A/N: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You guys are so great and patient and totally awesome.

Did I mention that I'm sorry?

Here, have a chapter for your troubles.

Life Flies By in Seconds

2267.13, U.S.S. Enterprise

January 13, 2267

9.00 hours

Jo woke up the next morning with her stomach in knots, and it took her a minute to figure out why. Once she had, she couldn't stop the goofy smile that made its way across her face. She let herself linger in bed for a few extra moments, trying to talk down her grin.

"It's just a trip down to Engineering, Joanna," she mumbled, staring at the ceiling. "It's not like he asked to take you to Russia or anything."

Then she remembered his expressed interest in Georgia, and his promise to teach her about his home, and her stomach did another one of those swoopy things that tickled in a really annoying kind of way. Jo wanted nothing more than to brush the feeling aside and come to her senses, but the clenching in her stomach wasn't letting her.

"What am I, some kind of cheap, romance-novel bimbo?" she scoffed. "I'm going to Stanford University, for Chrissake. I have more brainpower than over half the inhabitants of Macon."

Still, Jo couldn't deny that she liked thinking of the way Pavel's skin flushed yesterday when he was asking her to come with him. She liked the way his eyes glowed when she had agreed, and the way he had smiled at her before running off to help his ship.

If she was being perfectly honest with herself, she liked just about everything about Lieutenant Pavel Chekov, right down to his cuticles.

But that's ridiculous, Jo mused as she finally rolled out of bed and reached towards the ceiling, stretching the muscles in her back. If her mother's track record with men had been anything to go by, it was impossible to like everything about a guy. There had to be something wrong, whether he constantly talked about himself, like Stan during the fifth grade, or What's-His-Face during seventh grade (and the early part of the following summer), who sang obnoxiously off-key in the shower. God knew Daniel had his faults, the creep. Even Leonard had to have a fault, somewhere.

Jo stopped stretching, thinking. The more she tried to think of her father's faults, the more she came up short. There was nothing that jumped out at her, nothing that struck her as well and truly annoying. He could be grumpy, sure, and painfully blunt when it came to handing out advice, but he was the best doctor that Macon – and Starfleet – had seen in a long time, not to mention a decent husband and father until everything had taken the express train to Hell, complete with hand basket.

Sliding out of bed and padding across the room, Jo stuck her head into the main room that separated her bedroom from Leonard's bedroom and the bathroom. Jim had moved them into these quarters for the time being, still close enough to the sickbay in case of emergency, but big enough for the doctor and his almost-grown daughter. It was just another sign of Jim's generosity that re-established Jo's love for the young captain.

Leonard was exactly where she'd thought he'd be – drinking coffee on the couch, reading PADDs and Earth news updates alternately. When Jo had been younger and he had come to claim her for a weekend, she would often wake up to the exact same sight, sometimes with different materials – once, he had been reviewing a piece that he had written for a medical journal, only cementing Jo's belief that her father was the most brilliant man she had ever known. "It's all printed and pretty, Jojo," he had said, "but that doesn't mean I'm not human. There's always room for improvement."

"Hey, Dad."

"Morning, kiddo," Leonard said, glancing up to smile warmly at his daughter. "Sleep okay?"

"No complaints."

"Good."

Jo stood in the doorway, watching her father for anything that would be a complete deal breaker. He wasn't a bad looking guy, and had had the decency to pass those genes onto her. He was all Southern hospitality and manners, except when Jim really pissed him off – then he was all Southern temper and grump-ass. Leonard McCoy was an honorable man, a reliable man, a man Starfleet had wanted. Could it be possible, then, that Pavel was from the same mold?

"Dad?"

"Yes, Joanna banana?"

She grimaced at the nickname, but let it slide – for now. "Would you say that you have any serious character flaws?"

"Of course not. I'm Jesus."

"Oh, puh-lease."

That earned her an amused grin and a raised eyebrow. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh, you know… Healthy curiosity and whatnot."

Leonard regarded Jo with the stare that all doctors have perfected over years and years of practice. The one that goes right past the stuttered, "I'm fine," through the "Yeah, I eat right," and straight to the "Actually, I haven't been outside for more than ten minutes in the past three weeks." It was the look that could diagnose anything, from a hangnail to lung cancer. It was the look that Jo could not replicate, despite the number of hours that she spent practicing in the bathroom mirror (a fact that she would never, not even under pain of death, admit to.) Fatherly intuition only strengthened his gaze.

After a long moment, Jo was contemplating cutting her losses and backing down when Leonard sighed and returned to his coffee, shrugging one shoulder as he said,

"I don't know, Jojo; I guess I've got a lot to pick from." His voice was light and playful, while still being as honest as possible to the only person to whom he had never told a lie.

"Dad."

"I'm serious, Joanna. Let's just say, on the safe side, that I'm generally a bad person."

Jo had to smile at that. "If you're a bad person, that makes me a bad person, too, so we can be bad people together," she said.

Leonard laughed at her confidence. "Fair enough. Hungry?"

"Computer, time?"

"It is currently oh nine thirty, miss."

"Damn." With an apologetic grin, Jo planted a quick kiss on her father's cheek. "Thanks but no thanks, Dad. I think I'm going to try and find my own way down to Engineering and see if Scotty will teach me about the plasma reactor."

Leonard tried his best to cover up his snort with a cough, fooling no one. "So, does this mean you're going to be an engineer now?"

"I never said that. This is merely an excursion to help me get acquainted with the ship, remember?"

"Ah." Leonard took another sip of coffee, making a note on one PADD with information from another. "Don't get in the way."

Jo gasped dramatically, sounding more injured than was truthful. "I am the most unobtrusive person you've ever known." She raised an eyebrow at Leonard's outright laughter. "What?"

"Your belongings have begun a slow but steady crawl to every spare inch of these quarters, Miss Unobtrusive." He watched Jo rush around for her shoes and her bag, raising an eyebrow as she took an extra minute to check her reflection in the window that was their constant reminder that they were in deep space. "What aren't you tellin' me, here?"

A glance at the chronometer told Jo that she'd have exactly five minutes to get to the mess before Pavel got there. She pressed another kiss on her father's cheek and whisked out the door, calling over her shoulder, "Love you, bye!"

"I don't believe it," Jo muttered, finding herself staring at the lift door for what felt like the umpteenth time. "It's a starship. There aren't that many places to go. How is it that I get lost on the way to the frickin' mess?"

What was even more amazing was the fact that no one – and she meant no sign of sentient life whatsoever, thank you very much – had been in the hallways to direct her down the right path. It was amazing how deserted the Enterprise's corridors could be when Jim wasn't putting them all in mortal peril. Jo had thought that telling the turbo lift where she wanted to go would have been enough, but no. They had to build these things like mazes, and Jo hated mazes. Ever since the Corn Maze Incident of her sixth birthday, she avoided them like Andorian Shingles.

She was thinking of heading up to the Bridge and pleading with Jim for assistance when she heard footsteps. Jo breathed a sigh of relief. She wouldn't die slumped against a stark white wall, writing a last letter to her father in her own blood (blame the dramatics on Jocelyn, thanks very much.) Pavel would never need to know that she couldn't find her way around the dang ship to save her life.

"Joanna!"

Of course. She tried to wipe the grimace off of her face as she turned and was met with an eyeful of everyone's favorite Russian. "You know, I was going to meet you, I promise."

His laugh filled the hallway, and Jo felt like she had just drank something very hot, very quickly. His green eyes sparkled at her as he offered his right arm. "I believe you. Hikaru told me that you were wandering around the ship, and I surmised that you must have gotten turned around between your quarters and the mess hall."

"You surmised correctly." Jo froze for a moment, Pavel's words filtering through her brain. "What do you mean, Lieutenant Sulu saw me? I haven't seen anyone for the past twenty minutes."

If Jo didn't know any better, she'd swear Pavel looked guilty. "We saw you on the security cameras," he mumbled, not meeting her eyes. "I came down to rescue you before something embarrassing happened." He looked up, apology written in every laugh line on his face. "I'm guessing, by your demeanor, that I was unsuccessful?"

Jo was trying hard not to hyperventilate. If she had a break down now, in the middle of the hall, they would call the doctor. Despite the McCoy blood rushing through her veins (and, presently, in her ears), Jo didn't think she could take her father fussing over her while Jim – who probably knew about her hopeless wandering, no less – hovered, trying not to crack too many snide comments, on top of Pavel knowing about her useless sense of direction. Let it be noted that being a teenager was hard-fucking-work. She was dimly aware of Pavel's eyes still on her, and she cracked a weak smile.

"Peachy."

Pavel let out a soft laugh, and the knots in her stomach did somersaults. "Do not worry," he said, pulling her along with him into the lift. "I will not let Hikaru taunt you too much."

"Oh, gee, thanks." Jo grimaced. "Y'all are lucky a grew up with an overbearing Southern mother; nothin' affects me like she could."

He laughed harder at that, punching a button on the control panel that had the lift whirring to life in milliseconds. "You are the daughter of Doctor McCoy… I believe you are stronger than anything we could tease you about," he added softly, ducking his head to peek at Jo from under long, long (holy, frickin' cow, long!) lashes.

Jo couldn't think of a response, so she just let herself smile bashfully for a moment while trying not to lean into Pavel's body heat too much. He was tall enough that if she wanted to – and she really wanted to – she could rest her head on his shoulder and turn her face just enough to press it into his neck. This thought was quickly tampered down by a voice that sounded, strangely enough, like Commander Spock.

Bad idea, bad idea… Could backfire with disastrous consequences.

Yes, thank you, Jo mentally scolded her favorite First Officer. I don't need to be even half-Vulcan to know that kissing his neck would be a very bad idea. Green-blooded hobgoblin.

The lift eased to a stop with a slight whine and the skin between Pavel's eyebrows furrowed as he looked up at the ceiling. "I should speak to someone about fixing that," he muttered, more to himself than anything and Jo suppressed a grin.

"I'm not sure Lieutenant Uhura would be enthusiastic about fixing the turbo lift, to be perfectly honest."

Pavel's confusion was palpable. "What?"

"You said you would speak to someone about fixing the lift. I don't think just anyone could fix it."

"Of course not."

Jo smirked. "Well, then, maybe you should talk to maintenance, instead of just someone."

He studied her for a moment, as though trying to judge whether or not she was being serious. The sparkle in her brown eyes told him she was joking, and he grinned, shaking his head.

"You are like your father, so particular with words."

"It's a curse, I promise you." Jo caught sight of the fuel cells and her face fell. "Seriously? It takes me for-EV-er to find the mess hall, and you manage to get us down here in five seconds by pressing a button?" She turned to Pavel, disbelief and awe spread across her face like freckles. "You're a Jedi master."

Pavel found himself smiling broadly, something he hadn't stopped doing since he had seen Joanna on the security cameras earlier that morning. "I'm a what?"

She blinked. "You've never seen Star Wars? Quite possibly the greatest sci-fi film series of the twentieth century?" At Pavel's blank expression, Jo sighed. "Oh, we're going to have to fix that. I don't know that I can be around you if I can't quote Star Wars."

"I suppose you aren't the droid Pavel was lookin' for, then?" Montgomery Scott sidled up behind Jo, wrapping her in a bear hug. Jo laughed, twisting out of the engineer's hold to throw her arms around his neck. Pavel watched with a faint smile, a brief stab of jealousy stabbing through his gut at the happiness in Jo's face. He didn't like not understanding, and he especially didn't like that another man knew how to make Jo laugh. He knew it was ridiculous – Scotty was a much older man, and didn't harbor any of the same feelings that Pavel held for Jo – but he couldn't help shooting a glare at the engineer when Scotty held Jo too long for Pavel's liking.

Unaware that he was on the receiving end of a Russian death-glare, Scotty set Jo down and gestured to the enormous, shiny machines that made up most of the Engineering main. "What do ye think of me ship?"

Jo laughed again, face flushed prettily. "It's amazing! There's so much going on down here!"

"She's a well-oiled machine, my baby is. Nothin' goes on down here without my knowin' about it. In fact, I'd say that I have a sixth sense when it comes to this ship and all that she does. I'm well-tuned to everything and anything that goes on–"

"Mr. Scott, is that red light supposed to be flashing?"

Pavel cursed in Russian and pushed Jo behind him. "Joanna, go back to the lift and return to the upper deck, please."

"What? Why?"

"Scotty, did you oversee that recalibration on the plasma valves?"

BOOM.

"Oh, Christ."

Pavel turned at Scotty's curse in time to see a puff of thick, black smoke emitting from an unseen control panel. He looked at the Scot, who was inching towards the panel with trepidation. "Do you think it was one of the valves?"

"Maybe. Could be a blown fuse."

"Wait." Jo reached out for Pavel's arms, fingertips catching the fabric of his uniform. "Ships can blow a fuse?"

"In a way," Scotty conceded, unsure how else to explain the problem in a way that a seventeen-year-old girl could understand. Jo was just as intelligent as her father, but Leonard had as much tolerance for the ship's inner workings as he did for all of Commander's Spock's talk of pure logic. Scotty had a feeling that his daughter would be the same way.

"So, this blown fuse is bad, right?"

The three of them had slowly crept up on the smoking panel, the two Starfleet officers calculating possible problems under their breath while Jo looked on. Scotty was reaching for the release valves, ready to take a look at the problem, when there was a loud screech and several bright, white-hot sparks shot from the paneling. Jo shrieked and was propelled backwards as Pavel thrust out his arm to keep the sparks from burning her skin. She lost her footing and felt herself falling backwards, unable to hold onto anything to keep her balance. She felt rather than heard footsteps running towards the trio, but lost all sense of anything as the back of her head struck the floor and everything went dark.

"Honestly, Len, I had no idea it would happen. Those panels were supposed to be up-to-date–"

"The 'supposed to be' doesn't make me real happy, Commander."

"An ensign just made a mistake, and don't start in on that 'Commander' bullshit, Doctor. It's just a little bump."

"A bump that very well could have been a concussion. And these burns are gonna hurt like hell as they heal, kid."

"It is a small price to pay, Doctor."

The way Pavel's accent fell hard on the consonants in her father's title had Jo smiling, and she was blinking awake to a sterile, white room. Turning her head to the left, she could see Pavel sitting shirtless on a biobed, angry red welts covering his upper body. He winced as Leonard began dabbing some kind of white ointment on some of the larger burns, looking up from his knees to tightly shut his eyes. His entire body tensed against the pain, but no sound escaped past his lips minus a small hiss now and again. Jo took a moment to admire the miles of golden, deceptively muscled skin.

Pavel's green eyes opened and met Jo's from across the room. The smile that spread across his face filled her with warmth, and she couldn't help but smile back. Jo saw her father's head go up, imagined his eyes seeing Pavel's expression, and sure enough, there he was – Leonard McCoy, M.D. and pissed-off father. He handed the cream to Nurse Chapel and made his way to Jo, shaking his head as he went. Jo smiled up at him, knowing better than to move without permission.

"Hi, Daddy."

The cocked eyebrow didn't bode well. "Unobtrusive?"

"I did nothing except walk into the room," Jo pouted, ignoring Pavel's smile and Scotty's deep chuckle. Leonard smirked mirthlessly and bent down to peer into her brown eyes, mirrors of his own, looking for any signs of a concussion. The unspoken "I told you so" hung in the air like a foul stench after the passing of a garbage hovertruck. Jo glared up at her father as best she could, trying – and failing – to look put out. "Smug is not your color, old man. You should try concern or nurturing on for size."

A genuine smile flitted across Leonard's lips, but it was soon replaced with his customary scowl. "Smug is so comfortable, Joanna, and it goes well with 'I told you so.'" There, he had said it. Score one point for Dad. He lifted her gently off her back to a sitting position on the bed, checking for any signs of dizziness. "How 'bout you be a spectator from now on, okay?"

"Yes, sir," Jo said sheepishly. Leonard let out a grunt and walked back over to Pavel, muttering under his breath the whole way.

Pavel caught Jo's eye and discreetly mouthed, "I am so sorry," over Leonard's shoulder. Jo just shrugged her shoulders and tried not to smile too widely.

Scotty's eyes watched them with shrewd and calculating understanding.

Song 6: Gracie – Ben Folds

A/N2: Just in case I wasn't clear – I'm so, so, so sorry, you guys. There will never again be this much time between chapters, I promise you. Also, don't judge my Enterprise engineering jargon. :)