Title: Guardian Angel
Author: miss_m_cricket on LJ
Fandom: Star Trek Reboot! / Doom Crossover.
Rating: PG-13 for now
Pairing: will be Reaper!McCoy/James T. Kirk
Disclaimer: Own neither Doom, nor Star Trek.

Summary: Despite the complete illogic of it, a Wanted fugitive was fond of the stray waif he had picked up on the street...

A/N: A new epic series of Reaper!Bones from me! This is the Guardian!Verse Hope you all enjoy! Special mentions go out to mysterysquid for always listening to me ramble on about my fics. And also inell for a prompt she gave me a long while ago.

Guardian Angel

"Reaper of enemies; strong of grip; One kind with his fathers."
- Taliesin

He woke to the sound of a child crying.

After years living as a hunted man any sound, no matter how small, could be enough to jerk John Grimm from light, motionless sleep to alert readiness, gun trained on whatever it was that had disturbed him. The whisper of cloth on stone, the faintest pad of foot on dirt, the faintest shift in breathing, it was what kept him alive, and it was also what made him such a brilliant and lethal enemy.

He was up in a flash, moving with silence and cat like grace as he slunk forward to peer through the grimy glass out into the small mud and snow alleyway beyond. A small boy was pressed up against the stone wall of the house opposite, trying to melt through the stone as three men converged on him.

Wide terrified eyes that were a bright blue flicked from face to face to face, before looking away, meeting hazel green through the glass, through the mud, through the dirt. The boy's mouth opened but John lifted a finger to his lips.

Shhhh

He didn't consider not helping, like most sane people would in his situation. A wanted man did not draw attention to himself by killing three men for no good reason. Only John did have a reason, an important one. He liked kids, and thirty odd years of on-the-run living hadn't made him lose that humanity. Not like most men.

Crouching he stole to the doorway out into the freezing alleyway. Best to deal with this silently or he would have a thousand UAC rent-a-cop's down on his head in a matter of minutes. Bastards would never leave him alone, not unless he utterly destroyed them, or they destroyed him.

Sneaking up behind the three men he gave the frightened kid a small wink before he lashed out, striking with almost obscene speed and accuracy. One broken neck, one pierced brain and one shattered skull and it happened in almost complete silence.

Dropping the last body with some distaste, the tall ex-marine crouched, hazel green eyes considering the scrap of a boy before him. The kid was six or so, fair haired with large blue eyes, pretty enough to catch attention, which was probably what the men had wanted with him. Perverts, but this wasn't a pleasant world they were living in.

"Didn't your mama ever teach you not to go down dark alleyways on your own, kid?" John rumbled, pushing strands of too long hair out of his eyes, "You would have been in trouble if I hadn't been here."

The kid nodded, hand coming up to cover his mouth. "Daddy told me." He said solemnly, "Mama said it was safe with her."

John's eyebrow arched and he stood to move a little ways down the alley and around the corner. There he found a dead body of a woman, face down in the snow and mud. No struggle.

He could guess what had happened here and he would have spat his disgust at the stone wall beside him only he doubted it would make any kind of difference to this bitch on the ground. She was dead and that wasn't going to change anytime soon. He knew some people were desperate for money, knew that some people were suffering from the radiation from the nuclear attacks much more than he was.

Didn't mean he liked the idea of selling kids.

The ex-marine moved back down the alley to the kid and eyed him wearily. Now what was he going to do? Now that he had collected this little bit of fluff from the side of the road, what was he going to do with it?

"What's your name kid?" he said a little gruffly.

"Edward," the boy replies, looking up at John like he is God, "Edward Kirk."

~*~

"I know who you are." Edward mumbled sleepily against John's shoulder a few hours later as they moved through the night. The fair head was pillowed against his shoulder, the soft strands tickling the former marine's sensitive neck.

"Shhhh." John breathed, shifting the kid so that he settled more comfortably against his hip as the man ran through the trees on the outskirts of the almost completely ruined city.

His weapon, big and menacing was held in one hand, cocked and ready as he ran. If his former squad mates could see him now, from wherever they were, he was sure they were laughing at the sight he made. Big ass gun in one hand, innocent, angel faced kid in the other.

"I know…" the kid was persistent that was for sure. "Know you."

"You don't know me Kid." The words echo through him, he has said them before. "You don't know me."

"Know you better than the Television does."

"Oh?" John scowled a little, knowing what was coming and hating it, "What does the TV say about me kid?"

"Bad man." Edward's voice is soft, he is almost completely asleep. "Monster. Don't be bad or the Reaper will get you…" the voice trailed off into sleep.

"I know kid." John Grimm said, sighing softly, "I know."

~*~

Things don't quite go as he planned.

Originally he had planned to leave Edward with Sam and Jacob, let them figure out what to do with him. He knew his sister would look after the boy and that he would be safe if he left him there. The problem however was that Edward did not want to stay with Sam and her husband.

"Go with you." The kid insisted stubbornly, little chubby arms folded across his chest. "I know you."

"Look kid, you remember those stories your Mama used to tell you about the Reaper?"

"Not true."

"No that's just it. Goddammit."

"John!" His sister snapped from the other room and he winced guiltily,

"Sorry." he called and then turned back to the earnest little face looking up at him. "Those stories that your Mama told you were true Edward."

"You saved me."

"Yes but I-"

"So the stories can't be true."

"But see-"

"I go with you."

"No you-"

"You can't leave me." Edward nodded firmly, turning and walking out into the kitchen to talk to his Aunt Sam.

And that was it, Reaper couldn't leave Edward Kirk, and truthfully, he didn't really want to. Despite the complete illogic of it, a Wanted fugitive was fond of the stray waif he had picked up on the street.

~*~

In the end it had to be a compromise.

"You have to get a little older yet." John reassured the young boy, standing on the front steps of his sisters Nevada home, "You might know me Edward, but most people believe that the Reaper is a bad man, a monster."

Edward nodded, his little face solemn. "They want to hurt you. You won't let them will you?"

"No, I won't let them." God talking to kids was so hard. They cut right through the bullshit and sometimes they just seemed more in tune with the world than him and the other mixed up adult people.

"Promise?"

"I'll be back as soon as I can. That I can promise you Edward." Blue eyes blinked at him and the little fair head nodded, fingers curled in his mouth.

"'Kay."

He didn't look back when he left, he never could look back when he left his sister. Before he had never known how long it would be before he could return. Sam had Jacob and her grown son and daughter. She didn't need her brother as often as she used to.

But Edward needed him, and so he would be back soon.

~*~

John visited as often as he could over the next few years.

It was dangerous, so horribly dangerous. He knew that, and so did Sam and Jacob, but they never asked him to stay away and it was worth it to see Edward's face light up and see the boy race over to him.

"John!"

That was not to say that the danger didn't make itself known, John knew that every second he lingered in the comfy home in Nevada he brought his enemies closer to falling down on his sisters head. It pained him to be such a burden on his twin, his only blood kin, but there was nothing for it.

The problem with Edward was that he was exceptionally bright. And not just in the bookish type learning way bright either. No he was intelligent and that made him a dangerous little package in John's life. It was only a matter of time before Edward would find out about John's special 'Gift'.

In the end the Question would be, how would Edward handle it?

~*~

They were running, John racing through the underbrush, carrying the warm body of his young friend, fleeing the rattling gunfire behind them. Edward was trembling against his chest, heart beating faster and faster even though it was John doing the running.

Then there was a chatter of bullets and John grunted, feeling red hot pain blaze through his back.

Crumpling to the ground John muffled Edward's sobs of fear, holding the boy safe against him as the footsteps came over towards them. Bright blue eyes blinked at the smiling green hazel ones.

"You're not dead."

"No."

The footsteps stopped right beside John and the ex-marine stilled for a moment before lunging up with a great snarl and sending the shocked UAC soldier flying. The man was dead before he hit the ground and John grabbed the weapon in his hands before retrieving Edward.

Once again they fled, but this time Edward was quiet, thoughtful.

It scared the shit out of him.

"Like an angel." Edward murmured, resting his head against John's shoulder. "Like a Guardian Angel."

And no matter how much John muttered, Edward wouldn't change his mind.