#daddy!jim

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“Da-hee!” 

Jim’s head shot over to look at you at the sound of your toddler’s shout, ocean eyes wide with fear as every possible parent nightmare flashed through his mind. You knew full well about your son’s plan, but Jim immediately went into father-mode and took the steps two at a time to reach your child’s room. You followed with a smile on your lips and leaned against the doorway with arms crossed. Jim had stopped a couple steps into the room when your son proudly turned to show his father the costume he picked out.

Your little boy stood tall and proud, looking like a superhero the way he held his hands on his hips, in his own miniature wetsuit. He had insisted that he dress by himself; the wetsuit was on backwards at the moment...but that wasn’t the point!

“He wanted to surprise you,” you beamed and placed a kiss to Jim’s cheek. He walked over to your boy with a huge smile and dropped to his knees in front of him to lovingly grasp his shoulder. The boy was bouncing on the tips of his toes in excitement. 

“Can I tell him whhhhhy?” His eyes grew wider the longer he held the last word, and you couldn’t help but laugh as you wandered towards the closet. 

“Of course you can tell Daddy why.” Tiny teeth formed a blinding grin on his little face. He threw his arms around his father’s neck and practically fell into him.

“I wanna be like you, Da-hee!” he cheered. You could see the large, heartfelt tears forming in Jim’s eyes as he instantly pulled your child tighter into his arms. Reflexively, your hand moved to cover your mouth at the feeling of joyful tears brimming in your eyes. There was nothing you loved more than seeing Jim interacting with your son. You couldn’t have asked for a better man to have your heart or to be the father of your child.

“You got ready all by yourself?” Jim looked over your son’s wetsuit and sandal combo with a small chuckle.

“Yeah! Imma big boy!” You both laughed softly despite the little pang in your heart. He truly was turning into such a big boy so quickly, and he was so smart, too.

“Maybe when you’re a little older, you can take one of my surfboards for your costume. We’ll have to think of something for you to use tonight, though…” Jim mused. You held up your hand with a very proud grin.

“I’ve got that covered. We’ve been planning this for weeks, babe.” You winked at him and reached into the closet and moved a few pieces of children’s clothes. Carefully, you withdrew the project you had worked on with your son over the last month or so. “Ta-da!”

It was made of two thick pieces of cardboard cut into a planeshape. A hole cut into the middle alleviated the problem of him needing to carry the board and a bag for candy--a small pillowcase had been stuck between the layers and through the hole to act as his bag. Several layers of paper mache made it a little sturdier, though the effort of helping the little boy apply the soggy strips and then getting the glue mixture out of his shaggy hair had been a chore. Some paint and decals finished up the look, and your son was now the proud owner of a miniature surfboard replica of his father’s favorite board (with the exception of the hole for candy access).

“Wow, this is great…” Jim’s eyes widened, and he shook his unruly waves off to one side to really get a look at the costume prop. You scooped up your son and tapped Jim’s arm.

“It’s almost time for trick or treat! Though, maybe we should just stay home tonight, hmm?” you teased. Instantly, your baby was wiggling in your arms in protest.

“Nooooo! Twick ow tweat! Twick ow tweat!” He chanted the entire way down the stairs and out the front door. You set him down and Jim handed him his little surfboard so he could run up to your neighbors to start off his candy haul.

As predicted, you ended up carrying the board and candy and Jim carried your dozing baby boy back home after an hour and a half of running rampant through the neighborhood; he spent half the time proclaiming to be his father, the “Bess Surfaw in the Worwl”. Jim looked over at you when you yawned a few doors down from your house.

“Hey.” You turned to see him stopped on the sidewalk. Once he had your attention, Jim stepped closer and let his perfect nose brush yours. “I love you. Thank you for making this Halloween so special for us both.” He leaned closer when he finished speaking to seal your lips together. You hummed into the kiss and smiled after breaking apart.

Jim laid asleep, the first peaceful sleep he’s had in a while. That was till a big drop and a scream of pain, woke him. Jim got out of bed and walked to Isaac’s room to find him laying near his crib, crying. Jim sighed and picked his son up and held him close.

           “Shh it’s okay buddy, daddy’s here. It’s okay.” Jim rocked back and forth while rubbing Isaac’s back. Isaac slowly calmed down and coughed. “There we go.” Jim walked into his room and sat on the edge of the bed.

           Jim kissed his head as Isaac curled against his chest. When Jim looked at Isaac’s back, he found a big bruise starting to form. Jim sighed and grabbed his comms and called Bones.

           “Bones, could you set up an appointment for Isaac, he climbed out of his crib.”

           “Sure, Jim and I told you to get him a bed.”

She wrapped her arms around Roger from behind, planting a kiss on his cheek. “Hey. How’s work,going?” Roger turned around in her arms, pulling her into a deep and rough kiss. “Mm, that bad, huh,” she said with a soft smile.

“Yeah,” he sighed. “Someone swiped my ID, and my boss has been on my ass about it.”

“I’m sorry, babe. What if I take Y/N off your hands for a couple hours, so you can get some peace?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Y/N. You took her to work today.”

“I sure as hell didn’t. Ship dock’s no place for a kid that young.”

Aydenna’s heart hammered away in her chest. “Then where they hell is she? She wasn’t in bed this morning. Said she was going to work with her dad.”

Dread washed over Aydenna as she remembered a conversation she’s heard in the lounge this morning. One of the other Command professors mentioned the Enterprise was leaving again today after a few days leave for refueling. “I hoped Captain Kirk himself would come in as a guest lecturer, but I was told he was already being briefed for his next mission,” the professor had said. Aydenna pulled her comm out of her pocket with shaking hands. There were three missed calls, all from the same name: James Tiberius Kirk.

Jim didn't mind that Aydenna didn't answer his calls. He was ecstatic, really. He knew he should've turned the ship around the second they found you, but he’s spent so long sacrificing things for his job and his crew he allowed himself this one bit of selfishness: to look at you. He was still amazed that he could've helped create something so perfect.

You sat on Sulu’s lap on the bridge, coloring away on top of his workstation. Jim watched you in the glass of the observation window with rapt attention, seeing the way your tongue poked out of your mouth when you were concentrating.

“You talk funny,” you said to Chekov when he commented on your coloring.

Sulu swallowed back a laugh when Chekov glared at him. “It's because he’s Russian, sweetheart.”

“Where’s he going?” A chuckle ran across the bridge, and you met Jim’s eye in the reflection on the window. The smile plastered on his face was almost a carbon copy of your own.

“No, no, I am from Russia,” Chekov said, “ze country.”

“I know,” you cut in. “I’m five. I’m not dumb. Does it snow a lot in Russia?”

“Yes all ze time!”

“I’ve never seen snow. Well, not really snow. We had a fake snow day simulator in PE once when they were trying to teach us how to ski. What about you, daddy? Do they have snow where you're from?” You stopped coloring to peer around at him when he didn't answer.

The ‘daddy’ caught him off guard, still not used to the idea of being a father. When you turned and the light caught the golden streaks in your hair, Jim honestly thought his heart would stop. It couldn't be real. “Yeah, baby,” he said, clearing his throat. “It snows all the time in Iowa.”

Satisfied, you turned back to your drawing.”Did you have snowball fights and make snow angels?”

“Sure did when I was your age.”

“But not anymore?”

“Not many places to do it in space.”

“That's not true,” you said, taking one last glance at your art before hopping of Sulu’s lap and skipping over to Jim. “I heard of a planet called Delta Vega that's all snow all year! Have you been there, daddy?”

Jim laughed, reaching down to pick you up and sit you on his lap. “Yeah, I have. I met Scotty there. Not eager to go back, though.” Jim shot a sideways glance at Spock, who turned back to his console with a ghost of a smile.

“Do you like my picture?” You held the portrait out to him. “This one’s you,” you pointed to the taller stick figure, “you can tell by the yellow shirt. This one’s me. I’ve got a yellow shirt, too, because I’m gonna be a captain just like you someday! And that's my ship! It's gonna be bright pink.”

Jim blinked away a few tears, heart swelling at the picture. “It's beautiful, baby.” “What’s wrong, daddy? You look sad.”

“I’m not sad, Y/N. I’m happy. So happy that I met you.”

You smiled at him, looking back at your drawing. Jim shifted in his seat as his comm rang, smile fading quickly when he saw it was your mother. “Come on, kid,” he said glumly, picking you up in one arm and walking towards the turbolift. He answered the phone with a brief, “Captain Kirk.”

“Please tell me she’s with you,” Aydenna said, barely holding herself together.

“If you mean my daughter, yes, she's with me.” Jim told himself he’d be kind to Aydenna when she called, but he couldn't keep the bite from his voice.

Aydenna was silent on the other end. “I’m sorry. This isn't how I wanted you to find out, Jay.”

“It’s Captain Kirk, now actually, and I doubt you wanted me to find out at all.”

“Is that mommy,” you chirped, picking up on the anger in Jim’s voice. You leaned across him to talk into the comm. “I told you I was going to work with daddy!” The turbolift opened and Jim made his way to his living quarters, putting the comm on speaker so you could both talk.

“How did you find him, Y/N?”

“I was looking for my crayons in your purse and I found a picture with someone that looked like me but if I was a boy. When I showed it to my friend she said it was probably my dad!”

Aydenna cursed under her breath. “Y/N, how many times have I told you not to go through my stuff without asking?” She paused again as a realization hit her: “Did you take Roger’s ID?” You refused to answer, burying your head in Jim’s neck. He pressed a kiss to the top of your head. “Y/N Winona Black,” Aydenna said again. “Answer me right now.”

“Yes, yes I stole it,” you cried, “I wanted to see daddy because I wanted him to be nicer than Roger. He never lets me color at home because he says I leave my crayons out which I don’t! But daddy’s let me color all day. I just wanted to meet him.”

You tugged your arms tighter around Jim’s neck and he rubbed your back gently as you cried. “Hey, hey, it's okay, baby. I'm sure your mom was just worried.” You hiccuped in Jim’s ear in response.

Aydenna sighed. “Look, my lunch break is over. I’ll call you again when I’m done with classes for the day. Please tell me you're on the way back with her.”

“Of course,” Jim lied through his teeth.

Aydenna said her goodbyes and signed off, but as soon as Jim hung up his comm it rang again. Spock’s voice came through the other line. “Captain, we’re entering a debris field from what appears to be some kind of ambush. Lieutenant Uhura has identified the damaged ship as a Starfleet research vessel. How do you wish to proceed?”

“We’ve gotta help them,” you blurted out. “You can save the day again, daddy, and I can come with you!”

Jim never realized how annoying that puppy dog look was until it was being directed at him. He caved too quickly, spurred on at the thought of being your hero. “Mr. Spock, scan the planet to determine if it's hospitable. Have Mr. Sulu raise the shields and prep the weapons systems. I'll get Bones and set up an away team.”

“Right away, captain.”

Jim clicked the comm off and set you gently on the ground, kneeling in front of you. “If I let you come you can't tell your ma, okay? And you can only come if it's not dangerous and if you promise not to leave my side for anything.”

“I never want to leave you again, daddy,” you said, throwing your arms around Jim’s neck and planting a kiss on his cheek. He pulled you to him tightly, burning the feeling of you in his arms into his memory. He wasn't sure how long he had left with you, but he was certain Aydenna would never let him see you again if she found out he was taking you on an away mission. Still, he’d rather face her fury than watch you cry again, so he hoisted you onto his shoulders as he ran to brief Bones.