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Hikaru wasn’t exactly sure what to do with the tiny version of Doctor McCoy that Commander Spock had shoved into his arms and told him to watch over. All he really knew what that Spock had looked almost panicked when he ran off to follow Captain Kirk and Admiral Marcus out of the room, Ambassador Sarek had seemed a little unimpressed with Hikaru, and Doctor McCoy knew how to kick.
“Oww.” Hikaru held the little boy out so that his feet stopped hitting him in the side “Hey, come on now. I’m not that scary am i?”
“I Want Spock and Jim!” The little boy cried.
“Well, that’s quite normal for you.” Hikaru smiled “But they’re a little busy right now so you’re stuck with me. Think you can handle that for just a little while?”
Finally, Leo stopped trying to kick Hikaru away and let his feet hang in the air helplessly while he crossed his arms over his chest and hugged his Sehlat teddy close to his chest. At least Hikaru knew for sure that Damora wasn’t the only child picky about who they let near them.
“Not sure what to do with you kiddo…” Hikaru addmitted weakly “usually i go home to my daughter so i don’t really have anything for a kid to do here.”
Leo hid his face in the fur of his teddy, something Hikaru could only assume was the child equivalent of hiding from conversation behind a glass of whiskey. Poor guy was never made to be in big crowds.
“You want to get out of here?” He asked, smiling when Leo peeked up at him. “Away from all of these people?”
“Please…” Leo’s plea was muffled by his teddy, but Hikaru knew well enough that there was no moment in the doctor’s life he wouldn’t take an escape from large crowds when it was offered.
“Alright, but you have to promise not to kick me anymore.” watching Leo carefully, Hikaru smiled when he nodded his head in agreement and allowed Hikaru to pull him close to his chest and support his legs with one arm. “Thank you. I am very attached to all of my internal organs and i hate when they get bruised.”
For the first time since he had been left with Hikaru, Leonard giggled. Apparently jokes about people’s medical well being would always be a favorite for Leonard, which was good to know. Hikaru had a few stowed away in his mind to try out when they got the older version of the doctor back.
Glancing around the room, Hikaru zeroed in on Pavel and waited for the Ensign to pry his attention away from the pretty gorn and look over at Hikaru. He made a gesture for Pavel to join them, smiling when the other man rolled his eyes and started to say his goodbyes while Hikaru headed towards the door. He figured it would be better for two of them to be with Leo, considering the story’s he had heard from Leo’s morning escape from Ensign Krouser’s quarters.
Hikaru had no intentions of being the next poor soul to explain to Commander Spock or Captain Kirk why he had lost sight of Leo.
Stepping out of the mess hall, Hikaru glanced over his shoulder and smiled when he saw Pavel running up behind him. “Took you long enough.” he smirked playfully.
“What do you need?” The Ensign sighed in frustration “i was getting somewhere with them and they’re really cute.”
“I have no doubt about that, but you’re going to help me watch this cutie tonight instead.” Hikaru smirked, watching as Leo turned around to glare at Pavel. He almost felt bad for the Ensign, but at least he hadn’t had to deal with being kicked in the side, so really Hikaru thought he would survive. “Come on Pavel, it’ll be fun.”
“Not as much fun as the cute Gorn.” Pavel grumbled under his breath, following Hikaru down the hallway reluctantly and shoving his hands into his pant pockets.
“Why did you drag me here with you?” complained Pavel from where he sat on the floor with Leo’s Sehlat Teddy on his lap while the little boy looked around Hikaru’s botany lab at all of the plants. “Was my presence really necessary?”
Hoisting Leo up to see one of the flowers, Hikaru chuckled. “You make such a nice stuffy holder, Pavel.” he commented, his eyes glued on Leo while the little boy reached out to touch the petals.
With a dramatic groan, Pavel fell back against the floor and held the Sehlat over his face. He could have been with a gorgeous gorn in his own bedroom, but here he was stuck on stuffy guarding duty instead.
His best friend was the worst.
“Pretty Purple.” tilting his head back, Pavel watched as Leo examined the flower in front of him and giggled when the colours changed from a deep red to a shiney purple.
“I got this one while we were visiting a planet in the same solar system as Vulcan.” Hikaru explained with a bright smile. Pavel could understand why he was having so much fun. It was hard for Hikaru to find a lot of people interested in learning about the various plants he had, unless he called up his husband to show him the newest addition to his collection. “I haven’t learned a lot about it yet, but it seems to change colour when someone new touches it. In my experience, it always turns into that person’s favorite colour.”
Leo giggled at the sound of that and brushed his fingers against the petals again.
“At least you two are having fun.” Pavel huffed, turning his attention back to the Sehlat in his hand and glaring. “Who would want one of these Hikaru? Wouldn’t it give people nightmares?”
“Some people like big scary Sehlat’s.” Hikaru smiled, pulling Leo down when he started to wiggle and watching as he ran over to snatch his Sehlat stuffy away from Pavel. “Like Leo here.”
Leo glared at Pavel, watching as the Ensign sat up in his spot carefully and looked down at him before sticking his tongue out and turning his back to him.
“I really should have just stayed with the cute Gorn.” Pavel mumbled under his breath.
“You just need practice with kids.” Hikaru chuckled, making his way over to Leo and Pavel’s side and reaching down to put a hand in Leo’s hair. “They like you a lot more when you’re nice.”
“I am very nice.” Protested Pavel.
Leo turned around to face Pavel just enough to stick his tongue out once more, leaving the Ensign annoyed and flustered when he turned his back on him again.
“Hey, be nice now.” Hikaru chuckled, kneeling himself down beside Leo. “You want to look at some more flowers?”
“No.” Leo’s voice dropped as he looked over at the door. “I want Spock....”
Meeting eyes with Hikaru, Pavel shrugged his shoulder when his friend gave him a questioning look. “You have the kid.” He reminded him playfully, grunting when Hikaru reached back and shoved him in the shoulder hard enough to force Pavel onto his back once more.
“I’m sure he’ll be back for you soon Kiddo.” Hikaru assured Leo, smiling when the little boy looked back over at him. “He’s not too fond of leaving his favorite people alone without him for too long.”
With a small nod of his head, Leo glanced back at the door once more and sighed before turning around and heading back over to the flowers with his stuffy in hand.
“I assume this means i’m no longer on stuffy holding duty?” Pavel inquired with a hint of hopefulness in his voice.
“Jim doesn’t like you.” Leo huffed in annoyance, turning around to glare at Pavel.
“Then i’ll be sure to keep my distance. I wouldn’t want him to bite off my arm, after all.” Pavel smiled softly, wincing when Leo intensified his glare. He had apparently fallen out of Leo’s good graces with one bad comment.
“Come on.” Hikaru chuckled, walking over and hosting Leo up onto the nearest chair so that he could see a new plant. “See this one? A good friend of mine got it for me while he was helping some people on a colony planet we were passing by.”
Watching the two of them, Pavel sighed to himself. Hikaru was the perfect parent, even to a kid who wasn’t his and who was hopefully going to be older than him soon (Pavel really hoped Leo grew up again. He was more likely to survive Doctor McCoy’s gruff and annoyance than he was to survive Leo’s new found hatred of him).
Pavel, on the other hand, was horrible with kids and was already contemplating the possibility of going back to the mess hall and trying again with that cute gorn. Maybe he’d have better luck now that Hikaru was occupied.
Slumping back into his chair, Jim watched as Admiral Marcus made his way out of his quarters. It had been a long hour of explaining the situation and dealing with the Admiral’s aggravation at the situation. An aggravation which he had apparently decided to take out on Jim in full force before he headed back to the mess hall for some more friendly chats with ambassadors and diplomats alike.
It had also been one of the worst hours of Jim’s life, and he felt like he could really go for a good bottle of whiskey with his boy friend right now.
“Captain?” glancing up from his spot, Jim smiled weakly when he saw Spock standing near the doorway. Of course he had decided to come check up on Jim. the conversation had to do with Leo after all, and Spock probably wanted all of the details.
“Well, we’re not losing our jobs, so that’s something.” sitting up, Jim leaned down and pulled open the bottom drawer of his desk. It took him a minute to find the small bottle of scotch that he kept there for nights that Bones couldn’t join him, but once he had Jim allowed himself to lean back against his chair once more and cracked the bottle open.
Spock made his way into the room slowly, stopping by Jim’s side. His eyes were carefully trained on the bottle in Jim’s hand, ready to snatch it away if he deemed it to be inappropriate or too much. “I gather from your comment and your desire to drink that the conversation did not end well, Captain?”
“It was a shit show Spock.” Jim laughed bitterly. “He yelled at me for not informing Starfleet as soon as Leo showed up on the ship, accused me of being emotionally attached to the situation…”
“That is not a lie.” Jim glared up at Spock “I’m sorry if i have made you uncomfortable, Captain. However, the observation that you are emotionally attached to the situation is quite correct. It would also be correct to assume that Nyota, Christine, Joseph, Hikaru and the rest of the ship’s crew are emotionally attached to the situation.”
“The rest of the crew?” Jim examined Spock carefully, looking for any signs that the Vulcan may start to show emotions. He needed warning to lock the door if Spock was about to break down in any way. “Mr. Spock, are you saying…”
“You and i were both in a romantic relationship with Leonard, Captain.” Spock reminded him. A reminder Jim didn’t really need considering he could just look over his desk at the wall full of pictures that Bones had put up one day when Jim was working late on the bridge.
Bones had said it was to remind Jim of the good reason’s he had to take a break from work once in awhile. A gesture that Jim could never stop smiling at whenever he recalled it.
“Ya…” he turned his eyes down towards the bottle in his hand and sighed “ya, i know Spock. I shouldn’t doubt your emotional attachment to the situation.”
“It can be hard to recognize that i have one, given that i do not show it.” Spock explained.
Jim chuckled at the sound of that “you may not show it with a smile on your face Spock, but you certainly show it.” He smiled up at Spock. “Like how you stopped him from falling to the ground, or how your shoulders tensed whenever you tried to take him from your father and Sarek refused to relinquish him over to you.”
“My father was being unreasonable.” Spock argued.
“Ya.” Waving his hand dismissively, Jim chuckled. At least he had Spock her to make a bad situation a little better.
“You were not finished explaining what had happened.” This time when he spoke, Spock lowered himself into a squat beside Jim and reached out to place a hand on the Captain’s knee “did something else happen that angered you?”
Thinking back to the conversation, Jim tossed back a large gulp of scotch and put the bottle down on his desk with a sigh. He wasn’t sure how to explain the entire conversation to Spock. At least, not in a way that could sound any better than what Admiral Marcus had said.
“He…” placing a hand over his mouth, Jim screwed his eyes shut and sighed.
It was only when he felt Spock’s hand moving off of his knee and up to his shoulder that Jim dared to open his eyes, and as soon as he met Spock’s gaze he could feel the tears starting to roll down his face.
“He said if Leo’s not...himself by the time he’s due to leave…” Jim choked back the words. It hurt too much to say.
“Admiral Marcus is planning on taking Leo?” Spock inquired.
Nodding his head, Jim drew in a shaky breath “he said a ship’s no place for a kid.” He whispered weakly “and usually i’d agree with him but…” closing his eyes once more, Jim drew in a shaky breath “he’s going to take him Spock. He’s going to take Bones and i’m probably never going to see him again.”
Spock’s hand left Jim’s shoulder and moved onto his face, connecting their emotions and allowing Jim to feel the calm that Spock always exuded over him.
“We do not know what will happen in the next few days.” Spock assured him in a soft voice. “Leonard might return to his adult self and resume his life with us.”
“And if he doesn’t?” Jim asked weakly “if he stays a kid?”
“I am sure we can find a way in which we can continue to see him if that is what you need.” Spock assured him, allowing Jim to lean forward and hide his face in Spock’s shoulder. “However, you cannot give up the hope you have for his return yet. Leonard is a fighter and there must be a logical reason that he is here at this moment. We may not know that reason, but it does exist.”
“What if that reason is that there’s some sick bastard out there who’s capable of bringing people back to life and they decided they wanted to torture us?” Jim argued “what if this is all some sort of sick game to someone?”
“That does not sound like a very logical explanation.” Spock countered, placing a hand on Jim’s back when the Captain started to laugh bitterly. “Besides, as we both know very well Leonard would be the first one to ensure that person knew why such a move was a bad idea.”
“Bones would kick there ass.” Jim agreed, his voice weak from the crying.
“And he would do so in our names, i do believe.” Spock added.
“Oh Spock,” pulling back from Spock’s shoulder, Jim smiled up at the Vulcan weakly “He’d kick their ass for me. He’s go on a rant about what an illogical ass hole they are for you.”
Spock contemplated Jim’s response for a second before nodding. He knew it was true and that was why they loved Bones. The man knew how to kick ass in all sorts of ways and he knew that Spock wouldn’t want him causing physical harm in his name, so he’d be much more likely to yell at the poor soul who decided to mess with them.
“Thank you…” Jim whispered weakly “For...being here. You don’t have to watch over me.”
“That is part of being in a relationship.” Spock reminded him softly “we may not be as close as each of us was with Leonard, but we are still friends and we do still share a bed once in awhile. When you require my attention for any reason, i will be here.”
Smiling, Jim leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Spock’s neck in a hug. “Thank you.” he whispered again, holding the other man close and burying his face into his shoulder once more. “For everything.”
“I am always here for you Jim.” Spock assured him, holding him close with the hand on his back “and as for Leo, we will find a way to work this out. We will not lose him again.”
“I hope so.” Jim whispered weakly.
Jim finally pulled away from Spock after a few minutes, convinced that he wouldn’t break down crying again. Glancing over at the clock on his wall, he smiled weakly. “It’s about bed time for Leo.” he said weakly “You should go put him to sleep.”
“You do not wish to help?” Spock asked with a raised eyebrow.
Shaking his head, Jim smiled fondly. “Bones always said i was bad with kids.” he said softly “i don’t want to make Leo hate me by accident. Besides, i can hang out with him tomorrow when i’m not on the bridge.”
Spock contemplated the answer for a moment before putting his hands on his knees and pushing himself up into a standing position. “In that case, i shall go retrieve him for Lieutenant Sulu.” Spock agreed “He sent me a message that he was going to show Leo the plants in his lab.”
“Hikaru always needs someone new to show his plants to.” Jim chuckled fondly.
“It does seem to be a favorite pastime of his.” Spock agreed, reaching out to brush his fingers against Jim’s cheek and allowing his love for the other man to flow between them for just a moment before pulling back. “I shall return once he is in bed. I do not think it is wise for you to sleep alone tonight. Also, Leonard would want me to ensure that you were alright and that you did not sleep alone in his absence.
“Aww Spock.” Jim beamed up at the man playfully “you’re going to put up with my kicking tonight?”
“So long as you are capable of suffering through my snoring, Jim.” Jim chuckled at the sound of that. He could never accuse Spock of never having a sense of humor.