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Like Chapter Eight, significant portions of this chapter were forced by plot constraints to retell events in the contemporaneous chapters of Sar'en and Camp Bam Bam, amplified and as seen from the perspective of the Farnsworth boys and/or of Jude. Our gratitude goes out to Roland and Ilúvantír for allowing the use of their co-written characters and scenes.
"Yessir, Lieutenant," said the somewhat shaken Cdr. Jamieson into the communicator applet on his control panel. He turned to the medic splinting Jude's arm. "Give him a painkiller and finish that splint pronto." He turned back, with growing wonder, to reviewing the modifications that Joel, Jude, and Cory had implemented.
"Sir," said the medic, drawing Jamieson back from his equipment. "Begging your pardon, but you are not authorized to give medical commands. I do not have the authority to administer analgesics, and I must proceed with resecting this fracture according to Starfleet procedure."
"You know, corpsman, I did learn Starfleet regs. in my fifteen years in service," Jamieson said dryly. "Those instructions came directly from Lt. Cory Short – that is, he's a lieutenant in Starfleet only because there has been no need to formally promote him. But he is a Fleet Commander in the Vulcan space fleet – one step below Admiral Morrow. And he was relaying the instructions of Bones McCoy himself. He's taking personal charge of the cases of this boy and the others who were injured on the Bridge, as soon as we can transport them to the Enterprise. I assume Medical Commander McCoy's orders are sufficient for you?"
The medic gulped. "Uh, yessir!" he answered.
Through the pain-filled haze, Jude heard this exchange with surprise. He was going to the Enterprise sick bay, to be treated by Dr. McCoy! Billy Joe, holding Jude's head in his lap, caressed his forehead gently, as the medic finally administered a painkiller.
"Tiller!" Jamieson called out.
"Sir?" the senior crewman of that name looked up from his boards.
"You're detailed to escort Mr. Lee and Mr. McAllister to the transporter area to meet Mr. Short and beam out to the Enterprise as soon as our corpsman completes his work."
"Aye, sir."
"Done," said the medic, deftly strapping a sling around Jude's neck to hold the splinted arm as stationary as possible. He and Billy Joe helped Jude to his feet, and Crewman Tiller led them off.
"Sir?" said the medic to Jamieson. At his nod, he went on, "May I ask why these boys were given the run of Engineering?"
"Well, those boys were just responsible, between them and some others with the Captain on the Bridge, for pulling off a successful rescue that we had thought was impossible, and to do it, they used technological enhancements that are apparently original to them. So there are a few dozen crewmen and scientists who owe their lives to the fact that 'those boys' happened to be here on the Excelsior."
"Oh," said the medic sheepishly. Jamieson's attention, however, was distracted by the alert on his communications applet, which turned out to be Jason Evans.
When they got to the Enterprise sick bay, however, the most famous curmudgeon in Starfleet was nowhere in evidence. Through his painkiller-induced haze, Jude felt vaguely disappointed.
"This is my new brother Jude," Cory said to Christine Chapel, then, worriedly. "Where's Joel? Is Bones...?"
Dr. Chapel looked compassionately at Cory. "He's in surgery," she said gently to him, then, turning efficiently to Jude, "Come here, young man. Let's get that set for you." She led Jude over to a vacant biobed and helped him sit on it.
Looking around, he saw Captain Sulu holding an ice pack to his head, while a nurse was doing something he couldn't make out to an Andorian stretched out on a biobed. Other patients were being treated at the edge of his line of sight. Billy Joe seated himself nervously on a seat attached to the partition.
"Your boyfriend will be just fine," Dr. Chapel said with a smile to Billy Joe. He didn't demur to the term, in fact, gave her a shy smile. Jude's heart soared.
"This may cause a severe jarring pain, but it will be only momentary," Dr. Chapel said, as she pulled what looked like a high-tech blood pressure cuff trailing cables from the mass of gadgetry inside the biobed, and wrapped it around his shoulder. Prepared by her comment, Jude tensed for the pain, but felt nothing but a gentle twinge as she put it in place.
"Now, I'm going to numb your arm with this," she explained. "It'll interfere with the pain and touch receptors in your arm electromagnetically – it's much better medically than giving you a cocaine derivative." She glanced at a display. "In fact, I'll flush out what that medic gave you while your arm is mending." She activated the cuff, and Jude's arm went numb.
A glance at another display, and she smiled. "Good; it's a simple greenstick break in the radius. After I set it, about three-quarters of an hour's accelerated healing on the biobed, and you'll be nearly good as new. Though I think I'll give you a protective sheath around your forearm, to keep it straight and absorb any impact, that you should wear until morning, just to be on the safe side."
She motioned a young male nurse over to her, and with him steadying the arm and her alternating manipulating the numb arm with constant references to a display Jude couldn't see, she set the break, getting the sections of broken bone realigned and in close contact, then laid Jude back onto the bed and placed the arm gently flat on the bed at his side.
She turned to Billy Joe. "He's fixed. He'll probably drift in and out of sleep while the biobed's doing the accelerated healing. I almost guarantee he'll be hungry and thirsty either during or just after the procedure; are you willing to fetch him what he needs?"
"Of course," said a smiling Billy Joe. She motioned him over, and he took Jude's free hand. "Activating the bed now," she said.
Jude came awake with a start, realized first that he was ravenous, second, that he was lying on a bed with Billy Joe sitting at his side, and third, that he was on the Enterprise, in the sick bay!
"You're awake!" Billy Joe said excitedly with a grand smile. "What do you want? The lady doctor said I should get you whatever you wanted."
"I'm starved," Jude said. "But, um..." He motioned Billy Joe close. As he bent over to find out what it was Jude wanted privacy to tell him, Jude used his good arm to draw his head close, and planted a tentative kiss on him. Billy Joe looked startled, then bent in and gave it back much more strongly.
"Yep, you're better!" chuckled Dr. Chapel as she walked up to them. "Here," and with that she wrapped what looked like a blue plastic foam/bubble-wrap sheath around the now-healed arm, switching off the biobed field. "I prescribe milkshakes and burgers for both patient and boyfriend," she said with a smile. "You'll need to build up your resources from what the accelerated healing drained, so eat up, as much as you want. Take him down the corridor that way; there's a mess hall there for sick bay patients and staff."
She looked at Jude again. "If you feel up to it, after you've eaten join Lt. Short in the waiting room. He's very worried about young Joel."
"We can do that," Jude said with a smile. "And thanks."
The people running the mess hall adjacent to sick bay seemed remarkably unsurprised at seeing two boys in their early teens come in for a snack. When they ordered milkshakes and burgers, the crewman taking their orders asked, "Sent over from sickbay?"
"Yeah," Jude said, unsure why he was being asked. The crewman saw his expression, and explained. "When a kid or teen comes in from sickbay, a lot of the time they've been told to get a milkshake. My boss is a dietician; he explained this to me. They use them to provide extra nutritive supplements to kids who were malnourished or whose body reserves got depleted by injury. Like you." He glanced at the sheath on Jude's arm; Jude blushed.
Going to a table, they pigged out. Jude finished off his first burger in about six bites, and drank down a third of his shake with it. Watching him eat (between bites of his own food), Billy Joe asked, "So how come you're so hungry? The lady doctor said you would be, after being on that bayou bed. Why's it a 'bayou bed', anyway? D'they make them in Louisiana?"
"Oh," Jude answered. "They never spelled that out in the tech manuals, but the theory was there. It's a bio-bed, not a bayou bed, because it has biomechanical circuitry in it. What it does, more or less, is to jumpstart your body's natural healing process, so that you heal just the way you would have if you were stuck in a hospital bed for weeks, but it accelerates the process, so every hour you're on a biobed is like two weeks or so healing normally." He paused to bite off and chew two bites that decimated a second burger, and did serious damage to the level of milkshake left. "The thing is, you're not getting fed while you're on a biobed, and you tend to pass out because you need the extra rest, because it's drawing on your body's reserves to do that fast healing. Every bone in my body is just a tiny bit more brittle than it was this morning, and my blood iron level is down, because healing that broken bone drew on them. And I used a lot of energy too. I get that back from food, same as I would if I was just lying in a hospital bed waiting for the bone to knit. But because it used it so fast, I got really hungry."
He paused again, scarfing down more of his burger. "It works best on Vulcans, almost as good on humans and Andorians, not so hot on some other races. The thing is, you've got to have the resources for it to draw on. You know Kevin?" Billy Joe nodded. "When he was first brought up here, he'd been systematically malnourished for years. All Bones could do was prescribe these nutrition-supplement milkshakes for him."
"Is that why he's so skinny?" Billy Joe asked
"Yeah. The thing is, from what I read, he's put on a lot of weight, built a lot of muscles, in the last month. Before, he was almost literally skin and bones." He finished his third burger. "C'mon, I want some dessert!"
When they got to the waiting room, Kevin and most of the Short family were there. With a worried look on his face, C.D. came over and cuddled up against Jude. He gave a quick hug to the little nine-year-old.
Cory was pacing nervously back and forth. Kevin whispered, "It's been an hour he's been in there, and we don't know nothing!" He looked ready to cry.
Dr. Chapel looked in the door and said, "Cory, either sit down or else I'm going to have you taking a nap on the nearest Bio-bed." Jude could tell, though, that she was trying her best to calm the blond teen, who was taking what had happened to Joel as his personal responsibility.
The door hissed open and Dr. McCoy walked in, still in surgical garb. His face was sober.
Cory was unable to speak; he just stared over Kevin's shoulder pleadingly at Bones.
"Cory... boys..." Bones drew a deep breath to contain his feelings.
"No... please, no..." Kevin started sobbing loudly.
McCoy stepped over and took the crying Kevin into his arms, "He's okay, Kevin. In fact, he's in better shape now than he's been in years. THAT is why I'm upset. What the HELL did he go through, Cory?" he demanded.
"Hell," Cory answered simply, sitting on the floor and weeping. "Hell."
Sean cleared his throat, "Um, how, uh... how long 'til he can leave, Doc?"
"You can take him home now. He'll sleep for an hour or so more, then he'll wake on his own. He needs bed rest for at least eight hours." McCoy shook his head in amused irritation, "Damned Vulcan biology. If he'd been human, he'd likely not have made it at all! He's fine, guys. You can go and see him now."
Jude looked at Billy Joe. No words were necessary; the experiences of the last few hours had forged a bond between them deeper than what had already been growing. Both felt relief that the little Vulcan had survived yet another brush with death with no lasting effects. Each was soberly aware of how easily it could have been himself, or, worse, the boy who was beginning to be the world to him. Jude drew Billy Joe close. Tommy looked on with a smile.
"You've got to be kidding!" said a thoroughly shocked Billy Joe.
"Nope, not at all," Jude smiled at him. "And it's nothing to do with sex – it's about comfort, bonding, brotherhood. You're sleeping in the middle of a group of dozens of boys who would put their lives on the line for you."
"Yeah, nestin's fun!" Ricky Michaels said, as he and Timmy collected cuddles from the two boys.
Tommy and Aaron came walking up to them and said to the two little Spirit Guides, "Can we borrow Jude and Billy Joe for a bit?"
As they walked across the Compound towards Tommy's room, Aaron said quietly to Jude, "Operation Santa Anita's a go."
"Matterin' on when we can get enough Intelligence and Security available," Tommy added. "We won't let stuff like what happened to Billy Joe go on." He raised his voice. "So what was Billy Joe lookin' freaked about when we showed up?"
"Oh, Ricky and Timmy and I were just telling him about nesting," Jude explained, joining them in good natured laughter.
"Everybody has that reaction, Billy," Aaron said. "But once you've experienced it, there's nothing more comforting. It says, somewhere down deep inside you, you're with friends, friends who care, friends who don't judge you but just love you. You'll see."
They walked in, and Tommy turned on his radio low. "Hope you guys'll put up with country. I like a lot of the same music as the other guys, but every so often, I get a hankerin' for the music Billy and I grew up list'nin' to. K92 country has some good stuff."
Jude smiled. "Fine by me," Aaron said, then caught what was playing, and began to sing along.
Now I lay me down to sleep...
I pray the Lord my soul to keep...
And if I die before I wake...feed Jake...
He's been a good dog...
My best friend right through it all...
If I die before I wake...feed Jake...
"I didn't realize you knew that," Tommy said.
"It's a good song; listen," Aaron replied.
Now, if you get an ear pierced...
Some will call you gay...
But if you drive a pickup...
They say, no, you must be straight...
What we are and what we ain't...
What we can and what we cain't...
Doesn't really matter...
Billy Joe was nodding. "It'ud be nice if it really was that way."
"That's what we're all about," Aaron said. "We're trying to make it that way."
"And sometimes there's a price to pay," Tommy added soberly. Their thoughts went to the funeral earlier; he glanced meaningfully at Jude's healing arm.
The radio shifted tunes: Bobbie Gentry's acoustic guitar and sultry voice rang out.
"It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day
I was out choppin' cotton and my brother was balin' hay
And at dinner time we stopped and walked back to the house to eat
And Mama hollered out the back door "y'all remember to wipe your feet"
And then she said "I got some news this mornin' from Choctaw Ridge"
"Today Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge"
The other Billy Joe McAllister, the one there with them, looked panicky. "Change the station!" Jude called out. Tommy punched a button to bring in 96.5 classic rock – which turned out to be playing the Beatles.
"Hey Jude don't let me down
You have found him now go and get him
Remember to let him into your heart
Then you can start to make it better."
The four boys burst into delighted laughter. "Yeah, I did," Jude said with a grin. "Come here, Billy Joe," and with that drew him into a tight embrace.
Billy Joe tensed up. Aaron said, "Relax, Billy. You're with friends. We couldn't be happier that you've found Jude.
"Never did like divin' off the Tallahatchie bridge," Tommy drawled in a Bobbie Gentry imitation. "So let him under your skin, so he can start to make it better." They all laughed.
+ + +
As Billy Joe, now more relaxed, cuddled up to Jude in the nest, he let his mind drift back to earlier in the day
The car pulled up alongside where Jude and Billy Joe were sitting, quietly talking about nothing in particular, just enjoying being together. An onlooking sociologist, had there been one, would have said that they were cementing their growing relationship. If you'd had asked them, though, they'd have told you they were just chilling out together. Which may say a lot about frames of reference, because both statements were true.
Anyway, Tommy hopped out of the back seat and walked over to them. "Hey, Billy Joe," he said.
"Hey back atcha."
"We're headed over to the Mall, and I want you to come with us," Tommy told him. Jude looked up expectantly, hoping to be invited along. Tommy smiled at him. "Sorry, you're gonna be needed over in C.I.C. perty quick. 'N' I want a chance to hang out with my bud from back home fer a bit." Jude looked downcast. "Hey, it won't be long; stop lookin' like you're lower than pond scum. Y'll get a chance to hang out together more."
"Guess I gotta go," Billy Joe said. "Will you be OK?"
"Yeah, I guess so. Hurry back!"
"We will," Tommy said, forestalling a production-number goodbye between the two. "C'mon, Billy Joe."
They slipped into the car's back seat. David was driving, Aaron riding shotgun. David pulled away and headed for the gate.
"Sorry about that," Tommy said to Billy Joe. "But we had to separate you two for a good reason. We're headed over to pick up birthday presents, and you need to pick something up for Jude."
"I ain't got no money!"
"That's covered, bro," Aaron said. "We both got plenty"
"I can't be goin' gettin' indebted to ya," Billy Joe demurred.
"Wait a minute," Aaron said. "Jude's my new brother; you heard Mama Teri earlier, when he said about wanting to keep his last name. I'm Aaron Carter, 'cause that's what I record under. And he's Jude Lee, because he's a proud son of the Lee family. But we're both the sons of Teri Short, same as Sean and Cory and Tommy."
"Now," Aaron went on, "what we're doing is picking up birthday presents for Joel and Jude. And we can afford to give them a lot. But there's one thing that will make my new brother's face light up that I can't give him – but I can pay the money to get it." Tommy was grinning.
"What's that?" asked a mystified Billy Joe.
"I don't know yet," Aaron said, "but whatever it is, it'll be a birthday present from his new boyfriend." David and Tommy laughed. "That's why you're coming along."
Billy Joe broke into a smile. "Put it that way, it's a deal!"
"How is he, Richard?" asked a concerned Amanda.
"Fading away slowly," her brother answered her. "I've known it was coming, and what the Vulcans did eighty years ago gave us many more years than we could have expected. But it still hurts."
Sarek rested a compassionate hand on his brother-in-law's shoulder. "Do not give up hope," he said. "What will happen must happen. But take joy in your years together, and all the good you and Bruce have done."
"I am doing that, Sarek. But I have never mastered emotional control like Sis, and it hurts so badly." Sarek gave him one of the compassionate smiles he reserved for 'within family', and a one-armed hug.
"But what I came here to tell you," Richard said, "ties into what Sarek just mentioned. Remember when we bought up those military bases they were closing down, a few years back?"
"Yes..." Amanda answered.
"Well, I've been keeping tabs on what our extended family has been doing," Richard went on. "Your boys out West, the paramilitary group – they're bursting at the seams from all the kids they've taken in. I'm going to give them a base or two, to house them. I'll probably transport out in the morning, then come back here before I go back to be with Bruce."
"That is well," Sarek said.
Amanda smiled gently. "A fine idea. With his lifelong commitment to children, Bruce would approve."
"I know," Richard said gravely. "That's why I'm doing it – if the worst happens, it can be a memorial to him – the last great gift to children from Bruce Wayne."
Sarek and Amanda smiled ruefully.
Billy Joe awoke to a set of strange sensations. First, he was in the nest, had been sleeping naked with a whole enormous group of other boys – and he didn't feel weird about it; it was comforting. He was a little nervous about his morning wood, but could see that the condition was contagious, so to speak.
But more pressingly, he was being clambered on by two small boys in Indian war paint: Timmy and Ricky. "Come on get up, Unka Jude, Unka Billy!" Across the room he could see other boys waking up, Galen and his two cousins among them. Galen looked at him and he could feel the reassurance radiating from the eleven-year-old toward him.
The door into the Rec. Room from the dining room opened, and Teri slipped in. "Breakfast is in twenty minutes, so get showered and ready," she said cheerily. Something about her tone suggested to Billy Joe that there was something planned – something good. He smiled.
"We gots to shower!" the little ones said. Little Ross from the Welsh contingent attached himself firmly to the two boys as they made their way to the shower.
"Is he going to shower with us?" Billy Joe asked, startled.
"Yeah!" Timmy giggled. "The Tribe gets to shower with the big boys when they come here; everybody knows that."
Jude giggled. "It's in the books, Billy," he said. "The little kids love showering with bigger kids."
"But what if we...?"
Ricky caught his meaning. "'S okay," he said. "Everybody gets stiffies in the showers! That's part of the fun!"
Jude laughed at the expression on Billy Joe's face. "Don't worry; nobody will think anything of it – except me, and what I'm thinking, we need to find somewhere private to … uh, talk about." He waggled his eyebrows at Billy Joe, embarrassing him more.
Joel and Kevin joined them. "Want us to go to the showers together with you guys?" Kevin asked. The two diminutive teens seemed almost protective of the two older boys.
"That'd be cool, bro," Jude said, and they were off.
As Joel finished towel drying Belar, and as Jude finished doing the same for Ross, Kevin and Billy-Joe walked over to them. "We'll go keep you a place at breakfast," Kevin said, a small grin on his face.
"Okay," Joel smiled up at him, then he looked at Belar, "There. All dry, cutie."
"Thanks, Unca Jowl!" Belar hooted happily. "I'll go helps dem keeps you a seat!" he called out as he ran from the room butt naked, followed by the other Rugrats and the two older boys.
Jude glanced at Joel before pulling him gently over and starting to dry the Vulcan's hair. "I think they are definitely planning something," he whispered conspiratorially to his little alien brother.
Joel nodded, "Yeah. I'm nervous. Don't like surprises."
"Don't be," Jude assured him with a firm hug. "Come on. Let's go find our clothes." He picked Joel up and carried him over his hip from the bathroom. "Don't worry about it. Birthdays are meant to be fun, and I did promise that I'd help make this one your first 'fun' day, didn't I?"
"Yeah," Joel murmured, still not completely convinced. "Hey! Where've they all gone?" he asked as he looked around the now empty Rec Room.
"I can guess, but I think you'll like the surprise," Jude giggled as he sat down next to two piles of clothes: his own and Joel's. He sat Joel on his lap and proceeded to dress him. Once done, he threw on his own attire, and then stood. He took Joel's hand, "Come on. Let's see if it's what I think it is."
Joel dragged his feet nervously as they started towards the Dining Room door. He was frightened, and the grip he had on Jude's hand was tight enough to relay that emotion clearly.
Jude reached with his free hand and opened the door...
"SURPRISE!!!"
Joel panicked. Memories of how horribly his master had treated him on his birthdays back on the slave-Earth he had been marooned on flooded him. He ran from the room.
Jude watched, dumbfounded. Kyle popped into existence next to Sean and Cory; at his expression, Sean whistled for silence.
"I shoulda seen this coming," Kyle said, "but I didn't think to look. We try to scan for everything that might hurt you guys, but a birthday party? … I didn't look. Levi's with Joel right now, calming him down. You guys need to know that his old master made his birthdays 'special' for him – special in a bad way. You need ta help him through that." His eyes picked out Sean and then Jude. "You know what you gotta do?"
They nodded. Whispers broke out among the assembled boys. At that point Levi popped in bringing Joel back.
"Sorry," Joel mumbled with downcast eyes.
Sean's strong arms reached out to hold him, and the little Vulcan looked up into Sean's face. "Don't be. We didn't expect that reaction. Well, we didn't think it would be that bad. We're sorry, Joel."
Joel nodded slowly and started to smile. Jude came over too him and drew him up against his side. "Little brother? Look. Look what our family did for us," he said, joy in his voice.
Joel looked around. He first saw the smiling faces of his family and friends, then... balloons. Everywhere. Bright, shiny colors. Each balloon had something written on it: either 'Happy 13th Birthday, Joel!' or 'Happy 14th Birthday, Jude'.
Smiling gently and with deep compassion for his gently weeping new brother, Jude led the little Vulcan boy over to the table and seated him between himself and Kevin, then took his own seat with Billy Joe next to him on the other side
Then there were the presents – two huge piles of presents. Two groups of happy boys led the two birthday boys to them, one to each pile. Looking at the enormous stack of presents, Jude was embarrassed. "I can't, guys. I can't accept these. You hardly know me!" he protested, his hurt of the loss of his parents showing in his eyes and face.
Teri enfolded him in a hug, "Yes, you can. You're my son, and I don't let any child, mine or not, go without on their birthday. And I mean that, Jude. They are yours."
"Thanks," he whispered back. He turned and hugged her very close for a long moment, before he wiped his eyes and moved towards his gifts. Looking on, Scotty was feeling nothing but happiness for the slim blond boy with whom he'd taken his first steps towards becoming a young man, and the fact they now had different boyfriends didn't mask the joy he felt in seeing Jude's life celebrated in classic Clan style. Sometimes, dreams really do come true, he thought to himself. Galen glanced up at his cousin and adoptive brother and smiled.
Then there was a brief contretemps that would have been funny if it were not so poignantly sad: little Joel, whose past birthdays had been Hell, literally did not know what he was supposed to do with his presents.
Jude knew what to do: after all, he was Joel's big brother; Joel himself had made sure that Teri adopted him. "Watch, Joel," he said as he selected one present, read the tag, and smiled at Billy Joe. He then opened it to find a leather jacket inside. "Oh, man! I love you!" he yelled out, pulling the blushing Billy into a crushing hug, "It's great!"
That set the tone; the two birthday boys set to opening their presents and running to hug the givers in growing joy.
But Jude was reduced to tears by one present, from Timmy and Ricky. "Do you really like it, Unca Jude?" Ricky mumbled.
Jude sniffed and smiled, "I really do."
Teri moved closer and rubbed the crying boy's back, "Why the tears, love?"
Jude looked again at the small stuffed piglet, still in its Collector's Case, which the little boys had bought for him and wiped his eyes. "It's Mr Wiggles! I had him when I was a little boy! My Mom got him for me when I was a baby... I lost him years and years ago... his stuffing fell out and he was put away, then I couldn't find him when they... when my parents died..."
Levi started to chuckle. When Jude and Teri both looked questioningly at him, the little Mikyvis explained, "I just checked. It really is Mr Wiggles. In this Universe, you were never born, so that particular Mr. Wiggles was never bought by anybody, for a toy I mean. It's been in various toy shops, and passed through a few collectors, but was never played with or opened here in this universe. It really is your Mr Wiggles, Uncle Jude!"
Jude just cried some more, tears of happiness, and hugged Timmy and Ricky harder, all the while being himself hugged firmly by Teri.
It went on like that – joy piled upon joy. For Jude, though, there was a special added joy – that his brand-new year-younger brother who shared his birthday, and who had been instrumental in his adoption, was at long last finding the love and happiness that he, and all kids, deserved. He looked over at Joel with happiness and affection.
Towards the end of the birthday-present opening, though, Kurt slipped into the Rec. Room, motioning his three nephews/adoptive sons to himself. "Hey, guys," he said. "Kayla was talking with Jack and Dave out at the Unit's Camp Bam Bam. They think maybe I could be of some help out there, with all the rescued kids coming in. I'm on my way out to meet them, and they said to see if you wanted to come along."
"Yeah!" said Marky. "Combat helicopters! G-cats! Kewl!" Grinning at the little guy's exuberance, Galen and Scott both said they'd like to come along too. The four of them slipped out, with Scott stopping to grin and wave at Jude, whose eyes watered as he smiled and waved back.
As Kurt and his nephews materialized in Command Central, they saw a sandy blond eight-year-old with 'chipmunk cheeks' manning the main console there. A second such boy, wearing glasses but otherwise identical to the first, occupied a secondary console not far away, and at two other desks were two more boys who looked just like older versions of the first two, busily processing data. A third eight-year-old, looking just like the other two, walked shyly up to them.
"Hi, you're here to see Adam, right?" he said.
"Uh," Kurt began, intending to say he'd been sent to meet Jack and Dave, but Scott forestalled him by saying "Yes."
Galen put two and two together. "Okay, that's Theodore over there," he said, pointing to the eight-year-old with glasses. "I'm going to guess that you're Simon" – this to the boy at the main console – "and you're Alvin," he finished, addressing the last clause to the boy who had greeted them.
"Right in one," said Simon, "and these are our big brothers Kaden and Richard," gesturing to the two older boys.
"C'mon with me," Alvin said, and led them down a corridor to Adam's office. He knocked and then popped his head inside. "Adam, we have some interesting visitors here who would like to meet you," Alvin said with a bit of a grin.
"Oh, this sounds interesting. What’s up with them?" Adam asled as he sat back in his chair.
"Well, I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise. How about I just show them in?" Alvin laughed as he opened the door wider. "Okay, guys... come on in."
Kurt and the three boys walked in. "Thanks, Alvin; hi, Adam and Logan," Marky said cheekily.
"Hey guys," Adam said as he motioned for them all to sit. "Welcome to Camp Bam Bam."
Galen remembered wondering about Adam's long ponytail when he'd read the stories. "Can I see your hair?" he asked shyly.
Adam cocked his head to the side, wondering why, then realized how unusual his hair was.
"Kewl," Galen said. "Thanks."
"Maybe you better explain about why you were interested in his hair, Galen," Kurt said.
"Yes, please," Adam said as he sat back down.
"Ummm... you know about Joel?" Galen asked.
"What about him?" Adam asked.
"That he was in another universe and got brought here," the oldest boy said.
"Yeah."
"Well, we used to read stories on the Internet there -- stuff about these kids that got turned into a Vulcan clan and this boy who had been given enhanced abilities by a secret military establishment and escaped and rescued his brothers to form a Unit...." Scott explained.
"And they had scenes of you and Logan necking and stuff!" Marky added cheekily with a big grin.
"Wait a minute." Adam said, looking at Logan, who was blushing at the last comment, then back at their guests. "You mean to tell me that someone is WRITING about us in another universe?!?!"
"There’s some sick twisted bastard that has been writing about all of this?!?!" Logan added, also shocked.
"Yep," Marky grinned.
"This place looks a lot bigger than what was described in the story, though," Galen added in thought.
"It is a bit bigger, I guess." Adam said distracted. "Now let’s get back to this writer in another universe... this really bothers me. What do you know about this freak?”
"Well, Roland only had twelve chapters of the Unit up when we left – we didn't know it was part of the Clan stuff, just that Logan's mom helped you escape Adam, and then you took refuge at Joe's grandfather's old mine that he'd converted to a fallout shelter," Kurt explained calmly.
"I wanna meet Juan!" Marky added.
Adam, Logan, and Alvin just stared at him; Scotty was shaking his head 'No' rapidly out of Marky's line of sight. Finally Adam shook his head. "So this Roland asshole is writing all about us. Maybe I should see if I can send Juan out to meet him."
"I'm not sure how you could work that," Kurt said pensively. "One minute we were waking up to a thunderstorm in our universe's Orlando, the next a shuttle craft was flying over and we were here in the CSU."
"CSU?" Alvin asked, confused.
"Oh, sorry," Galen interjected. "It's short for the Clan Short Universe among fans of the stories."
Adam threw up his hands in disgust. "FANS OF THE STORIES... what kind of sick perverted people actually read this shit?!?!" After a second, he actually blushed as he looked at the newcomers. "Ohh... sorry... I didn’t really.. uhhh.. mean that."
"Hey, we're perfectly normal perverted teenagers, just like the rest of you," Scotty grinned. "Actually, reading about what you and the Clan went through and how you got out of it has helped a lot of kids realize that they don't have to feel alone, or like they're weird, or have to stay victims."
"Yes, and some adults too," Kurt added.
Logan was the first one to be able to respond. "You mean that reading all about us and the other Clan guys is helping kids in your universe deal with the shit we are dealing with?”
"Exactly," Galen said. "My life was an awful lot like Deacon's – seeing what Multimapper wrote about him gave me hope when Mother was leaving me home alone all the time."
"Okay," Adam said with a small grin, "what I want to know is who Juan is helping out?"
"Um...aah," Scotty stammered. Marky piped up, "Any of us who wish we could just take a gun and shoot the bad guys that like to hurt people just for the sake of hurting, that's who!"
Scotty looked startledly at his little brother. "Marky, I never realized that's how you felt!" he said with a shocked expression.
"Just 'cause I'm a kid, doesn't mean I can't hurt and can't feel sympathy for other people that are hurting," Marky said hotly.
Kurt spoke up. "I'm Kurt Farnsworth and these three were my sisters' sons; my nephews, until we got here. But they turned to me because they didn't have any caring in their lives – their mothers and Scotty and Marky's father were not exactly examples of good parenting skills."
"You can say that again!" Scott said, as the other two made "oh, yeah!" gestures of agreement.
Logan saw Adam’s eyes go distant and knew he was using his abilities for some reason, so he took up the conversation. "So then, I take it you guys are stuck here and the Clan made you members?"
"That's true," Kurt said. "Teri and Cory made me acting father to the boys; I'll be adopting them under Florida law since they have no other living relatives – at least in *this* universe." He grinned. "And the boys joined the Clan – filling one of their wildest dreams!"
"Yet your dreams go unfulfilled." Adam spoke is a rather flat emotionless voice, much like the one Chang or one of the Vulcans might use.
"Um, yeah," Kurt said with a hollow-eyed look. "I worked with developmentally disabled kids back in my home universe; I don't have any credentials here and I don't have any idea what will happen with me."
"You managed that facility for a while when they fired the incompetent staff, right?" Adam said challengingly.
"Yeah – how did you know that?" Kurt said with a shocked expression.
"If you could do anything, now, what would you want to be?" Adam said, his eyes piercing Kurt's soul.
Kurt was saved from having to put words to an answer to that question when Daileass said, in a fruity mock-British butler voice, "Your guest is here, sah!" – then spoiled the effect by giggling.
Adam couldn’t help but giggle, fully ruining the mood. "That’s SIRE to you, and send him in." He spoke looking up to the ceiling, then looked back to Kurt. "You know, I think we will be able to make a few interesting things happen now." He smiled just as the door opened, and a distinguished older gentleman came walking in, flanked by two of the G-Cats, Thor and Tyr, both wearing their Class A uniforms, complete with weapons.
Adam and Logan both stood up and Adam came around the desk with his hand extended. "Mr. Grayson... Thank you very much for stopping by."
"Good to see you again, Adam, Logan. Pleased to meet you young gentlemen." Grayson smiled at Adam as if they shared a secret.
"Please, have a seat, would you like anything to drink?" Adam asked while directing the older man to his seat behind the desk.
"No thank you, those fine young gentlemen that escorted me in made sure I had everything I needed," he said as he sat down in Adam’s chair. Adam then went around and made introductions of everyone that was there.
Once he was done with that, Adam took the seat next to Logan and took his hand. "I do believe that I have the perfect solution to what you and I discussed earlier. However, before we get into that, there is an unanswered question that I need to hear the answer to." Adam turned and looked at Kurt again. "Mr. Farnsworth, if you could do anything now, what would you want to be?"
"Oh god," Kurt said. "I love working with kids, but there's never any funding for that. And I've got these three to support now too, so I need to take that into account."
Adam smirked while Mr. Grayson leaned forward in his chair, folding his hands on top of the desk. "So, your wish would be to work with children?" He asked while making eye contact with Kurt.
"Yessir," Kurt answered, not sure where this was going. "But I don't have credentials here and I don't know how to explain to you what the story behind that is."
Richard smiled. "Oh, I'm quite well aware of your arrival in this universe. You might say that my sister and I were the first Clan rescues, in a way." He grinned.
"Besides..." Adam said while smiling, "you have all the credentials I need. You see, when you started to explain what happened to you and your boys, I did a mental scan of your memories... don’t worry, I did not get into the personal stuff; I simply wanted to know how you really felt about kids and that you had a true desire to help children; not use them for your own personal wants. Since you came through my evaluation with flying colors, and I can guarantee you there is only one person I know of that has higher standards, that being Ambassador Sarek, I think we can do something to help you out. At the same time, you could be helping us out of a bind."
Kurt's expression was a mixture of hope, startlement, and curiosity. Grayson chuckled, turned to Adam, and said, "Title's being transferred as we speak, and the funding is in place. And I approve wholeheartedly of your choice."
Adam grinned, "Well that makes things much easier also, as far as the budget goes, The Unit is going to increase by roughly five times what you put in because a few other things have come up that you’re not aware of. However, before Mr. Farnsworth goes into convulsions trying to figure out what we are talking about, why don’t you fill him in on your side of things and then I will explain what has been added."
"That sounds wise," Grayson agreed. "Mr. Farnsworth, two years ago Wayne Industries took title to about a dozen surplus military bases, including one outside Syracuse, New York. It is located on the north side of the local airport, and we took it for its investment potential; aside from one outlying portion we made into a warehouse complex. The remainder: barracks, recreation facilities, and so on, have been mothballed for two years."
Kurt was totally lost by this point, so Adam took over. "Mr. Grayson, perhaps I should add a little back story to all of this, so that it would be more understandable." After getting a nod from the older man, Adam sat back in his chair and spoke from his heart.
"I am sure you are all aware of what happened last Saturday in Montana." After getting nods from the new guys there, he continued. "Due to a few things that were said shortly after the attack was over with, Clan Short made it very well known to all people in the world that we would not allow the abuse of children to be tolerated. We also made it clearly known that if the children were in need of help, all they had to do was call. I realized pretty quickly what was about to happen, and we have barely been able to keep up with demand, but basically, we ended up becoming the first and best hope some children have ever had."
He took a break to find a piece of paper on his desk. "Monday morning, the entire Unit fully mobilized to handle the incoming tidal wave of calls for help, and with the help of the rest of the Clans, a good number of states and their agencies, and concerned citizens like Mr. Grayson, we have been able to keep up with something that was a lot bigger then even I thought it would be."
Handing the paper to Kurt, he continued while the man read it. "That is a report from this morning detailing the number of calls we have received, as well as the number of children that have had to find new housing, most of which are here. However, we’re just about full."
"Wait a minute..." Kurt said in shock. "You’re telling me that in less than four days you’ve received over seventeen THOUSAND calls for help?!?!? And... And you have over five and a half THOUSAND kids here?!?!?"
"That’s exactly what I am telling you. This is where you and Mr. Grayson come in. See, he has the land and the buildings to house over three thousand children, but no one to run it. You want to work with kids. Now, understand you would be in charge over a staff that numbers well over five hundred, as well as the three thousand children. Also, as far as funding goes... well, Mr. Grayson has generously given a start up fund of twenty million dollars...."
Adam couldn’t get anything else out as he watched Kurt’s eyes roll up to the back of his head and he started to collapse. Thankfully there were four augmented children in the room, and between Adam, Alvin, Thor and Tyr, Kurt never hit the ground.
"And you guys," Alvin said, grinning at the three boys who had come with Kurt, "will be the Clan presence supervising that everything is done right." Scott and Galen had matching looks of wide-eyed open-mouthed shock at hearing that.
Logan came over and offered Adam the smelling salts he had just broken open and Adam waved it under Kurt’s nose. A few seconds later, Kurt was being helped to sit in his seat and everyone else was grinning. "I take it that you need some time to figure this out?" Adam said with a cheeky grin.
Marky giggled. "I haven't seen Unk that shocked since he grabbed the electric fence!"
Logan laughed. "Are you going to tell him the rest of it, Adam?"
"There’s more?!?!" Kurt groaned.
"Well yeah. See, about thirty minutes ago I got a call from Admiral Morrow of Starfleet Command. He informed me that over the last three days they have had the Starfleet corps of engineers going through and retrofitting twenty-three sites scattered around the US and Canada that are being turned over to the Clan as we speak. Between those, the two we have right now, and the one Mr. Grayson has given us;,they can hold roughly forty-six thousand people. Those bases, currently being named Unit Base Alpha through Zeta, will all fall under the leadership of the Unit’s 'Director of Satellite Bases'."
Adam took a moment to let all of that sink in, then looked Kurt right in the eyes. "The question I have for you is this... do you want to run one area, or do you want to oversee the operations of all of them?"
Kurt sat down abruptly.
"Anyone got a fire extinguisher?" Marky giggled. "I think Unc's brain just caught fire!"
"I can dunk him in the North Pacific to put out the fire," Daileass giggled back.
"You've gotta do it, Unk!" Scott said.
Galen's mind had been going a mile a minute under all the things that had happened. Now he looked closely at his uncle and foster father's face, read the conflicting expressions, glanced at Thor's expression. The Genesis cat was dispassionately sympathetic. He screwed up his courage and spoke up.
"Adam, Logan, I'm pretty sure Unk wants to help. But I know him, maybe better'n anybody now." He looked the teen couple in the eye. "Adam, the stories did a pretty good job of talking about what you were feeling. You're a leader, and a good one. But first and foremost, you're a warrior." He drew a deep breath and from somewhere inside him found the courage to go on. "Leading your brothers into battle is when you feel most alive, most like what you feel you were put into this world to do." He blinked. "Could you be happy sitting here, 'flying a desk,' while they go out and fight the battles you do the strategies for? Logan, you're not enhanced; why did you go through hell to make yourself the physical equal of Adam and his brothers, if not to be able to fight alongside them?"
"What's your point?" Logan asked.
"Just this: what makes Unk tick is working with kids. What you're offering him is a chance to 'fly a desk', to make it so other people can work with kids. He rebelled against doing that even at the Center. He wouldn't be happy doing that."
Adam and Scott were both nodding. Richard held up his hand. "Wait a minute," he said. "What you're missing is, he would be in charge. Bruce showed me how to make this work when I was only twelve, and he adopted me out of the orphanage that Sis and I were stuck in."
He turned to Kurt. "Bruce put the lady who cared about kids in charge, and told her to lead by example, to show how it should be done. That's your job: hire people who care, and show them how to show it, by doing it yourself. Get somebody who loves pushing paper to do all the administrative chores. Tell him, or her, what you need to have done, and give him a free hand to do it. Then focus on making sure the kids get what they need – and I mean caring, not just material needs."
He smiled. "Put in those terms, do you want to do it?"
"Yes, yes, of course," Kurt said. "But..."
Adam held up his own hand. "Master taught me, there are no buts." Marky got up and wiggled his butt; they all laughed. "Except those ones, that is," Adam said with a laugh. "If you have the people, everything else falls into place, or we can make it fall into place. Right, Alvin?" The little chipmunk grinned and nodded.
"We'll show you the bases, you say what's going to be needed, and we'll make it happen," Logan said.
"Do it, Unk!" came from the three boys.
"I accept," Kurt said, wondering what would happen next.