Title: A Household Full
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairing: Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Disclaimer: I don’t own my evil muse – it owns me!
Summary: Jim enjoys life as a family man.

Children’s voices.

Someone interrupts from the vicinity of a bathroom. “Stop yelling! Jesus Christ, my head…”

Jim comes home to find Bones sprawled on their couch with a washcloth over his eyes; the man groans despite that Jim closes the front door as gently as possible. Kirk says nothing, simply resets the window tinting in the living room to block out most of the afternoon light. As he passes by the couch, heading to the kitchen, Bones calls groggily, “Jim?”

He brushes a hand against his lover’s hair in response, watches as Bones relaxes again.
Today, Jim wisely does not say I told you so; after all, McCoy is smart enough to figure out something which doesn’t need to be voiced. Jim does smile to himself, though, with the knowledge that he was right and Bones should have put down that fourth drink last night. Luckily the kids had already been asleep when the two men returned from the house party at Pike’s—and the babysitter, once tipped generously, managed to keep her opinion to herself about the drunken state of Jim’s husband.

Peering into a room, he discovers that David and Joanna aren’t watching holovids as usual. He finds Leonard’s daughter seated in the kitchen, humming as she swings her legs and works on a project for school. Jim offers to help her after his shower. Joanna smiles at him, cheeks dimpling. David, his son, (Jim still marvels at that because he is a new father) is sprawled in the small room designated especially for the boy, playing some sort of holo-game. He jumps up when Jim leans against the doorway, crying happily “Dad!”

Jim reaches out to ruffle the boy’s hair, feels a sweet pang when the child automatically leans against him for a hug. “Did you finish your homework?” he asks. A sharp memory surfaces, his mother Winona saying the same words to him.

And that pout on David’s face must be a replica of his own long ago. “It’s the weekend.” Cue eye roll; Jim is sure he didn’t teach his son that. “‘Sides I’m being quiet,” David explains. “Mr. McCoy has a bad headache ‘n he said we can’t be noisy or his head will explode.”

If David’s expression is any indication of his feelings, he doesn’t much care if Bones’ head explodes. His tone also suggests that he is only obeying orders to spare Jim great sadness if Leonard were to expire. Leonard is fighting hard to win over David; the boy, however, continues to stubbornly resist. Each morning, as both kids munch on breakfast, McCoy’s gaze will linger on Jim’s son and not soon after comes a heavy sigh.

Jim always reassures the man, “He’ll come around, Bones. He misses Carol.”

“I’m not Carol,” Bones will reply.

“No, but you’re in a position to be a parent to him.”

That makes Leonard smile, and Jim is usually rewarded with a sincere kiss for his wisdom.

David draws him back to the present by tugging on his sleeve. “I’m beatin’ the space pirates, Dad! Don’t you wanna help?”

“I need to shower first. Then I promised Joanna I would help her with her school project.”

David’s face darkens but the boy says nothing.

Unfortunately, Jim understands all too well what is going through his son’s mind. He tells David, “Joanna is special to me too. You are both special to me.”

“She’s just a stupid girl.”

“You won’t ever call her that again, David.” Jim’s voice is hard, reminiscent of his training in command as a youth.

David’s quiet “Yes, sir” tells Kirk his son is aware that there are some lines which may not be crossed in this household. He rubs the back of his neck. “Joanna is your sister—and part of being a brother to Joanna means that you should protect her from harm. And David? Words can hurt someone more than you may realize. Do you understand?”

David nods but still points out, “She’s my stepsister.”

Hopefully there will come a day when David doesn’t make that distinction. Until then, Kirk’s growing family will continue to cope the best they can with their changing dynamics.

David has already plopped back down in front of his game console. Yet, though the boy seems distracted by the loud sounds of space battle, David still remarks off-handedly, “When’s Spock coming home?”

Jim grins.

Oh how that irks Bones. David is willing to accept a Vulcan stepfather on sight, but not good old Leonard McCoy. Spock, to give the Vulcan credit, has tried to explain to Jim’s son that that his behavior is illogical. David just grinned, as Jim does now, and had replied, “But you’re really neat—and you got cool ears!”

Jim presses a fist against his mouth to stifle his laughter and slips down the hall to the master bedroom. He discards his uniform jacket, drops his boots by the door (not in the middle of the room, Bones will gripe over that), and falls backwards onto the bed with closed eyes.

Bliss.

There are faint sounds of David’s game, the ticking of a clock, and someone else’s children playing outside in the street. He knows that he needs to get up, take that shower, but lying here is so nice…

A hand nudges him and Jim blinks open his eyes. Bones stretches out along his left side, and a warm hand comes to rest on his stomach. Jim realizes belatedly that he must have fallen asleep. He rolls slightly to the side (half-heartedly) to get up but Leonard’s hand refuses to move.

“Need to shower, Bones, and help Joanna,” he mumbles in a yawning protest.

“Jo’s already abandoned her project for her favorite afternoon show. You’ve got another thirty minutes before she starts beatin’ down the door.”

“Definitely your daughter,” Kirk laughs.

“As much as I’d love to take credit for her temper, Jim, I think it’s Spock’s fault.”

“Right. Blame the one who isn’t here.”

Leonard kisses the side of his neck and Jim decides to cuddle and allow his lover better access to whatever spots Bones wants to kiss next.

“It is Spock’s fault,” McCoy tells him. “Joanna thinks his strength is fascinating—Lord forbid, she actually used that word, Jim!—and because Spock can knock down a door without much effort, she’s tryin’ to imitate ‘im.”

“Since when has Spock broken a door?”

Leonard chuckles against Jim’s skin. “I seem to remember a day last month—”

Color rises in Jim’s face. “The children weren’t home.”

“Yeah. Thank God for that.”

They settle into a comfortable silence. Jim dozes lightly, listening to the sound of Leonard’s steady breaths. He thinks about how happy he is right now—how lucky, too.

Someone knocks quietly on the bedroom door.

Jim eases out of the sleeping Bones’ arms, checking to make sure that he is decent for the company of young, impressionable (and too astute) children. It’s surprisingly David, who shifts on his feet when Jim stares at him. “There’s a call,” the boy says.

The bedroom comm didn’t announce a call. How strange, Jim thinks—until he realizes that Bones, hung-over, had probably smacked it into oblivion this morning after an unpleasant awakening.

“Okay. Thanks.”

“It’s Spock!” adds David with a bit more life.

He eyes his son. “Who answered?”

“Joanna. She’s asking him about, uh, molecules or something.” The child shrugs. “Something science-y.”

“You like science,” Jim replies as he quietly shuts the bedroom door and steps into the hall. “Your mother was a scientist, David.” He smiles in memory. “One of the best.”

David doesn’t respond to that, and Jim cannot see the boy’s expression because David keeps his head down. Dropping a hand to David’s shoulder, he squeezes it lightly, comfortingly. He doesn’t pursue the subject of Carol, won’t quite yet. Once David is fully settled…

“It’s Spock!” says Joanna, her cheeks flushed, as they enter the kitchen. Jim slips into the small space between her and the wall to view the comm unit.

“Spock,” greets Kirk with a wide grin.

“Joanna has informed me that she and David are well, as are you. It appears that Leonard, however, suffers from a malady.”

Spock’s subtle hint of concern is like a red flag to someone who has known the Vulcan as long—and as intimately—as Jim has. He is quick to reassure Spock. “Nothing serious.” With a pointed glance at the children, Jim clarifies, “Pike declared he was bored—” Again. “—and threw a house party.”

Spock’s eyes twinkle with amusement. “I see.”

They all do, except (hopefully) Joanna and David. Pike has become infamous for his “small gatherings which turn boisterous the second the wine cellar is raided.” Bones’ dry summation of a party held by Christopher Pike certainly didn’t stop the doctor from partaking of the open bar. Then again, Jim likes to see McCoy unwind for an evening, so he can’t say that he minds being the designated driver every rare night or so.

They talk for some minutes, both David and Joanna listening intently to the adults’ conversation. Jim manages to convey that he misses his other husband without sounding horridly pathetic or without drawing noises of “Gross!” from a young David, who spurns sappy sentiments of love. Spock promises to call back during his second respite from his lab-work (the Vulcan has called them during every rest period, but Jim isn’t going to complain), and in return, Jim promises to drag Bones out of the dark cave of their bedroom to say hello.

It used to be harder, when one of the three men had to travel and left the other two behind. Now, with children in the house, that keen sense of loss is somewhat assuaged. Jim supposes that it is simply the tiring task of keeping pace with two energetic little beings that steals all the time he’d otherwise use to mope over a missing lover.

He does not disconnect the call, instead allowing David to take his place as the boy demands his air-time with Spock. Jim Kirk leaves his son to pry whatever secrets can be possibly pried from a Vulcan. McCoy claims that David has inherited his father’s ability to convince even the most of bitter enemies into tentative trust: “The hobgoblin’ll find himself wooed by that Kirk charm before he can blink twice.” Jim thinks that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

He peruses the refrigerator, the kitchen cabinets, and doesn’t like any of the choices for dinner. And Bones won’t be in the mood to cook a healthy meal…

David has just released Spock back to work, looking satisfied as he climbs onto a kitchen stool and returns Jim’s stare. Joanna turns to look at Jim too. Under the weight of that silent, sneaky pressure, Kirk caves. “Pizza sound good?”

Both children loudly agree and then start tossing out suggestions for the toppings—and shrill protests of which toppings should never be forced upon them. David begs for extra cheese (of this Jim is a fan also) while Joanna insists she can’t eat a slice of pizza unless it has pineapple.

Jim obligingly scribbles down a list as they chatter, all the while thinking that he can bribe Bones not to bitch about pizza for dinner by way of presenting aspirin and a few well-placed kisses.

It turns out that Leonard accepts the aspirin and the kisses with “Pizza’s okay.” Then sliding his cheek against Jim’s, Bones whispers in Kirk’s ear, “But you’ll owe me a little more… enthusiastic convincin’ later tonight, darlin’.”

Jim finds that he is agreeable to that.

They turn to watch David flick a piece of sausage at Joanna (who screeches about the boy’s impending demise) with arms wrapped around one another, content. Life is better than Jim imagined it might be when young, brighter than his aspirations. This, his life, (here and now) is simply all that he needs to be happy.

-Fini

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