Kirk swallows hard. He tugs his uniform jacket down, sucks in a breath, and stands tall.
The door swishes open.
The man in the room contemplates a silver bowl of fruit.
He reaches out and chooses one, then tosses it toward Kirk. "Catch."
Kirk snatches the red apple out of the air with a single hand. He glances down at it, then up at the man who watches him, a grin curving his lips.
"Surprised?" Kirk Prime crosses his arms over his chest. "You look like an apple man. Then again, you look like me." A chuckle.
Kirk tugs at his collar. "Like looking in a mirror." He stares down at the apple, breaking eye contact. "I...should be used to this by now. If there's two Spocks, I suppose there's two mes..."
"And then some." Kirk Prime crosses the room, glancing out the window. "So..."
"You have...questions."
"I do...sir." Kirk follows Kirk Prime's gaze. Two shuttles skim the clouds, moving in formation. "Your Spock says..." He swallows hard, rolling the apple in his hands. "You knew my...OUR father."
"Indeed I did." Kirk Prime turns, moving beside Kirk.
"He said...he said that your father was your reason for joining Starfleet." Kirk leans against the window ledge, the sun warm against his back. "He was mine, too. Just-just for different reasons."
Kirk Prime puts his hand on Kirk's shoulder. "Not so different..."
He looks into Kirk's eyes. "You had a legend to live up to. A man you hoped would have been proud of you, but he'd never know it if you failed him."
Kirk Prime places his hand over his own heart. "Me? All I had was a man - a good man, by all accounts, but a legend?"
He shakes his head. "No...and when I wasn't trying to make him proud, I was doing anything else I could to get him to notice me." Kirk Prime smiles sadly. "That explains...everything, I guess."
Kirk lifts his head. "Everything?"
Kirk Prime nods. "It wouldn't have mattered."
"Alive or dead, hero or ordinary man...we'd just want someone to care." He smiles sadly at Kirk. "Our fathers, our commanding officers, our crews, the people we serve..."
"We hope the universe would miss us just as much," Kirk agrees, taking a bite of the apple.