A/N: Well well, look who turned out another chapter! I really hope this is a satisfying conclusion to this story arch for y'all. I literally suffered over posting this one because I didn't feel like it was quite right, but I'm going to post it anyway so this fic can be done before Camp Nano. If you like it, please let me know! :D

Also, IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT. Over on AO3, someone asked for a chapter from Carol's perspective. Well, I couldn't fit it into the narative, but it got me thinking...what if I wrote an entire fic from Carol's pov? So, there you have it. I'm making this a series. The next fic will be this story, but from Carol's perspective. And if I get a bit ambitious (and if you guys still wanna read this fic universe) I'll write a sequel about David Kirk's life on the Enterprise. XD

Finally, huge- AND I MEAN HUGE -shout-out to HeartofFyrwinde for first prompting this fic and then giving me so much inspiration and plot tribbles. Seriously buddy, couldn't have done this without ya. 3

Jim Kirk was having a very bad day. Scratch that, Jim Kirk was having a very bad week.

He'd known it was all gonna go to hell the minute they received a transmission from Admiral Barnett. Instead of eyeing Jim disapprovingly, like he usually did, the man had stared at him for a long moment before saying son.

And that's when Jim knew they were in for a bad one.

What he wanted to know was how the hell Section 31 was still active after the Khan incident and how the hell someone broke into their high security unit to awaken six Augments.

This mission was going to give him nightmares for years to come, he just knew it.

And not just because the memories of dead mentors and unaligned warp cores came to mind.

No, it was the fact that they were chasing down a stolen Klingon Cruiser, through the Beta Quadrant, unable to fire on it because his wife was onboard.

Under normal circumstances, Jim would have been much calmer at the news that Carol had been kidnapped.

Unfortunately, Carol being nine months pregnant ruled out all normal circumstances.

Jim was going to have to cash in a few favors.

"You want to do what?" Bones demands, incredulously.

"Captain, I highly advise against—"

"What other options do we have?" Jim challenges, looking over his shoulder at his friends as they ran towards the Bridge. "We can't make the trade they're asking for, we can't launch torpedoes at them, not with Carol and six members of our crew held hostage, and we can reason—"

"But Klingons? Jim, do you remember the last time we ran into those sons of bitches?"

"The odds in our favor this time," Jim argues. "Klingons have a high sense of honor—Augments go against everything they believe in," he went on. "And they stole one of their vessels. An enemy of my enemy—"

"Is still an enemy," Bones flatly replies.

"Still one hell of a quote," Jim says, glancing at Spock, who is doing his best not to roll his eyes. "Relax guys. I have a plan."

"When did you become friends with a Klingon?" Bones hisses.

Jim waves a hand nonchalantly. "Way back in my rebellious teenage years."

"You were running around with—!"

"Do we have a deal?" Jim interrupts, giving the Klingon his most persuasive smile.

Tserok eyes him across the transmission him meticulously for a moment. It's been over a decade since the two had first crossed paths—and they'd had a tentative relationship even then—so Jim isn't sure if the Klingon General will even consider allying himself with a Federation Starship.

"You have honor Captain," he growls at last. "The Council would have you destroyed, but Augments are less than Federation scum."

Jim lets out a relieved breath. "So we are in agreement?"

"We shall bathe in the blood of our enemies together."

Bones makes a disgusted face.

"Sir, their shields are down!"

"I'm picking up an escape pod on sensors."

"Five human lifeforms detected, sir. Non-Klingon."

"Send a rescue shuttle after it," Jim says breathlessly.

Well, if someone could single handedly escape from a Klingon Cruiser hijacked by Augments, it was Carol.

"Sir they're hailing us!"

"Put them on—"

He's interrupted by Tserok. "Fire everything," the Klingon orders his own crew.

The cruiser goes up in flames.

"Carol, are you alright sweetheart?"

"I'm fine," she snaps, sounding more British than ever, over the intercom. "Just peachy. I only have a human lifeform trying to push its way outta my—"

"Your wife is dilated nine centimeters, Captain," Chapel interrupts. "We need her in sickbay now."

"Can you beam them straight to sickbay?" Jim barks at Chekov.

"Stand by for coordinates," Chekov replies.

"Jim, you need to be here right now," Carol growls at him, as the Klingon High Council hails them.

"I know, sweetheart, I'm trying but…Klingons," he hisses into the intercom, ignoring Sulu's snickering.

"If you don't get your ass down here right now, Farmboy, I'm naming it Tiberius!"

"We are not naming my kid Tiberius!" Jim shouts, horrified.

Spock raises an eyebrow.

"Excuse me! Your kid?!" Carol shrills.

"Captain-"

"Jim—!"

"Spock can you—"

"Captain I will relieve you of duty for the meantime, per regulation, as you have personal matters interfering with the mission at hand and your capability to make sound decisions."

"I hate you, I really bloody hate you," Carol grouses as Jim enters the room, with Nyota nervously trailing behind. "This is all your fault, see if I ever have sex with you again," she moans.

Jim gives a breathless laugh and takes her hand. "You're doing just fine, Carrie."

"Damn straight I am," she grunts. "You can have the baby next time."

Nyota frowns. "I don't think it works that way."

"It does," both Jim and Carol reply.

Jim gets it. He really gets it now that he's holding his son for the first time why his father was so willing to die for him, why his mother was willing to tear apart worlds to get to Tarsus to rescue him (despite their previous estrangement), why Pike fought tooth and nail to get him into Starfleet.

He'd tear apart universes to protect this tiny human in his arms.

"We're not naming him Tiberius."

"Come on, Jimmy Dear—"

"No."

Mum and Dad

David James Kirk is not scared. He's seven years old and a Kirk besides, and Kirks do not get scared.

It didn't matter that his mum had been in sickbay for more than seven hours—no visitors allowed except for Daddy. And whenever one of the nurses appeared in the hallway, they looked…worried.

David sighs and sits, cross-legged, in the hall outside sickbay.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" a stern voice startles him.

Aunt Nyota looks down at him with her Unimpressed Face. He recognizes the Unimpressed Face because she used it around Daddy quite often. It was rare that she used it on him, though, but only because Aunt Nyota was scary and David tried to avoid her bad side at all costs.

David bits his lip and looks down. "Is Mum going to be alright?" he asks, willing his voice to stay steady. Aunt Nyota gives him a searching look before sighing and taking a seat on the floor next to him.

David is…well…surprised. Under normal circumstances, Aunt Nyota would have sent him straight to bed, no question about it.

These appeared to be abnormal circumstances.

The knot in David's stomach grows tighter.

"Listen sweetheart," Aunt Nyota says, putting an arm around him. "Your Mother is going to be just fine. These things take time."

David nods and leans his head on her shoulder, eyes drooping. "Daddy looked worried."

She snorts, in that unimpressed way of hers. "He's always worried about your Mum."

David wrinkles his nose. "That's silly. Mum can take care of herself."

Aunt Nyota laughs. "That she can. Did your Dad ever tell you that she took on an entire ship of bad guys before having you?"

His eyes widen. He shakes his head mutely.

"Well she did. And she threatened to name you Tiberius if your Dad didn't get down to sickbay."

David makes a face. "That's a dreadful name."

"You can thank me for overruling that one." David looks up as his Dad glides through sickbay's sliding doors.

Aunt Nyota's lips twitch. "One of the few decisions you've made that I've actually agreed with."

Dad looks amused, but doesn't pursue it. David vaguely notes that he looks awfully tired, but his eyes are shining brightly, so whatever's going on with Mum…it can't be that bad, right?

"Budge over you two," he says, sitting on the floor on the other side of David.

"How's Carol?" Aunt Nyota asks.

"Better," Dad replies, looking relieved. "Bones says it's gonna be another two hours."

"So they both kicked you out to get some rest," Aunt Nyota finishes, with a smirk.

Dad gives her a halfhearted glare. "I was fine. They're both being idiots."

"You do look tired, Dad," David notes.

"Don't make me send you to bed, kid," Dad replies, with an amused grin. "It's only because I'd be a complete hypocrite that I'm not."

Aunt Nyota lets out a real laugh this time. "Don't worry. I won't tell if you don't."

He drifts off on Aunt Nyota's arm with his Dad stroking his hair absentmindedly. He only awakens when someone picks him up and begins carrying him towards the turbolift.

David blearily opens his eyes.

"Go to back sleep, Davey," his Dad says, gently. "I'll wake you up when it's over."

David wrinkles his nose. "Why's it so ugly, Mum?"

Dad snorts with laughter while Mum gives him a disapproving glare.

"It's a baby, David," Dad says knowingly. "They all look kinda ugly."

"Jim!"

"Do you want to hold her?" his Mum finally asks.

David considers it. "She doesn't smell does she?"

"No," his mother says flatly. "She does not."

His younger sister does smell and he still thinks she's funny looking. But…she's kinda cute in her own way, sort of, David reckons. She's so tiny and she has bright blue eyes, just like his—("All babies have blue eyes, Dave"—and she seems so defensive and vulnerable that David can't help but feel protective and a bit awed by her.

"David," Mum says softly. "Meet your sister Winona."

"Girls are weird," David says to T'Lai as the two of them watch his parents fawn over the bald creature.

T'Lai raises an eyebrow in an eerie impression of her Father. "I am a girl," she states, finally. David has the vague feeling that she's a bit offended.

"Fine," David concedes. "Babies are weird."

"You are not pleased with your younger sibling?"

"She's funny looking."

T'Lai's lips twitch, like she's trying not to laugh at him. "I am afraid I have to agree."

"Yeah well. She's still my sister. So everyone had better lay off her, no matter how ugly her face is. Or I'll punch 'em," he says, as an afterthought.

"Violence is never the solution," his playmate replies, serenely.

"Not all of us are uptight Vulcans," David replies, just as calmly.

Uncle Leo, who has been giving the two suspicious glares the minute they entered his Medbay, gives a snort of laughter.

David ignores him and continues watching his parents. They look happy. Sickbay is bright and warm and the two are surrounded by their friends who are all laughing and joking with them and cooing over little Winona—except for Commander Spock, but he's usual Vulcan stoicism seems to have melted just a bit for the occasion.

"I'm so done with this," David groans. "Let's go prank ensigns in engineering."

T'Lai eyes him. "Your Dad says—"

"Come on, it'll be fun!"

He barely notices when half the crew glances over, alarmed, at his proclamation. He's too busy dragging a reluctant T'Lai after him.

"Some things never change," he hears Uncle Leo mutter after them. Then, "Dammit Jim, no more kids!"

His Dad's laughter follows him into the hall.

He sure has a weird family.

The End

Thank you to all who have reviewed, favorited and followed this! Y'all are completely awesome and deserve better than my crap writing. ;) Thank you so much for the encouraging reviews and the tiny plot tribbles you've dropped on me. XD