Fic: Breaking Orbit | STXI | Joanna McCoy, others | PG-13 | 2/6
Title: Breaking Orbit: II. Defying Gravity
Author: saavikam77
Artist: team_fen
Fanmixer: bonesofyou
Beta Reader: acroamatica
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Character/Pairing(s): Joanna McCoy, with Jim Kirk/Leonard McCoy, Jocelyn Treadway, Gaila(/Scotty), Chris Pike, Spock, Winona Kirk, Sulu(/Chekov), and an OC (Teva) all in supporting roles
Rating: (this chapter) PG-13
Word Count: (this chapter) 5,174
Summary: Joanna McCoy has big plans for herself, and she isn't about to let anyone hold her back. She'll do things her way, even if it means breaking the rules and burning bridges behind her. Five times Joanna ran away, and one time she didn't.
Chapter Summary: Age 14. Joanna pushes her luck to get where she wants to go, and forces her Momma's hand. Luckily, her Daddy sees the situation for what it is.
Disclaimer: Paramount and CBS own everything but Teva (she's all mine!). I'm making no money off this story. Darnit!
Master Post | Next Chapter
II. Defying Gravity
This was not how Joanna wanted to be spending her Freshman year of high school, at all. Sure, she'd longed to be out amongst the stars since she'd first understood that her Daddy worked out there, but not like this, not stuck aboard some stuffy diplomatic transport with her Momma and Clay, of all people. Certainly not learning Terran history from a computer, and having her work graded by said computer and again, Clay.
Even with the 'freedom' the situation supposedly provided, the hypothetical ability to learn at her own pace, it just felt too much like prison. There were so many things she missed about really going to school. Her friends, for one. Having that outside contact away from home had helped keep her sane when her Momma had decided to marry the bastard that wound up luring her out into the Diplomatic Corps. Proper breaks, for two. Lunch with friends, breathers between classes, they were essential. Now, all she had was time to go pee when she needed to, and her lunch was eaten mid-reading. And of course, there were the much shorter days. Homework was bad enough before, and she loved learning, naturally, but this was too much. Now her lessons seemed to stretch on into eternity, as if her Momma was afraid she'd get into trouble if she had too much time on her hands, even way the heck out here with no place to go and nothing else to do.
And didn't that explain everything? Ever since the last time, when Joanna was eleven, her Momma hadn't much let her out of her sight. Dragging her up here on their small transport had been only the latest effort to keep her under constant observation. Couldn't let the wild child have the chance to run off again, oh, no. Especially not with her Daddy out there waiting to corrupt her even more than she already had been.
Twirling her stylus between her fingers, Joanna seethed over the whole situation. She hated Clay, despised her Momma, and just wanted to get the hell off this tiny ship. She felt like she couldn't breathe most of the time, like she'd been shut up in a box and packed away with the worst education program ever. God knew she'd learned about all she could from this damned computer. They didn't even get regular updates for the program from the world-net!
Of course, there were much better programs out there, much better environments to learn in.
Programs and environments such as Starfleet Junior Academy.
Joanna had been thinking about the planet-side school for the kids of deployed officers for months already, not that it had come to much. Every time she'd mentioned the possibility to her Momma, all she'd gotten in return was a flat-out 'no', with that sour-lemon look, like anything associated with Starfleet was the work of the Devil. Like a good school with a great sciences and engineering program and a terrific reputation was to be avoided at all costs just because of its association with the Fleet and because it happened to have a stellar Starfleet JROTC. God forbid Joanna live in a dorm with people her own age, under the watchful eyes of serious instructors that probably wouldn't let her get away with any damn thing at all.
And she could damned well forget living without someone cursin' at her all the damned time, tryin' to make her feel like a piece of shit just for being who she was.
Finally fed up, her face burning with frustration, Joanna heaved a sigh and set back to work at her PADD, closing out the history program. A quick search through the world-net via their meager subspace connection, and she found exactly what she needed: all the forms to get her enrolled in the school of her choice. The only thing she'd need was the signatures.
One trip to meet up with her Daddy to convince him to badger her Momma into agreeing, and she'd be on her way. And if she got to hang out with Uncle Jim―Daddy Jim, now―and spend a few days on the Enterprise, well, all the better. She missed all the crew she'd met three years ago like crazy, her awesome Aunt Gaila especially.
Grinning to herself with wicked glee, she checked the transport's itinerary for their next scheduled stop, then glanced out the small window at the stars streaking by.
Starfleet, here I come.
~*~*~*~
Her neck craned to try to see over the bustling crowd in the spaceport in Rigel IV's capital city, Joanna hurried along with the flow, her eyes peeled for Federation security and unsavory types alike as her Daddy's constant worried ranting ran on repeat through her head. Having made the first long leg of her journey after skipping out on her Momma all the way back on Altair VI a week and a half ago, she still had to catch her ride from here to Starbase 12, where she knew from her last message from Daddy Jim that the Enterprise was scheduled to dock for a two-week stop-over to restock and get some R&R in just three days, emergency situations notwithstanding.
But planning ahead had only gotten her so far, not that she wasn't a hundred percent sure she could still get to Starbase 12 even if things went sour at this stage. A little batting of her eyelashes, a quick flash of her winning Southern smile, a touch of the McCoy charm, and she'd have either a new ticket or a free ride, no sweat.
Problem was, it was a pretty safe bet that her Momma had already put out word she was a runaway, hence all the trying to slip past security. She'd known from the get-go that Federation Space Transport was out, altogether, which had just left the smaller transport companies and independent owner-operated outfits for her to book her tickets. If she could only squeeze through the crowd headed into the Federation docking ports without being recognized on her way to the smaller ports at the far end of the station, she'd be home free.
Ducking to hide her face as she swept past a security detail at an unofficial checkpoint, she breathed deep and continued on. Two more port junctions to get through before she could breathe easier, just―
“Joanna Barbara McCoy?”
The voice behind her turned her blood cold in a heartbeat and stopped her in her tracks, the crowd continuing to flow around her. No way. No damned way. Not now.
“Miss, I think you'd better come with me,” the clipped tone of the security officer she hadn't even known was there insisted.
Turning slowly, she tried to smile over the impulse to shriek and run as adrenaline thrummed through her whole body. “Heh, was I that obvious?” she said, feeling the rug pulled out from under her. Dammit, she was almost there!
“Yes, ma'am, you were,” the broad-shouldered officer replied with a hint of a smirk. “Now, if you'll come with me, we can get this all sorted out.”
~*~*~*~
She had to admit, the security officer was cute. Dark cropped hair, tight little booty. Yum. Probably way too old for her, darn her rotten luck. She woulda' tried to charm him into letting her go if she thought she could get away with it.
But that was neither here nor there at this point. Once he'd weaseled her destination and reason for takin' off out of her, he'd promptly led her to a teeny-tiny holding cell.
A cell that was dim and too hot, and smelled faintly of vomit and old piss, much like that little bathroom on that bus all those years ago.
The second the secure forcefield buzzed into life, Joanna slumped down onto the little cot, feeling suddenly suffocated. As if Momma's transport wasn't bad enough, this was like tryin' to get comfortable in a stinky sardine can, even with one wall nothing but a forcefield.
Which just made her think of her Daddy.
Goddamn claustrophobia bullshit.
She wasn't like her Daddy. She wasn't.
As much as she loved him, some of the comparisons were getting kind of old. Her Momma still hadn't let her live down that puking incident on that shuttle, brought it up whenever Joanna had something great to share about her Daddy. And the stupid claustrophobia. If her Momma or Clay even got an inkling that she was feeling cooped up, they'd get this smirk on their faces like it served her right for being Leonard McCoy's little bitch of a daughter. Gotta be neurotic, just like him, gotta run away, just like him.
It wasn't goddamn fair!
Punching the mattress with a clenched fist, she growled into the stale air of the cell, her face hot and her breath coming harder as she hated everyone and everything for a good, long minute. It wasn't her fault that she was a little bit screwed up. All she wanted was to get the hell away from her Momma and Clay, and not have to deal with any more of their BS. Then maybe she could have a normal relationship with her Daddy and not feel like she had to both live up to everything he'd done and not be like him at all.
“Miss McCoy? Communication for you.”
Glancing up from her pity party, she saw the flicker as the forcefield was lowered, and when the security officer beckoned to her again, she was all too happy to get her ass back out of that cell. He led her to a small comm station where a 'call holding' screen waited for her.
A deep breath, and she sat and pressed the button to connect the call.
“Joanna McCoy, I could skin you alive!” her Momma spat when she appeared on the screen, her lip quivering and nostrils flared. “Here I thought I could finally trust you again, and you just have to go and pull this crap! And probably off to see your Daddy again, I bet.”
“Momma, I―” Joanna tried to start, her gut twisted into a heavy knot.
“Don't you 'Momma' me, Missy,” her Momma hissed back. “If it was up to me, I'd let you rot in that cell for a few weeks, teach you your lesson. God knows you haven't learned it yet. But as it turns out, your Daddy's ship is just a day and a half out from Rigel. He'll be picking you up. And when you get back here, you can bet your sweet little Georgia peach ass you won't be setting foot off this ship for the next three years.”
“Momma!” she tried again. “You can't!”
“Oh, you're damned right I can, you little trouble-making bitch. I've had it up to here with your arrogant, holier-than-thou act, behavin' like the world and all of space is your damned playground. Got news for you, Missy, you may be your Daddy's daughter, but you're my responsibility, and there won't be any more of this monkey business on my watch, oh no―”
“Stop it!” Joanna finally cried, her eyes stinging from the well of tears she couldn't stop in the face of her Momma's tirade. “You can't keep me locked up, not anymore. I don't care what you think about me or Daddy, I'm goin' to that school, and you can't damn well stop me! There ain't a damn thing you or Clay can do about it, either. Soon as Enterprise gets here, I'm gone. Goodbye, Momma.” With that, she stabbed the button to cut off the transmission, and the look of utter shock was the last thing she saw of her Momma before the screen went black.
Swiping a hand across her eyes, she bit back a sob and straightened herself before sweeping her long hair back from her face.
“You all right, miss?” the cute security officer asked tentatively, passing her a tissue.
“Yeah, I guess,” she answered, dabbing at her eyes to dry them properly as she stood to follow him back to her cell. So much for charm, and getting a plan to come together. But if she had to fight to get where she wanted―needed―to be, then so be it. Fight, she would, and her Momma could just go straight to hell.
~*~*~*~
The moment the shimmering effect of the transporter died away, Joanna caught the almost-disapproving smirk on Daddy Jim's face as he leaned against the control console, arms crossed over his chest. She didn't know whether to squeal with glee and leap from the pad to hug him or break down in tears from the embarrassment of it all. Settling for an involuntary blush and a weak smirk of her own, she stepped down and met him halfway, glad when he opened his arms and swept her into the hug she'd never admit to have been hoping for.
She sucked in a breath to try to explain herself, but her throat tried to close up around a lump when she tried to speak. Dammit, her Daddy was gonna have her hide for pulling what she'd just done, and she knew it. Squeezing Daddy Jim harder was all she could do to make up for her lack of speech.
“Come on, let's get you to quarters,” Jim said after a while, letting her go and squeezing her shoulder comfortingly before escorting her out into the corridor and to the turbolift. “Bones is mid-crisis in Sickbay thanks to a little malfunction with the phaser array, but he should be free soon.”
After the lift doors slid shut, Joanna slumped back against the wall as they descended to D-deck, finally finding her voice. “He's gonna hand me right back to Momma, isn't he?” Better to ask now, and get it over with; if anyone would be honest with her, it would be Daddy Jim.
“Dunno. Probably depends on how fast your mom's ship can get to Starbase 12,” he answered, just as honestly as she'd expected.
“Yeah. I kinda figured,” she nodded back, tucking an errant lock of dark hair back over her left ear.
Jim smiled then, just as the turbolift came to a stop and opened to admit them to D-deck. “Should be at least a few days after we get there, if you're lucky. Maybe enough time for Bones to cool off and enjoy having you here.”
Another nod and a breath of silent relief, and Joanna followed him out and toward her Daddy's quarters. Only, Jim turned right at the corridor junction, instead of left.
“Um, Daddy's quarters are that way,” she said in confusion, hooking her thumb behind her as she paused in the middle of the corridor.
“Not anymore,” Jim smirked at her with a backward glance, before continuing on.
“Wait, are you serious?” she gaped, catching up with him as this new development dawned on her in its entirety and plowed everything else right out of her mind.
Daddy Jim's smirk widened to a full grin for a moment as he led the way to the outer ring of quarters, and his―and now her Daddy's―quarters. “Bones moved in two months ago. We kind of wanted it to be a surprise.”
Joanna couldn't help the happiness that finally bubbled over, and she practically tackled him with a sideways hug as he entered the security code to open the door. “Daddy Jim, that is awesome!” she grinned, only letting go when he ushered her inside. Dropping her well-worn pack on the sofa in the living room, she took in the space, noting all the little things that said her Daddy really did live here: a few antique medical texts lining a shelf, a blue uniform tunic slung over the back of a chair, two different-sized pairs of boots sitting underneath the desk, and a medical tricorder sitting on the desk next to another antique medical text, Gray's Anatomy. If that didn't prove it, she didn't know what would.
Propping her hands on her hips, she turned to Daddy Jim, still grinning. “So, spill. How long did it take you before Daddy gave up and moved over here?”
Jim only shook his head and leaned on the back of a chair with his palms. “You know your dad. I've been working on him almost since we got the Enterprise.”
Joanna whistled. “Must have been a long five years, then. And he never said a word to me.” Dropping down onto the couch, she clasped her hands in front of her and sat primly. “Looks like we've both got things to answer for.”
“Don't get too cocky,” Jim chuckled, before looking at her more seriously. “You hopped two transports with a fake ID, wound up in detention, and cost Enterprise two days' travel. That's no small thing, Joanna.”
Deflating as her embarrassment came rushing back, she blew out a heavy breath and her shoulders slumped. “Yeah. I know. But in my defense, I woulda' made it all the way to Starbase 12 if they hadn't caught me, and it woulda' been no trouble for nobody.”
“You really think it's that simple, don't you? Joanna, as far as anyone knew, you vanished into thin air at a crowded space port! That's a far cry from catching a bus and flight to San Francisco.”
“I know,” she murmured again, not able to look Daddy Jim in the eyes anymore. Here she'd thought he'd be on her side. “But I'm fine. I can take care of myself,” she insisted.
“Yeah, you can,” he admitted. “But that's not the point. You―I can't believe I'm the one saying this,” he half-chuckled in disbelief, “but you can't do things like this and not expect there to be some consequences. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about here.”
Swallowing around the angry lump in her throat, she clenched her jaw and blew a breath out her nose. Of course he knew what he was talking about; he was the king of getting in trouble, if everything her Daddy said was true.
“Okay,” she said at last. “I get it, all right? I guess... I guess things could be a lot worse.” Putting on a slight smirk, she looked back up at Jim. “I could still be sitting in that stinky little cell.” She almost shuddered to think about the tiny room she'd been detained in.
“Yeah, instead you get to ride the pull-out couch in the Captain's quarters on the Federation Flagship,” Jim went on dryly. “You're damned lucky. And while we're on the subject of holding cells, you're confined to quarters until we get to Starbase 12, got it?”
Her heart sinking a little more, Joanna nodded in agreement. It wasn't exactly the happy reunion she'd been hoping for, but even stuck in here she had it easy. Well, at least until her Daddy got back from Sickbay. With him on the war-path and her Momma steamed and probably gritting her teeth and cursing a blue streak all the way from Altair VI, it would be a miracle if she ever got to see anything more than that damned diplomatic transport for the rest of her natural life.
~*~*~*~
Three hours after being left to await her sentencing, it was no surprise that she was halfway sick with anxiety when the door finally slid open and her Daddy came into the room, scowl firmly in place. The way he pulled her up into a fierce hug gave her hope that maybe he hadn't been plotting her doom, after all, and the pit of her stomach unclenched fractionally as he murmured into her hair, “Joanna McCoy, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Again. What on God's Green Earth were you thinking?”
“I'm sorry, Daddy,” she murmured in return, and wasn't this starting to sound like a broken record?
Pulling away, he smoothed down her hair and clasped her face in his large hands, giving her his most intense look, with one eyebrow raised. “Sorry doesn't cut it, sweetheart. You could have been killed out there! Do you have any idea how many things could've gone wrong if you'd run into the wrong people, or gotten on the wrong transport? Especially on Rigel, of all places! Or do I have to have Lieutenant Gaila tell you all about the Orion slave traders again?”
Rolling her eyes angrily, Joanna pulled out of his grasp, her stomach instantly knotted again as frustration started to pound through her veins. So much for the possibility of parole.
“I got it, all right? Space is bad, pirates are sneaky, Han Solo is a pop-culture myth, and you can't get a permit to do a damned illegal thing.”
Her Daddy grimaced. “I knew it was a mistake for Jim to tell you about all that. And that wasn't even me that did that. It was some alternate, older me with shit for brains and a Vulcan stuck in his head, driving him insane,” he finished with a wild-eyed sneer.
“Whatever, I at least had a plan, you know.”
“A plan? That's just fantastic, you had a plan,” he rolled his own eyes in exasperation, sweeping an arm out in a wide arc. “You're fourteen goddamn years old, Joanna! Hopping a flight across the US is one thing, this is serious!”
“Yeah, yeah, I already heard all that from Daddy Jim,” she shot back, noticing the way the vein in the side of his neck throbbed as he wound himself up further. “Jesus, don't give yourself an aneurysm, okay? I'm fine.”
“But you very well might not have been! Running off on damned fool crusades like these could get you hurt, or much worse, and I just don't have it in me to keep after you, not when I have enough trouble keeping up with all the crap Jim pulls on―” Cutting himself off abruptly, her Daddy scrubbed a hand over his face and turned away from her to stare out the large window at the stars beyond.
Oh.
Oh.
Joanna's heart crawled up into her throat, and suddenly she couldn't help the prickle of tears at her eyes and their sheen over her vision when she tried to blink them away. A deep breath, and she swallowed hard. “Daddy,” she started with an aborted step forward. “Daddy, I'm sorry. I... I didn't....”
“No,” he said, still staring out at space. “You didn't.”
At the hard judgment in his voice, she just couldn't take it anymore. Not after the things Momma had said, after what Daddy Jim had said. It was just too much.
Turning her back on her Daddy as a sob wrenched itself from her throat, Joanna fled the room in a few quick steps, confinement orders be damned. She didn't even stop as she passed Jim in the corridor when he turned the corner, his shout of, “Joanna, wait!” falling away behind her as she ran for the nearest turbolift.
Her mind spun with all the things they'd said, and she could just imagine her Daddy telling Jim not to bother with her, after all she'd put them through. Who the hell was she kidding? She was nothing but a damned burden on all of them, and it was past time she got clear and stopped being such a nuisance. Not like they had time or care to put into giving a damn, anyway.
Finally alone in the turbolift as it took her as far away as she could get, Joanna slumped to the floor and just let go, releasing all her frustration with screaming sobs and hot tears.
~*~*~*~
It was a long time before someone found her in the little observation room overlooking the shuttle bay, her tears long dried and anger mostly spent. When the green-skinned woman came up next to her and sat down on the floor, folding her legs beneath her, Joanna looked over and offered a weak smile. “Lieutenant Gaila. I figured they'd send security after me. You know, since I skipped out on my confinement.”
“What happened to Aunt Gaila?” the woman teased lightly with a soft smile in return. “Security tracked you from D-deck, but your Dad asked me to come talk to you. He's really worried about you.”
Joanna shook her head, absently fidgeting with the blue and silver watch that was still too big for her wrist. “Right. So worried that he can't even face me. It's been over a year since we've seen each other, and he can't even come talk to me himself.”
“That's hardly fair. I got the impression that he was pretty upset.”
“Well... he should be,” she said, staring back out at the quiet shuttles, all parked neatly in their rows. If she thought she could get away with it, and had the piloting skills, she'd have taken one just to spite everyone. They couldn't keep her locked up. They couldn't.
After a long, silent moment, Gaila started again, “I understand you want to go to Starfleet Junior Academy.”
“Yeah,” Joanna sighed. So much for that goal.
“It's a good school. I attended their program for two years before joining Starfleet.”
At that, her interest was piqued, and she looked at the Lieutenant with a raised eyebrow. “Really?”
“Mm-hmm,” Gaila nodded. “After I got away from the slavers and came to Earth, the scientists that rescued me got me enrolled, took care of everything for me.”
Joanna's shoulders slumped with her own disappointment. “So why won't Momma and Daddy just let me go, already? At least then I'd be out of their―” But she broke off, too pissed off to continue.
“Hair?” the older woman finished for her.
“Exactly.”
“I doubt it's that simple. You know your father worries about you,” Gaila explained, and before Joanna could protest, she went on, “but not like you think. I think he worries more about how your mother treats you, not that he's ever said anything to that effect. It's more in his body language. And trust me, I know body language. He gets all tense at any mention of her, really broody and twitchy, and if you get mentioned in the same sentence, he sort of implodes a little. It's kind of a scary thing to see, and I've only seen it twice in the whole time I've known him. He's quite private about his past, and about you, even with people he trusts.”
Joanna felt a little bit blindsided by all that, and didn't really know how to respond. “He... really?”
“Oh, yes. He's very protective of you.”
“Like the perfect little princess he still thinks I am, I bet,” she interrupted.
Gaila gave her an understanding look. “It seems to me like you might have shattered that illusion a little bit today. Probably why Doctor McCoy's been so cranky.”
Joanna let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah... I guess that's possible,” she forced herself to admit.
“And! I'm sure that he wants you to go to that school just as much as you want yourself to go.”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely,” Gaila nodded.
“Well, good. 'Cuz he was just gonna have to deal with the fact that I'm not about to let anybody dictate terms anym―”
But the rest of her assertion died on her lips as movement down in the bay caught her attention. Her jaw dropped open as she saw the two gold-clad Lieutenants stumbling through the bay, seemingly attached at the face, before they found an open shuttle and disappeared inside. “Was that―?”
“Lieutenants Sulu and Chekov,” Gaila giggled beside her. “They're very enthusiastic, I must admit, even after three years together.”
Joanna couldn't help a look of surprise. “Huh. I never would have guessed that, well, them. Hell, Chekov was just a kid, too, last time I was here. That's almost kinda creepy.”
“Do I detect a little crush on Pavel, there?”
“What? No way! Ew!” she scoffed. “He's cute, yeah, but way too old for me.”
Gaila gave a full-throated laugh. “It's good you see that. Your father might have had to jab poor Pavel extra hard with a hypospray next time his physical comes around. And besides, those two are wrapped around each other's little fingers, anyway.”
Groaning at the crazy images that conjured up, Joanna sat back on her palms and shrugged. “Well, good for them, I guess. It works for Daddy and Jim.”
“It does,” Gaila agreed with a decisive nod and soft smile, before the two of them lapsed into an easy silence, Joanna trying not to watch the occupied shuttle occasionally shudder just slightly.
After everything, it wasn't even the craziest thing that had happened that week. The most entertaining and definitely most disturbing, but heck, it was barely even top five of the craziest.
“Y'know,” she said after a while, tearing her eyes away from the shuttle bay despite her morbid curiosity, “Even if this whole trip was a huge mistake, I gotta admit it's been interestin'.”
The older woman gave her a mischievous look. “Give it time; you only just got here.”
Shaking her head, Joanna chuckled, then sighed, feeling just a tad bit better. Her Daddy was still gonna kick her skinny butt for running off―again!―but maybe she'd be able to talk to him more calmly this time. “Thanks, Aunt Gaila.”
Gaila brushed Joanna's dark hair back over her shoulder with a slender green hand and smiled. “Any time, sweetie. Any time.”
~*~*~*~
“Daddy?”
It was probably too much to hope that he wasn't still hopping mad, even after having almost four hours to cool off, but Joanna could still wish if she wanted, and that didn't make her Daddy's perfect little princess.
Finding him bent over his and Jim's desk in their quarters, working on a PADD as she stepped inside and the door slid shut behind her, she continued, “I'm sorry. Really sorry.”
He sat back with a slight sigh and dropped the PADD on the desk before leveling a steady gaze at her. “Yeah. Me, too, darlin'. I'm still upset at the stunt you pulled, make no mistake, but... I suppose... I could've handled it better. I can admit that.”
“Thank you, Daddy. It was just... I couldn't spend one more minute on that ship with Momma,” Joanna explained, trying not to whine. “I just want to go to that school, and―”
“I know. I know,” her Daddy cut her off gently. “I talked to your Momma before we picked you up, and again while you were down in the shuttle bay.”
“You... you did?” Her heart climbed up into her throat again and she tried to swallow it down, unsure of where this was headed.
“Yeah. She made it pretty clear how she felt about the whole thing. About Starfleet and me in particular.”
“Oh.” If her Momma had said to him only half of what she'd said to Joanna over the years, then there wasn't much else to hash out on the subject.
Standing, her Daddy grabbed another PADD off the desktop and handed it to her. “So, we made a few arrangements.”
Joanna scrolled through the documents on the PADD quickly then, noticing especially what was labeled as a custody agreement and several official Starfleet forms... including the ones for the Junior Academy. “Daddy?” she said, a sense of real, honest-to-goodness hope finally spreading through her as she looked up to catch his little ghost of a smile. “Is this all... what I think it is?”
“Sure is,” he answered, stepping close to pull her into a gentle hug. “You're my responsibility now, sweetheart, and I'm not about to do you like your Momma did. If you want to go back to San Francisco for school, then so be it.”
And with that simple declaration, for the first time in forever, Joanna felt a weight lifted off her shoulders.
~*~*~*~
Author: saavikam77
Artist: team_fen
Fanmixer: bonesofyou
Beta Reader: acroamatica
Fandom: Star Trek XI
Character/Pairing(s): Joanna McCoy, with Jim Kirk/Leonard McCoy, Jocelyn Treadway, Gaila(/Scotty), Chris Pike, Spock, Winona Kirk, Sulu(/Chekov), and an OC (Teva) all in supporting roles
Rating: (this chapter) PG-13
Word Count: (this chapter) 5,174
Summary: Joanna McCoy has big plans for herself, and she isn't about to let anyone hold her back. She'll do things her way, even if it means breaking the rules and burning bridges behind her. Five times Joanna ran away, and one time she didn't.
Chapter Summary: Age 14. Joanna pushes her luck to get where she wants to go, and forces her Momma's hand. Luckily, her Daddy sees the situation for what it is.
Disclaimer: Paramount and CBS own everything but Teva (she's all mine!). I'm making no money off this story. Darnit!
Master Post | Next Chapter
II. Defying Gravity
This was not how Joanna wanted to be spending her Freshman year of high school, at all. Sure, she'd longed to be out amongst the stars since she'd first understood that her Daddy worked out there, but not like this, not stuck aboard some stuffy diplomatic transport with her Momma and Clay, of all people. Certainly not learning Terran history from a computer, and having her work graded by said computer and again, Clay.
Even with the 'freedom' the situation supposedly provided, the hypothetical ability to learn at her own pace, it just felt too much like prison. There were so many things she missed about really going to school. Her friends, for one. Having that outside contact away from home had helped keep her sane when her Momma had decided to marry the bastard that wound up luring her out into the Diplomatic Corps. Proper breaks, for two. Lunch with friends, breathers between classes, they were essential. Now, all she had was time to go pee when she needed to, and her lunch was eaten mid-reading. And of course, there were the much shorter days. Homework was bad enough before, and she loved learning, naturally, but this was too much. Now her lessons seemed to stretch on into eternity, as if her Momma was afraid she'd get into trouble if she had too much time on her hands, even way the heck out here with no place to go and nothing else to do.
And didn't that explain everything? Ever since the last time, when Joanna was eleven, her Momma hadn't much let her out of her sight. Dragging her up here on their small transport had been only the latest effort to keep her under constant observation. Couldn't let the wild child have the chance to run off again, oh, no. Especially not with her Daddy out there waiting to corrupt her even more than she already had been.
Twirling her stylus between her fingers, Joanna seethed over the whole situation. She hated Clay, despised her Momma, and just wanted to get the hell off this tiny ship. She felt like she couldn't breathe most of the time, like she'd been shut up in a box and packed away with the worst education program ever. God knew she'd learned about all she could from this damned computer. They didn't even get regular updates for the program from the world-net!
Of course, there were much better programs out there, much better environments to learn in.
Programs and environments such as Starfleet Junior Academy.
Joanna had been thinking about the planet-side school for the kids of deployed officers for months already, not that it had come to much. Every time she'd mentioned the possibility to her Momma, all she'd gotten in return was a flat-out 'no', with that sour-lemon look, like anything associated with Starfleet was the work of the Devil. Like a good school with a great sciences and engineering program and a terrific reputation was to be avoided at all costs just because of its association with the Fleet and because it happened to have a stellar Starfleet JROTC. God forbid Joanna live in a dorm with people her own age, under the watchful eyes of serious instructors that probably wouldn't let her get away with any damn thing at all.
And she could damned well forget living without someone cursin' at her all the damned time, tryin' to make her feel like a piece of shit just for being who she was.
Finally fed up, her face burning with frustration, Joanna heaved a sigh and set back to work at her PADD, closing out the history program. A quick search through the world-net via their meager subspace connection, and she found exactly what she needed: all the forms to get her enrolled in the school of her choice. The only thing she'd need was the signatures.
One trip to meet up with her Daddy to convince him to badger her Momma into agreeing, and she'd be on her way. And if she got to hang out with Uncle Jim―Daddy Jim, now―and spend a few days on the Enterprise, well, all the better. She missed all the crew she'd met three years ago like crazy, her awesome Aunt Gaila especially.
Grinning to herself with wicked glee, she checked the transport's itinerary for their next scheduled stop, then glanced out the small window at the stars streaking by.
Starfleet, here I come.
~*~*~*~
Her neck craned to try to see over the bustling crowd in the spaceport in Rigel IV's capital city, Joanna hurried along with the flow, her eyes peeled for Federation security and unsavory types alike as her Daddy's constant worried ranting ran on repeat through her head. Having made the first long leg of her journey after skipping out on her Momma all the way back on Altair VI a week and a half ago, she still had to catch her ride from here to Starbase 12, where she knew from her last message from Daddy Jim that the Enterprise was scheduled to dock for a two-week stop-over to restock and get some R&R in just three days, emergency situations notwithstanding.
But planning ahead had only gotten her so far, not that she wasn't a hundred percent sure she could still get to Starbase 12 even if things went sour at this stage. A little batting of her eyelashes, a quick flash of her winning Southern smile, a touch of the McCoy charm, and she'd have either a new ticket or a free ride, no sweat.
Problem was, it was a pretty safe bet that her Momma had already put out word she was a runaway, hence all the trying to slip past security. She'd known from the get-go that Federation Space Transport was out, altogether, which had just left the smaller transport companies and independent owner-operated outfits for her to book her tickets. If she could only squeeze through the crowd headed into the Federation docking ports without being recognized on her way to the smaller ports at the far end of the station, she'd be home free.
Ducking to hide her face as she swept past a security detail at an unofficial checkpoint, she breathed deep and continued on. Two more port junctions to get through before she could breathe easier, just―
“Joanna Barbara McCoy?”
The voice behind her turned her blood cold in a heartbeat and stopped her in her tracks, the crowd continuing to flow around her. No way. No damned way. Not now.
“Miss, I think you'd better come with me,” the clipped tone of the security officer she hadn't even known was there insisted.
Turning slowly, she tried to smile over the impulse to shriek and run as adrenaline thrummed through her whole body. “Heh, was I that obvious?” she said, feeling the rug pulled out from under her. Dammit, she was almost there!
“Yes, ma'am, you were,” the broad-shouldered officer replied with a hint of a smirk. “Now, if you'll come with me, we can get this all sorted out.”
~*~*~*~
She had to admit, the security officer was cute. Dark cropped hair, tight little booty. Yum. Probably way too old for her, darn her rotten luck. She woulda' tried to charm him into letting her go if she thought she could get away with it.
But that was neither here nor there at this point. Once he'd weaseled her destination and reason for takin' off out of her, he'd promptly led her to a teeny-tiny holding cell.
A cell that was dim and too hot, and smelled faintly of vomit and old piss, much like that little bathroom on that bus all those years ago.
The second the secure forcefield buzzed into life, Joanna slumped down onto the little cot, feeling suddenly suffocated. As if Momma's transport wasn't bad enough, this was like tryin' to get comfortable in a stinky sardine can, even with one wall nothing but a forcefield.
Which just made her think of her Daddy.
Goddamn claustrophobia bullshit.
She wasn't like her Daddy. She wasn't.
As much as she loved him, some of the comparisons were getting kind of old. Her Momma still hadn't let her live down that puking incident on that shuttle, brought it up whenever Joanna had something great to share about her Daddy. And the stupid claustrophobia. If her Momma or Clay even got an inkling that she was feeling cooped up, they'd get this smirk on their faces like it served her right for being Leonard McCoy's little bitch of a daughter. Gotta be neurotic, just like him, gotta run away, just like him.
It wasn't goddamn fair!
Punching the mattress with a clenched fist, she growled into the stale air of the cell, her face hot and her breath coming harder as she hated everyone and everything for a good, long minute. It wasn't her fault that she was a little bit screwed up. All she wanted was to get the hell away from her Momma and Clay, and not have to deal with any more of their BS. Then maybe she could have a normal relationship with her Daddy and not feel like she had to both live up to everything he'd done and not be like him at all.
“Miss McCoy? Communication for you.”
Glancing up from her pity party, she saw the flicker as the forcefield was lowered, and when the security officer beckoned to her again, she was all too happy to get her ass back out of that cell. He led her to a small comm station where a 'call holding' screen waited for her.
A deep breath, and she sat and pressed the button to connect the call.
“Joanna McCoy, I could skin you alive!” her Momma spat when she appeared on the screen, her lip quivering and nostrils flared. “Here I thought I could finally trust you again, and you just have to go and pull this crap! And probably off to see your Daddy again, I bet.”
“Momma, I―” Joanna tried to start, her gut twisted into a heavy knot.
“Don't you 'Momma' me, Missy,” her Momma hissed back. “If it was up to me, I'd let you rot in that cell for a few weeks, teach you your lesson. God knows you haven't learned it yet. But as it turns out, your Daddy's ship is just a day and a half out from Rigel. He'll be picking you up. And when you get back here, you can bet your sweet little Georgia peach ass you won't be setting foot off this ship for the next three years.”
“Momma!” she tried again. “You can't!”
“Oh, you're damned right I can, you little trouble-making bitch. I've had it up to here with your arrogant, holier-than-thou act, behavin' like the world and all of space is your damned playground. Got news for you, Missy, you may be your Daddy's daughter, but you're my responsibility, and there won't be any more of this monkey business on my watch, oh no―”
“Stop it!” Joanna finally cried, her eyes stinging from the well of tears she couldn't stop in the face of her Momma's tirade. “You can't keep me locked up, not anymore. I don't care what you think about me or Daddy, I'm goin' to that school, and you can't damn well stop me! There ain't a damn thing you or Clay can do about it, either. Soon as Enterprise gets here, I'm gone. Goodbye, Momma.” With that, she stabbed the button to cut off the transmission, and the look of utter shock was the last thing she saw of her Momma before the screen went black.
Swiping a hand across her eyes, she bit back a sob and straightened herself before sweeping her long hair back from her face.
“You all right, miss?” the cute security officer asked tentatively, passing her a tissue.
“Yeah, I guess,” she answered, dabbing at her eyes to dry them properly as she stood to follow him back to her cell. So much for charm, and getting a plan to come together. But if she had to fight to get where she wanted―needed―to be, then so be it. Fight, she would, and her Momma could just go straight to hell.
~*~*~*~
The moment the shimmering effect of the transporter died away, Joanna caught the almost-disapproving smirk on Daddy Jim's face as he leaned against the control console, arms crossed over his chest. She didn't know whether to squeal with glee and leap from the pad to hug him or break down in tears from the embarrassment of it all. Settling for an involuntary blush and a weak smirk of her own, she stepped down and met him halfway, glad when he opened his arms and swept her into the hug she'd never admit to have been hoping for.
She sucked in a breath to try to explain herself, but her throat tried to close up around a lump when she tried to speak. Dammit, her Daddy was gonna have her hide for pulling what she'd just done, and she knew it. Squeezing Daddy Jim harder was all she could do to make up for her lack of speech.
“Come on, let's get you to quarters,” Jim said after a while, letting her go and squeezing her shoulder comfortingly before escorting her out into the corridor and to the turbolift. “Bones is mid-crisis in Sickbay thanks to a little malfunction with the phaser array, but he should be free soon.”
After the lift doors slid shut, Joanna slumped back against the wall as they descended to D-deck, finally finding her voice. “He's gonna hand me right back to Momma, isn't he?” Better to ask now, and get it over with; if anyone would be honest with her, it would be Daddy Jim.
“Dunno. Probably depends on how fast your mom's ship can get to Starbase 12,” he answered, just as honestly as she'd expected.
“Yeah. I kinda figured,” she nodded back, tucking an errant lock of dark hair back over her left ear.
Jim smiled then, just as the turbolift came to a stop and opened to admit them to D-deck. “Should be at least a few days after we get there, if you're lucky. Maybe enough time for Bones to cool off and enjoy having you here.”
Another nod and a breath of silent relief, and Joanna followed him out and toward her Daddy's quarters. Only, Jim turned right at the corridor junction, instead of left.
“Um, Daddy's quarters are that way,” she said in confusion, hooking her thumb behind her as she paused in the middle of the corridor.
“Not anymore,” Jim smirked at her with a backward glance, before continuing on.
“Wait, are you serious?” she gaped, catching up with him as this new development dawned on her in its entirety and plowed everything else right out of her mind.
Daddy Jim's smirk widened to a full grin for a moment as he led the way to the outer ring of quarters, and his―and now her Daddy's―quarters. “Bones moved in two months ago. We kind of wanted it to be a surprise.”
Joanna couldn't help the happiness that finally bubbled over, and she practically tackled him with a sideways hug as he entered the security code to open the door. “Daddy Jim, that is awesome!” she grinned, only letting go when he ushered her inside. Dropping her well-worn pack on the sofa in the living room, she took in the space, noting all the little things that said her Daddy really did live here: a few antique medical texts lining a shelf, a blue uniform tunic slung over the back of a chair, two different-sized pairs of boots sitting underneath the desk, and a medical tricorder sitting on the desk next to another antique medical text, Gray's Anatomy. If that didn't prove it, she didn't know what would.
Propping her hands on her hips, she turned to Daddy Jim, still grinning. “So, spill. How long did it take you before Daddy gave up and moved over here?”
Jim only shook his head and leaned on the back of a chair with his palms. “You know your dad. I've been working on him almost since we got the Enterprise.”
Joanna whistled. “Must have been a long five years, then. And he never said a word to me.” Dropping down onto the couch, she clasped her hands in front of her and sat primly. “Looks like we've both got things to answer for.”
“Don't get too cocky,” Jim chuckled, before looking at her more seriously. “You hopped two transports with a fake ID, wound up in detention, and cost Enterprise two days' travel. That's no small thing, Joanna.”
Deflating as her embarrassment came rushing back, she blew out a heavy breath and her shoulders slumped. “Yeah. I know. But in my defense, I woulda' made it all the way to Starbase 12 if they hadn't caught me, and it woulda' been no trouble for nobody.”
“You really think it's that simple, don't you? Joanna, as far as anyone knew, you vanished into thin air at a crowded space port! That's a far cry from catching a bus and flight to San Francisco.”
“I know,” she murmured again, not able to look Daddy Jim in the eyes anymore. Here she'd thought he'd be on her side. “But I'm fine. I can take care of myself,” she insisted.
“Yeah, you can,” he admitted. “But that's not the point. You―I can't believe I'm the one saying this,” he half-chuckled in disbelief, “but you can't do things like this and not expect there to be some consequences. Believe me, I know what I'm talking about here.”
Swallowing around the angry lump in her throat, she clenched her jaw and blew a breath out her nose. Of course he knew what he was talking about; he was the king of getting in trouble, if everything her Daddy said was true.
“Okay,” she said at last. “I get it, all right? I guess... I guess things could be a lot worse.” Putting on a slight smirk, she looked back up at Jim. “I could still be sitting in that stinky little cell.” She almost shuddered to think about the tiny room she'd been detained in.
“Yeah, instead you get to ride the pull-out couch in the Captain's quarters on the Federation Flagship,” Jim went on dryly. “You're damned lucky. And while we're on the subject of holding cells, you're confined to quarters until we get to Starbase 12, got it?”
Her heart sinking a little more, Joanna nodded in agreement. It wasn't exactly the happy reunion she'd been hoping for, but even stuck in here she had it easy. Well, at least until her Daddy got back from Sickbay. With him on the war-path and her Momma steamed and probably gritting her teeth and cursing a blue streak all the way from Altair VI, it would be a miracle if she ever got to see anything more than that damned diplomatic transport for the rest of her natural life.
~*~*~*~
Three hours after being left to await her sentencing, it was no surprise that she was halfway sick with anxiety when the door finally slid open and her Daddy came into the room, scowl firmly in place. The way he pulled her up into a fierce hug gave her hope that maybe he hadn't been plotting her doom, after all, and the pit of her stomach unclenched fractionally as he murmured into her hair, “Joanna McCoy, you nearly gave me a heart attack. Again. What on God's Green Earth were you thinking?”
“I'm sorry, Daddy,” she murmured in return, and wasn't this starting to sound like a broken record?
Pulling away, he smoothed down her hair and clasped her face in his large hands, giving her his most intense look, with one eyebrow raised. “Sorry doesn't cut it, sweetheart. You could have been killed out there! Do you have any idea how many things could've gone wrong if you'd run into the wrong people, or gotten on the wrong transport? Especially on Rigel, of all places! Or do I have to have Lieutenant Gaila tell you all about the Orion slave traders again?”
Rolling her eyes angrily, Joanna pulled out of his grasp, her stomach instantly knotted again as frustration started to pound through her veins. So much for the possibility of parole.
“I got it, all right? Space is bad, pirates are sneaky, Han Solo is a pop-culture myth, and you can't get a permit to do a damned illegal thing.”
Her Daddy grimaced. “I knew it was a mistake for Jim to tell you about all that. And that wasn't even me that did that. It was some alternate, older me with shit for brains and a Vulcan stuck in his head, driving him insane,” he finished with a wild-eyed sneer.
“Whatever, I at least had a plan, you know.”
“A plan? That's just fantastic, you had a plan,” he rolled his own eyes in exasperation, sweeping an arm out in a wide arc. “You're fourteen goddamn years old, Joanna! Hopping a flight across the US is one thing, this is serious!”
“Yeah, yeah, I already heard all that from Daddy Jim,” she shot back, noticing the way the vein in the side of his neck throbbed as he wound himself up further. “Jesus, don't give yourself an aneurysm, okay? I'm fine.”
“But you very well might not have been! Running off on damned fool crusades like these could get you hurt, or much worse, and I just don't have it in me to keep after you, not when I have enough trouble keeping up with all the crap Jim pulls on―” Cutting himself off abruptly, her Daddy scrubbed a hand over his face and turned away from her to stare out the large window at the stars beyond.
Oh.
Oh.
Joanna's heart crawled up into her throat, and suddenly she couldn't help the prickle of tears at her eyes and their sheen over her vision when she tried to blink them away. A deep breath, and she swallowed hard. “Daddy,” she started with an aborted step forward. “Daddy, I'm sorry. I... I didn't....”
“No,” he said, still staring out at space. “You didn't.”
At the hard judgment in his voice, she just couldn't take it anymore. Not after the things Momma had said, after what Daddy Jim had said. It was just too much.
Turning her back on her Daddy as a sob wrenched itself from her throat, Joanna fled the room in a few quick steps, confinement orders be damned. She didn't even stop as she passed Jim in the corridor when he turned the corner, his shout of, “Joanna, wait!” falling away behind her as she ran for the nearest turbolift.
Her mind spun with all the things they'd said, and she could just imagine her Daddy telling Jim not to bother with her, after all she'd put them through. Who the hell was she kidding? She was nothing but a damned burden on all of them, and it was past time she got clear and stopped being such a nuisance. Not like they had time or care to put into giving a damn, anyway.
Finally alone in the turbolift as it took her as far away as she could get, Joanna slumped to the floor and just let go, releasing all her frustration with screaming sobs and hot tears.
~*~*~*~
It was a long time before someone found her in the little observation room overlooking the shuttle bay, her tears long dried and anger mostly spent. When the green-skinned woman came up next to her and sat down on the floor, folding her legs beneath her, Joanna looked over and offered a weak smile. “Lieutenant Gaila. I figured they'd send security after me. You know, since I skipped out on my confinement.”
“What happened to Aunt Gaila?” the woman teased lightly with a soft smile in return. “Security tracked you from D-deck, but your Dad asked me to come talk to you. He's really worried about you.”
Joanna shook her head, absently fidgeting with the blue and silver watch that was still too big for her wrist. “Right. So worried that he can't even face me. It's been over a year since we've seen each other, and he can't even come talk to me himself.”
“That's hardly fair. I got the impression that he was pretty upset.”
“Well... he should be,” she said, staring back out at the quiet shuttles, all parked neatly in their rows. If she thought she could get away with it, and had the piloting skills, she'd have taken one just to spite everyone. They couldn't keep her locked up. They couldn't.
After a long, silent moment, Gaila started again, “I understand you want to go to Starfleet Junior Academy.”
“Yeah,” Joanna sighed. So much for that goal.
“It's a good school. I attended their program for two years before joining Starfleet.”
At that, her interest was piqued, and she looked at the Lieutenant with a raised eyebrow. “Really?”
“Mm-hmm,” Gaila nodded. “After I got away from the slavers and came to Earth, the scientists that rescued me got me enrolled, took care of everything for me.”
Joanna's shoulders slumped with her own disappointment. “So why won't Momma and Daddy just let me go, already? At least then I'd be out of their―” But she broke off, too pissed off to continue.
“Hair?” the older woman finished for her.
“Exactly.”
“I doubt it's that simple. You know your father worries about you,” Gaila explained, and before Joanna could protest, she went on, “but not like you think. I think he worries more about how your mother treats you, not that he's ever said anything to that effect. It's more in his body language. And trust me, I know body language. He gets all tense at any mention of her, really broody and twitchy, and if you get mentioned in the same sentence, he sort of implodes a little. It's kind of a scary thing to see, and I've only seen it twice in the whole time I've known him. He's quite private about his past, and about you, even with people he trusts.”
Joanna felt a little bit blindsided by all that, and didn't really know how to respond. “He... really?”
“Oh, yes. He's very protective of you.”
“Like the perfect little princess he still thinks I am, I bet,” she interrupted.
Gaila gave her an understanding look. “It seems to me like you might have shattered that illusion a little bit today. Probably why Doctor McCoy's been so cranky.”
Joanna let out a heavy sigh. “Yeah... I guess that's possible,” she forced herself to admit.
“And! I'm sure that he wants you to go to that school just as much as you want yourself to go.”
“Yeah?”
“Definitely,” Gaila nodded.
“Well, good. 'Cuz he was just gonna have to deal with the fact that I'm not about to let anybody dictate terms anym―”
But the rest of her assertion died on her lips as movement down in the bay caught her attention. Her jaw dropped open as she saw the two gold-clad Lieutenants stumbling through the bay, seemingly attached at the face, before they found an open shuttle and disappeared inside. “Was that―?”
“Lieutenants Sulu and Chekov,” Gaila giggled beside her. “They're very enthusiastic, I must admit, even after three years together.”
Joanna couldn't help a look of surprise. “Huh. I never would have guessed that, well, them. Hell, Chekov was just a kid, too, last time I was here. That's almost kinda creepy.”
“Do I detect a little crush on Pavel, there?”
“What? No way! Ew!” she scoffed. “He's cute, yeah, but way too old for me.”
Gaila gave a full-throated laugh. “It's good you see that. Your father might have had to jab poor Pavel extra hard with a hypospray next time his physical comes around. And besides, those two are wrapped around each other's little fingers, anyway.”
Groaning at the crazy images that conjured up, Joanna sat back on her palms and shrugged. “Well, good for them, I guess. It works for Daddy and Jim.”
“It does,” Gaila agreed with a decisive nod and soft smile, before the two of them lapsed into an easy silence, Joanna trying not to watch the occupied shuttle occasionally shudder just slightly.
After everything, it wasn't even the craziest thing that had happened that week. The most entertaining and definitely most disturbing, but heck, it was barely even top five of the craziest.
“Y'know,” she said after a while, tearing her eyes away from the shuttle bay despite her morbid curiosity, “Even if this whole trip was a huge mistake, I gotta admit it's been interestin'.”
The older woman gave her a mischievous look. “Give it time; you only just got here.”
Shaking her head, Joanna chuckled, then sighed, feeling just a tad bit better. Her Daddy was still gonna kick her skinny butt for running off―again!―but maybe she'd be able to talk to him more calmly this time. “Thanks, Aunt Gaila.”
Gaila brushed Joanna's dark hair back over her shoulder with a slender green hand and smiled. “Any time, sweetie. Any time.”
~*~*~*~
“Daddy?”
It was probably too much to hope that he wasn't still hopping mad, even after having almost four hours to cool off, but Joanna could still wish if she wanted, and that didn't make her Daddy's perfect little princess.
Finding him bent over his and Jim's desk in their quarters, working on a PADD as she stepped inside and the door slid shut behind her, she continued, “I'm sorry. Really sorry.”
He sat back with a slight sigh and dropped the PADD on the desk before leveling a steady gaze at her. “Yeah. Me, too, darlin'. I'm still upset at the stunt you pulled, make no mistake, but... I suppose... I could've handled it better. I can admit that.”
“Thank you, Daddy. It was just... I couldn't spend one more minute on that ship with Momma,” Joanna explained, trying not to whine. “I just want to go to that school, and―”
“I know. I know,” her Daddy cut her off gently. “I talked to your Momma before we picked you up, and again while you were down in the shuttle bay.”
“You... you did?” Her heart climbed up into her throat again and she tried to swallow it down, unsure of where this was headed.
“Yeah. She made it pretty clear how she felt about the whole thing. About Starfleet and me in particular.”
“Oh.” If her Momma had said to him only half of what she'd said to Joanna over the years, then there wasn't much else to hash out on the subject.
Standing, her Daddy grabbed another PADD off the desktop and handed it to her. “So, we made a few arrangements.”
Joanna scrolled through the documents on the PADD quickly then, noticing especially what was labeled as a custody agreement and several official Starfleet forms... including the ones for the Junior Academy. “Daddy?” she said, a sense of real, honest-to-goodness hope finally spreading through her as she looked up to catch his little ghost of a smile. “Is this all... what I think it is?”
“Sure is,” he answered, stepping close to pull her into a gentle hug. “You're my responsibility now, sweetheart, and I'm not about to do you like your Momma did. If you want to go back to San Francisco for school, then so be it.”
And with that simple declaration, for the first time in forever, Joanna felt a weight lifted off her shoulders.
~*~*~*~