The Stars Above Us

Chapter 4

"Is it really your birthday?" Leonard asked when he stepped into her room. Jim moved the pillow from over her face and looked at him. "Everybody said it's your birthday but you never have a party."

"It's also the day my father died. My mom used to do stuff but after she died I didn't see the point," Jim muttered. "How'd you get in here?"

"Your dad," he said. "You do realize that not celebrating your birthday is a slap in their faces, right?"

"You don't know what you're talking about. Just go away, Leonard," she groaned and burrowed back under her pillows and blankets. "Let me have my pity party in peace."

"No," the southerner said as he pulled the pillow off her head. "You're annoying but you didn't let me pity myself, so I'm not gonna let you do it either. You're gonna get up and get dressed and you're gonna teach me how to play three-dimensional chess."

"It's my crappy birthday, why should I teach you anything?" Jim asked.

"Because the other option is the surprise party that your other friends are trying to throw for you. We may not know each other that well but I do know that you wouldn't like that. If you don't want to teach me how to play we can watch movies or something," he told her.

"They're not my friends. I tolerate those happy idiots with their happy parents and their happiness," she grumbled. Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Fine, I'll get dressed just get out of my room." He chuckled and left her alone. Jim pushed herself up and did a quick run under the sonic shower before she pulled on leggings, a tank top and one of her dad's sweaters.

"See, that wasn't so hard," Leonard said when she stepped into the common area of the quarters she shares with her dad.

"Smartass," Jim muttered.

"Takes one to know one," he smirked.

"No, no, no," Jim said as Leonard's hovercar sped past hers on the screen. "Come on! How do you keep doin' that!?"

"I'm just that good," he said. "Rematch?"

"No. I think I know when I'm outmatched. I got chess and you got this," she said. Jim taught him how to play three-dimensional chess before they moved to playing games on the console.

"So, what else should we do?" Leonard asked.

"I don't know. I was happy to spend the day in my bed sulking," Jim said.

"That's not how birthdays go, Jim," he told her. "You have fun and hang out and bake stuff. Oh, that's what we should do. Bake a birthday cake."

"I don't like cake," she told him.

"Who doesn't like cake?" Leonard gave her a look. "What is wrong with you?"

"My father wasn't overly fond of cake either, dad says I got that from him. My mom used to make cookies instead," Jim sighed. "That's what dad does if he has the time. They usually come out like briquettes but it's the thought that counts."

"Okay, so we bake cookies," he said with a smile.

"Who are you and where is the grumpy kid that Pippa brought to the ship a couple months ago?" She was so confused by this happy person sitting next to her.

"Hardy har har. The ship would probably implode if we were both in a bad mood at the same time," Leonard chuckled.

"You're being nice because I'm in a bad mood?" she asked. He shrugged. "I thought you didn't like me."

"You're not too bad. You might even be my friend," he said under his breath.

"You might even be my friend too," Jim said. "If you really want to bake something, there's only one place on the ship where we can do it." The ship had an actual kitchen in the galley. That's where all the fresh food came from. The officer in charge of the kitchen usually left some space available for crew members who asked to cook. "I don't know how to bake, though."

"Luckily, my mama taught me how to make a bunch of stuff. Grab your shoes," he told her.

"I like 'not grumpy' you," she said. Jim wasn't used to him being nice, civil but not nice.

He smiled, "I got a reputation to protect, so don't tell anyone."

"You made cookies?" her dad asked.

"Leonard taught me his mother's snickerdoodle recipe," she said.

"They're really good," Miss Pippa said with a mouth full of cookie. Jim and Leonard both chuckled at the look on her face. "You should try one."

"Yea, dad, try one," Jim said. He looked at her before taking one of the cookies on the tray and taking a huge bite out of it.

"You know how to cook anything else?" her dad asked Leonard.

"A few things, sir," the kid answered.

"You think you can teach 'em to Jim? I'm helpless in the kitchen but there's no reason she has to be," Chris said.

"No problem, Mister Chris. I was thinking that anyway since the only time she's actually quiet is when you give her something to do," Leonard said.

"Hey, I'm right here," Jim said.

"We know," her dad and Leonard said at the same time.

"Miss Pippa, they're teaming up on me," she pouted.

"Hey, now. Be nice to Jim," the doctor said. Leonard and Chris both mumbled apologies. Messing with Miss Pippa was never a good idea, she has hypos and she's not afraid to use them.

"It's okay," Jim said. "Thanks, Leonard. For… you know…"

"Not letting you spend your birthday wallowing in self-pity?" he asked. Jim nodded. "Your welcome."

"Come on, Leonard," Jim said to her friend. Shannon, Crista and some of the other kids were being assholes. Jim doesn't know why they've decided to take their problems out on Leonard but she wasn't gonna sit here and listen to it.

"Running to your new mommy, Leonard," Shannon teased. "Better hurry before she dies on you too."

"Back off, Shannon," Jim growled.

"Or what?" the teen asked.

"You don't want to find out," she said. Unlike the other kids, she wasn't scared of him.

"You punched Shannon Myers?" Chris asked her. Jim nodded. "Why?"

"He's a jerk," she muttered.

"Jamison Tabitha Kirk Pike, what in the hell were you thinking?" her dad asked. Jim looked at her boots. "Well?"

"He… It doesn't matter," Jim sighed.

"It matters to me. You don't go around hitting people. So what did he do?"

"He was taunting Leonard about his parents," she whispered. "It reminded me of the kids from the Florence. I told Shannon to stop but when he kept going, so I punched him. I know it's wrong to hit someone but he just wouldn't stop. I don't know if he didn't care or didn't realized that he was picking at my wounds too but it was... it was just mean."

"Let me see your hand," her dad said, all the fight drained from him. "You didn't do any damage."

"I actually bruised it pretty good. Leonard fixed it," Jim said.

"No kidding," he said.

"Yep. He wants to be a doctor. You should've heard him listing off all the bones in my hand earlier, it was pretty cool. I think that's gonna be my nickname for him," she told her dad.

"What? Hand?"

"No, dad. Bones."