On one hand, Pike hated that Command decided to keep his return from the dead from Jim for as long as they had. On the other, Pike understood why they did it. The work the Enterprise was doing out in space was important, and if Jim found out Pike was alive, some of that could have been jeopardized.

"I don't think so. As soon as the news stories die down about you they're probably just going to do it quietly. I'm getting tired of all the sneaking around myself."

Pike knew the basics of what happened out there, but he wasn't going to press for any information right now and let Jim tell him if he wanted to. But he was going to start with, "How're you doing?"