I know how annoying these can be but I am honor bound to say that only the main plot of this story is mine. The rest belongs to the creators, studios, actors, and everyone else applicable. I only own the minor characters that no one recognizes, unfortunately.
NOTES : So many people have inspired me in regards to this story, either by giving me a new way to look at the characters or happenings in, before and the possibilities of after the film that I've ended up with a better appreciation of them through their amazing writing or by answering my questions and giving me some great advice. So thank you to Rabid Angel, Jedi Buttercup, Volitan, SageK, Rogue Angel, Vulcan Wolf, and Christina TM. And especially to Mionejaina561 your story By Your Side was the story that got me thinking of this one, Bookdragon01 for letting me use Sam for Giotto's first name and Starquilter57 for the loan of Dr Angus McKenzie. A very special thank you to Royalpinkdogs for graciously Beta-ing this as well as advice. And to anyone I might have forgotten thank you as well, I definitely couldn't have written it without your insights. Also most of the 'legal' stuff is from growing up watching Perry Mason, Matlock, and a few other 'court' shows and what I remember from them and/or at least sounds plausible. If I'm way off base, please just chalk it up to the fact this is set a little over 200 years in the future and the laws will undoubtedly have changed a bit in that time, I'm definitely not a lawyer, or a doctor so the same goes for the medical stuff. Also I'm not trying to plagiarize anyone with any part of this, so if it's similar I'm very sorry but it wasn't intentional.
Chaoticmom.
He couldn't believe it!
As McCoy stared at the comm. on his desk in disbelief, all the thoughts of how great this shore leave was going to be vanished, replaced by hurt and fury. The only other time he'd felt like this had been the weeks before he'd joined Starfleet. Now she was doing it again. And if he hadn't forgotten one of the presents for Joanna in his office he wouldn't have known about this till he was back on board and had no chance to fight it.
"Goddamnit!" McCoy yelled as he sent the nearest object on his desk, a carved stone paperweight, crashing into the wall, as well as a couple of PADDs, followed by a string of curses in several of the languages that he'd picked up over three years at the Academy and two on the Enterprise. As the tumbler on the desk shattered against the wall, the door slid open, making him look up.
"Bones, you read-. What happened?" demanded the younger man standing there looking around at the electronics and shards of glass on the floor and the wild look in his best friend's eyes.
Most folks would have backed off at the fury on the Doctor's face, but not Jim Kirk. They'd been through too much together over the last five years and even though they argued fiercely at times each knew the other had his back.
Jim slowly stepped into the office, looking around to see if he could find what had sent his friend and CMO off like this. Bones had been so eager for shore leave because even though it was the second anniversary of the Narada disaster he was going to get to go see his daughter afterward.
"Bones, c'mon talk to me. What happened?" Jim asked again, laying a hand on McCoy's shoulder.
All McCoy did was nod at the comm. Jim looked at Bones in bewilderment as he reached for the replay button.
"Kirk, the shuttle's gonna leave without us and it's the last one."Lt Nyota Uhura said as she stopped in the door way. The communications officer was looking slightly annoyed while Spock looked over her shoulder, eyebrow raised, at the state of the usually neat office.
"Len, what's wrong?" Uhura asked concerned as she saw the look on McCoy's face and the mess, for she'd seen him mad before but nothing like this.
"I was just going to find out. It's something on the comm." Jim said as he pushed the replay button, it was an audio only message.
"Leonard, this is to inform you that as of June 20th your parental rights are bein' terminated, however I have over looked that fact since your leave ended on the 22nd. I am gettin' married the last weekend in June and Victor will adopt her then. Joanna has no need for a father in Starfleet who's never around and never calls. Furthermore if you decide to somehow fight this I will make sure that you receive a dishonorable discharge from Starfleet. Goodbye I hope y'all had a good last visit."
The voice was that of a woman, heavy with malice and a syrupy southern accent that held none of the warmth of their friend's.
"June 20th? We're scheduled to leave for New Vulcan on July 2nd. Who is that Len?" Uhura asked, laying a hand on his other shoulder.
McCoy took a deep breath and sank into his chair. "That is the damn reason I'm up here with y'all. My lovely ex-wife, she managed to get everythin' in the divorce, and make sure as hell I was blackballed from practicin' medicine. That was her Daddy's doin', most likely. Since no hospital or clinic would take me Starfleet was the only place left that I had." He responded bitterly, his drawl more pronounced than usual, sounding more like the man that she remembered on the shuttle five years ago being dragged out of the bathroom, than the gruff but kind-hearted man she'd known the last two.
"The bitch somehow convinced the judge that everythin' was my fault not hers, even though I was the one that caught her cheatin'. Like I told Jim when we met she got the whole damn planet includin' everythin' that I inherited from my parents. All I managed to get were quarterly reports on Joanna and a once a month call. And every time I've called on this last mission she says she's not there. Bullshit!"
"How old is Joanna now?" Uhura asked, squeezing his shoulder in support.
"She'll be 11 in October. This has gotta be a nightmare for her." He sighed leaning forward to rest his head in his hands.
"Nyota, I believe I understand the situation, but I am uncertain about some of the terms both the Doctor and his former spouse are using." Spock murmured to her a moment later.
Uhura quickly and quietly outlined the situation, watching the emotions play across Spock's expressive eyes even though very little of it showed on his face.
"Captain, would it not be wise to alert Admiral Pike to these events immediately?" He inquired turning to Jim.
"Let's get things taken care of here first, Spock. Uhura can you make a copy of the message as well as the comm. logs?"Jim asked.
"You know I can. I can copy the message from here but I'll need to get the logs from the bridge. It should take me less than ten minutes." Uhura said already placing a data chip in the comm.
"Bones, do you have a copy of your divorce decree? We'll probably need them, and whatever else you have." Jim told him.
"They're in the lockbox in my quarters, here." Bones said, his head still bowed. "They're on a PADD marked 'Divorce'."
"Go get them Bones. Can I use your comm.? Spock, make sure that the shuttle doesn't leave without us."Jim said rapidly trying to think of anything else they might need.
"Sure Jim." Bones sounded almost tired as he headed for the door behind Uhura and Spock.
"Don't worry we'll get this mess sorted out, I promise." Jim assured him as he keyed in the number for the Admiral.
A couple of minutes later the slightly puzzled face of Admiral Pike appeared on the screen. "What can I do for you Kirk that couldn't wait till you got down here?" he asked calmly taking in the worried expression on the younger man's face.
"Sir we have a slight problem. Bones just got a message from his ex-wife saying that two days before we get back from leave his parental rights will be terminated but that his ex will over look it because this was his last visit with his daughter. Seems his ex is getting married in June and the guy is gonna adopt the girl." Jim explained.
"What do you mean was his last visit? Shore leave isn't for another week." Pike asked puzzled.
"That's the thing Admiral, I'm pretty sure that Bones wasn't supposed to get it till we got back here after leave. The only reason he got it today was he happened to forget one of his daughter's presents in his office. She also threatened that he'd get dishonorably discharged from Starfleet if he tried to stop her." Jim reported, his irritation with the situation starting to show
"What? There's no way that one woman could force Starfleet to do that. Especially not to him, and not without a hell of a serious charge, as well as a lot of proof to back her claim up." Pike demanded.
"Actually Sir, I think she's done this sort of thing before. From what I've been told by Bones she literally stripped him of everything in the divorce; and managed to somehow blackball him from civilian medicine." Jim finished anger hardening his voice at what had happened to the man that had become both one of his best friends and an older brother.
Admiral Pike's anger was just as clear when he responded. "Kirk get him down here, bring the divorce paperwork, that message and anything else he's got. And Kirk no side trips."
"We've gotten most of the stuff already; we'll get the rest and meet you as soon as we can get to Starfleet Headquarters, and the only 'side trips' I'm taking are the ones that'll get us there faster. Kirk out." Jim ended the call and turned around to find Uhura, Spock and Bones waiting for him.
"Here's the paperwork and transcripts for the divorce and all the reports on Jo." McCoy said bitterly handing over a PADD marked 'Divorce', three PADDs with Joanna on the sides and one with a large black X on it.
"That's the recording and the logs." Uhura said passing her data disks over as well.
"Let's get to that shuttle and get started on this." Jim said as they headed for the shuttle bay.
McCoy was more jumpy than usual on the shuttle ride. Finally Jim threatened to have Spock knock him out to get him to settle down. He settled for muttering under his breath for the remainder of the trip down. Whether they were prayers or threats no one bothered to ask, they were just glad he wasn't shifting every two seconds in his seat.
When they landed Jim ordered their luggage taken to his quarters and they started for the administration building where Pike had his office.
The Starfleet Academy grounds were already packed with Starfleet personnel, cadets, families, news agencies, and the general public for so early in the morning. Jim managed to lead them around most of the crowds without being noticed in the early morning light, and they reached Pike's office building fairly quickly.
As they rode the lift to the 4th floor, Jim had his hand on McCoy's shoulder in silent support. Uhura kept shooting him reassuring looks, and Spock was as usual a calm presence to everyone in the group.
Pike called for them to enter as soon as the chime sounded. "Come in, sit down all of you. Tell me what's going on. Bones, I'm sorry about all this; Kirk gave me a brief description but I'll need details." Pike said as everyone sat down.
"How far back ya want me to go Sir?" McCoy asked as Jim handed him the PADDs, and disks.
"Start with your marriage." Pike said leaning back in his seat.
Bones sighed. "Ok. Jocelyn and I got married right before I finished med school, in April and I graduated in June. She worked some while I did my residency at the St Dominic-Jackson Memorial Hospital. We had a little place there in Jackson Mississippi.
"Our folks were fairly well off and my grandparents had left me enough that we were doing ok with her only workin' part time. 'Bout a year and a half later, in October of'49, Joanna was born. After I finished with school I got a job back home in Atlanta because my Daddy had been diagnosed with pyrrhoneuritis, so we moved to be closer to him and my Mama. I got us a small house and started workin' at Atlanta General. We were doin' alright, between my salary and inheritance and the money that her Daddy would send her periodically.
"Then, six months after we moved, my folks were killed in a shuttle accident. They decided to go on one last vacation before he got too sick to go. We sold our place and moved into theirs. It was bigger and had a better yard for Jo to play in. No problem I loved the old place, it had been in the family for over a hundred years or somethin' like that. I ended up takin' over my Daddy's practice too. That was when Jo was about four." McCoy said with a sigh.
"Around three months later all of a sudden I couldn't do anythin' right; either I wasn't makin' enough and when I picked up a couple extra shifts at the hospital I was workin' too much and she and Jo never saw me. I paid too much attention to Jo and ignored her, or vice versa, we never did anythin' fun anymore. I couldn't figure out what was goin' on. It was like she was in a permanent bad mood for the next couple months, then we were back to normal.
"Two years later I came home early, had my last patient cancel on me and I wanted to surprise them by bein' early for dinner for once. Found Jo down watchin' VIDs. That wasn't unusual but Jocelyn was usually with her or at least just in another room. When I asked Jo where her Mama was she told me upstairs. So I headed up there thinkin' she was puttin' away the laundry or some such." McCoy said as his usual scowl darkened at the memory.
"I caught her in bed with Goddamn Clay Treadway a guy that had been a neighbor of ours before my folks died and who I'd gone to school with." McCoy growled. "I scooped up Jo and headed for our neighbor's for the night. And went back to have it out with Jocelyn. I should have filed for divorce that night, but I was called out for an emergency, a hover-car crash and the resultin' pileup, and she beat me to it cause I was in surgery for the next twelve hours.
"The whole thing was messy, she saw to that. Supposedly I was involved with half my patients and all but one of my nurses. Or some shit like that. I still don't know how the hell she did it but by the time it was over all I had was a PADD and the suitcase I brought on the shuttle, a flask that a friend had taken away from me, and my name was persona non grata at every clinic and hospital I applied to. It didn't matter where it was." He finished, leaning back in his chair, a completely disgruntled look on his face.
"That PADD has the transcripts from the trial on it. I don't know if they'll match up with the official ones but I took a recorder in everyday just to have my own record of what was goin' on, afterward I couldn't get the official ones cause the jackass judge sealed 'em. But it has both the audio and the written version on there." McCoy explained as Pike looked puzzled by the 'label' on the edge of the PADD.
Everyone waited while Pike read through the decree. The farther into it he got the sterner his expression became. When he was finished he slammed it on the desk.
"Son, I'm no lawyer but I think a first year cadet or even your Chief Engineer's friend Keenser could have done a better job of defending you than whoever you had. I also think that we can get this looked at and get something a bit fairer to you. This settlement is nothing but court ordered financial slavery. I have never heard of such stupidity in this day and age. I have seen a few cadets come in like you and need help with this sort of thing, but this is absolutely unbelievable. Bones do you mind if I call in a friend of mine in JAG to look at this and the transcript?" He asked clearly appalled by the whole mess.
"I don't mind Admiral, though I rather they do it quietly so that she doesn't try and mess up my time with Jo. This'll be the first time in five years I've gotten to see her other than on a comm." McCoy said quietly.
"Of course. Now what was this about parental rights?" Pike asked.
"Do you have a data player?" Bones asked grimly picking up the data chip with the message. Pike pulled one out of his desk and handed it to him.
Pike glanced across the desk when the message ended and was only slightly surprised to see all of them had reacted. Jim's fists were clenched, McCoy had a white knuckle grip on the arms on his chair, Uhura was glaring at the player like she wanted to kill it, and even Spock's eyes were hard, a look Pike was sure he never wanted directed at himself; the fact that the rest of his face was still made it all the more unsettling. Right then he wasn't too sure he wanted to look in a mirror himself, he knew his expression was similar to theirs.
'How on Earth could someone do something like this to a man like McCoy?' He thought. Pike knew he wouldn't be there today if it hadn't been for McCoy. From the reports he'd read, McCoy had barely left his side except to tend to the other wounded once Kirk had brought him back until he was coherent and out of danger. And even then McCoy'd been by often, badgering him about meds or food, sitting down to talk or play chess after theYorktownreached them. Threatening to either sedate or restrain him when he almost fell out of bed trying to get up or did anything else too physical for his condition. Sometime during the week and a half trip he'd picked up the habit of calling the doctor 'Bones' from Kirk.
Pike had known he was a good choice technically when they met but he hadn't realized how good until he was the patient. McCoy's irascible nature softened around patients, well other than Jim Kirk and Spock. And no matter what McCoy might say while treating someone, his hands were always gentle. In fact the more he groused the stronger he felt about the person he was working on.
"Ok let me call Rhymer over here and see what he thinks of this pile of, of pakh*. I can't believe you've lived with this for five years. Why didn't you come talk to me or someone?"
"I didn't think there was anythin' to do, I'd tried to but all that did was take most of the little bit I had left and the amount I owed went up because I was 'botherin' her unnecessarily'. Hell, all I did was ask about doin' half payments till I had a job." McCoy explained as Pike keyed in the number for his friend shaking his head slightly.
"Rhymer."
"Hey John I have a problem right up your alley in my office. I was hoping you could come down and take a look at this mess before things heat up this week." Pike told the man on the other end.
"Admiral, you always call at the oddest moments. What type of problem?" Rhymer asked.
"One of our CMOs is in a spot and we need to know what we can do about it. He has the biggest Klingon shit divorce decree I've ever seen, and we have a bit of a time limit. He just got a message that she's trying to terminate his parental rights."Pike told him.
"Ok Chris, I'll be right over, but you owe me."
"Thanks John, and, um, can you keep it under your hat for now?"
"Will do. See you in five or less. Rhymer out"
"He's one of the best Bones. Uhura will you get us some coffee please since you're the closest?" McCoy nodded as Uhura went to the pots on the side table.
"Captain, Doctor, coffee? Commander, tea correct?" at their nods she started pouring.
"How do you take it?"
"Black for me and Bones." Jim spoke for both of them.
"Admiral?"
"Black one sugar please."
As the drinks were passed, the door chimed again. John Rhymer was a little younger than Pike, blond, green eyes, a few inches shorter than the doctor, and slender.
"Whoa, this is quite a crowd! So what's going on Sir?" he asked looking at everyone with interest.
"Lt Commander John Rhymer, I want you to meet Dr Leonard McCoy. I'm trying to return the favor of him saving my life by introducing you to him. I hope you'll be able to get him out of this rather serious mess." Pike performed the introductions.
"The Klingon shit divorce?" Rhymer asked clearly intrigued.
"That's about the best description for it even if the Admiral only came up with the term today." McCoy replied dryly offering his hand.
"I'll do my best." The other replied as they shook.
"Ok so I know who the rest of you are but how do you fall into the case?" Rhymer asked looking at the others with interest.
A quick glance at the others and Jim answered "Dr McCoy and I have been friends since we met on the shuttle after we enlisted; the Lieutenent was in our class. Cmdr Spock met us, well McCoy and me the same day that we were sent to Vulcan. Since then, well you know the rest.
"We were on our way to board the last shuttle when Bones realized that one of the presents for his daughter was still in his office. I went to see what was taking so long, and got there right after he finished listening to the message that his ex sent. The Commander and Lt Uhura followed me and here we are." Jim explained seriously.
"Bones?" Rhymer asked puzzled.
"Yeah the Captain here started callin' me that after I said that all I had left were my bones the day we met. It stuck and I've been called worse." McCoy said with a shrug.
"Ok, let's see what we have here." Rhymer said picking up the divorce decree. He read through it quickly and by the end he was almost spluttering.
"I have a feeling that both the judge and at least her lawyer were in this together by the way this is written." He said before starting on the transcript.
The rest of them made quiet small talk about the latest voyage and the plans they'd made for leave. After about twenty minutes there was an odd sound from Rhymer.
"Chris you'd better get a hold of someone and get them after this judge and these lawyers. If this is accurate I've got enough here, I think, to put them away, on misconduct alone," Rhymer said, dropping his professional attitude in his agitation.
"There's audio on there too, I spent the evenin's goin' back over the recording and typin' it out for somethin' to do," McCoy put in quietly as Rhymer quickly plugged an ear phone in and listened for a minute.
"You seem to have done a good job of it, from what I can see. I'll finish listening to the recording later with your permission?"
"Of course. I've dreamed of gettin' revenge on her for all of this but with Joanna….." McCoy trailed off with a shrug.
"Speaking of recordings, I need to know what lead up to the one that brought us together today, Doctor," Rhymer said steering them back on track.
McCoy took a deep breath but before he could start the story again, Uhura laid a hand on his arm.
"Sir would this help?" she asked pulling a recorder out of her carry all and handed it to Rhymer.
"I always carry it with me and I figured that Dr McCoy wouldn't want to tell it more than once." She explained looking slightly embarrassed at recoding her friend without telling him.
"Thanks, Uhura." McCoy murmured, covering her hand with his for a moment.
"That'll be helpful, thank you Lieutenant," Rhymer told her.
"Admiral, Lt Commander, may I be excused for a moment I don't think I can listen to that message a fourth time without throwin' somethin' again and I don't want to accidently hurt anyone," McCoy said as Rhymer gathered the recorders.
"Of course you may Doctor, I understand. We'll call you when we're done." Pike assured him.
"Thanks," he replied gratefully as he hurried out.
"Uhura, go with him please?" Jim asked her quietly and dropped his voice even further. "I don't want him to be alone right now. If you see any of the others let them know what's going on quietly, no need to make this public knowledge. And make sure that he isn't drinking. That's the last thing he needs right now." He finished, almost whispering the last.
"I will, Kirk, don't worry." She replied in the same tones, patted his shoulder once, and headed out after him.
Lt Commander Rhymer was extremely puzzled; he'd never seen this sort of familial interactions among crew members that weren't married before.
"Captain before I play these can you explain what is going on between yourself, the Doctor and the Lieutenant?"
"I'll do my best Sir." Jim replied sending an amused look at both Spock and Pike.
"Bones, Uhura and I met almost five years ago; on a recruiting trip stop in Iowa actually." Jim said leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "I met Uhura at the local bar; she was there with the rest of the recruits. We got to talking and four of the guys with her took exception to that fact. I'll admit I was a bit drunk at the time all five of us were, but hey. They threw the first punch, I got my ass handed to me before Captain Pike broke it up;" he shot a quick grin at the Admiral. "Then he dared me to do better than my father had in Starfleet. I took him up on it, and met Bones the next morning.
"Bones hates shuttles, absolutely hates them, and was hiding in the bathroom. He ended up sitting next to me after the flight commander dragged him out. We were both hung over, and got to talking, as well as splitting the last of his bourbon; found out later he was coming off a week long bender because of his divorce.
"We ended up rooming together for the next three years. I'd drag him out to bars on the weekends he'd nurse a beer all night and then make sure I got back safe, patch me up if I got in a fight, usually after dragging me bodily out of it. We got to be best friends, he's not only one of my best friends, he's become the closest thing to family any one can without blood. Spock," Jim shot an amused look at the Vulcan, who responded with a raised eyebrow. "To say that Spock and I did not get along at first would be an understatement. We've gotten to be friends I think, though I still question his logic in dumping me on Delta Vega." The two shared another amused glance.
The rest has been retold so many times; I'm sure you know it; that we limped home till the Yorktown found us and towed us back."
"That still doesn't totally explain the informality or the closeness of the relationships with your crew." He pointed out.
"In a way it does, the bridge is the closest group; but rest of the departments are almost as close internally. In a way I guess what I said about Bones being unofficial family kinda holds true for most of us. There wasn't a person on the Enterprise that didn't lose someone that day. I can't count the number of people I knew.
"That whole mission from the time we dropped out of warp at Vulcan till we blew the warp cores, we weren't sure if we'd still be there in five minutes. We ended up taking on stuff we weren't really prepared for. We did the best we knew how, luckily it was enough." Jim said, remembering what happened.
"On the way home you could hardly walk down the halls without finding someone mourning the loss of friends or relatives. So we leaned on each other, you'd go into the mess or rec rooms and find groups that just couldn't face sleep or being alone, especially after the Yorktown found us. So we sat up telling stories about pranks and general stuff that happened. It was our form of a memorial service. Even some of the Vulcans came in to listen. We didn't pressure them to join in but we offered them what we could in the way of food, drinks and just having someone to sit with them if they wanted.
"I heard someone say when we got home that we'd had a baptism by fire, I'll agree with that. We all saw each other at our best and worst; it's made us a stronger crew and a closer one. I know we're the youngest crew in the fleet but we know where we're coming from, we all went through it together, we've got each other's backs." Jim finished the pride in his crew evident in his tone.
"They do too John." Pike put in. "McCoy's the one who performed the surgery after Kirk here rescued me. As I was recuperating, I badgered him into letting me continue my open door policy for a couple of hours a day. I heard a lot of the same things about losing people in the ambush, but they all knew that everyone would be there for them. It's true that the command crew especially is close. I think if they'd still been on the ship we would have had three more in here trying to help. Am I right?" he asked looking at Jim in amusement.
"Most likely Sir. Scotty, Sulu, and Chekov would've been here in a heartbeat if they'd known. Lt Cmdr Scott's our chief engineer, Lt. Sulu's our helmsman and Ens. Chekov is our navigator." Jim explained with a chuckle.
"Should we not be getting back to the subject of Doctor McCoy's troubles?" Spock asked pointedly. "We can discuss crew interactions at a later date and in greater depth than we can here and now."
"Of course, we do need to get back on track." Pike said hitting the play button on Uhura's recorder. Rhymer made notes on his own PADD as it played then did the same for the recording from the ship.
McCoy was standing at the end of the hall, staring out the window when Uhura caught up with him.
"Are you going to be all right, Len?"Uhura asked laying a hand on his arm as she joined him.
"I don't know, Uhura, I just don't know. All I know is if she wins this I might just as well have died up there in the black or any of the other messes Jim's got us into since then. We've barely got out so many times with our skins intact since then. Here," he sighed handing her a small silver flask. "I know Jim probably told you to make sure that I wasn't drinkin'. That's been empty for 'bout two weeks now. Yes I still have a bottle of bourbon in my quarters. And yes I still have one glass before bed at least twice a week, two if Jim's been up to his 'tricks' and I've just gotten the place cleared of patients. Mostly I have it for the comfort of just carryin' it. My folks gave me that when I finished my residency. Mama and Daddy came to visit and celebrate the fact I was followin' in his footsteps. That was just about a month before he was diagnosed with pyrrhoneuritis. Read what it says." McCoy told her looking sadly at the bottle in her hand.
"'To Leonard, the next great Dr McCoy. All our love Mama and Daddy'. That's sweet Len."
"Yeah that's the only thing I have of them. And the only reason I still do is that a friend had taken it away from me before the officers searched to make sure that I wasn't makin' off with anythin' I wasn't 'entitled to.' God I hate her!" he said dropping his head against the glass, closing his eyes against the tears that wanted to fall. Uhura gently turned him to face her.
"Come on, you've got Kirk, me, Spock, and Admiral Pike on your side, plus everyone else once they find out about this. We'll get this fixed, Len, you'll see." Uhura told him, getting a small smile even as one tear fell. "Shh it'll be ok." she told him giving him a hug. "You've got some powerful people on your side in this, don't forget."
"Thanks." Was all he said as he wrapped his arms around her. "I needed to hear that. I guess I'm so used to her bein' my fight. And y'all are the best." McCoy added as they stepped back a couple minutes later.
"What else are friends for? Besides you take care of the rest of us all the time, so it's our turn." Uhura said with a small smile that managed to bring a slight one from McCoy.
"Thank you." McCoy said as the door to Pike's office opened.
"Ok we're done with the recordings Bones. Rhymer has a few questions for you." Jim called to them.
Once they were all back inside and seated, Rhymer began asking questions concerning the remark about never calling. After hearing about and reading the transmission logs, he made a few more notes before going back over everything just to be sure that he understood and had all the facts.
"How did your ex-wife have a way to reach you on the ship?"
"I sent it to Jo actually but I'm pretty sure that Jocelyn never gave it to her, since I'm the one that always calls her. I told Jo once that if she needs to reach me to call here and tell them it's an urgent message for me." McCoy said with a slight scowl.
"Alright, when are you supposed to pick your daughter up and where?"
"We were gonna to leave on Saturday mornin'. Swing by Iowa so Jim could see his Mama. Then I'd head for Atlanta either Sunday night or early Monday mornin'. Be at the house between 0900 and 1200. Pick up Jo and head for the mountains, friend of mine from high school has a cabin that he's lettin' us borrow. So it'll be just us for that week and then the last, Jim, Spock, Uhura, Chekov, Sulu, and Scotty are all comin' to join us, then we'll take her back to Atlanta and come back here. Or at least that was the plan. What are you thinkin' of changin'?"
"Nothing right now. I can start my inquiries this week, then once you have her we can make more detailed plans. Depending on what else we find there's a good chance she'll be owing you a large amount of money; and there is a chance that you'll end up in a total reversal and you'll have Joanna with you." Rhymer explained.
"Wait, won't that mean that I'm off the Enterprise?" McCoy demanded sounding a cross between overjoyed and panicked.
"No McCoy it won't; you see the resolution for dependents of Starfleet personnel on Starships was reinstated this week. So the rest of deck 5 and 6 will be turned back into child care and school facilities while you're on leave. Kirk you'll find the roster of new crew on your desk when you return. The Admiralty decided that since the repercussions of two years ago are being handled relatively peacefully that it's wiser to go back to 'normal'. In other words since no one is trying to destroy the Federation that keeping our people happy might be better. Personnel with families are starting to demand to be put planet side or on starbases because they can't bring them along and it's starting to hurt morale and crew numbers." Pike explained, both Jim and Spock nodded in understanding having lost several crew members to that ruling. The resolution had been enacted shortly before the Kelvin was attacked and had been swiftly repealed in the wake of the tragedy.
"Doctor, do you have a way to be reached at the cabin?" Rhymer asked getting them back on track.
"Yes the number's in my PADD with my luggage. It should be in Jim's quarters with the rest of our stuff. I can send it here to Admiral Pike and he can get it to you. That way you'll both have it."
"Sounds good. Now I want you four to get out and relax as much as you can this week. Rhymer and I will take this from here, and one of us will be in touch the whole way to let you know what's happening. Bones don't worry everything will work out. And if it has to go back to trial I will make sure the Enterprise and you are here for it. You might want to go start getting ready; the ceremony starts in less than two hours." Pike reminded them
"We'll be there Sir. Take care and thank you both for this." Jim said as everyone shook hands and left.