Watching Kirk as he managed to issue the last of his crew approvals (at least the one's he'd decided on), Bones wondered why the younger man had been so hesitant to do this bit of administrative work. Selecting his crew was an important part of a captain's duty…maybe that's why he hadn't felt a need to rush. Technically, he wasn't a captain until commencement.

But it would have been cruel to drag out making the notifications and would have driven potential crewmembers up the proverbial wall.

All around them, young men and women were enjoying the sunny day, good food and fun. Officers were scattered amongst them, also relaxing, even joining in some of the games.

The Frisbee hooligans seemed to have cooled down once they had been separated (and saturated). He'd even returned the flying disc to the odd little blond who had finally come out of the tree to eat. She'd smiled, thanked him, then proceeded to use the Frisbee as a plate.

The soccer game was still in progress, quite freestyle, with players coming and going as whims hit them. Bones considered going back for another serving of bourbon steak kabobs, but then he heard something that shocked the hell out of him.

"Daddy!"

He spun in the direction of Joanna's voice, eye's scanning the milling crowd. It was easy enough to spot her, waving happily as she wove her way through the sea of cadets, leading a pretty blond woman along by the hand. After a moment, Bones' eyes bugged in surprise as he recognized her as Jim's mother.

Staring at the approaching pair, he felt a soft slap on the back and, out of the corner of his eye, saw Jim and Lily flank him on either side.

"Surprise," Jim said, smirking happily as Joanna broke free from Winona and dashed to Bones, who scooped her up in his arms.

"Surprise, Daddy!" Joanna crowed, bouncing happily as she wrapped her little arms around his neck. "Did we get you? Are you surprised?"

"More than you know, Baby girl," He said, kissing her cheek. "How on Earth did you get here?"

"I asked mom to pick her up on her way here. She was in Florida visiting a friend," Kirk said with a smirk and leaned in to give Jo a smooch on the other cheek. "Fun trip, doll?"

"Yes, Uncle Jimmy," Joanna laughed and Bones smiled as Jim stepped towards his mother.

Their embrace was quick and more than a bit awkward, as neither Jim nor his mother seemed to know how the other would react.

Stepping back, Winona looked he son over. "You're looking well, Jim," she said with a small smile.

"You too, Mom," Jim replied. "Thanks for bringing Jo. Any problems with that?"

With a shake of her head, Winona said, "No, Joanna's very sweet and her mother…well, what exactly did you say to her?"

McCoy had to admit, he was curious about that himself. Normally it took a lot of coercion and none too subtle threats of lawyers to get Jocelyn to allow Jo to come visit him. And two visits in a month's time was unprecedented.

"It was a joint effort," Lily admitted from his elbow. "Jim offered his mom's services as an escort and I intimated that denying a hero the right to see his daughter might cast her in a poor light."

"Before this whole incident, I never really considered how scary you press folk can be," Jim said, slinging a companionable arm around Lily's shoulders and jostling her. "Power of the pen, I guess."

She grinned. "I can do a whole lot more damage with a pen than a phaser," she informed him lightly.

"Mama says girls shouldn't be playin' with guns. Someone could get hurt," Joanna informed her aunt gravely from her perch in Bones' arms, making him chuckle.

"Not to worry, baby," he assured his daughter. "I've seen Auntie Lily shoot. No one's in any danger of her shooting them."

"Not on purpose, anyway," Jim snickered and received an elbow in his ribs from Lily. "Ow! God Da…rn it, are the pointy elbows genetic, or have you two figured out how to sharpen them, cause that really hurts!"

Bones and Lily shared a smirk and Joanna giggled, contorting her arms to try to peer at her own elbows. Jim pouted at them and Winona smiled at the scene before her. Then her eyes shifted to the left and widened as she gazed off at something behind them.

As he spun to see what had startled her, McCoy ran through scenarios in his mind. Perhaps the hostilities had resumed between the Frisbee teams. There was always a possibility of a soccer riot, but the game had been one of the more civil in progress. Maybe Chekov had actually succeeded in eating his own body weight in ribs and pie. Worst case scenario, Scotty had souped up the grills and a geyser of flame was shooting a hundred feet up in the air.

He didn't see any of these things, but was almost immediately showered by a heavy spray of water. Jim seemed to be taking the worst of the dousing, Lily, still tucked into his side, coming in a close second. Joanna squealed as the water hit her and though she seemed more delighted than upset, Bones turned his back into the spray, sheltering her with his body as he bellowed, "What the hell!"

As the spray turned off, Joanna mumbled, "Bad word, Daddy!"

A few more droplets hit him as Jim shook himself like a dog, all the while glaring in the direction of the assault. Bones followed his line of sight to see Cupcake holding the hose and his cronies lurking nearby. The four of them looked torn between rolling with laughter and outright terror. All around them, the other picnic goers were reacting with varying degrees of shock, humor and horror.

It was the cadet Jim had nicknamed Danish who shouted, "Sorry McCoy! Didn't see the kid!"

He treated them to a scowl that had them dropping the hose and retreating.

"Do I want to ask?" Winona said from behind them, where she had received a much reduced spray.

Jim tugged his T-shirt away from his torso and attempted to ring it out. "Long story, Mom," he sighed, then watched out of the corner of his eye as Lily pulled her tank tops off, revealing a bikini underneath.

Both Bones and Winona rolled their eyes and Lilly commented, "Well, one things certain. Cupcake's gonna shi…pass a brick when he finds out who his CO's gonna be."

A truly impish grin passed over Jim's face and he traded a look with Bones and Lily.

Neither Winona or Joanna could figure out what they found so funny.

TBC