Fic: And This Too Shall, 3/3. Gen.

[katydidmischief]

And This Too Shall
Part One
Part Two
Epilogue
They were all hungry and tired and Bones was convinced that Jim was one massive walking bruise though the man hadn't stopped once by sickbay for tending – every time Leonard had commed him, Kirk had responded that he was too busy helping this department or that one, trying to effect fire suppression and maintain force-fields around the openings in the hull.

Leonard himself had been too busy to leave Medical Bay with the number of critical wounded, including Captain Pike, in his care to hunt Jim down.

"Daddy," a voice called through the waiting throng of people just to the edge of the disembarkation area. "Daddy!"

There were dozens waiting – some family who'd been welcomed and invited by the Academy to stay on the campus grounds while hoping for word that their loved ones would be coming home, some members of the staff and student body who'd had to stay behind for a myriad of reasons; Leonard had expected more, but it occurred to him suddenly that the list of the dead had been published for all to see: these were the luckily souls who knew their family was coming off the Enterprise.

He sighed as the same young child yelled out, "Papa! Daddy!" and broke free of her mother's confining hand, racing across the immaculate tarmac toward the slow moving Senior Staff.

A mop of blonde hair whipped through the air, clear blue eyes singing with laughter as the little girl collided with Jim Kirk's legs. Her arms quickly wrapped around him and her head tipped back; she smiled as she said, "Papa! You're okay!"

Jim looked startled for a minute. His reflexes had slowed down since they'd reached Spacedock and his mind gone sluggish with the need for sleep, exhaustion overriding the rush of adrenaline that'd kept him going for most of the mission.

Still, Leonard could see the minute recognition kicked in, giving a soft smile to the two before looking to Jocelyn; she stood with Winona at her side, both women clearly having put aside their bitterness with one another for this day at least.

Kirk hefted the girl up, hugging her close and kissed her forehead just as he always had. "Hi, Jo."

Comments

[imasupermuteant]

I just read through all of this and, honestly, it was brilliant. I'm not usually one for mpreg, but I thought your explanation was really good and the story iteself was so ineteresting I had to read it anyway ^_^

...It sounds like there was a lot of history between the ending and the epilogue though, I'd love to hear it!