(Two in one day! I got bored and felt bad. Don't really own, etc.)

After her storm out, the room went quiet for a few minutes as the five men digested what was going on. Kirk still felt angry, but a bit ashamed because he too was a child of this alternate reality. In another life, as she had said, he had known his father as well. He had gotten so far up on his high horse that he had forgotten what it was like to know that other people had opportunities that you never had. She obviously had buried them inside, covered it with diplomacy and generosity, and kindness. In short, he felt ridiculous.

Eventually, Taggart broke the silence. "I guess it's time to talk about this. Lets go."

"Go where?"

"We're going to the main conference room, and we're all getting drinks and I'm going to explain to you the inner workings of Captain Joanna McCoy."

"Shouldn't we-" Chekov started, but was cut off.

"You know she won't let you in for at least another hour, Pavel. We just all need to relax. I'll break into her whiskey stash, even. This isn't a request either. This a command." With that, they all walked towards the lift in silence, went up to C Deck, and entered the main briefing room. The men all filed in quietly, as they had nothing to say but plenty to think about.

McCoy himself was stunned. The woman was his daughter, and she was barely a woman! He saw a bit of himself in her, but not enough to really be like "that's my daughter" definitively. But that temper tantrum she'd just thrown – her ideals, the way she defined herself – it reminded him of his temper. Her partiality to the South also made him question her paternity, as his ex-wife had remained there when he had transferred out to Starfleet. He hadn't been notified of anything concerning the former Brianna McCoy after they had divorced, but he had heard that she had died not long after their divorce. He had been so mad that he hadn't even read the full article, but he now regretted not taking more interest in his ex-wife. But boy, if she didn't resemble him, did she ever resemble Brianna. Brianna, with her short red hair, her light green eyes, her temper that was quicker to flare than his and her insistence that everything went her way; the one that had driven him crazy with adoration, then over time had slowly slid back into her comfort zone. The sex had been wild up until the day they signed the papers, but it was mostly from the hate that the two had felt for each other, the confusion about what had happened, the fact that thought they were getting a divorce, they loved each other. Apparently, this love had formed one now 23 year old spitfire, who had given him a look of … Well, a look he'd never thought he'd ever see.

Pavel Chekov was nervous. His palms were sweating, and he felt like he was being stared at. He of course knew that only one person in the room knew about his relationship with the captain, and although he ranked a bit higher than she did, he didn't want to stir up trouble with his partner's father. He had already spent two years with her adoptive family on both Klingon and on the Vulcan colony, but he couldn't very well go up to Doctor McCoy and say, 'Yes, I've been dating your daughter since she was 18, you know, she's great'. McCoy still had leverage on him weight wise and Chekov was not the fighting type, and even a newly found father would not want someone who was fifteen years older than his daughter dating her. But, then again, only Taggart knew. He sat down, his palms flat on the table, as far away from McCoy as he could without seeming like he was avoiding the man.

Spock was stunned. He finally understood everything. Spock Prime, the original one, knew more than he had ever told him, and it was obvious that he had shared his knowledge of the other world with the young girl at a young age. It also explains the anger that she had experienced on her seventh birthday, as she had asked for only one thing – her father's identity. Now he got the anger, the hurt, the fact she had to be moved because she was so emotionally unstable when she had been told about her father's identity and the fact that he probably didn't know about her. It was a grudge she'd carried for a long time. He sat next to what appeared to be an upset Chekov, but under the circumstances, they all were upset.

After leading them into the main conference room, Taggart had gone upstairs through a few back passages and gotten a bottle of Andorian Ale and a bottle of whiskey for the men in the briefing room, along with five glasses all stacked on top of one another. As he reentered, all of the men had circled around the table, leaving the head seat empty, which he assumed was for him. These four other men were famous men, men of history, and though their lives had differed from the original course they were supposed to have taken, he felt like they might veer back to their previous courses.

"Here we are, single malt whiskey and Andorian ale. I'd watch out, the Ale's more potent than it first lets on." He took the top glass himself and poured some ale in it, just so that for once, they'd all be on the same playing field. Chekov took a glass of ale, while McCoy and Kirk both had whiskey. After getting started on their first glasses, Taggart leaned back and started on his story.

"Now you've got to understand that she said this was alright. She and I, we've been friends ever since we got our first assignments together, and that happened to be with Pavel on the Firebird. She used to get really drunk and tell me things about herself, and then the next morning I would clean her up and tell her about my life. She was really depressed back then, but now it's a bit different.

That story about her mother dying by being hit by a car? It's a lie. When she was 3, her mother decided to find her father and explain, but the ship was hijacked by the Orion Syndicate and she died in the hostage situation. She doesn't hate the Orion for that; she just gets very hostile when people check her stories. Her mother's father took her in after that, but found out she was just too much for the old man to handle. Therefore, when the Vulcans called for students for their new academy, he sent her. He sent her at four years old to live on a foreign planet where she didn't even know the language or anyone. On the transport, she met who we all know as the other Spock, the one from the reality we'll never know. He identified her right away, took her under his wing when they reached the colony so she wouldn't get made fun of.

He treated her like a daughter, and I suppose to her, she was the closest thing to a father she's ever had. He told her all about the original Enterprise missions as bedtime stories, and she loved the fact that one of the main heroes' last name was McCoy, just like hers. When she turned seven years old, she asked Spock Prime if he had known her father, and he faltered. She, just as Admiral Kirk did, realized who her father was. In the stories she had been told, McCoy had a daughter, but she was a nurse, and he had always been in her life. Because of the rift," he paused, "her birth was pushed back, therefore never allowing her to know her father. She got very upset with Spock Prime, namely because of his involvement with the whole incident.

That's why she went to Klingon – because she couldn't stand to look at Spock Prime, knowing that he knew her father and refused to introduce the two. Spock thought it a bad idea, seeing as time had already altered enough, and that this McCoy was far more rational than the one he knew."

Kirk laughed a little, but the other men just stared him down. He went back to his drinking.

'That's why she was so accepted on Klingon – she was an adult before she knew what happened. Spock, you helped her find herself, but in the other universe, she was happy just doing what she normally did. She was driven to do whatever she could to better herself, to make her presence known to Doctor McCoy.

As time wore on, she realized he had never noticed her. That she was doing all this work in the medical field to be ignored, and that his best friend was a captain. So she enrolled in the leadership academy. Do you really think that without the Doctor over there, that you would have been allowed on this ship? This is a diplomatic mission, with work done by both Ambassador Chekov and Joanna, and the both of them didn't want anyone else interfering. Pavel assumed it was because of Ambassador Spock, but it was all because McCoy was on the ship with you."

He paused to take a sip of his drink and let the information sink in. The doctor had paled significantly, and everyone else in the room seemed to be thinking over what was just said. Alcohol impaired his ability to read minds clearly, but he got a happier vibe from Chekov, who had apparently thought that he was going to spill the beans about him and Joanna. They weren't too obvious, he had thought, but he also had to drink because he could still read Chekov's mind, and occasionally that wasn't the most fun thing to do.

"So you're sure she's mine?"

Spock answered for him, "Doctor, I am sure. I've known her almost all of her life and if she isn't the real McCoy, then something or someone is messing with our perception of reality."

"He's right, Bones. It was bugging me who she reminded me of, but it was you. I guess it always has been. I would just leave her to sulk for a little while though. Knowing you, her pride's probably really sore right now."

Instead of responding, McCoy just took the bottle of whiskey and put it in his lap. "I'm going to need some more of this."