A/N
Hi there! I am alive! I am still writing this story! Haha... slowly.
Sincere apologies for the long (unplanned) hiatus. I promise you, I absolutely will not leave this story unfinished. There will be an ending, it just may take me a little while to get around to it. But for now, here's chapter twenty-two. Please do review if you feel that way inclined, and may I also suggest as it has been so long since the last instalment that you maybe re-read the last one or two parts so you're all up to date of where everyone is at.
Enjoy! xo
EDIT 30/06/14 - Guys i'm so so so sorry that this initially posted without line breaks. When I coped it across from my Word doc it did, but removed them all for me. I've now added page breaks.
Chapter twenty-two
Jim walked a little further along the beach.
It wasn't warm, nor was it cold, just the perfect temperature that he was comfortable in the loose-fitting casual clothes he was wearing.
Glancing ahead he noticed a young couple playing in the sand, a child of around two years old paddling in the sea, short golden curls dancing in the sunshine.
She toddled to her father, laughing as she did so and he picked her up, spinning her around before balancing her on his hip and turning to face Jim.
Realisation striking him, Jim opened his mouth to call out.
"Jim? Jim!"
Jim sat upright, breathing heavily, sweat breaking on his brow.
"Your brain activity was off the charts," Dr Phlox explained as Jim slumped back against his pillows.
He'd been kept in sickbay for monitoring until his injuries from the shuttle were entirely healed.
"I was having… a dream," Jim said quietly, trying desperately to cling to the mental image as it began to slip from his mind like sand in an hourglass.
"What kind of dream?" Phlox asked and Jim pushed his hair up off his forehead.
"I don't remember," Jim sighed, closing his eyes tightly for a few seconds before opening them again.
"Dreams can be powerful things. Is it possible that perhaps some of the information you gave the Captain could have been the result of a vivid dream whilst aboard the shuttlecraft?"
Jim narrowed his eyes.
"If you think I'm crazy…"
"I am not suggesting that you're… crazy, merely that maybe some of the details could have been imagined or embellished unintentionally by your imagination. I can verify certain parts of your account, so I know there is truth. For example I was able to detect in your blood a compound that allows you to heal faster than any other human I have ever seen, from your brainwaves I can detect some form of underlying telepathic bond, and from the scar on your abdomen it is apparent that-"
"Wait. Did you say you could detect my bond with Spock?" Jim asked, interrupting the Denobulan.
"Yes, I believe I am able to see your mental link amongst your brain activity. It's a long-established connection so will take a long time to fully fade away."
"Does that mean he can feel that I'm still alive?" Jim asked, delving into his own mind, trying to find the small part of his brain that held the weak connection to Spock.
The Doctor hesitated.
"I can't say. Perhaps if we were to contact Vulcan, we could ask the advice of someone with more knowledge than I on this particular matter. I do not profess to be an expert on Vulcan bonds," he said and Jim pushed the pad of his thumb to his temple, allowing his fingertips to touch his face and closing his eyes, trying to focus on finding the link inside his head.
"Your Vulcan crew member, might she know? The one who was here before?" he asked and the Doctor looked at him sympathetically.
"Mr Kirk… I'm no expert in this kind of thing, but if what you are saying is the case and you really did fall through a singularity to end up here, it is possible that your family may have already reached the end of their natural lives. Space-time is an incredibly complicated thing, and not something that is even fully understood. I don't know that we'll be able to send you back to them, and driving yourself to insanity with a partially broken mental bond might not be the best course of action," the Doctor said, hands clasping behind his back and a sympathetic look in his eyes.
Jim nodded, biting the inside of his lip. The thought had already crossed his mind. What had it been that Spock prime had said when he had gone through the black hole with Nero? A few seconds had ended up being years? Spock could already be dead; the kids could be elderly or also dead. His whole life as he had left it could be gone forever.
Every second he waited was a second too long.
"Is it possible to speak with Captain Archer?" Jim asked and the Doctor gave a short nod before bustling away.
Jim screwed up his face in concentration, pressing his thumb harder against his temple.
I'm trying Spock, I'm here, and I'm alive, and I'm trying. I'll get back to you. Just hang in there.
"This'd be a lot easier if you kept still kid," Bones said gruffly as Christopher continued to squirm away from him.
"I don't like it," he muttered, eyes tightly closed. His body relaxed a little and David ran a soothing hand over his.
"Almost done Chris," he said and Chris gave a small nod.
"Ok, everything looks good," the Doctor said as he finished checking over the healing scars, scanning them before physically examining them.
"When do you want to start on reducing the scarring?" he asked as Chris opened his eyes and gave David's hand a grateful squeeze.
"I… uh… I'll think about it," he said weakly and the Doctor nodded tiredly. He left the two young men alone in his office for a moment.
Chris had pulled his shirt back over his head as quickly as was possible and was refusing to meet David's eye.
"It's ok, Chris, you're doing really well. You don't have to be scared to come and get checked over. He doesn't need to do any treatment, nothing is going to hurt you, he's just looking, ok?"
Chris sighed and ran a hand through his hair.
"I know it's stupid… I just… I'm scared of hospitals, doctors, all of it. I don't like it."
"I know you don't. But it's over now, no more for two whole weeks so let's just forget about it. You want to go get some ice cream or something?" David offered and Chris raised an eyebrow.
"You forget Vulcans are desert creatures, right?"
"Shit. Yeah… um, coffee?" David suggested, smirking a little and scratching the back of his head. Their relationship was going from strength to strength, and David had been Christopher's rock through his healing process. He was still being checked over by Bones on a fortnightly basis, but wouldn't need it for much longer. It had been three months, and he was nearing a state where he was as physically healed as he was going to get.
"Coffee would be great," Chris said with a small smile. David held his gaze for a moment, leaning closer until their foreheads rested against each others, just relaxing in the contentedness of their bond through the close physical contact.
He allowed his eyes to flutter closed, and smiled into the kiss as Christopher's soft lips pressed against his own.
Thanks for coming with me today. I know I'm stupid to hate all of this stuff but I remember a lot more than I'd like about what happened. I can remember the initial surgery, being put under, I can remember voices and pulling in my chest and the burning and… it's just… the worst. Thank you for helping me keep calm today.
David smiled slightly and broke the kiss.
"You're welcome. And when you want to talk about everything you remember, I'll be here," he said and Chris gave him a grateful look before their lips reconnected.
"Hey, no canoodling in my office," David's fathers voice interrupted them and they both turned to face the doorway where he was standing.
"Chris, I'm referring you a psychologist to get some therapy about everything you remember, but I've signed you off as healthy enough to go back to the Academy as of today, so long as you keep up your physiotherapy for that arm," he said and Chris nodded, self-consciously flexing his left arm slightly where some of the muscle had been removed due to all the damage and it was a little smaller than the right.
"Yes sir," he said solemnly.
"Hey don't sound so miserable. The one that Seren's been talkin' to seems to have done her the world of good, right?" he pointed out and Chris gave a small nod.
"Well I'll soften the blow with some good news then. Your blood is circulating normally again, so no more two-weekly checks and you should be all fine to get back to doing pretty much anything you want to do, exercise should be fine… as should… well, sex-"
David cut off his father with a glare and the Doctor smirked a little before looking back at the part-Vulcan.
"You seem stressed, kid," the Doctor said, sitting down at his desk and looking at him carefully. Chris could also feel David's eyes burning into the side of his head as he refused to look at him.
"I'm worried about-"
"About Leo, right?" the Doctor interrupted. Chris nodded again and sighed.
"Look, Chris, I'll tell you the same thing I told Emily. He'll come back when he's good and ready to. I'm pretty sure that I know where he is, and that he's safe," he said and Chris tensed slightly, David giving his hand a reassuring squeeze.
"I just… doesn't he realize that we need him here? It's bad enough that Spock is gone, let alone Leo running away too."
"We can go looking for him?" David suggested.
"I don't know if that's a good idea," Bones interrupted.
"Bones… he's my brother, and we just lost our Dad. We need to be all together right now, not half a planet apart, assuming he's still even on Earth," Chris sighed and the Doctor looked thoughtfully at the elder twin for a moment.
"How much do you know about Tiberius Kirk?"
Leo stretched his back against the weight of the pack on it, rolling his shoulders and clicking his neck from side to side. He removed the heavy backpack and rummaged for his canteen of water, taking a large swig before putting it back.
He sat for a moment on a boulder beside the path, a landscape of jagged mountains and sparkling silver lakes set out beneath his feet, deep blue slate punctuated with sections of parched green grass. Summer was still a few months off, but there had been little in the way of rain recently.
He removed his communicator from his pocket and looked at it, as he'd got into the habit of doing.
It had been over four days since Chris had last attempted to contact him, over a week since Seren had, around the same since Bones had, and almost a month since Emily.
Emily.
He'd been hiding out at his Great-grandfather Tiberius' cottage, deep in the mountains of Wales. The house was completely isolated and built into the side of a steep hill, set in acres of its own land bordered by dry stone walls that looked like they were far too unstable to remain standing on their own. Jim had maintained ownership of it, and had kept it habitable with occasional visits. Leo had accompanied him twice as a child, but his only memories were of counting his steps on the uneven slate floor and running his hands over the cold walls as he tried to not trip over. Now that he could see the old house was much kinder to him, even if it did hold many painful images.
Framed on the walls were images of Tiberius himself, of George Kirk, and finally of Jim as a baby and as a young boy.
Leo had taken them all down and left them in one of the other bedrooms; face down on the mattress along with the only mirror in the house. He didn't welcome the shiver that ran down his spine on seeing his own reflection.
Walking was helping him to keep his mind clear. Leo had picked his way up every path of every mountain he could find, and then made some of his own when the real paths ran out. He knew he'd be barely recognisable when he got home. His hair hadn't been cut and was growing long enough to get into his eyes unless he pushed it back constantly, and he estimated he had gained a significant amount of weight. All the muscle he had lost through being unwell he had replaced, and then some more.
He'd begin every day with a run from the cottage door, down to the nearby reservoir and around. Scaling an old stone wall would bring him back on another path, completing his six mile round trip. If he was cold he would light the fire. This had taken practice.
Christopher had learned things like that from Jim, but not being able to see prohibited Leo from gaining the same experiences as a boy, and he was having to figure them out for himself now as a young man alone.
He flicked through the menu on his communicator before settling on the only person he'd called in almost three months and pressing call again, for what he kept telling himself was the last time.
He held the device to his ear and closed his eyes as the wind whipped up around him. There were a few moments of silence and then a small click as the device connected.
Hi, you've reached Jim Kirk. I'm not around right now, but if you leave me a message I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks!
He sighed and closed the device.
Three months without Jim. Without anybody after he'd run off. It had been too long.
He steeled himself for the telling off and opened his communicator again; calling the one person he was expecting to yell at him the most for his absence.
It barely rang once before there was an angry voice at the other end of the line.
"Leo? What… where are you? Are you alright?" Chris demanded and Leo took a deep breath.
"I'm fine. I'm safe. I… I think I'm almost ready to come back now."
Chris sighed and Leo let his head fall into his empty hand, propped up with his elbow on his thigh.
"I've been worried about you, asshole. Why did you run off like that?!"
Leo looked at his boots, hoping they'd answer for him. After a few seconds he began to speak.
"I… I don't know. I couldn't take it. As soon as Spock said he was going off planet I just… that was it. I couldn't be around. I needed to get my mind clear, figure out what I want to do and how to move forwards," he said, glancing back up at the landscape for a moment as he waited for his twin to respond.
"Did you find the answers you were looking for?" Chris asked.
Leo was taken aback for a moment. He hadn't expected such a mature question. He'd expected maybe some yelling, or an insult, or a threat of what Chris would do to him if he didn't come home soon. He paused for thought, eyes following the journey of a small group of windswept sheep as they made their way down the slopes below the path on which he was perched.
"No. But I found other answers, and more questions, and these are things I'm not going to figure out alone. I'm coming home Chris, I'm coming back."
"You look great," David smiled as Chris met him for dinner. He was wearing a black button down shirt and dark blue slim-leg jeans, finished off with black boots, the ones he usually wore when he would ride his hover-bike. It wasn't cold enough to need a jacket, but David was wearing one anyway.
"Thanks, so do you," Chris said with a genuine smile. David was dressed similarly, but in a white shirt with a battered dark brown leather jacket over it, his jeans a slightly looser cut.
"So, dinner?" David asked and Chris swallowed before meeting his eyes.
"You didn't book a table?" David guessed, trying to read the expression on Chris' face.
"Well… I was thinking that tonight maybe we could go for…" Chris paused and took a step closer to David, lowering his voice as he did so and leaning in closer to his ear. "Take out?"
David tensed slightly and a wave of lust coursed through their bond.
"You're ready to… you sure that you're…" David started and Chris put his hands on either side of his face.
"Yes."
They paused for a long moment, looking into each others eyes.
"Your place?" David asked.
"My place," Chris agreed.
Chris, I already told you, if you're not ready… we can wait, I can wait forever. Just because you're allowed to now doesn't mean that we have to immediately-
Shut up. I… I'm falling in love with you, ok? I want to… do this right. Slowly. We've got all night to just take our time, do whatever we want. If we do that, we do that. If we don't, then we don't.
Chris pulled David close, connecting their lips firmly.
Just… shut up and get in the car.
"Keptin?"
Spock did not glance up from the PADD he was surveying in great detail but beckoned to the familiar voice with one hand.
"You have reciewed a transmission from Earth, sir," Chekov said quietly.
Spock looked up from the PADD momentarily, dark eyes boring into the smaller man before him.
"It was… Doctor McCoy…" Chekov trailed off. He looked down at his own feet. He'd been visibly unhappy during the entire length of their mission so far. He did his bare minimum duties, and without any of his usual level of enthusiasm.
"Was it important?" Spock asked and Chekov looked back to him.
"He did not say Sir," Chekov answered meekly.
"Did he request me return his communication?"
Chekov ran a hand through his curls and met the Vulcan's gaze.
"He is still on the line, Sir. I can hawe it patched through for you to take in here?" he offered.
Spock thought for several seconds before giving a small, single nod.
Chekov retreated from the room and moments later the comm. screen burst into life, a pixelated image appearing before clearing up after a few seconds.
"Oh, so you are still alive," the Doctor spat.
"Sometimes I wish I was not," Spock responded blankly.
His response seemed to take the Doctor by surprise and his prickly exterior retracted somewhat.
"How are you, Spock?" McCoy asked and the Vulcan straightened in his seat.
"I am still in a state of considerable emotional distress. I cannot sleep. I am functioning at a reduced level of performance to the degree of sixty four point-"
"It sucks, don't it? Grief. Losing someone you love is… one of the worst kinds of pain a person can experience, but its something almost everybody will experience. But Spock, you need to come home. You're making this worse for them. They need you Spock."
Spock closed his eyes for a few moments before opening them again, blinking back the tears that were rapidly welling up.
"It has been three months Leonard. I feel no different than the moment I lost him. How can I go on?" Spock's voice broke. The tears fell. He ordered the computer to lock the doors of his ready-room. Only Chekov could enter now, but he would know better than to override the access.
"You need to come home, Spock. You gotta be with the people you love, the people you care about. Surround yourself with support and comfort and it will get easier. It won't go away, and you aint never gonna stop missin' that stupid pain in the ass… but he wouldn't have wanted you to leave the kids like this," the Doctor sighed. He ran a hand through his hair and scratched at his stubbly cheek, grimacing.
"Leo's still MIA," he reported. "Chris is getting better, discharged him from my care today… he's going back to the Academy, determined as hell to make Jim proud. Seren is back at work, stayed here in San Fran and she's seeing a grief counsellor, working through things in her mind and-"
"If you are going to suggest that this counsellor may be of some assistance to me you are mistaken," Spock interrupted.
McCoy fell silent for a few moments before answering.
"He's a Vulcan. He specialises in grief involving the sudden severance of a mental bond."
Both men were silent for a few long moments.
"And how are your children?" Spock asked quietly. He quickly wiped his face with the back of his hand.
McCoy looked taken aback for a few seconds before answering.
"They're… fine I guess. Joanna is seeing some guy that was on the ship that day, I don't know if you met him, he was on the bridge, kid by the name of Tucker. Seems nice enough. Emily spent a lot of hours crying over your son who decided to run away and has since got herself together and is away with some friends right now. David and Chris are… adapting to their life as a bonded couple rather than best buddies. Seem to be doing okay at it," he reeled off and Spock nodded.
"It is pleasing to know that they are in good health," Spock said mechanically.
McCoy let out a deep sigh.
"Molly Scott is doing fine too, she's working for Starfleet. Bypassed most of the Academy but she's still taking some classes alongside working. Nyota and Scotty seem to have created quite the brain between them there, Starfleet have got her hacking all kinds of stuff, beefing up their security. Never seen anything like her since Chekov."
"She always had enormous potential from a very young age," Spock said and McCoy nodded before pausing.
"Spock I… I found you someone to talk to. I really hope that you'll take me up on this, because it wasn't the easiest thing to work out. He's here now, and he's… well… he's gone through exactly the same thing as you, and I'm hoping that if I can't convince you to come home, that he can. I'll leave you guys to it," he said, immediately standing up and vacating the view of the comm. screen and leaving Spock to stare at an empty seat for a few moments before being met with a very familiar face.
"Mr Spock."
"Mr Spock," he raised the Ta'al in greeting to his older counterpart.
"I will start by saying that what you are going through is the greatest hurt I ever faced, a pain that has never subsided but over time has dulled. I am hoping I can help you come to terms with it. I… was deeply saddened to learn you had lost him so young," he said slowly and Spock blinked hard, forcing back any more tears that might threaten to spill.
"We were robbed of many more years we might have shared," he said and Spock Prime nodded.
"Indeed you were. My Jim was also taken from me too soon," he said, silently inviting his younger counterpart to ask him how he had died.
"I wish that I could tell you that my Jim died peacefully in his sleep of natural causes; that it was in the way we expected. But that would be a lie. The truth in fact is that the situation was quite similar to the one which you find yourself in today."
Spock Prime paused before continuing.
"My Jim was shot. In my timeline Doctor McCoy created an incredibly valuable serum. It could be used as a cure for a great many diseases across a number of humanoid species. The serum passed all trials and was approved for production. They said that it might save millions of lives, perhaps billions, but some were not enthused by this prospect. A select group of individuals believed that this serum had to be stopped, that Doctor McCoy had to be stopped. Every Thursday evening at around nine, Jim would meet Doctor McCoy and they would go for a drink. This routine did not go unnoticed and they were targeted by this group. A shot intended to kill Doctor McCoy was taken by Jim, who pushed him aside. He was killed instantly and there was nothing anyone could do to help him," Spock Prime finished and Spock stared at him for a few moments.
"He died protecting someone he cared about a great deal, much like your Jim. Spock, you must take comfort in this fact. Jim valued the lives of others, including yours, your children's, and everyone aboard both ships above his own. He gave himself so that many others would live and ultimately I believe in any existing other alternate reality version of Jim; that is the way he will die. That is his destiny."
Spock was silent for a few long moments, staring at his counterpart's wizened face.
"I have never asked. Did you… have children? With him?" Spock asked and Spock Prime shook his head.
"No. We did not. We had intended to perhaps adopt, I always knew he would have made the most excellent parent. We seemed to just never get around to it. Watching your Jim with your children was a highly fulfilling experience for me. Spock… forgive me, if I cause you upset with this remark… but I believe Jim would be-" Spock Prime paused before continuing, "-disappointed with how you have handled the situation. Your children may be adults now, but they require your presence at this time. Remember they are feeling the same pain as you, now made worse by the fact you have also become absent from their lives."
Spock remained silent as his mind raced.
He knew he was right.
Warm hands traced over firm muscles and taut skin. Small gasps and whimpers escaped from lips, eyes falling closed at times, as much as they tried to remain open.
Christopher's hands grasped at fistfuls of the bedsheets as David continued to carefully prepare him, drawing low moans from his throat.
"S-so good," Chris whispered, eyes rolling back as his prostate was nudged again.
David smirked, leaning down to kiss his thigh, one hand splayed on his lower back, thumb rubbing reassuring circles into the skin.
You doing ok?
David could tell Chris wasn't entirely fine. He'd insisted on the lights being off entirely and had seemed hesitant at first to remove any of his own clothing, then had insisted David be the one to top while he lay on his front.
"M'fine," he mumbled against the pillow.
"Chris come on… I feel like I'm… forcing you. What's wrong, huh?" David asked gently, carefully withdrawing his fingers and laying down beside his bondmate, blue eyes pleading with his brown ones for an honest answer through the dim light.
"I… I don't know. I'm nervous. I don't want to mess up, I don't want you to not like it, or not like me. I know this is the first time we've done this without me either being under the influence of ridiculous hormones or really mad at you and treating you terribly… so… I want things to be right I guess," he answered bashfully.
David smiled and leant in to kiss the tip of his nose.
"You're stupid sometimes," he said, keeping his forehead pressed against Christopher's.
"Why?" Chris asked, furrowing his brow.
"Because, Chris I… you're amazing. You're not going to mess up, and this is already just right. You just need to stop being so shy, ok? I love the way you look and I want to be with you," he glanced down at his insistent erection and smirked, looking back up to Chris, "Apparently I want to be with you pretty damn badly."
Chris gave a small chuckle and shifted closer, wrapping his arms around the smaller man and kissing him deeply, their chests pressed together, legs entwined. They kissed until they were breathless, growing needier, more passionate, more desperate.
"I… Are you sure?" Chris whispered, breaking the kiss quite suddenly.
"Am I sure what?" David asked patiently.
"That you want me?" Chris asked and David held him closer, placing a kiss on his temple.
"I want you… in every kind of way. I just want you," he said sincerely, eyes locked with Chris' through the dim light that was getting through the blinds.
Chris seemed to finally accept the answer and rolled them so he was on his back, submissive beneath his bondmate, legs rising to wrap around David's waist and pulling him closer.
"Wait a second," David chuckled, biting the inside of his lip as he gripped himself at the base and gently pressed against the prepared entrance before pushing forwards very slowly.
Chris used his grip with his legs to pull David all the way down in one movement, shifting his hips slightly and looking a little uncomfortable once he was fully sheathed.
"You good?" David asked breathlessly, using every ounce of his self control to not just thrust mindlessly into the tight heat until he hit his own release.
"I'm great," Chris whispered back, reconnecting their lips in a gentle, sensuous kiss.
David began to move very slowly and soon established a rhythm that was drawing small gasps of pleasure from them both. It took them a while to realise they could feel each others pleasure as well as their own, echoing through their bond and magnifying, growing larger and larger until neither of them could stand it any longer and in a blaze of dizzying pleasure, they reached a peak together, grasping at each other and forgetting anything but each other for a few long moments.
Chris fell asleep first, leaving his bondmate to push his hair back off his sweaty forehead and place a small kiss there.
"I love you," he mumbled, wrapping him carefully in his arms and closing his eyes.
David woke up in an empty bed, the sound of the shower running telling him where to find his bondmate. He sat up and stretched, his muscles aching in a pleasant way from the activities of the previous night.
He stood up and let the sheets fall away, walking naked towards the bathroom where he found the door open and Chris showering with his back to the door. David leant casually in the doorway and waited to be noticed.
Chris turned and glanced at him, smirking as he continued to wash. David took it as an invitation and crossed the room, joining him in the glass shower cubicle and giggling as Chris dragged him under the water with him immediately.
"Morning," Chris grinned, foaming up shampoo in his hair.
"Morning yourself," David smiled, leaning across and picking up the bottle of shower gel before beginning to wash.
It took seconds before they were both giggling and covering each other with various shower products.
"You got shampoo in my eye! Asshole," Chris pouted, bringing the game to an abrupt end as David tried to apologise.
The door buzzer rang and both men looked at each other, both expecting the other to leave the warmth of the shower to go and get it.
"It's your apartment!" David protested as Chris sighed and grabbed his towel, wrapping it around his waist and grabbing David's towel to cover his upper body before padding out into the lounge and to the door.
He peeked first, then flung the door open once he saw who was outside.
"You… are an asshole," he muttered as Leo stepped forwards and they hugged each other tightly.
"I know I am. I'm sorry," he sighed.
"S'ok. Just glad to see you."
"It's weird being back," he admitted as they let go of each other.
"Hey! You took my towel!" David protested loudly from the bathroom. Chris smirked and directed his twin to the couch before going back to the bathroom to return the towel and then grab himself some clothes.
Once he was dressed he walked back out into the lounge, roughly towelling his hair dry and getting a proper look at his twin.
"You look less like you might drop dead at any moment," he commented as he looked at his brother thoroughly. The colour had returned to his skin, and he'd gained weight and muscle. He had stubble on his face and his hair was longer than Chris had ever seen it before.
Leo gave a weak smile.
"Yeah. Feeling better. You look better too. David taking good care of you?" he asked as David walked out from the bedroom wearing jeans and carrying his shirt, towelling his hair dry with the other hand.
"Don't you know it," David smirked, wrapping an arm around Chris from behind and kissing the back of his neck.
Leo looked away and Chris cleared his throat, causing David to let go.
"Well that's good, I'm uh… really happy you guys got things worked out. Was worried maybe you'd never be friends again," Leo said weakly.
"So how are you finding seeing? And where have you been hiding?" Chris asked.
"The hiding… Tiberius' cottage… the seeing… well…" Leo trailed off, looking down at his feet. "I kind of want Seren to undo it," he said, looking up and meeting his brother's eye.
"Really? But you always wanted it."
"But now that I have it, it isn't what I thought it would be. I… can we talk about something else?" he asked with a sigh.
David and Chris met each other's eye for a moment.
What's the matter with him? He's like… he's not my brother anymore. He's totally different.
"So, Leo… you going to do your final term of school now? Graduate then go to Starfleet?" David asked, pausing before mentally answering Chris' question.
Everyone has changed because of what's happened. Look at how different you are than a few months ago… it's just the way things are I guess.
"I… yeah I guess so. Hey is Emily around? I called her when I got back but she… her communicator went right to voicemail?"
David shifted awkwardly.
"She uh… changed her frequency. She's in Europe, London probably. Not sure what she's doing though."
"Can I have her new number?" Leo asked and Chris looked at his twin sympathetically.
"She asked us not to give it to you, but you're welcome to use my comm. and call her, she said she wanted to say something to you," Chris explained.
"Why doesn't she want me to be able to contact her?" Leo asked, screwing up his face in confusion.
"Because you broke her heart," David said abruptly.
David, go easy on him. Last thing I want to do is scare him into hiding again.
Leo was silent for a moment, staring out of the window at the bustling city below.
"I never meant to hurt her," he said quietly.
"I know that, you just need to reassure her of that. I'm sure that she'll understand, you know, it's been a really tough time for us and you needed your space. You needed to be away and by yourself to interpret how you feel about this whole thing with Ji-"
"Don't," Leo interrupted his twin, closing his eyes momentarily.
"Just… don't say it. I don't want to hear his name. That's why I left. I can't hear it, I can't think about it. Is Spock back yet?" Leo asked and David snorted.
"Selfish asshole is still off on some pointless mission somewhere," he said. Chris and Leo were both staring at the floor, both miserable.
"And Seren?" Leo asked.
"She's here, working at the hospital. She had a month off but then went back, she's been talking a little about Starfleet medical, seeing if she could get on an accelerated program, train up to be a doctor on a ship and then head out into space," Chris explained and Leo shook his head.
"No. That's all wrong. That doesn't sound like her at all. She's never wanted to go out into space," he said and Chris shrugged.
"Everyone has changed now, nothing is like it used to be," he said and Leo stood up, walking slowly over to the window and looking out and then up at the endless blue of the sky. He pressed one hand against the glass and continued to stare into the abyss above them, longing for when life had been so simple.
Christopher found his first fortnight back at the academy both mentally and physically exhausting.
David had switched track and was now taking classes for accelerated command track, meaning they shared only two classes a week rather than most of their timetable as they had before. It also meant he had evening classes, meaning their time together was drastically reduced.
Chris didn't mind too much, though it was a big change from the days where they had nothing to do but spend time together and wait for his injuries to settle down. He noticed himself getting slightly breathless if he took more than a few flights of stairs at the academy building, but he just passed it off as nerves due to being back.
Leaving his biochem class he turned a corner into a quiet hallway, meeting a familiar face who looked like a deer caught in the headlights as their eyes met.
"I tried to call you," Chris said as Molly glanced around, seemingly looking for a way to escape.
"Yeah I uh… I didn't really have a lot to say," she said quietly.
The look on her face was hard to read. Remorse was there certainly. Guilt. Shame.
"I'm not mad at you," Chris said quickly and she seemed to relax a little bit.
"I'm never going to be able to thank you enough for saving my life," she said quietly, eyes all of a sudden brimming with tears.
"It's ok," he shrugged and she shook her head.
"It isn't. You almost died Chris… and it was because I was being stupid. I didn't think about the risk of-"
"You weren't being stupid, ok? Things happen. I'm all healed up now and I'll live. It isn't a big deal," he said, trying to sound casual.
"But I ruined your career!" she protested and he snorted with laughter.
"What? Taking my shirt off? That wasn't a career. That was a pathetic teenage rebellion to get back at Spock for having such a gigantic stick up his ass. I mean sure, the money was nice, but it would have all stopped eventually anyway. I'm better now, I'm… happier now I guess. More fulfilled. Three more years and I'll graduate and I can get out into space, following in Jim's footsteps, making him proud of me," he said and Molly looked visibly shocked. A single tear escaped her eye and trickled slowly down her face.
"I… I'm sorry, about Jim," she almost whispered.
"We all are," Chris said quietly. Surprising even himself he stepped forwards and pulled her into a friendly hug.
"I'll see you around, okay?" he said as he let her go and stepped back.
She nodded and sniffled before straightening her reds and striding down the corridor determinedly.
He did the same. Getting his emotions back under control before heading in the opposite direction to where Molly had just gone.
His comm. sounded in his pocket and he removed the device, frowning at the caller ID before bringing it to his ear.
"Kirk here," he said expressionlessly.
"Son," Spock sounded tired.
"Spock," Chris said flatly.
"I am home," Spock said and Chris closed his eyes for a moment as his emotions surged again, fighting back tears that were doing their best to escape him.
"Took you long enough. Are you at the house?" Chris asked.
"I am not. I believed it to be of great importance for me to visit… Jim's memorial. I will be returning home shortly. Would you perhaps care to join me?" he asked and Chris sighed.
"I've got a class starting in ten minutes… I can't miss it. Could I just meet you at the house later?" he asked.
"Of course," he said shortly. There was a moments hesitation before the call clicked off.
Chris sighed and sent a quick text to Leo and Seren as he walked to class.
Spock is back, he sounded weird when he called me so watch yourselves.
His class passed quickly and he was soon walking from the academy back to where he had left his bike that morning. A sense of unease crept up on the part-Vulcan as he walked, as if someone was following him or watching him. He glanced around casually, though he spotted nothing of suspicion and shook it off as merely his heightened emotional sensitivity getting the better of him, making him paranoid.
He walked the remaining two blocks and approached his bike, exactly as he had left it except with the addition of a man waiting near to it who watched him as he walked over.
The man was nothing remarkable to the eye. Average height and build, brown hair, and looked fully human with no obvious alien features to be seen.
Chris approached, pulling the keys for his bike from his pocket as he did so.
"Christopher Kirk?" the man approached him and Chris met his eye.
"Can I help you?" he asked suspiciously.
"Maybe. I wanted to ask you about the alien creatures you saw that day on the Enterprise? The robot-like beings?" the man asked.
"I didn't see anything on the ship," Chris answered quickly.
"Sure you did. They're calling them the Borg, right?"
Chris narrowed his eyes.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"Nobody. A friend. I just want to know how far you'd be willing to go to take them down, get revenge for your father."
Chris looked at him for a moment before getting onto his bike and putting the key in the ignition, staring the bike and speeding off, the man watching silently the whole time.
"Creep," Chris muttered as he drove towards home, thinking nothing more of it as he turned his attention to Spock.
