Summary: A trashy gossip rag thinks it's got a scoop on Jim Kirk's love life that sends Jim and Bones' relationship spiralling out of control. But what starts with just a simple issue of lack of trust soon turns more sinister as the articles become more and more defamatory. * Leonard stared at the magazine in front of him. Christine had brought it to him, her eyes apologetic as she'd handed him the article. Her gentle words of warning had faded into white noise as he stared down at Jim's face as the headline 'I slept with James Tiberius Kirk' wrapped around him. [Sequel to Talks Like A Gentle Soul]

Notes: Takes place in the same universe as 'Talks Like A Gentle Soul' and 'Confluence'. Please read those to make sure this makes sense to you if you haven't already. If not, then read this as an established relationship. Just in case it's unclear, this takes place a few months after 'Talks Like A Gentle Soul's' epilogue after Jim gets back from his two year mission.

Chapter 1: Galaxy Gossip

"Fuck!"

Jim would never get tired of the sound of Bones' voice when he finally reached that point where he was all Southern drawl and no longer Southern manners. When the gentleman in him disappeared, when the capable doctor fled, and all that was left was a quivering ball of need laid out before him, flushed and panting.

He loved the fact that Bones would give himself over like this. That he trusted Jim enough to let him take him apart, piece by piece, while his hands skimmed over the dark hair on Bones' thighs. He could feel them quivering as the other tried to spread them wider, tried to take Jim in deeper, heels digging into the back of Jim's thighs.

"Dad I'm home!"

Jim glanced at the bedroom door. It was shut and Joanna wouldn't come in without knocking. He felt Bones freeze under him. Both of them knew that they were too far gone to stop, or even look decent enough to greet her. Even so, Bones tried to squirm his way out from underneath Jim, only stopping when Jim rocked his hips forward again insistently.

"Damnit Jim! What are you-" Bones' whisper was cut off by a strangled moan as Jim took him in hand. It was a rather rushed end to what had been a rather slowly built up round, but Jim took what he could. Bones didn't last long, shuddering against Jim's chest he cradled him against him. He could feel the other's body tightening around him, could feel the splash of Bones' release against his stomach, could hear the staccato sounds of Bones' breathing as he tried to keep himself quiet. Jim didn't take long after, his own orgasm crashing through him and leaving him sagging on top of the doctor.

"Dad, are you in?"

Bones jumped when there was a knock on the bedroom door. Jim reached between them, running a finger through the wetness on Bones' stomach before bringing it to his lips and sucking it. Bones didn't take his eyes off him.

"Just a minute Jo! Why don't you start getting dinner ready? I'll meet you in a minute," Bones shouted through. Jim was a little upset that the other's voice was back to normal. He'd have to work on it again tonight.

"Is Uncle Jim in there with you?" Joanna's voice drifted under the door suspiciously. Jim could just picture her face, exasperated and grossed out in equal measure. Jim chuckled, guessing the game was up.

"I'll send your old man right out, Joanna," he promised. Bones turned bright pink and Joanna groaned outside but her footsteps retreated.

"You're an asshole," Bones said, though there was no heat to it. He was reaching for the bedside drawer for tissues. Jim slowly pulled out of him, clambering off the bed and finding his boxers from where they'd been discarded what felt like hours ago. He pulled them on and then stretched.

When he glanced at Bones he saw that the other was watching him appreciatively, eyes scanning over his chest and legs. He let a smirk tilt his mouth at the corners and arched his spine a little.

"I thought we were going to help Joanna with dinner?" he asked. Bones seemed to snap out of whatever fantasy he was having, (and Jim was going to find out all the details later), and got to his feet. He put on his boxers and did his usual quick dive across the hall into the bathroom. Jim watched him go fondly before pulling on his clothes.

He'd come over in his dress uniform after a meeting. That's what had started the unusual 'middle of the day' sex session that they usually forewent because there was no telling when Joanna might come home. Bones had taken one look at his uniform and decided that it would have looked better on the floor. At first Jim had thought it would just be something quick against the kitchen counter, but then Bones had dragged him into the bedroom and it had become a somewhat more… engaging session.

Jim wasn't going to complain. His sex life with Bones was actually pretty amazing. He had thought that settling down and having a relationship would curb some of the more adventurous things that he did, and maybe he wouldn't get as much sex as he had before. The opposite seemed to be true. Bones didn't say no to anything without trying it out at least once, and his libido now that it was awakened seemed to be on par with Jim's own.

Jim finished buttoning his shirt, looking around for his belt and not finding it. It took him a moment to realise that Bones and pulled that off him somewhere in between the lounge and the kitchen and he went searching for it.

He finally found it outside the kitchen door, discarded to one side of the hallway. He bent to pick it up and it was at that moment that he ran into Joanna, who had obviously heard him padding about and come to greet him. Both of their gazes fell to the belt in Jim's hand and Joanna let out a huff of breath before she went back into the kitchen.

Jim slid the belt back into the loops, trying to compose himself when he wanted to do nothing more than giggle really. He heard the bathroom door open and Bones pretty much ran back to their bedroom, not even looking in his direction.

This was why Jim had kept his own apartment. When Bones came over, there was none of this nonsense of sneaking about or trying not to mentally scar someone's daughter.

Deciding that Joanna probably knew already what had been going on, Jim walked into the kitchen and helped himself to a beer from the fridge. It opened with a hiss. He could feel Joanna's eyes on him and he turned to her, smiling and leaning against the counter.

"So, how was school?" he asked teasingly. Joanna coloured and turned back to chopping vegetables. She had her father's hands, long fingered and dextrous.

"The Vulcan biology unit is interesting. I'm learning a lot. Not as much as with some of the other species though, but the information on Vulcans is so specific and vague at the same time… I've had to email Selek with questions to help me with my assignment because with some of it I don't know where to start…"

Joanna continued to ramble to hide her embarrassment and Jim let her, listening even though he seemed like he wasn't. It was the mention of Selek that made Jim's smile stretch even further. It had come as a bit of a surprise to Bones to discover that his darling baby girl had been messaging a boy for the last twenty months or so. Even more that the boy was a Vulcan.

Joanna protested they were just friends and that there was nothing like that going on, but Jim knew better. Spock had asked Jim to keep an eye on the situation, as he had been worried that Selek was ruining his chances of being paired for a successful bonding in his pursuit of Joanna. Of course, Jim had done nothing about it. He could see the way Joanna's lips curled up sometimes when her communicator chirped or when a package arrived from New Vulcan with a selection of bizarre things that Selek had collected and sent to her. Hell, Joanna's bedroom held more pieces of Vulcan art than Spock's had on the Enterprise.

"How is Selek?" Jim interrupted her half way through a spiel on how Vulcan hands presented a massive problem for the sterilisation process that usually took place in Medbay.

"Oh he's fine. You know how Vulcans are. Never a bad day when you don't really feel emotions in the first place," she said, shrugging. Jim knew she was being flippant, but there was a hint of tension there. Maybe they'd had a bit of a fight recently, it wouldn't have been the first time that Joanna had grown exasperated with her Vulcan puppy dog and wanted space.

Although last time 'space' had been a disastrous set of dates with a fellow Cadet that had ended with Jim paying him a visit and warning him that if he ever came near Joanna again, he'd have his teeth knocked down the back of his throat. They had both agreed never to tell Bones about the situation, Joanna because she didn't want her dad to worry about her personal life, and Jim because he knew that Bones would realise that Jim was lying when he said he'd only threatened personal injury.

"Argh goddamnit Jim! Why didn't you tell me my comm had been going off?" Bones grouched as he came into the kitchen. Jim sighed when he saw that the other was dressed in the Starfleet Medical whites. His hair was wet, disarrayed and dripping slightly.

"Didn't hear it. You gotta go in?" he asked. Joanna paused where she was chopping vegetables. Bones went to kiss her cheek but she ducked.

"Nuh-uh. Not until I can forget where you might have been putting your mouth," she said. Bones turned bright pink as Jim laughed.

"Yeah I have to go in. Someone's sick and I'm short staffed. And I'm on the shift with that goddamn black cloud-" Bones continued to rant about Fisher who, for all intents and purposes, seemed to be a doctor who always seemed to pull in the emergencies. Jim had given up long ago trying to make sense of medical superstitions like that. Bones pulled a protein shake from the fridge, chugging it down and wiping his mouth with a grimace.

"Should I just put the leftovers in the fridge for you?" Joanna asked as she started to shove the chopped vegetables into a frying pan. The scent of garlic, onions and peppers filled the kitchen in a short few moments.

"Yeah probably for the best sweetheart," Bones replied, running a hand through his hair. Jim sighed and glanced at the clock on the oven. He probably wouldn't see Bones again tonight so he should probably go home after he ate with Joanna.

"Sure thing. Have a nice time working a double shift," Joanna replied sarcastically. Bones rolled his eyes and turned to Jim. He pressed a kiss against the other's lips.

"I'm going to be too tired to catch you for dinner tomorrow like planned," he said apologetically as he pulled away. Jim shrugged, sipping his beer and following Bones into the hallway. The doctor started to pull on his shoes, cursing as he pulled on the laces and tried to get them to form proper bows instead of tangled knots.

"It's alright. Do you want me to come over or are you just going to crash?" Jim asked. Bones paused and Jim waited patiently as he thought about it.

"I wouldn't mind seeing you it's just…" Bones trailed off, glancing up at Jim. The uncertainty made Jim smile and he leaned against the wall.

"Hey, if you just want me here to fill up the other side of the bed while you sleep, that's fine too you know," he said. The tension leaked from Bones' frame and he continued to tie his shoes.

"So we have a date in which we're going to literally sleep together?" Bones said, quirking his eyebrow. Jim shrugged and hooked his finger in Bones' collar, pulling him forward.

"No, we have a date where you relax and sleep then get woken up to the most amazing blow-"

"I CAN STILL HEAR YOU TWO OH MY GOD PLEASE STOP!" Joanna shrieked from the kitchen. Jim laughed as Bones jerked away sending him a dark look. He grabbed his keys from the side and left with the door slamming behind him.

Jim slinked back into the kitchen, ignoring Joanna's mortified expression in favour of peering into the frying pan.

"So, what's for dinner?"

Joanna sighed and looked at her textbook morosely. It was two weeks until her final exams. Two years of living the Academy lifestyle, two years of being top of her class, with whispers of 'wunderkind' following her everywhere. Yet now everything was coming down to the last set of exams and her placement to study in the field.

She had a feeling it was going to be the Enterprise. There wasn't any other ship in the galaxy that had as much contact with strange new aliens and she wasn't being big headed when she considered that her talents would be wasted on any other ship. Even so, there were nerves that she might just screw up on this final test, or that someone might get political and try to keep her away from the flagship because of Jim's 'conflict of interest'.

She poked at the textbook with her finger. Around her, first years chattered. Most of them were older than her. A few of them had approached her over the last year, thinking she was a fellow classmate, only to recoil when she told them that she was actually in her second year at the Academy.

Not only that, within her own year group she… hadn't made many friends. Back in Georgia it had been simple. She'd had plenty of people in her circle and she had flitted about. It was only when reaching the Academy that she'd realised how much of a safety net she'd had back home. It had been sobering to realise that the majority of people who spoke to her only did so to mock her, either to her face or to recount whatever she'd said later.

She wasn't invited to the parties (she couldn't drink), she wasn't invited to social activities (she might report them to her Officer father) and now she wasn't even good enough to study with, considering her study date had disappeared twenty minutes ago to 'get some water' and never returned.

Still, there were worse things she supposed and she did have some friends. They were just already serving on various ships throughout the quadrant, having graduated some twelve years previously.

She was about to call it a day when she felt something splat down in front of her face. She glanced up, seeing a fourth year who's name she didn't know and his younger brother, who was in her Xenolinguistics class. They both wore somewhat unpleasant smiles and it made Joanna's heart sink slightly.

"Have you seen this? Thought it might interest you," the elder brother said and Joanna glanced at it. It was a cheap gossip rag, the kind that littered dentist surgeries and hospital waiting rooms. She frowned at them. Were they suggesting that she was shallow enough to read something like this instead of study?

"I don't see how… ah… 'Galaxy Gossip' would interest me," she said, pushing it away. The younger brother's smile grew wider.

"Turn to page sixteen. I reckon you'll find it… informative," he said and then the two of them slinked away. Joanna stared at the magazine for a moment, wondering if they'd done something to it, before she gave into the curiosity and opened the pages.

It was a double paged spread with a picture of Uncle Jim in the centre. The picture was slightly old, showing a much skinner Jim from six months previously after he'd come back from his two year tour. She smiled a little. They'd retouched him a lot, hiding the slight scar on his face completely and brightening his eyes until it almost looked like they were glowing.

Her heart stopped when she saw the article headline though.

Shit.

She got on her feet and ran to Starfleet Medical, her textbooks, exams, worries about friends forgotten in the knowledge that she had to find her father.

Leonard stared at the magazine in front of him. Christine had brought it to him, her eyes apologetic as she'd handed him the article. Her gentle words of warning had faded into white noise as he stared down at Jim's face as the headline 'I slept with James Tiberius Kirk' wrapped around him.

There were a collection of stories, some that Leonard knew were true and from Jim's academy days, some that he could never verify. The most recent story claimed to be from only a year prior, when Jim had been in the Laurentian System.

He felt sick. He wasn't even aware of Christine pulling the magazine out of his hands, or him sitting down heavily in his chair. On his desk a non-doctored photo of himself, Jim and Joanna stared at him.

"Leonard… Leonard? Doctor McCoy!"

He looked up, having finally realised she was calling him. Her eyes were kind and she took his hand gently, making sure to have that physical connection to make sure he was listening to her.

"I don't think that those stories are 100% true. It's a terrible gossip rag and I can honestly say that I never saw Jim doing more than casual flirting with anyone during our voyage. He was too ill for that most of the time. This is just something you needed to know, in case someone says something. I didn't want you to be caught flatfooted," she said and squeezed his hand. It was a small comfort, Leonard supposed, that there were people on the ship that could probably account for every second of Jim's time. It was just whether or not he trusted their report.

"There's paparazzi gathering outside you know. After you and Jim went public on that landing pad like lovestruck teenagers they've been sniffing around but with this… They're going to want to talk to you," Christine continued. Leonard sighed. As if it wasn't bad enough to have his personal life splayed across cheap magazines, his own insecurities being prodded and poked, he now had to deal with being thrust into the public eye himself because Jim just couldn't keep it in his pants over the years.

They were short-staffed but Leonard knew that his being here right now was going to be a nuisance for those trying to work. Unless he lurked in the back and only participated in surgeries he was going to run into a reporter sooner or later. He rubbed at his eyes tiredly.

"Dad!"

He was slightly surprised when his office door banged open and Joanna ran in. Christine straightened almost immediately, eyes assessing Joanna silently before she nodded.

"I'll arrange an escape route for you McCoy. I think it's best if you just go home," she said. Leonard nodded and watched her retreat before turning to Joanna. It was clear from the expression on the girl's face that she knew about the article, her eyes were slightly wide, her lip was trembling.

"Have you seen it?" she asked. She was breathless and Leonard watched a bead of sweat run from her temple down her face. She really had run all the way here from wherever she was, worried about him. She'd become attached to Jim so quickly and at the time, Leonard had been grateful for it. That his daughter could just accept it when he found someone that he wanted to settle down with and, possibly, spend the rest of his life with. He had never thought that he would have to shield her from things like this because of it though.

Time to man up and put on the big boy mask, McCoy.

He got to his feet and put his arms around her shoulders, holding her against him. She buried her face in his shoulder.

"It's not true, is it?" she asked. "Uncle Jim wouldn't… He wouldn't cheat on you! He loves you!"

Leonard put aside his own doubts, the clawing, nagging sick sensation in his stomach that was screaming at him that Jim Kirk was more than capable of having a few one night stands while his lover was in another star system. He stroked her hair.

"No, I don't think Jim would hurt anyone intentionally," he said, which was the truth, but also skirted round whether or not he thought Jim had actually done the deed. Joanna pulled away, swiping at her eyes.

"Look at me! I should be comforting you!" she said, tucking her hair behind her ears and putting on what Leonard thought of as her 'command' face. Despite specialising in Xenobiology, Joanna hadn't gone down the medical track and had instead taken more and more command courses as time went on. He was proud, and now it showed that she was genuinely starting to think in those Starfleet ways, drawing on the training she had been given to get through situations she found challenging.

"Right well, I'll head out first and check for reporters and then you can come down. Hopefully we can be home before they realise you're not here anymore…"

It had been a nice idea, Leonard supposed. It might have even worked if there hadn't been what seemed like three dozen reporters outside his house waiting for him. He stormed through them, growling out 'No comment' as he went. Joanna followed, stamping on toes if people got too closer and at one point even wrenching a camera lens out of its socket to prevent a photo from being taken.

When he got up to his apartment he opened the door, feeling Joanna press against him. He noticed Jim's shoes were set on the shoe rack and the television was on. Stepping into the lounge he saw Jim spread out on the couch, dozing in a pair of sweats and an old t-shirt that Leonard was sure was his own.

Joanna paused and then walked straight through to her room, clearly not wanting to intrude on what was about to occur. Leonard took a few steps forward, staring down at Jim's face.

Less than twelve hours ago he'd been asking Jim to come over so they could cuddle tonight.

And now it was running through his mind over and over that Jim had slept with someone else and the calm, warm feeling that he would have normally had evaporated into something slick, slimy and sharp.

"Kirk," he said loudly. Jim made a noise of protest, smacked his lips and burrowed a little into the sofa. Leonard repeated himself, louder this time and Jim's eyes slowly fluttered awake.

"Mm… You're home early… Didn't they need you?" Jim asked, his voice slurred with sleep. His eyes closed again as he wriggled on the sofa to get more comfortable. "Why're you callin' me 'Kirk'?"

"Get your stuff Jim. I need you out of here," he said, leaving no room for argument in his tone. Even if Jim hadn't done what Leonard suspected, what the magazine directly said he had, Jim couldn't be here over the next few days until it all died down. There was no way that Leonard was going to have pictures of him and Jim on his doorstep splashed over every tabloid.

"Wha? I thought I was staying the night?" Jim asked, his eyes open. There was genuine confusion in his eyes, and worry. It was that worry that Leonard picked up on most. Was there a layer of guilt under there? Did Jim realise he'd been caught?

"Not anymore. Not since… What was it? Galactic Gossip? Galaga Gossip? Galaxy Gossip? Whatever they call themselves. Not since they published alovely article today about you," Leonard said. He picked up his PADD from the coffee table, searching for Jim's name and filtering it by recent articles. The nets had picked up the story fast and pages upon pages of results were all discussing the article, blog posts linking to each other with analyses and messages of support for Leonard or wishing they had been the one that Jim had chosen or denying it couldn't possibly be true.

Jim was still blinking sleep from his eyes, though his face became more and more serious as he scrolled down the list of articles.

"Bones-"

"Don't. Just get out, Jim. Whether it's true or not, I don't want you here right now," he said, proud of the fact he managed to stay calm.

"It's not true," Jim said, but he got to his feet. He was trying to catch Leonard's eye, but he wasn't going to look at him right now, he couldn't. He couldn't without imagining Jim's lips against someone else's, his hands stroking pale, smooth thighs, him moaning as he-

"Get out Jim," his voice faltered on Jim's name and it seemed that, more than anything else, convinced Jim to go. He didn't collect his things, merely went to the door and pulled on his shoes. The door shut quietly behind him and Leonard collapsed onto the couch.

Outside he heard the moment when Jim exited the building, the raucous shouts of the reporters, the flash photography of the cameras, then the sound of Jim's motorbike accelerating down the street.

He put his head in his hands, trying to think rationally, beyond the anger, hurt, humiliation, hope, tiredness.

The sofa smelled like Jim. His bed would smell like Jim. Jim's dress jacket was over the back of a chair. There was a half-empty bottle of wine on the fireplace where he and Jim had discarded it a few days ago and never had the chance to tidy it up.

Leonard stood up, picking up his comm and pressing Speed Dial 1. The phone rang once, twice, three times, before it connected.

"Ma, it's me. It's Leo."