A/N: Here is the long awaited sequel to Sunshine Of My Love. I hope you enjoy, because I feel like I'm cooking up some good stuff.
Disclaimer: I sooooo don't own this.
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December 2256
Jim sighed contentedly as Bones breathed out warm air across the back of his neck, shifting his legs to tangle through the doctor's. It was late, and their room was lit only by the yellow-orange light of the streetlamps outside their window. The only noise to be heard was Bones' deep, loud breathing behind him as he slept the stress of their semester away.
They had just wrapped up finals that afternoon, which meant nearly two months of semi-stressfree time to themselves and with their little girl, Joanna. The three of them had spent the evening with Maggie Jay, listening to her talk about her latest affair over Thai food from the Thai restaurant the redhead had found and fallen in love with. They had used a few codewords so that Joanna would generally not know the finer points on what Maggie Jay was saying, something they had become accustomed to over the year and a half Maggie had been around.
When Maggie Jay was leaving, she had decided randomly that she would be stealing their daughter. Almost without Jim and Bones' consent she had wandered into Joanna's room and packed her a bag, making sure to grab the little girl's favorite blanket, then she had grabbed Joanna's hand and guided her to the door, proclaiming it to be a girl's night and that they had to leave her stuffy parents behind. Joanna hadn't looked too pleased, understanding girl's night to mean that Maggie Jay would play with her hair and that they would watch what Joanna had termed 'girly movies,' which generally meant any movie that didn't have an explosion.
Joanna, almost four, was more tomboyish than any other child Jim had ever come across. She didn't really like to play with other little girls, though there were some other girls just as boyish and dirty as she was. She liked to play with the little boys more, to wrestle and play hardcore games of tag that ended in skinned knees and muddied clothing more than it ended in actually tagging other children. Her long brown hair that Jim always put up in the morning was always a decimated parody of what it was when they picked her up from daycare, always tangled and shabby.
Bones shuffled closer to him, arm wrapping tighter around Jim. There skin that was already pressed nearly airtight slid even closer together. Jim shifted, sliding his fingers through the doctor's and holding their hands tight to himself.
He couldn't believe they had been together for an entire year already. It hadn't been easy. They moved fast at a lot of things and some times it was easy to regret a few of them, but they had pushed through some of the harder things and let go of the fruitless fights. They had been there for each other when a lot of things were going wrong and that really counted in the long run when neither of them could really say someone had been there for them before.
It wasn't all he couldn't believe.
He had known for about two days. He had yet to tell Bones or anyone else they knew. He had gone to a free clinic to confirm his suspicions so that no one in Starfleet would be able to tell Bones before him. He didn't doubt that the doctor had noticed and come to a conclusion by himself, but still, it was the fact that he wanted to be the one to confirm Bones' beliefs. Not only that but he wanted to give himself a few days to adjust to the idea of going through this again, not as a lonely heartsick outcast in Riverside, but as someone in a steady relationship with friends who would be there for him and help him out.
It wasn't that it was an accident, per se. Over the last year, Sam had been calling more and more in an attempt to mend some of their bridges and in October he had announced that Aurelan was pregnant. Bones had gone into some introspective trance, staring at Joanna with haunted eyes he only ever got when he thought about how he had missed two and a half years of her life. They had talked for almost two weeks before they had decided that they would throw a little caution to the wind and if it happened it happened and if it didn't…well, then it didn't.
But it had.
Jim was four weeks pregnant.
He figured he would tell Bones on Sunday, before they went to the bi-monthly dinner that they had set up with Pike and Archer. He would tell everyone else at Joanna's birthday party next Saturday.
He sighed and held their joined hands closer to his body, subconsciously pressing their palms where his growing fetus was located under his skin, their second child together.
It was a little unnerving to think about. When he had found out about Joanna, he had been sure that he would never see Bones again. He had all but hidden from the world; his only outlet was Maggie Jay, who at the time had been…
A sharp knocking had sounded at his apartment door.
Jim didn't want to talk to whoever was on the other side. "Go. Away," he said, clear and concise, practically volatile. He was seated on his couch, his eyes turned upwards toward the ceiling. That for the last hour or so had been his only companion, if he didn't count the small fetus growing inside of him, leaching his nutrients away like some sort of parasite. His mind automatically apologized to the undetermined child inside of him, reminding himself that he wouldn't be like his mother.
He heard his door slide open, even though he knew he had locked it. Growling in frustration, he shot to his feet and went to meet the person before they were too far into his apartment. "I said…"
"I heard what you said," a calm, smooth voice of a woman filtered throughout the small place. He recognized it immediately as Maggie Jay McCurdy, the nurse who had lived next door to him for a little over six months. She had taken him to the hospital that morning and performed the preliminary testing in order to find out what kind of 'flu' Jim had contracted. She looked at him with calm, understanding eyes, which served to piss him off more than if she had looked at him judgementally. "You should tell me what happened."
He stared at her for a moment before walking away, intent on heading towards the only bedroom in his small flat. The door slid shut with an unsatisfying snick and he quickly pressed in his code to lock the door before the annoying bitch on the otherside could intercept him again.
He flopped himself bonelessly onto his mattress, throwing his arm over his face while his other one strayed almost without thought towards his stomach. He could still hear her in his apartment, fumbling around through the bare room that made up the combination of his living room, dining room, and kitchen. He heard her sit on his couch through the thin wall separating them and her hand knocked against the cardboard that kept them apart from each other.
"I don't have shift tonight, Jim," she said without even having to raise her voice. "I bet I can sit here longer than you can stay in there…" He thought differently until she said, "You left all of your padds out here."
"Fuck," he said outloud, shaking his head.
"Tell me about it," she said and the scoff was apparent in her voice. "Now, you'll have to come out here and talk to me about this."
"Why should I fucking talk to you?" he snarled. "You don't know me? You don't give a shit."
"I care for all life, Jim. I'm a nurse; it's my job. Right now you have not one life but two in your care, and I could understand how you could feel overwhelmed by that considering…"
He cut her off. "Uh, considering I have a fucking dick?"
There was a stilted pause in which time he stared up at his bedroom ceiling too much like his living room's. When she spoke, it was hesitant. "Just to make sure…you've never had a false uterus…"
He threw a shoe at the wall, watching in muted satisfaction as it dented the painted sheetrock before it thudded against the ground. Glaring at where he imagined she was, he said angrilly, "I think I would be less shocked if I had a false uterus, lady. But considering I'm not old enough to even get the financing for such an operation and, to be honest, never even wanted kids before this…" he trailed off when his voice caught, feeling pinpricks at the back of his eyes. He grabbed another shoe and threw it as well, harder than the first one.
"I just needed to make sure…Look, Jim," she started again.
"Will you just go the fuck away?"
"No…"
…Well, suffice it to say that she had been less than welcome when he found out about Joanna and several of the following months. Joanna had almost been three months old before he let her all the way into his life without glaring at her for hacking his security code.
He had never expected to see Bones again, never dreamed that they would share another child. He never even let himself hope that they could meet, and if they did, he had known they would never be able to stay together. Now, they were together after having been reunited a year and some change ago, and Jim was expecting their second child. He felt better suited to deal with this situation this time round.
Yeah…
He felt better…
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A/N: How was that for a prologue?
now we're cooking
InnocentGuilt
