I own nothing! Warning light Winona Kirk bashing.

Christopher Pike could remember the day that his best friend died like it was yesterday. Of corse most people could, but for Chris it wasn't just the Kelvin tragedy, it wasn't just the sacrifice of George Kirk for over eight hundred lives. That day was the day that his god-son was born, the day James T. Kirk took his first breath, the son of his best friend. Chris promised himself he would watch after the two Kirk kids. Sam was already six, and so much like his father. But Jim had the Kirk sprit from the first screaming breath he took. Once back on earth Chris arranged the memorial for George, and he isn't ashamed to say that it was the hardest thing he had ever done.

For the next two years Chris helped care for the two Kirk kids, He worked at the ship yard not far from riverside so that he could be near them. Then Winona decided that she hated being on earth, and she hated her kids because Jim was the spitting image of his father even acted like George. When Winona showed up at his apartment at two in the morning, carrying a sleeping James and holding the hand of Sam, he knew. He knew that Winona was leaving for the stars. So Chris took the kids. For six months he was a single parent to his best friends sons, and he loved it. They weren't George, not by a long shot, but they were like him. That hurt Winona but it helped Chris heal.

After six months Winona came home to find her son's calling Chris Ada. He was reading them The lord of the Rings for bed time stories and the children had taken to calling him the elvish word for father. Winona was so angry that she stopped speaking to Chris for two days. It would have been longer if Jim hadn't woken with a fever and refused Winona, only wanting his Ada. So Chris rushed over to take care of the sick child. The two adults worked out a schedual for the kids so that they could still spend time with there Ada. And it worked for two months. Then Winona dropped them off at two in the morning again. This pattern repeated itself every few months until Jim was six. Then Winona married and told Chris that he was no longer needed in the children's lives. Chris stayed around for seven more months, but Winona never showed up at his appartment, never called. When he tried to contact the boys Winona flat out refused. 'I am starting a new life with my husband and son's, you were Georges friend and my husband and I have decided that you don't have a place in our family.' Winona told him. So he left, he went back to San Francisco and took a position on a Starship with Captain Archer. The man had been begging Chris to come be his second in command since the Kelvin, and now Chris took the Job.

It was eight years later when Commander Pike and his team beamed down to the planet of Tarsus IV to look for survivors. When Pike found James, half starved but taking care of several other kid's Chris almost cried. Jim was spose to be in Iowa with his mother, step-father and brother, not half dead on the planet of pain and hunger. Jim's big blue eyes were spose to be warm and full of laughter. Not cold and hard. But there was the boy that Chris had wanted to adopt so many years ago, broken but fighting. Chris and James, now called JT, talked during the trip back to earth. Chris found that the boy didn't remember him, but the reason that he was sent to Tarsus IV was because of his step-dad frank. The man had been abusing James for years, finely James fought back. So his mother sent him away for being unruly. Anger surged through Chris, how could Winona do this to Georges kids. How could she do this when Chris would have adopted them and given them a safe happy home.

This time when Jim went home to his mother, Chris kept tabs on the young genius. Chris paid for the boy to go to the best school, helped pay for the therapy that he needed because of Frank and Tarsus IV. Then when Chris recruited Jim into starfleet.

Chris became his mentor and friend, put himself as Jim's family contact. When Jim saved earth and became captain Chris was proud. He felt like a proud father. But at the reception the best feeling in the world filled Chris when Jim hugged him and called him Ada. Chris's eyes snapped to Jim's.

"I found some pictures of you and me and Sam when i was young. I'm sorry I don't realy remember, but I found Sam and he told me that you took care of us for the first seven years of my life. He said we called you Ada, The elvish "

"word for father." Chris cut the boy off. "you two were my best friends flesh and blood, but in my heart you have always been my son's"

"Well if you don't mind, can we keep in touch. As my Ada, not an admiral"

"I'd like that, son"

Winona watched from the sidelines as her son hugged the man that had tried to raise her sons, jealous of the bond they shared even though she had tried to break it. She hated that Chris could see more than George in her youngest son, she hated that he could love a boy that she never could. But mostly she hated that it just proved that she wasn't meant to be a mother.