Letters 3/?

[ageofalejandro]

Title: Letters
Rating: T
Fandom: STxi
Disclaimer: That I need one ought to say something, yeah?
A/n: It should be noted that in my head, Oleander looks like Worf would, if he weren't Klingon. I'm aware that Kirill was not a doctor. Play along, please, since it's not even referring to the Bourne series itself. :) I'm also thinking about maybe someday re-working this so I can make it ten times creepier by not limiting myself to Leonard's perspective. That would be a very long way off, but would y'all be interested in seeing it? Also, thanks go out to hyde_the_body for her assistance with Leonard's rant.
From this prompt on ST XI kink meme: 
All the crew get fanmail, because of their cuteness and famousness. Jim loves it, Chekov gets more than anybody, Spock thinks it's illogical, Scotty gets sent lots of sandwiches in stasis units. McCoy doesn't get much, and when he does he blushes like a schoolgirl and gets teased mercilessly by the others.
But what happens when McCoy starts getting weird stalkery ones? Ones that are sent from places the Enterprise has docked recently?Parts One and Two

Leonard had to wait six or seven rings before Clay answered, looking angry and out of sorts, and several alarm bells went off in Leonard's head. Clay was a large man in ways that Leonard had never been, and he was used to being a protector. But Jesse wasn't something he could protect Jocelyn and Joanna against, and it left him off kilter and all the angrier for it.
"What?" he ground out.

"I need to talk to Jocelyn," Leonard said and then paused. "Is everyone ok?"

"Your stalker killed my dog. And broke into my house! He moved almost everything around - the sofa, Joanna's toys, the fucking blender. Just to let us know he's here. That he's watching and can do what he wants with impunity."

"Fuck," Leonard muttered, eyes widening as he sucked in a surprised breath. "But Jo and Joss are unharmed?"

"Yes, but Joanna's inconsolable. The fucker gutted the dog and left bits of her along the walk up to the front door."

Leonard rubbed his face. "Jesus Christ. I need to talk to Jocelyn, because he's sending me disturbing shit that just backs all of this up."

"No," Clay said, curling his hands into fists and shifting his stance. "You aren't going to talk to her."

Leonard narrowed his eyes. "Fuck you, Clay Treadwell. This concerns my daughter's safety and her wellbeing, which includes that of her mother. You're a third party and you can get the hell out of the way so I can talk to my daughter's mother." When Clay didn't move, he resorted to hollering, deliberately phrasing it in a way to set Jocelyn's feminist hackles up. "Jocelyn! Your controlling asshole of a husband is refusing to allow you to talk to me!"

His ex-wife appeared around a corner, Joanna wrapped tight in her arms, and she glared at Clay as she approached the screen. Very gently, she pried Joanna off and left her to talk to Leonard while she quietly scolded Clay on the other side of the room.

"Hi, Jo," he greeted softly.

Wet tear streaks striped her face and her eyes were red when he looked up at him. "Hi, Daddy."

"You doin' ok?"

"Somebody killed my puppy," she said quietly, tears leaking down her face again. "And Momma won't let me in my room and she made us go stay with Luke until Clay could come get us." She looked so frightened and not for the first time, he wished he could be there to scoop her up and hold her close. "Daddy, what's going on? There's gotta be something y'all aren't telling me and I'm scared."

Joanna really was observant for a seven year old. "Oh baby, I'm so sorry I can't be there with you," he said, fighting to keep his tone soothing, because letting worry or fear into his voice would only scare her more. He gave her a sad, lopsided smile. "I'll have to let Clay be there for me, since I can't. Make sure you listen to him, ok? He wants to keep you safe just as much as your momma and I do. And yes, there's something going on. Your momma and I need to decide what to do about it and that's part of why I called." Being able to talk to her both soothed him and made it harder not to resign and go back to Georgia. "I love you."

"I love you, too, Daddy. Are you gonna tell me what it is?"

"I don't know. I need to talk to your momma about that, too, and probably Clay." They'd have to talk in shifts, if they wanted her not to know.

"Is Jim there?"

Leonard blinked for a moment, surprised. He knew Jim and Joanna had taken to each other immediately, but he hadn't thought it would extend this far. Perhaps she wanted a distraction, and Jim certainly was just about the most lively diversion Leonard ever did see. "He's still at work but," he glanced at the chronometer near the screen, "he should be off in few minutes. Do you want me to call him?"

Joanna nodded and sniffled as Leonard messaged him.
Me: Joanna wants to talk to you. The situation with the stalker has escalated and I think she wants you to distract her. Could you come up right after your shift?
Jim: Shit. Sure thing. Be there in ten.
He looked up and gave his daughter a reassuring smile. "Jim will be here in ten minutes, ok?"
"Ok," she agreed quietly.

Shortly after that, Jocelyn came back and shuffled her daughter off to Clay. Leonard watched them interact with mixed feelings. He was a good stepfather, but Leonard still thought of him as a homewrecker to some extent. Leonard's marriage had been over long before they filed for divorce, but it still hurt to know that Jocelyn had taken up with the other man pretty much the moment they started batting the idea of getting one around. And Clay got to see Joanna every day. He sighed mentally. Leonard was on the cutting edge of his field, doing something important and that he loved, and he had Jim. All that didn't quite outweigh the fact that he didn't have Jo but it came close enough that he was content.

Or could be, if not for the guillotine hovering above Joanna and Jocelyn's necks and the prospect of loosing his entire career again if this blew up in his face.

When his ex-wife had settled on her couch, Leonard got a good look at her. She was pale and drawn, and even over a vidcomm he could practically feel her vibrating with anxiety.

"I expect we're gonna need to include Clay in our discussion," he said before she could open her mouth. "Joanna basically asked for Jim to distract her, which he's happy to do. Is that ok?"

"Sure," she said with a sigh. Leonard noticed the tension bracketing her mouth and eyes. "So, what did you call about?"

"Having heard what Clay said, it almost seems trivial now," he replied, "but I got an email threatening Jo again, and he included pictures of her, at school and here at the house. One of which he photoshopped to look like she was dead, and he threatened you in the same one. I've sent it to Jim and Oleander, and I can forward it to you, too, if you want."

"Send it to Clay." Jocelyn looked vaguely ill. "I don't want to see it. I saw bits of a six-month old puppy on my sidewalk this afternoon, and that's more than I can take." There was a loud beep beep, indicating that there was a second comm on the line, and Jocelyn squinted briefly at the number. "It's Oleander. Three-way comm ok?"

"Yeah," Leonard said. "That would be a good idea." He leaned forward to mess with his control as she did the same, and the screen was split, images of Jocelyn and Oleander side by side.

Oleander raised an eyebrow. "Am I intruding?"

"No," Jocelyn said, shaking her head. "I was going to get in touch with you very soon, so it's perfect."

Jim appeared at Leonard's elbow and Oleander's other eyebrow rose to meet its twin. "I see we have the whole gang here tonight."

"I'm mostly here to distract Joanna, Commander," Jim said. "And maybe help with the planning, if need be. Give us a second please," he added as Jim! echoed through the living room. "Hey, Jo!" he greeted back as he and Clay maneuvered his comm off the main screen and to PADDs.

As soon as Clay saw his step-daughter settled in an inside corner of the room, he returned and filled Oleander in while Leonard retrieved the message Jesse had sent that afternoon to send to Clay.

Oleander's face twisted with worry when Clay described coming home to see things rearranged and how he had grabbed the phaser he kept by the door and gone through the house, with Jo and Jocelyn on his heels.

"You should move," the Commander said firmly. "There's no way you're going to be safe there and I have little doubt he'd probably bugged your home more thoroughly than anything outside an embassy. Lock up the house, throw any valuables in the safe, if you have one, and take nothing but the clothes on your back. Doctor," he added, looking at Leonard, "pick a place only you and Mrs. Treadwell would know about and give us the coordinates while I organize an escort. I'll meet the Treadwells and your daughter there and get them set up for the time being."

Leonard paused in thought. "Remember that old swimming hole Larry used to take us to?"

"Yeah," Jocelyn agreed, a smile touching the edge of her mouth.

"All right, keep going three kilometers east on the main trail, if you remember that." He eyed her, waiting to see if she knew which one he meant.

She did. "The one we used to four-wheel on?"

"Yep," Leonard agreed. "Right where it peters out to asphalt, there's the place we used to eat dinner at the nights we went four-wheeling. Meet there."

"Gives him lots of room to tail us," Clay said doubtfully, even as Jocelyn nodded. "In the dark no less."

"Mr. Treadwell," Oleander interrupted, an eyebrow arched, "I believe I said something about an escort, didn't I? Your local sheriffs are coming out right now, and they'll do a sweep of the area, including your garage and car. They will take you there to meet myself and a relocation team."

"Thank you," Leonard told him. "You've gone to an awful lot of trouble for one little Georgia family and I can't thank you enough."

Oleander gave him a nod. "You're welcome. Politically speaking, you're much more than one little Southern family, McCoy. You're one of the heroes of the hour and we can't let anything happen to you and yours right now. But politics aside, I understand what it's like to be in your shoes and I will do my best to protect your family."

Leonard nodded back. "I appreciate it."

The Commander flashed him something that sort of resembled a smile.

Joanna had crept up to the adults unnoticed, still clutching the PADD she was talking to Jim on. "Are you gonna tell me what's going on?"

"Jo, we have to go on a trip, ok?" Jocelyn said, as if she were talking to a much younger child, and Leonard would ordinarily have been amused by the annoyed, stop-patronizing-me look on his daughter's face but now was not the time for it.

"Where?"

"We don't know," Clay said, watching the door carefully as footsteps began to sound, closing in on it.

"Is this because of that thing you were talking about, Daddy?" Joanna demanded.

"Yes, Jo, it is. Go with your Momma, please, and don't fight it. It's really important that you do what she says." He held back a sigh as both Treadwells and Joanna stared at him stonily. "I didn't give details, just that there was something going on. She already knew it and I figured it'd be better to let her know something about the situation so she doesn't dig her heels in."

"You should tell me more," Jo said angrily. "If I hafta move, an' I know that's what this is 'cause I heard the guy, I wanna know why."

Leonard looked at Jocelyn, who looked back, equally unsure of where to go. Because they both knew he was right; Joanna was pig-stubborn and forcing her to do things always turned out badly. "Ok, Jo. You know how there are bad guys out there?"

"Yeah."

"Well, one of them is out there and he wants to hurt people, especially people who are also McCoys. We're trying to make it so he can't hurt you," Leonard said carefully.

"Is he the one who killed Link?"

"Your puppy?" Oleander interrupted. "Yes. Does this make sense now?"

Joanna nodded, looking tearful again as the Commander turn to speak to the Treadwells. "She was just a puppy," she mumbled. Leonard heard it as clearly as he did only because Jim was sitting practically at his feet.

"Oh Jo," Leonard said, moving to sit on the floor with Jim to talk to his little girl. "I'm so sorry."

"'s not your fault, Daddy."

He nodded. "Doesn't mean I'm still not sorry." He dug up a smile from somewhere and coaxed Jim into sharing the PADD. "It'll be ok, Jo. We're going to do the best we can to make sure you're safe, ok?"

"Ok, Daddy," she said miserably. "I miss my puppy."

"When things are all settled again, do you want us to get you another one?" Jim asked. "Because my cousin breeds the cutest puppies ever and I bet he'd let you come pick one out, if you wanted to."

"Link was the cutest puppy ever," Jo said. "I want her back."

Leonard placed a restraining hand on Jim's thigh and squeezed lightly to let him know he wasn't upset. "That can't happen, Jo," he said gently. "Remember Ruby, your first fish?"

"Yeah." Joanna sniffled and the urge to wipe her adorable, if runny, nose was overwhelming.

"Do you remember when your momma helped you hold a funeral for her?"

"Mhm." She started to bury her face into the couch cushions, muffling her voice. "Over the toilet."

"When you have time, you could have a funeral for her like you did for Ruby," Leonard suggested. "And you can tell us about Link right now, if you want."

Joanna shook her head. "I'll just cry and I don't want to cry right now," she said.

"Ok, darlin'," Leonard said. "How are you feeling otherwise?"

"Thirsty. And my mouth feels like I've been eatin' paste or somethin'." She wrinkled her nose and left the PADD on the couch as she hopped off, presumably to get water.

Leonard dragged Jim off the floor and they sat in silence, shoulder to shoulder, watching the main screen as Clay and Oleander talk to Luke, Leonard's cousin and the head of the sheriff department. Luke waved at him and took off his hat.

"Bringin' trouble to my town, are we?" he asked, attempting for humor and falling flat.

It rubbed Leonard the wrong way and set him off. "Good thing they don't pay you for your comedic skills, makin' light of a serious fuckin' situation," he growled. "And Luke Lance Taylor, don't you ever say shit like that to me again or I swear to God almighty I'll rip your fuckin' throat out. " Luke tried to interrupt, probably to apologize, but Leonard steamrolled right on over it.

"Did you see what that bastard did to my little girl's dog? Cut her up into pieces and left her on the lawn for Joanna and Jocelyn to find! He has threatened them in every fuckin' message he's sent me - every fuckin' message, Luke - for months. And he's been tryin' to damage my career at Starfleet, which is the last goddamn thing I need right now. So I would appreciate it if you damn well started taking this seriously and stopped fuckin' around!" Leonard snapped.

And then there was a piercing scream and the sound of breaking glass, followed by a human yell of pain and the shattering of good crystal as all the adults physically in the living room lunged toward what was presumably the kitchen. Joanna barreled into her mother's arms, crying and clutching at Jocelyn like a lifeline.

Several minutes later, Leonard realized he was probably crushing Jim's hand and he let go. Jim immediately rubbed his fingers and pressed his knee against Leonard's instead. "She's ok, Bones" he murmured, close to his ear. "Joanna is alive and well - just scared. She'll be ok."

If there was something to be said about Luke, it was that he was really good with kids. So, after he radioed the rest of his team, he knelt down next to Joanna and spoke to her softly, simultaneously soothing and coaxing her into telling him what she had seen. Faint sounds of phaser fire echoed through the room and Jim subtly wrapped an arm around Leonard and pulled him close, resting the PADD on their knees. Leonard took the comfort that was offered and squeezed his thigh again.

Eventually Luke turned to speak to them and to Oleander. "It looks like Jesse was intendin' to shoot her, and wanted to get up close and personal to do it. She threw the glass she was drinking from at his face and he bolted. My team chased him, there was a brief exchange of phaser fire, as I'm sure you heard, but he got away." He looked regretful and apologetic. "I'm sorry. Wish we'd gotten him. Almost did, but then he jumped on a hovercycle and escaped."

Leonard nodded. "Thanks. Any of your men injured?"

"Nope, thankfully."

"Did you get a description out of the girl?" Oleander wanted to know.

"Pale, brown hair, looked real mean and had big phaser," Luke replied, and Leonard was fairly sure he was offended on Joanna's behalf for being referred to so callously. "She's seven and scared. You don't get real good descriptions out of terrified children, Commander. Wait until she's calmed down before you try, since I know you will."

Oleander looked vaguely annoyed, but said nothing.

"Luke," Leonard called. "Would you pick the small PADD on the couch and give it to her?"

"Sure thing," Luke agreed, and a moment later, Joanna was clutching the edges of the PADD and looking at them with wide eyes.

"Daddy," she whimpered. "I want you to come home."

Leonard swallowed. "I wish I could, honey, but I can't. I'm way out in space and it would take me a long time at warp speed to get home, even if I was able to. I'll try to talk to you every day, though. We're still in a place where we can," he looked sideways at Jim for confirmation, and when Jim nodded, he looked back at the screen. "Is that ok?"

Joanna nodded. "I guess."

He gave his daughter a smile and nod. "You're gonna be movin' today and it'll be hard and weird, but it's important that you listen to your momma and Clay, ok? Can you do that for me?"

She nodded, too, and looked up at her mother. "We're doin' it today? Then we better pack up," she said when Jocelyn nodded.

Jocelyn shook her head. "We can't take anythin' with us."

"Why?"

"Because he might have put stuff in our things that would let him track us," she replied. "And we don't want that."

"Can we take Loopie, though?" Joanna wanted to know, "He's just a stuffed bunny."

"He wants to hurt us, Jo, and he might have put somethin' in Loopie that might let him follow us."

Leonard was glad that Jocelyn liked Jim when his boyfriend tried to help the situation. "Remember when we watched those spy movies?"

"Yeah," Joanna said with a nod.

"Remember when Dr. Kirill put that little machine in Jack's brief case that let him follow Jack?" When she nodded again, he told her, "It's like that. You've got someone on your tail you want to loose, just like Jack did. And you can't bring anything along that might let Dr. Kirill find you."

"Even Loopie?"

"Even Loopie," he confirmed. "Maybe you can convince your mom to buy you a little brother for Loopie soon, though."

"Yeah," Joceclyn agreed. "When things calm down enough, and Commander Oleander," she pointed at the side of the screen the Commander could be seen on, "has found us a place to stay until we catch our Dr. Kirill, we'll get you a little brother for Loopie. Does that sound good?"

Joanna nodded. "Ok."

Clay returned from putting everything they wanted to keep away somewhere (Leonard would find out later that there was a safe in the basement), and at Oleander's direction, they said goodbye to Leonard and Jim, walking out the door for a safer place.

It was a week before Leonard was able to talk to Joanna again, and she now had the little brother for Loopie (named Jack) and seemed to be relatively calm.

"Everything ok there?" he asked, idly rubbing his foot against Jim's knee as they lounged on the couch in Jim's quarters. "Liking Montreal?"

She nodded. "Yep. The people keeping an eye on us are real nice and everything's been quiet. It's cold here, though."

He chuckled. "You got Southern blood, just like your Daddy. Everywhere is cold to folk like us."

"I remember you whinin' about San Francisco bein' cold, yeah," Joanna replied, a little bit of a twinkle in her eyes.

"I didn't whine!"

"That's what Jim called it."

Jim looked up from his PADD at the sound of his name. "You did, too. It doesn't even freeze there."

"It does, too, just not often," Leonard corrected. "And you're from Iowa, land of the ice and snow," Leonard replied with a sniff. "Your definition of 'cold' is different from those of us from better climes."

Jim rolled his eyes. "I think the land of the ice and snow is Scandinavia, but ok."

Joanna smiled at her father and they continued to talk as Jim went back to his PADD, chiming in occasionally with tidbits to supplement Leonard's stories or to tease Jo with bits of her own. But as the conversation wrapped up, he stilled. Leonard frowned slightly before finding another for Jo as they ended the comm.

"Make sure to call back, Daddy, y'hear?"

"I will, baby," he promised and smiled at her again when she said 'McCoy out!'. He turned to Jim. "What was that?" The man was perpetually in motion, and stillness never boded well.

"Got another email from our friend Jesse," he said tightly. "Guess he really did have that house bugged, because there's no way he could have known about this otherwise."

"Known about what?" Leonard asked, shifting to read over Jim's shoulder.

Captain Kirk,

So you were stealing the Doctor's attention from Jesse? Very well. I'll have to punish you, too, because it's you're partly to blame for his death. And I hope you don't pop the question. I don't plan to let you live long enough to see it through.

I also believe there was a conversation about puppies.

Jake

"Shit. I need to talk to Matt."

"Who? And what's this about 'poppin' the question'?" Leonard was wary and getting angry. The second most important person in his life was now being threatened, because of one fuckhead.

"My cousin who breeds border collies," Jim said as he got up to look for something, riffling through the mess of books and PADDs on his desk. "I think he's planning to hurt Matt's dogs. And apparently your cousin Luke's wife has been asking her if I'm going to make you an honest man."

"That's presumptuous," Leonard said irritably. "I'll have to talk to Michelle. Hardly the kind of question to ask a child."

"Yeah. Aha!" Jim said, pulling free a blue PADD. "Need to find Matt's email so I can warn him."

"Couldn't you comm him?"

"He never answers the comm. Ever. It's in his kitchen and he's either in his office in the barn or out with the dog all his waking hours. But he's really good about answering emails quickly," Jim said, dropping down next to Leonard again and typing furiously.

"What did you tell Joanna when she told you about what Michelle said?"

"That we hadn't talked about it," he replied, eyes still glued to the screen. "Now's not really the time."

"No," Leonard agreed. "It's not. Make sure you forward the email to Oleander."

"First thing I did," Jim said. He pressed the screen once and sat back. "I hope he can't find Matt. Those dogs are his livelihood."

"Prestigious breeder?"

"Yep. One of the best on the continent." Jim nodded. "That's what my mom's side does, breeding things. He does dogs, Mom does strange plants, another cousin does horses, et cetera."

"If your cousin Matt's that good, there's a high chance that he'll find him," Leonard pointed out.

"I know. Hope without delusion, Bones," Jim sighed. "I warned him. I hope it came soon enough." He looked over at Leonard. "When he's caught, we really should get her a dog from him. Border collies are a great breed. Smart and good with kids, and he trains them well."

"They sound expensive."

"They are, but family and-or I-saved-your-dogs discount, Bones. And they're worth it."

"Let's talk about that when we get there. Right now, she can't even go home, much less keep a dog," Leonard reminded him.

"Point," Jim agreed with a sigh. He leaned in to kiss Leonard and murmured, "It'll be all right," before kissing him again.

"I hope so," Leonard said when they broke for air. "And thanks. You've been real helpful throughout this ordeal."
"'Course," Jim agreed, resting his hands on Leonard's shoulder and rubbing his over the end of the clavicle under his fingers. "I love you, don't I? That's what you do for people you love."

Leonard found himself giving Jim a smile. "Still, I appreciate it. And I love you, too."

part four