Chapter Text
David waited patiently until Nancy turned off the light and shut his door before he sat up and made his way over to the bookshelf. He quite liked Nancy most of the time, she was cheerful and a good cook and didn’t patronise him. But she was also incredibly stupid. Although Daddy disapproved of David saying that.
“She’s not stupid, David, you’re just very clever,” Daddy would say. David wasn’t entirely convinced by this, but he was willing to go along with it. After all, Daddy was the cleverest person he’d ever met even including all of the posh strangers in over-starched suits who visited or commed to ask Daddy for help. Aunty Carol was very clever too, but David didn’t talk to her much.
Besides, having a stupid babysitter was a good thing most of the time. If she’d had even a lick of sense she’d have checked on David at irregular intervals, but instead she set her watch to remind her to check on him once an hour on the hour. Which meant that David had plenty of time to hide his books and things before she got there. She should also have realised by now that David always ‘woke up’ in time to wish his Daddy goodnight when he got back from a night out.
Daddy was David’s whole world most of the time. Although Aunty Carol and her parents sent messages and money from time to time, every time they didn’t come to a Birthday party or Christmas it made Daddy sad. David had asked him about it once, because Aunty Carol had never once actually come to his Birthday, but Daddy had brushed his concern off and distracted him with another idea for a game. David had mentally assigned the tag ‘Adult Nonsense’ to that particular problem and pushed it aside until he was ‘old enough to understand’.
Occasionally Grandma Winnie would drop from the sky like a fairy and treat David to a whirlwind week or two before fluttering back to wherever it was she spent most of her time. Daddy said she spent her time hiding in the black, running away from ghosts and always seemed to vaguely disapprove of her, but from what David understood Grandma Winnie had always been like that, but Daddy hadn’t had his own Daddy to take care of him the rest of the time. The weeks following a visit were always very close as David promised to himself again that he would protect his Daddy as much as he could and Daddy promised he’d never be as flighty as Grandma Winnie.
Even more rarely, Uncle George and Aunty Aurelie would visit, normally with an extra child in tow compared to the time before (they had only visited three times so far though and hadn’t had any children the first time so Daddy said that description was a bit unfair). Uncle George, who Daddy called ‘Sam’ was like a more tired version of Daddy. He was fun and had great game ideas, but if you didn’t pay him enough attention you’d turn around and he’d be asleep and snoring. Aunty Aurelie had explained that because he was self-employed it meant he got ‘night-duty’. David didn’t know what that meant, but Daddy had found it funny and scolded his two baby nephews teasingly.
Most of the time, though, it was just the two of them against the world and David sort of preferred it that way. He loved the visits from his relatives, but they were all temporary intruders in the peace that Daddy had built and their coming made Daddy frazzled and uneasy. David liked to think it was because they so rarely saw them and Daddy forgot how to act around them, but secretly he knew it had more to do with the fact that all of their things were second-hand and careworn, whilst Grandma Winnie, Uncle George, Aunty Aurelie and even the two babies always wore brand new things.
Daddy spent a lot of time working, but he was a freelancer. David wasn’t entirely sure what that meant, but he knew that it meant that Daddy got to work from home. This was good and bad in equal measures, David thought, although he didn’t know what the alternative was like so he couldn’t make a totally unbiased judgement. Daddy was always there to pick him up and drop him off at school, he could have friends around whenever he wanted and Daddy would help him with his homework if he needed it (which was rarely). But it also meant that sometimes Daddy would spend all evening working as well as all day and even though he was in the same house, David would see nothing of him except at meals. Times like that didn’t last more than a couple of days, but it always made David feel lonely.
From what David could tell, Daddy didn’t have very many adult friends. He couldn’t blame him for that, because even though his year was the biggest class in the school, there were still only 23 of them and they were all stupid (“just not as clever as you!”) But you didn’t need to be clever to know how to play soccer or basketball, so David was perfectly happy to play with them and ignore anything they said in the classroom. But he worried about Daddy, because he spent all his time at home working alone, only going out occasionally.
And that was why David always tried to stay awake until Daddy got home on nights that he actually went out. He knew that Daddy would pretend, for a couple of hours, that he wasn’t a single parent fighting against the world to bring up his child without extra support and battling the weighty expectations of strangers who only knew him as the son of George Kirk, hero. But he didn’t mind the pretence. If it meant that Daddy got a couple of hours of fun without worrying about him, David thought it was good. Besides, Daddy always came home for him.
This night was different though. When Daddy returned from the bar - earlier than usual - he was covered in bruises, his eyes were dark and sad and there was a slump in his shoulders like he’d just heard Aunty Carol wasn’t going to be there for David’s Birthday again. David had sprung out of bed like usual, bounced down the stairs and hugged Daddy as tight as he could while Daddy paid Nancy and she left. Then Daddy lifted David into his arms and carried him to the sofa where they both sunk down and David buried his face in Daddy’s neck so he wouldn’t have to see that sad look anymore.
“Hey, tyke, are you alright? Did you have a nightmare?” Daddy asked softly, almost whispering like he did when he was sharing a secret.
“You’re sad,” David murmured, not moving his face from the crook of Daddy’s neck, arms tight across broad shoulders.
Daddy smoothed a hand across David’s head, stroking the golden hair that was so like his own. “I’m ok. You worry about me too much.”
David looked up then and wriggled in place so that he was sitting more comfortably. “Why’re you sad? Did a bully get you?”
Daddy let out a low sigh and pressed a kiss to the crown of his head. “I met an old friend of my Dad’s this evening. He - he wants me to enrol in Starfleet.”
“But you can’t ‘cause of me?” David asked, tears stinging the corners of his eyes.
“No, David, never think that. I just - I don’t know. We’re good where we’re at, aren’t we? You’re happy?”
“The school’s full of idiots,” David reminded him helpfully, pleased when it got that little huff of almost-laughter that Daddy made when he found something funny that he thought he shouldn’t.
“We’d have to leave the house and everyone we know here behind,” Daddy told him seriously. “You’d have to go to a different school that would be much larger than the one you go to at the moment. And you’d probably see a lot less of me.”
David shrank a little at the last comment. “You’d still help me with my homework?”
“As much as I can, tyke. I’m not going to abandon you, I’ll just be busier. But I’ll always be there for you when you need me.”
David considered this for a while. There was no one in their backwards little town that he’d really miss and the thought of a bigger school with people who maybe weren’t idiots… “Let’s do it,” he told Daddy firmly.
“You sure? There’s no backing out of this, the shuttle leaves tomorrow morning.”
David grinned, poking his tongue through the gap in his teeth. “We should get packing then,” he said.
And he’d never been so glad for a decision in all his life because Daddy’s whole face lit up like a Christmas tree, a massive smile breaking loose and David had to try and match it.
“San Francisco here we come!” Daddy whooped, launching them both off the sofa and swooping David through the air above him and making him giggle excitedly.
They didn’t have a lot of stuff to pack, because besides their clothes most of what they owned were the old-fashioned books that Daddy collected. David had been worried they might lose them, but Daddy said not to worry, that they’d be put sent up to them in a couple of weeks time. So they packed their clothing into a big duffle bag and put all the books into a pile of cardboard boxes and then filled a small rucksack with the knickknacks neither wanted to leave behind.
Early the next morning, after only catching a couple of hours sleep, Daddy made a series of phonecalls before piling the two bags and David into the car and leaving their house behind for good. He’d given his hover bike a fond pat farewell that made David giggle and bounce a little in place. It was crazy, what they were doing. Moving their whole life on a whim, leaving almost everything behind.
It was almost an hour’s drive to the shuttle bay and David snoozed on the way there, although he was pleased when Daddy woke him up so that he could see the skeleton of the massive starship that the ‘fleet was building, workers like ants scurrying all over the structure.
“Are we gonna live on one of those, Daddy?” David asked, biting at his thumbnail until Daddy swatted his hand away.
“Not for a little while. I have to go to a special school where I learn all the stuff I need to know to work on one of those.” There was something else unsaid in that comment, but David was too excited to question it. Whatever the issue was, it’d either go away on its own or David would make it go away.
They pulled up alongside one of the shuttles waiting for the last boarding and Daddy shouldered the duffle bag, helped David with his rucksack, and threw the keys to a nearby engineer. “Enjoy it,” Daddy had laughed. The car was on the brink of falling apart, but maybe the engineer might be able to save it. Then he grabbed David’s hand and led him over to the door of the shuttle where a middle-aged man with grey hair stood, gaping at them.
“Jimmy?” the stranger croaked.
“Hey, Pike. This is my son, David. You want to say hello, tyke?” Daddy stated proudly, nudging David forward a bit.
David clung to Daddy’s hand, but grinned shyly up at ‘Pike’. “Hello,” he said.
The stranger crouched down so he was eye-level with David, and gave him a once over. “Huh,” he muttered. “Well, I guess you’ll do.” Then he stood up and winked at Daddy. “So what track do you want the kid to go down for? Another command? Or is he more of an engineer? Maybe a linguist?”
“Oh shut up,” Daddy replied lowly, rolling his eyes.
“I like science,” David inserted cheerfully. “But my school’s full of idiots so I don’t know as much as I’d like,” he looked downcast for a moment. “But I’m a quick learner, Mr Pike!”
“You are, huh?” Pike asked, lowering himself to David’s level again. “Well, if you’d like, I’ve got a friend who’s going to be Science Officer in a few years, when this baby’s finished,” he said, gesturing at the half-made ship behind him. “Maybe I could introduce you to him. That is, if it’s alright by your father?”
Daddy snorted a little. “Like I could stop you, either of you. No doubt inside of a month you’ll be ganging up on me all the time.”
David frowned at that and tugged at Daddy’s hand. “No, Daddy, I’m on your team. I won’t meet Mr Pike’s friend if you don’t want me to.”
Daddy ruffled his hair with his free hand and smiled a bit sadly. “I know you are, tyke, I didn’t mean it like that. I want you to make as many new friends as you want, ok? And hey, you need a babysitter who’s not ‘stupid’, right?”
David giggled, already cheered up. They were off on an adventure and he hadn’t quite learnt all the rules for it yet, but so long as he and Daddy had each other they’d be alright.
“Why don’t you run up and grab us a pair of seats, ok? I just need a word with Pike,” Daddy suggested, nudging him towards the shuttle and freeing his hand.
David set off up the steps, but not before he heard part of what his Daddy and Pike were saying.
“He’s all I’ve got, I’m all he’s got and I’m not leaving him behind or letting him go. If that’s going to be a problem, Pike-”
“No problem. I’ll have to rearrange your accommodation, but I wasn’t certain you’d be coming anyway.”
The rest of their conversation went unheard as David peered nervously around the shuttle, looking for some empty seats. There were three at the end of one of the rows and David squeezed past the people wearing red and took off his rucksack and plopped down on the middle seat, clutching the bag like a shield to his chest. Opposite him were several of the people dressed in red who were now all eyeing him curiously.
“You know this is a shuttle for Starfleet, right kid?” one asked gruffly.
Another joked, “I didn’t know recruitment started so young!”
Before the lady sat opposite David cut in and told them to shut up. “He’s probably here with his Mom or Dad, you loud-mouthed buffoons,” she hissed at them, before leaning across the gap and offering her hand. “I’m Nyota. What’s your name, sweetheart?”
David took the offered hand, but bit his lip before answering. “My Daddy said that I shouldn’t trust strangers, so I don’t know if I should tell you.”
“That’s ok,” she told him, smiling sweetly. “Better to be on the safe side. Is your Daddy a cadet? We all are, that’s why we’re all wearing red, it’s our uniform.”
“I had to wear a uniform at my old school,” David replied, relaxing a bit. “But it wasn’t as smart as yours. You’re very pretty.” Then he blushed as he realised what he’d said, looking away from her and catching sight of Daddy making his way towards them.
Daddy grinned at him, then hefted the duffle bag up to the space above the seats.
“Want me to put your bag up here too, tyke?” he asked, apparently unaware of the incredulous stares from the uniformed cadets.
“Yes please,” David replied, handing the bag up slowly, no longer needing it as a shield now that Daddy was there.
Once the bags were stowed, Daddy knelt down in front of him and carefully strapped him in, only just stopping himself from cursing at the harness that was not designed for people as small as David. “Shoulda brought the booster seat from the car,” he muttered lowly, causing David’s cheeks to flush.
“Daddy! I’m not that small,” he protested, pouting as Daddy chuckled at him and settled down in the seat next to him, fighting with his own harness that seemed to be just as uncooperative as David’s had been.
“You’re the boy’s father?” Nyota couldn’t help but ask once they were both seated and Daddy caught her eye.
“The one and only,” Daddy replied with a devilish grin. “You know I never did catch your first name.”
“I can’t believe you’d be so irresponsible as to get into a bar fight when you’ve got a young, impressionable kid at home,” Nyota muttered angrily. “Not to mention signing up for military service!”
David frowned at that. “Hey, lady,” he cut in before his Daddy could reply. “You seem nice, but you don’t know anything about us. Leave my Daddy alone.”
She frowned right back at him, although her expression softened a bit before she turned away, resolutely not looking at either of them.
“You know you don’t have to stand up for my honour,” Daddy told him sternly, although a hint of fatherly pride slipped through.
“Yeah, but when you stand up for yourself someone hits you. No one ever hits me, I’m too cute,” David said self-assuredly and causing Daddy to laugh loudly.
As his laughter petered off a commotion from the other end of the shuttle caught both of their attention. A haggard looking man was putting up a fight with one of the flight attendants and yelling about aviophobia as he was shepherded down the craft towards the empty seat next to David. Eventually it was the flight attendant who shouted the loudest and the man sat down with a huff in the empty seat.
“I may throw up on you,” he growled in David and Daddy’s direction, causing David to shrink away from the stranger.
“I think these things are pretty safe,” Daddy contradicted, wrapping a protective arm around David’s shoulders.
“Don’t pander to me, kid. One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds, a solar flare might crop up and cook us in our seats, and wait ‘til you’re sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles - see if you’re so relaxed when your eyeballs bleed! Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence,” the man grouched fiercely.
“Well I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space.”
“Yeah, well. I got no where else to go. The ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones.” When the stranger said that he looked so sad that David forgave him a little bit for the monologue about space. Sad people say things they don’t mean sometimes, he knew that, especially when they’d got hurt.
The stranger took out a hip flask and started to open it, but with a glance at David he sighed and put it back in his pocket. Daddy seemed to relax a bit at that.
“Name’s McCoy. Leonard McCoy,” he offered.
“Jim Kirk,” Daddy replied, nodding in Leonard’s direction. “And this is my boy, David.”
Leonard eyed David almost warily for a second. Then he said to Daddy, “So what’s your sob story? You get custody or did she die?”
Daddy gave that awkward half-shrug he offered anyone who wanted to talk about David’s birth. “She’s alive. She - well, she gave him up as fast as she could. We were only kids really, so I guess I can’t blame her. I just - David’s my world. And she doesn’t even bother visiting on his Birthday.”
“Cute kid like him?” Leonard asked disbelievingly.
David sulked a little and kicked his legs out. “I’m right here, you know.”
“Your Mummy’s a fool, kid,” Leonard told him seriously.
David grinned a bit. In spite of the gruff exterior he liked Leonard, and he could tell Daddy did too. “I don’t have a Mummy, she’s Aunty Carol. Besides, I don’t need her, I’ve got Daddy.”
Daddy grinned and squeezed David’s shoulders at that, dropping a kiss on his head. “You sure do, tyke, and you aren’t going to be able to ever get rid of me.” David stuck his tongue out and cuddled closer as the shuttle swung out of port and towards whatever future they were heading into.