A Christmas Secret - Jim/Bones - Light R
Jim looked at his friend uncertainly. “Are you sure you want to tell them like this, Bones?” he asked, checking one more time before they left.
Bones sighed. “Yeah, Jim. This isn’t the kind of thing you tell over a video com,” the doctor replied simply. He locked eyes with Jim, willing him to let them do it his way with his family. Jim nodded his acquiescence, and Bones added with a slight smirk, “They’ve been at me for years to move on, anyway.”
Jim rolled his eyes before moving to give Bones a kiss and grab his bag so they could head out to Georgia.
~*~
When Bones had come up with the idea to tell his family over Christmas that they were together, Jim nearly bolted right then and there. He and families didn’t mix all that well. Well, he had no problems with his own, actually. His uncle Frank could be a definite… problem at times, and his mother nagged him like no one else-except Bones, of course-but the few times he had actually met the family of the person he was involved with, things didn’t go so well.
Only a handful of people knew how close he and Bones really were, anyway. The crew of the Enterprise knew, of course. People couldn’t spend five years together and not learn nearly everything about each other, so the crew knew that Jim and Bones were involved. Only Pike, Uhura, and Spock knew just how deeply involved the two of them were, though. Scotty probably knew, what with that man and his way of knowing almost everything possible to know on the Enterprise, but he was the only one.
The two of them knew that they would have to tell their respective families, and Bones thought spending some of the leave they were given at each home to tell the family and give them time to adjust would be the perfect idea. That way, both families knew, and the couple hadn’t told them over a vid screen.
That was the plan, anyway. As most plans do, this one didn’t go according to the original idea. Literally from the moment Jim and Bones wound up in Atlanta, Bones’ family kept trying to foist women onto him. His ex-girlfriend from high school, his first love, came to meet them at the shuttleport along with his grandparents. Sally was looking great and was standing closer to the gate than his grandparents were. Joanna held onto the woman’s hand until she saw her daddy, and then she dropped it and ran as fast as her legs could carry her to his open arms.
Bones scooped up his little girl and held her close, not even grunting as he accepted her growing little body against his own. She pressed her face into his neck, inhaling deeply and committing his scent to memory for when he left to go out into space and keep being a hero. Bones was doing the same, and Jim felt a fond smile curve his lips as he watched the two of them. When Bones finally put Joanna down, she clung to her father and turned wide hazel eyes up to him, asking, “Who’s that blue-eyed man?”
Jim’s smile grew wider as he crouched down to her level, meeting her eyes as he said, “My name’s James T. Kirk, little lady. And yours is?”
Joanna pressed her face into her father’s body in a rare display of shyness before extending her hand and replying, “I’m Joanna McCoy, Mister Kirk.”
Jim took her hand, and instead of shaking it as she expected, he pressed a gentle kiss to the back of it, saying, “It’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss McCoy.” The eight-year-old girl was instantly putty in his hands. Bones knew it when he saw it, and a slight smirk spread over his face. Jocelyn’s new beau didn’t get the same reaction from his baby girl. His thoughts were derailed as Sally came up to Leonard, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing a kiss to his cheek before pulling back to beam at him.
Bones felt his face flush as he looked at Sally before turning his head to see Jim carefully holding Joanna balanced on his hip. Involuntarily, his face softened from embarrassment to tenderness as he saw them together, and he felt Sally’s arms stiffen around his neck. He looked back to her, and met her gaze squarely. She searched his face before looking back to Jim and watching him watch them. A small smile curved her lips before she hugged Bones tighter and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear, “I hope he makes you happy, Len,” before pressing one last kiss to his cheek and stepping back.
Bones’ eyes pled with her not to say anything as she shot Jim a mischievous glance before turning back to Bones’ grandparents, and she nodded with a small smirk to show she had understood.
From there, the four (secretly five) McCoys headed back to the McCoy farm while Sally went home after pressing a kiss to Jim’s cheek as well and whispering something in his ear that Bones couldn’t catch but made Jim blush furiously. Bones thought that would be the end of the ghosts of girlfriends past since he and Jim planned on telling the McCoys that night that they were married. They were thwarted once again by the “little get together” at the farm in celebration of Len’s return home, and by the time they retired, they were too exhausted to even think of announcing their marriage. Jim and Bones were put in Bones’ old room, though Jim was theoretically sleeping alone on the extra mattress brought into the room. In reality, the two of them curled around each other every night, soaking up the closeness in sleep they couldn’t enjoy awake just yet.
Bones secretly wondered when someone would just find them out by sticking his or her head into the bedroom before one or both of them was completely awake, and his suspicion was realized when, two nights into their stay, Joanna knocked in the door and darted in, whispering loudly in the way children do, “Daddy! I had a bad dream. Can I come sleep with- ” She had reached the bed then and realized her daddy wasn’t in it. As she looked around the room, she saw the mattress on the floor and the two men curled up together, Jim’s head tucked into the curve of Bones’ neck. Bones’ eyes were open and watching his little girl for her reaction.
Joanna looked at them wide eyed for a moment before crawling onto the bed and tucking herself into Bones’ other side. She looked over at Jim’s sleeping form before whispering a bit more quietly, “Are you and Jim married, Daddy?”
It was Bones’ turn to widen his eyes as he whispered back, “Why would you say that, baby girl?”
“Because you’re sleeping in the same bed. Momma told me that only married folks sleep in the same bed. Are you and Jim married?” Joanna asked again as she snuggled closer.
“Yes, baby. Jim and I are married. But you can’t say anything to Papa Horatio or Nana Claire yet,” Bones said. When Joanna made a small sound of question, he added, “Jim and I wanted to announce it ourselves, but we haven’t because Nana Claire keeps getting women to come see me.”
“Papa Horatio’s been trying to get her to stop it, but she said she wants to see you settle down again,” Joanna said matter-of-factly.
Bones choked back a laugh at her tone before pressing her head gently to his shoulder and pulling the covers up to cover all three of them from where they’d been kicked to the end of the bed. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered gently, “Go to sleep, JoJo. Remember not to tell anyone that Jim and I are married until we do it first, okay?” She mumbled sleepily, and he took that to be an agreement, waiting until her breathing had evened out before letting himself succumb to sleep.
~*~
Joanna kept her promise, and Nana Claire stuck to her guns with trying to get Len to pick a nice girl and settle down. The pressure of pretending to be just friends when outside of Bones’ bedroom and with anyone but Joanna alone got to be too much, and when Nana Claire suggested they go out on Christmas Eve for some last minute shopping, Jim pretended to have a headache and roped Bones into taking care of him while the grandparents and Joanna headed out to the local mall.
Before they left, Papa Horatio pulled Bones aside and hugged him close, telling him in an undertone, “You take care of Jim now.” Bones pulled back to stare at his grandfather incredulously and could only stand there dumbly as Papa Horatio winked at him once before leaving the house.
With a flush high on his cheeks, Bones went back to his and Jim’s room, sitting next to where Jim lay on the bed with his eyes closed. “They’re gone, Jim,” Bones said, voice still a little shell-shocked. Jim opened his eyes, the bright blue even brighter with question. “I think Papa Horatio knows, Jim.”
Jim sat up immediately, eyes wide. “What? How could he know? What did he say?” Jim asked, the three questions running into each other with barely a breath in between.
“He told me to take care of you,” Bones replied with a slight smirk, his shock giving way to an idea. Bones leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jim’s cheek.
Jim took the hint, flipping Bones onto his back and pressing him into the mattress. Almost immediately Jim attacked the sensitive areas of Bones’ neck, concentrating on unraveling the tension present in Bones lately and his control.
~*~
“Now, Claire, you didn’t forget anything. Come on now and let’s go get those-” Papa Horatio cut off as a hoarse whimper came from up the stairs followed by quiet laughter. Papa Horatio and Nana Claire paused for a moment and another sound issued down the stairs, this time accompanied by words.
“Jim, come on please, darlin’. Stop teasing. We don’t know when they’ll… Fuck, Jim! Yes, right there. Ah fuck. Come on. Fuck me, Jim. Fuck me, please!”
Both Papa Horatio and Nana Claire knew that voice as Leo’s, but they’d never heard that particular tone before. It didn’t take much imagination to guess what was going on up there, and Papa Horatio turned to look at his wife, ushering her back out the door and raising his eyebrows as he said, “I told you he didn’t need your help to settle down again. He’s got that Jim to settle him.”
Joanna peeked up at them, and, upon hearing Papa Horatio’s words, piped up with a grin, “Does this mean I can call him Daddy Jim now? They told me I couldn’t until you knew they were married.” Both adults looked at her in shock, and she realized she had spilled the secret anyway. Sheepishly, Joanna looked up at her daddy’s grandparents and said, “Um… Oops?”
Fin
Bones sighed. “Yeah, Jim. This isn’t the kind of thing you tell over a video com,” the doctor replied simply. He locked eyes with Jim, willing him to let them do it his way with his family. Jim nodded his acquiescence, and Bones added with a slight smirk, “They’ve been at me for years to move on, anyway.”
Jim rolled his eyes before moving to give Bones a kiss and grab his bag so they could head out to Georgia.
~*~
When Bones had come up with the idea to tell his family over Christmas that they were together, Jim nearly bolted right then and there. He and families didn’t mix all that well. Well, he had no problems with his own, actually. His uncle Frank could be a definite… problem at times, and his mother nagged him like no one else-except Bones, of course-but the few times he had actually met the family of the person he was involved with, things didn’t go so well.
Only a handful of people knew how close he and Bones really were, anyway. The crew of the Enterprise knew, of course. People couldn’t spend five years together and not learn nearly everything about each other, so the crew knew that Jim and Bones were involved. Only Pike, Uhura, and Spock knew just how deeply involved the two of them were, though. Scotty probably knew, what with that man and his way of knowing almost everything possible to know on the Enterprise, but he was the only one.
The two of them knew that they would have to tell their respective families, and Bones thought spending some of the leave they were given at each home to tell the family and give them time to adjust would be the perfect idea. That way, both families knew, and the couple hadn’t told them over a vid screen.
That was the plan, anyway. As most plans do, this one didn’t go according to the original idea. Literally from the moment Jim and Bones wound up in Atlanta, Bones’ family kept trying to foist women onto him. His ex-girlfriend from high school, his first love, came to meet them at the shuttleport along with his grandparents. Sally was looking great and was standing closer to the gate than his grandparents were. Joanna held onto the woman’s hand until she saw her daddy, and then she dropped it and ran as fast as her legs could carry her to his open arms.
Bones scooped up his little girl and held her close, not even grunting as he accepted her growing little body against his own. She pressed her face into his neck, inhaling deeply and committing his scent to memory for when he left to go out into space and keep being a hero. Bones was doing the same, and Jim felt a fond smile curve his lips as he watched the two of them. When Bones finally put Joanna down, she clung to her father and turned wide hazel eyes up to him, asking, “Who’s that blue-eyed man?”
Jim’s smile grew wider as he crouched down to her level, meeting her eyes as he said, “My name’s James T. Kirk, little lady. And yours is?”
Joanna pressed her face into her father’s body in a rare display of shyness before extending her hand and replying, “I’m Joanna McCoy, Mister Kirk.”
Jim took her hand, and instead of shaking it as she expected, he pressed a gentle kiss to the back of it, saying, “It’s my pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss McCoy.” The eight-year-old girl was instantly putty in his hands. Bones knew it when he saw it, and a slight smirk spread over his face. Jocelyn’s new beau didn’t get the same reaction from his baby girl. His thoughts were derailed as Sally came up to Leonard, throwing her arms around his neck and pressing a kiss to his cheek before pulling back to beam at him.
Bones felt his face flush as he looked at Sally before turning his head to see Jim carefully holding Joanna balanced on his hip. Involuntarily, his face softened from embarrassment to tenderness as he saw them together, and he felt Sally’s arms stiffen around his neck. He looked back to her, and met her gaze squarely. She searched his face before looking back to Jim and watching him watch them. A small smile curved her lips before she hugged Bones tighter and stood on tiptoe to whisper in his ear, “I hope he makes you happy, Len,” before pressing one last kiss to his cheek and stepping back.
Bones’ eyes pled with her not to say anything as she shot Jim a mischievous glance before turning back to Bones’ grandparents, and she nodded with a small smirk to show she had understood.
From there, the four (secretly five) McCoys headed back to the McCoy farm while Sally went home after pressing a kiss to Jim’s cheek as well and whispering something in his ear that Bones couldn’t catch but made Jim blush furiously. Bones thought that would be the end of the ghosts of girlfriends past since he and Jim planned on telling the McCoys that night that they were married. They were thwarted once again by the “little get together” at the farm in celebration of Len’s return home, and by the time they retired, they were too exhausted to even think of announcing their marriage. Jim and Bones were put in Bones’ old room, though Jim was theoretically sleeping alone on the extra mattress brought into the room. In reality, the two of them curled around each other every night, soaking up the closeness in sleep they couldn’t enjoy awake just yet.
Bones secretly wondered when someone would just find them out by sticking his or her head into the bedroom before one or both of them was completely awake, and his suspicion was realized when, two nights into their stay, Joanna knocked in the door and darted in, whispering loudly in the way children do, “Daddy! I had a bad dream. Can I come sleep with- ” She had reached the bed then and realized her daddy wasn’t in it. As she looked around the room, she saw the mattress on the floor and the two men curled up together, Jim’s head tucked into the curve of Bones’ neck. Bones’ eyes were open and watching his little girl for her reaction.
Joanna looked at them wide eyed for a moment before crawling onto the bed and tucking herself into Bones’ other side. She looked over at Jim’s sleeping form before whispering a bit more quietly, “Are you and Jim married, Daddy?”
It was Bones’ turn to widen his eyes as he whispered back, “Why would you say that, baby girl?”
“Because you’re sleeping in the same bed. Momma told me that only married folks sleep in the same bed. Are you and Jim married?” Joanna asked again as she snuggled closer.
“Yes, baby. Jim and I are married. But you can’t say anything to Papa Horatio or Nana Claire yet,” Bones said. When Joanna made a small sound of question, he added, “Jim and I wanted to announce it ourselves, but we haven’t because Nana Claire keeps getting women to come see me.”
“Papa Horatio’s been trying to get her to stop it, but she said she wants to see you settle down again,” Joanna said matter-of-factly.
Bones choked back a laugh at her tone before pressing her head gently to his shoulder and pulling the covers up to cover all three of them from where they’d been kicked to the end of the bed. He pressed a kiss to her forehead and whispered gently, “Go to sleep, JoJo. Remember not to tell anyone that Jim and I are married until we do it first, okay?” She mumbled sleepily, and he took that to be an agreement, waiting until her breathing had evened out before letting himself succumb to sleep.
~*~
Joanna kept her promise, and Nana Claire stuck to her guns with trying to get Len to pick a nice girl and settle down. The pressure of pretending to be just friends when outside of Bones’ bedroom and with anyone but Joanna alone got to be too much, and when Nana Claire suggested they go out on Christmas Eve for some last minute shopping, Jim pretended to have a headache and roped Bones into taking care of him while the grandparents and Joanna headed out to the local mall.
Before they left, Papa Horatio pulled Bones aside and hugged him close, telling him in an undertone, “You take care of Jim now.” Bones pulled back to stare at his grandfather incredulously and could only stand there dumbly as Papa Horatio winked at him once before leaving the house.
With a flush high on his cheeks, Bones went back to his and Jim’s room, sitting next to where Jim lay on the bed with his eyes closed. “They’re gone, Jim,” Bones said, voice still a little shell-shocked. Jim opened his eyes, the bright blue even brighter with question. “I think Papa Horatio knows, Jim.”
Jim sat up immediately, eyes wide. “What? How could he know? What did he say?” Jim asked, the three questions running into each other with barely a breath in between.
“He told me to take care of you,” Bones replied with a slight smirk, his shock giving way to an idea. Bones leaned down and pressed a kiss to Jim’s cheek.
Jim took the hint, flipping Bones onto his back and pressing him into the mattress. Almost immediately Jim attacked the sensitive areas of Bones’ neck, concentrating on unraveling the tension present in Bones lately and his control.
~*~
“Now, Claire, you didn’t forget anything. Come on now and let’s go get those-” Papa Horatio cut off as a hoarse whimper came from up the stairs followed by quiet laughter. Papa Horatio and Nana Claire paused for a moment and another sound issued down the stairs, this time accompanied by words.
“Jim, come on please, darlin’. Stop teasing. We don’t know when they’ll… Fuck, Jim! Yes, right there. Ah fuck. Come on. Fuck me, Jim. Fuck me, please!”
Both Papa Horatio and Nana Claire knew that voice as Leo’s, but they’d never heard that particular tone before. It didn’t take much imagination to guess what was going on up there, and Papa Horatio turned to look at his wife, ushering her back out the door and raising his eyebrows as he said, “I told you he didn’t need your help to settle down again. He’s got that Jim to settle him.”
Joanna peeked up at them, and, upon hearing Papa Horatio’s words, piped up with a grin, “Does this mean I can call him Daddy Jim now? They told me I couldn’t until you knew they were married.” Both adults looked at her in shock, and she realized she had spilled the secret anyway. Sheepishly, Joanna looked up at her daddy’s grandparents and said, “Um… Oops?”
Fin