Hazy Interim (Kirk/McCoy--PG-13)
Title: Hazy Interim
Author: sororexitium
Pairing: Kirk/McCoy
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: I'm just floating through someone else's dreams. I own nothing.
Summary: Jim gets a call from Leonard's mother. Those are never welcome.
Notes: This is part nineteen of my Only With The Heart Series. NO! I didn't forget about it. Just kinda went on hiatus for a couple months...*looks innocent* I'm not sure this is up to normal snuff, and not entirely sure that it should be in this series, but Jim is blind, so it goes!
Leonard’s PADD trills out an eccentric chime while he’s doing paperwork in his office. It’s an annoyingly chirpy ditty that Jim found in the depths of the intranet solely to piss Leonard off, but for the life of him he can’t change it. Mostly because the little prick went into the settings and made sure it couldn’t. He sighs and refrains from smashing his hand down on the fragile instrument, instead clicking open the message his lover has sent him.
Your mom called. It says.
And this can only be a bad thing. In fact, there are already the warning signs of a potential headache with the proper stimulus to turn it into a roaring migraine. He looks up at the ceiling to briefly ask any deity paying attention for help he feels he deserves.
She still hate you? He sends back, hoping humor will lighten the mood Jim has surely gotten himself into. When his mother calls, Leonard has the uncanny ability not to be there. Emma McCoy always blames it on Jim, and it’s only become worse since his blindness. Jim is the reason Leonard stayed in Starfleet. Jim is the reason Leonard went into space (‘Well, he wouldn’t have gone on his own!’). Jim is the reason Leonard is still in California. Jim became blind just so Leonard would feel obligated to stay with him. The list goes on. And of course, and least twenty-five percent of the time, when Leonard isn’t there to answer, Jim is.
Why Jim doesn’t ignore it, the world may never know.
The annoying tune comes again, and Leonard briefly toys with the idea of setting it to silent, but figures if Jim has suffered through his mother calling (which sometimes Leonard can barely stand to do), he can suffer through the obnoxiously happy tune.
Fiery passion. She now blames me for taking Joanna for Thanksgiving. Expected but a bit delayed. She also wants to know if my being blind prevents me from cleaning. Is our apartment a mess?
Leonard rolls his eyes. Considers calling his mother to yell at her, but decides against it. He’s done as many rounds with his mother with no result. Hell, she and Jim have had their blow outs and nothing has changed. It would only serve to make his mother stick her nose up in the air and proclaim that Jim is manipulating him.
Well, he does, but talking Leonard out of paperwork in the perusal of more sex is hardly a strain.
No, it’s not. He types back. She’s just being her cheap-shot self. Speaking of Thanksgiving and mothers, have you called Winona yet?
He tries to take the subject away from his mother. He knows it probably won’t work. Jim wouldn’t have sent him a message if their conversation weren’t crawling under his skin. He wants to know what his mother said, specifically, to get to Jim, but Jim probably won’t tell him until a random moment when he won’t even notice the affront done on his lover.
He stares at his PADD in wait, no longer trying to refocus on his paperwork. It doesn’t go off for a few minutes, in which time, Leonard spins in his chair-which he just had to pick up from Jim-thinks about his mother and her hatred for any and everybody Leonard has ever felt good enough to love, and considers, once more, the possibility of calling her just so the irritating itch in his heart will go away.
The PADD chirps.
I thought so. I told her that her new computer’s resolution really made her look younger. Leonard snorts. I haven’t called my mom yet. She said she’d be out of frequency until next week. I’ll call her then. Don’t stay too late.
It’s the end of the conversation. Even if Leonard replies he’ll be met with offhanded replies. It was honestly quicker than Leonard had thought it would be. Sometimes Jim would repeat their entire dialogue before they let the topic of Emma McCoy to simmer on back burner. Not this time, apparently.
So, Leonard sends back a simple, I’ll be home at six with dinner.
He doesn’t go back to paperwork. Instead, he does some rounds. He speaks to some of his patients and does a consultation for two of the cadets in Medical Track. They’re upperclassmen, so they have it mostly figured out, but these two especially like to have his opinion more often than not.
Thankfully, there aren’t really any emergencies that need his immediate attention. Doctor Pinette arrives early because she and her Engineering boyfriend have had another argument about scheduling compatibilities. He wonders how long they’ll last, despite the fact that Pinette and Lieutenant Bryars have been together almost since they Bryars became a teacher at the Academy. It’s a trifle matter to him, though, and he shrugs it off as he heads out towards a little Indian Restaurant.
Somehow, Indian has become the comfort food after conversations with Mama McCoy. Leonard doesn’t know when it started, just that it was sometime on the Enterprise, and that it was damned difficult considering generated Indian cuisine tended to taste like rubber.
When he steps into their apartment, he’s almost shocked senseless to see that the lights are on. Jim almost always forgets to turn them on. Can’t see anyway, no point in turning them on. He can hear Jim talking softly in their living room, and takes a few guesses as to who it might be.
He knows Jim knows of his arrival. Without his sight, his sense of smell and especially his hearing was hypersensitive. Gently, he sets the take away on their table and moves towards Jim’s voice and the voice of a woman. Coming closer, the accent becomes clearer, her timbre recognizable and the words discernable.
“Don’t take it personally, Jim. The woman’s a bitch. Always has been; always will be,” Jocelyn says with disdain, for him mother surely. She and Jim are practically bosom buddies ever since Jim has become earthbound.
Jim twirls in his chair, his eyes almost landing on Leonard as he spins his direction. “I know. I just never expected to be the hated child-in-law that stole someone’s baby.”
He feels a little something in his heart catch, and that uncomfortable itch within the chambers intensify.
Jocelyn laughs, a strange mix of understanding and sarcasm. “Jim, at least you live across the country from her. I lived four blocks from the evil harpie. She could come visit me and tell me face to face what a manipulative whore I was.”
Ah, that had been a fun night, Leonard recalls.
Jim chuckles too. “I will keep that comforting piece of information tucked away forever.” He stops his chair sharply, tells Leonard’s ex-wife, “Bones is here. Wanna talk to him while I steal his chicken?”
He raises his eyebrow, looks back towards the table and weighs his options of hiding his food. The odds aren’t in his favor.
“Sure,” Jocelyn says genially. She says her goodbyes to Jim, tells him that she’ll see him soon. Jim stands and makes his way over to him, kisses him briefly before whispering, “I really don’t like your mom.”
Leonard kisses his forehead in soft apology. “I know, but I don’t think stealing my tandoori is the answer.”
Jim smiles, eyes glittering different shades of bright and soft blues. “It’ll have to do until I can get you in bed.”
They both sport matching grins when Jocelyn starts yelling, “La la la la la la!”