Disclaimer can be found on author's personal page.
Title: Came to Say Hello
Summary: You're alright, but I'm here, darling, to enjoy the party. Joanna McCoy has had enough of these Academy cadets.
A/N: I feel like I could either give you an enormous apology, or I could tell you that there will be a new chapter of Brown-Eyed Girl up this evening. I plan to be a little bit better about my writing this summer. I just finished a year at school, and now I intend to focus fully on my fiction. No more school papers to cause worry and stress; just you, me, and a whole bunch of sandboxes in which we can play.
This little drabble came about when I heard Martin Solveig's "Hello" on the radio… I'm so addicted to that song. Here is the link so you can follow along while you read.
http:/www(dot)youtube(dot)com/watch?v=C9mGQzvFidA
:)
"Joanna! Hey, Joanna!" Martin Eisenberg raced down the steps of the Academy, trying to avoid the throngs of cadets milling about, enjoying the sunshine. He was intent on the pretty young woman at the bottom of the stairs.
Jo McCoy tried not to roll her eyes too obviously as she turned and saw Martin calling her name. Her friends all tittered as Martin caught up with them, panting a bit from his mad dash. "Yes, Martin? What do you need?" Jo made a deliberate effort to be polite. Martin had been pestering her for weeks for a date, and she had had enough. It was one thing to be persistent if he genuinely liked her; it was another matter entirely to focus on a woman because she had ties to the most prestigious ship in the Fleet. Martin didn't know that Jo knew about his ulterior motives, and Jo didn't see any reason to embarrass him yet. Her gentile Southern upbringing wouldn't let her be outright rude to any soul, but she was considering making an exception for Martin.
"There's an honorary gala this weekend for exemplary service in the Federation. Officers on the best ships in the Fleet will be there." Martin stood a little straighter, throwing his muscles into stark relief through his uniform. "I was thinking that maybe you'd like to come with me."
"You have an invitation?" Despite her best efforts, Jo was impressed. Maybe Martin wasn't such a social climber as she had thought; maybe he had already been noticed by key members of the Federation.
Martin winked roguishly. Jo decided that only Jim Kirk could pull off that move; any other man looked like a genuine creep. "Not exactly, but seeing as how Kirk will be one of the honorees, I thought we could go together."
Or not.
"I'm sure you did," Jo said distastefully. The urge to roll her eyes became especially difficult to resist.
"It's just that I've wanted to meet Kirk for so long, and you know him fairly well. I'm sure he'll see a lot of himself in me. We both grew up in Iowa, after all." Martin's face was embarrassingly eager. "So, will you go?"
Jo pretended to consider his offer while her friends exchanged sly glances. Martin thought that he had a good chance with the Southern beauty from Macon, Georgia, but the boy was really quite clueless. Jo might have been raised by her mother, but she was more like her daddy than anyone expected.
That being said, Jo had no problem admitting that she had inherited a bit of a spiteful streak.
"Sure, Martin, I'll go to the gala with you. As friends," Jo said warningly as a grin nearly split Martin's face in two. She ignored the dumbfounded expressions on each of her friends' faces. "This is not a date. In fact," Jo smiled sweetly and everyone except Martin took a step back. "This is so not a date that I will meet you at the door. No need for you to pick me up or take me home. I don't want to complicate matters."
"But you will introduce me to Kirk, right? I mean, you do know him pretty well."
"Oh, you'll meet him," Jo promised.
Martin laughed and rubbed his hands together. Jo thought he looked like a more dashing version of the villains from the black and white films of the twentieth century – completely clueless but sure of his victory. She nodded politely as he said a hurried goodbye and went off to tell his minions – friends.
"Are you crazy?" Moira, a xenolinguistics focused cadet from Orion, grabbed Jo's arm. "Martin is not only a notorious womanizer, you know he's just using you to get onto the Enterprise. I can't believe you'd agree to go with him to an event, alone, where there are sure to be plenty of chances for him to make a move on you."
Jo smiled – less sweetly, more with the McCoy smirk – and twisted a lock of dark brown hair around her finger. "Whoever said that I'd be goin' with him, alone?"
Martin peeked over the heads of the crowd, trying to catch a glimpse of blonde hair, blue eyes, and the boyish grin that everyone in Starfleet knew so well. Jo was late, and Martin was beginning to worry that she had ditched him. Without Joanna McCoy's help, he would never be able to meet Jim Kirk and make a good impression on the captain before final exams. If Martin could just show Kirk that he was a shoe-in for a position on the Enterprise, exams would no longer be an issue. He could play it easy for the rest of the year. He was destined to be on the best ship in the Federation. He couldn't believe that his father hadn't already talked the Admirals into placing him on the Enterprise as it was.
"Martin!" He turned and saw Jo coming towards him. She wore a dark green dress, and he had to admit that she was very pretty. Joanna McCoy could be nice enough when she wanted, but Martin was well aware that underneath that pretty face and irksome Southern drawl, a brainy, smart-assed bitch lay in wait to dismantle the masculinity of any unsuspecting man.
Martin had heard of Joanna's ability to disprove one or two well-known xenobiologist theories; he had no doubt that she was smart. He wasn't jealous of her intelligence, but he disliked that she outshone many of the other cadets. Women were much better off in communications or as nurses. Jo's aspirations to be CMO on a starship were admirable, but foolish. Martin knew, even with his focus in command, he would be more medically capable than Joanna McCoy. Women just couldn't handle some of the battle wounds earned in space.
"You look lovely," Martin said. Fixing a warm smile on his handsome features, Martin took the hand Jo offered and kissed it before she could pull away. He didn't catch the distaste that fluttered across her face; he was distracted by the tall gentleman scowling behind her. "I don't believe we've met, sir, but you look familiar."
"Leonard McCoy," the man said curtly. Martin's mind began to race.
"McCoy." He looked from a beaming Jo to this stern man and nearly swallowed his tongue. "As in—"
"Daddy, this is Martin, the man I've been telling you about for a few weeks now." Jo was clearly enjoying herself. If there were not prestigious Starfleet officers surrounding them, she would have been dancing in pure glee. "Martin aspires to be the next captain of the Enterprise."
"Does he now?" A voice that Martin knew well from old interview vids broke into the conversation. "Does he realize that the current captain doesn't think so highly of his aspirations?" There was Jim Kirk, blue eyes gone ice cold as he surveyed the hapless cadet.
"I—that is, I hope—um, what I meant to say was—"
"Give it a rest, Martin, and go home." Jo stepped forward, speaking low enough that only Martin could hear her. Jim and Leonard spotted Spock and made their way to him, confident that Jo could sort out this mess on her own.
"The truth is that I'm here to present both the Captain and my father for their outstanding service in the last altercation with Klingon troops. Admiral Pike asked me to speak weeks ago. I don't normally like embarrassing people to this extent, but I've had enough of your slipshod advances." Jo looked at Martin pitilessly. "You're cute, Martin, but you're a regular jackass, and you should know that I think you're scum." She smiled sweetly at the outrage that crossed Martin's face. "If, you'll excuse me, darlin', I think I'll go enjoy the party with my dates."
She left him standing there among the crowd, speechless and outsmarted. It only took her a minute to track down Leonard and Jim, who were just finishing telling Spock and Uhura about Jo's exchange. Spock raised an eyebrow in what Jo took to be approval for outwitting Martin, while Uhura was a little more vocal with her praise.
"Good for you, Jo! Was this the same guy who believes that women have no place on the command deck?"
"One and the same," Jo confirmed. "He's also the idiot who keeps telling his buddies that he could run circles around me in the medical bay."
"What?"
"Like hell!"
Jo grabbed the sleeves of Jim and Leonard's tuxedoes. "Hey, you two!" She gave her own, Joanna-version of her father's stern face. "I will handle Martin Eisenberg. Remember the deal? I enter Starfleet, you let me fight my own battles. No pulling the honored Captain card, or the terrifying doctor. I'll handle it."
Jim smiled. "Okay, okay. I won't pound his face in or have him expelled."
"Thanks." Jo turned to her scowling father. "Daddy?"
Leonard rolled his eyes and grumbled intelligibly, but he pulled his daughter into a tight hug, kissing the top of her head.
The grown-up woman in the green dress was still his baby girl, after all.
Jo's dress:
http:/www(dot)sweetstylings(dot)com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/green-cocktail-dress(dot)jpg
Dr. McCoy: http:/3(dot)bp(dot)blogspot(dot)com/_scEKKPMLcQg/SgeIZX2c4UI/AAAAAAAAAKw/NipHQ7zIGNo/s320/sydprem2_urban(dot)jpg
Jim Kirk: http:/www(dot)accesshollywood(dot)com/content/images/82/230x306/82500_chris-pine-treks-for-a-tux-on-the-globes-red-carpet(dot)jpg