#dutyboundx

        “Like Father. Like Son.”

“ george! ”  he greets, searching the subtle twist of anxiety in the man’s face with a furrow of his eyebrows. the question, likely rehearsed on repeat, catches him unguarded just outside his quarters at the end of his shift, where george was waiting for him. a defensive glance cast over his shoulder reveals they are indeed alone, cause well, he and spock, they’re not exactly— public.he fills himself up with a deep breath, meant to expel the weird surge of embarrassment that slaps him like a wet towel.

thanksgiving: it’s not like he hadn’t thought about it, and what george’s return might mean as far as social expectations. he can’t even remember the last time he’d been around family for the holidays. sixteen? seventeen? must have been seventeen, when winona had accumulated enough shoreleave to all but require her compliance in returning to earth. 

“ i don’know, i mean. got straight to the point huh? spock doesn’t exactly observe terran holidays, you know? i’d have to run it by him. make sure it’s not— odd? i guess? ” he pushes his tongue against the inside of his bottom lip. takes one long look at george’s face, and gives him this. jim’d been hard on him. maybe they both need it. a sigh— and a genuine smile, soft as it was. 

“yeah -- gets lonely, though. sometimes.”

jim shifted, sitting next to george on the deck plating of the observation deck; the metal was cold on his bare feet, and it seeped through his lounge pants. regardless, the blond pulled his legs to his chest, scooting a bit closer to his dad. 

“i think too much at night... ... there’s some stuff i can’t get out of my head.”

He’s got his PADD clutched tight to his chest, knuckles almost white. There’s a tightness in his chest, too, urgency in his step. If he’d been aboard the Enterprise, everything would be fine. He’d have turned straight to Captain Kirk, or Commander Spock, or Sulu. Everything would have launched into action. But the Enterprise is docked. Quiet. Almost empty.

Instead he’s here, desperately searching for someone, anyone who’ll be able to help him. Through a haze of something that’s beginning to taste like panic, he catches sight of familiar features. Relief spikes through him and he hurries over.

“Captain!” PADD is pushed into surprised hands, Pavel’s words tumbling over themselves in an effort to get them out quickly enough. “There is something which you need to see -- it is most urgent and we must immediately ---”

His eyes catch up with his mouth, belatedly. His tangle of words stalls in his throat, panic rising once more to clutch at his throat.

the pitter patter of small feet sound through the hall.  quietly, very quietly, as quietly as he can manage, which isn’t very quietly at all.  not that it matters when he’s going STRAIGHT to mama.  he descends the stairs carefully, railing clasped in one hand & blanket in the other, only to pause at the bottom.  he THINKS it’s frank at first.  because that happens sometimes, he knows it.  uncle frank asleep on the couch.  but the closer he creeps… well, that’s not uncle frank.  it’s another man.  one he vaguely knows from HOLOS – there’s the one with mama, another with gamma & g’daddy, one by himself.  ‘that’s your daddy, jimmy.  you see your daddy?  he loved you very much.’  it’s clear as day, even in the darkness, now that he stands close enough to see, to study in quiet observation.  but the man is SLEEPING, just like he should be.  the finger he’s extended to trace along the lines of a foreign cheek & jaw without touching is withdrawn.  after a moment’s deliberation, he offers his blanket.  does his best to cover the man with it, gives him a soft pat on the cheek.  

the creak of a door startles him.  then footsteps, booted ones.  he’s in trouble now & turns to look.  “hey, tyke.”  THAT’S uncle frank.  “back to bed.”  he stares, first at the man & then up at frank.  the door creaks once more.  g’daddy this time.  “jimmy.”  strong hands grasp under his arms & lift.  he wants his BLANKET back, but doesn’t say anything – only stares over g’daddy’s shoulder, back to where it barely covers the man’s leg.  it stays there until morning.  

“ —oh weird, god, what? ”

[ the look on his pitifully flushed face was far from amiable, & he wished even less for the shock plastered across it. an attempt by his hand was made to wipe it clean, but the twitching of his eyebrows found him unsuccessful. wow. it seemed a particularly unique occurrence, that a guy’s previously dead father should concede to inklings of fraternization between his son & his son’s most senior subordinate officer— an affair BOTH parties involved had hoped to be effectively well-concealed from the public record, barring transfer, demotion, or worse.

his eyes shut tightly, grappling with the slipping strings of his own sanity & yanking back & locking inside his skull the inconvenient truth that might be unraveled in their edgy blue. dry throat, dry mouth, he licked his lips. ]

       “You seem familiar. Have we met before?”