Chapter 2: The Truth About the Woman

Summary: "Do you honestly think I would pine over your father for a decade then screw it all up on some cheap one night stand less than a year after we finally got our shit together?" he asked. Joanna let a small smile appear in the corner of her mouth.

Notes: Chapter 2 and a slightly more positive chapter! Explanations on what everyone is thinking so lots of head jumping, sorry!

Leonard didn't feel better after having spoken to his mother, not really. She had, of course, seen the article. Someone had commed Eleanora McCoy and pretty much dramatically read the article to her over the phone. She had no advice for him either, merely warning him to be careful and choose what was best for him in the long run, whatever that might be.

Eleanora really didn't meddle any more. Ever since Jocelyn and Leonard had divorced, she'd been steadily neutral about all of Leonard's relationships, offering only mildly positive or negative opinions either way. Leonard knew it was because she didn't want him to live his life by his mother's orders, but now he really wished that she would tell him what she really thought.

He promised to call her back and keep her updated before he hung up. Turning around, he saw Joanna was lurking in her doorway, watching him with wary eyes.

"Jim left," she said and Leonard wondered if it was a question or not. He merely nodded. Joanna took a few hesitant steps into the room before she leaned against the side of the couch, surveying her father carefully.

"Did you talk?" she asked. Leonard felt his mouth turn downwards.

"No. I just need some time to get my head around it all before we do," he said softly. Joanna nodded, though Leonard could see the judgement in her eyes. She wasn't going to let this go easily.

"Do you think he did it?" she asked, her tone careful. Leonard looked at his hands, staring at them. His own fears threatened to come loose any moment, his heart was pounding, he felt sick to his stomach. If he'd been in his early twenties again, before Jocelyn had left him for a bettermodel, he probably would have been able to at least listen to Jim. But now… He'd seen how someone could lie to you, to say they loved you while they took another into your bed.

But this was Jim. And Leonard didn't know what to think. He'd known Jim was capable of it but that Jim actually would?

"No," he said finally, surprised by how much he realised he wanted that to be true. "No I don't think he slept with her." Joanna was watching him carefully, her eyes sad but thoughtful.

"Jim Kirk is many things, but he's not a liar. Manipulative maybe, but he wouldn't lie to my face. That doesn't mean I'm not going to investigate it all myself though, before I see him. If I keep him here now… I'll just lash out. Make things worse. I need time to process," he wondered why he was explaining himself to Joanna. It wasn't like she needed to know anything. She was his little girl and he could protect her from this. Still, her face bore that quietly concerned expression.

"If you didn't think he'd cheated on you, you wouldn't need to investigate the claims," she pointed out and Leonard grimaced.

"So I'm a hypocrite or a walking contradiction or a bad person, which do you want it to be?" he snapped. He regretted it immediately but where perhaps two years ago Joanna would have dodged out of the room, left it alone, now she merely held her ground, refusing to be riled.

"I think if you're going to investigate something, you should perhaps look at why this article came to light now," she replied. Leonard frowned, looking at her in confusion before she huffed and folded her arms. "Doesn't it strike you as strange? I mean, six months ago Jim was at the high point of the news over that peace talk thing. It would have been the perfect time to release an article about a tumultuous love life, but they didn't. They kept it back until now, where most people have let their interest in Jim wane slightly."

Leonard had to admit that she had a point. A PR stunt by Starfleet? It wouldn't be the first time that they'd sold Jim out to the dogs just to get a few people discussing the Commodore again before they gave him something big to redeem himself and make them all look good. Or something else? He shifted uneasily in his seat.

"See, now you're thinking about this the right way," Joanna said, getting to her feet and dusting off her hands. Leonard looked up at her.

"Now, I guess we're going to be hauled up in here for the next few days while the reporters clear off so you better write me the most kickassexcuse letter pulling out all the stops in order to get me out of all those revision classes," Joanna said, gesturing to her father's PADD. Leonard rolled his eyes, reaching out for it.

"And don't stew in here by yourself!" she warned as she started to walk back to her room. "And call Uncle Jim!"

It took the reporters three days to get bored and decide to camp elsewhere. During that time, Joanna learned to hate takeaway food and had been forced to block all incoming communications. Too many 'friends' from the Academy had started up conversations, trying to invite her to parties or study groups and she had to keep reminding herself that the popularity had more to do with digging up information than because they genuinely wanted her there.

Her father hadn't left the apartment either, becoming more and more grouchy as time went on. From what Joanna could tell, he hadn't called Jim either. It made her worry that perhaps she hadn't convinced him as much as she'd thought, but at the same time, her father didn't look quite as heartbroken as he should have done. More irritated.

It was dark when the last reporter finally left. Joanna sighed and made her way to her room, pausing outside the door to her father's bedroom to hear the sounds of him watching some holovid or other on his PADD.

She guessed she'd leave him to it.

Jim hadn't got out of bed in two days. The first day he'd stayed contactable, listening for the door, his communicator, his breath bated. Carol had brought George over and he'd pretended to be cheerful as they'd played. The boy was old enough to talk now, chatting about silly things but enough that Jim managed to take his mind off everything for a few hours.

Then Carol had left, taking George with her and Jim had been left on his own. He had tried, god he'd tried, but eventually he'd crawled into a bed that still smelled of the last time Bones had been there and tried not to feel empty.

He'd fucked up. He knew that. This was his fault. All those women over the years, all that time spent with others rather than holding out for the one he wanted, all those meaningless encounters that had left him only breathless for moments and with the gaping hole still aching in his chest.

Bones' suspicions weren't unfounded. Jim had been promiscuous. He had developed that playboy image and even in space, he hadn't exactly been well-behaved even if he'd settled down quite a bit. And he'd talked to Bones about all of it. Every time he'd messed a woman about, every time he'd manipulated his way into someone's bed, every time he'd acted like the worst kind of human. Bones had heard it all, because they'd been friends and Jim had thought that was all they'd ever be.

Now it was biting him in the ass like the grand cosmic karma that superstitious folks believed in.

He pulled his duvet up over his head, trying not to dwell on the sound of his heart beating hard in fear in his chest, trying not to concentrate on his throat, raw from whisky and dehydration. He was so busy trying to block everything out that he didn't hear the knocking on his door at first.

But there it was, insistent and loud, demanding to be heard in his apartment. He was on his feet in an instant, not even bothering to put on a shirt or sweatpants. He prayed to god it was Bones, here to forgive him, here to yell at him, here to do something other than ignore him.

He pulled the door open.

And stared at the person on the other side.

Joanna blushed to the roots of her hair and looked away.

"C-Can I come in? And can you put on some pants?"

Leonard hadn't told Joanna he was going out. It was easier this way. She would only ask questions he didn't want to answer and he knew that her heart was in the right place but he couldn't deal with it right now. He trudged up the steps to the front door. He'd rung ahead, he was expected, but he knew that he was still intruding upon Spock and Uhura's time.

But he had to know. And if Jim had done the unthinkable… well. They would know and Vulcans couldn't lie. And Uhura wouldn't. He hoped.

He knocked on the door, only waiting a few moments before Uhura appeared. She didn't say anything for a second, just taking him in. He realised he should have probably shaved, that he must look terrible, but Uhura just swept him suddenly into her arms, the comforting scent of her perfume taking him back to days on the Enterprise where the two of them had stood side by side on the bridge as Jim and Spock did their usual extravagant manoeuvring.

"Oh Leonard," she said, pulling back and stepping aside to let him in. He tried not to think too much about what he must look like for the usually collected Uhura to pretty much lose it at the sight of him.

She led him into the lounge without another word. He sat down and a steaming mug of coffee was put into his hand, just as he liked it. Spock was sat in one of the chairs, his eyes closed in what Leonard could only assume was meditation. His eyes opened slowly when Uhura placed a gentle hand against his shoulder, and he saw Spock gently raise two fingers to hers before his gaze settled on Leonard.

"Doctor McCoy," he greeted, nodding his head. Leonard found himself nodding back, leaning forward slightly on the couch. He didn't feel comfortable.

"I know why you're here and it will be easier to lay your fears to rest now," Spock began but Uhura shushed him. Leonard looked between them both. They looked… understanding. And that was something at least. The censure from Joanna had been almost too much to bear over the last few days, but then she could only see the positives in Jim, could only see how much Jim loved, had never seen him break, never seen him exact vengeance or spitefully crush someone under the force of his own overpowering will. Either consciously or unconsciously.

"Have you made up your mind? I know that article was just… horrible. But you know that coming here and just asking us to confirm or deny your suspicions won't make them go away, don't you?" Uhura said softly. Leonard stared down at the black coffee in his hands, watching the bubbles coalesce against the side.

"I'm going to trust Jim. Just I need time to… get over the fact that I didn't," he didn't know how else to explain it. Uhura simply nodded.

"You hated that you couldn't immediately trust him, but decided in the end you did, so now you feel guilty," she surmised. He found a small smile coming to the corner of his mouth, the first in days.

"I thought I was the one with the psychology MD," he said and Uhura laughed, sipping her own drink as she tucked her legs up onto the couch.

"Well… I remember that woman. The one that's claiming she slept with Jim last year…" Uhura began. "But it's a bit of a tale…"

Uhura watched as yet another shot of tequila disappeared down Kirk's throat and he grimaced, smacking his lips and turning over the shot glass. His eyes were glassy, had been for the last few drinks, and a light sheen of sweat had appeared on his brow.

James Tiberius Kirk was not well.

"I don't think you should be drinking so much on your medication," Uhura said, biting her lip after she said it because she wasn't Leonard and it wasn't her place to play nursemaid to their ridiculous Commodore. Even so, Jim gave her a rakish grin.

"Come on! It's not like it's going to do any long term damage…" Jim hiccupped and gestured to the bartender for another. Uhura didn't know what to. On the one hand, Jim clearly was enjoying himself for the first time in months but on the other, this amount of alcohol might mess with the drugs that were currently preserving his life.

"I didn't know you'd got yourself a medical degree as well as a hot doctor boyfriend," she replied, keeping her tone light because she knew that Jim would only respond badly if he thought he was being babied. Jim grinned at her, eyes crinkling at the corners.

"Why I didn't know you had a thing for Bones!" he teased, the next shot landing in front of him. He didn't even bother with the salt or the lime, slamming it back and then sliding the shot back across the bar.

"I have eyes, Kirk. I can see that Leonard's good-looking. Besides, it's all window shopping. I'm married remember?" she held up her hand, displaying her ring. She knew Jim hadn't forgotten, but playing along was half the fun for Kirk. He leaned against the bar, his grin turning lopsided.

"Yeah. Your wedding was a blast," he reminisced. It had been six months prior and there was no sign that the Enterprise was going to be given shore leave that coincided with Academy vacation any time soon.

"You barely saw any of it," Uhura replied, sipping her own drink and looking at him exasperatedly. Jim gave her another wide grin.

"I know that's why it was so good," he replied.

"You're a pervert."

"You love me."

"No you've got me confused with some idiot from Georgia who seems to have accepted some stray Starfleet officer."

"Ouch."

They laughed together. Uhura noticed that for the first time in a long while, Jim looked like he didn't have a care in the world. Part of that was just having some down time, she knew, but she'd also patched through a communication from Leonard earlier in the day. She knew that Jim had told him about the wasting illness, that Leonard had sulked and grouched and raved and threatened to beam aboard and abandon his post at the Academy. And that was one thing that would cheer Jim up no end. That someone cared enough that they'd break the rules for him.

"You're going to get black out drunk if you carry on at this rate," Uhura warned when Jim ordered another shot. Jim shrugged and tapped his fingers against the bar.

The night passed quickly, as shore leave nights out always did. Scotty soon joined them, along with a few other members of Engineering and Christine. They stood at the bar, sipping their drinks and making sure that Jim didn't slip sideways off his stool. He was wasted in a way that they hadn't seen since the Academy, but in incredibly high spirits.

Christine had given up scolding him but true to Starfleet Medical form, she had been sneakily administering hypos whenever Jim's head went down to rest against the bar to steady himself. Jim was so drunk he barely even felt the sting as various hangover cures entered his system.

"Only you would bring a hypospray on a night out," Uhura commented when Jim had departed for the toilet. Christine smirked.

"We're on a space station with no knowledge of what kinds of diseases or contaminants are around. Leonard would actually murder me if I didn't have some kind of medical instrument on me to take care of Jim's ridiculous number of allergies. Not to mention I kind of expected him to drink himself under the table tonight," Christine confided. Uhura frowned, sipping her drink and glancing towards the men's where Jim had staggered a few moments previously.

"What do you mean?" she asked. Christine hummed along to the music slightly as she smiled.

"He's celebrating. Leonard admitted to being in love with him when Jim told him about the disease. You know, in that roundabout way that Leonard does anything. I think it finally brought it home to him that he's got something permanent," Christine said softly. Uhura couldn't help the smile spreading across her face, because really, that was exceptionally cute and not what she'd expected at all.

"You are very drunk, Commodore. Perhaps I should take you back to your room?"

Uhura's head shot up. Jim was leaning against the wall, the woman next to him was regarding him with a predatory look that Uhura had seen a thousand times before, although usually from other men towards her. She glanced at Christine, but the nurse just shrugged, sipping her drink.

"Oh, I'd love to but y'see, I'm kinna dating someone at the moment… Might give 'em the wrong idea if I take you back to my quarters," Jim was slurring, giving her a rather condescending pat on the cheek. Uhura had the feeling she'd seen the woman before, but she didn't know where.

"Commodore, I assure you I'll keep my hands to myself. I'm just trying to help you out here and allow your crew to continue to enjoy their night," the woman was saying and Uhura didn't want to intrude but that seemed too manipulative. She got to her feet.

The woman seemed to notice her then and backed off. Jim waved to her as she went.

"What was that about?" Uhura asked, though she had heard the whole conversation. Jim just beamed at her.

"I think she wanted in my pants. It's a good job that you were here to save me, Uhura. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't rescued me."

Uhura rolled her eyes.

"Wait so you're saying you barely even exchanged words?" Joanna asked, frowning slightly. "But that doesn't make any sense. If you'd at least spent the night in the same hotel or something, then she might be able to make her story less slanderous but as it stands she's opening herself up to a lawsuit!"

Jim nodded and rubbed at his stubbled chin tiredly. He was wearing pants now, and a bathrobe that he'd dredged up from somewhere. Joanna had brought her pajamas and a washbag over, obviously determined to spend the night while they figured out what was going on. The thing was that Joanna seemed convinced this was some kind of conspiracy, while Jim wasn't so sure. There were plenty of people who had thought Jim could do better than a doctor from Georgia, despite Bones' obvious brilliance in the medical field. This wasn't the first time he'd had their relationship attacked, though never in such a public place.

"I saw her again. I woke up with her in my room the next morning with no idea how she got there. Uhura said she definitely didn't come back with me and the security logs showed that the only override that had been used on the door had been my own. It was a complete mystery how she ended up in there at all but I called security to remove her. It was a rather weird incident, but not the weirdest thing that had happened. I didn't even think much of it until now," he said with a shrug. Joanna's eyes had narrowed.

"You're sure nothing happened?" she pressed. Jim raised his eyebrows, looking at her honestly.

"Do you honestly think I would pine over your father for a decade then screw it all up on some cheap one night stand less than a year after we finally got our shit together?" he asked. Joanna let a small smile appear in the corner of her mouth.

"It's weird though, isn't it? Why wait to release the story until now?" she asked. Jim shrugged, leaning back against the couch and trying not to get his hopes up too much.

"There could be a hundred different reasons, but I'm betting that another article is going to surface over the next few weeks. If this really is a smear campaign that is," he said, shrugging slightly. "And if I'm the target, then god knows what the next one might be about."

Joanna leaned forward to take a sip of her cocoa. At that moment the doorbell rang. They looked at each other before Jim got to his feet, his heart beating fast.

"I bet that's your father-"

"He doesn't know I left the house-"

"Shit Joanna what were you thin-"

"I thought he'd fallen asleep watching a holovid!"

"Spare room. Go. Now. Don't make a sound," Jim ordered before shoving her things into her hands and kicking one of Joanna's shoes under the sofa. Joanna dodged out of the room, her things balanced precariously in her arms as she headed to the spare room and shut the door behind her.

Jim went to answer the door, his eyes bright and hopeful. The door opened to reveal Bones there, looking just as scruffy as Jim was sure he did. There was a pregnant pause, where both of them seemed to take in the state of the other, before Jim cleared his throat.

"You better come in," he said, stepping aside. Bones stepped in, shedding his jacket and shoes immediately. He put them where he always had before, the familiarity of it stinging Jim's heart as he felt the other follow him into the lounge.

"So…" Jim said, sitting on the couch. Bones followed, his body sinking in heavily as though he didn't have the strength to prevent it. For a moment the muscles in Bones' jaw just twitched, before finally he opened his mouth, hazel eyes meeting Jim's own.

"I trust you," he said. Jim felt the relief wash through him and he couldn't help but lean forward, taking Bones' hand in both his own and pressing kisses over the other's knuckles. His eyes drifted shut as he did so, his lips brushing over the other's skin over and over again.

"Thank you," he whispered. Bones pulled his hand away, only to slide it behind Jim's neck, pulling him forward to press a chaste kiss against his lips.

"I need to apologise too. I shouldn't have kicked you out and left you hanging like this," Bones said but Jim shook his head, his own hands wrapping around the other's waist and pulling him closer. God had it only been three days? It felt like months.

"You had every reason to think what you did, Bones. I know you. I knew that article would get under your skin like-" Jim stopped speaking. Yes, it would get under Bones' skin, wouldn't it? More than it would affect him. The article hadn't been aimed at him, had it? It had been aimed at…

"Jim?" Bones prompted, his eyes looking concerned. Jim was already on his feet though, pulling up the article on his PADD and scrolling through it once more. Bones made an exasperated, uncomfortable sound and tried to drag Jim's attention back to him.

"No. Wait. Do you know someone called Esther Henson?" Jim asked, finally finding the article's writer. Bones frowned at him.

"No of course I don't. Why would I know a goddamn journalist Jim?" he asked, throwing his hands up in the air. "Honestly, between you and Joanna with these conspiracy theories-" Bones' mouth closed and he looked at the coffee table. Jim followed his line of sight to the two cups of lukewarm hot chocolate there.

"Joanna is here," Bones stated. Jim nodded, somewhat hesitantly. He was sure that Bones didn't suspect him of anything with Joanna anymore, he was too much of a father figure to the other, but he was still wary. Especially when Joanna came alone to his apartment.

"Guess make-up sex is off the cards then," Bones replied, a small smirk running up the side of his face. Jim gaped at him. Just like that, they were back to normal? He leaned forward, pressing a kiss to Bones' lips that was so desperate he forgot to breathe.

"Whoa there, Jim. Let me see my little girl and then we can go to bed. And talk and make out," he said, seeing Jim's pout. Jim smiled and nodded, watching as Bones disappeared into the spare bedroom. There was the deep sounds of Bones' voice, followed by the gentler lull of Joanna's as the two conversed.

He knew they would have a lot to talk about, knew that they probably weren't out of the woods yet, but Bones was here. Bones was trying. He was working past that fear that Jim was going to do what Jocelyn had and that was worth more than anything else to Jim.

He went to his bedroom, pulling back the sheets and sliding in to wait for Bones, hoping that the other wouldn't spend too long explaining things to Joanna.

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