Ad Astra :: Star Trek Fanfiction Archive ^{Beam me up, Scotty.}

Chapter Text

2240

Jim shoves aside a bunch of coats as he climbs further into his mom's closet. She has to be hiding the Christmas presents somewhere, and he's going to find them.

He grins as he comes across a box he hasn't seen before, and pulls it towards him hastily. But opening it doesn't result in any games or toys or anything else he asked for; just a bunch of photo albums.

Curious, Jim pulls one out and flicks the button to activate it. His breath catches in his throat as the image of his father appears. He's smiling broadly, holding a baby that Jim assumes must be Sam.

Presents forgotten, Jim sits back and begins flicking through the images one at a time. A few of them he's seen before, but most are new to him. His mom doesn't have a lot of photos, especially not of his dad. He's pretty sure they make her too sad.

He pauses on an image of his parents on their wedding day, surrounded by family. They look happy, Jim thinks. He doesn't think he's ever seen his mom smile quite like that.

"Jim? What are you doing?"

Jim startles and nearly drops the album. He whirls round to see his mom standing at the door to the closet, watching him. Her gaze falls on the album in his hands and he has the sudden urge to hide it.

"I forgot I'd put those in there," she says softly. She stares past him at the image of her wedding day, and says, almost absently, "Did I ever tell you how your father and I first got engaged?"

Jim shakes his head. She barely ever talks about his father.

There's a hint of pain in her eyes, but she's smiling faintly as she kneels down beside him. "We were on our first posting, barely out of the academy. His, I think it was his third landing party, and he comes back unconscious and beaten half to hell. I spent the night by his side, waiting for him to wake up, and it hit me right then that I didn't ever want to be without him. When he finally woke up I just kind of blurted it out, 'Marry me'. And he said yes." She laughs and wipes her eyes. "Of course, then he told me he'd been planning to ask me on our next shore leave and I'd just ruined all his plans, but I don't think he was too upset by it."

She reaches out and touches Jim's shoulder. "He loved you so, so much, you know. You and your brother."

Jim's own eyes feel hot, and he can only nod. His mom takes the album out of his unprotesting hands and stares down at it, tracing the picture gently. "Maybe it's time we put some of these out," she says. "What do you think?"

"Yeah," Jim says, managing to find his voice. "I think so."

She holds out a hand and he takes it. "Come on," she says. "Let's go find your brother. I think it's time I tell the two of you more about your father."

2256

Jim blinks as the message appears on his terminal. Incoming call from Sam Kirk. Accept?

His and Sam's relationship has always been a 'birthdays and Christmas' kind of thing, so Jim is immediately on edge. There are only a handful of reasons he can think of for his brother to be calling out of the blue, and none of them are good. Taking a deep breath, he braces himself and taps the 'Yes' option.

Sam's face appears on the screen. He doesn't look injured, which rules out one of Jim's ideas. "Sam, what's up? Is Mom okay?"

"Jim, relax. Mom's fine." He pauses, then adds, "I mean, she's kind of mad at me, but other than that she's fine."

"What did you do this time?" Jim asks.

Sam gives a short laugh. "I, uh. I got married?"

Jim boggles. "Married? To who?"

Sam gives him an annoyed look, which Jim thinks is a little rich given he's not the one who got married and didn't tell anyone. "I told you about Aurelan."

The name does ring a bell. Jim thinks Sam might have mentioned her in their last call, but that was over four months ago. "So you married a girl you've been dating for-" he does a quick calculation. "Six months?"

"Seven," Sam corrects. He sighs and adds, "It's not like we planned it. We were in Vegas with some friends to celebrate her new job, and one night we got really drunk and, well, you can figure out the rest."

Jim's done a lot of stupid things while drunk, so he supposes he can't really judge. (Then again, he's never gotten married, so maybe he can judge a little.) "Can't you just get an annulment or something?"

"We talked about it, but we decided we both wanted to give it a shot, see where it leads." Sam smiles bashfully. "She's like no one I've ever met, Jim. I feel like we would've gotten married eventually anyway, so why not just go with it?"

His eyes are almost glowing, and for a moment Jim wonders what it would be like to love someone that much. "Congrats, I guess," he says. "When do I get to meet her?"

Sam blinks, like the thought hadn't occurred to him. "How about now?" Before Jim can answer, he gets up and moves away from the screen. "Aurie! My brother wants to meet you!"

Typical Sam. Jim does a quick check behind him to make sure there's nothing incriminating showing, turning back in time to see a slim, brown-haired woman slip into view. "Hi," she says, giving him a quick wave. "I'm Aurelan. You must be Jim. Sam's told me so much about you."

"Whatever he's told you is a lie," Jim tells her.

She laughs, then leans into the screen with a mischievous look. "Well, in that case, maybe you can tell me some stuff about him to make up for it?"

Jim grins. He has the feeling he's going to like her. "What do you want to know?"

2264

Jim is almost vibrating as he waits for the call to connect. When it does, however, he's not greeted by his mom's face, but by his brother's. "Oh, hey, Jim."

"Sam? What are you doing there?"

"Deep-sea diving," Sam deadpans. "I'm visiting Mom, what do you think?"

"Is she there?"

"Yeah," Sam says. "She's teaching Peter how to play chess."

"Isn't he five?"

Sam shrugs. "Yeah, but he actually seems to be enjoying it." He leans in. "So how's everything going in Starfleet? Crashed your new ship yet?"

Jim glares at him. "The Enterprise-A is doing fine, thank you very much." He chews on his lip and adds, "But I do have some news. Can you get Mom? I might as well tell you together."

"Sure," Sam says. "Hang on a second."

He gets up and walks away, and a few moments later their mom slips into the seat in front of the screen. She's smiling, and Jim grins back. "Hey, Mom. How's the chess going?"

"With Peter?" She considers. "Well, he hasn't tried to eat any of the pieces yet, so he's one up on you."

Jim can hear Sam laughing from off-screen. "I was two! It's not my fault Sam left the box open."

"Yeah, well I didn't expect you to think it was food!" Sam retorts. "You know the white king still has your teethmarks on it?"

"All right!" their mom cuts in. "Jim, Sam said you had some news?"

"Oh. Yeah." Sam comes round to stand behind their mom, and Jim scratches his head, suddenly nervous. "Spock and I are getting married."

"That's great!" his mom says, then, "Though to be clear, by 'getting', you mean..."

"I mean 'getting', as in 'at some point in the future'. Don't worry, we haven't eloped like some people." He decides not to mention that Spock specifically vetoed the idea.

"I did not 'elope'!" Sam protests, and Jim snorts.

"I'm not sure that's the hill you want to die on, honey," their mom puts in, trying and failing to hide a smile. "And Jim, I'm so happy for you. Have you picked a date?"

"Not yet. Spock's working on it, though. He wants to have the ceremony on New Vulcan, but we'll have to see." Personally he'd rather have it on the Enterprise, but this isn't just about him.

His mom nods. "Well, just tell us when and where and we'll be there."

"Will do," Jim promises. A message begins blinking in the corner of his screen, and he frowns. "Sorry, I gotta go. Duty calls."

"Love you," his mom says. "Be safe."

"Love you too," Jim says, and gets back to work.