The First Annual Adopted Family Thanksgiving

[smartass_captain]

It's not that Jim forgot about the second present he gave Verity way back a month ago on her birthday. How could he forget, when he'd had to dig out the key to the house to get it replicated? It's sat out on his desk in his quarters every day since, a bold reminder that Jim Kirk was seriously doing this.

Jim Kirk was going to try to have a normal family. A family who celebrated (some) holidays. A family who came together. Not a relationship. Hell no. But...you know..siblings? A family? He almost worried Sam or his mother would try to reach out to him. Thankfully no such messages yet. Which means Jim is free to spend time with the people he actually wants in his life.

And that means getting Thanksgiving put together.

He'll call Clint later. First things first. Calling Big Sister.

"Verity? It's Jim. You busy?"

Comments

[smartass_captain]

"The barn's pretty much empty. It's more for storage of junk than anything useful." Jim jerks his thumb back the way he and Clint had come. I'll show you around the property a bit though. Rosa's place is about a mile that way." Jim waves his flashlight down the empty road a ways.

"The other way heads into town eventually. There's a dive bar I always hung out at, scamming truckers and getting to know the new fleet recruits every now and again when they'd be at the shipyard for deployment. See all those lights out that way? It's the town, sure, but more importantly, the shipyard's out there, keeping the fleet up and running. Just one of 20 some odd facilities across the country. Most of the rural land that's left is either old property handed down or government owned these days. Folks tend to live in the cities or out on colonies. Way cheaper than staying planetside nowadays. We rent most of our land out to Rosa's family. They do some ranching and raise horses. Least they did a few years ago."

There's not much of a garden around the edge of the house--Frank was never one for upkeeping anything. Family or otherwise, so anything that used to be there has long since died. It's a bit overgrown, but not so bad you'd assume the place is abandoned. The road is actually gravel, typical of even 2010s in rural areas, but maybe weird to them for being so far into the future. Considering most vehicles don't touch the roadside anymore, it's more for city planning and road laws than for traction and actual use.

[aw_hawkguy]

"Horse ranching? That sounds pretty great," Clint muses as they walk. "Are they friendly? The neighbors, not the horses. Well, the horses too."

[brave_heart_verity]

"I'm more interested in the horses." She's got standards, and people still don't always meet them. "Oh, I'd love to redo the garden beds someday... not that I know anything about gardening. But it'd be so pretty."

She has no idea how much work she's volunteering herself for.

[smartass_captain]

"The what?" Jim looks over toward the house and swallows thickly. God the place looks like a wreck. Just like he remembers it. "Sure, you're welcome to do whatever you'd like. I'm sure Rosa would weep in joy to see someone taking care of the place other than her." It's not that Jim doesn't care, but..yeah. Work, baggage. Lots of things.

"The neighbors are good people/ Family friends from a long time ago. I used to go horseback riding all the time when I was younger."

[aw_hawkguy]

"Got a project for the spring, huh?" Clint gives Verity a smile in the gloom. "You'll love it. The dirt's moist and black, all the time. It's like a whole state made'a potting soil."

"Think we could meet 'em, sometime? I mean, prob'ly not now, 'cause you're supposed to be in space, but..."

[brave_heart_verity]

"Looks like I do. Thanks, Jim." Ver links arms with Jim and rests her head on his shoulder for a minute while they walk. Clint's welcome to get in on this too; she's got a free arm.

"Am I the only one in the family that doesn't know how to ride a horse?"

[smartass_captain]

"There's no one there to hit on, FYI." Stop assuming everyone's like you, Jim. He's smiling though, so maybe he was teasing. "Yeah we can meet 'em sometime. I told her you guys would be staying here and to treat you like family. So." Shrug.

Verity gets a glance and then a chaste kiss on top of her head.

"Yup. Sucks to be you, city girl."

[aw_hawkguy]

Yeah, Clint will get in on that, linking his arm in on the chain. "Nah, it doesn't suck. It means you get to learn, if you want."

[brave_heart_verity]

She hums happily at the kiss because signs of affection are always nice. "Maybe. I'd need a teacher... or two." Clint gets pulled closer. There's no reason not to enjoy some time with her family.

"She's been doing you a nice favor for a while. Should I invite her over for dinner sometime? Clint and I can manage that while you're off exploring the galaxy."

[smartass_captain]

"She has." Jim agrees, content for the conversation that keeps him away from his thoughts. "You guys are welcome to. Maybe come up with your story as to how you guys met me beforehand though. She's awfully nosy." Jim chuckles lightly as they walk around the house.

"...Welcome home." He says finally, voice so quiet he's not sure either of them will hear him.

[aw_hawkguy]

"We're, what, second cousins, got on the wrong side of our landlord, needed a place to crash, and you said we could couch-surf if we wrangled the yard a little?" he suggests.

[brave_heart_verity]

It's going to be a minute before she weighs in on the cover story. She heard that, Jim. She thinks she heard that. Either way, his arm is getting a squeeze.

"Distant relatives," she offers, "because it's true in a way. Thank you for not making us circus tramps who won the keys in a high-stakes poker game in Monte Carlo or something."

[smartass_captain]

"If I tried to make up a story, she'd assume I was doing you. Either. Both. It's best not to ask with her, okay?" It's also best not to wonder why she'd assume that. Jesus Jim. Everything but the farm animals indeed.

The real miracle of the holidays is that he's clean.

"Relatives is a safe bet. That way she won't drop the M word. Or the R word." He sighs, but Verity gets a glance. She heard that alright. He's safe muttering under his breath when Clint isn't looking. And he's safe trying to lie when Verity's not listening. Why does he keep track of these things? It's not a healthy thought process to have, Jim.

Now that the sun is down, with only a vague burnt orange hue to the smidges of the horizon, Jim points up to the sky. There's a lot moving up there, but there's more satellites and orbiters and shuttles now than there ever used to be. But there's also stars.

Thousands of tiny pinpricks dotting the sky, more and more visible with each passing moment as the darkness grows and making Jim's pulse race just the tiniest bit. So much left unseen, untouched. And to think he'd almost stayed on this tiny speck of rock at one corner of the galaxy.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

[aw_hawkguy]

"Circus tramps?! Aw, c'mon, Ver, I know that life's not for you," Clint protests. "I didn't choose the tent life, the tent life chose--actually, yeah, I did run away and join the circus. Scratch that, totally chose it."

Looking up at Jim's direction, Clint grins. "Wow. That's gorgeous, and I grew up around here."

[brave_heart_verity]

"We're going to blow her mind, I guess. Maybe not a bad thing for her to be confronted with the idea you do sometimes know how to keep your clothes on." The teasing is nonjudgmental. His lifestyle is what works for him. Anything else she may or may not have heard doesn't need to be discussed right now. When he's really ready to share these thoughts, he will.

"Yeah, and I chose you, so don't get any ideas I'm choosing the tent life by proxy or something. I'm the wrong kind of freak for the sideshow." So much teasing. It's almost like she likes these two goofs.

The view she definitely likes. So many lights, some moving in the sky and some dancing more slowly than she can perceive. She's lived most of her life with the sky hidden from her and right now she can't imagine how she survived. "Wow."

[smartass_captain]

"She just wants me to 'find a nice girl' and settle down at the house. Like that's gonna happen." Now that he's left, Jim can't imagine being grounded from space travel. He'd lose his mind. The nice girl part he could take or leave.

"She'll like you guys. Go for it." Jim gives them both a grin. "Just don't blame me if she gets all up in your business too." It's funny when it's not happening to him.

[aw_hawkguy]

"You could be the dancing gypsy, or the snake-handler lady," Clint points out with a grin.

"Ah, she's sorta the well-meaning nosy granny type?" Clint's had people in his business. It is, he has to admit, much funnier happening to someone else.

[brave_heart_verity]

"I could do the dancing gypsy," she agrees. "But how would a couple of carnies get into a high-stakes poker game in Monte Carlo?"

Doesn't Jim have a nice boy waiting for him? Don't make her wingwoman work for naught, Jim!

"I don't really have any business for her to get into, so, I think I'm safe."

[smartass_captain]

If Felix is a 'nice boy' then Verity's definitions are sorely out of whack. Besides, they're not a thing. They slept together like once. Thank you, hawkskirt, which means thank you Clint by proxy. And of course thanks to Verity, as he wouldn't have met the guy otherwise.

"She totally is." Jim agrees, before leaning on Verity a bit more. "You guys ready for some dessert? I don't want to spoil a moment but I really want to dig into that mountain of apples."

[aw_hawkguy]

Once so far. Who knows what the future holds? Not Clint, he doesn't even know what his wardrobe holds, apparently. So long as Jim isn't swiping Clint's work togs for hot and heavy hero cosplay, he's welcome to borrow the occasional costume.

"Gotta admit, I'm ready for Apple Tower when everyone else is," he agrees.

[brave_heart_verity]

Felix is very nice, and he chooses to present as male. That's good enough for her.

They are going to be a thing. She will not stop trying to make this happen.

"Sounds like we're ready for dessert," she agrees. "Give me a few minutes to make the whipped cream." Because it is not coming out of a can. Not in her kitchen!

[smartass_captain]

"...Probably for the best she wouldn't let us by the canned stuff." Jim exchanges a glance with Clint. It's like she knows if Clint and Jim had can's of pressurized whipped cream it would end up literally everywhere the first time they got into an argument.

Or they'd have a competition to see who could fit more into their mouth at once and choke.

How are they heroes again?

[aw_hawkguy]

They're really good at faking it during a crisis.

"You can make whipped cream? Like, fast?" Oh god Clint you're supposed to have experience with classy stuff you've been all over the world how do you not know this? "Well, hell, let's get back!"

[brave_heart_verity]

"Mine will taste better, trust me." She won't tell them where the fake vanilla flavor comes from. Nobody needs to know that.

"Okay, but you two need to help. Someone needs to organize plates and forks. Someone else needs to find an ice-cream scoop and get the ice cream ready. I'll make the whipped cream and coffee."

Mm tree bark. Or cellulose. You know. Wood pulp.

[smartass_captain]

"Guess so. Verity says she can do it--I'm inclined to believe her."

The hike back to the house isn't long, but they're all breathing little puffs of clouds when they do make it to the door. The temperature definitely dropped with the sun.

"I didn't forget the chocolate crust pumpkin pie either, but apples are my weakness."