Jocelyn McCoy, MD
by Starsinger
This is just an idea. Tell me if I've gone off my rocker. I'm just playing with it, right now, not sure if I'll continue it. What if Jocelyn McCoy, not Leonard McCoy was on that shuttle in Iowa that fateful day? How would things turn out differently? Oh, switching character positions again on two, you'll know immediately who when you read it. Oddly enough, I got this idea after reading "Catching Fire (The Firehouse AU)" by kel_1970. Good story, go read it. No, this is not an attempt to make Leonard McCoy female. Don't own them.
Well, shit, Jocelyn thought, glancing around her. Four years of medical school, years of a residency in emergency medicine, and her goddamned husband, Leonard Asshole McCoy sends her packing. First he accused her of adultery, although how she was supposed to manage that working eighty hours a week at the hospital, then the baby boy she gave birth to wasn't his though the five DNA tests they'd run said otherwise, then she caught him in bed with his blonde bimbo boyfriend! Really! Another man!
Unfortunately, Dr. Leonard McCoy was a respected thoracic surgeon, and no one took her side since she had started off in an orphanage. Well, almost no one, Eleanor McCoy, the bastard's mother, immediately provided help when the first DNA test came back proving little David was his. Miss Ellie had even stopped talking to her son after Joss had been thrown out of the house with the baby and their stuff, even going so far as to send the driver for her daughter-in-law. "I can't believe it! He accused me of having an affair! And now this?!"
Little David sat in his grandmothers lap and began to fuss. "He's hungry," Miss Ellie announced. "I'll have Sarah take care of him. You go take a shower and clean up as best you can. I'll call my attorney, Sean."
With all the cares of the world on her shoulders Joss let Miss Ellie do what was necessary. Two days later divorce papers were delivered to her. Asshole was demanding everything, including custody of David. "He can have everything but David," Joss muttered under her breath. "He spent too damn long denying David was his."
In the end she sat beside her lawyer in the courtroom with Miss Ellie behind her and listened as the judge took everything from her but her medical license. "In the matter of David Elwood McCoy, I grant custody to the grandmother, Eleanora Dana McCoy. I also grant visitation rights to the mother, Jocelyn Lynn McCoy, at the grandmother's discretion. At least until matters are more settled with the mother. I grant no alimony or palimony, but you sir, will pay your mother child support. Your actions prove that you're not fit to be a father, but you will support the child you so carelessly decided to spring upon this woman. Court is dismissed."
The next day Joss tended three Starfleet Officer and two Cadets who had the unfortunate problems associated with drinking excessively at a local bar. One of the Officers, one Captain James T. Kirk, had not been there and not drinking and hauled the other four into the hospital ER before alcohol poisoning set in. "Not a problem, Captain, we'll stick an IV in them and get them rehydrated. Make sure they've got bucket for them before they get on the shuttle for Iowa, though."
"Thanks, Doc, hey didn't I hear you just went through a nasty divorce?" he asked.
"Yeah, I'm ready to leave this place. Asshole left me nothing but my bones," she replied, closing off the curtains to provide some privacy.
"Asshole, huh? Join Starfleet, we could use people like you," he said casually.
"Me? Okay, I'm not aviophobic like my ex, so flying isn't an issue, but I have a son, and a ton of baggage," she said.
"Your son is living with his grandmother, right? And Starfleet would provide the structure and support that any judge would agree is necessary. Think about it? Shuttle leaves for Riverside at 1600." Miss Ellie actually drove her to the shuttle port. Tearfully, she kissed little David good-bye, and thanked Miss Ellie, who wished her luck before climbing aboard the shuttle. The reason they were headed to Iowa was for a little R&R before the semester started. She met and instantly struck up a friendship with a cadet named Uhura, who insisted they go out to the local bar.
There, they met the man who would be known as Cupcake, a name she agreed with as she threw a drink into his face. Naturally he took offense to this and Uhura's cool behavior as she brushed him off. Soon, another man, in civvies, joined in and wound up in a fist fight with Cupcake and all his cronies. Joss had to admit the guy was handsome, and knew how to fight as he almost got away with it before finding himself bent over backwards over a table. The whistle blew and the call came for everyone to go outside, right now. Joss couldn't help herself as she studied the young man before helping off the table.
Joss inspected his injuries as Captain Kirk sat in the chair across from them, "Well, Dr. McCoy, will he live?"
"He may not feel like it in the morning, but he'll be fine," she replied. "What's your name?"
"Christopher Pike," he muttered.
"Pike? As in the Kelvin, Pike?" Kirk asked.
"Yeah, that's me," the young man replied. Kirk looked at Joss who took the hint and scurried out of the bar before returning to the hotel and her roommates. She honestly didn't expect to see the young man again, but she did. The next morning he landed in the seat next to her before buckling up. He looked more resigned than anything else, and that she could understand, she was possibly in a similar position. She felt the shuttle take off and closed her eyes, shaking her head, her black hair falling around her shoulder. This was a year she would never forget.