.
Tom and JT would be sent to Starfleet Medical as well, though Boyce had said that Tom would be able to leave within a few days. He didn't have any family on Earth, but a cousin had relocated to the Mars colony a few years earlier. He would be arriving on Earth the day after the Seymour docked.
JT was a bit trickier. He would probably need to stay at Starfleet Medical for a few weeks, but after that, it was a bit uncertain. He still hadn't told anyone his real name, so they couldn't find any relatives. If he didn't speak up soon, he would also be released into the foster care system. Of course, that would likely come only after several rounds of debriefing, where they would pump him for any information they could on Kodos, his regime, his plans, and what his relationship to JT was.
JT knew this. That was why he had a plan. Of course, it involved being able to walk from one end of the room to the other without collapsing, so he wouldn't have a big window in which to enact his plan. But he was fairly confident he could pull it off.
Chris came to visit him the night before they were to arrive. He found Boyce and Tom both in JT's room. Listening for a few moments, he realized the doctor was telling the two teenagers the proposal for transferring them to Starfleet Medical the next day.
He could imagine JT biting his lip as he heard the kid ask, "Can we see the others before they leave?"
Chris chose that moment to interrupt. He cleared his throat as he opened the door. All three inhabitants turned to look at him. He glanced at Boyce, before looking at the two boys. "I can bring them down here tonight, for a few minutes. If that's all right?" he looked back at the doctor.
Boyce nodded. "Just for a few minutes. You both need your rest."
He ignored JT's groan as he left.
Chris smiled. "I'll be back in a bit," he promised, before following the doctor out.
Boyce stopped him before he left medbay. "Chris." The newly promoted Commander turned around. Boyce sighed. "I know the Captain's been pestering you. He's not a coldblooded bastard, you know. He's just got a lot on his mind."
Chris nodded slightly. "I know," he sighed, stepping closer to the doctor so that their conversation wouldn't be overheard. "I just think he's going about it the wrong way. JT didn't need to be hounded for details on the man who tortured him the moment he woke up."
Boyce shook his head. "He's the Captain. He's got a job to do. You're command qualified, Chris. At some point, you might be put in the same position."
Chris looked at him harshly. "I hope to God I never am."
Boyce flinched and nodded. That was true. What kind of luck would someone have to have to come across two genocides in their lifetime?
Chris left to go get the kids and bring them back to say goodbye, and Boyce disappeared into his office.
XXX
The kids were ecstatic to see JT and Tom again. Chris watched from the corner of the room, as they all talked over each other, laughing and just relaxing in each other's presence.
Seeing them, Chris knew he had made the right choice in setting this up. JT looked much better, just being in the presence of his kids. Although, Chris mused, that may be because he felt like he needed to be seen as the strong leader they were used to. He figured that probability was more than likely. While JT was healing, he still had a ways to go. It wasn't exactly like one could just walk off days of torture and months of starvation.
He left them alone for a while, knowing that they would want to have some time to themselves, without Starfleet listening in.
Kevin burrowed himself into JT's side and refused to move all evening.
"JT? What's going to happen to us?" he asked quietly, looking up at his savior with wide eyes.
JT looked down at the kid next to him, and then took in the worried expressions of those around him. He attempted a smile. "Starfleet has tracked down your families. They'll be waiting for you in San Francisco tomorrow."
"What if we don't have any?" Diana asked, biting her lip.
JT looked at her and tried another smile; this time it came out much more genuine. "Starfleet will place you with families that will take care of you."
There was silence for a few moments, before Kieran spoke up. "Will we still be able to see you?"
JT sighed. "I'm not sure," he replied. "I won't disappear though. I'll find you, no matter what, if you need me."
They were all reassured with that. JT had seen them through hell. They were alive because of him.
When it started to get late, Chris gathered the kids up to take them back to the Observation Deck. He would be smiling for the rest of the night, just thinking about how relaxed and happy JT had looked with his kids.
Cory stayed back when the others filed out of the room. When it was just he and JT alone, he spoke. "Jimmy… are we still going to be together?"
JT sighed again. "I don't know Cory, but like I told the others, I'll be there if you need me."
"But we're cousins," Cory said softly. "We're family. And my only family is Aunt Winona."
He wished he hadn't said anything when his cousin stiffened at his mother's name.
JT bit his lip. "You'll probably be placed in a foster home. I doubt Winona will want to be saddled with another kid, and honestly, I don't think I want you within two states of my stepfather."
Cory winced. While Jimmy had never said anything explicit about Frank, he knew it wasn't good. He had overheard and observed enough since Jimmy had come to live with them to know that he didn't want to go live with Frank. He hoped to God that they wouldn't send Jimmy back there either. That officer, Chris, had seemed like a good guy. And more than that, he knew who Jimmy was. Chris had said that he wouldn't send Jimmy back if it was a bad situation. Cory hoped he would keep his word.
He nodded hesitantly. He knew that Jimmy was trying to be brave for him, so he didn't continue to spout his fears and worries. He just gave his cousin a light hug, and joined the others as they headed back to the OD to get some sleep.
XXX
Docking went smoothly the next day; Chris and Shay were both busy all morning, getting the civilians organized onto shuttles to be taken to the surface. Shortly before lunch, the only two survivors left on the ship were Tom and JT. Chris was able to head down to Medbay to say goodbye to the two, before he had to return to his post on the Bridge.
He slipped into JT's room without drawing the attention of Boyce and Martin, who were working towards the far end of the room.
JT looked up on his entry, and smiled slightly, some exhaustion showing in his tight expression.
Chris took a seat, and observed the teenager in front of him. From the bags under his eyes, he doubted the kid had gotten much sleep the night before. "Hey," he said simply. JT just jerked his head in response. Chris sighed. "All the kids have been sent dirtside, you and Tom are the only ones left. As soon as Boyce gives the go ahead, we'll get you in a shuttle and you'll be transferred to Starfleet Medical." He shifted in his seat. "I just wanted to say goodbye before you left."
JT bit his lip and nodded. "Thanks for… you know," he said softly, unable to meet Chris' comforting gaze.
Chris smiled. "I'm here for you Jim. If you need anything, if you want to tell me anything… I'm here."
Something in Chris' tone told Jim that he suspected all was not well with Jim's home life. That if Jim decided to tell him about it, he would believe him. He wouldn't write him off as having an overactive imagination, or being a troublemaker. That he wouldn't make Jim go back to Iowa. But even knowing that, Jim couldn't make himself tell Chris about Frank. So he just shrugged and nodded noncommittally.
Chris sighed again. "Just keep it in mind, Jim." A knock on the door interrupted their conversation, and Chris turned in his seat to see Boyce poke his head in.
"The shuttle's all set," he informed them. "We're going to move you down to the shuttle bay in a few minutes."
JT looked nervous, but tried to hide it. Chris said a final goodbye before he left, and soon enough, Boyce was back, moving him to the shuttle so that they could take him down to the planet.
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