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Title: To the End (La Comédie)
Series: Star Trek XI (as if I write for anything else these days): water park 'verse
Rating: PG-13/R for some violence, swearing, and fade-to-black sexy stuff
Summary: You are cordially invited to the Starfleet social function of the year. That is, assuming these terrorists and the Enterprise Crew's own issues don't get in the way.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with the characters featured in Star Trek or the Star Trek movie from 2009. No harm was meant, so put the lawyers away, man.
Chapter Notes:I realized that somehow I had never written a scene with the classic trio being all...classic trio-ey with each other. Lots of Jim and Bones interaction, some Spock and Bones interaction, and a fair amount of Jim and Spock interaction. Nothing with the three of them together. Consider this rectified!
Writing a practically ten year old is fucking hard, by the way. It was so much easier to write Jo when she was all eight and smuggled on board a ship during her dad’s birthday. My bad for letting her grow up, I guess. JOANNA MCCOY WHY ARE YOU NOT FROZEN IN CARBONITE YOU GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT DON’T FORGET TO CLEAN YOUR ROOM. Also Jocelyn will be played by Kelly Rutherford aka Lily Rhodes-van der Woodsen-Bass-Humphrey. She’s only slightly older than Karl Urban so I figure it’s believable they were married and had a kid together. Plus she’s just kind of generally amazing and was born in Kentucky! There is a method to my fantasy casting.
Speaking of fantasy casting, Dianna Agron is my Janice Rand. She has enough hair for the elaborate hairstyles, she’s spunky and able to have a bit of an edge, and she’d totally pull off being a hyper-competent Girl Friday. I think it’s a pretty good match and it goes with my whole “Sulu likes leggy blondes” theory. And yes, before anyone asks, sometimes I do read Kirk/Sulu. Mostly when it’s written by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
maypirate!
Atmosphere is actually a real place in San Francisco, it has yelp reviews and everything. Although currently it is simply a dance club, I figure someone buys it or whatever in the next 200 years and there we go, Starfleet friendly strip club with strippers from every race ever, even Tellarite if you’re into that kind of thing. Related: am I the only person disturbed by the fact that yelp reviews strip clubs? Because they do, if you’re curious. Right, moving on.
Once again, this chapter has been split into two parts due to length. The link for part two is at the bottom of this section.
Jim was practically giddy the next morning as he watched the Enterprise begin to slide into space dock above Earth’s atmosphere. All his bags were packed, he and Bones were ready to disembark, check into their hotel, and begin the long day of planning, tasting, fittings, and greeting people. All of their friends knew where to be at 1700 for the rehearsal dinner.
There was one thing they were doing that made Jim somewhat nervous, which was having lunch with Jo.
And Jocelyn.
He sighed inwardly to himself. Admittedly, he was not looking forward to that. He didn’t know much about the woman, not even what she looked like. What he did know was that she took everything from Bones, and she gave birth to Jo. As much as he adored Jo, and he really, truly did, the former was easily winning out in his perceptions of her. He was picturing some kind of horrible harpy-like beast woman with blonde hair because Jo obviously didn’t get that from her father.
Oh well, he’d worry about it later. His main concern at the moment was getting de Maupassant and his ilk into Starfleet custody before overseeing the crew’s mass exodus. According to protocol, he, Bones, and Scotty would be the last three off the ship.
“Moorings attaching, Captain, engines being brought down to four percent...three...two...” Sulu sounded really uptight for some reason. There was a faint sound as the ship clicked itself into place. “Engines off, we’re docked.”
“Perfect as always, Sulu,” Jim said with a grin. The pilot didn’t really even acknowledge his words, he just kind of glared at the view screen. Chekov glanced sidelong at Sulu for a moment with a worried frown. He began to open his mouth but closed it quickly, almost as if he forgot that they were no longer on speaking terms.
Well, Sulu was reasonable. Whatever it was that was bothering him, he’d get over it pretty quickly. He didn’t hold grudges like other people did. It was a bit troubling though, as he generally didn’t get so angry. In fact, the only time Jim had even seen him raise his voice was at Chekov because of that whole mess with the computer hacking.
Jim stood from his chair, straightening the hem of his tunic. “Uhura, you have the conn. If I’m not back in time, begin the standard disembarking procedures. I’ve got some douchebags to turn over.”
“Aye, sir.”
With a smile, Jim nodded to her and stepped off the bridge and onto the turbo lift. He pushed the button for the shuttle bay and rode it silently. When he arrived, he stepped off to where he was greeted by Anderson aka Cupcake, a long with a dozen red shirts herding the prisoners. Julien was still kept somewhat separate from the rest of his followers, and he was in stronger restraints than they were.
He was also surprised to see Spock and Bones waiting as well. Bones had his arms crossed and was watching them all with a frown. Spock looked a bit flushed and his hands were folded behind his back.
“Aren’t you supposed to be meditating,” Jim asked quietly. Spock merely shrugged.
“I came to make certain that de Maupassant and the Aehallh do not try anything untoward,” he replied. “The mediation appears to be helping, and I have an appointment with the healer when we arrive in San Francisco.”
“Right,” he said. He then turned to Bones. “So why are you here?”
“Wanted to see it for myself,” he answered with a shrug. “You know me, unless I witness it, I’m not satisfied.”
This was true.
“That is illogical,” Spock began and Bones rolled his eyes. “A philosophy such as that implies that you do not believe in things that are not guaranteed, and the only way for them to be such is by your physically witnessing the events. Yet much of your profession is based on taking chances.”
Jim bit back his smile.
“There’s a difference between making an educated guess based off a patient’s chart and blindly accepting things that you’re told as facts.” The doctor had a scowl on his face and was glaring at Spock. “You’re a scientist for God’s sake, you know this.”
“The difference is that I do not call my hypotheses ‘leaps of faith’ as you do. You even refer to several of the decisions the captain makes as such. If they are truly leaps of faith, then there is nothing educated about them.”
“Now see here, you green-blooded hobgoblin,” Bones snapped. “There’s a difference between arguing semantics and arguing about what I actually do. Which is it?”
Spock opened his mouth to retort, but he was cut off by Jim clapping his hands loudly once.
“Guys,” Jim admonished. “Really? You’re doing this here?” He pointed at the prisoners and security staff, who were watching the two of them with undisguised interest.
Spock’s expression didn’t change but his posture did become less stiff. Bones gave Jim an apologetic smile.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly.
Jim grinned back. “It’s okay, just you know...later.” He glanced around the bay for a moment before seeing de Maupassant. “Excuse me,” he said and he sauntered over to the terrorist leader. Julien looked up at his approach and eyed him somewhat warily.
“Coming to gloat again?” He straightened his posture. “It is unbecoming of a man of your station.”
“Oh I can make exceptions for extenuating circumstances,” Jim chirped back. “An occasion like today counts, I think.”
There was a long pause as the two men sized one another up. It took Jim a bit by surprise when a smile began to form on Julien’s face.
“I won’t be going away for long, James,” he finally said. “I will be back, and we shall meet again.”
“The only place we’ll meet again is a courtroom if they decide to use me as a material witness,” Jim said with a smile of his own. “You’re going away, de Maupassant. You’d do well to start getting used to that.”
“If you insist.”
Shuttle Galileo ready for boarding. Please begin loading the prisoners, as it’s time to go. Repeat: Galileo is ready to board.
One by one, the prisoners were escorted to the shuttle doors and led onto the ship. Cupcake and his men wore stony expressions, as did Spock and Bones from where they stood. Jim grinned at Julien.
“Have fun,” he said brightly as two security officers came to lead him to the Galileo. Julien smiled back, before fixing his gaze on Spock and Bones.
“There’s no doubt I will,” he answered. With that, he was gone. Jim blinked a few times, a disquieted look forming on his face.
A hand fell on his back and he looked into Bones’ eyes.
“Everything okay?”
“That’s the second time he’s done that,” Jim said quietly. “He made a veiled threat about you yesterday, and now there’s what he just said while staring at you.”
“There’s not much he can do while in Starfleet custody. They’re going to lock him up and throw away the key,” Bones said reassuringly. He just shrugged.
“Yeah I guess, I just...” He shook his head. Spock had come over now and tilted his head to one side.
“Doctor McCoy is correct,” he said. “He is on a shuttle with several guards, and once it lands on Earth he will be taken into police custody and escorted to Foucault. There is little logical reason to suspect that anything will transpire from this point out.”
“It’s not logic, it’s a hunch,” Jim replied. “I just...he’s still going down way too easy.”
Bones’ hand began to move in light circles on his back. “I understand, Jim, but you’ve got other things to focus on right now. Worry about that asshole if something happens. Don’t let it eat you.”
Jim nodded. “No, you’re right. We’ve got a big day ahead, I need to be ready for that. Come on, let’s get out of the bay so they can open the doors and let these assholes out.”
The trio made their way out of the shuttle bay just as the warning lights began to flash, signaling the opening of the main doors. Jim paused for a second and watched the shuttle’s engines begin to warm up.
“Don’t let the door hit you,” he mumbled to himself.
-----
People kept leaving the Enterprise in shifts, until finally the senior most crew members were left.
Christine adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she stood talking to Geoff. As they spoke, she kept an eye out for Hikaru. They were supposed to meet up with his parents for a late lunch before the rehearsal dinner and she had to admit, she was nervous. It was the first time she would ever meet Ken and Mimi Sulu, and she wanted to make a good impression.
For some reason Hikaru hadn’t messaged her the day before, and that concerned her too. Granted, she was occupied by sneaking to engineering to send her intelligence reports to Pike, but still he normally at least sent a ‘hello’ or ‘thinking of you’ message.
She sighed. Most likely, she was being paranoid. He probably had a lot of things to do himself to prepare for their two weeks off.
Pavel Chekov walked past her with earbuds in his ears. She curiously watched him go. He sat his duffle-bag down on the ground and took a seat with a dour expression.
While she was furious when she found out who was behind those mishaps with her schedule and the medical bay, over time her anger had receded somewhat. She grudgingly had to admit he had a point. He wasn’t right for what he did by any stretch of the imagination, but she had stolen his best friend. Admittedly that was never her intent, but Hikaru admitted he stopped spending time with him to be with her. That wasn’t right either.
Still though, if the little Russian ever messed with her again she’d kill him with her bare hands.
Nyota walked past her then, with a bag over one shoulder. She too had an unhappy look on her face, although her eyes lit up when she saw Pavel. She quickly went over and asked in Russian if she could sit next to him. He chirped back a quick yes as he pulled out one of his earbuds so they could talk.
That was strange, why wasn’t she waiting for Spock?
She filed that away for later and gave another look around for her boyfriend.
Scotty was disembarking later, as were Leonard and the captain. The only people missing were Spock and Hikaru.
At that moment, the Vulcan appeared with his belongings. He glanced around looking for Nyota; when he saw who she was sitting with, anger and jealousy crossed his features for a moment. He was also heavily flushed.
Nyota was laughing at something with Pavel, as they were still conversing in Russian. Christine thought she heard them say something about Leonard but she was admittedly rusty at that particular language. Narrowing her eyes a little, Christine watched Spock not-quite storm over to her other side. He stood, pointedly waiting for her to acknowledge him.
Nyota did finally look up and she immediately stopped laughing. She moved over closer to Pavel to give Spock room to sit. Spock gave her what could only be described as a withering stare before taking a seat. He pulled a hypospray out of his pocket and injected himself quickly in the neck. Okay, so he was sick, and apparently was fighting with Nyota.
Christine turned back around and watched the shuttle door. Hikaru was the only one left missing, and she waited patiently. She didn’t want to sit until he arrived.
With that, he finally appeared, his duffle bag slung over one shoulder almost casually. She smiled at him. He looked at her, and his expression became cold.
Wait, what was that about?
“Hikaru, there you are,” she said as she made her way to him. “I was worried you weren’t going to make it on.”
“Oh yeah? Well, that makes two of us,” he snapped in a low voice.
Chris recoiled a little. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He looked at her for a moment, as if he was trying to decide on what he was going to say. “Where were you yesterday?”
Shit.
She forced a smile onto her face. “I told you I’d be studying all day.”
“Oh yeah? Where, exactly, did you do this studying,” he asked as he dropped his bag to the ground. “Because I checked the computer, and you weren’t where it said you were. So then I checked your quarters, and you weren’t there either. So please enlighten me, where did you study?”
Oh, shit.
“Hikaru, I...” She stopped, because she wasn’t sure how to continue. It wasn’t like she could tell him what she was doing, but he was obviously angry. “I don’t know how to explain, I can’t really talk about this right now.”
Or, you know, at all. Maybe if she bought some time, she could come up with a plausible story.
“You lied to me, Christine. God only knows what else you’ve been lying to me about, and you really expect me to be able to just let this go until you feel like talking about it?” He scoffed at her. “You’re unbelievable.”
Starting to lose it a little, she shook her head. “I just told you, I can’t do this right now.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Christ hesitated again; she could feel that everyone else was staring. She was also really hurt that he was so quick to believe the worst about her. She couldn’t keep the pain out of her voice as she said, “I work in Starfleet. What do you think?”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say going by the almost rage on his face. “What does that have to do with it? We all work in Starfleet and I don’t lie to you about where I’ll be!”
“I can’t tell you more than I have,” she said in a pleading tone. “If there was anyway I could, I would. You know I would.”
Hikaru shook his head. “I don’t know what I know right now except the fact that you’ve been lying to me. You know how I feel about lying, Chris, you know that, and you keep doing it right to my face. How am I supposed to believe anything you have to say?”
Taking a deep breath, Christine drew herself up to her full height. “You know what? Fine. Think what you like, you’re going to no matter what.” With that, she spun on her heel and took a seat towards the front of the shuttlecraft alone.
Everyone else in the shuttle was completely silent; some of them were staring at her, while others were staring at Hikaru. She crossed her arms over her chest to keep her hands from shaking. Eventually, someone sat down next to her. She looked up; it was Geoff.
“You okay?”
She shook her head no.
Geoff frowned. “Here.” He put an arm around her shoulders like an older brother would. It was a little awkward, but she eventually relaxed into it. It suddenly occurred to her that lunch with Hikaru’s family wasn’t happening. She bit her bottom lip and leaned more into Geoff to try to keep it together. He didn’t say anything, he just tightened his arm across her shoulders.
Attention, this is your pilot speaking. Please fasten your harnesses and prepare for launch. Your estimated flight time today is one hour, thirteen minutes.
With that, everyone fastened their harnesses and sat straight up in their seats. The engines rumbled to life and they were on their way.
-----
Jim Kirk stood in front of a coffee shop with his hands in his pockets. He kept kind of wringing them around in them to wipe the sweat off his palms.
Everything so far was going according to schedule. They met with Madelyne, who checked them into their hotel when they got to the city. Bones had been surprised by the fact that he and Jim had separate rooms. Once Jim explained how he wanted to do the whole “not seeing each other before the wedding” thing the next day, he agreed.
He did grumble a bit about how he was ever going to get any sleep without him though, which made Jim kiss him with a smile.
The rehearsal dinner was all set for that night, as was the joint bachelor party. When asked about the logic of having their party together but not sleeping together, Jim simply responded that it was how they woke that mattered leaving Bones with no room for argument.
Bones stepped out of the coffee shop, lattes in his hands and sunglasses on his face. Jim found himself smiling at him as he passed one to him.
“Better?”
“Those damn shuttle rides,” he groused. “I still don’t understand how those things are supposed to be safe.”
Jim reached out a hand and Bones took it. “I know, Bones.” Something about the shuttle ride occurred to him then and he figured he may as well ask. “Did Scotty seem out of sorts to you?”
“Do you mean for him or compared to a normal person?” They stopped at an intersection, waiting for their turn to cross.
“For him, obviously,” Jim said with an eye-roll. “He hardly said anything the whole way.”
“He’s been working nonstop, he’s probably just tired,” he said as they began to cross the street. “Although, that big revelation he had about Chekov may be screwing him up.”
Jim looked at him with a curious expression. “How do you mean?”
Bones looked at him as he took a sip of his coffee. “Remember how I reacted?”
“Yeah, but that’s different,” the captain said as he shook his head. They were starting to near their destination and he tried to ignore the bundle of nerves in his stomach. “You didn’t have feelings for me that first night and I ambushed you. He already had the feelings before we told him.”
“A, I don’t think that’s accurate about me, and B, it’s still not an easy thing to realize. For all I know, he’s flipping out about their age difference.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he is eighteen years older than him, that’s a big gap. Although Chekov is clearly the mature one in that relationship.”
“No, I mean...well no, that’s a good point, and also slightly disturbing because it’s true. I gotta say, I’m surprised to hear you admit something positive about Chekov. I thought you hated him after what happened.” Jim took a long drink of his latte. He had forgotten how good real coffee was, no wonder Bones insisted on stopping for it.
Bones shrugged. “I don’t really know that I can trust the kid, although to his credit he hasn’t tried anything since. I just know they obviously make each other happy. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”
“Right.” Jim considered this for a moment; what Bones was saying made sense. There was still one thing, however. “So. You had feelings for me?”
“Oh that.” They were stopped at another intersection, and the butterflies were getting even stronger. Man, he hoped he didn’t throw up all over Jocelyn or something. “Well, on some level I had to have, it was way too easy for you.”
Jim laughed. “Your subconscious caught on before you did, is that it?”
“Something like that,” Bones retorted with a grin. They crossed again, and Jim could make out the park they were heading towards a little in the distance. He swallowed loudly. This did not escape Bones’ notice and he looked at him sideways. “You okay?”
“What? Yeah, yeah I just...” He exhaled loudly. “I just...it’s her, is all.”
Bones stopped walking, and he tugged on Jim’s hand to get him to do the same. “Are you really worried about impressing my ex-wife?”
He was worried Bones would see her and suddenly think marrying him was a huge mistake. Opting not to say this out loud, as he knew it was both completely unfounded and batshit insane, Jim shook his head. “Not so much impressing. More like I just...I don’t know anything except her name and that she left you for your now-former best friend.” Something struck him then and his face got a panicked expression. “Shit, she’s not bringing him is she?”
“No. We agreed that all that would do is drudge up bad blood. It’s just her and Jo, since Jo’s still a little too young to travel by herself.” They began to walk again, pausing just so Bones could throw his cup into a nearby recycler. Jim made a hm sound as he sipped on his own drink.
They reached the entrance of the park, and Jim’s hands were really sweating. There was a statue they were meeting them at, only a little ways into it. Jim finished his coffee and found a recycler to toss it into. He looked up at the sky for a moment; it was blue and full of fluffy white clouds.
It really was good to be home. He took a long, deep breath of the air around him. They found the statue and stood beneath it. Obviously, Jocelyn and Joanna hadn’t made it yet.
“You were right, you know, about the weather I mean,” Bones said after a moment. “If tomorrow’s anything like today, it’s going to be a hell of a ceremony.”
Jim favored him with a bright smile. “It’s going to be a hell of a ceremony period.” He leaned in closer and Bones met him halfway. They kissed in the shade for a long while.
“That better be Jim,” a female voice said from seemingly out of nowhere. Jim’s eyes opened wide and he immediately backed off with a startled expression on his face. Bones was giving a nonchalant look in the direction of the voice.
“‘Lo, Joce,” he said with a half-smile. Jim gave him a curious look.
Joce?
There she was, standing with Jo. Jim blinked and stared at her for a minute.
She was tall and thin but not too much so. Her hair was long and a slightly darker shade of blonde than her daughter’s. They had the same cheekbones, but Jo clearly had Bones’ eyes as Jocelyn’s were a dark brown color. She was well-dressed, in a blue silk blouse and a pair of jeans. A pair of sunglasses were perched on top of her bangs.
She was gorgeous.
“Len,” she responded with a slight incline of her head, and the nickname made Jim frown a little. Jo brightened considerably at the sight of them.
“Daddy! Uncle Jim!” She ran right up to and into Bones’ arms. He oofed as she collided with him, and after he recovered he looked down and ruffled her hair.
“Hey there, baby girl, did you and your mother have a good flight?”
For some reason at the words baby girl, Jo huffed. “Daddy, I’m almost ten. I’m not a ‘baby girl’ anymore.”
Bones raised an eyebrow and proceeded to give Jocelyn a pointed look. She promptly held up both of her hands.
“Don’t look at me,” she said quickly, “you should hear the battles I have with her about everything.”
Jo frowned. “I’m standing right here, Mom.”
Jim couldn’t help but snort as Bones gave Jocelyn an apologetic look. She smiled back at him and waved a hand, clearly not worried about it in the slightest. Jo let go of Bones and turned to give Jim a big hug as well.
“Hey Jojopies,” he said with a grin. “You excited about tomorrow?”
“Mostly,” she admitted. “Although...do I have to be a flower girl?”
Jim looked at Bones for a moment. “Well, what would you rather be? We can’t call you a bridesmaid because there’s no bride to speak of.”
She thought really hard for a moment. “Flower maiden!”
Jim looked at Bones, who nodded. “We’re okay with it, so that’s what you’ll be.”
“Okay!” She grinned up at them, before moving back to Bones’ side. “Where are we going for lunch? Is it fancy?”
“Kind of,” Bones answered as the two of them began to walk towards the park gate. “Come on, Jim,” he tossed over his shoulder.
Jocelyn looked at Bones for a moment. “We’ll catch up in a second.” She turned back to Jim. “Right?” He eyed her with a wary expression.
“Sure. Yeah we’ll be along in a sec, Bones.” Jocelyn raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on his nickname, reacting the same way he did to ‘Len’. Bones nodded at both of them and kept walking with Jo, who was talking a mile a minute. Jim watched them with a fond smile before turning his attention to her.
“I’ve got to admit, you look taller on the vids.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that,” he said half-bitterly. They began to catch up to the others.
They walked in awkward silence for a time, neither of them quite knowing what to say to the other. Everything he kept coming up with was unnecessary, rude, or just plain stupid.
Finally, Jocelyn broke the silence. “You don’t like me very much, do you?”
Jim looked at her over the top of his sunglasses. Obviously, brutal honesty was something she and Bones shared. “I don’t know you well enough to know if I like you,” he began, “but from what I do know...not so much.”
She nodded as she pulled her own glasses back down over her eyes. “Len’s not told you much about the marriage, then.”
He felt himself grow defensive. “He’s told me enough.”
Jocelyn didn’t do anything except sigh loudly. “Look,” she said as she held out an arm to stop him, “I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do. No matter how bad things were between Len and I, and believe me they were bad, I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” he couldn’t help but add. She glared at him that time.
“It’s not like I’m not sorry I hurt him that way, you know. Believe me I know that now that there’s been distance, and if there’s anything I regret it’s that. There was enough stress on him, I didn’t need to add to it.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “But...?”
“But it takes two people to make a marriage fall apart,” she finished. “You know him, probably even better than me. So you know how he can be, and it wasn’t as if we talked much to each other about our problems.” Jocelyn took a deep breath before continuing. “Len and I were never right for each other, and instead of admitting our mistake we held onto something that wasn’t there.”
Jim looked at her for a long while. When he finally spoke, it was the first thing that came to mind.
“This is a really awkward first conversation.”
Surprised, Jocelyn simply barked out a laugh.
“It is,” she admitted.
“But I guess it was bound to happen,” he went on to say. “I’m not worried about us, Bones and I...we talk about things. Everything. We did even before we got together.” A smile formed on his face. “It’s part of why I love him.”
Jocelyn nodded. “Well, that’s most of the battle right there then. You should be fine.” They started to walk again; there was still some awkwardness, but Jim felt like perhaps they had come to an understanding of a sort. Bones and Jo were just up ahead waiting by the front door of the restaurant, and he was smiling at something his daughter was saying to him. Jim couldn’t help but watch as his heart skipped a little at the sight.
“So tell me,” Jocelyn said, and he turned his attention back to her, “Len still leave his clothes all over the place?”
It was Jim’s turn to bark out a surprised laugh. “You have no idea.”
“I’m pretty sure I do.”
“Pretty sure you do what,” Bones asked as he eyed the two of them.
They looked at each other for a moment. “Pretty sure I know all about the way you put your clothes away, or rather, the way you don’t.”
Bones gave both of them an exasperated look. “Not five minutes into knowing each other and you’re already bonding,” he grumbled as he held the door open for them. Jocelyn gave him a pointed smile as she escorted Jo inside. Jim paused to give his hand a squeeze.
“What can I say, it’s kind-of nice to have someone to complain to who gets it,” he smirked and he walked inside with Bones close behind him. The doctor snorted.
“Nice, my ass,” was all he said in reply.
-----
Nyota Uhura thumbed through a magazine on a reading PADD in the front room of T’palla, the Vulcan healer’s...office, she supposed. She didn’t look up from what she was doing, focusing entirely on the magazine before her.
Fifty Ways to Nab an Older Man: Secrets Every Woman Must Know, the article proclaimed. She snorted indelicately; nabbing the older man wasn’t the problem. Getting him to stop being so stubborn as to assume he could handle everything alone was.
Spock sat next to her and stared straight ahead. The silence was profound and decidedly awkward. He finally turned to her. “You appear to be angry.”
“Hm? Why on Earth would I be angry?” She turned to the next page with a dramatic flourish.
“That is why I am asking, Nyota, as I do not understand the reason for this reaction.”
“Of course you don’t, because you’re the one making all the decisions.” She flipped the page again. “You’re the one who’s decided that he doesn’t need my help.”
“I said no such thing,” he said. “I simply stated that the probability of my injuring you during this time far outweighs the benefit of...”
“Yes, you did all of that. Moreover, you didn’t even ask if that risk is okay with me. You just assumed that it’s too much,” she hissed.
“It is too much,” he whispered back. “I simply cannot bear the thought of you becoming injured as my mother did several times during my youth. It is unnecessary to jeopardize your health.”
She threw the PADD down on the table next to her. “How’s the meditation working?”
He blinked at her. “I do not understand why that is relevant, as we were discussing...”
“It’s relevant because you’re passing over an easy solution for a harder one.” She raised an eyebrow. “So I want to know; how’s it working?”
Spock hesitated for a moment and she knew the answer just from that. It didn’t help that he was perpetually flushed. He was even perspiring a little and the jealousy radiated off him in waves on the shuttle. All of this was unusual for Spock, and it answered her question for her.
Still though, she was feeling just petty enough that she wanted to hear him say it.
“Not as anticipated,” he admitted. “The medication helps to clear my mind, and it takes a significant amount of meditation to push back the effects. I believe that with the aid of T’palla I shall be able to rid myself of it completely.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand why you’ll turn to a stranger but not me for this, I really don’t.”
“It is not a reflection of you or on our relationship, it is simply a matter of weighing the risks.”
Nyota opened her mouth for a moment and then closed it. Without another word, she grabbed her handbag and stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“For a walk,” she snapped. “You want to do this alone? Fine. Do it alone.” With that she flounced out of the healer’s waiting room and back on to the streets of San Francisco.
As she made her way down the block, her pace began to slow somewhat. It wasn’t like her to storm out or become so visibly angry. However...they had decided to spend the rest of their lives together. That meant he was supposed to come to her and seek out her assistance with problems, not tell her she couldn’t handle it and push her out of the way.
What did this mean for them, that this was his answer? Did this mean they weren’t strong enough for marriage? That was a blow to her and to their relationship. She stopped and looked back in the direction of the healer. Sighing a little, she began to make her way back.
Whether he felt he needed it or not, Spock deserved her support.
Even if he was being a giant pain in the ass about this.
Chapter 3b | Chapter 4B
Series: Star Trek XI (as if I write for anything else these days): water park 'verse
Rating: PG-13/R for some violence, swearing, and fade-to-black sexy stuff
Summary: You are cordially invited to the Starfleet social function of the year. That is, assuming these terrorists and the Enterprise Crew's own issues don't get in the way.
Disclaimer: I own nothing that has to do with the characters featured in Star Trek or the Star Trek movie from 2009. No harm was meant, so put the lawyers away, man.
Chapter Notes:I realized that somehow I had never written a scene with the classic trio being all...classic trio-ey with each other. Lots of Jim and Bones interaction, some Spock and Bones interaction, and a fair amount of Jim and Spock interaction. Nothing with the three of them together. Consider this rectified!
Writing a practically ten year old is fucking hard, by the way. It was so much easier to write Jo when she was all eight and smuggled on board a ship during her dad’s birthday. My bad for letting her grow up, I guess. JOANNA MCCOY WHY ARE YOU NOT FROZEN IN CARBONITE YOU GET DOWN HERE THIS INSTANT DON’T FORGET TO CLEAN YOUR ROOM. Also Jocelyn will be played by Kelly Rutherford aka Lily Rhodes-van der Woodsen-Bass-Humphrey. She’s only slightly older than Karl Urban so I figure it’s believable they were married and had a kid together. Plus she’s just kind of generally amazing and was born in Kentucky! There is a method to my fantasy casting.
Speaking of fantasy casting, Dianna Agron is my Janice Rand. She has enough hair for the elaborate hairstyles, she’s spunky and able to have a bit of an edge, and she’d totally pull off being a hyper-competent Girl Friday. I think it’s a pretty good match and it goes with my whole “Sulu likes leggy blondes” theory. And yes, before anyone asks, sometimes I do read Kirk/Sulu. Mostly when it’s written by
maypirate!Atmosphere is actually a real place in San Francisco, it has yelp reviews and everything. Although currently it is simply a dance club, I figure someone buys it or whatever in the next 200 years and there we go, Starfleet friendly strip club with strippers from every race ever, even Tellarite if you’re into that kind of thing. Related: am I the only person disturbed by the fact that yelp reviews strip clubs? Because they do, if you’re curious. Right, moving on.
Once again, this chapter has been split into two parts due to length. The link for part two is at the bottom of this section.
Jim was practically giddy the next morning as he watched the Enterprise begin to slide into space dock above Earth’s atmosphere. All his bags were packed, he and Bones were ready to disembark, check into their hotel, and begin the long day of planning, tasting, fittings, and greeting people. All of their friends knew where to be at 1700 for the rehearsal dinner.
There was one thing they were doing that made Jim somewhat nervous, which was having lunch with Jo.
And Jocelyn.
He sighed inwardly to himself. Admittedly, he was not looking forward to that. He didn’t know much about the woman, not even what she looked like. What he did know was that she took everything from Bones, and she gave birth to Jo. As much as he adored Jo, and he really, truly did, the former was easily winning out in his perceptions of her. He was picturing some kind of horrible harpy-like beast woman with blonde hair because Jo obviously didn’t get that from her father.
Oh well, he’d worry about it later. His main concern at the moment was getting de Maupassant and his ilk into Starfleet custody before overseeing the crew’s mass exodus. According to protocol, he, Bones, and Scotty would be the last three off the ship.
“Moorings attaching, Captain, engines being brought down to four percent...three...two...” Sulu sounded really uptight for some reason. There was a faint sound as the ship clicked itself into place. “Engines off, we’re docked.”
“Perfect as always, Sulu,” Jim said with a grin. The pilot didn’t really even acknowledge his words, he just kind of glared at the view screen. Chekov glanced sidelong at Sulu for a moment with a worried frown. He began to open his mouth but closed it quickly, almost as if he forgot that they were no longer on speaking terms.
Well, Sulu was reasonable. Whatever it was that was bothering him, he’d get over it pretty quickly. He didn’t hold grudges like other people did. It was a bit troubling though, as he generally didn’t get so angry. In fact, the only time Jim had even seen him raise his voice was at Chekov because of that whole mess with the computer hacking.
Jim stood from his chair, straightening the hem of his tunic. “Uhura, you have the conn. If I’m not back in time, begin the standard disembarking procedures. I’ve got some douchebags to turn over.”
“Aye, sir.”
With a smile, Jim nodded to her and stepped off the bridge and onto the turbo lift. He pushed the button for the shuttle bay and rode it silently. When he arrived, he stepped off to where he was greeted by Anderson aka Cupcake, a long with a dozen red shirts herding the prisoners. Julien was still kept somewhat separate from the rest of his followers, and he was in stronger restraints than they were.
He was also surprised to see Spock and Bones waiting as well. Bones had his arms crossed and was watching them all with a frown. Spock looked a bit flushed and his hands were folded behind his back.
“Aren’t you supposed to be meditating,” Jim asked quietly. Spock merely shrugged.
“I came to make certain that de Maupassant and the Aehallh do not try anything untoward,” he replied. “The mediation appears to be helping, and I have an appointment with the healer when we arrive in San Francisco.”
“Right,” he said. He then turned to Bones. “So why are you here?”
“Wanted to see it for myself,” he answered with a shrug. “You know me, unless I witness it, I’m not satisfied.”
This was true.
“That is illogical,” Spock began and Bones rolled his eyes. “A philosophy such as that implies that you do not believe in things that are not guaranteed, and the only way for them to be such is by your physically witnessing the events. Yet much of your profession is based on taking chances.”
Jim bit back his smile.
“There’s a difference between making an educated guess based off a patient’s chart and blindly accepting things that you’re told as facts.” The doctor had a scowl on his face and was glaring at Spock. “You’re a scientist for God’s sake, you know this.”
“The difference is that I do not call my hypotheses ‘leaps of faith’ as you do. You even refer to several of the decisions the captain makes as such. If they are truly leaps of faith, then there is nothing educated about them.”
“Now see here, you green-blooded hobgoblin,” Bones snapped. “There’s a difference between arguing semantics and arguing about what I actually do. Which is it?”
Spock opened his mouth to retort, but he was cut off by Jim clapping his hands loudly once.
“Guys,” Jim admonished. “Really? You’re doing this here?” He pointed at the prisoners and security staff, who were watching the two of them with undisguised interest.
Spock’s expression didn’t change but his posture did become less stiff. Bones gave Jim an apologetic smile.
“Sorry,” he said sheepishly.
Jim grinned back. “It’s okay, just you know...later.” He glanced around the bay for a moment before seeing de Maupassant. “Excuse me,” he said and he sauntered over to the terrorist leader. Julien looked up at his approach and eyed him somewhat warily.
“Coming to gloat again?” He straightened his posture. “It is unbecoming of a man of your station.”
“Oh I can make exceptions for extenuating circumstances,” Jim chirped back. “An occasion like today counts, I think.”
There was a long pause as the two men sized one another up. It took Jim a bit by surprise when a smile began to form on Julien’s face.
“I won’t be going away for long, James,” he finally said. “I will be back, and we shall meet again.”
“The only place we’ll meet again is a courtroom if they decide to use me as a material witness,” Jim said with a smile of his own. “You’re going away, de Maupassant. You’d do well to start getting used to that.”
“If you insist.”
Shuttle Galileo ready for boarding. Please begin loading the prisoners, as it’s time to go. Repeat: Galileo is ready to board.
One by one, the prisoners were escorted to the shuttle doors and led onto the ship. Cupcake and his men wore stony expressions, as did Spock and Bones from where they stood. Jim grinned at Julien.
“Have fun,” he said brightly as two security officers came to lead him to the Galileo. Julien smiled back, before fixing his gaze on Spock and Bones.
“There’s no doubt I will,” he answered. With that, he was gone. Jim blinked a few times, a disquieted look forming on his face.
A hand fell on his back and he looked into Bones’ eyes.
“Everything okay?”
“That’s the second time he’s done that,” Jim said quietly. “He made a veiled threat about you yesterday, and now there’s what he just said while staring at you.”
“There’s not much he can do while in Starfleet custody. They’re going to lock him up and throw away the key,” Bones said reassuringly. He just shrugged.
“Yeah I guess, I just...” He shook his head. Spock had come over now and tilted his head to one side.
“Doctor McCoy is correct,” he said. “He is on a shuttle with several guards, and once it lands on Earth he will be taken into police custody and escorted to Foucault. There is little logical reason to suspect that anything will transpire from this point out.”
“It’s not logic, it’s a hunch,” Jim replied. “I just...he’s still going down way too easy.”
Bones’ hand began to move in light circles on his back. “I understand, Jim, but you’ve got other things to focus on right now. Worry about that asshole if something happens. Don’t let it eat you.”
Jim nodded. “No, you’re right. We’ve got a big day ahead, I need to be ready for that. Come on, let’s get out of the bay so they can open the doors and let these assholes out.”
The trio made their way out of the shuttle bay just as the warning lights began to flash, signaling the opening of the main doors. Jim paused for a second and watched the shuttle’s engines begin to warm up.
“Don’t let the door hit you,” he mumbled to himself.
People kept leaving the Enterprise in shifts, until finally the senior most crew members were left.
Christine adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she stood talking to Geoff. As they spoke, she kept an eye out for Hikaru. They were supposed to meet up with his parents for a late lunch before the rehearsal dinner and she had to admit, she was nervous. It was the first time she would ever meet Ken and Mimi Sulu, and she wanted to make a good impression.
For some reason Hikaru hadn’t messaged her the day before, and that concerned her too. Granted, she was occupied by sneaking to engineering to send her intelligence reports to Pike, but still he normally at least sent a ‘hello’ or ‘thinking of you’ message.
She sighed. Most likely, she was being paranoid. He probably had a lot of things to do himself to prepare for their two weeks off.
Pavel Chekov walked past her with earbuds in his ears. She curiously watched him go. He sat his duffle-bag down on the ground and took a seat with a dour expression.
While she was furious when she found out who was behind those mishaps with her schedule and the medical bay, over time her anger had receded somewhat. She grudgingly had to admit he had a point. He wasn’t right for what he did by any stretch of the imagination, but she had stolen his best friend. Admittedly that was never her intent, but Hikaru admitted he stopped spending time with him to be with her. That wasn’t right either.
Still though, if the little Russian ever messed with her again she’d kill him with her bare hands.
Nyota walked past her then, with a bag over one shoulder. She too had an unhappy look on her face, although her eyes lit up when she saw Pavel. She quickly went over and asked in Russian if she could sit next to him. He chirped back a quick yes as he pulled out one of his earbuds so they could talk.
That was strange, why wasn’t she waiting for Spock?
She filed that away for later and gave another look around for her boyfriend.
Scotty was disembarking later, as were Leonard and the captain. The only people missing were Spock and Hikaru.
At that moment, the Vulcan appeared with his belongings. He glanced around looking for Nyota; when he saw who she was sitting with, anger and jealousy crossed his features for a moment. He was also heavily flushed.
Nyota was laughing at something with Pavel, as they were still conversing in Russian. Christine thought she heard them say something about Leonard but she was admittedly rusty at that particular language. Narrowing her eyes a little, Christine watched Spock not-quite storm over to her other side. He stood, pointedly waiting for her to acknowledge him.
Nyota did finally look up and she immediately stopped laughing. She moved over closer to Pavel to give Spock room to sit. Spock gave her what could only be described as a withering stare before taking a seat. He pulled a hypospray out of his pocket and injected himself quickly in the neck. Okay, so he was sick, and apparently was fighting with Nyota.
Christine turned back around and watched the shuttle door. Hikaru was the only one left missing, and she waited patiently. She didn’t want to sit until he arrived.
With that, he finally appeared, his duffle bag slung over one shoulder almost casually. She smiled at him. He looked at her, and his expression became cold.
Wait, what was that about?
“Hikaru, there you are,” she said as she made her way to him. “I was worried you weren’t going to make it on.”
“Oh yeah? Well, that makes two of us,” he snapped in a low voice.
Chris recoiled a little. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He looked at her for a moment, as if he was trying to decide on what he was going to say. “Where were you yesterday?”
Shit.
She forced a smile onto her face. “I told you I’d be studying all day.”
“Oh yeah? Where, exactly, did you do this studying,” he asked as he dropped his bag to the ground. “Because I checked the computer, and you weren’t where it said you were. So then I checked your quarters, and you weren’t there either. So please enlighten me, where did you study?”
Oh, shit.
“Hikaru, I...” She stopped, because she wasn’t sure how to continue. It wasn’t like she could tell him what she was doing, but he was obviously angry. “I don’t know how to explain, I can’t really talk about this right now.”
Or, you know, at all. Maybe if she bought some time, she could come up with a plausible story.
“You lied to me, Christine. God only knows what else you’ve been lying to me about, and you really expect me to be able to just let this go until you feel like talking about it?” He scoffed at her. “You’re unbelievable.”
Starting to lose it a little, she shook her head. “I just told you, I can’t do this right now.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Christ hesitated again; she could feel that everyone else was staring. She was also really hurt that he was so quick to believe the worst about her. She couldn’t keep the pain out of her voice as she said, “I work in Starfleet. What do you think?”
That was apparently the wrong thing to say going by the almost rage on his face. “What does that have to do with it? We all work in Starfleet and I don’t lie to you about where I’ll be!”
“I can’t tell you more than I have,” she said in a pleading tone. “If there was anyway I could, I would. You know I would.”
Hikaru shook his head. “I don’t know what I know right now except the fact that you’ve been lying to me. You know how I feel about lying, Chris, you know that, and you keep doing it right to my face. How am I supposed to believe anything you have to say?”
Taking a deep breath, Christine drew herself up to her full height. “You know what? Fine. Think what you like, you’re going to no matter what.” With that, she spun on her heel and took a seat towards the front of the shuttlecraft alone.
Everyone else in the shuttle was completely silent; some of them were staring at her, while others were staring at Hikaru. She crossed her arms over her chest to keep her hands from shaking. Eventually, someone sat down next to her. She looked up; it was Geoff.
“You okay?”
She shook her head no.
Geoff frowned. “Here.” He put an arm around her shoulders like an older brother would. It was a little awkward, but she eventually relaxed into it. It suddenly occurred to her that lunch with Hikaru’s family wasn’t happening. She bit her bottom lip and leaned more into Geoff to try to keep it together. He didn’t say anything, he just tightened his arm across her shoulders.
Attention, this is your pilot speaking. Please fasten your harnesses and prepare for launch. Your estimated flight time today is one hour, thirteen minutes.
With that, everyone fastened their harnesses and sat straight up in their seats. The engines rumbled to life and they were on their way.
Jim Kirk stood in front of a coffee shop with his hands in his pockets. He kept kind of wringing them around in them to wipe the sweat off his palms.
Everything so far was going according to schedule. They met with Madelyne, who checked them into their hotel when they got to the city. Bones had been surprised by the fact that he and Jim had separate rooms. Once Jim explained how he wanted to do the whole “not seeing each other before the wedding” thing the next day, he agreed.
He did grumble a bit about how he was ever going to get any sleep without him though, which made Jim kiss him with a smile.
The rehearsal dinner was all set for that night, as was the joint bachelor party. When asked about the logic of having their party together but not sleeping together, Jim simply responded that it was how they woke that mattered leaving Bones with no room for argument.
Bones stepped out of the coffee shop, lattes in his hands and sunglasses on his face. Jim found himself smiling at him as he passed one to him.
“Better?”
“Those damn shuttle rides,” he groused. “I still don’t understand how those things are supposed to be safe.”
Jim reached out a hand and Bones took it. “I know, Bones.” Something about the shuttle ride occurred to him then and he figured he may as well ask. “Did Scotty seem out of sorts to you?”
“Do you mean for him or compared to a normal person?” They stopped at an intersection, waiting for their turn to cross.
“For him, obviously,” Jim said with an eye-roll. “He hardly said anything the whole way.”
“He’s been working nonstop, he’s probably just tired,” he said as they began to cross the street. “Although, that big revelation he had about Chekov may be screwing him up.”
Jim looked at him with a curious expression. “How do you mean?”
Bones looked at him as he took a sip of his coffee. “Remember how I reacted?”
“Yeah, but that’s different,” the captain said as he shook his head. They were starting to near their destination and he tried to ignore the bundle of nerves in his stomach. “You didn’t have feelings for me that first night and I ambushed you. He already had the feelings before we told him.”
“A, I don’t think that’s accurate about me, and B, it’s still not an easy thing to realize. For all I know, he’s flipping out about their age difference.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he is eighteen years older than him, that’s a big gap. Although Chekov is clearly the mature one in that relationship.”
“No, I mean...well no, that’s a good point, and also slightly disturbing because it’s true. I gotta say, I’m surprised to hear you admit something positive about Chekov. I thought you hated him after what happened.” Jim took a long drink of his latte. He had forgotten how good real coffee was, no wonder Bones insisted on stopping for it.
Bones shrugged. “I don’t really know that I can trust the kid, although to his credit he hasn’t tried anything since. I just know they obviously make each other happy. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.”
“Right.” Jim considered this for a moment; what Bones was saying made sense. There was still one thing, however. “So. You had feelings for me?”
“Oh that.” They were stopped at another intersection, and the butterflies were getting even stronger. Man, he hoped he didn’t throw up all over Jocelyn or something. “Well, on some level I had to have, it was way too easy for you.”
Jim laughed. “Your subconscious caught on before you did, is that it?”
“Something like that,” Bones retorted with a grin. They crossed again, and Jim could make out the park they were heading towards a little in the distance. He swallowed loudly. This did not escape Bones’ notice and he looked at him sideways. “You okay?”
“What? Yeah, yeah I just...” He exhaled loudly. “I just...it’s her, is all.”
Bones stopped walking, and he tugged on Jim’s hand to get him to do the same. “Are you really worried about impressing my ex-wife?”
He was worried Bones would see her and suddenly think marrying him was a huge mistake. Opting not to say this out loud, as he knew it was both completely unfounded and batshit insane, Jim shook his head. “Not so much impressing. More like I just...I don’t know anything except her name and that she left you for your now-former best friend.” Something struck him then and his face got a panicked expression. “Shit, she’s not bringing him is she?”
“No. We agreed that all that would do is drudge up bad blood. It’s just her and Jo, since Jo’s still a little too young to travel by herself.” They began to walk again, pausing just so Bones could throw his cup into a nearby recycler. Jim made a hm sound as he sipped on his own drink.
They reached the entrance of the park, and Jim’s hands were really sweating. There was a statue they were meeting them at, only a little ways into it. Jim finished his coffee and found a recycler to toss it into. He looked up at the sky for a moment; it was blue and full of fluffy white clouds.
It really was good to be home. He took a long, deep breath of the air around him. They found the statue and stood beneath it. Obviously, Jocelyn and Joanna hadn’t made it yet.
“You were right, you know, about the weather I mean,” Bones said after a moment. “If tomorrow’s anything like today, it’s going to be a hell of a ceremony.”
Jim favored him with a bright smile. “It’s going to be a hell of a ceremony period.” He leaned in closer and Bones met him halfway. They kissed in the shade for a long while.
“That better be Jim,” a female voice said from seemingly out of nowhere. Jim’s eyes opened wide and he immediately backed off with a startled expression on his face. Bones was giving a nonchalant look in the direction of the voice.
“‘Lo, Joce,” he said with a half-smile. Jim gave him a curious look.
Joce?
There she was, standing with Jo. Jim blinked and stared at her for a minute.
She was tall and thin but not too much so. Her hair was long and a slightly darker shade of blonde than her daughter’s. They had the same cheekbones, but Jo clearly had Bones’ eyes as Jocelyn’s were a dark brown color. She was well-dressed, in a blue silk blouse and a pair of jeans. A pair of sunglasses were perched on top of her bangs.
She was gorgeous.
“Len,” she responded with a slight incline of her head, and the nickname made Jim frown a little. Jo brightened considerably at the sight of them.
“Daddy! Uncle Jim!” She ran right up to and into Bones’ arms. He oofed as she collided with him, and after he recovered he looked down and ruffled her hair.
“Hey there, baby girl, did you and your mother have a good flight?”
For some reason at the words baby girl, Jo huffed. “Daddy, I’m almost ten. I’m not a ‘baby girl’ anymore.”
Bones raised an eyebrow and proceeded to give Jocelyn a pointed look. She promptly held up both of her hands.
“Don’t look at me,” she said quickly, “you should hear the battles I have with her about everything.”
Jo frowned. “I’m standing right here, Mom.”
Jim couldn’t help but snort as Bones gave Jocelyn an apologetic look. She smiled back at him and waved a hand, clearly not worried about it in the slightest. Jo let go of Bones and turned to give Jim a big hug as well.
“Hey Jojopies,” he said with a grin. “You excited about tomorrow?”
“Mostly,” she admitted. “Although...do I have to be a flower girl?”
Jim looked at Bones for a moment. “Well, what would you rather be? We can’t call you a bridesmaid because there’s no bride to speak of.”
She thought really hard for a moment. “Flower maiden!”
Jim looked at Bones, who nodded. “We’re okay with it, so that’s what you’ll be.”
“Okay!” She grinned up at them, before moving back to Bones’ side. “Where are we going for lunch? Is it fancy?”
“Kind of,” Bones answered as the two of them began to walk towards the park gate. “Come on, Jim,” he tossed over his shoulder.
Jocelyn looked at Bones for a moment. “We’ll catch up in a second.” She turned back to Jim. “Right?” He eyed her with a wary expression.
“Sure. Yeah we’ll be along in a sec, Bones.” Jocelyn raised an eyebrow but didn’t comment on his nickname, reacting the same way he did to ‘Len’. Bones nodded at both of them and kept walking with Jo, who was talking a mile a minute. Jim watched them with a fond smile before turning his attention to her.
“I’ve got to admit, you look taller on the vids.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that,” he said half-bitterly. They began to catch up to the others.
They walked in awkward silence for a time, neither of them quite knowing what to say to the other. Everything he kept coming up with was unnecessary, rude, or just plain stupid.
Finally, Jocelyn broke the silence. “You don’t like me very much, do you?”
Jim looked at her over the top of his sunglasses. Obviously, brutal honesty was something she and Bones shared. “I don’t know you well enough to know if I like you,” he began, “but from what I do know...not so much.”
She nodded as she pulled her own glasses back down over her eyes. “Len’s not told you much about the marriage, then.”
He felt himself grow defensive. “He’s told me enough.”
Jocelyn didn’t do anything except sigh loudly. “Look,” she said as she held out an arm to stop him, “I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do. No matter how bad things were between Len and I, and believe me they were bad, I shouldn’t have done what I did.”
“No, you shouldn’t have,” he couldn’t help but add. She glared at him that time.
“It’s not like I’m not sorry I hurt him that way, you know. Believe me I know that now that there’s been distance, and if there’s anything I regret it’s that. There was enough stress on him, I didn’t need to add to it.”
He folded his arms across his chest. “But...?”
“But it takes two people to make a marriage fall apart,” she finished. “You know him, probably even better than me. So you know how he can be, and it wasn’t as if we talked much to each other about our problems.” Jocelyn took a deep breath before continuing. “Len and I were never right for each other, and instead of admitting our mistake we held onto something that wasn’t there.”
Jim looked at her for a long while. When he finally spoke, it was the first thing that came to mind.
“This is a really awkward first conversation.”
Surprised, Jocelyn simply barked out a laugh.
“It is,” she admitted.
“But I guess it was bound to happen,” he went on to say. “I’m not worried about us, Bones and I...we talk about things. Everything. We did even before we got together.” A smile formed on his face. “It’s part of why I love him.”
Jocelyn nodded. “Well, that’s most of the battle right there then. You should be fine.” They started to walk again; there was still some awkwardness, but Jim felt like perhaps they had come to an understanding of a sort. Bones and Jo were just up ahead waiting by the front door of the restaurant, and he was smiling at something his daughter was saying to him. Jim couldn’t help but watch as his heart skipped a little at the sight.
“So tell me,” Jocelyn said, and he turned his attention back to her, “Len still leave his clothes all over the place?”
It was Jim’s turn to bark out a surprised laugh. “You have no idea.”
“I’m pretty sure I do.”
“Pretty sure you do what,” Bones asked as he eyed the two of them.
They looked at each other for a moment. “Pretty sure I know all about the way you put your clothes away, or rather, the way you don’t.”
Bones gave both of them an exasperated look. “Not five minutes into knowing each other and you’re already bonding,” he grumbled as he held the door open for them. Jocelyn gave him a pointed smile as she escorted Jo inside. Jim paused to give his hand a squeeze.
“What can I say, it’s kind-of nice to have someone to complain to who gets it,” he smirked and he walked inside with Bones close behind him. The doctor snorted.
“Nice, my ass,” was all he said in reply.
Nyota Uhura thumbed through a magazine on a reading PADD in the front room of T’palla, the Vulcan healer’s...office, she supposed. She didn’t look up from what she was doing, focusing entirely on the magazine before her.
Fifty Ways to Nab an Older Man: Secrets Every Woman Must Know, the article proclaimed. She snorted indelicately; nabbing the older man wasn’t the problem. Getting him to stop being so stubborn as to assume he could handle everything alone was.
Spock sat next to her and stared straight ahead. The silence was profound and decidedly awkward. He finally turned to her. “You appear to be angry.”
“Hm? Why on Earth would I be angry?” She turned to the next page with a dramatic flourish.
“That is why I am asking, Nyota, as I do not understand the reason for this reaction.”
“Of course you don’t, because you’re the one making all the decisions.” She flipped the page again. “You’re the one who’s decided that he doesn’t need my help.”
“I said no such thing,” he said. “I simply stated that the probability of my injuring you during this time far outweighs the benefit of...”
“Yes, you did all of that. Moreover, you didn’t even ask if that risk is okay with me. You just assumed that it’s too much,” she hissed.
“It is too much,” he whispered back. “I simply cannot bear the thought of you becoming injured as my mother did several times during my youth. It is unnecessary to jeopardize your health.”
She threw the PADD down on the table next to her. “How’s the meditation working?”
He blinked at her. “I do not understand why that is relevant, as we were discussing...”
“It’s relevant because you’re passing over an easy solution for a harder one.” She raised an eyebrow. “So I want to know; how’s it working?”
Spock hesitated for a moment and she knew the answer just from that. It didn’t help that he was perpetually flushed. He was even perspiring a little and the jealousy radiated off him in waves on the shuttle. All of this was unusual for Spock, and it answered her question for her.
Still though, she was feeling just petty enough that she wanted to hear him say it.
“Not as anticipated,” he admitted. “The medication helps to clear my mind, and it takes a significant amount of meditation to push back the effects. I believe that with the aid of T’palla I shall be able to rid myself of it completely.”
She frowned. “I don’t understand why you’ll turn to a stranger but not me for this, I really don’t.”
“It is not a reflection of you or on our relationship, it is simply a matter of weighing the risks.”
Nyota opened her mouth for a moment and then closed it. Without another word, she grabbed her handbag and stood up.
“Where are you going?”
“For a walk,” she snapped. “You want to do this alone? Fine. Do it alone.” With that she flounced out of the healer’s waiting room and back on to the streets of San Francisco.
As she made her way down the block, her pace began to slow somewhat. It wasn’t like her to storm out or become so visibly angry. However...they had decided to spend the rest of their lives together. That meant he was supposed to come to her and seek out her assistance with problems, not tell her she couldn’t handle it and push her out of the way.
What did this mean for them, that this was his answer? Did this mean they weren’t strong enough for marriage? That was a blow to her and to their relationship. She stopped and looked back in the direction of the healer. Sighing a little, she began to make her way back.
Whether he felt he needed it or not, Spock deserved her support.
Even if he was being a giant pain in the ass about this.
Chapter 3b | Chapter 4B
