Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek so no copyright infringement intended.
Exhaustion stretches through Jim's body like thick syrup as he makes his way back to his quarters, a seemingly everlasting fatigue settling in his muscles, making them feel sticky, heavy and immobile. It's been one of those days in which he's forced to spread incredibly thin, sure to touch upon and embrace every aspect of his captainship, from a mandatory staff meeting during beta to saving a neutral civilization from hostile warbirds. He feels as though he's breaking at the seams and it's only a matter of time before he completely spills to the ground in breathless tangles.
However, Jim prefers for that to happen in his own bed, snug under a warm comforter and wrapped in Bones' arms.
He keys into his room and isn't surprised to find it shrouded in pitch black, Bones' soft snoring is a welcoming accompaniment as Jim strips out of his uniform before heading to the shower.
A short time later, he exits the bathroom, clean but hardly renewed. He dresses into a pair of sleep pants and has every intent to get into bed when he hears a soft question of, "Daddy?" from the room adjoined to his quarters.
Immediately, he goes there, slipping into the room quietly. Jim orders the lights to 75 percent and Joanna, the spitting-image and the best of both of her fathers, comes into view, sitting cross-legged on her small bed decorated with pillows that change pastels. She's fully awake and alert, her spirit practically beaming.
And it's like magic, the way she's able to renounce every ill inside of him and light a candle to fill the parts of him that are still hollow after all of these years.
Jim smiles at her, "Hey, what are you doing up?"
"Waiting for you," she states matter-of-factly, with half of duh and half of daddy, why don't you know this?
Joanna usually puts a 'silly' on the end of phrases like that but Jim figures he must look so worse for wear that maybe she detects his stress and pities him. It's to be expected though; she is the offspring of a certified genius.
Few and long strides bring him to her and the bed gives under his weight. Without preamble, she scrambles into his lap, happily sighing when she places her head against his chest. "Dad said that you had a long day and needed cheering up. He reckoned for me to wait until tomorrow but I couldn't."
She sounds a little bit upset with herself about that. Jim and Bones are always teaching her to have
patience but how can they expect her to display such perfect tact when she has their genes? So Jim just combs fingers through her dark brown hair that is still curly from the plaits that Uhura had done earlier that morning during her break. Had it really been that long ago?
"It's okay," Jim tells her softly, "but you do have school tomorrow so you might want to get some sleep."
"'m not tired," she mumbles.
Joanna Kirk-McCoy is five years old and has a stubborn streak that would put many to shame. She's a good girl though and Jim wouldn't have her any other way. She was a blessing in his life that he would never take for granted.
Six months into the Enterprise's first five-year mission, the crew had taken shore leave on what was considered to be a paradise planet—Plaisir. It'd been plentiful with beautiful purple gardens and crystal clear waters, quarries that shone like gems during the night. On one of those nights, Jim and Bones had grown tired of alien booze and the same old dance that they had been making an art form of during their three years at the academy. They'd found each other under a blanket of stars, home and completion in intertwined limbs and beating hearts that would thrum throughout the remainder of the dark.
Jim had gotten sick on the bridge about five weeks after leaving the planet, overwhelmed by a tidal wave of nausea that would precede ripples commonly known as headaches, backaches and frequent trips to the head. The diagnosis hadn't been hard to configure, only confirmed when Jim had ordered Sulu to pilot the ship back to Plaisir. He and Bones had been the only members of the crew to revisit with the rulers and it still remains only between them—what had went done to get the leaders to admit to conveniently forgetting the powers that their planet held.
After allowing some time for mindfuck and severe panic, Jim and Bones had talked it out and decided that best course of action was to let things run their course. Neither one of them had truly been ready for a child but at the same time, neither one of them wanted to rid of it and honestly, Jim had been curious to see what the result would be.
It had been awesome.
A pink, round little thing with ten toes and ten fingers, a mop of dark hair and glimmering blue orbs that could melt the hardest man.
Jim had found out that no one could really prepare to be a parent. It was definitely learn as you go. Not every snuffle she'd make in her crib was a cry for help and just because your baby didn't begin to talk at exactly 18 months didn't mean that she was slow or something was wrong with her. She just wanted to take her own time to impress you.
Jim's brought back to the present by Joanna's sweet voice but unfortunately he had missed whatever she was trying to tell him, "Say that again, sweetheart?"
"Can you tell me a story?" she asks looking up at him expectantly.
He can't really deny her anything so he replies with, "Okay but you have to super promise me that you'll go to sleep right after."
She nods her head immediately and simultaneously they both kiss their right pinkies and interlock them, reciting, "I super promise to uphold what you say. If I break this swear, leave me to the Klingons!"
Because of their contrasting energy levels, Joanna manages to say it with a quicker speed and more excitement than her father but it's still pretty legal.
"What story do you want to hear tonight, Jo?" Jim inquires.
She places a finger to her chin and takes a moment to consider before deciding. "How you met Dad." Her smile is short a tooth but proud all the same, "That's my favorite one."
Despite his weariness, Jim is very animated while recounting the story. He recalls a younger version of himself going to a candy store and getting into a fight over a lollipop with a handful of Starfleet cadets, a fight that had been resolved by Admiral Pike who would ultimately invite Jim to join the academy. Young Jim thinks long and hard about the dilemma because he doesn't want to leave his home but he's always wanted to be with the stars. When he decides to go, he meets a handsome man on the shuttle and the man gives Jim a drink of his replicated grape juice, which bonds them forever.
"The purple or the clear kind?" Joanna wonders aloud.
He wraps his arms around her tight and she giggles as he presses a noisy kiss onto her temple, "Purple all the way!"
"And they lived happily ever after right?"
"Ever and ever."
She yawns sleepily, "I'm tired now."
"Alright." Jim releases her from his embrace and gets up from the bed, pulls her covers back, "Get under there."
Joanna does so and shifts multiple times before becoming comfortable. She regards Jim with a tiny frown, that one that always makes him think that she's growing up way too fast, "Is your day better now, Daddy?"
He bends and places at kiss against her forehead, genuinely at peace when he says, "Sure is, sweetheart."
"Good," Joanna murmurs, satisfied, "I love you."
And that's something that Jim will never tire of hear no matter how grown up his daughter becomes.
"I love you too, Joanna."
When she shuts her eyes and he's sure that she's resting, Jim orders the lights off. He scrubs at his eyes as he leaves her bedroom and collapses onto his own bed.
Strong arms reach around him and like his daughter, Jim sighs when he's connected with the one he loves…completely content.
"What took you so long?" Bones questions, voice rough with sleep, against his cheek.
Jim chases after the warmth that his lover provides, "Just having the best time ever."