JA/N: What is this? An update? It's a regular Christmas miracle! ...In May. But still.
I am so unbelievably sorry for the wait. I was losing inspiration for this, so I thought a brief break to focus on other fandoms would reinvigorate me, but that break just kept stretching out, and the distraction was compounded by school and a couple
other real life things. But the new Beyond trailer is out (it's awesome, I love it), I found descriptions of a few scenes, the movie's in less than two months (I can't wait), TV shows are ending, and summer vacation is less than a month away - aka
I'm inspired again and the number of distractions is shrinking, so hopefully I am back on a timely update schedule (though I have two essays due this week, so don't be too hopeful for chapter 12 before Thursday).
Aurelan stretched, yawning, and climbed out of bed. Over on his side of the bed, Sam stirred, rolling over to glare blearily at the clock. "Why is it already morning?" he mumbled.
"Because that's how life works," Aurelan responded.
Sam groaned in response, eliciting an amused smile from Aurelan. She let this mood hover for a moment before telling him "Jane wants to have a tea party."
"And you're telling me this because…?"
"She wants it with you and Jim."
Sam sat up, abruptly wide awake. "Today?"
"Why not? It's a holiday, after all. Start the new year off right."
"The new year starts tomorrow."
"Even better."
Sam sighed. "I don't have a choice, do I?"
Aurelan cast a sympathetic glance at her husband. "You always have a choice, but the right one isn't always the easy one."
Sam glanced at the family photo on the nightstand. "I know," he whispered. "Believe me – I know."
-LLAP-
"Of course you land yourself in a hospital while on vacation."
"It's not like I do it on purpose," Jim protested. Lying on his side on the biobed, he shifted to get a better grip on the PADD, angling it carefully so it framed his face nicely.
Carol just shook her head in exasperation. "Well, I'm glad you're all right," she added. Even through the small PADD screen, her relieved smile warmed his heart.
"I aim to please."
She laughed. "If you did that, you'd be a very different man. A rule-follower, for one, Mr. I Break Every Rule I Know About."
"That's Captain I Break Every Rule I Know About," Jim corrected.
"And there you go breaking another one."
"What one?"
"The one that says never argue with a woman, especially if you're dating that woman," Bones chimed in. He entered the room, setting his PADD down on the stand beside Jim's biobed. "Winona and the kids'll be here soon," he reminded Jim, excitement tinging
his tone.
"Excited to see Jane?" Jim teased.
Bones plopped down on the bed beside him, leaning down so the camera caught him. "She's much better company than you."
"Leonard, be nice," Carol scolded. "The princess is injured."
"The princess can handle it, Carol."
"Hey," Jim complained. "I'm not a princess."
"I wouldn't be too sure about that one."
"So when do I get to meet the kids?" Carol asked once her laughter died down.
Jim returned his gaze to the PADD screen. "After they get used to having an uncle, probably."
"Right," Carol sighed. "Well, I guess I should go."
"Unfortunately."
"I love you."
"Love you, too."
"Oh, and Happy New Year's Eve."
"Ditto, queen," Bones replied, reaching over to switch the PADD off.
Jim rolled over, wincing a bit as his sore back stretched. "Is that seriously the nickname you're gonna stick with? It took you this many years to come up with queen?"
"Well, it fits. She's the captain's girlfriend, and the most influential woman on the entire ship," Bones pointed out, taking the PADD and setting it down.
"She's not-"
"I'm not saying you don't listen to the rest of your crew, cause you do listen to them, but she's the one you listen to the most. She's like… your second first officer."
Jim's eyebrow rose. "Because that sentence made sense."
Bones glared. "You know what I meant, princess."
"Hey! I am not-"
"Yes you are."
"Play nice, boys," a new voice scolded. Aurelan walked in, carrying a sleeping Jane, the area around her conspicuously devoid of energetic nine-year-old boys.
Happiness, perhaps a bit bittersweet, chased away the annoyance in Bones's gaze. "Do you want help?"
"Thanks," Aurelan agreed. "She's getting a bit heavy, but she was up late worrying about Jim and zonked out in the car, and I didn't want to wake her up."
"Jim has that effect on people." Bones carefully took Jane into his arms, arranging her in about the same position she had been in with Aurelan. Jim hadn't seen him look so content in… maybe he never had seen Bones like that.
"Where are the boys?" Jim asked, shifting his gaze back to Aurelan.
"Vending machine," Aurelan replied. "Once they saw the Doritos, there was no keeping them away from it."
"Cool ranch or nacho cheese?" Jim checked.
"Cool ranch for Henry, nacho cheese for Peter."
"Peter's got good taste," Jim decided.
"I'm with Henry on this one," Bones put in.
"Weirdo."
"Not really," Aurelan commented.
"I am so alone."
"Don't be a drama princess."
"Sis, he's mean."
"I am not going to be a mother of five, you two. Leonard, don't be insulting, and Jim, don't be a baby."
She said it with an obviously-suppressed smile, but Jim and Bones still exchanged offended glances. Aurelan settled back in her chair, the suppressed smile transforming into a satisfied smirk. Bones pulled up a chair beside her, and a few minutes later,
the twins ran inside, fingers stained by Dorito crumbs, unopened bags clutched in their hands. Entirely ignoring Aurelan's scolding of too many chips, they clambered up onto either side of Jim's bed and begged for – demanded, really – more stories
about the Enterprise. While he told stories, Bones and Aurelan just talked.
It was a rare peaceful morning in the life of Jim Kirk.
-LLAP-
Sam glanced at the clock. In New York, the ball would drop in a few hours, and it would be a new year.
Tires crunched over gravel, and a quick beep of the horn signaled that Mom had arrived to pick him up.
He picked up the little pink box containing Jane's tea set and went out to meet her.
-LLAP-
When he got there, almost everyone was asleep. Henry was stretched out beside Jim, whose arm was wrapped around the quieter twin, both of them fast asleep. Peter slept on Jim's other side, a powered-off PADD resting on his chest. McCoy was on the floor,
Jane in his lap, one of her books beside them. Aurelan alone was awake, enjoying a book of her own, holding a bottle of tea in one hand. She looked up as he opened the door, smiling warmly as she set her stuff down and quietly went outside. He set
the box down and followed her, easing the door shut behind him.
"Hey," she greeted, stretching up for a kiss.
"The kids look comfy," Sam commented once their lips parted.
Aurelan looked inside, her hazel eyes soft with affection. "They've been bonding with their uncles."
"Uncles?"
She returned her gaze to him. "Come on, Sam. I know you haven't been around them much, but you must see how protective Leonard is of Jim. If one is their uncle, so is the other."
Sam reflected for a moment, remembering every time McCoy had protected Jim, every time they had known what the other was thinking without saying a thing…
"That should've been me," Sam murmured. Not out of jealousy – out of regret. He glanced at the doctor sitting with his daughter, settled so he could watch over the entire family, and the enormity of what the hostility had torn from him and his family
crashed over him.
Aurelan rested her hand on his arm. "It still can be."
Sam sighed. "I'll never have what McCoy's got, though. Too much has happened between us."
"Maybe, maybe not. But you won't know if you don't try."
"Well now they're all sleeping."
Aurelan leaned against him, hugging his arm and smiling at her family. "Isn't it adorable?"
Sam leaned his head on hers. "I would never dare disagree with you."
She laughed. "Liar."
He stuck out his bottom lip in a mock-pout. "You wound me."
Aurelan pulled away, shaking her head. "Come on; it's dinnertime anyway."
She strode inside, calling "Who's hungry?"
Peter jolted awake immediately, almost falling off the biobed, but Jim's arm automatically moved to hold him in place. Henry awoke more gently, his eyes lighting up like little suns when he saw Sam. Jane just yawned and tried to snuggle closer to McCoy,
but Aurelan picked her up while the doctor stretched stiffly and clambered to his feet. For a moment, Jim's eyes rested on Sam, but they lacked the hostility and wariness of earlier encounters, instead flickering with confusion and curiosity. Then
his attention shifted to McCoy as he pressed his hand against Jim's forehead.
"Seriously, Bones?" he complained, releasing his hold on Peter to shove the hand away. McCoy just put it right back where it had been.
"Come on, boys," Aurelan said to her sons, "let's go get some dinner."
Setting Jane down but keeping hold of her little hand, she led the way out the door. Peter ran to catch up, but Henry paused to give Sam a quick fist bump. Sam smiled as he scampered to catch up with his more outgoing brother.
"That's a nice box you've got there," McCoy commented once the door closed behind them.
Sam glanced down at it, quickly setting it down. "It's, uh, it's Jane's."
McCoy smirked a little, but most of his expression was something entirely different.
"You got very attached to my daughter very quickly," Sam observed, narrowing his eyes slightly.
His expression hardened. "I'm not trying to take your kid, if that's what you're wondering."
"Just wondering why."
"None of-"
"Bones," Jim murmured warningly. Sam jumped, looking at his little brother in shock, but Jim's gaze was rigidly turned on McCoy.
Jim's caretaker glanced down at him before visibly making himself calm down. "I'm a father too," he explained gruffly, then firmly clamped his mouth shut, turning away from Sam.
Jim pushed himself into a sitting position, wincing a bit. "Go eat, Bones."
"But-"
"Go," Jim ordered, pushing him a little bit. "Don't think I don't notice you neglecting your own health when I'm sick."
McCoy sighed in exasperation. "You're not the captain here, you know," he reminded Jim even as he walked out.
"No, but I'm still royalty," Jim retorted.
"Glad you admit it, princess," McCoy called over his shoulder.
"'Princess?'" Sam echoed.
Jim pointed at the box. "You're not one to talk."
"That belongs to my daughter. It's not my fault she couldn't bring it herself."
"I would've loved to see the looks aimed at you."
"Oh, shut up," Sam muttered.
Jim smirked, and then an awkward silence wrapped around them. Realizing he was towering over Jim, Sam grabbed the nearest chair and sat down. Jim reached out and adjusted his biobed so he could lean back and still sit up.
"Thanks for, uh, catching Peter earlier. That boy's a magnet for bumps and bruises."
Jim shrugged, but a faint smile flickered across his face. "I'm used to it. Bones can be very clumsy on alien planets."
Sam tilted his head. "Doctors don't normally go on away missions, I thought."
"Neither do captains, but I don't send my crew where I won't go. And if I left him behind, he'd kill me. Well, the away mission would probably kill me first."
"What?"
Jim glanced up, then dropped his gaze to his sheets. "I tend to be a magnet for trouble. If we're not getting attacked by the native humanoids, then some carnivore will try to eat the away team, or some flower will shoot poisonous projectiles, or the
weather is deadly. Or I catch a bug, or I'm allergic to something. Most away missions don't end all that well for me."
"Doesn't your crew-"
"They protect me," Jim intervened sharply, looking up. "They would die for me. But I would also die for them. That's what it means for me to be a captain."
Sam's confusion must have shown, because Jim explained further.
"The older captains are more distant from their crews, for plenty of good reasons. But me… I get close to them. I'm not some… some enigma of wisdom to my crew, because I'm not much older than my ensigns, and I'm younger than my lieutenant commanders.
I hang out with the younger members and learn from the older ones. They know I'm not always professional; they know not to remind me about my birthday; they know my quirks. In return, I know their birthdays, I know who's dating who. I know them,
and they know me. We still stick to the command structure, but when it comes down to it, it doesn't matter what silver bands are on your sleeves – we're family. And family protects all members the same."
"I did try, you know," Sam murmured. He didn't look at his little brother, but he practically felt the mood sour.
"Not hard enough."
Excuses flooded to Sam's tongue, and he opened his mouth to say them. Then he glanced up and saw the emotion shining through cracks in Jim's stony expression.
"You're still scared of him."
It wasn't an accusation, it wasn't mocking. It was just a blurted statement, emotionless while Sam struggled with his own feelings about their step-father.
With a sense of muted triumph, Sam set down his stylus and electronically turned in his math homework. He plugged it in to charge overnight, sticking the stylus in his backpack. He placed the backpack by the door and went into the kitchen to fix his lunch for the next day. As he finished smearing peanut butter on his sandwich, he happened to glance out the window.
Outside, the wooden shed stood forlornly in the encroaching darkness. Yellow light glowed from a grimy square window. Jim was in there, probably struggling one-handed with the tractor that was always breaking down. He had lost track of how many nights Jim had spent working on that stupid tractor instead of eating, sleeping, playing, or even doing his homework.
He picked up the sandwich, taking a cautious step towards the brand new back door.
Footsteps made the floorboards upstairs creak, the noise coming closer to him.
Sam darted back to the counter, tucking the sandwich into his lunchbox just as Frank staggered in. He flinched as the horrid man, reeking of alcohol, clapped him on the back.
"'M g'nna check on yer bro'er," he slurred.
"All right," Sam replied.
As Frank headed out, Sam slunk upstairs to bed.
Jim turned away. "I am not," he protested half-heartedly.
"The hell you're not," Sam pushed, not bothering to keep his voice gentle.
Jim whipped his head back around, furious tears shimmering in his fiery blue eyes. "What the hell would you know about it, Mr. Untouchable?"
"I didn't know I was safe," Sam shot back. "I knew I was safer than you, but I still lived every day waiting for him to finally snap at me. I wasn't immune."
"So that means you were scared of him? Scared to death? So scared you didn't misswhen you were fighting for survival on Tarsus IV? So scared you still have nightmares?"
"I do," Sam snapped. "I do have nightmares, all right? Except my nightmares aren't about him beating me up, they're about him beating you up. I have nightmares about being too cowardly to protect you. Not a damn day goes by that I don't regret it."
Jim narrowed his eyes, opening his mouth to say something, but Sam left before he could spill anything else.