Well, another story. This one will be regularly updated: Next update is at the bottom of the story; If you've read my stories before you know the drill, enjoy. Note: This story is set while Kirk and McCoy are in Starfleet Academy.

McCoy was holed up in a shared office in medical, perusing the latest biobed scans from the cadets that had come on for physicals. He was doing his best to focus solely on the images and not let any stray thoughts creep into his head. His need for concentration wasn't related to difficulty in deciphering the complex images, instead it was related to McCoy trying his best to occupy his mind so he wouldn't remember what day it would be soon.

It would be Father's day in less than 3 days. The day inconveniently fell on a Sunday leaving no classes to distract the doctor. There were no myriads of cadets with idiotic aliments and injuries to take up his time. What McCoy was left with was too much time to dwell on what he missed: His daughter.

He glanced out the window. It was gray outside and rain was pouring down. McCoy felt even gloomier. It was like even the weather sensed his melancholy mood.

McCoy finally gave up trying to work and reached into his pocket pulling out a worn old-fashioned photograph of Joanna. He stared at her dimpled cheeks, brown hair, and small mischievous gap-toothed grin and his heart ached. He felt a lump growing in his throat but swallowed it down. His eyes burned but he convinced himself it was from eye strain.

McCoy had pulled out a letter from his daughter and was re-reading it for the twentieth time when a voice said "There you are Bones!"

McCoy glanced up irritably recognizing the voice and said "Jim, don't you know how to knock?" He didn't wait for an answer before turning back to his letter.

Kirk said "I do but I didn't feel like it. Plus, I don't have the time; this is sort of an emergency."

McCoy glanced back up as he noticed Kirk's voice sounded a little wheezy. "Damn it Jim! What did you do?" McCoy said loudly, startled by Kirk's appearance.

"Nothing Bones" Kirk said in an irritable voice, as he vigorously scratched his neck. Kirk had hives down one side of his face extending to his neck and hive covering both arms. A red rash was spreading over the other side of his face and his eyelids had begun to swell.

McCoy quickly left his office and walked out into main medical followed by a still scratching Kirk. Kirk sat on the edge of a biobed and watched as McCoy rummaged in drawers pulling out various cartridges. When the doctor had a small stack on the counter he started to mix the special anaphylactic treatment he had developed the first time he discovered Kirk's immune system was at war with almost anything.

"How does your throat feel?" McCoy asked while snapping the tops off two hypo cartridges and mixing the contents.

"Sore and tight." Kirk said "plus my tongue itches now." Kirk stuck his tongue out and started scratching it.

"Stop that!" McCoy said crossly. "That's disgusting."

"I can't help it Bones, it itches" Kirk said but he stopped scratching his tongue and instead ran it over his teeth trying to get rid of the scratchy sensation.

McCoy grabbed another hypo cartridge and poured half off before adding the rest to the medication cocktail he was mixing.

"Is that ready yet ?" Kirk said in a somewhat whiny voice, as he vigorously scratched his entire body. "Because I've got hives everywhere and I mean everywhere" Kirk raised his eyebrows suggestively.

McCoy rolled his eyes at Kirk's implication and said "I'm nearly finished and you'll live. Hives don't kill you."

"Maybe not but they itch like crazy, plus it's—getting a –little hard to breath now."

McCoy glanced back and saw Kirk was sitting on the edge of the bed panting. He came over with a large hypo.

Kirk saw the size of the hypospray and his eyes widened. "Uh, Bones—I don't think—I have that—many hives. That hypo is over—ow!" McCoy had used Kirk's gasping protestations as an opportunity to give him the hypo.

"Stop being a baby. You didn't even feel that!"

"But I felt I should have- felt it. The ow was- in anticipation." Kirk was still scratching. He glanced at McCoy and said "when does this- stuff start working?"

"Not immediately, now what was it this time? Were you with a cadet in the greenhouse making out and you touched one of those plants or did you kiss some girl that had exotic lipstick or is it somebody you're allergic to? I told you all races are not compatible with certain humans and wanting–"

"Whoa—whoa ,Bones! I'm hurt. You really think badly of me." Kirk didn't look offended though, he looked flattered. Kirk continued in a not convincing hurt tone. "I was sitting in the mess hall with some cadets innocently eating"

"They were female cadets of course and what were you eating?" McCoy asked dryly knowing that with Kirk nothing was innocent.

"I was eating,-Uh—" Kirk said a foreign word.

McCoy recognized the word as the name of a dessert. It was very delicious and it was also an aphrodisiac. Knowing Kirk, McCoy knew which quality the dessert had been selected for and he called his friend on it. "The food you just said is an aphrodisiac and god knows you don't need anything like that. Also you know you're not supposed to go around eating anything that comes to mind without checking it against your biochem profile at the very least!"

"Bones, you always think the worst of me. I didn't want to eat it and it wasn't me that ordered the dessert."

"Then who did? Nobody force fed it to you."

Kirk scratched his hand and turned a deeper shade of red underneath his rash. "Actually—Uh—they did force-feed me."

McCoy waited for an explanation.

Kirk looked sheepish as he explained "there was this girl and her friends and I kind of like them." McCoy snorted. Kirk liked every female cadet he had ever laid eyes on human or non-human. Kirk continued "Well anyway they were trying to decide what dessert to order and I sort of implied that they should order that one. "

McCoy scowled.

Kirk added defensively in a rush. "They offered me some, but I declined saying I had allergies. It was all going fine, until Uhura walked by and told them what it was, and then they got really mad. I mean it was just dessert. I didn't mean anything by it!"

McCoy crossed his arms and put on his most disapproving expression.

"Uhura left and those girls got really mad. They cornered me and the blue-skinned one was pretty strong too. They pinned me down and force-fed me half the plate."

"Got what you deserved!" McCoy laughed at the expression on Kirk's face.

"Bones I could have died!" Kirk said indignantly.

"But you didn't and maybe you learned your lesson."

"Yeah, don't do anything around tight a—Uhura."

McCoy shook his head and started putting his medical equipment away. Kirk glanced down at his arms and noted the fading hives. He hopped off the biobed and peered at himself in the reflection on a metal cabinet, the swelling to his eyelids was lessening he noted with satisfaction.

McCoy walked away. Now that he had finished curing Kirk of one of his yet-again deadly allergic crises, McCoy was going back to his office. He opened the door and settled into his chair, when the door popped open. Kirk slipped inside. "That was really rude walking away like that. I didn't even get a lollipop." Kirk said

"Jim go away. I have work to do."

Kirk didn't let McCoy's tone stop him from perching on the edge of McCoy's desk. He smiled and said "Come on Bones, Stop acting like an old man. It's Friday morning, classes finished early. We've got the whole weekend ahead of us."

"I'm busy. Go find somebody else to bother."

"I might but there's nobody else. Everybody pretty much left campus or is off studying somewhere. Plus it's raining outside and I'm bored." Kirk was peering curiously at an image on McCoy's computer console. He turned the console slightly so he could see the image better as he said "Let's do something fun."

"You are such a child."

Kirk shrugged "Maybe. Though I'll take that as a compliment." He was silent for several minutes as he stared at the computer image then he asked "Is that Whitis? She looks hot, nice legs and—"

McCoy turned the monitor away from Kirk's lecherous eyes and said "Keep your hands of this. These images are part of people's confidential medical records."

"Fine." Kirk scowled and slipped off McCoy's desk. He walked over to a book case in the corner of the office and started looking through the old-fashioned books with disinterest. McCoy saw him perk up a bit as he noticed an ancient copy of Gray's Anatomy. Kirk starred appreciatively at the detailed anatomical pictures before flipping to the back of the book. He saw that somebody had written 'To Leonard H. McCoy, the future greatest doctor in the galaxy. I'm so proud of you.'

"Who gave this to you?" Kirk held up the textbook.

McCoy glanced up from where he was perusing a screen of vaccination records and said quietly "My dad."

Kirk flipped through the volume for a few more minutes and then placed it back on the shelf. "That's nice your dad gave you that. It looks pretty expensive"

"It is it's a very old copy almost a hundred years old."

"Hmm, really old, but the pictures are still accurate let me tell you that." Kirk said with a wicked grin. McCoy rolled his eyes.

Kirk strolled back to McCoy's desk and sat back down on the edge, intentionally disturbing McCoy's papers. "So you going to send your dad a card or go see him this weekend? That stupid holiday Father's day is Sunday."

McCoy snatched the papers Kirk had crumpled and glanced at his friend, surprised by the harsh tone. Kirk wasn't looking at McCoy however; he was too busy reading one of the papers on McCoy's desk and speaking. "Maybe I'll send my father a card." Kirk continued. "Dear dad I really miss you even though you've been dead for years and I never knew you."

Kirk picked up a stack of McCoy's papers and skimmed through them while saying. "Or maybe I'll send Frank a card: Dear Frank thanks for all you've done for me. I would have never developed such a tolerance for alcohol if you hadn't made me drink half a case after I stole a sip of your beer when I was young. And thanks for teaching me what a stupid sh—I am. " Kirk ended bitterly "I'll never forget any of your lessons." He stared broodingly at the stack of papers in his hand then gave himself a shake and said to McCoy with a small strained smile. "But no, your dad must've been okay. He must have been a nice guy."

"How do you know?" McCoy asked.

Kirk grinned but it was forced. "Easy, You're not such a jack a—like I am" Kirk continued seriously. "Really though, I'd like to meet your father one day."

"He's dead." McCoy said evenly as he suddenly found a reason to become very busy tiding the papers littering his desk.

Kirk's face turned pink and he said. "Oh, I'm sorry Bones. I didn't know.."

McCoy glanced up and sighed. "It's okay Jim, it was a while ago."

Kirk was silent for several minutes and busied himself reading through the printouts of people's medical records; McCoy was too preoccupied in his own thoughts to stop him. "Bones, tell me she doesn't have this!" Kirk said abruptly and shoved a flimsy under McCoy's nose.

McCoy irritably grabbed the paper and noticing the specific word Kirk was pointing to said "What Rhinorhhea? Yeah she has that." He took the paper from Kirk and replaced it in a file.

"What? I just had a little encounter with her the other day! You're saying I'm infected?"

McCoy wondered whether Kirk was serious in his horrified outrage or was making a joke to take McCoy's mind off the mention of his father. With Kirk he couldn't be sure which it was. McCoy answered. "You're only infected if she had a cold or something and I think it's allergies. However, transmission is also affected by proximity though." McCoy decided to have a little fun at Kirk's expense, he added in an innocent voice. "How close did you two get?"

Kirk scowled and said "How close do you think? That's not the point though. The point is I'm infected. I'm contaminated. I feel unclean; she should get some vaccinations or something. This is disgusting. Rhinorrhea is-"

"Rhinorrhea is a runny nose." McCoy smirked at the expression on Kirk's face as he registered the words.

"A runny nose?... For god sakes you should have said that instead of scaring me half to death!"

"You deserved to be scared. Maybe then you'll stop acting like a Billy goat in a herd of does." McCoy snatched the remaining flimsies from Kirk's hands and shoved them into a folder which he took over to a file cabinet and locked them away.

Kirk couldn't think of a comeback for McCoy's response so he yawned and was about to slip of McCoy's desk and see if the rain was slowing up when he noticed a photo sitting halfway buried under a flimsy. He picked up the photo of the little girl and said "Who's this Bones? She's kind of a cute little thing."

McCoy turned around and noticed the photo Kirk was holding. He marched over with a scowl on his face and snatched the picture from his friend.

"Well, who is she?" Kirk asked.

"She's Joanna." McCoy said shortly. He added in a somewhat threatening manner. "And she is not a cute little thing! She's not even six yet. What is wrong with you?"

"I didn't mean cute, cute. I meant—nice looking in a babyish-I'm totally not interested way." Kirk said raising his hands in a placating gesture and finished indignantly in an injured tone. "God Bones, I'm not some kind of freak!"

McCoy hostile expression subsided into his usual disgruntled one and he sat back down. Kirk slipped off McCoy's desk and settled into an actual seat. McCoy was severely irritated and Kirk suspected if he took up residence on the desk again he would be on the receiving end of a hypo.

"So who is she ? Your niece? God child? Friend's kid? A patient?" Kirk asked. He added after a second of thought "niece that's a god-child who is a friend's kid that's a patient?"

McCoy glared at Kirk, but didn't answer. He was growing more and more aggravated. Kirk didn't notice. The younger man had snatched a scrap of paper off McCoy's desk and was folding it into a plane. He deftly completed the task and remarked " She looks a bit like you, though not so surly and ill-tempered." McCoy was ignoring him so Kirk let the plane fly and repeated "So who is she?"

The plane sailed over McCoy and then improbably soared in a loop to hit the doctor in the back of the head. McCoy straightened up as he felt the blow and growled tersely. "It's none of your damn business Jim."

"No need to be mean about it Bones. I'm just curious about how you know her." Kirk said intentionally needling his friend. "You don't know very many cute females that aren't patients so naturally I'm interested." Kirk placed his elbows on McCoy's desk and stared at the doctor without blinking

"Go be curious about something else! Somewhere else!"

"You're in a bad mood. Somebody must have missed there morning coffee." Kirk observed lightly.

"Damn it! Jim leave me alone. I don't have time for you acting like an overgrown childish idiot. Go be a nuisance to somebody else, if you can find anybody that wants to be f—ing bothered with you! I don't have time for your stupid-smart a— sh— now!"

Kirk's expression turned hurt at McCoy words, but he shrugged like he wasn't bothered and said with a grin "Okay Bones I'll go and maybe you'll have time for my stupid smart-a—sh—later-" His words were interrupted by a knock on the door. Then a nurse opened it and poked her head into the office. "Dr. McCoy there's a patient for you, Class III tibial fracture. He was trying to rappel down one of the faculty buildings and in this rain he slipped." The nurse was trying to suppress a laugh at the expression on McCoy's face at hearing the cause of the injury.

She bit her lip to keep from laughing and looked around the office. She noticed Kirk and gave a small smile. Kirk winked at her. McCoy noticed the interaction and said to the nurse "Violet please don't encourage him; he's been acting like an a—hole today." To Kirk, McCoy added darkly "When I come back I expect you gone or you will be on the receiving end of a hypo that will make you wish you were dead."

Then he left the room grumbling about immature cadets and why he couldn't ever get any peace. He slammed the door behind him and as he did so a letter fell out his pocket. Kirk walked over and grabbed the slip of paper. It was written on card stock that was covered in glitter and stickers. Kirk opened the letter and saw the words inside were written in a child's hand.

Deer daddy

I miss you. When are you comin two see me? Aunt Donna sed you were comin soon. My frend molly says because you are a doctor you have more impoortunt things to do maybe you won't be busy soon and you can come…

The letter continued on after that with misspelled words and childish rambling; she went on to describe a turtle she had caught and a neighbour's dog that was having puppy. At the end of the letter was a large loopy Joanna written in crayon.

Kirk carefully refolded the letter and tucked it halfway under a pile of papers littering McCoy's desk. So that explained it. Joanna was McCoy's daughter. That must have been the little girl in the picture. Kirk was surprised McCoy had a daughter. The doctor had never mentioned Joanna, he had only told Kirk that he was divorced from his wife but he had kept the news of having a kid a secret.

Kirk realized why McCoy was so melancholy and ill-tempered. He missed his daughter and the letter was only dated from two days ago. Kirk sat down at McCoy's desk and activated the computer console. He quickly hacked the academy database and from there McCoy's personal file. He read the entries with interest. McCoy was divorced and had a little girl named Joanna. His father was deceased and had died of a lethal illness. The file further stated that McCoy's daughter was in the custody of his sister and the reason McCoy had apparently given the recruiter was I realized Joanna would have a more stable home life with my sister than I could offer.

The file explained why McCoy didn't discuss his daughter perhaps he felt guilty for leaving her with his sister. Kirk scrolled through the rest of McCoy's file, then hacked into the mail going through his comm. Unit and skimmed through that. He found the reason McCoy probably wasn't going to see his daughter even though he obviously missed her.

Leonard,

Since Father's day is coming, I'm sure you'll be back in town to visit Joanna. Though why anybody such as you claims to be a father is something I'll never understand. I'm sure that you'll be trying to make up for leaving your daughter behind why you went off to pursue an illustrious career among the stars or as illustrious career as a drunk can have. Anyway, when you come into town I'll be stopping by, there's something you and I need to discuss and take care off with you….

The comm. continued on in similar fashion growing more and more acerbic. By the end of it Kirk took a deep breath and was happy to exit it. He couldn't blame McCoy for not wanting to go to see his daughter. His ex-wife sounded like a b—ch and Kirk figured that with the way she seemed to hate McCoy she would think nothing of bringing Joanna into one of their disagreements.

Kirk scrolled through some more mail until he saw one from a woman named Donna. He remembered the name from Joanna's letter and opened the comm. message.

Len, I'm sorry you're not coming to see Joanna this weekend, but maybe it's for the best. If Jocelyn comes into town and you're here…We'll it won't be good for Joanna, she still can't understand that her mother basically cares almost nothing for her. And when you come you'd only be able to stay a while. Last time you came and left after a few hours Joanna cried for days , she likes when you visit but it gets her really upset. I'm not saying you shouldn't come she's your daughter but…

Kirk exited McCoy's mail and shook his head. Damn McCoy's life was so messed up. No wonder the doctor was perpetually cantankerous. Kirk thought about McCoy's predicament for a moment then he made a decision. Quickly he accessed McCoy's personal file again and found the address of a Donna Withers, who was listed as McCoy's sister. Then he logged off and carefully re-arranged the desk making sure he left no evidence of what he had been doing. Kirk left medical passing by Bones who was too busy to notice him. The doctor was berating a cadet for acting like an idiot.

Kirk was on a mission. McCoy didn't deserve to spend Father's day miserable. McCoy was a good friend and Kirk was sure that when given the chance McCoy was a good father. Kirk was going to give him that chance.

Next update will be April 1st (with a two-day margin of error as always). Questions for this chapter How was Bones and Kirk portrayed in your opinion IC or not? And what do you think will happen in the next chapter? Also this story is the first in a series that will highlight the friendships among the Enterprise crew. As always feedback is very much appreciated and I reply to all reviews;)