AN: Hello lovely people, sorry this chapter is a bit late! Happy news, my sibling had their first baby the other day! That's why this chapter is late, I've been busy visiting them at the hospital.
Hope you all enjoy, next chapter will be out not next Sunday but the Sunday after that one if all goes well
Bones knew his friend would be in his quarters, but didn't rush to them. He thought that maybe Jim would like a few moments alone first, but he for sure wasn't going to leave his friend alone entirely. Not after what they had just seen.
Finally coming to the captain's quarters, Bones requested access and waited. It took a moment, but eventually he was let in. Inside the lights had been turned out and Kirk was seated on his bed with his head in his hands, there wasn't anything Bones could do but go and sit beside his friend and offer silent comfort.
"He's dead, Bones. He died on the Kelvin when I was born…."
"Jim… that's wasn't…"
"I know! I know that wasn't really my dad. Bones I know. But, he's still dead. Even here, right now. I can't just send a communication and tell myself, it didn't happen, he's okay. Because he's still gone…"
McCoy could do nothing but sit quietly beside his friend as he grieved for his father all over again. He had a feeling that, whatever else they would see it was going to be hard to keep it distinguished from them and us.
Elsewhere in the Enterprise, Scotty Chekov, Sulu and Uhura sat around a table in the mess hall, each with a drink in their hands. They really didn't understand why they were there, obviously what they were being shown concerned the captain, and the doctor and Mr. Spock were his friends so their presence made sense. But why them? Why the ambassador and his wife? No one spoke, just sipped quietly and thought about what they had already seen
Back in the large rec room, Amanda had since dried her tears and now she and Sarek watched as Spock walked about the room. If it were anyone else, it would be called pacing, but Amanda knew better than to comment on it and a warning glance at her husband told him not to do so either.
"You should go to him," she suggested to her son
He stopped and looked at the door before turning towards her, "no, Doctor McCoy is with him. The Captain will be fine. My presence is not required."
"Required? Perhaps not. Appreciated though?" she challenged
Spock seemed to contemplate that for a moment, before Sarek spoke up beside her, "check with your captain, Spock. Is it not your duty as his first officer to ascertain his well being?"
That seemed to make up their son's mind as he quickly left the room without replying. Spock made his way directly towards the captain's quarters and requested entry. He wasted no time in entering upon which he found the captain and the doctor seated side by side on the bed in the dark.
"Captain. Doctor."
"Mr. Spock." Kirk smiled slightly
"I wished to… tell you that according to Captain Pike, the viewing will remain paused until we are all once again at the table. And that I have told the crew to use this time and take a break."
"Of course, thank you Mr. Spock. And I am sorry." Jim said
"The hell are you sorry for?" Bones demanded
"For leaving as I did. For not taking care of the crew. For… for… I don't know Bones, I just am!" By the end Kirk was up off the bed and shouting, he was clearly stressed, the past three weeks and now this, it was a lot to handle. It was all getting to him, getting to them all.
"You just watched a version of your father die! You don't need to be sorry for having a response to that! And the crew is fine, Spock took care of them, and even if he hadn't they know how to take care of themselves. We're worried for you Jim, we all are."
"Doctor McCoy is right, Captain. You needed a moment to gather yourself after witnessing a highly emotional event. So you removed yourself to do so privately. In this you acted admiralty as a captain."
"You're right. You're both right. I'm sorry… I'm…" Kirk felt himself deflate as he sat back in his chair, "I'm worried. You know. About how this is going to affect this other me, you know watching my dad as I grew up that made me, me. So now, without him… will that James T. Kirk even be me?"
"We will simply have to find out. Tomorrow, Captain." Spock spoke, at the looks from the other two he went on, "All of us have been in a high stress situation continuously for the past three weeks. Everyone could use a moment to take a break. As the transmission will only continue when we are all at the table, we can take this as a moment to finally take a break."
Bones was nodding along with Spock as he looked at Kirk, "hate to say it, but he's right. We all could do with some down time."
"Okay, okay. Again, Mr. Spock, your logic is sound. Alert the others, to meet in the rec room tomorrow morning."
"Of course, Captain."
With that, Spock left and passed the message along to the others.
The next morning, everyone once more gathered in the rec room. The break seems to have done some good for everyone's stress levels as it was a much more calm and collected group that met up.
Everyone sat in the same spots as the night before as they got comfortable once more and turned towards the screen
[Iowa Street]
A red corvette is seen turning a corner at high speeds, it is revealed that the driver is a young teen with blond hair. He answers a phone
Everyone was slightly confused, to go from a terrible attack on a Federation ship to watching a teen take a joy ride. While Jim had his suspicions of the identity of the teen, the others appeared to be in the dark
STEP DAD: Hey, are you out of your mind? That car's an antique. You think you can get away with this just 'cause your mother's off-planet? You get your ass back home, now! You live in my house, buddy. You live in my house and that's my car. You get one scratch on that car and I'm going to show you a…
The boy quickly shuts off the conversation and instead starts to blare music
BOY: Yeah! Hey, Johnny!
A police officer is seen speeding after the car
COP: Citizen, pull over
Kirk pulls onto a dirt road and the cop turns to follow, Kirk is seen to be enjoying the chase. Up ahead is shown to be a chasm and Kirk shows no signs of stopping
As the car goes over the chasm Kirk throws himself out of the car and pulls himself up off the edge to stand in front of the officer
"Is this kid out of his goddamn mind?!" Bones yelled at seeing the stunt the kid had just pulled
Everyone was in similar agreement
KIRK: Is there a problem, officer?
COP: Citizen, what is your name?
KIRK: My name is James Tiberius Kirk
To say the crew was shocked would be an understatement. Sure, the captain they all knew and loved was brash and a bit reckless with his own life, to jump out of a car over a cliff as a child though? That was unexpected
But thinking about it, perhaps their captain never was this reckless as a child. Could this be because the James Kirk they were seeing was growing up without George Kirk's kind influence?
As the scene changes they see the planet Vulcan followed by a Vulcan city
[Vulcan School]
TEACHING COMPUTER: What is the formula of the volume of a sphere?
VULCAN BOY: Four - thirds pi times the radius cubed
"Wait, is that how you teach your children? In separate little bowls and by computers?" Sulu asked
"Indeed, we have found that young Vulcan children learn a greater amount when studying on their own and at their own pace." Sarek answered the helmsman's question
A smirk slid across Scotty's face as he glanced at Spock, "taught by computers commander? Aye, now that does explain a few things sir."
Scotty's comment caused a few chuckles from the rest of the command crew and a raised eyebrow from Spock
YOUNG SPOCK: One thousand five hundred forty - eight
TEACHING COMPUTER: What is the…
"Oh! Sarek look! It's Spock! Oh, remember when his cheeks were so squishable!" Amanda cried as the scene focused on one Vulcan child in particular
"Wife," Sarek chided, though both he and his wife knew it was just for show, through the bond his wife knew he was just as pleased to see their son so small again
While Spock himself did not react, the rest of the crew had to try and hold in their giggles and cooing less they offend their Vulcan crewmate
SPOCK: Dimensionality equals the logarithm divided by…
SPOCK: Non-excludability and non-rivalry…
SPOCK: Four - thirds pi times radius cubed
SPOCK: When it is morally praiseworthy, but not morally obligatory
The computer shuts down and Spock has exited his bowl. Other children are seen leaving the classroom, but three children come up behind Spock
VULCAN BULLY 1: Spock
SPOCK: I presume you've prepared new insults for today
"Insults?" the crew of the Enterprise thought to themselves
VULCAN BULLY 1: Affirmative
SPOCK: This is your thirty-fifth attempt to elicit an emotional response from me
VULCAN BULLY 2: You're neither Human nor Vulcan and therefore have no place in this universe
VULCAN BULLY 3: Look at his Human eyes. They look sad, don't they?
VULCAN BULLY 2: Perhaps and emotional response requires physical stimuli
The bully pushes Spock who falls back a step
VULCAN BULLY 2: He's a traitor you know, your father. For marrying her, that Human whore.
SPOCK: Aghhh!
With a cry Spock launches at the bully who had spoken, he throws him down and the bully rolls into the bowl. Spock slides down after him and the others watch as Spock gets on top of the bully and begins to beat him with a distraught look on his face
Spock looked away from the screen and at the table, he had no need to be reminded of such instances, he remembered them well enough on his own. It was… humiliating though, to know that now the crew would also be aware of them
Amanda could do nothing but sigh and close her eyes, she couldn't change what had happened to her son. Though she had never seen or heard what happened exactly, she remembered every time he came home with a split lip, refusing to speak. How he would constantly request to be taught at home. But they couldn't do that, to do so would have been an admittance to everyone watching that they had failed. That Spock was not Vulcan enough. Too human.
Sarek could feel the emotions from both his wife and son, he tried to block off his own anger, but was unsure how successful he was. Amanda felt him stiffen up beside her as they watched and laid a hand on his arm. She could feel that there was more than just anger coming from her husband, but also sadness and remorse for the way their boy had been treated.
[Vulcan Hallway]
SPOCK: They called you a traitor
SAREK: Emotions run deep within our race. In many ways, more deeply than in Humans. Logic offers a serenity Humans seldom experience. The control of feeling, do that they do not control you
SPOCK: You suggest that I should be completely Vulcan, and yet you married a Human
SAREK: As ambassador to Earth, it is my duty to observe and understand Human behavior. Marrying your mother was logical. Spock, you are fully capable of deciding your own destiny. The question you face is: which path will you choose?
Everyone looked at each other as the scene came to an end. But since no one seemed to need to leave, even though many of them were angered at what they had seen, they decided to keep going.
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