Title: Many Bells Down (4/?)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairing: Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Summary: Sequel to Along Comes a Stranger; Riverside ‘verse. Dating Bones and Spock is wonderful, better than Jim imagined. Then Bones’ mother arrives, Spock receives the offer of a lifetime outside of Riverside, and Jim has to make a series of choices that could completely change his – and ultimately Riverside’s – future.
Previous Parts: 1 | 2 | 3

I just want to say… I am afraid. I am deeply, deeply afraid for our boys. :\

Part Four

The return car ride from the airport is quieter, if somewhat less tense, than the ride to the airport. Spock is tired; Jim and Leonard both recognize the weariness in his face. The lawyer says, when McCoy asks, that the flight did not bother him. Thereafter, however, Spock is silent and so are Spock’s boyfriends. Jim’s gut is adamant that whatever business occurred in Boston, Spock has brought it home with him.

“Scotty!” Jim grins as he slides onto a stool at the end of the diner counter. “Hey, man! Is it semester break already?”

Uhura, who had been chatting brightly with Montgomery Scott before Jim’s arrival, leans over the other side of the counter and swats at Kirk’s head. “You know it’s not!” she says.

Scotty blinks at the pair. “I’m home for the weekend.”

Jim loops an arm around his friend’s neck and gives him a man hug. “Good to see you, seriously. How’s classes?”

Scotty burbles something through the straw in his glass of coca cola.

Jim interprets it as “Easy, yeah? College is a cake walk.”

Uhura huffs. “Not everybody is a genius, Kirk. Some of us have to study!”

Jim’s grin gets bigger. “But Scotty and I are geniuses!”

Nyota tries to stab his hand with a fork. He wisely cries, “Mom! Uhura wants to hurt me!”

Winona Kirk, some feet away, pulls out an empty plate from a shelf and bangs it down on the countertop with a harsh clang. The glare she levels on the three younger adults could melt stone.

Jim wants to know, “What’s pissed her off?”

The waitress shrugs. “She has been like that since the morning shift ended.” Uhura gives him a meaningful look; it reads go find out and fix it pronto.

Scotty, the bastard, nudges Jim with his elbow.

Jim accepts his mission, shoves his hands into his jacket pockets (they are sweating a little; he gets nervous when Winona’s really mad), and edges in Winona’s direction with a few short steps at a time until he is opposite her at the register.

“What is it, Jimmy?” his mother snaps at him. She then curses and repeatedly stabs one of the register keys with a scary viciousness.

“Um.”

Her blue eyes meet his blue eyes. “What do you need?“

“Er, can I help… with something?”

She looks no less upset, though her mouth softens slightly. “No, Jim. Go and visit with Scotty.” She turns away.

“You are angry at me?” he blurts out. Jim knows that she isn’t, but it’s the best way to broach the subject.

She shakes her head. “How could I be? You just arrived.”

“So… this isn’t like when I walked in, innocent as a newborn, and you came at me with the broom? I totally hadn’t done anything that time, either.”

She rounds on him. “You naughty child, you know exactly what you did! And don’t you ever re-label the salt and sugar containers again!”

“I was bored.”

“You were bad.”

“You love me anyway.”

“Sometimes I wonder if I shouldn’t.”

He comes around the counter and drapes an arm over her shoulders. “What’s the matter, Mom?”

Winona sighs. “Oh, you know I’d tell you eventually, Jim.”

“I would rather know now, in case I have to go find my brass knuckles and beat somebody up.”

She doesn’t laugh at that. Jim sobers and waits.

His mother looks out one of the windows of the diner. “I shouldn’t be mad but I am. You know how hard I worked to get this place up and running.” She sighs again, more slowly and deeply this time. “I’ve had an offer for the Enterprise, Jim.”

He goes cold. “An offer? Like Jose?”

She frowns at her son. “Jose?”

“Yeah. Some guy in a monkey suit with dark hair about to here—” He indicates his shoulder. “—came by the garage two days ago and said he wants to buy it.” Jim doesn’t mention that Jose might be willing to sell. The thought turns his stomach.

“Yes, that sounds like the man. His name is Mr. Khan Singh. Hm,” she says more to herself, “so he isn’t solely scouring our block.”

Jim pulls away from her. “Shit, he’s been elsewhere?”

She nods. “To the gift shop down the street and that Chinese take-out place; at least, those are the ones I heard about. He told me that he owns the land around the corner—you know, where that derelict building used to be? Mr. Singh said his company needs to purchase this whole area for their construction project.” She puts her hands on her hips. “Well why does he need property out by the highway, if that’s the case?”

Jim cannot find a voice to answer with; he is disturbed.

She rubs his arm. “Anyway, it’s not important, Jimmy. I won’t give this place up, not for an emperor’s gold! It’s my dream,” she says fiercely.

Kirk sags against the counter when she walks away to speak to Sulu in the kitchen.

Gaila’s Khan, it seems, is determined to push into his way into Riverside. Jim realizes, too, in that moment he might be helpless to stop Khan.

Bo Peep bats at Jim’s sneaker shoelaces. He picks her up, saying, “Bad kitty.” She scratches him and scrambles out of his arms. Entering the living room, Spock bends down with arms open. Bo Peep practically leaps into them. She rubs her chin under Spock’s, purring.

Jim sighs. He’ll never be able to win with Bo Peep. Never.

Leonard, lounging next to Jim on the couch, switches the television channel. He and Jim aren’t exactly easy with one another but they are on speaking terms again. Still, Jim cannot help but ask the man, “Why aren’t you at Spock’s?”

“Why isn’t Spock at Spock’s?” retorts Leonard.

“Leonard wished to collect his unclean clothes from his room. Eleanor has declared tomorrow to be a laundry day,” explains Spock from somewhere in the kitchen. “I will admit, while Leonard may have had a simple reason for coming here, my motive in assisting him was quite ulterior.”

Jim and Leonard both look at the dark-haired man. “Excuse me?” Leonard says loudly.

Spock feeds a pleased Bo Peep bits of tuna. “Yes?” he asks absently.

Leonard discards the remote into Jim’s lap and sits up straight. “You can’t say you have an ulterior motive and then not tell us what it is, Spock!”

Spock is unperturbed by the heated statement. “I assumed it would be obvious at this point.”

Jim drops his head back against the couch with a long sigh. “It’s because you think we’re being stupid.”

Leonard whips his head around to narrow his eyes at Jim. “Speak for yourself, kid.”

Jim says to Spock, ignoring Leonard’s glare, “See? He’s got his head stuck in his ass again.”

Leonard sputters and kicks at Jim’s leg, no doubt unable to think of a maturer response.

“OWW FUCK! Now he’s abusive! Save me, Spock!”

“Damn it, Jim, you’re the one who won’t talk to me!”

“Because you won’t listen!”

“Not if you insult my mother!”

“She insulted me first, Bones!”

Spock puts down Bo Peep, who is startled by this action then slits her eyes in Jim’s direction. She’s a smart cat, Leonard often says, because she knows that Jim is the idiot out of the three of them.

Kirk and McCoy become distracted from their argument when Spock switches off the television and tells them very gravely, “Please continue. Your bickering fascinates me.”

Jim wants to know, “What’s so fascinating about it?”

“Each of you wishes for the other to be the first person to apologize, yet it is obvious that you are both equally sorry.”

“That’s a dumb conclusion,” Leonard mutters, scowling and plucking off lint from his jeans.

“Is it?” ponders the lawyer. “Why is Jim at fault, Leonard?”

Bones’ eyes land on the man he is annoyed with for a brief second. “I guess he isn’t really… You’re right about my mother, Jim. She’s cordial to you because that’s the way she was brought up, but I haven’t actually seen her be nice to you. Last time she acted like that it was to my cousin Jack.”

“What did your cousin do?”

“He mowed over her prize-winning lilies.” Leonard grins, probably in memory. “‘Course, he did it on purpose.”

Jim pouts. “So what am I being blamed for? Breathing?”

Leonard shrugs but he chews at his bottom lip, a sign of uncertainty. “I just don’t know, Jim. Normally Ma makes an effort to like the people I date.”

Spock advises, “Then you must ask her for an explanation.”

Leonard nods silently.

Jim, who is considering tackling Spock and kissing him senseless, realizes belatedly that Spock isn’t finished. The man fixes his inscrutable stare on Kirk next. “Why is Leonard at fault?” Jim is asked.

“Huh?”

Spock repeats his question. Leonard pokes Jim in the side. “Hey, I had to embarrass myself. Your turn.”

Bo Peep decides to join their group. She steps daintily onto Leonard’s legs from the coffee table and looks at Jim while flicking her tail menacingly back and forth. Leonard strokes the cat’s fur, so she settles for hunkering in his lap and eyeballing Jim.

His reply is therefore rather distracted. “Um, Bones, um, yelled at me.”

Leonard lifts at eyebrow at the same time Spock does. “Since when is that unusual?” questions McCoy.

Jim admits, “It’s not. Except I didn’t deserve it last time.”

“You called my mother a bitch.”

Jim winces. “I said she was acting like a bitch. There’s a difference.”

“Jim,” Leonard says seriously, “she isn’t the nicest person sometimes, but she’s my mother.” He adds, voice painfully quiet, “She’s the only person who supported me when the rumor spread about Spock and me after the trial.”

Jim concedes, “Okay, I’m sorry. I guess I wouldn’t react well if you called my mom a bitch either.”

Bones’ snort is soft. “I wouldn’t dare try. She’d never feed me again.”

Oh. Oh, crap. Jim hadn’t considered that, and Bones’ mother does make the best biscuits Jim has ever tasted. He asks anxiously, “Am I not allowed to supper if Eleanor’s cooking?”

Leonard gives him a pitying look. “I’ll see what I can do,” he promises.

Jim would kiss Leonard, too, except Bo Peep’s claws would be within range of his face. He says earnestly instead, “I love you, Bones. I swear, if I have another shitty day, I’ll jog or something instead of fighting with your mom.”

Leonard asks, concerned, “Why was your day shitty?” while Spock says, “Please explain.”

Jim hesitates at first, because he could be overreacting if he’s honest with himself, but Leonard prompts him with “C’mon. I won’t laugh if it’s embarrassing.”

Tucking his hands under his legs, he tells them about the garage, the diner, and the man—Khan, Gaila’s boyfriend, which neither Leonard nor Spock knew about until now—who wants to buy both, as well has an interest in other local Riverside businesses.

“Shit, Jim.” Then Leonard folds his arms (much to Bo Peep’s dissatisfaction) and says thoughtfully, “So it really might happen then.”

Jim and Spock look at him with interest.

“I mean, the rumor about Derby Hospital,” remarks McCoy. “Mark is good friends with the Dean of Medicine there. Some corporation called Eugenics is currently in negotiations with the Board of Directors about the purchase of the hospital. From what the dean can tell, the corp would shut the entire operation down after it’s been bought. Now that you mention this Khan guy, Jim, the whole idea makes sense.”

“How is it sensible to shut down a hospital?” he demands.

“Because Khan will probably build his own hospital right here in Riverside.” Leonard slumps into the couch. “Christine and I looked up Eugenics—well, what we could of it. The company specializes in several areas of medical research, heavy stuff like DNA nanotechnology and stem cell. Some gene therapy. They have what they call international bases—campuses, complexes, take your pick.” Leonard adds more seriously, “Research isn’t where Eugenics draws the line, though. These medical campuses have practices, too; the kind you’d normally find in big cities—and that includes a multi-billion-dollar hospital on each one.”

“So basically you think Khan wants to turn us into a medical capital of America?” Jim summarizes incredulously. “Holy fuck.”

“To put it mildly,” Leonard quips. “He’s not just rich, Jim. He has to be crazy-ass rich, better than Trump rich; and where he’s getting his money from… I couldn’t fathom it.”

“Interesting,” murmurs Spock. “You realize Riverside’s clinic would become obsolete, Leonard.”

“Yeah. If Khan and a brand new medical campus came to town, Piper would retire. He’s already said so.”

Then what would happen to the rest of the clinic’s staff? To Bones?

As if hearing Jim’s unspoken worry, Leonard assures him, “Chances are I could get hired at the new hospital or one of the outpatient practices which gets set up.” His mouth quirks. “My credentials aren’t that bad, you know.”

“Indeed, they are exemplary,” intones Spock.

Leonard looks like he can’t decide if his boyfriend is being sarcastic or serious.

Spock continues. “If Leonard’s theory is correct, the buyer’s offers are a logical recourse since he would require an extensive site for the construction of his commercial property. In addition, should his venture to come to fruition, the benefits to the town are immense. The value of land improves, the job market grows, and overall Riverside will increase its income and thereby its support of its citizens.”

Leonard nods. “Exactly. It hinges on the kind of business he wants to bring in, too. Think about Scotty’s mom,” he says. “Think of the resources this guy clearly pours into medical Research and Development—research for cancer? Probably. Also, too, with the build-up of the area, Scotty would have a better chance of finding a job in his field of study if he wanted to come back to Riverside to stay close to his family.”

Spock agrees. “Such facilities could create opportunities which might otherwise be unavailable to Riverside.”

Jim cannot argue with any of that. Nevertheless he asks, “What about the small businesses that won’t survive a huge economic shift like that? Some of them have been here since before I was born.”

“It is my understanding that Mr. Singh is offering compensation equal or greater than the value of those properties he wishes to buy.”

“You can’t put a price on sentimental value, Spock.”

“Affirmative,” acknowledges the lawyer. “Yet sentimental value is not likely to champion over financial hardship.”

Jim rubs his face. “What would happen if Mom refused to sell the diner? Would he simply build around it?”

Spock’s answer is solemn. “I doubt so, Jim.” And Spock would know. He works for a law firm that caters to big business as opposed to the individual—something Spock has never been particularly happy about.

Who could protect Winona Kirk from a giant like Eugenics Corp. if Khan is determined to have her land?

It is Bones’ tentative “Jim, even if you had give up the Enterprise, this could be the chance of a lifetime for a lot of folks. Consider the potential impact—better pharmaceuticals, better treatments, better patient care…” McCoy trails off but the hope is in his eyes is as clear as day.

Spock muses aloud, “Does the good of the many outweigh the good of the few?”

There is not an answer Jim could give either way, he knows, that would not betray someone he cares about. So he remains silent.

“What in the hell is that?”

Jim stops what he is doing (fiddling with the radio dial) to stand next to Jose at the opening of the garage. He says dryly, “It’s a limo, man.”

Jose mutters something derogatory about his employee. “I know what it is, chico.” He gives Jim a little push in its direction. “Go tell them we don’t work on limos.”

“What about the shitty economy and ‘take any job we can get’?”

Jose simply says, “Do it” and walks back into the garage.

Sighing, Jim tucks a dirty rag into a back pocket of his overalls and approaches the limousine’s passenger-side window in the front. He taps on the glass.

The black-tinted window rolls down. Before Jim can get a word in edge-wise, the driver (black cap and black shades) says in a flat voice, “James Tiberius Kirk?”

He blinks. “Uh, yeah.”

“Get in, Mr. Kirk. Her Ladyship requests your presence.”

… No. No way. Apparently he uttered these words, because the driver repeats his last sentence.

Jim says adamantly, “Uh-uh. Nope. I’m done with that old woman.” He does a quick about-face and trots back to the garage.

Oh shit. Lady Q is after him again. Okay, so she’s sent him odd little notes in the mail from time to time, but they were harmless. Irregular thoughts of a crazy old woman; things like Remember the peas and carrots, my dear and once, close to the Fourth of July, a party invitation he declined (for himself, Bones, and Spock) because she had labeled her gathering as a celebration of the true liberation of this country—a secret of the Q which must never be revealed. He hadn’t taken the bait then and he has no intention of doing so now.

A car door opens and slams shut. “Mr. Kirk,” calls an ominous voice. “Her Ladyship requests your presence.”

“What are you, a robot?” he shoots over his shoulder. Pick up the pace, Kirk, or…

Jose comes out of the garage with a wrench in hand. “Is there a problem?”

Jim hastily scurries towards Jose and not-quite situates himself behind the man’s back.

The driver—much larger in person once standing upright than sitting down—pauses. “I am here for James Tiberius Kirk.”

Jose eyes the man. “Why?”

“The Lady—her Ladyship wishes for his company. At this present time,” adds the man—Q, Jim supposes.

Jose seems to consider this news. “What’s she want?”

“That is not known to me.”

“Last time your Lady wanted Jim, she let the whole town think he’d been kidnapped and killed. Kinda makes me not trust her, you understand.”

The Q is silent for some seconds. “Is Mr. Kirk required to have your permission to visit with her Ladyship?” He says this in such a way that Jim realizes the man isn’t antagonizing Jose but genuinely interested in the answer. Apparently this idea is standard Q protocol. Jim should have known.

Jim tries to say, “Jose isn’t my—”

Jose cuts into his protest with “I’m his boss, so I’ve got a right or two. Assure me of his well-being and I might let him go.”

Jim gapes at Jose.

The Q nods. “I give you my word of honor that no harm will come to James Tiberius Kirk among the Q. The Lady Q has declared it so. He will be returned to his place of living before nightfall. Her Ladyship does not intend to keep him; to do so would not aid her cause.”

Jose lowers his wrench. He turns to Jim. “Good enough.”

“But I don’t want to.” He isn’t quite whining like a young child.

“Don’t you owe her? That’s what you told me.”

Yes he does. For the sakes of Pavel and Sasha, who might have been removed from Riverside and placed in an unpalatable situation without the intervention of Lady Q.

“Fine,” Jim says, “but call my house tonight. If I don’t pick up, freak out.”

“I’ll do you one better—I’ll get your mama and her shotgun.”

Jim smiles and slaps Jose on the back, suddenly not worried at all. He ignores the stoic Q driver and strides to the tail-end of the limo. “There had better be a bar back here,” he warns the world at large.

Sadly, there is not; so Jim settles for annoying the driver through the speaker system built into the car. “I want some music. Musique. Musica!” Then, “Fuck, that’s awful. Find me some rock ‘n roll, please.” A minute later. “Hey, how’s your singing voice?”

The driver seems rather glad to dump him at the front of the Q compound.

“James!”

For a split second, Jim is fearful that Lady Q is going to grab him and kiss him. He backs up. She keeps closing in like a steam-roller, skirts flouncing. The old woman jerks to stop within a few inches of him, produces her infamous fan from nowhere, and whaps him with it.

Jim rubs his stinging shoulder. “Damn it, what was that for?”

She frowns. “You, dearest, have spent too much time in the company of that doctor of yours. ‘Damn it’ is not an appropriate profanity in the presence of the fairer sex.”

“What should I say instead?” he asks curiously.

Her eyes light up. “You must exclaim Blast And Damnation!“

How, exactly, is damnation different than damn, since one is a shortened version of the other?

She continues on. “Or, when equally frustrated but in a dangerous situation, to which the man must implicitly assure the female of his reliability to protect her—Back, you scurvy dogs!“

That… is complete off-topic. And pirate-scary. What era does her brain live in? he wonders. Does it skip around? He decides it is better to smile and nod. Which Jim does, with fervor.

The joy in Lady Q’s face suddenly melts away. She slides her arm through his and gives him a gentle tug over to a settee.

“My James,” she begins in a heavy tone, “I have asked for your presence in these trying times as a comfort to myself. Will you not humor an old woman and listen to her woes?”

Is he supposed to say no? He doesn’t have the heart to, anyway. They sit down together. She places her hand in his because he is not competent enough to realize a gentleman acts thus. (She mutters this under her breath; Jim almost rolls his eyes heavenward but knows from experience that he would get smacked by the fan again if he did.)

“There is a scoundrel afoot.”

Jim starts at this announcement. “Huh?”

“James, pay attention,” she says with exasperation. “Even that Scott character was more attentive while in my company, flighty though he may have been when fiddling and biddling with lightning-energy-powered-things…”

“Electronics,” Jim supplies.

She ignores his correction. “…and objects that… beeped.” She says the last word with clear distaste. “I repeat there is a scoundrel afoot!“

Jim’s stomach drops somewhere to the vicinity of his shoes. The last time she had talked of scoundrels—which by her definition were unworthy Q’s and greasy lawyers like Mudd—Jim ended up in the hospital. He tries to shove back unpleasant memories. He says with a dry mouth, “What does that mean?”

Lady Q narrows her eyes at him and pops open her fan to wave it languidly in front of her face. “Are you acting deliberately obtuse today, my boy?”

“No, of course not,” he says quickly. “I just don’t understand why you want to tell me about the scoundrel.”

“There is also a woman—”

Jim closes his eyes, wishing hard.

“—of your acquaintance who associates with the scoundrel.”

Wishing doesn’t work, he guesses. She means Gaila and Khan. “That’s none of my business,” he tells Lady Q.

“Khan Noonien Singh,” she pronounces slowly, overriding Jim. “Mr. Khan Noonien Singh, whom I am told is an absurdly wealthy foreigner from the bowls of Botany Bay—truly, who seeks their fortune in Australia but the lawfully condemned and disinherited?—” she rants, and Jim is now certain her brain mixes up recorded history and present day quite naturally. “—and an entrepreneur of the worst kind, is afoot, James, and you must stop him.”

“No,” Jim says sharply, jerking away from Lady Q and pacing to a window and back. “This has nothing, nothing, to do with me and you know it. Keep me out of your schemes.”

“You are aware of what Khan intends to do in Riverside. I can see the knowledge in your eyes. Dear, he is not here to help or enrich as he claims. He wishes to commandeer—”

Jim rounds on her, frowning at her word choice, but she refuses to submit to his displeasure.

“—commandeer,” she repeats, “your city for the birth of his vision.”

“Hospitals and medical research centers mean more revenue, Lady Q,” he argues back. “More jobs. A better quality of life for everyone.”

“Yes, there are gains. But have you considered the losses as well?” She closes her fan and lays it gently in her lap. “What happens to the unique culture of Riverside? When Khan joins a neighborhood, those neighbors who do not adhere to his standard of life are not welcome. He moves in; they must move out or be absorbed into a new world.” She points to a side table. “There is proof, James. Riverside would not be the first victim of this man.”

Jim’s body betrays him. He is reaching for the folded paper before he is aware of what he is doing. It’s a pamphlet. He reads through it, seeing not a city proclaiming the finest medical arts but a white-washed, spartan environment.

“Is this the campus?” he asks, looking through the different photographs.

“It is an entire city, reformed under Khan’s rule.”

“You make him sound like a dictator.”

“When a man owns the heart of a city, what is the rest but an extension of its ruler?”

Jim glances up at Lady Q. “The pamphlet makes it sound like a resort.”

“Why of course it does. The city is safe, clean, and rich. Free of the day-to-day troubles of life. A utopia!” she says, clapping her hands for emphasis. Then her expression falls. Lady Q leans toward Jim, intent. “But tell me, James, where are the less-than-stellar people? The common criminals and the hoodlums and the poverty-stricken? The… disobedient?”

“It’s a big city,” he says lamely. “They’re there.”

Her small smile is enigmatic. “Perhaps.”

“I don’t understand what you want from me,” he says at last.

“Meet Khan. Befriend him. Learn about him at the source. Then come to me and report.”

“I may be curious about him but I am not a spy, Lady Q, and you are not a secret government.”

Lady Q re-opens her fan. “Yes, dear,” she says complacently, “though I must say you have failed to ask the most important question of all: Why?”

“I don’t follow.”

“Why has Mr. Singh chosen our Riverside as his latest project?”

Jim opens his mouth but then closes it again immediately, having no answer. At length, he finds himself agreeing to do as she asks.

Lady Q produces a tiny bell from the folds of her gown (there have to be pockets Jim can’t see hidden about her person) and rings it. A Q enters the drawing room, bowing and holding out a garment. Jim takes one look at it and groans. The old woman rises from her makeshift throne and hassles Jim until he puts it on. The blue doublet is both ridiculous and familiar.

She tells them, immensely satisfied, “Now you are attired to begin your task, James Tiberius Kirk. You shall meet your enemy with the grace of a true Captain!”

Yup. Captain Kirk. That’s Jim all right.

The Q behind her Ladyship applauds dutifully. Jim for his part (after turning about to show off his dashing figure per Lady Q’s instructions) merely sighs in resignation.

Next Part

Related Posts:

• Many Bells Down (12/12) – from November 9, 2011
• Many Bells Down (11/12) – from November 8, 2011
• Many Bells Down (10/12) – from November 6, 2011
• Many Bells Down (9/12) – from October 30, 2011
• Many Bells Down (8/12) – from October 28, 2011

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