Disclaimer: I do not own any aspect of the Star Trek franchise and am not making any profit from this story.

Warnings: Mpreg, K/S (sort of), Tarsus IV (past), possible implied non-con/dub-con (very vague)

Chapter 1

Jim Kirk glares at the pill in his hand before forcing himself to swallow it. He hates the pill, what it represents, why he needs it. Immediately the nausea sets in and he sits heavily on the toilet seat until it passes, head in his hands.

"Jim?" his mother calls. When he does not respond, she slowly opens the door. "Jimmy, are you okay?"

He tries to shake his head, but stops when the room starts spinning. "I can't live like this," he whispers.

"I called your doctor. She can see us in an hour. Think you can handle it?"

"Haven't dressed. Haven't eaten."

"I'll fetch a change of clothes and some soup. Keep the door open."

An hour later, a nurse is waving them into an examination room. Dr Daniels looks up from her padd. "Good morning, Jim, Mrs Kirk. How are you doing?"

Jim tries to glare at her, but the nausea interferes. "Either I'm sick or I'm reacting badly to the medicine. Again. I feel horrible."

She runs her tricorder over him several times, changing the settings each time, and frowns at the results. "You've been taking the medicine diligently?"

"Every morning before breakfast, like you told me."

She fiddles with the tricorder some more, then downloads the data to her padd. "I'd like to take blood and urine samples to rule out secondary infections and test alternative treatments. In the meantime, you will have to continue on your current medicine."

"There's nothing else you could try right now?"

Dr Daniels moves to stand in front of Jim. "I'm sorry, Jim. We've tried every common treatment you aren't allergic to and I'm still researching the few uncommon ones I know of."

"How long will that take?" Jim's mom asks.

"I don't know. I've been following several studies, but most are inconclusive. I have a colleague in San Francisco who is getting positive results on his experimental treatment, though. I'll put you in touch with him."

His mom takes the paper containing the colleague's contact information. "Thank you, Doctor."

Jim follows her out to their car, head down, and barely notices when someone jostles him. All he wants to do is get drunk and forget about his pain and the reason for it. In the car, she takes his hand. "I'll contact this doctor and my friends at Starfleet Headquarters as soon as we get home. We'll find something, Jim, even if we have to travel halfway across the known universe."

Jim shakes his head. "It hurts so much, I just want to die."

She squeezes his hand before letting go. "I'm sorry, sweetie." He doesn't respond to the nickname she knows he hates.

-0-

Three weeks later, Jim follows his mother into a large university hospital across the city from Starfleet Headquarters. He has only been to San Francisco twice before that he can remember and he watches everything and everyone with interest. Dr Daniels had given him some temporary symptom suppressors before they left Iowa, so he is feeling temporarily pain-free and artificially happy, until he remembers why he is in San Francisco.

The doctor who greets them, Dr Jordan, tells them that given the information from Dr Daniels, he is confident that his treatment can help Jim. The appointment takes hours as he runs tests and requests that they read and sign a dozen forms while waiting for the lab results. By the end, Jim is desperate to be anywhere else.

Dinner with his mom's friends afterward is quiet and uneventful, so after staring at nothing for half an hour while they ramble about Starfleet officers he has never heard of, he tells his mom that he's going out. She tries to stop him, but he ignores her and hops the bus to the nearest bar, where he retreats to a corner to nurse his beer and pray for his headache to go away.

An older man sits across from him uninvited and ignores the glare he gives over his third bottle. "Aren't you too young to be drinking alcohol, James Kirk?"

Jim blinks. "Have we met?"

"In a manner of speaking. What's with the drink?"

"Who are you?"

"I'm just a traveler interested in helping you."

"Helping me do what?"

"Ultimately, captain a starship, but you got derailed. And Tarsus IV, that wasn't how it was supposed to go."

"How do you know about that? I only know because I lived it."

"I know everything, including how to cure you, but I'll need something in return."

Jim's eyes narrow. "I won't betray anyone and I don't know any secrets anyway."

The man laughs. "I already know all your secrets, Mr Kirk. And your family's, and everyone else's. What I want is for your benefit, not mine. It will help set you back on the path to Starfleet and goodness and honor and true love and whatever else you humans value."

"You aren't human?"

The man just looks at him. "Do you accept?"

"What happens if I say no?"

"I walk away and you forget this entire conversation, and likely die within a year from complications with some new random sexually transmitted disease compounded by complications with whatever drug Dr Jordan plans to put you on. No Starfleet, no ship, no true love."

"And if I say yes?"

"You will get everything I just named, though it will take a while. You have to finish learning how to run a starship, and gain the brass's trust, before you can captain one, after all."

Jim stares at the man and debates the offer. Finally the desire to be rid of his disease at any cost, to end the pain and weakness and nausea that have been his constant companions for nearly three years, convinces him to agree. The man grips his wrist and a moment later, they are somewhere else entirely.

"What happened?"

"Technically, we winked out of existence, then back in, but the effect is not unlike your transporters. Now come."

The man leads him into a dim room where a Vulcan sits cross-legged before a firepot, eyes closed. "Who is he? Did we just break into his home?"

"He is your future. This is not his home." The man snaps his fingers and the Vulcan shudders before grimacing in pain.

The Vulcan takes a deep breath and turns around, his intense gaze immediately finding Jim. "Who are you?" the Vulcan growls.

"I'm Jim. I didn't mean to intrude."

The Vulcan stalks toward him, but stops abruptly and glances around. "Where is this place? Why am I-" His voice falters as he shudders again.

Jim is shaking his head. "I don't know, this man-"

"Silence." The Vulcan is standing before him now, hands pinning his shoulders to the wall. "I do not understand. I should not desire to mate with you."

Jim raises his eyebrows. "Mate with me?"

"The drive is ... nearly overpowering. I must-"

"I'm okay with that. I love sex and I've never done a Vulcan before, or been done by one, if you'd rather top."

"You are a child."

Jim glares again. "I'm seventeen. I'm an adult by Terran law, and I lost my virginity years ago, anyway."

"Very well." Then the Vulcan pounces and Jim struggles to get his clothes off before the Vulcan can destroy them. He is used to being the one in control during sex, insists on it after Tarsus IV and an abusive former stepfather, but the Vulcan is too strong, too aggressive, and for the first time in years, he relinquishes that control.

The man says what sounds like, "I do so love Vulcan sex-or-die mating cycles," and ducks out of the room.

Jim has no idea how long he and the Vulcan have sex before he falls asleep, but when he wakes up, the Vulcan is gone. The man offers him some coffee, which he drinks before trying to speak. "You wanted porn?" he asks.

"If I wanted porn, mon capitaine, I'd visit Orion. That Vulcan is your true love, or the Vulcan equivalent, anyway. Now, I will erase all of your memories from the moment you met me when I return you to your lodgings, but don't worry, you will find him again."

"What about my disease?"

"Already cured as are all the scratches and bruises you endured. I had no idea Vulcans could be so violent."

"You are very strange."

"I like you. You are much more polite than Jean Luc, though I expect that will change in time. He has always spoken far too highly of you. Now off you go."

Before Jim can ask if the Vulcan is Jean Luc, they vanish again.

-0-

When Jim wakes, he feels clear-headed and free of pain for the first time in years. He stretches and sits up slowly. He remembers heading to a bar last night and sitting alone, but he has no idea what happened after that or whether he met anyone. Deciding it doesn't matter, he climbs out of bed and practically skips to breakfast.

His mother smiles. "You're hyper this morning."

"Whatever Doc Jordan gave me is amazing. I feel better than I have in years."

"He'll be pleased to hear that. Pancakes?"

"Yes, please. How long will we be in San Francisco?"

"Just until tomorrow if your tests go well. Sam's planning to bring his new girlfriend home this weekend."

"I hope she's better than the last one. Manipulative bitch."

Jim's mother sighs. "I'm so sorry, Jim." She flips a second pancake onto Jim's plate - homemade, not replicated - and sets it on the table before sitting across from him. She continues, "I always wanted what was best for you boys and I thought -" She shakes her head. "Frank was a mistake and I worry about Sam because he tends to be drawn to girls with the same cruel streak Frank had. I know you boys gave up on religion years ago, but I pray for both of you, that you will have the long happy life your father was denied."

"Do you worry I'll end up with a girl like that?"

"Married? No. My main worry about you is illegitimate children. Do you need another sex talk?"

"God, no. The first one was bad enough."

His mom laughs and lets him finish breakfast in silence.

A few hours later, Dr Jordan stares at the readings on his tricorder in confusion. "What is it?" Jim's mom asks.

"It appears your son is completely stable. There's no detectable trace of the virus and his immune system is even stronger than average for someone in perfect health. No one has ever responded so rapidly or so well to my treatments before. I'll send you home with a two-week prescription and I'll be in constant contact with Dr Daniels, just in case, but if you continue to respond this well, you will have a long, healthy life ahead of you."

"Halleluja!" Jim cries. "I can finally be sort-of normal again!"

"Slow down, Jim," Dr Jordan says quietly. "If you continue as you are, that's true, but you've only just started the new regimen and you can still take a turn for the worse at any time. Just don't take your new-found health for granted."

"I won't. Thanks, Doc." Dr Jordan's smile follows them out of the room.

-0-

Back in Iowa, Jim joins his brother Sam and Sam's new girlfriend Aurelan on his mom's back deck. "Has mom told you? They think it's under control."

"That's great, Jim. I'm glad the doc in SF was able to help. Did mom drag you to any boring Starfleet events?"

"No, just boring dinners with retired officers who teach part-time at the Academy to avoid dying of boredom, then tell stories about 'adorable little cadets' like they're their grandchildren or something. Mom loved it; I think she's expecting her own grandkids soon, just not from me."

"She'll have to wait a while, then. Even if Aury and I do work out, we won't have kids immediately." Sam shares a small smile with his girlfriend, who blushes, but says nothing.

Jim pours himself some iced tea. "Just don't wait too long. She needs someone to baby besides me."

They talk until sundown and the next day, the brothers take Aurelan horseback riding, a first for her, and she takes a while to figure out how to stay on the pony she's riding, to their amusement. At the end of the visit, Jim tells Sam, "I like her. I think she's the first woman you've dated who isn't a bitch."

Sam rolls his eyes. "Thanks, Jimmy." Then Sam and Aurelan are gone in a cloud of Iowa dust.

Author's Note:

This is the first Star Trek story I have written in its entirety and the first one I am posting, so feedback is much appreciated.