Enterprise Love ➣ Jim Kirk

Chapter 40: The Downside of Having Kids

Spock did have a long day. Elliot fell asleep while hugging his leg, so he couldn't go anywhere. Chris was sleeping on his chest. Malcolm was sleeping in Jim's lap, it about nap time for all of them.

Bones had eventually came up to the bridge with Ellie, the girl kept getting into things and hypoing anything that moved. She fell asleep in Jim's lap as well, she had been talking with Malcolm when they both nodded off. Luckily, Jim didn't have anything to sign or do, so he didn't wake them.

"Isn't it strange how they suddenly just.... pass out?" Chekov asked, a little confused at the four sleeping children. Gracie hadn't entered that phase yet, so he didn't know.

"That's what they do." Bones told him, shrugging. "They'll be full of energy and then suddenly drop."

"That must be a relief." Chekov sighed. Only then did everyone realize how tired he looked. His eyes were red, dark circles under his eyes.

"It can be. How well do you sleep? You look exhausted." Bones asked him, taking a mini tri-corder out of his pocket.

"You have a tri-corder all the time, don't you." Jim told him, laughing. Bones rolled his eyes and scanned Chekov.

"I sleep, but usually not too much. Tegwyn and I switch off when Gracie starts crying. I have from 2:00 AM to 6:00 AM. That's usually when Gracie wakes up now. Sometime in there. Tegwyn has from 10:00 PM to 2:00 AM." Chekov explained. "We go to sleep at about 11:00 PM."

"You aren't going to like me for this, but I order you to go get some sleep." Bones told him, putting the tri-corder away.

"No doctor, I'll just go to bed earlier." Chekov insisted, but Bones wouldn't hear it.

"Go. Doctors orders. Sleep before Gracie and Tegwyn are there." Bones ordered again, pointing towards the turbo lift.

"Yes sir." Chekov mumbled, slumping into the turbo lift. Another crew man took his place at the helm by Sulu.

Chris had started stirring on Spock's chest. He panicked a little, wondering what he had done wrong. Chris lifted her head and looked at Spock. "Spwock." She mumbled, gripping his shirt tighter.

"Chris." Spock said, trying to get her to go back to sleep. She tried climbing down off of him. Her foot balanced on Elliot's head, waking him up.

"Ack!" He screamed, moving back. Spock caught Chris just in time so she didn't fall into Elliot. "Daddy!" Elliot yelled, running over by Jim. Jim picked him up and held him, careful not to wake the other kids on his lap.

"My shift ended now. They are your problem now." Spock said, handing Jim, Chris. Four kids. He had four kids in his lap.

"Little help Bones. One of them is yours, not mine." Jim said, doing his best not to drop any of them. Bones took Ellie, trying not to wake her. Of course, he failed. "Hypo!" She yelled, squirming out of his arms into a turbo lift. Elliot was hot in pursuit, he had managed to squirm away from Jim. The turbo lift closed behind them before anyone could get in.

"Oh god no!" Jim yelled, handing Chris to Sulu and Malcolm to Uhura. Bones was already pounding in the turbo lift door, urging it to open. When it did, both Jim and Bones ran in, programming it to the last level the turbo lift went to.

When they got out, the kids weren't in sight. They both started frantically running through the halls, splitting up to cover more ground. How far could two toddlers go?

"Jim, wait, why are you running?" Tegwyn asked stopping him while he was searching. Scotty and Sarah were walking with her.

"Have you seen Elliot or Ellie?" Jim asked, his eyes crazed.

"No haven't seen them. Why?" Sarah asked, starting to get a little concerned.

"They ran. Bones and I think they went to this floor." Jim explained, starting to walk through the halls.

"We'll help." Scotty told him, going into rooms that weren't locked. They were anyone's personal quarters, just storage closets, observation decks, etc.

"Chekov's at your quarters by the way." Jim told Tegwyn, just so she knows.

"Exhausted?" She asked, walking ahead of him.

"Yeah, very." Jim told her as he saw Elliot turn a corner into a room. "Elliot!" He yelled, lunging into the closet he had walked into.

"Noooo!" Elliot whined as Jim picked him up.

"Why did you run away?" Jim asked him, holding him with both hands. Elliot was resisting.

"Cause' I wanted to." Elliot mumbled, tears in his eyes. He started crying. "Sorry Daddy."

"It's okay, just don't do that again." Jim told him, his voice firm. Elliot kept crying. "Thanks." Jim told Tegwyn, Sarah, and Scotty.

"No problem. Good luck." Scotty told him, slapping his arm.

"I'll need it." Jim muttered, doing his best to keep the sobbing toddler in his arms.

Bones and Jim met at the turbolift, Ellie crying in Bones' arms. Both of the men sighed as they walked into the turbolift. Bones stopped at the floor that the sickbay was on. He met Alaska there. Naomi joined Jim in a turbolift to get the other kids.

"They got into a lot of trouble, didn't they." She asked, watching Jim struggle with Elliot.

"Yeah. Mainly Elliot." Jim told her, adjusting Elliot in his arms. He was still sobbing.

"You got him." Sulu pointed out when Jim walked onto the bridge.

"Yeah, Naomi's getting Chris and Malcolm." Jim told him as Naomi took the other two kids from Sulu and Uhura. "I'll be back."

"If he's into this much trouble now.." Naomi started saying when they got to the quarters.

"Keep him away from girls." Jim finished, setting Elliot in his bed. Malcolm and Chris didn't have to be in their beds, mostly because Elliot was in a time out.

"Keep him from doing it with girls." Naomi corrected, sitting down at the table by Jim.

"Yeah." Jim agreed, putting his head on the table. "I have to go back to work. If they get in trouble, let me know."