AN: Hello lovely people! Well, here it is, Chapter 3! I apologise for any typos, I haven't had the chance to proof read :L I hope you enjoy it!
When Jim was finally allowed out of the hospital (three months too late, in his opinion), he found himself back in his apartment with Bones flapping around him like a mother hen.
"Bones!" he exclaimed, "I'm fine! You've done my shopping, my laundry, my house keeping... all that's left for me to do is kick back and relax. I'm not going to die if you leave me alone for one night!"
"Yeah, that's what you said last time," Bones grumbled, "And then you went off into the warp core!"
"Well, there're no warp cores in my apartment. Just stop worrying, Bones." Before said doctor could reply, his communicator started beeping.
"Damnit," he muttered, "I'm late for my shift at the clinic... Don't do anything stupid whilst I'm gone." Jim smirked.
"Me? Do something stupid? As if, Bones." the other man rolled his eyes as he left Jim's apartment, wondering what trouble his friend would get into whilst he was gone.
Jim used his (finally) alone time to catch up on the many (many, many, many) reports he had to finish, and all of the paperwork he had to sign off. And, he wasn't going to lie: it was actually more tedious than having to spend all of his time in the hospital.
So when a frantic knocking started up at his door, he welcomed the distraction, even more so when he found the source of the knocking to be Jocelyn with Joanna.
"Well, to what do I owe this pleasure?" he asked grinning moving out of the way to let them in.
"Do you know where Leonard is?"Jocelyn asked desperately. Jim frowned.
"Don't you know that he works at the clinic every Tuesday and Wednesday?" Jim asked her. Jocelyn sighed.
"I knew he wouldn't listen to that message..." she muttered, "I needed him to look after Joanna. I have to go to my sisters, help with some plans for our grandmother's funeral..."
"I could look after Joanna, at least until Bones gets back, if you want," Jim offered. Joanna didn't offer her mother any choice in the matter, throwing herself onto Jim's sofa and making herself comfortable.
"You don't mind?" Jocelyn checked. Jim grinned.
"Not in the slightest," he promised, "You go. We'll be fine, won't we, Jo?" she nodded enthusiastically.
Jocelyn sighed, relieved, "Thanks, Jim. I owe you one!" and with that she left Jim alone in his apartment with a seven year old girl.
Hmm, Jim thought, this could get interesting...
He sat down on the sofa next to Joanna, "So, what do you want to do?" he asked her. Joanna shrugged.
"When I'm with daddy, we normally watch a movie, with popcorn and cookies." She said. Jim looked thoughtful.
"I bet I can make that better," he said confidently. Joanna looked sceptical.
"I bet you can't." She said defiantly. Jim looked smug.
"Have you ever made a blanket fort before?" he asked. Joanna shook her head, looking curious, "Then I can make it better."
Jim figured that Jocelyn wasn't really the kind to engage in the making of blanket forts, and no child should ever have to live their life without experiencing the fun of making one; his childhood had been far from perfect, and even he had precious memories of him and Sam camping out in their front room under a bed sheet over two chairs.
"How do you make a blanket fort?" Joanna asked as Jim crossed the room to a walk in closet.
"Which lots of blankets, and furniture." Jim said simply. Joanna jumped off the sofa, intrigued by Jim's plan.
"Come on, kiddo," Jim said grinning, "Let's get to work."
The next hour and a half consisted of Jim and Joanna building their fort; Joanna was having the time of her life (or whatever that amounted to for a seven year old... it was probably more like the time of her week). When it was done, Jim dragged the mattress from his bed through to the lounge and put it inside the fort, before going through to the kitchen to grab whatever junk food he had. That consisted of some potato chips, some chocolate, and a bag of popcorn, with a bottle of Coca Cola to go with it.
"It's not much," he shrugged when he brought it all through to the lounge, grabbing his PADD from the coffee table as he went, "But it's better than fruit, right?"
"Definitely better than fruit," Joanna agreed. With all of their supplies gathered, Jim and Joanna crawled into the fort. Joanna picked out a movie, and the two laid together, Joanna using Jim's head as a pillow, watching the film on the PADD and eating enough junk food to make Bones' eyes pop out of his head.
By the end of the third movie they watched, Joanna was asleep and Bones was knocking on the door. Jim got up to answer it, careful not to wake Joanna.
"I'll be damned if I don't check my messages," he grumbled as he walked in, "I don't always check them in time, but I check them!" he stopped short, noticing the huge blanket fort in front of him, "What in the name... what have you two been up to?!"
"We built a fort," Jim said proudly, "And watched a couple of movies, ate some junk food..." Bones' eyes narrowed at the last part, but he sighed.
"Just don't tell Jocelyn," he muttered, "Where's Jo?" Jim gestured to the fort, and Bones crouched down, looking through the 'doorway' and smiling at the sight of his sleeping daughter, "You really wore her out with all this building stuff, huh?"
Joanna, hearing her father's voice, lifted her head sleepily, "Daddy?"
"Hey, Jo," he said, "You ready to come home? Your mom said you can stay with me until the weekend."
She nodded, crawling out of the fort and straight into her father's arms; Bones wasn't looking forward to the day when his little girl decided that she was too old to be carried.
"Thanks for looking after her, Jim," Bones said as Jim handed him Joanna's bag.
"No problem, Bones," he said, "I'd do it anytime."
"Don't tell Jocelyn that, either; she will take advantage." Bones smirked.
"Bye, Uncle Jim," Joanna said yawning, "Thanks for teaching me how to build a blanket fort."
"You're welcome, Jojo," he smiled, "I'll see you soon, okay?"
She nodded as Bones carried her out the door and across the hall to his own apartment.
"Night, Jim," he said.
"Night, Bones," Jim grinned, shutting his own door. He turned around, assessing the mess in his apartment and weighing up the pros and cons of taking his mattress back through to his bedroom. He quickly decided that it was way too much effort and crashed in his blanket fort, remembering one of the only happy times of his childhood.
Bit short (sorry :P) but tell me what you thought nonetheless! If you have an idea/prompt for this story, please do give it to me and I'll do my best to write it! Thanks to everyone who has followed/favourited/reviewed so far!
Reviews are gold to me and I'd very much appreciate you taking thirty seconds of your time to write one! Prompts/ideas are also muchly appreciated! Thanks for reading!
P.S I'm going on holiday tomorrow, so this is the last time I'll update for a week. I will have internet access though, so I can still read your precious reviews! TTFN, dear readers ^-^
