0Title: Family Outlives the Season (3/3)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairing: Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Jim Kirk catches wind of a secret operation but is frustratingly thwarted in finding out details of said operation. The crew has agreed that he can’t know, given that by unanimous vote Jim has become their ‘Adopt An Adult’ for the holidays. Amidst ship-side shenanigans, plans best laid but disastrously executed, and one extremely determined starship captain, friendships are strengthened and hearts are won.
Previous Part: 1 | 2
Epilogue
A man walked onto the observation deck alone. He came to stand beside someone already at the port railing. Side-by-side, their stances mirrored one another.
He asked her, “Did you enjoy the tour?”
“I’d say my host was more excited than I was—not that I didn’t enjoy myself. The Enterprise, she’s a beautiful ship, Jim.”
He could agree with that. “The best in the galaxy.”
Winona Kirk made a sweeping motion with one hand to encompass the long viewport pane. “This hardly surprises me. Even as a small boy, you loved the stars. I knew you would follow them one day.”
“I didn’t always want to.”
She looked at her son. “Yes, you did.”
Damn, Jim thought. Caught. “I wanted to but I wasn’t sure why. Was it really for me, or because everyone expected me to be the next George Kirk?” He met her gaze, then. “That was why I didn’t join up when I was eighteen.”
Winona turned to face him and laid a hand on his arm. “Jimmy, I never wanted you to be anyone other than yourself.”
He considered that and asked seriously, “What you think of the man you see now?”
“I think I’m proud of him, as proud as his father would have been—and as proud as his surrogate father was.”
Not expecting that, Jim betrayed himself.
“Oh, sweetheart,” she said in understanding, placing her hands on either side of her son’s face. “I know, I know. It’s all right.”
“I’m sorry, Mom,” he choked out.
“There’s nothing to be sorry for.”
“He wasn’t Dad.”
“James Tiberius Kirk,” Winona said sternly, still holding him, “if you think for one second I wasn’t happy that you had Pike, dismiss that notion immediately. Christopher was a good man: a father to you and a friend to me. We’re both extremely lucky to have known him and have him care about us. Now,” she murmured, trying to dry his tears with her sleeve as if he was still five years old, “doesn’t that feel better?”
He snuffled. “Not really.”
“It will. So don’t bottle the feelings up. Take it from someone who knows how damaging that can be.”
“Don’t tell,” her son pleaded, embarrassed.
Winona sighed. “I won’t because it’s not my place to tell. But, Jim? I expect you to talk about it, at least when it truly hurts. Otherwise you won’t move past the grief, and then you won’t remember the man—the father—without pain. Is that any way to honor his memory?”
“No.”
“Okay then. Besides, I could tell just by the way they look at you, they’re desperate to help.”
Uh-oh, he thought. His gaze slid away. “They?”
Winona laughed. “I’m old, not blind. You’re sleeping with Spock and McCoy.”
His laugh was more nervous. “Mom, wow, that’s—”
“Completely true,” she finished for him, turning back to the stars. “I’m not here to judge, baby. I’m here to visit.”
Why did he have the feeling she was the one downplaying the truth?
Winona Kirk said slyly as she tapped one fingernail against the metal rail, “You will let me sit down to dinner with the three of you before my departure.”
It wasn’t a question.
“I… can see I don’t have a choice,” he said.
“Excellent,” replied the woman, her chin lifted high, looking very much like the leader of one of Starfleet’s science vessels. “Now what is Spock’s father’s home number?”
Some time later
Jim Kirk sprawled backwards across the seat of the couch, draping one leg over a couch arm as he exclaimed, “I am glad that’s over!”
His two companions who looked down upon him, their stances eerily similar, arms crossed and eyebrows raised. They said nothing.
He closed his eyes and exhaled. “Stop looking at me like that. I behaved.” When no immediate response came, Jim peeked open an eye. “Okay… What’s wrong with you two?”
One turned his head to the other. They engaged in a silent exchange of some kind and then went back to staring at him.
Unnerved now, Jim levered himself into a sitting position. He placed his hands on his knees. “I’ve missed something. What is it?”
“Spock?” said McCoy.
“I am experiencing great internal debate, Doctor. What course of action would you recommend?”
The hairs on the back of Kirk’s neck stood up.
A touch of amusement curved Leonard’s lips. “I admit, I’d like to see him suffer a while longer.”
“Is that your recommendation?”
“Mm,” decided the man, “maybe not. Go on and show ‘im.”
If Bones and Spock wanted Jim held in suspense, they had succeeded. “Show me what?” He stared at Spock. “What’s going on?”
Without replying, Spock turned around and left the cabin area.
McCoy chuckled and took a seat in a side chair.
Jim leaned forward. “Bones. Bones,” he said in a hushed voice, “am I in trouble?”
“It’s funny that you automatically assume you’re in trouble, kid. Also makes me wonder what you’ve done that would make you believe it.”
“I haven’t done a thing,” he countered indignantly. To prove his point, he forced himself to relax against the couch again, then smirked. “Clearly you want to get a rise out of me, McCoy. I’m not playing.”
“I’ll be sure to remind you later on that you said that, Jim.”
What in hell were his boyfriends up to?
Jim’s relief was visible when Spock returned. The Vulcan came unerringly towards the couch and, at the last moment, drew out a package from behind his back.
Jim stared at it dumbly for all of three seconds before he snapped upright and snagged it. “My present!” he cried, grinning. “Spock, I’d almost forgotten!”
“I would be offended if I did not know how preoccupied you were with making a good impression on my father.”
Jim winced. “Was I that obvious?”
“Quite,” replied Spock dryly.
Ducking his head, Jim turned the package over in his hands and admired the neat wrapping and perfectly symmetrical red bow.
“Well open it!” Leonard insisted.
Jim eyed the man. “So you already know what it is?”
Leonard laughed. “Actually, I don’t. It’s a complete mystery to everyone but the pointy-eared hobgoblin.”
Spock countered smoothly, “Then perhaps you should assist Jim in the unwrapping of the gift, Leonard, to satisfy your curiosity sooner.”
Leonard stared at Spock strangely for a few seconds before shrugging. “Why not?” He traded his seat in the chair for the empty spot next to Jim on the couch.
“Don’t rip the paper, Bones!”
“It’s going in the recycler anyway!”
“No, no, no, you messed up the bow!”
“For god’s sake, you’re acting like this came from the President of the Federation. Hurry up!”
Both Kirk and McCoy paused when the wrapping fell away, revealing an ornately carved box.
Leonard trails his fingers across the top and whistles. “Is this Vulcan craftsmanship, Spock?”
“Affirmative.” Spock paused. “I requested that it be made in likeness to a chest in my household which I found of interest as a child.”
Jim looked up. He couldn’t imagine how rare this must be. Not many Vulcans skilled of a such trade had survived Nero’s destruction. And that Spock had taken a treasured memory from his childhood and thought to share it with him… “Spock, thank you.”
“The chest is only part of the gift,” Spock said.
Leonard’s hands slid away so that Jim could open it. Inside the box was a dark cloth pouch and in the pouch—
Two silver rings.
They caught the light in Jim’s palm.
Spock took a step forward. His voice was grave. “The chest is called—” He said the name in Vulcan. “The closest translation in Standard would be ‘memory of the heart’. My father gave one to my mother, which she kept in their room and filled over the years with various things that she said had special memories. When I asked my father why he did not consider Mother’s emotional attachment to inanimate objects illogical, he told me, ‘Humans do not have eidetic memories. An association with a feeling or a meaning is helpful to your mother in preserving a memory she does not wish to forget. Therefore it is not illogical.'”
In Jim’s hand the rings had warmed. He felt Leonard lean against him.
McCoy asked the question Jim couldn’t seem to give voice to. “And the rings?”
“The chest contained her betrothal ring—the first memory she cherished. The custom of wearing matrimonial rings is Terran, and she did not wish to give the impression that her bond with Sarek was not sufficient. Jim,” Spock added more slowly, “Leonard… I have no such reservations. I would be honored if each of you wished to wear a ring as a symbol of our commitment. The chest is Jim’s but the gift inside—my heart—belongs to both of you. Would you consider becoming my betrothed?”
The sound of Spock talking had been reduced to a buzzing in Jim’s ears. His fist closed around the rings; nary a second later his hand jerked open. The rings were still there. He could see the faint inscription along the inner band of each of them, a phrase in Vulcan he didn’t yet know how to read.
He remembered to breathe, then, and inhaled shakily.
“Jim,” someone was saying. A hand touched his back. “Jim?”
He looked up.
Both Leonard and Spock were staring at him. Leonard’s faced was lined with emotion. The look in Spock’s eyes betrayed a carefully empty expression.
Jim didn’t care if his smile wobbled at the edges. “Yes, of course.”
Leonard made a choked sound and hunched over.
Jim slung an arm over McCoy’s shoulder. “Bones… Bones, hey, don’t do that. If you cry, I’ll cry.”
Leonard’s insistent “I’m not crying” was muffled by his sleeve. When the man finished wiping at his eyes, he sat up in one violent motion, catching Jim off guard. They looked on in astonishment as Leonard cursed soundly. “Goddamn it! Get me a damn communicator!”
Spock fetched Jim’s personal device from his desk.
Leonard snatched it up and flipped it open, twisting its dial viciously. “McCoy to Uhura.”
When Nyota answered, she sounded like they had woken her, which was likely given the hour. “Uhura here.”
“Mission Jim-and-Spock-Are-Idiots is a bust.”
“What?“
“I know!” McCoy wailed. “Cancel the damn band, the dinner, fireworks—everything!”
Jim looked at Spock over Leonard’s head. “What?” he mouthed.
Spock appeared as confused he did.
“Leonard, what happened? Where’s Kirk and Spock? Where are you? Shit, where’s my bra? I’m coming over.”
“No need. Your ex beat us to the punch.”
Silence came from the other end of the call, then Nyota let out of a peel of laughter.
Leonard grumped, “Tell you later,” and snapped the communicator closed. Then he tossed the device on the coffee table and slumped back, putting his hands over his face. “Damn it.”
“Bones.” Jim wanted to kiss McCoy’s grumpy face. “You were going to propose to us, weren’t you?”
“At tomorrow’s party.” The man groaned, complaining, “Should of known Spock was going to get there first!”
“Fascinating,” said Spock. “Should I retract my offer?”
Leonard’s head shot up. “You’d better not!”
Jim exchanged a look with Spock, then ran a hand along Leonard’s arm. “I can be proposed to twice.”
“I agree with Jim. Why cancel your plans when clearly much time and effort was given?”
Leonard stared at them with a strange look. “You want to go through this again?”
“And maybe a third time,” Jim replied cheekily. “I want my turn. In fact, don’t think you two were the only ones with a master plan—or a backup. Or a backup of the backup.”
“I have a spreadsheet,” Spock responded serenely.
Leonard smiled. Then he pinched Jim on the leg. “One of those rings is mine, kid. Give it to me.”
Jim obligingly held out his hand.
“Can’t believe I’m crazy enough to marry again,” said the doctor. “Fair warning: if we divorce, I’m taking the planet this time.”
Jim had absolutely no intention of letting Spock or Bones down. Their marriage would work because he would give everything he was to seeing that it did.
Leonard seemed to read his mind, for he reached out and stroked the side of Jim’s face. “It’s all right, I already know how difficult it will be to get rid of you.”
Jim linked his hand with Leonard’s and placed his other hand on Spock’s shoulder. “This is the best gift of all.”
“What?” asked McCoy.
“Being with the two of you,” he said.
It seemed they agreed, for both leaned in to capture him. He knew then that neither Spock nor McCoy had any intention of letting him go, and that suited Jim just fine.
The End
Related Posts:
- [Masterpost] Family Outlives the Season – from December 25, 2015
- Family Outlives the Season (2/3) – from December 24, 2015
- Family Outlives the Season (1/3) – from December 23, 2015
