When the call came up, Kirk was sure that he had misunderstood. As he followed Bones off the bridge, he repeated the message aloud again.
"A Centurion escape pod was intercepted at 0900 hours, containing a singular infant," he mumbled, glancing sideways at the doctor, stoic and a little perturbed looking as always.
They turned the corner to the loading bay, where a small crowd was hovering over the oval shaped pod, a little larger than standard luggage case. They parted when the captain approached.
"I'll be damned," Kirk breathed, looking down into the pod where, nestled amongst unearthly silk blankets was a tiny, blond haired baby, who stared back at him with lavender eyes. He took a short step forward and crouched. "They really are beautiful."
The baby was, at most, a month old Bones estimated. The tiny tufts of hair that sloped around its face were soft and downy, still new. Bones stepped around Kirk and gently lifted the baby out of the capsule, much to Kirk's visible surprise.
"Have you ever held a baby before?" he grumped, wrapping the infant tighter in its swaddling. Kirk shook his head; of course Bones, a father, would act first. "Didn't think so."
Bones began to walk away from the pod, headed presumably towards the medical bay to have the child looked at. Kirk watched him until he turned the corner and then said to the group, "As you were. Return to your stations."
In pairs and trios, they dispersed, leaving behind only Uhura, who had watched the scene from a distance. She stood with her hands behind her back, looking eerily like Spock, and inclined her head towards Kirk, who sighed and shrugged.
"What are we going to do with a Centurion baby?" he asked. They fell in step, following Bones' path to medical. She shook her head.
"Aren't you a little more concerned as to why we have one in the first place? Centuria is a light year away, how on Earth did she end up here?"
Kirk stood to the side, allowing Uhura to enter the medical bay first, before following her in, his mind still processing.
"Wait, it's a girl?" he asked. Uhura rolled her eyes.
"Of course she's a girl. You're captain of a starship and you don't know gender distinguishing characteristics of non-Federation beings?"
"Well, the gender distinguishing characteristics I usually go by would be a little indecent to explore on an infant," he smirked, realizing too late that the statement was more creepy than witty. "So, uh, Bones… is she okay?"
Bones had laid the baby out on a biobed and was leaned over her, pressing on her chest and stomach lightly. When he moved to straighten, the baby reached out and grasped onto his Starfleet insignia.
"She's fine," he said, his voice softer than Kirk or Uhura had ever heard it. "And very smart."
He slid a hand under her head, the other under her back and picked her up, cradling her close to his chest. The baby surveyed his face intently, her pupils dilated. He half-smiled down at her, shifting her in his arms. "She looks like Joanna," he mumbled quietly.
"Don't all babies kind of look the same at that age?" Kirk asked, scratching the back of his head. Uhura and Bones glared at him. "What?"
"You should go back to the bridge, I'm sure you have something more important to do than provide asinine commentary," Bones said, his eyebrows narrowed. Kirk rolled his eyes.
"A sentient being of which we would not under normal circumstances have any contact with was just dumped on our back porch, don't you think there are some questions that have to be answered?"
"Do you think she can answer them?" Bones asked rhetorically. Kirk considered him for a minute through squinted eyes before nodding. "I'll let you know if her condition changes."
"Lieutenant Uhura, please come with me, I'll need you to start listening for relevant transmissions. Try not to go soft on me, Bones."
Bones waited until the pair had left before sitting down on the biobed and stretching his legs out in front of him. The medical bay was blissfully empty today.
He pulled his legs up and gently laid her across his thighs, her head cradled in between his knees. She stared back at him and for a fleeting second, he felt a pang of homesickness for his daughter.
"She's gorgeous," Christine said, leaning against the edge of the bed. Bones nodded, running his fingers across the baby's crown. "How old do you think she is? Four or five weeks?"
"At most," he replied, wrapping the baby up and handing her to Christine, who accepted her gladly. "Centurions can be hard to read though, they age in an odd way."
"I'm not familiar with the race," she said, not taking her eyes off the infant.
"They are immortal, said to be the most beautiful creatures in the galaxy. I've never seen one before this one. They are genetically very similar to Orions."
"Like sweet Gaila," she cooed, talking more to the baby than Bones. Bones nodded.
"Like Gaila, yes. Centurions are frighteningly smart. She tracks as well as most infants four times her age. She spotted and grabbed my pin without hesitation. She hasn't cried yet."
"Perhaps nothing is wrong," Christine suggested, handing the baby back to Bones, who laid her back across his knees. "Why do you situate her like that?"
"I sat with Joanna like this. I could write with one hand and comfort her with the other, it's how I finished med school with a newborn," he said, almost offhand. "Jocelyn was in the hospital for two months after she was born, I'm pretty good with infants. Teenagers, I know nothing about. Sometimes I think it's a blessing that she's on Earth with her mother."
"Leonard, I doubt you ever think that's a blessing," Christine said gently. He laughed a little, the corner of his mouth twitching into a tiny grin. "I'm going down to Engineering to check on Commander Scott. He thinks he has blood rust, though I suspect he simply fell asleep against a water pipe and ended up with a transfer burn. Will you be okay here?"
Bones nodded. "If I need you, I'll call you."
Christine smiled and had almost made it to the door when she stopped and turned.
"Leonard?"
He nodded, extending his forefinger for the baby to grasp.
"This is a good look for you."