Description: Little stories about everybody's favorite crew's first words. My first fanic; feedback is always welcome. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I own nothing! I do not profit, it's all for fun, and all that jazz.

The contrast was almost laughable:

As Winona Kirk stood frantically on her tiptoes in the middle of the crowded space station hoping to locate her apparently elusive husband, the young baby in her arms nuzzled calmly into his mother's protective hold. As her panicked eyes darted rapidly here and there in search of even the slightest glimpse of George, the baby's rested easily on the passersby: most were human, but some were alien and it was the aliens that kept the young child's short attention the longest. Occasionally, he would try to grab at these strange strangers as they pushed past his mother.

"Gah, bab ba!" the baby babbled merrily as he attempted a daring reach toward the antenna of a particularly irate looking Andorian who was stomping pass.

"Yes, dear, yes," his mother replied absently, her mind still on the crowd of people before her trying to single out the one face she was looking for.

Baby James dropped his little hand in defeated and briefly stared after the Andorian before his attention was reclaimed by a passing Vulcan woman carrying a box that spouted a vicious snarl from the inside.

"We are on the right deck…" Winona muttered to herself uncertainly, snapping her head towards the large map of the station on the adjacent wall. James looked into his mother's eyes; he reached up to touch her cheek and cooed softly. She smiled down at her young son, "It's okay, baby. We'll find daddy."

As if on cue, they heard a voice call "Hey! Over here!"

Winona turned in relief to see her husband standing with her father and eldest son, George Jr.; the latter two had been standing guard at the lobby exit in case George had passed her in the confusion.

She made her way toward the rest of her family, silently thanking the Heavens that her father had been here today to catch her husband before he could go off on his next mission without a goodbye.

"Hey, beautiful. Jimmy," George greeted them admiringly with a kiss on his wife's cheek and a ruffling of his young son's hair.

"I was worried we were going to miss you," Winona admitted happily. "Nah, they wouldn't leave without me. And I wasn't about to leave until I saw you," George replied bending in for another kiss.

"Agh!" James shrieked indignantly.

His father chuckled, "Sorry, kiddo," and pecked his son affectionately on the top of his head.

A message rang out over the loud speaker, through the loud buzz floating about the station George just barely made it out. "That's my call. C'mon, you can see me off."

The small family left the lobby and headed toward the nearest turbo lift. Little James enjoyed the brief ride immensely. They were deposited on an almost empty deck, on the far end was a wall made entirely of glass. It was on the other side of that glass that Jimmy set his eyes on the most beautiful thing he'd seen all day: a massive ship, ivory white that pulsed with energy and power. Jimmy's vision locked onto it with awe and he was almost unaware of the emotional goodbye passing between his father, mother, and older brother.

"I'll be home soon, Georgie. Just six short months, then I'll be home for good. This is the last one, promise," the father said consolingly to the tearful boy. "Okay, daddy," he responded though sobs.

George then turned his attention to his wife. Jimmy's eyes were still transfixed on the glorious ship across the deck, tracing its outline and contours in wonder.

"I love you," George whispered to his young wife. They kissed.

He turned last to his baby.

"I'm gonna miss you, pal," he said sadly. "You're probably going to be walking and talking by the time I get to see you again."

But the father's words did not break the spell the magnificent ship held on the small boy. George's eyes followed Jimmy's gaze and he chuckled, "You like daddy's ship, huh?"

To his parents' surprise and enormous delight, he boy finally broke his intense lock with the ship to turn to his father and with perfect clarity he spoke his first word: "Ship."