"I still don't understand why you want to take a shuttle as opposed to using the transporter. We would be there instantly instead of a couple of hours." Jennifer said to Bones as they were walking to the shuttle yard. Bones had insisted that if they couldn't drive, which there wasn't enough time to do so, that they would take a shuttle. Under no circumstances, well non-life threatening or spacefaring circumstances anyway, would he use that 'damned transporter'.
"You know I hate those damn things. People have actually died using those contraptions. And before you say it, because you always do, I know they've been updated and improved upon over and over again. Still doesn't make me feel any better. Shuttle or no money. I'm never using that damn thing." Bones replied just as they walked up to the shuttle hatch. Jennifer laughed.
"Just don't throw up on me, Bones. I don't want to have to tell your daughter how much of a scardie-cat her daddy really is." She chuckled.
Bones just shot her a glare while he ascended the three steps into the shuttlecraft.
"And no trying to hide in the bathroom either, Bones." Jennifer finished before taking her seat. To her credit, he was eyeing the bathroom pretty hard before sitting down next to her.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah kid. No hiding. I'm fine. Perfectly fine. I just won't think about the solar flares popping up at random and burning us to a crisp in a hot second." Which he totally was. The shuttle hadn't even been cleared for takeoff and he was already starting to hyperventilate.
Jennifer looked at Bones who was having trouble strapping himself in due to the stress and fear. It was a real fear, and maybe not entirely unfounded. His older brother, who had also been a doctor, had been seriously injured in a shuttle accident due to faulty wiring or something of the sort. Jennifer could understand fear. She'd lived with it for a long time, hell, she still did. But she didn't let her fear overcome her. Not anymore. And she'd be damned if she was going to let her best friend be defeated by his fear. He would just have to deal.
She reached over and placed her hands on his to stop his fumbling. When he looked up to meet her gaze she smiled softly.
"I got you, Bones." She almost whispered before strapping him in and then doing so for herself.
"So, you said you had some good news that I wasn't going to like before promptly disappearing into your room last night. What is it?" Bones asked, and Jennifer knew he was trying to distract himself from the fact that the shuttle had just been cleared to launch. She didn't mind. She planned on telling him, obviously, and he really could use a distraction.
"Well, you know I had dinner with Jais last night, remember when I told you he asked me out?" Jennifer started cautiously, but grinning all the same.
"Yeah. And I told you that wasn't a good idea because he's your instructor and it's completely against the freaking regs." Bones replied acidly.
"Yeah, well after a month of not getting back to me on an official date he did. Except it wasn't a date like he wanted me to think. So don't worry Bones, I didn't end up sleeping with my instructor." Jennifer laughed softly.
"Not that you didn't want to." Bones muttered. "So what was the deal? Why'd he ask you out and take so long to make good on the offer if it wasn't a date?"
"Chris and Spock were there as well. It wasn't a date."
"Not like that would matter. I know you. You think he's, how'd you say it again? Oh yeah, 'really fucking hot. Hotter than sol. Hotter than the hottest summers on Vulcan. Really fucking hot'. Yeah that. You said that."
"So I have eyes? He is fucking hot. So are you. You don't see me sleeping with you just because you're really fucking hot, now do you?" Jennifer scoffed in mock offense. Mainly because, well, Jais, while really fucking hot, and a total flirt, wasn't exactly Jennifer's type. Not that she would say no to a dinner date. Because, well, free food. And flirting. Jennifer did like to flirt.
Jennifer also liked that her flagrant admission of Bone's aesthetics made him blush like a teenage girl. She didn't comment on it, she didn't have to.
"Yeah, well, it takes two to tango. And just because you're probably the most beautiful woman I've ever seen doesn't mean I'm jumping on you every time I have the chance. Obviously." Bones shot back just as blatantly. It'd been a game of theirs since the first day they met. When Bones had complained about her being one of those girls not aware of their own beauty and she had told him she was very much aware. (Painfully aware sometimes).
Yeah, they were best friends, and maybe severely attracted to one another physically, but they were only that. Friends.
"Yeah. Well anyway, they ambushed me at what I thought was a date and well sort of made me an offer I couldn't refuse and well, like I said, you're not going to like it." Jennifer rambled.
"Would you shut up and just tell me already?" Bones grumped in reply.
"Yeah. Okay, take the fun away already. Impatient man."
"Incessant brat."
"Hypo-stabbing grump."
"Self-destructive pain in my ass."
"Yeah, I am, and you love it." Jennifer grinned. "Anyway, so they want me to start assisting teaching a class."
"Well, I don't see what's wrong with that. You're smart enough, for sure. You probably should be teaching classes here. You practically test out of half of your required courses anyway. You're pretty brilliant when you aren't trying to kill yourself just by eating." Bones admitted.
It was Jennifer's turn to blush like a schoolgirl. "Yeah, well, let's just say you should probably keep a derma-regen in the room on a more permanent basis. I think I'll end up needing it more often now that I'll be assisting Jais in teaching the advanced hand to hand combat class and upping the Susa Mana training with Spock during the mornings to make up for the training missed in class, mainly because I pretty much know anything Jais would really teach me." There, she said it, it was out, now all she had to do was deal with Bones freaking out about the information.
Wide eyes and mouth agape, Bones was speechless. For a second, and not a moment longer.
"You do have a death wish. Don't you? You're doing more training with that Vulcan? How many times have I had to fix you up after your sparring lessons with him already? And you're telling me that you want to do more training with him? Official sessions? You've got to be kidding me! And Pike is okay with this?" Bones ranted.
"Nope. Pike agreed to it. In fact, he helped set it up. Okayed it with the admiralty on the academic board and everything. I'll still get credit for the class and then continue to help teach it after I'm done." Jennifer smiled. She was actually looking forward to it. Even if she had spent half the night after that dinner coming up with a good lesson plan for the next class and she was tired as hell right now, she was totally looking forward to it.
"The man, who is your academic advisor, and you think of like a second father, who treats you like his own daughter, for reasons you have yet to explain to me by the way like you promised, not only agreed with this crazy plan, but helped formulate it? Jesus, Jenn. You know momma isn't going to like this either, right?" Jennifer had yet to tell Bones exactly why her relationship with Pike had grown exponentially since their initial (to Bones anyway) meeting, and she knew that momma McCoy would shit bricks when she found out about her training session with the Vulcan, but not in the way that Bones thought. Momma McCoy would be proud of her. She always was.
Bones' mother had grown on Jennifer since she started at the academy. The older woman had become almost as much of a mother to her as she was to her own son. Video chats with momma McCoy were almost as often with Jennifer as they were with Bones, and every care package that she sent to Bones had started to be addressed to Jennifer as well. She even had her own Ole Miss t-shirt now too, not that it stopped her from stealing Bones' every chance she could. In fact, his t-shirt was in her bag right now.
"No, she isn't." Jennifer replied. "She's going to love it. She's going to be super proud of her unofficially adopted daughter and that she's going to be able to kick even more ass. She's going to be so fucking proud of her unofficially adopted daughter that she's going to make her famous apple pie and let me eat half of it in one sitting!" Jennifer grinned.
"I never should have introduced you to my mother. Never." Bones shook his head in defeat. He knew that his mother would actually be proud of Jennifer, but that she would also be worried. Momma was always worrying about his blonde haired, blue eyed, best friend and unofficially adopted daughter of hers.
"And before you even bring it up, Jojo is going to think I'm even more kickass than she already does." Jennifer beamed. She really did love Bones' daughter. She was the epitome of gorgeous, brilliance and adorable attitude rolled into one super cute little girl.
"God help me. Everyone in my family turns against me when it comes to you. First momma, then Jojo, even my little sister is in love with you. Although I think that's because she wants to sleep with you."
"What did I tell you, Bones? I'm just awesome like that! Come on, you know you love me too!" Jennifer flashed another one of her famous brilliant smiles at him in victory.
"Yeah, well, you're still a pain in my ass." Bones muttered grumpily.
"You wouldn't know what to do with me if I wasn't. Besides, your ass isn't the only one that I pain. Chris freaks out almost as much as you do when I get hurt or decide to almost die because I find out that I'm allergic to something like fucking strawberries."
"If space doesn't kill you, your own body will. I swear, it's a fight just to keep you alive every time you eat." Bones agreed.
"Yeah, well, I found out that I'm not allergic to asparagus last night." Jennifer mentioned. She didn't know why she'd never had it before. It was delicious!
"You ate a food you never had before last night! What if you had been allergic? What were you going to do? Hope you didn't go into anaphylactic shock?" Bones practically screamed, garnering the attention of a few nearby cadets. Jennifer just shrugged at the questioning glances.
"I'm fine. Obviously. Besides, you missed the funniest shit last night, I swear. I had to explain to Spock, with some help from Chris, about nicknames. It was pretty funny. I swear that Vulcan is hiding his sense of humor though, because he just cracked us all the hell up."
"Like I believe that. He's Vulcan. Vulcan's don't have a sense of humor. It would be completely illogical."
"It was funny. You had to be there. I swear. Jais, Chris, and I were in tears with laughter."
"I'm sure." Bones replied dryly, unconvinced that the Vulcan in question could possibly be considered funny. He didn't have a lot of experience with Vulcans, but the experience he did have made him believe that Vulcans were no better than computers when it came to social interaction. Hell, they even talked like them.
"Why do you get so defensive and sullen about my relationship with Captain Pike?" Jennifer asked suddenly, but calm.
"What do you mean?" Bones was actually taken a bit off guard by the sudden twist in topic.
"You keep passive-aggressively suggesting you don't understand why I'm so close with him and vice versa. I don't get it. Why?"
"Honestly?"
"Yeah, the truth would be kinda nice."
"I like the man, Jenn, I do. But I don't trust his motives with you. He worries about you as much as I do. It's weird." Bones stated caringly. Jennifer's jaw dropped in shock.
"What? You're kidding right?" Jennifer laughed. "I guess I can see it, actually talked about it with him last night before I got back. But really? He is the only one that sees me for me. He doesn't just think of me as the 'kelvin baby' or that I'm only in Starfleet because my last name is Kirk. He recruited me, Bones. I thought you knew that."
"Well, yeah, but I thought he recruited you because he wanted to get in your pants."
Jennifer really laughed then. "Um, no. Look, if you want to know the whole story, I'm going to have to be really drunk, it's not for the faint of heart. And definitely not for public. But I will tell you this now. Captain Christopher Pike knew my parents when he was really young and they sort of took him under their wing. My father especially. Obviously before the whole Kelvin mess happened. And well, I guess he just started to keep tabs on me after," Jennifer hesitated, refusing to mention Tarsus on the shuttle and sober, "after something happened to me. I didn't know about it until after he recruited me, and he just basically kept sticking his neck out for me. I finally asked him why and he told me. So, long story short, I am not sleeping with him, he's more like a father to me than anything, and the thought of sleeping with him is just so disrespectful to both him and me that anyone who thinks that can shove it up their ass." Jennifer finished, thinking about the conversation she'd had with Pike a couple of months ago.
"Sir, sorry, Chris, I don't mean to sound rude or ungrateful or anything, and I get that you knew my mother, said you were a friend of sorts, or whatever, but why do you care so much about what happens to me?"
"Kirk, I knew your mother, but I also knew your father. I was a boy when I met them in San Francisco. They were probably the closest thing I had to parents when my own were away on assignments. This was obviously before they left on assignment with you to the Kelvin, and I knew your brother too, though he was a few years younger than I was. Your parents were like a second family to me."
"Okay, that's kinda weird, not going to lie, definitely not in your file."
"You hacked my file. I should be surprised, I should, but I'm not."
"This is me you're talking to, Chris. I had to know what you were like. I get that I could have asked, but this is me."
"Yeah, well, you're lucky it was my file you hacked and that I'm not that upset. Not really. I probably would have done the same in your situation."
"Yeah. So what is it? Why?"
"When your father died and your mother went off the deep end, I felt an obligation. George Kirk was a hero to me and your mother, well, I get it. She loved your father more than life itself. It wasn't fair to you, still isn't, but I got it. I kept tabs on you, ya know? And then Tarsus… God. I saw you, and you almost killed me. Almost killed the entire away team. I just… I couldn't let you go after that without keeping up with you. You've always had someone watching your back, every step of the way. I wouldn't interfere, but I couldn't just let my surrogate parent's kid drown herself before she really got to live."
"It's, it's like you're repaying the favor or something… I don't, well, I don't know how to feel about it, really. I mean, here I thought you wanted to recruit me for my brain, not because my parents were who they were." "It wasn't just your parents, kid. Sure, they're the reason I kept tabs on you, but if I wanted to recruit you because of them, I would have before you joined MACO. And yeah, I did know about MACO, I just didn't want you to know I knew. I should've told you then, but I couldn't, it wasn't the time for it. But when you got out, you were headed in that downward spiral and your aptitude tests really are off the charts. I've only seen one person's scores as good as yours since I became a captain. And he's Vulcan. Hate to say it like this, but at the bar in Iowa, I realized you needed the fleet just as much as it needs you."
"You know, I may just agree with you. I'll deny it if you ever bring it up again. But I really did need the challenge, still do."
"I wasn't lying when I said you have the same instincts as your father did. To leap without looking. Your intuition is scary as is. MACO helped you to hone that. Starfleet will even more. And the fleet needs minds like yours. Yeah, I was watching out for you because I felt obligated since your parents did the same for me, but I was also watching out because of you. You and me, kid, we aren't so different. I just happen to have a few years of experience on you."
"So, you really think I can do this? I mean, I know I promised three years. And I know I can do that. But I'm not doing it just to end up on some station or something. I want the chair."
"You're more your father's daughter than you know. But you're also much more than that. I know you haven't exactly had the best of it, but you'll realize sooner or later that you will be better because of it, if you can rise above it rather than let it drown you."
"Yeah, well. Thanks."
"That's what I'm here for, kid. Jenn, just promise me one thing?"
"What's that?"
"Try not to cause too much trouble. I can't protect you from yourself all the time."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever you say… dad."
It was Bones' voice instead of the shuttle coming to a stop that brought Jennifer out of the memory.
"I'm sorry." He said, unstrapping himself from his seat.
Jennifer looked over to him, realized that the shuttle had stopped and that Bones was removing himself from the seat, and started to unstrap herself as well.
"You're only human." She shrugged after a moment. She didn't want to fight with him, and honestly, she couldn't really blame him for thinking it. It seemed everyone either thought that she was a slut who slept with everyone, a whore for sleeping with her advisor, or just the girl who was sleeping with her roommate. "It happens. But now, we've got a little girl and a ma to go see." Jennifer smiled at the thought of finally meeting little Jojo in person and momma McCoy.
They walked out of the shuttle and got in line to grab their bags. It wasn't long, only about ten people were in line, the others having already been dropped off to their destinations. The shuttle ride in total, due to multiple stops, only took about two hours.
"Yeah, I just hope Jocelyn actually lets me see her like she promised." Bones sighed worriedly.
"You'll see her. Trust me." Jennifer replied in a matter of fact tone. As if she knew something.
"You didn't. Please tell me you didn't."
"Okay. I didn't." Jennifer bent down to grab her bag.
"You did. Goddamnit Jenn! I told you to stay out of it." Bones yelled as he grabbed his bag and hurried after his best friend.
"Yeah, well, you know me, I don't listen very well." Jennifer turned and smiled when Bones caught up to her. They had originally thought to arrange for a cab to meet them at the shuttle yard in Atlanta and then take them to his childhood home just outside of Atlanta. Jennifer couldn't wait to meet Joanna and his mother in person.
Jennifer thought that Eleanora McCoy was probably one of the strongest women alive, and she loved her adopted momma McCoy even though she had yet to even meet the woman in person. If she raised Bones, yeah, the woman had to be pretty amazing.
"Yeah. I know." Bones sighed. "What did you do?" Bones asked just as they walked up to a woman in her thirties with dark auburn hair who was accompanied by a little six year old girl. Bones stopped dead in his tracks when he turned from Jennifer to see his older sister and his daughter.
"Daddy!" Joanna McCoy screamed when the two locked eyes and started running towards him. Jennifer just kept walking towards Bones' sister smiling when she turned around and saw her best friend pick his daughter up from the ground and pull her into a hug.
"Thank you." Bones' sister said watching the scene before him.
"My pleasure." Jennifer turned to the woman she had contacted weeks ago to enlist her help in making sure that Bones would get to see his daughter during the four day long training holiday weekend. "Jennifer Kirk, nice to finally meet you in person."
"Donna Withers, formerly McCoy. Happy to finally meet you in person as well. Len's told me so much about you, I felt like I already knew you when you contacted me. Frank's in the car, waiting. We'll talk more later. I'm just happy he's finally getting to see Joanna, without Jocelynn hovering and trying to take her away."
Jennifer turned back to see Bones and his daughter walking towards them, she was smiling as much as they both were. "Me too, Donna, me too."
"Jenn, I don't know what you did, and Donna, I know you had something to do with it, but I don't care. Thank you. I'm assuming Frank's in the car waiting?" Bones asked as he finally stepped up to the two women, holding his daughter's hand still.
"Yep." Donna said as they started walking towards the car lot.
"Good. I can't wait to get home. I mean, I know I was here over Christmas, but now, well, no offense, Donna, but this is so much better." Bones said smiling still. He'd been able to see Joanna over Christmas break, but not without his ex-wife hovering and threatening to take her away at a moment's notice.
"I know. You're happy to get some good quality time with your daughter. I would be too." Donna answered.
"I am." Bones looked down at Joanna who looked up towards her father at the same time. "I am."
"Well, I don't know about you, Jojo, but I'm looking forward to momma McCoy's famous apple pie." Jennifer beamed at the little girl who was still clutching onto her father's hand.
"Me too, Miss Jenn. I love gramma's apple pie. It's the best in the whooole universe!" The six year old exclaimed happily.
Jennifer was really looking forward to finally meeting the rest of his family in person as well. She was just sad that she wouldn't be able to meet his dad, or his younger sister Melissa. Both who died well before she ever met Bones. Momma McCoy's famous apple pie was just a considerable bonus.
During the hour long car ride Jennifer was sitting in the back seat with Bones and Joanna. Father and daughter were cuddled up next to each other and Joanna had fallen asleep almost as soon as the car started moving.
"Thank you." Bones whispered to Jennifer who was looking down at his daughter's sleeping form after a while of silence.
"For what?" Jennifer asked, honestly confused.
"For whatever it was that you and my family did to get her back. I don't want to know. I don't care. Just, thank you."
"Anytime, Bones. Family's important. A little girl shouldn't have to grow up without her father if she doesn't have to." Jennifer replied, still looking at the peaceful Joanna cuddled up to her father.
"No, she shouldn't. But, I'm not going to lie, I do kind of feel bad for Jocelyn. I know what it's like not to see your daughter much at all. It's not fun. I don't want to take that away from her, even after everything."
"I would. But I'll tell you later. And I feel bad for her too, but not because of Joanna." Jennifer admitted
"Why?" Bones raised an eyebrow, puzzled.
"Because she didn't recognize what she had."
"And what's that?"
"You. She had you, and then she just threw you away."
Bones didn't reply, he couldn't find the words. And before he could think of something, anything to say, the car came to a halt in front of a house in the small town of Ellijay, Georgia.
Everyone was waiting outside when the car pulled up. Jennifer had never seen so many people congregated together in such a small place. Bones' entire family was here. She thought it was strange, they were only here for the weekend, but his brother and sister had picked them up with his daughter, and his eldest brother Henry Clay was here. Of course Momma McCoy was here too, it was her home. And then there were the kids. Donna and Frank's daughter was at the house (Jennifer had seen a few holos) and so were Henry Clay's two boys. And every single one of them were standing outside of the house waiting to see Bones and Joanna.
As happy as she was that Bones was able to see his family again, and that Jennifer was finally here with him, she couldn't help but feel somewhat lonely at the sight of so many people. She'd never had family like this. Her mother left her with her brother and step-father, and then her brother left her alone and her step-father shipped her off to another planet.
Lost in the commotion of family greeting one another, Jennifer was unprepared for the assault that momma McCoy made on her person.
"Jennifer Tarise Kirk you will hug me and let me look at you girl!" Momma McCoy pulled Jennifer into her arms rather unexpectedly and Jennifer had no choice but to return the hug to the woman she had yet to meet in person.
Momma McCoy stepped back out of the hug to inspect her unofficially adopted daughter, her son's best friend.
"Video chats do you no Justice, Jennifer Kirk. It's a wonder that son of mine hasn't gone blind with how beautiful you are." Jennifer blushed a brilliant shade of red, wishing she could blame it on the heat of a Georgian summer, but it was February, and in north Georgia, February was not exactly hot.
"Well, don't just stand there child, come on inside with the rest of us. You'll catch your death in the cold out here!" Momma McCoy stated as she grabbed Jennifer's hand to tug her along. "Don't worry about your bags, the boys will take care of them."
"Okay." Jennifer acquiesced and decided to just follow momma McCoy inside the house with Donna and Joanna coming in right behind them.
"Well, the boys are getting our bags. Ma, do you want me to pour get some drinks?" Donna asked as soon as the women and little girl were inside the house.
"Please, Donna, thank you. Come on you two, Leonard, H.C., and Frank will be in shortly with your things." Momma McCoy ushered them into what Jennifer immediately recognized as the 'living room' and was more properly designated as a 'sitting room' meant for receiving company. She noticed that Joanna just followed her grandmother obediently and with wonder. Jennifer couldn't help but realize why. Eleanora McCoy certainly was a woman of great charisma and charm.
"Gramma, can I have a cookie?" Joanna asked as soon as the little girl sat down on the couch next to Jennifer.
"That will be up to your father when he gets inside, but I'm sure you can darling." Eleanora replied smiling at the little girl.
"Okay." Joanna then turned to Jennifer. "Miss Jenn, is it true about you and daddy? Are you going to be my new mommy?"
Both Jennifer's and Eleanora's eyes widened in shock at the little girl's starling question.
"Where did you hear that from, Jojo?" Jennifer heard Bone's voice and looked to see him standing in the doorway of the living room holding their two bags.
"Mommy said that Miss Jenn was taking me away because she didn't like mommy. And Mommy's friend Clay said it was because I was getting a new mommy since Miss Jenn's your girlfriend. But Aunt Donna said Miss Jenn just wanted to protect me and for you to see me because she's your friend and she cares about us. And I like Miss Jenn, she's nice to me on the vid-chats and makes me laugh. So I thought she was going to be my new mommy." Joanna answered honestly, not sounding scared, but as if she had worked all of it out on her own.
Bones stood in the doorway mouth agape in shock. Eleanora looked like she couldn't even formulate words to respond to six year old little girl. Jennifer was in shock too, but recovered first.
Jennifer took Jojo's hands into her own and looked into her eyes. "Jojo, I love you but I am not nor will I ever replace your mommy. Your daddy and I are just friends. Do you understand sweetheart?"
"You don't want to be my mommy, Miss Jenn?" Joanna asked, eyes starting to water.
Jennifer didn't know how to answer that. Bones wasn't her boyfriend, he was her best friend. Jennifer realized that Joanna was confused and scared, but she didn't have the answers to give her. It wasn't her place to explain why she was taken from her mother, why the legal system had finally realized that Jocelyn Darnell was not fit to be a mother to the child anymore.
"Joanna, sweetheart, you already have a mommy." Jennifer was pleading to whatever deity potentially listening that Joanna wouldn't start crying.
"But I need a mommy since she can't be my mommy anymore." Joanna protested as tears started to fall down her cheeks.
Jennifer was internally cursing Jocelynn's name. She knew what it was like not to have a mother around. She didn't want Joanna to grow up without one, and she didn't want to upset her. But she couldn't lie to her either.
Thankfully Bones had dropped the bags on the floor and came to join them on the couch.
"Jojo, darling, Jenn's not…" he looked up at Jennifer momentarily and she couldn't read the expression on his face before he looked back down at his daughter. "You can have as many mommy's as you want. Grandma, Aunt Donna, and whoever else. As long as they care for you and love you."
"But Miss Jenn cares for me and loves me. She told me so. I want Miss Jenn to be my mommy!" Joanna burst into tears and ran from the couch out of the living room, passing Donna who was holding a tray full of iced tea.
"Well shit." Bones said.
"My sentiments exactly." Jennifer agreed.
"Leonard Horatio McCoy! Language!" Eleanora scolded him.
"Ma, I think the current situation kind of excuses his mouth." Donna said setting the tray down on the coffee table.
"I should go find Joanna." Bones said starting to stand up.
"No, you shouldn't, because she's upset with you right now. Let me." Eleanora replied grabbing a glass of tea before standing up. "This isn't going to fix itself overnight, but she is upset and seeing you right now will just upset her more. I'm sorry Leonard, but that's the truth. I'll let you know when she's calmed down." And with that momma McCoy left the living room.
"Fuck me. I'm sorry, Bones. I had no idea… I didn't mean…" Jennifer started but couldn't finish. There was nothing she could say to make this better.
"It's not your fault. I told you what I suspected was going on with Jocelyn and her sorry excuse of a boyfriend. Sorry, fiancé now, and you, well, you were just being you. Looking out for me, and my daughter. I may have told you not to interfere, but I'm glad you did. I just can't believe… God Jenn, what am I going to do?"
"You're going to sit right here and drink your glass of tea and then you're going remind yourself that Joanna may not understand now but will be thankful when she's older that you were able to get her out of that house. Jocelynn doesn't deserve to be her mother if she can't take care of her own daughter. And you're not going to blame yourself for it either because it's not your fault." Donna stated firmly. "You didn't know Clay was going to be such a shithead and that Jocelynn was going to ignore it and your daughter. And you, being you, didn't want to believe that it was possible. Just be thankful your friend here decided to check it out and that Joanna's not hurt. Or worse. She's here now and we're all going to be fine. She just needs a bit to adjust."
"Okay." Bones sighed in resignation.
"And now I'm going to go find that brother of ours and see where he's whisked my husband off to. Lord only knows what those two are up to. They get together and both revert back to twelve year old boys." Donna said and walked out of the living room leaving Jennifer and Bones alone together on the couch.
"I'm sorry, Bones. I didn't. I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I… I just couldn't let it continue. I know what child neglect looks like… been there, done that, got the whole t-shirt collection and some sweatpants too. I just, well, you didn't believe me when I mentioned it to you and then I thought that seeing Joanna would be a nice surprise this weekend."
"It's… well it's not fine. But not because of you. I just can't believe that after all the fighting Jocelynn did to keep Joanna away from me that she would just… because of a guy. I just don't get it." Bones said shaking his head.
"It wasn't for Joanna. It was to hurt you." Jennifer told him softly.
"Yeah, I can see that now. I just… I married that woman, Jenn. At one point I really did want her to be the mother of my children. And I love Joanna, I thank God for her every day that she's here, because well, she's my kid, and she's, she's just Joanna. But Christ, Jenn. I seriously misjudged that woman."
"Yeah, you did. But hey, it's okay. Because if you hadn't, then you wouldn't have Joanna." Jennifer smiled gently.
"Yeah, I know." Bones sighed again, sinking into the back of the couch. "Wanna go take a walk?"
"Sure, Bones. Where to?"
Bones jumped up from the couch and grabbed Jenn's hands to pull her up. "Come on, there's something I wanna show you."
