Fic: Triple Full (1D/1)
Chapter | 1A | 1B | 1C | 1D | 1E |
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“I have not finished my statement. I was about to say that while it is punishable by brig time, I do not believe that it would be appropriate it your case. If you were to convince Dr. McCoy to remedy my bleeding nose, I suppose I could be persuaded to overlook the breech in etiquette.”
McCoy rolled his eyes. “I try to stay out of it, but yet I still manage to get dragged into everyone else’s bullshit.” He pushed his body off the comfortable couch while he shot over his shoulder, “Don’t get up on my account. Just sit there. Maybe I can dig up a phaser while I’m at it to shoot myself.”
“Drama queen!” Kirk called.
Bones disappeared into his bedroom without a word, holding up the middle finger of his left hand as he walked around the corner. He returned a moment later with a battered Ole Miss medkit in one hand and some clean towels in the other. Motioning for Spock to come to the kitchen for its better light, McCoy sat the Vulcan down at the breakfast bar and popped the kit open.
“You keep a fully stocked medkit in your quarters? Didn’t realize you were so prepared, but it’s comforting to know that someone here actually thinks things through,” Scotty called from the living room, occupying the seat McCoy left vacant.
Bones picked up the tricorder and flipped it on, adjusting it to Spock’s unique biochemistry and physiology. Absently, he replied to the engineer, “That’s not being prepared. It’s just a force of habit I picked up after rooming with your captain for the better part of three years.”
“If you say that I’m still alive because of you, I will come over there and kick you in the head,” Kirk announced, cutting off the extra sentence that was teetering on the tip of McCoy’s tongue.
Bones stopped, sighed dramatically and laid his hands down on the countertop. “Come try it, Jim. I’ve got a bunch of new vaccines I’d love to try out.”
Kirk shook his head and scoffed. “Not worth my effort. Not tonight anyway. I’d rather finish watching the meet.”
“Yeah, nice of you assholes to let me finish watching my own daughter’s meet. I appreciate that,” McCoy shot shortly as he waited for his instrument to finish the scan. Turning back to the Vulcan sitting quietly on the barstool, the doctor said, “It doesn’t look like he broke anything.”
“That is most agreeable,” Spock replied, arching one eyebrow while he made a move to stand.
McCoy gently pushed his charge back to the stool. “Ah! Sit. Let me just check to be sure. Can’t have your face exploding during transport now, can we?” Setting the tool down, the doctor gently probed the nasal region, stopping when he saw Spock wince. McCoy nodded and handed the first officer a clean towel while he offered the recycler for the soiled one. “It’s just going to be sore for a while. I could run you through the regenerator, but I don’t think it’d do anything more than a little R&R will do.”
“Then I prefer to take the natural route. I have heard you state many times that sometimes, it is wiser to allow the body to heal itself.”
McCoy’s head snapped up, his green eyes widening in shock. A second later, a sly, slow grin worked its way across his face as he said, “Well, I’ll be damned. He does listen to some things I say.”
“I listen to everything you say, Doctor. I simply choose not to implement some of your suggestions, as I do not find them logical,” Spock answered as he stood, linking his hands behind his back.
Crossing his arms over his chest, McCoy harrumphed. “Some? Try all.”
“Some,” Spock reassured.
“Most.”
Spock lifted his eyebrows. “Indeed. Most.”
The pair fell into a surprisingly companionable silence while McCoy finished his examination and cleaned up the medical supplies he’d used. While the doctor was putting the kit back in its proper storage spot, Spock wandered out into the living room and rejoined the group. “At what stage is the meet in normal progression?”
“Jesus, will you ever sound like a real person and not the ship’s computer?” Jim asked as Spock resumed his occupation of McCoy’s couch. “The last girl is about to vault. She’s the one Jo was chasing after the last rotation.”
“Is it mathematically possible for her to win?”
“Absolutely, but it won’t be easy,” Uhura answered. “Like Chekov said, Jo’s best event by far is vault, but Kiralenkova’s isn’t on the same level. Her vault is good - she can do the same one Jo did, but it’s not nearly as clean, high or controlled.”
“Elena Sergeyevna frightens me when she performs Amanar. I fear for her legs,” Chekov piped in from his seat on the floor, using the proper Russian system of respect when speaking of Kiralenkova. “She should do double twist and be safe, but she is stubborn and proud and will not listen to her coach.”
“So, you’re saying she’s a typical Russian, then?” Sulu asked, drawing out the vowel in the first word of his sentence.
“Da. It is blessing and curse all at once,” Pavel answered succinctly with a nod of his head.
“Fair enough,” Hikaru agreed before he refocused his eyes on the meet.
“Here we go, boys and girls!” Uhura called while she leaned forward in his seat.
Raising her left hand above her head but keeping her right parallel to the floor, the blond-haired Russian on the screen proudly saluted the judges as she stood to the side of the runway. She stepped on to the blue carpet and found her chalk mark. Taking a deep breath, she took a half stride with her left leg and used her right to jump straight up into the air, kicking hard through each stride as she maximized explosive acceleration down the runway. Elena hurdled, did her roundoff, hit the springboard and threw herself onto the vaulting table.
A few hundred light years away, seven adults all held their breath as the young lady flew through the air. They watched her twist hard, squeezing every part of her body to maximize rotation on both the X and Y axis. Uhura clenched her fists as Kirakelkova completed the first twist and half flip. The room head Chekov inhale when he spotted the tiny beginnings of untidy legs during the second twist. Kiralenkova’s momentum wasn’t spinning her fast enough, in her estimation, for her to complete the vault before she hit the mat. She bent her knees a tiny bit in order to speed up the rotation. Elena piked at her hips juuust slightly to bring the rotation in even faster before she spotted the ground, feet crashing into the blue mat milliseconds before a face-first disaster. Kiralenkova thrust her arms above her head once she’d stabilized her body on landing, turned to salute the judges, and walked off the mat.
The room let out their collective breaths. “This one’s going to be close,” Kirk said with a shake of his head. “That wasn’t a great vault, but we’re talking a half a point lead after floor and that disaster Jo had on beam she has to make up. But if anyone can get ‘er done on vault, it’s Jojo.”
McCoy peeled one eye open, finally unsticking his butt cheeks from the couch against which they were painfully clenched as he watched the final vault. “What are you doing using my nickname for my daughter, Jim?” he asked angrily.
Jim’s eyes shifted left and then right. “Uhm, it slipped?” he replied, plastering a cheesy smile on his face.
The doctor made a move to physically get up from his seat in order to beat the captain senseless, but a gentle tug on the back of his shirt stopped him. McCoy turned and followed the arm back towards the owner, finally winding up glaring into Spock’s dark eyes. “Goddammit, you annoying Hobgoblin, let me go so I can--”
“Doctor, if you would decrease your level of anger and turn towards the screen, I think you will find the results of the competition quite pleasing. It appears Joanna has, indeed, won,” Spock replied matter-of-factly while he pointed one long, elegant finger towards McCoy’s vidscreen.
Len glared at Spock and held himself in place, half sitting and half standing, for long beat. He narrowed his eyes but turned his head toward the shot of the scoreboard. Squarely on top was ‘J. McCoy’, placed perfectly next to the big number one. The doctor sunk back down into his seat on the couch and actually smiled - fully and completely - within view of the entire senior staff. His eyes shined and even if McCoy wouldn’t admit it, he did sit up a bit straighter when the results sunk into his brain.
“Wow,” Kirk said, breaking the silence. “So those muscles in your face haven’t atrophied in a slow, pitiful death from disuse. Good to know, Bones. I was worried for them.”
McCoy reciprocated by wiping the smile from his face and instead replacing it with a stare that said, ‘I might be your doctor and your best friend, and you might be the captain of this flying tin can, but you’re still a pain in my ass.’ Out loud, he said, “Aren’t you morons leaving yet?”
“Aye, I suppose we should. Important things to do, people to see,” Scotty said, slapping the tops of his thighs with his hands. He grabbed three sandwiches from the tray on his way past the food in the kitchen and said, “We should do this again some time. It was fun!”
“Goodnight, Scotty,” the room called while they pretended not to notice Spock slip the ecstatic engineer the remainder of the food.
“I’m out, too. Big day tomorrow,” Sulu said, bringing his fists up in front of his face like a boxer.
Kirk pointed a finger at his helmsman as his face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Oh, I almost forgot about that! You’re in the semifinals tomorrow. Cupcake, right?”
“His ass is so grass,” Hikaru replied confidently.
“You know the ninety nine percent of this ship has wagered against you?” Kirk asked.
“Of course I do. That’s the beauty of it, especially when he loses. The man is way too overconfident and cocky. It’ll be fun taking him down a peg or twelve,” Sulu replied, emptying his beer and picking up a few other bottles on his way to the recycler.
McCoy snorted loudly. “’Overconfident and cocky.’ That doesn’t sound familiar at all,” he said, pointing one finger towards Jim.
Before either man could say a word, Hikaru, standing in the doorway to McCoy’s quarters, held up both hands. “I’m staying out of this one. I’m out. Doctor, thanks for putting up with us, and I’m happy Jo won. Night all!”
“I shall go rest as well. It has been long day. Doctor McCoy, I hope you are not too displeased with my unauthorized access to your home. I only thought you would enjoy the meet, and I did not think it all the way through. I am sorry,” Chekov said to the doctor’s blank face.
“It’s okay, kid. I’d rather have you breaking into my quarters than our dear captain. God only knows what he’d have done instead,” the doctor said with a shake of his head. “Just don’t do it again.”
“It will not happen again. I can promise you that.”
“Good. Now get out of here and get some sleep,” McCoy said to Chekov’s retreating back. “And Pavel?” he said, stopping the young man at the door. “Nice work.”
Chekov beamed from ear to ear, his energetic expression making him look even younger than his not-yet-twenty years. “Thank you, Sir! It was my pleasure!”
Uhura, busied with cleaning up as much as she could, sidled up next to Spock. She wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. “We should get going,” she said sleepily. “Watching Jo win was fun, Leonard, as was spending some time with you away from work. We don’t do it often enough.”
McCoy met Uhura’s genuine gaze. He ducked his chin and said, “Thank you, Nyota. And, uh, sorry about earlier, being an asshole and all.”
Waving her hand, Uhura let out a puff of air, wrapped her arms around the surprised surgeon and replied, “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it after being on this ship. Also, thank you for helping Spock. I know that you two don’t always see eye to eye, and I know how much these meets mean to you when we can get the feeds. That was very kind of you.”
When he was certain his face returned to its normal color due to the onset of a sudden bout of embarrassment, Len managed to extract himself from Uhura’s impressively strong embrace. He leaned towards her face and admitted very quietly, “He’s not as bad as I thought. He still gets on my nerves from time to time, but he’s an okay guy.” With a stern expression, he added, “You tell anyone I said that, and I might have to hurt you.”
Nyota lifted her right hand, pinched together her index finger and thumb, and ran the appendage across the length of her full lips. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me,” she told him as she and Spock prepared to take their leave.
McCoy nodded to Spock before he turned his head back to the screen, just in time to catch the awards ceremony. Pouring himself a final drink, he lifted it towards his beaming daughter as she accepted her gold medal. “Congratulations, Jojo,” he whispered to the young lady practically bouncing up and down on the top step of the medal platform.
Out of the line of site of the ship’s CMO, Uhura, Kirk and Spock each came to an all-stop at the same time. The three senior members of the Enterprise staff exchanged glances. Kirk and Uhura both nibbled away at their lower lips as their guts churned while Spock merely raised an eyebrow.
“Spock,” Kirk pleaded. “I know you can fix this.”
Interlacing his hands behind his back, the Vulcan merely cocked his head to the side and ratcheted up his eyebrow one more notch. In a low voice, he answered, “I do not understand why, each time you require assistance with communications, you look to me. Clearly, our very capable communications officer is here with you.”
Jim pursed his lips. “You know what I mean. Work some of your Vulcan magic and make it happen.” Kirk stole a quick look into the living room to make sure McCoy was still otherwise occupied with the clean up of his quarters. “Can you do it? Please? As a favor to me?”
To the rest of the universe, Spock’s expression could only be described as ‘bored’ and ‘impassive’. But to his crew and friends, it was anything but. The imperceptible twitch at the corners of his mouth and the way his eyes were shining, even under the low lights of Dr. McCoy’s quarters, were all dead giveaways. Without a word, the Vulcan produced his comm from his pocket and set it gently on the counter. “Indeed. Then I suppose it was a wise decision that, as soon as Mr. Scott discovered the signal emitting from this ship, I took the liberty of placing a call to one Jocelyn Darnell. She is expecting the doctor’s comm at the conclusion of the meet.”
Jim smiled so hard Spock contemplated calling in the ship’s surgeon to ensure the captain’s well-being. Instead, Kirk clapped his first officer on the shoulder with the same ferocity he did upon their initial meeting. “So you don’t hate him after all.”
“I have never professed any dislike for Dr. McCoy, and I do not appreciate your embellishment of my perceptions.”
Kirk rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Spock.” Walking back into the living room, Jim stood in the center and stretched his entire body, emitting a loud groan as he went. “Well, kids. It’s been a great night, but I’m beat. I’m going to go do captain-y things.”
“Like masturbate?” McCoy fired off as he tossed a couple of used napkins down the recycler. “I wasn’t kidding Jim! I told you that you were going to help me clean my quarters up after this meet, so if you think you’re going to jet when there’s still work to be done you can kiss my ass!” McCoy called at the captain’s retreating back.
“Congratulations, Bones! Your daughter is way more awesome than you!” Kirk yelled as the doors whooshed open to allow him exit.
“Jim! Goddammit, get your sorry ass back here now! Jim! JIM!” McCoy hollered.
“Dr. McCoy,” Spock began.
“Not now, Spock. I’m trying to think of a good way to murder that annoying infantile piece of shit I call a best friend,” McCoy said as he glared fully at the closed door of his quarters.
“Doctor,” Spock insisted.
Heedless of the first officer’s words, McCoy continued ranting at the closed door, glaring at it for all it was worth as if Kirk could feel it down the hall of the ship. His voice pitched higher with every word that tumbled from his mouth as his hands gesticulated wildly in front of his face. “He always does this. Cuts and runs when there’s work to be done. The only thing he should be in charge of is a garbage trawler, not a goddamned starship. Captain my ass!”
‘That’s not very nice, Dad,’ a young female voice admonished sternly from the vicinity of Spock’s right hand.
McCoy stopped, executing a perfect double take between Spock’s hand and face before he blinked and then looked down. His mouth opened and closed twice before any real words came out of them. “Joanna?” he finally squeaked, his voice a good octave and a half higher than his normal speaking tenor.
‘Duh,’ she replied as if he were just around the corner, and not a few quadrants away.
As a dumbstruck CMO fought to regain control of his voice, Spock ordered smoothly, “Computer: please transfer the active communication from my personal comm to the screen in Dr. McCoy’s quarters.” The Vulcan gave a satisfied nod when Joanna’s face popped up on the vidcomm screen the team previously used to watch the meet. Flipping his comm closed, Spock cleared his throat and waited for McCoy to turn. “Doctor, I trust you are capable of carrying out a conversation with your offspring. Please give her our regards.”
“Did you do this?” the doctor asked.
Spock’s eyes shifted around. “I may have had a hand in it, yes. But that is neither here nor there. What is important is that you and she are now connected.”
Uhura laid one hand on Len’s arm. “Don’t think. Just go talk to her. I’m sure she’s dying to tell her father about the meet.”
“I don’t know what to say--” McCoy stuttered out.
“I would think that ‘thank you’ and ‘good night’ will suffice.”
McCoy shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but thank you, Spock, Nyota. I owe you.”
“You owe us nothing more than the enjoyment of a conversation,” Spock replied.
“You’d better collect,” McCoy replied. “And good night,” he said before turning his head back to his daughter.
‘Dad! I can’t believe this! I don’t know how they did it, but I can’t believe it get to talk to you! I mean, you’re in space! This is sooo cool. I can’t wait to tell all my friends about it,’ she squealed, practically jumping up and down in her seat.
“I can’t believe I get to hear your voice, baby girl. I saw your meet. You damn near gave your old man a heart attack, but you did good,” he said.
Joanna’s jaw dropped. ‘You-You saw my meet?! How?!’
McCoy smiled and looked down at the photo he had stationed on his desk of the seven bridge officers of the Enterprise. Sitting the table in Kirk’s quarters, it was poker night given the cards and chips littering the surface. The group was squished together, all smiles and laughs for the camera. The relaxed faces and bright eyes drew a smile from the surgeon as he answered, “I guess you could say I have some pretty good friends.”
‘I thought you were just swearing at your best friend,’ she said dryly.
“That happens every day.”
‘And he’s still your friend? Wow. Jim must be more thickheaded than I thought to put up with that kind of bullsh--,’ she began, cutting off her remark before she could finish the sentence. Clearing her throat, Jo amended, ‘--crap.’
McCoy threw back his head and laughed. “You had it right the first time. Now, tell me about your meet. I want to hear it from you perspective.”
Jo took a deep breath before she started talking at warp four. ‘Well, it started okay on bars. Did you see my Nabieva! The best one - I mean the best one I’ve ever done! I’ve had trouble with over rotating my dismount, which usually means I fall on my butt, but it went all right today. And then floor was great. I have new floor music that I think is pretty epic. It’s a string quartet cover of Master of Puppets by a really awesome old band called Metallica. It rocks really hard, and I thought it would be perfect, because I decided that pre-elite gymnastics music? It’s boring with a capital ‘B’. And then beam. Oh my God, beam sucked so hard. I can’t believe I fell on my switch-half and then split the freaking beam to go with it. Like, embarrassing! I haven’t split the beam since level four. But then vault made up for with a super exciting, super stuck Amanar! It was sooo amazing and cool, and I wish you could have been there, but you saw it, so I guess that makes it fine,’ she babbled incessantly.
“I wish I could have been there too, Jojo. But I’m glad you won, and more importantly, glad you had fun,” he answered earnestly. “Now, tell me what else you’ve been up to lately.”
‘Lots of stuff! School’s going really well, and there’s this boy I like,’ she began, settling in to tell her father about the happenings of her life.
McCoy simply sat back, rested his arms behind his head and smiled. “Yeah? Tell me more…”
Continue on to Part 1E
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“I have not finished my statement. I was about to say that while it is punishable by brig time, I do not believe that it would be appropriate it your case. If you were to convince Dr. McCoy to remedy my bleeding nose, I suppose I could be persuaded to overlook the breech in etiquette.”
McCoy rolled his eyes. “I try to stay out of it, but yet I still manage to get dragged into everyone else’s bullshit.” He pushed his body off the comfortable couch while he shot over his shoulder, “Don’t get up on my account. Just sit there. Maybe I can dig up a phaser while I’m at it to shoot myself.”
“Drama queen!” Kirk called.
Bones disappeared into his bedroom without a word, holding up the middle finger of his left hand as he walked around the corner. He returned a moment later with a battered Ole Miss medkit in one hand and some clean towels in the other. Motioning for Spock to come to the kitchen for its better light, McCoy sat the Vulcan down at the breakfast bar and popped the kit open.
“You keep a fully stocked medkit in your quarters? Didn’t realize you were so prepared, but it’s comforting to know that someone here actually thinks things through,” Scotty called from the living room, occupying the seat McCoy left vacant.
Bones picked up the tricorder and flipped it on, adjusting it to Spock’s unique biochemistry and physiology. Absently, he replied to the engineer, “That’s not being prepared. It’s just a force of habit I picked up after rooming with your captain for the better part of three years.”
“If you say that I’m still alive because of you, I will come over there and kick you in the head,” Kirk announced, cutting off the extra sentence that was teetering on the tip of McCoy’s tongue.
Bones stopped, sighed dramatically and laid his hands down on the countertop. “Come try it, Jim. I’ve got a bunch of new vaccines I’d love to try out.”
Kirk shook his head and scoffed. “Not worth my effort. Not tonight anyway. I’d rather finish watching the meet.”
“Yeah, nice of you assholes to let me finish watching my own daughter’s meet. I appreciate that,” McCoy shot shortly as he waited for his instrument to finish the scan. Turning back to the Vulcan sitting quietly on the barstool, the doctor said, “It doesn’t look like he broke anything.”
“That is most agreeable,” Spock replied, arching one eyebrow while he made a move to stand.
McCoy gently pushed his charge back to the stool. “Ah! Sit. Let me just check to be sure. Can’t have your face exploding during transport now, can we?” Setting the tool down, the doctor gently probed the nasal region, stopping when he saw Spock wince. McCoy nodded and handed the first officer a clean towel while he offered the recycler for the soiled one. “It’s just going to be sore for a while. I could run you through the regenerator, but I don’t think it’d do anything more than a little R&R will do.”
“Then I prefer to take the natural route. I have heard you state many times that sometimes, it is wiser to allow the body to heal itself.”
McCoy’s head snapped up, his green eyes widening in shock. A second later, a sly, slow grin worked its way across his face as he said, “Well, I’ll be damned. He does listen to some things I say.”
“I listen to everything you say, Doctor. I simply choose not to implement some of your suggestions, as I do not find them logical,” Spock answered as he stood, linking his hands behind his back.
Crossing his arms over his chest, McCoy harrumphed. “Some? Try all.”
“Some,” Spock reassured.
“Most.”
Spock lifted his eyebrows. “Indeed. Most.”
The pair fell into a surprisingly companionable silence while McCoy finished his examination and cleaned up the medical supplies he’d used. While the doctor was putting the kit back in its proper storage spot, Spock wandered out into the living room and rejoined the group. “At what stage is the meet in normal progression?”
“Jesus, will you ever sound like a real person and not the ship’s computer?” Jim asked as Spock resumed his occupation of McCoy’s couch. “The last girl is about to vault. She’s the one Jo was chasing after the last rotation.”
“Is it mathematically possible for her to win?”
“Absolutely, but it won’t be easy,” Uhura answered. “Like Chekov said, Jo’s best event by far is vault, but Kiralenkova’s isn’t on the same level. Her vault is good - she can do the same one Jo did, but it’s not nearly as clean, high or controlled.”
“Elena Sergeyevna frightens me when she performs Amanar. I fear for her legs,” Chekov piped in from his seat on the floor, using the proper Russian system of respect when speaking of Kiralenkova. “She should do double twist and be safe, but she is stubborn and proud and will not listen to her coach.”
“So, you’re saying she’s a typical Russian, then?” Sulu asked, drawing out the vowel in the first word of his sentence.
“Da. It is blessing and curse all at once,” Pavel answered succinctly with a nod of his head.
“Fair enough,” Hikaru agreed before he refocused his eyes on the meet.
“Here we go, boys and girls!” Uhura called while she leaned forward in his seat.
Raising her left hand above her head but keeping her right parallel to the floor, the blond-haired Russian on the screen proudly saluted the judges as she stood to the side of the runway. She stepped on to the blue carpet and found her chalk mark. Taking a deep breath, she took a half stride with her left leg and used her right to jump straight up into the air, kicking hard through each stride as she maximized explosive acceleration down the runway. Elena hurdled, did her roundoff, hit the springboard and threw herself onto the vaulting table.
A few hundred light years away, seven adults all held their breath as the young lady flew through the air. They watched her twist hard, squeezing every part of her body to maximize rotation on both the X and Y axis. Uhura clenched her fists as Kirakelkova completed the first twist and half flip. The room head Chekov inhale when he spotted the tiny beginnings of untidy legs during the second twist. Kiralenkova’s momentum wasn’t spinning her fast enough, in her estimation, for her to complete the vault before she hit the mat. She bent her knees a tiny bit in order to speed up the rotation. Elena piked at her hips juuust slightly to bring the rotation in even faster before she spotted the ground, feet crashing into the blue mat milliseconds before a face-first disaster. Kiralenkova thrust her arms above her head once she’d stabilized her body on landing, turned to salute the judges, and walked off the mat.
The room let out their collective breaths. “This one’s going to be close,” Kirk said with a shake of his head. “That wasn’t a great vault, but we’re talking a half a point lead after floor and that disaster Jo had on beam she has to make up. But if anyone can get ‘er done on vault, it’s Jojo.”
McCoy peeled one eye open, finally unsticking his butt cheeks from the couch against which they were painfully clenched as he watched the final vault. “What are you doing using my nickname for my daughter, Jim?” he asked angrily.
Jim’s eyes shifted left and then right. “Uhm, it slipped?” he replied, plastering a cheesy smile on his face.
The doctor made a move to physically get up from his seat in order to beat the captain senseless, but a gentle tug on the back of his shirt stopped him. McCoy turned and followed the arm back towards the owner, finally winding up glaring into Spock’s dark eyes. “Goddammit, you annoying Hobgoblin, let me go so I can--”
“Doctor, if you would decrease your level of anger and turn towards the screen, I think you will find the results of the competition quite pleasing. It appears Joanna has, indeed, won,” Spock replied matter-of-factly while he pointed one long, elegant finger towards McCoy’s vidscreen.
Len glared at Spock and held himself in place, half sitting and half standing, for long beat. He narrowed his eyes but turned his head toward the shot of the scoreboard. Squarely on top was ‘J. McCoy’, placed perfectly next to the big number one. The doctor sunk back down into his seat on the couch and actually smiled - fully and completely - within view of the entire senior staff. His eyes shined and even if McCoy wouldn’t admit it, he did sit up a bit straighter when the results sunk into his brain.
“Wow,” Kirk said, breaking the silence. “So those muscles in your face haven’t atrophied in a slow, pitiful death from disuse. Good to know, Bones. I was worried for them.”
McCoy reciprocated by wiping the smile from his face and instead replacing it with a stare that said, ‘I might be your doctor and your best friend, and you might be the captain of this flying tin can, but you’re still a pain in my ass.’ Out loud, he said, “Aren’t you morons leaving yet?”
“Aye, I suppose we should. Important things to do, people to see,” Scotty said, slapping the tops of his thighs with his hands. He grabbed three sandwiches from the tray on his way past the food in the kitchen and said, “We should do this again some time. It was fun!”
“Goodnight, Scotty,” the room called while they pretended not to notice Spock slip the ecstatic engineer the remainder of the food.
“I’m out, too. Big day tomorrow,” Sulu said, bringing his fists up in front of his face like a boxer.
Kirk pointed a finger at his helmsman as his face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Oh, I almost forgot about that! You’re in the semifinals tomorrow. Cupcake, right?”
“His ass is so grass,” Hikaru replied confidently.
“You know the ninety nine percent of this ship has wagered against you?” Kirk asked.
“Of course I do. That’s the beauty of it, especially when he loses. The man is way too overconfident and cocky. It’ll be fun taking him down a peg or twelve,” Sulu replied, emptying his beer and picking up a few other bottles on his way to the recycler.
McCoy snorted loudly. “’Overconfident and cocky.’ That doesn’t sound familiar at all,” he said, pointing one finger towards Jim.
Before either man could say a word, Hikaru, standing in the doorway to McCoy’s quarters, held up both hands. “I’m staying out of this one. I’m out. Doctor, thanks for putting up with us, and I’m happy Jo won. Night all!”
“I shall go rest as well. It has been long day. Doctor McCoy, I hope you are not too displeased with my unauthorized access to your home. I only thought you would enjoy the meet, and I did not think it all the way through. I am sorry,” Chekov said to the doctor’s blank face.
“It’s okay, kid. I’d rather have you breaking into my quarters than our dear captain. God only knows what he’d have done instead,” the doctor said with a shake of his head. “Just don’t do it again.”
“It will not happen again. I can promise you that.”
“Good. Now get out of here and get some sleep,” McCoy said to Chekov’s retreating back. “And Pavel?” he said, stopping the young man at the door. “Nice work.”
Chekov beamed from ear to ear, his energetic expression making him look even younger than his not-yet-twenty years. “Thank you, Sir! It was my pleasure!”
Uhura, busied with cleaning up as much as she could, sidled up next to Spock. She wrapped her arm around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. “We should get going,” she said sleepily. “Watching Jo win was fun, Leonard, as was spending some time with you away from work. We don’t do it often enough.”
McCoy met Uhura’s genuine gaze. He ducked his chin and said, “Thank you, Nyota. And, uh, sorry about earlier, being an asshole and all.”
Waving her hand, Uhura let out a puff of air, wrapped her arms around the surprised surgeon and replied, “Don’t worry about it. I’m used to it after being on this ship. Also, thank you for helping Spock. I know that you two don’t always see eye to eye, and I know how much these meets mean to you when we can get the feeds. That was very kind of you.”
When he was certain his face returned to its normal color due to the onset of a sudden bout of embarrassment, Len managed to extract himself from Uhura’s impressively strong embrace. He leaned towards her face and admitted very quietly, “He’s not as bad as I thought. He still gets on my nerves from time to time, but he’s an okay guy.” With a stern expression, he added, “You tell anyone I said that, and I might have to hurt you.”
Nyota lifted her right hand, pinched together her index finger and thumb, and ran the appendage across the length of her full lips. “Don’t worry. Your secret is safe with me,” she told him as she and Spock prepared to take their leave.
McCoy nodded to Spock before he turned his head back to the screen, just in time to catch the awards ceremony. Pouring himself a final drink, he lifted it towards his beaming daughter as she accepted her gold medal. “Congratulations, Jojo,” he whispered to the young lady practically bouncing up and down on the top step of the medal platform.
Out of the line of site of the ship’s CMO, Uhura, Kirk and Spock each came to an all-stop at the same time. The three senior members of the Enterprise staff exchanged glances. Kirk and Uhura both nibbled away at their lower lips as their guts churned while Spock merely raised an eyebrow.
“Spock,” Kirk pleaded. “I know you can fix this.”
Interlacing his hands behind his back, the Vulcan merely cocked his head to the side and ratcheted up his eyebrow one more notch. In a low voice, he answered, “I do not understand why, each time you require assistance with communications, you look to me. Clearly, our very capable communications officer is here with you.”
Jim pursed his lips. “You know what I mean. Work some of your Vulcan magic and make it happen.” Kirk stole a quick look into the living room to make sure McCoy was still otherwise occupied with the clean up of his quarters. “Can you do it? Please? As a favor to me?”
To the rest of the universe, Spock’s expression could only be described as ‘bored’ and ‘impassive’. But to his crew and friends, it was anything but. The imperceptible twitch at the corners of his mouth and the way his eyes were shining, even under the low lights of Dr. McCoy’s quarters, were all dead giveaways. Without a word, the Vulcan produced his comm from his pocket and set it gently on the counter. “Indeed. Then I suppose it was a wise decision that, as soon as Mr. Scott discovered the signal emitting from this ship, I took the liberty of placing a call to one Jocelyn Darnell. She is expecting the doctor’s comm at the conclusion of the meet.”
Jim smiled so hard Spock contemplated calling in the ship’s surgeon to ensure the captain’s well-being. Instead, Kirk clapped his first officer on the shoulder with the same ferocity he did upon their initial meeting. “So you don’t hate him after all.”
“I have never professed any dislike for Dr. McCoy, and I do not appreciate your embellishment of my perceptions.”
Kirk rolled his eyes. “Whatever, Spock.” Walking back into the living room, Jim stood in the center and stretched his entire body, emitting a loud groan as he went. “Well, kids. It’s been a great night, but I’m beat. I’m going to go do captain-y things.”
“Like masturbate?” McCoy fired off as he tossed a couple of used napkins down the recycler. “I wasn’t kidding Jim! I told you that you were going to help me clean my quarters up after this meet, so if you think you’re going to jet when there’s still work to be done you can kiss my ass!” McCoy called at the captain’s retreating back.
“Congratulations, Bones! Your daughter is way more awesome than you!” Kirk yelled as the doors whooshed open to allow him exit.
“Jim! Goddammit, get your sorry ass back here now! Jim! JIM!” McCoy hollered.
“Dr. McCoy,” Spock began.
“Not now, Spock. I’m trying to think of a good way to murder that annoying infantile piece of shit I call a best friend,” McCoy said as he glared fully at the closed door of his quarters.
“Doctor,” Spock insisted.
Heedless of the first officer’s words, McCoy continued ranting at the closed door, glaring at it for all it was worth as if Kirk could feel it down the hall of the ship. His voice pitched higher with every word that tumbled from his mouth as his hands gesticulated wildly in front of his face. “He always does this. Cuts and runs when there’s work to be done. The only thing he should be in charge of is a garbage trawler, not a goddamned starship. Captain my ass!”
‘That’s not very nice, Dad,’ a young female voice admonished sternly from the vicinity of Spock’s right hand.
McCoy stopped, executing a perfect double take between Spock’s hand and face before he blinked and then looked down. His mouth opened and closed twice before any real words came out of them. “Joanna?” he finally squeaked, his voice a good octave and a half higher than his normal speaking tenor.
‘Duh,’ she replied as if he were just around the corner, and not a few quadrants away.
As a dumbstruck CMO fought to regain control of his voice, Spock ordered smoothly, “Computer: please transfer the active communication from my personal comm to the screen in Dr. McCoy’s quarters.” The Vulcan gave a satisfied nod when Joanna’s face popped up on the vidcomm screen the team previously used to watch the meet. Flipping his comm closed, Spock cleared his throat and waited for McCoy to turn. “Doctor, I trust you are capable of carrying out a conversation with your offspring. Please give her our regards.”
“Did you do this?” the doctor asked.
Spock’s eyes shifted around. “I may have had a hand in it, yes. But that is neither here nor there. What is important is that you and she are now connected.”
Uhura laid one hand on Len’s arm. “Don’t think. Just go talk to her. I’m sure she’s dying to tell her father about the meet.”
“I don’t know what to say--” McCoy stuttered out.
“I would think that ‘thank you’ and ‘good night’ will suffice.”
McCoy shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but thank you, Spock, Nyota. I owe you.”
“You owe us nothing more than the enjoyment of a conversation,” Spock replied.
“You’d better collect,” McCoy replied. “And good night,” he said before turning his head back to his daughter.
‘Dad! I can’t believe this! I don’t know how they did it, but I can’t believe it get to talk to you! I mean, you’re in space! This is sooo cool. I can’t wait to tell all my friends about it,’ she squealed, practically jumping up and down in her seat.
“I can’t believe I get to hear your voice, baby girl. I saw your meet. You damn near gave your old man a heart attack, but you did good,” he said.
Joanna’s jaw dropped. ‘You-You saw my meet?! How?!’
McCoy smiled and looked down at the photo he had stationed on his desk of the seven bridge officers of the Enterprise. Sitting the table in Kirk’s quarters, it was poker night given the cards and chips littering the surface. The group was squished together, all smiles and laughs for the camera. The relaxed faces and bright eyes drew a smile from the surgeon as he answered, “I guess you could say I have some pretty good friends.”
‘I thought you were just swearing at your best friend,’ she said dryly.
“That happens every day.”
‘And he’s still your friend? Wow. Jim must be more thickheaded than I thought to put up with that kind of bullsh--,’ she began, cutting off her remark before she could finish the sentence. Clearing her throat, Jo amended, ‘--crap.’
McCoy threw back his head and laughed. “You had it right the first time. Now, tell me about your meet. I want to hear it from you perspective.”
Jo took a deep breath before she started talking at warp four. ‘Well, it started okay on bars. Did you see my Nabieva! The best one - I mean the best one I’ve ever done! I’ve had trouble with over rotating my dismount, which usually means I fall on my butt, but it went all right today. And then floor was great. I have new floor music that I think is pretty epic. It’s a string quartet cover of Master of Puppets by a really awesome old band called Metallica. It rocks really hard, and I thought it would be perfect, because I decided that pre-elite gymnastics music? It’s boring with a capital ‘B’. And then beam. Oh my God, beam sucked so hard. I can’t believe I fell on my switch-half and then split the freaking beam to go with it. Like, embarrassing! I haven’t split the beam since level four. But then vault made up for with a super exciting, super stuck Amanar! It was sooo amazing and cool, and I wish you could have been there, but you saw it, so I guess that makes it fine,’ she babbled incessantly.
“I wish I could have been there too, Jojo. But I’m glad you won, and more importantly, glad you had fun,” he answered earnestly. “Now, tell me what else you’ve been up to lately.”
‘Lots of stuff! School’s going really well, and there’s this boy I like,’ she began, settling in to tell her father about the happenings of her life.
McCoy simply sat back, rested his arms behind his head and smiled. “Yeah? Tell me more…”
Continue on to Part 1E