Hello everyone - so glad to see the story getting some love! A word of guidance - there is a short time leap happening midway through this chapter, but you being eagle-eyed readers will no doubt pick up on it. Enjoy!
Joanna kissed her grandmother's cheek and squeezed her tight before heading upstairs to her room, the buttercream yellow walls barely visible under all her tech and music posters. She fired off a quick text to Katie then sat at her computer station where she dialled Christine, wondered if she'd catch her on-shift or off and felt her stomach leap like a ballet dancer when Christine and her father's faces appeared on screen.
'Hey sweetheart, we were just having a nap,' Bones said.
'Ew, Dad!' Joanna pulled a grossed-out face. 'I don't need to hear that!'
'Not a euphemism, Jo,' Christine reassured her, and moved the camera of her PADD to show the teenager they were both full dressed while laying on Bones' bed, which had her audibly sighing in relief. 'We're leaving early on an away-mission tomorrow and we have to be wheels up at two-thirty am Federation time.'
'Oh, okay, well then I'll let you sleep and I'll tell you I got into the enrichment program later.'
'Hey, that's wonderful, congratulations!' Christine beamed while giving a thumbs up. 'And if you heard from Kirk, that means you'll be in our neck of the woods!'
'Dad, I didn't know you were a ventriloquist!' Joanna teased them, Bones playfully roll his eyes.
'Funny girl. I'm so proud of you Joanna.' Bones shifted so his chin rest on Christine's shoulder. 'Do you know what program you got?'
'I'm guessing Engineering, I'm hoping Engineering, but if they ask me to make spoons for the mess hall, I'm in.'
'When will you be getting here?'
'Last week of October, I think so three weeks? I don't know, Nana's got all the paperwork with dates and stuff. I just wanted to tell you first.'
'I'm so proud of you, sweetheart,' Bones said again, his grin stretching from ear to ear. 'Anyone else from your school?'
'No idea, I know a bunch of people applied and two fo my friends from robotics applied too but I think if they get in they'll be either general sciences or something else. I'm the only one I know of at my school who applied for Engineering.'
'I'm sure Scotty and Lieutenant Allen will be thrilled to have you below decks.'
'Hey, if I'm allowed, you want me to bring you anything from home?' Joanna offered. 'Food, clothes, toiletries?'
'I wouldn't say no to some of those hand-dye scarves we got form that shop the last time we were in dry-dock for your birthday,' Christine told her. 'A lot of colonies out here have fashion that requires a head covering for men and women and I love to make mine colour co-ordinated.'
'Cool. Daddy, how about you?'
'Just your sweet sunny self is more than plenty for me.' Bones' voice glowed with love that his child was so damn sweet and brilliant.
'Sheet music it is,' Joanna laughed, then froze when an alarm began to blare in the background on Bones and Christine's side of the conversation. 'Is that a red alert, are you guys in trouble?'
'No, that's the timer going off to let us know that systems check is happening so all outgoing transmissions need to be concluded in thirty seconds.' Bones blew Joanna a kiss and winked in his trademark style. 'Make sure you tell your mom, she'll be proud of you too.'
'In her way,' Joanna singsonged, and blew kisses at the screen. 'Mwah-mwah-mwah, love you guys, see you soon! For reals!'
Uhura was full of good cheer as she made her way down the hall towards Christine's quarters - her shift had ended on time and the junk food and screen night she had lined up with her best girl was looking like paradise after four hours of translating a report from Tamarian into both English and Vuhlkansu had made her eyes feel like they'd been dipped in whiskey and set on fire.
Yawning, she pressed the doorbell outside Christine's door and was met with a muffled 'It's open', then stepped inside. Uhura stopped short when she saw the suitcase in the living room and Christine surrounded by clothes. 'You going somewhere, Nurse Chapel?'
'Moving in with Bones for six weeks,' she replied, making Uhura blink her dark eyes wide in surprise.
'Like a test run? You guys have only been together since May, isn't this a bit…quick?'
'Oh, no it's not like that,' Christine laughed, folding a pair of pants she knew she'd want later that week. 'Remember at the last senior officers meeting that Kirk mentioned we're getting a student group on board for a month in the next few days?'
'Yeah, the Federation Diplomatic School Enrichment Program, right? It's like a co-op deal for students to see if they'd want a career in Star Fleet.'
'One of the students coming on the Enterprise is Joanna McCoy.'
'Oh that's so cool!' Uhura grinned widely. 'So you're moving in to be one big happy family?'
'Not quite. I'm staying with Bones for the month so Joanna gets my quarters to have as her own space as per regulations of the program. They need to be vacated so they can be cleaned by Maintenance staff to the specifications of the guest.'
'I bet Bones is super thrilled about having his daughter on board for so long.'
'He is,' Christine agreed, then rolled her eyes when Uhura gave her a funny look. 'What?'
'Then why do you look so concerned?'
'Bones is worried that she'll be treated different because of him, that people will either go out of their way to be extra strict or extra nice since he's a senior officer on the ship. I get it, I mean I think I get it. Family does make things weird, huh?'
'Agreed. I had the joy of meeting Spock's parents, one human and one Vulcan. It was worrisome to say the least that I wouldn't be up to snuff.'
'Even though you and Spock have a similar set-up?'
'Nice try.' Uhura's lips quirked into a knowing smile and she shook her head. 'You're not getting out of spilling your guts to me. Are you worried about Bones blowing you off to spend time with her?'
'No, not at all, he's worried about the opposite, that he'll hover and be an overbearing daddy too much and make her feel smothered.'
'Well I doubt that will happen,' Uhura pointed out as she rolled Christine's socks together in neat little pairs. 'The shift schedules in different departments will keep them both busy and I'm pretty sure Lieutenant Allen's son along with some of his friends will be thrilled to have people close to their age on board too.'
'I was thinking too, maybe…'
'Maybe?'
'Maybe we can do a girls night, like you me Joanna maybe Sayuri? Dinner and a game night in the Archer and Sparrow?'
'That sounds like fun.' Uhura frowned a little at Christine. 'Joanna won't think you're using her to get in good with her dad, will she?'
'Are you serious?' Christine laughed heartily as she unfolded her long legs and went to her bedroom to get more clothes to sort. 'I think she is keeping a secret calendar counting down the days until she gets to start wedding planning.'
'That's cute.'
'She even gave me this.' Christine gestured to the framed holographic picture of the three of them from her birthday dinner on the Tantalus satellite. She'd put in a place of honour beside a snapshot of her deceased brother Patrick in his Star Fleet dress uniform. 'If that doesn't scream one big happy blended family, I don't know what does.'
'You look like a family too,' Uhura pointed out, 'you can feel the love in the body language, not just the image itself. Besides, us girls can always spot the phoney people straight off, can't we?'
'Yes indeed we can, Nina. Oh, which reminds me, can you grab my purple bag with the star fish pattern for me? It's in my storage slot by the kitchen table.'
Uhura nodded, got up to find it while Christine vanished once more into her bedroom then frowned. 'Chris, are you sure this is the right one? It's pretty enormous!'
'Yes, I'm sure!'
'Why do you need such a big tote?'
'For this!'
Uhura turned around, then goggled at the armload of rainbow silk satin and lace Christine had plunked onto her modest couch. 'You do understand that living with Bones for a month won't mean sex every day right?' she inquired, picking up a camisole the colour of Tyrollean seaweed.
'I don't want Joanna seeing how much lingerie I have, it'll give her ideas.'
'She's thirteen, I doubt she'll be interested in trying to lose her virginity on board the ship,' Uhura started, making Christine snicker richly.
'Not even close to what I was thinking. No, I don't want Joanna to see it and be reminded of that aspect of my relationship with her father.'
'Well you said Joanna's sharp as a tack, surely she knows that sex is part of an adult relationship. Plus, she's thirteen, hasn't she already started learning what tickles her own fancy?'
'True on all accounts, however being on board here for a month means her crush on Chekov will also be fed, the last thing she needs is to be reminded that her father and me are interested in those same type of things with each other,' she explained, making Uhura nod sagely.
'Hence the exodus of the panties.'
'Precisely.'
'Well treat these nicely, this is Rigelian silk.'
Christine glanced up, saw the bras in Uhura's hands and grinned. 'Yup, they sure are. Got these when we were there last month and haven't had a chance to break them in yet.'
'Okay, now I get not embarrassing Joanna, as I wanna eat and don't need to think about Bones getting…a bone,' she giggled, blushing red as her daily uniform.
'I like to think about it but I get your point.'
The boatswain's whistle sounds, followed by the computer's mechanical voice. Medical Bay to Nurse Chapel.
'Chapel here.'
Report to Medical Bay - assistance required for surgical procedure.
'Acknowledged, tell the on-duty physician I will arrive in five minutes.'
Arrival expected in T-minus-four minutes, fifty-eight seconds.
'Guess I better scoot along,' Christine said, 'but feel free to lend a hand with the lingerie!'
As the pretty blonde nurse zipped off to handle her emergency call, Uhura looked at the various items of clothing and chuckled, 'is Joanna keeping a countdown of when she'll get to be a big sister? Because if you use all this in your spare time, that train's arriving any day now.'
