Title: Ready, Set, RUN! (5/?)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Characters: Kirk, Spock, McCoy
Summary: Playtime!verse one-shot, set between Playtime and The Good Life. Pike spends a weekend with the boys.
Previous Part: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

I’m back! My Black Jewels Big Bang is complete at over 62,000 words (I know, right?) and now I can return to this wonderful, wonderful world of anxious!Pike and gleeful!Archer. Oh. And the naughty trio. :)

Part Five

Pike stares woefully at the old beagle who is half-asleep over his water bowl. Archer walks into the kitchen, disturbing the dog’s drowsy contemplation of the universe and Porthos decides to have some more water.

The kitchen fills with the overly loud noises the dog makes as he drinks and Jonathan rearranging items in the refrigerator.

Pike clenches the napkin in his hand, unable to look away from Porthos.

Is the ring settled inside that fat belly?

With a mighty sigh, Porthos collapses back into his nap.

Archer plunks down a glass in front of Pike, startling the man from his dire thoughts. “You have the expression of a hoodlum about to steal an expensive car. And I don’t like the fact that you’re directing that look at my Porthos.”

“Maybe the kids fed Winona’s ring to your dog.”

Archer blinks. “That’s crazy talk.” Jonathan pauses before adding, “Though Porthos does like the finer things in life…”

Pike glares at his friend of many years. “I don’t care how much you love that dog, Jon. If that diamond is…”

A flash of something dangerous passes through Archer’s eyes. “Stay. Away. From. My. Beagle.” The man punctuates each word with a jab of his finger into Pike’s chest.

“Alright, alright!” Pike sighs. “I just… keep imagining horrific possibilities.”

“So ask the little brats where they put it.”

Pike stands up. “Archer, let it never be said that you are as dumb as you look.” He smirks as Jon spews a mouthful of insults at his retreating back.

“SPOCK!!”

Pike halts in his search for the boys and listens intently for Lenny’s next scream of rage. As it happens, he is so busy turning about attempting to pinpoint the direction of where the echo might have come from that he is found instead.

A voice says at his hip, “Greetings, Admiral.”

Pike almost dies of a heart attack right there in the hallway. Which would be atrociously sad because he has no one to bequeath his earthly possessions to, except a distant aunt who is far older and removed from the primary branch of his family tree by at least three marriages. He pictures a solemn Archer at the funeral, saying, “What a poor soul Christopher Pike was… now where’s that infernal will? Did I get his brandy collection?”

“Spock! There you are—”

The Vulcan has no time for idle chat. “I require assistance in a matter of grave urgency.”

They both turn their head at the sound of “SPOCK, YOU POINTY-EARED… SOMETHING OR OTHER! I HAVEN’T THOUGHT OF A NAME YET BUT IT’S GONNA BE REALLY REALLY BAD!” McCoy continues to rant along that vein.

Pike stuffs his hands into his sweater pockets. “Sounds like he’s close.”

“Indeed. Might I implore you of the location of your… car keys?”

He sputters for a second before replying, “By God, no! Spock! You’re too young—”

“A car is a mechanical device designed to accommodate the mental aptitude of a majority of Terrans. I believe that I shall find it relatively simple to maneuver.”

Pike half-laughs, too surprised at the statement to be offended for his race. “It doesn’t matter if you are a genius compared to the average human. You are too young to drive a car unsupervised.” He remembers who he is talking to. “Or even supervised,” tacks on Pike.

When Spock displays no clear sign of disappointment, Pike still knows that the boy is unhappy. He reaches down and places a firm hand on the Vulcan’s shoulder. “There will come a day when you are old enough, Spock. I promise.”

The Vulcan fixes his dark eyes on Pike. “That is the logical assumption should I continue to grow, Admiral.”

Pike nods and smiles. “Very logical.”

Spock steps back, ending their contact. “If you will excuse me, Sir, I must depart.”

“Now that I’ve found you—”

“Negative. I approached you, Admiral.”

Pike corrects himself with grace. “Of course. My point is that I need to speak with you and Jimmy and Lenny on a matter as well.”

“Ah.”

It’s then that McCoy rounds the corner, spies Spock, and lets out a hair-raising war cry. Spock prudently steps behind Pike.

“Leonard!”

Pike catches McCoy mid-hurdle and the boy swings his fists in Pike’s grasp, hitting nothing but air or Pike’s forearms. The man ignores the fact that he’ll be sporting lovely bruises by nightfall.

“Leonard!“

McCoy stops fighting and seems to come back to himself, gasping for air as if his anger left him breathless.

Pike does not fail to notice Jimmy looking woefully between his Bones and Spock.

“No fighting,” Pike says firmly. “Friends don’t hit each other.”

Lenny mutters dangerously, “Spock’s not my friend.”

Spock stiffens.

Pike’s sigh is deep. He escorts all three children into the living room and makes them sit together on the couch. Leonard stays on the far end, frowning, and so Jimmy climbs into the middle spot as unhappy as Pike has ever seen the boy. Spock is expressionless and his eyes carefully blank.

“Tell me what happened,” commands Pike.

Lenny sniffs and looks away from everyone. The way he crosses his arms is definitely a defensive posture Pike is familiar with. He says gently, “Did Spock hurt your feelings, Leonard?”

“No,” denies the boy at the same time that Spock interjects, “I would not do so.”

Lenny whips his head around and glares at his Vulcan friend. “You did so!”

Spock’s brows frown. “But you replied—”

“You said I’m not as important as you are, that’s what you said!”

“That is false,” the Vulcan counters. “I stated that your mother is not attending the ‘vacation’ as the Captain’s mother and my mother are.”

Lenny leans over Jimmy, his anger clear. “You’re sayin’ they didn’t invite her ‘cuz, ‘cuz…!” The boy can’t finish that sentence without his voice cracking.

Pike tries to soothe everyone’s upset nerves. “It’s okay, Lenny, calm down. Spock, I think you don’t realize how Leonard has interpreted your comment.”

McCoy is wiping at his eyes with his sleeve. Jimmy has broken his silence to offer Lenny the use of his sleeve too and say, “Spock didn’t mean it, Bones. Your mommy’s nice.”

Pike sees the moment that Spock comprehends the situation.

“I did not seek to insinuate that your mother’s desirability as a friend was less than that of Ms. Kirk or my mother. I-I meant—” Spock hesitates, which is unusual. “What I said does not matter, Leonard. Please accept my apology.”

Jimmy is attempting to wipe Lenny’s face as Winona would for her son if he had been upset and crying. The boy bats at Kirk to leave him alone. Then McCoy looks past Jimmy to Spock.

“You’re sorry?” McCoy asks tentatively.

Spock nods.

Lenny sighs. “Okay.”

It’s actually Jimmy and Pike who are the most relieved. Pike foresees many future misunderstandings between these friends and hopes that there will be just as many easy reconciliations. Despite that the boys seem to like each other, their group is an odd number; it is simply irrefutable that one of them will feel left out or suffer insecurity at times, while they mature and eventually learn the dynamics a strong friendship between three unique individuals.

Spock interrupts his thoughts with “You wish to speak to us, do you not, Admiral?”

He glances McCoy who still slightly red-eyed but recovered. The resilience of the young, thinks Pike.

He fidgets for a moment in his recliner and decides to jump right in. An engagement ring is replaceable, of course, but Pike remembers the long hours deliberating over his choice (asking strangers their opinion over rings in the different jewelry stores, debating with himself until he was too wound up to sleep) and knows that to face that task again would be just as frightening as the first time.

Once Pike finishes a somewhat convoluted tale of a ‘very special ring that Mr. Pike needs back immediately,’ the boys blink innocently from their side-by-side perches on the living room couch.

Well, McCoy never looks entirely innocent as far as Christopher can tell, with that one-eyed half-squint of irritation. Lenny more often resembles a miniature annoyed adult than a boy of seven. Give McCoy height and a man’s breadth to his thin shoulders, and people will pray fervently to the Lord that Leonard McCoy bypasses them without a second glace once they see him coming.

Jimmy always looks innocent, from the cute pout of his lips to the angelic coloring of blond hair and vivid blue eyes. Of course, Pike’s seen the child with that angelic look even as he was plotting the demise of a certain Klingon invader to his birthday party some months ago. Archer had ended up with cake bits in his hair while Jimmy happily bounced around Pike’s fully decorated backyard (birthday balloons and all), white and blue icing already coating his fingers despite that the birthday cake was still in the kitchen. Later, Pike would scoop up little Kirk protectively when wrathful big female Kirk discovered that her baking handiwork had been demolished by her son.

Pike is certain that Spock works hard to combat the innocent blinking of his eyes and to appear as properly stoic as his father would. Yet people still stop Amanda Grayson in the park to compliment her on ‘such a sweet little baby Vulcan! Look at those precious ears!’ Winona likes to relate these stories when she returns from the bi-monthly mother-child strolls she and Amanda have concocted. (The two women have become as fast friends as their respective sons, Jimmy and Spock.)

The three children return his stare, silent as the dead. Pike drops his head into his hands.

“Mr. Pike?”

“Yes, Jimmy?” he mumbles through his fingers.

“Why’s the ring special?”

He blushes. Spock’s eyebrow lifts.

“Well you see, Jimmy… when a man likes your mommy as much as I do—”

“Mr. Pike wants to be your daddy,” Lenny interrupts, most likely because he thinks Pike is beating around the bush—which Christopher definitely is.

Jimmy practically falls off the couch in his haste to depart the room. Pike begins to rise from his chair, calling, “Jimmy!” But the child has already disappeared.

Lenny falls over into Jimmy’s vacated spot with a sigh and tosses an arm over his eyes. Spock tells Admiral Pike with too much calm, “The Captain will return momentarily.”

Jimmy does, bearing a present clutched to his little chest. He thrusts it into Pike’s hands. The man stares at the pudding cup, lid flapping open.

Then the Vulcan slides from his seat and walks over to the one potted plant that has survived Pike’s care. The boy extricates a spoon from the dirt—Pike now wondering why one of his kitchen utensils was there in the first place—and solemnly hands it over to Pike.

Jimmy beams encouragingly.

Pike is about to tell the bright-eyed child that he is not hungry (particularly not when his spoon is dirt-crusted) but that look on Kirk’s face tugs at his heart. He carefully balances the pudding cup on his knee and uses his sweater to wipe down the spoon.

“Hurry up already,” grumps McCoy.

With the sigh of an aggrieved future-parent, Pike eats his pudding. He winces and tries to look pleased. There’s definitely dirt in his pudding, despite his best efforts. Jimmy hugs his leg in a fierce grip and mumbles against the fabric of his pants. Pike is so distracted, he doesn’t realize there is an odd lump in the dessert until his teeth crunch painfully on a solid object.

“Shit!”

He spits into his hand and stares.

It’s the diamond ring.

Pike’s mouth falls open.

From behind him, a voice that is none other than Archer’s says, “Looks like you’ve been proposed to, old son.”

Pike twists his head around the side of the recliner to look at Jonathan.

The man grins and asks insistently, “So…are you gonna accept?”

Pike’s brain doesn’t really understand. Archer cups a hand beside his mouth and whispers loudly, “Being Jimmy’s daddy, you dolt!”

Oh. OH.

Jimmy hugs Pike’s leg more tightly, refusing to look at the man. Christopher leans forward and runs a hand over the child’s hair. “Of course,” he says in a voice that he’d never admit trembles with emotion.

Those bright eyes peek up at him and Pike doesn’t even bother to give Jimmy permission to climb into his lap. He hoists Kirk close and tucks the small body next to his. Jimmy says nothing, for once content with silence and sitting next to Mr. Pike.

From the couch a voice pipes dryly, “Congratulations.” Then Lenny throws the arm off of his eyes, sits up, and says to Archer still lingering by the doorway, “You said we’d get a reward for followin’ yer plan.” The child crosses his arms. “I wanna go out.” After a side-long glance at the Vulcan, Lenny adds, “Spock too.”

Pike stops rocking in his recliner because he feels like he’s been hit by a very large truck—with a very evil driver behind the wheel.

Said-metaphorical trucker driver says nervously, “Shit, kid. Don’t you know the meaning of keep a secret!” Then, to Pike, “I can explain…”

As Pike rises from his chair, Kirk still clinging to him like a happy barnacle, he turns around to find that Jonathan has already fled the room. Pike shifts his bundle of boy.

Jonathan Archer is going to die. Soon.

Next Part

Related Posts:

• Ready, Set, RUN! (9/9) – from February 18, 2011
• Ready, Set, RUN! (8/?) – from February 16, 2011
• Ready, Set, RUN! (7/?) – from February 10, 2011
• Ready, Set, RUN! (6/?) – from February 3, 2011
• Ready, Set, RUN! (4/?) – from January 23, 2011