[NVC Day 14, Early Morning] -- [And So the Sun Rises] -- [Open to All]

[kirktastic]

After a long night at the theater, meeting Spock and his brother, and everything afterwards, it had been difficult to sleep. Along with the tickets, Jim had received a message about the trial's start the next morning. He had refused to let it bother him all night, just wanting to enjoy some time with Bones despite everything they had been forced to go through recently.

That didn't make for good sleep, though. Sometime before dawn, Jim found himself wide awake, laying in bed, Bones curled up against his side dead asleep. It took some work to get himself out of Bones' arms, not wanting to disturbing the sleeping man, before he grabbed his discarded robe over the back of a chair and pulling it on. He brushed a kiss over Bones' hair, affectionate while no one could see it, and stepped outside.

The deck was level with the ground, so it was no trouble to walk out onto the deck and past it, out towards the beautiful area that surrounded their guest quarters. Jim had a working theory that because the Vulcans had been on a desert planet before, without the ability to use plant life because of the strain of water consumption, that now that they could they decided to use planets as much as possible. He wondered how logical it was, but decided that knowing Vulcans to a degree, they would find a way to make it logical and convince everyone else in the process. The thought made him smile, just slightly, as he found himself a low wall that faced the ocean and sat down.

It was both easier and harder to think while he watched the sun rise, watching the ripples of orange, red, and pink climb higher in the sky. So much hinged on this trial, one he would be going to each day of. He had choices to make about it, as such a major player in what had happened. He would have to explain his actions to the court and by addition, Starfleet.

Let me have done the right thing.

Comments

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim let out a very slow breath and shook his head. "I'm not her son. She made that clear."

"So, your friend is Vulcan?"

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

George just nodded. "Hell if I'm going to bother defending her actions to you. She's lost that right."

"Yeah, T'Lan was CEO on the Kelvin. She...didn't entirely approve of Winnie and me being married. Said it was an illogical choice."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"Looks like she was right." He sighed, then looked over at his father.

"Why are you out here, doing this?" His voice was tight, his eyes narrowed.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"And I'm sure she'll tell me all about it," George muttered darkly.

"Doing what? Watching the sunrise? Talking to you? Breathing?" George asked in return. "Specificity is a virtue, son."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

George was too like himself for some things to work. "Reminding me about this shit."

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"Because if I piss you off now, you'll go into this already having exhausted your anger on me, and present yourself as the cool and confident leader you are, having exhausted all the drama you could have internally been suppressing, with hopefully some solid facts" George said. "Plus, this much brooding when you could be snuggling with Bones is unhealthy." Pot, kettle. He should know, he was doing about the same thing Didn't mean he didn't know it was unhealthy.

"It's a working theory. Plus, no one else is gonna bring up this shit. They think we're delicate about it. That we're gonna break if we're reminded we survived the bastard or something."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"I don't. want. to. talk. about. this." He didn't know how to make it any clearer. "Just because you work well in one way doesn't mean I do because I'm related to you. There's a difference between brooding and thinking."

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"I did stop talking about it," George pointed out. "I turned to asking you to meet a friend and former colleague of mine. I have a weird desire to show my kid off. I'd also like to spend some time with said kid before we head back into space."

"If it's about the Kelvin mention, I served on her for nearly five years. Most of my former colleague's and friends will come from her, unless we're back on earth and I can somehow manage to introduce you to old bartenders I worked with."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"And you brought up Mom." His eyes narrowed. "I don't... I don't want to deal with this right now." He slid off the wall, toes stretching on the stone beneath his feet. "I'll go and see her, but... I don't want to have to deal with Mom when I don't have to, or Nero when I don't have to."

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"I'm sorry," George apologized.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"Just... got enough on my plate to last for a few days." He.... attempted to make himself sound like less of an ass. "Really, though. It's the truth. I'm not brooding."

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"You don't have to keep all the trouble for yourself, son," George said softly. He'd make no judgment calls on the brooding "We've got the Admirals just about convinced that our drop-ins are for the most part harmless, without having to introduce most of our new friends to them. So that's an improvement."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim gave his Dad a long look. He wasn't even sure what George was talking about. Who was 'we' exactly? What had George been doing? And their drop-ins weren't all harmless. Some of them he wanted to remain off his ship.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

George realized not all of their drop-ins were harmless. But the vast majority were fine and welcome. He returned the look quietly, levelly.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"Right now, I want to focus on this. We won't be leaving immediately after the trial." But he didn't look away first.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"I know. But I was stuck being Chris' fiancee anyway. No point in letting opportunities go to waste," George responded, he didn't look away either. He wasn't going to play games, and be over-awed by his own son or treat him delicately. Jim wouldn't respect him for it if he just rolled over and showed his soft underbelly.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"So you're still going through with it? Getting married?" Jim changed the subject entirely.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"Of course," George said. "We're taking our time, but that's the plan. Get married, do our own thing for a bit, and just...live our lives like we'd planned." George paused. "Mostly like we planned."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"....you won't be able to see him for five years." Why get married just to get separated? It didn't make any sense to him.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"I will," George corrected. "We've managed before. We'll meet up on leaves, when our schedules can connect. We just maximize what time we have together."

"It's not...about being together all the time. Both of use knew even back then that we'd probably not be together always. Back then it would have been me taking you boys to meet them wherever the leaves took them, rather than Chris meeting up with me." He shook his head.

"Marriage for us is shouting to the world that we belong to each other, officially, nothing is going to ever get between us. We belong to each other." He laughed softly. "So much for being a linguist." He sounded like an idiot.

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"...Don't think you need to get married to do that." Jim shrugged. He didn't have a lot to say on the subject.

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"For it to be true between us?" George said. "No."

"To claim each other in the eyes of everyone else, to say 'fuck yes, this is my mate and I'm taking it legal? Yeah, weddings help. Actually...I was hoping that we'd tie the knot on the Enterprise, have you officiate. Of course, that means you're going to have to give Chris and me your blessing..."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

Jim held up a hand. "I've never, ever been against you and Pike. Of course you have my blessing. I just don't see the need to be so public about it. People can tell when you're together without having to cry it out."

[kirk-george.livejournal.com]

"True," George nodded. "But legalistically it makes more sense. If we'd been married, back when I died? He would have gotten partial custody of you automatically, had rights to you and Sammy."

"We don't have kid-kids anymore, but there's still stuff that legally matters to us being married."

[kirktastic.livejournal.com]

"Whatever makes you happy, Dad." Jim said, meaning it. If it made George happy, he could do what he liked. They were adults.