Fic: I'll be home for Christmas (even if you people drive me crazy) | STXI | PG
Title: I’ll be home for Christmas (Even if you people make me crazy)
Author: orgy-of-death
Beta: Dil who is sadly not on LJ.
Series: STXI
Rating: PG for some swearing and mentions of death
Length: 3,095
Warnings: Occasional Swearing
Summary: Jim and Spock bring their adopted son David to Earth for his first Christmas with them and Jim’s family. Oh boy.
Jim could already tell there was going to be nothing better than Christmas on Earth
After nine long years aboard the Enterprise, going where no man had gone before, it was nice to know that there would be no red alerts while opening presents, no Klingons firing on them when they were trimming the tree, and no tense Romulan stand-offs when he and Spock were kanoodling under the mistletoe. This year would be different, and not just because this was the first Christmas Jim and Spock would spend with their son, David.While bringing aide to a failing farming colony, Jim had met a small precocious boy named David who had lived with his grandparents before they had fallen ill and died from the plague overtaking the colony. While David was no more than six, alone and practically starving, he had survived long enough to be rescued by the Enterprise crew, and win their hearts.
David had no family left to speak of on the colony and only distant relatives on Earth, he was so very alone. Jim could kind of relate.
In the months it took them to make the journey to take David and the few other orphans back to Earth, he seemed to settle in to life aboard the Enterprise easily; his curious nature never ceasing to amuse the crew. Whether he was hiding in sick bay trying to glean vast knowledge from Dr. McCoy or sitting around the navigation console during slow shifts trying to figure out how to steer the ship and mimic Chekov’s accent, David always seemed to be at home on the ship. Needless to say, it warmed Jim’s heart.
“What can I say? The kid is adorable. Spock, even you can’t deny you don’t get a chuckle out of his Chekov imitation. ‘Wery Good Keptin’. He’s a cute kid.”
And while Spock had never been a fan of children, even when he was one himself, he could not deny that David was indeed ‘cute’ and Spock liked to see Jim happy so if David made him happy, then Spock would learn to love David.
It turns out; Spock miscalculated how hard it would be to love David. It really wasn’t hard to love him at all. He was a burst of energy, so like Jim Spock was taken aback. Quick to smile, even quicker to argue and always moving, chattering and running, except for when he was observing, learning and taking in all the new things there was to take in. He was, Spock thought idly, fascinating.
By the time they arrived at Earth Spock and Jim had taken the liberty of taking on the roles of David’s guardians and tried to parent this young, orphaned boy. At first, David wasn’t keen on the idea.
“I don’t care if you’re Captain! I’m not tired!” David pouted, stomping his foot in protest of bedtime.
“David, you need to sleep-“ Jim sighed, doing his best to convince David to get into his jammies.
“No!” Jim sighed again and shot a look over at Spock that said ‘You can use that Vulcan logic any time now!’ Spock’s brow flicked upward in the closest approximation of a shrug.
“What if Spock told you a story?” Jim asked, still holding the cowboy printed pajamas in his hands, hopeful that the promise of a story would help coax the stubborn six year old into them. David looked unimpressed, but there was no shouting or foot stomping, so Jim counted that as a small victory.
“Just get into your PJ’s and then Spock can tell you a story-“
“Two stories.” David bartered, ever the enterprising six-year-old.
“Alright two stories. You get into your PJ’s and Spock will tell you two stories. Deal?” Jim asked eager to complete the treaty and get David down for the night.
David looked at Jim, and then at Spock, as if appraising the worth of the two men standing in front of him and said, “Deal.”
``
And that, Jim thought rather bemusedly, had been that. In the weeks and months following that first tenuous night of trying to fill the role of David’s guardians, Jim and Spock fell naturally into step together as the boy’s parental figures. It was a little…unorthodox, but it seemed to work for them and after all Jim and Spock’s approach to anything was never orthodox.
``
As the Enterprise entered the space dock, the bridge was a flurry of last minute activity as Jim and the crew finished their last minute preparations for their blissful ten day shore leave. While Spock and Scotty worked on the engineering and bio-lab staff rosters and Sulu and Chekov were making notes about some adjustments that needed to be made to the console hardware, Jim tried desperately to concentrate on the last of the Starfleet paperwork and not stare horrified down at the latest comm from his mother on his P.A.D.D.
Jimmy,
Heard that the Enterprise is coming home for Christmas, you had better be coming to Iowa or so help me I will beam aboard the ship and drag you down here myself, in front of all your crew, your husband and that new grandbaby of mine.
I’m serious.
Sam will be here too.
Call me when you dock.
Love Mom.
Jim groaned. Apparently his mother was not above humiliating him in front of his crew to get what she wanted. He was 36 for godsakes! He had stared down Klingons and Romulans and had nearly got sucked into a black hole-twice and he was still afraid of his mother. Freud would have had a field day. Jim shook his head absently and closed the message, Starfleet paperwork really seemed like the lesser of two evils right now.
When Jim had finally gotten through the last of the seemingly endless parade of forms, he gave the conn to Sulu, wincing a little at the twinge he felt in his hips from sitting in one spot for too long, and went to find Spock and apprise him of the last minute change of plans.
As he strode through the hallways, nodding and greeting the obviously excited members of his crew, Jim thought back to the last time him, his mother and his brother had spent Christmas together in Iowa. It was…well. It wasn’t bad, his mom had been happy and Jim had met Sam’s new wife Aurelan, but Jim remembers the odd twinge of loneliness he had felt, Sam’s thoughtless jabs at their mom, and of course there was the turkey-how his mom had managed to serve a turkey both unbearably dry and dangerously undercooked, Jim couldn’t fathom. Christmas with the Kirks had never been the picture of a perfect Martha Stewart holiday special. It usually involved too much rum, not enough egg nog, the Christmas tree inevitably falling over, and one or two small kitchen fires. Add a Vulcan and a newly adopted child to the mix and you can’t blame Jim for being apprehensive. But, Jim thinks when he finds Spock, his work finished, swaddling David in enough winter clothing to make the poor boy look like a petulant, brightly coloured marshmallow, that maybe all the kitchen fires, mistletoe mishaps, ugly Christmas sweaters and too much rum, would be worth it.
``
‘Then again, maybe not.’ Jim thinks surveying the harsh Iowa landscape sprawled before him, an infinite sea of white.
When they first beam down, Jim is startled at the amount of snow blanketing Riverside. There is so much snow, that Spock has to hoist David up and set him on his shoulders, lest he gets lost in a snow drift on their way up the meandering driveway. By the time they wade through the hip deep snow and actually reach the front door of Jim’s childhood home, he and David are pink cheeked, and the tips of Spock’s ears have tinged green. Jim rapped on the heavy wood door several times and when there was no answer, he tried desperately to remember where his mom used to hide the spare key. After checking all the usual places; on top of the door jamb, under the mat, underneath a snow covered flower pot sitting on the porch, he sighed heavily and asked Spock to put David down and give him a boost so he could shimmy through the kitchen window.
“Okay David, the snow is really deep out here, so just stay on the porch with Spock helps me, okay?” Jim says as he tugs the window open.
“Okay.” David agrees, innocent smile on his face.
“Alright. Spock, give me a boost.”
“Jim, is it really wise to climb through your mother’s kitchen window? Perhaps we should wait here on the porch.” Spock tried to supress his shiver from the cold; Vulcan’s were not used to such low temperatures, but failed. Jim leveled a look at him.
“Spock, it is freezing out here. I’m not going to just sit out here on the porch while you and David die of hypothermia.”
“You are being over-dramatic.” Spock sighed, but bent down and laced his gloved hands together. As Jim struggled to push himself through the window, and climb inside, his grunts and the occasional ‘thwack’ of his limbs hitting the side of the house drowned out the ‘crunch’ ‘crunch’ ‘thwump’ of David leaving the porch and promptly falling into a snow drift. Once Jim was inside and Spock straightened, and turned to grab their bags, he instantly noticed the absence of his adopted son. Panic clenched hot in his gut for a moment, as he struggled to locate David, and he surged forward when he noticed the tiny foot prints leading to a noticeable gap in the snow several feet away. As Spock approached he saw that yes, there was David, laying down in the three foot snow drift, desperately trying to flail his arms and legs. At first, Spock was alarmed, then puzzled as he noticed it wasn’t panicked flailing, but almost…calculated.
“What are you doing?” Spock asked, eyebrow ticking upwards.
David sighed, “I was trying to make a snow angel.”
“A snow angel?” Spock’s brow furrowed.
“Yes. You lay down in the snow and move your arms and legs like this-“ David moved his arms and legs in unison again. “-and then you get up-“ David reached for Spock and Spock helped hoist him out of the deep David-shaped hole he had created in the snow “-and it is supposed to look like an angel. But I think the snow is too deep.” He pouted briefly before shrugging and trying valiantly to return to the porch, failing after several steps and reaching for Spock to put him on his shoulders again.
Jim looked fondly at the scene from the now open front doorway as he hefted their bags inside. Why had he been so worried about this whole idea again? Everything was going to be great.
``
Everything had been going great, it really, really had. His mother had come home from the supermarket, arms laden with heavy bags full of holiday fixings, and before Jim could so much as blink, Spock was endearing himself to Jim’s mother by putting his Vulcan strength to good use and taking the leaden grocery bags from her so she could properly meet David. At first David seemed nervous, and something in Jim twinged when he realised that this was the first time David had been off the Enterprise in months, and the first time he would be exposed to a whole new crop of people he didn’t know. He hoped none of this would be too overwhelming for David but, Jim’s fear was dissuaded when David perked up at the prospect of Wynona making him hot chocolate with as many marshmallows as he wanted.
‘Thank god, kids are easy to please’ Jim thought, still a little worried about how hard these next few days would be on David. He was unable to dwell on it though as his brother Sam and his wife Arulean came clattering in in a flurry of boisterous laughter and greetings.
``
After Jim had helped Sam and his wife with their bags, got them acquainted with Spock and David, and after several not-so-subtle hints from their mother, Sam and Jim trudged outside for the long task of clearing some of the deep snow drifts from the yard and driveway. As they began their shoveling, Jim regaled Sam with stories about the last few years of the Enterprise’s mission. Jim swelled with pride when he thought of all he had accomplished with his crew, none of it had come easy, but he knew he was still incredibly lucky.
“So, is it about time for retirement then?” Sam huffed out, between his tossing of shovel-fulls of snow. Jim laughed.
“I’m only 37 Sam, I know it seems like I’ve lived enough for two life-times, but it’s still a little young to talk retirement-“
“Jim.” Sam said suddenly, seriously. Jim stopped shoveling. “I’m serious. While I’m proud that you do what you do, you have Spock now, you have a kid now you have to put them first before your career.”
Jim gaped at Sam. He could not be serious. Jim said as much.
“You cannot be fucking serious.”
“As a house fire. Jim, what would Spock do if you died? You’ve said it yourself, you are more than just married-you have that profound, freaky mind-bond thing- he would die. And now you have David. That kid has been through enough he needs stability-“
“And what the fuck would you know about parenting Sam?!” Jim snapped, and yeah, it was a bit of a low blow. Sam and Arulean had wanted kids for a long time but conception was…complicated, and the subject of being a parent was always a touchy one with Sam because he might not ever get a chance to actually be one. However, Sam wasn’t above going below the belt too.
“Think about it Jim, how many crew members have you lost in the last year alone? What if one of those was Spock, or David, or you? You need to think about this rationally, it is what is best for your family and you know it-“
“Don’t you dare talk about my crew!” Jim snarled. Jim had felt each one of those lives, and Sam had no right bringing his crew into this argument.
“You are just angry because you know I’m right!” Sam yelled back, as Jim threw down his shovel and stalked back towards the house.
“No, I’m fucking angry because no one in this family can keep their nose in their own goddamn business!” Jim tossed back over his shoulder at Sam as he stomped up the porch and back into the suddenly too warm house. As he tugged off his scarf and toed off his boots, he saw Spock sitting at the table with his mom, giving him a look. Jim sighed and shook his head.
‘I’ll tell you later.’ He thought, sending it across the bond to Spock, who simply nodded.
“Did you finish the driveway Jimmy?” His mom asked, sipping at her tea.
“Sam decided he wanted to do it himself.” Jim grumbled, pulling off his coat and flopping down beside David on the floor to watch whatever ancient Christmas special was on TV.
``
“Spock, do you think we’re being irresponsible by thinking we could be good parents while serving aboard a Starship?” Jim asked in bed later that night, Spock curled around him, pleasantly warm and solid at his back.
“Is that what you and your brother we arguing about earlier this afternoon?” Spock asked quietly.
“Yeah.” Jim paused and turned in Spock’s arms so he could face him. “He seems to think it’s, I dunno, selfish to take on another five year mission and raise David on the Enterprise.”
“While the level of danger and risk of injury is astronomically higher aboard a Starship than Earth, I would hardly categorize your wish to raise David on the Enterprise selfish. You simply wish to provide for your family the only way you know how.” Spock pet a hand through Jim’s hair. Jim huffed quietly.
“I guess…but I really don’t want to put in in harm’s way. He’s been through enough already, I’ve almost lost you twice and 32 crew members have died under my command. I guess…I guess I just never really thought about it that way before. I never thought that I would really have to choose, the Enterprise or a family.” Spock pulled Jim to his chest.
“Jim, you do not have to choose between the two. We can have both. We do not have to make this decision today or tomorrow, we still have a year stationed aboard the Enterprise. There is time Jim. ”
Spock sounded so certain, so firm and reassuring, that it calmed him and quickly Jim felt himself drifting off, warm and pressed to Spock’s broad chest.
``
Morning came far, far too soon Jim thought as David thundered into their room and catapulted himself onto their prone, sleeping bodies. All of Jim’s breath ‘whoosh’ed’ out of his lungs as David landed on top of him.
“It’s Christmas.” David said animatedly, placing both his tiny hands on Jim’s sleep weary face. And while Jim was under-slept, winded and probably bruised, Jim couldn’t find it in himself to care as David smiled at him, all big blue eyes and dimples and Jim’s heart stuttered in his chest a little.
“Heck yeah it is. Let’s go open some presents.” Jim said, grinning back at him.
As Jim watched as David bounded off the bed and towards to promise of presents, Jim couldn’t help but think,
‘Who needs presents when all the gifts I have are right here?’
And even though he received the ugliest sweater ever from his mom, there was too much eggnog and not enough rum, the turkey was horrendously dry, the power went out and it took all of Jim’s not inconsiderable skill to get David’s action-figures out of their packaging, all in all Christmas was a success (by Kirk family standards anyways).
Jim had no idea whether or not he would take on another five-year-mission and get to go where no man had gone before, but as he sat wedged between Spock and his brother, David dosing on his lap as Wynona regaled everyone with tales of Kirk Christmases past, he didn’t really care so long as he had Spock and David by his side to explore it all with him.
The End