AN: Sorry for the wait for this chapter! I've been trying to get through it all week, but it's been a nightmare! We get a bit of Joanna/Crew interaction in this one (YAY!). Enjoy!


"You'll be a good girl for your daddy, won't you?" Jocelyn checked as she handed Joanna her jacket, which she tied around her waist (god forbid she cover her new Starfleet shirt). Joanna nodded.

"I promise I'll be good, mommy," she said seriously, "I might not be allowed back if I'm not a good girl." Jocelyn kissed her cheek before turning to McCoy.

"Her bedtime if eight," she said, "She eats dinner at six. Oh, and no matter what she says, she is not allowed any chocolate after seven."

"I know, Jocelyn, I know," he said, barely resisting the urge to role his eyes, "You tell me every time she comes to say. I've got it committed to memory about eighty times over. She'll be fine." Jocelyn sighed.

"She'd better be," she grumbled, "You." She pointed her finger menacingly at Jim, "If I find out that you've got my little girl into any kind of trouble involving some... intergalactic, serial-killing alien masterminds, I will have your head on a hot tray fresh out of the oven, got it?" Jim gulped.

"Loud and clear, ma'am," he said, saluting her jokily with a small smile, "Joanna will be completely safe. I swear on my life."

"Yeah, well that's what it'll cost you if she's not," Jocelyn said, kissing Joanna again.

"I'm only going for a week, mommy!" Joanna laughed, "Alice isn't going to believe this... Oh, and make sure you feed Coco!"

"Coco?!" McCoy muttered to Jocelyn as Jim offered Joanna a piggy back up the ramp and into the shuttle.

"Her new guinea-pig..." Jocelyn grimaced, "A birthday present from Alice." McCoy smirked.

"Well, I know where to get a tribble infused with a super-human's blood if you want to get your own back on Alice's birthday," McCoy smirked. Jocelyn chucked before pulling him into a hug.

"Look after our little girl, alright?" she said before pushing him towards the shuttle.


Joanna kneeled in her seat to get a better look out the shuttle window next to her.

"Daddy, look at all the starts!" she exclaimed, eyes wide as she stared intently out the window.

"I know, princess," McCoy grinned, looking out with her, "It's a bit harder to spot the constellations from up here, huh?" Joanna simply nodded, too enthralled to say another word.

When the shuttlecraft finally reached the Enterprise (after half an hour of Joanna bouncing constantly in her seat), Jim excused himself to go and attend to 'boring Captain-y things'.

"I'll let your dad give you the grand tour," he said, winking at Joanna before walking in the opposite direction.

McCoy did as Jim had said, showing Joanna anything and everything there was to see onboard the USS Enterprise. Joanna was constantly questioning things, asking what things were and what things did. McCoy was more than happy to answer her questions, grateful for the time he was getting to spend with his daughter, knowing that, if the Enterprise DID get the big five-year mission Jim was constantly talking about (and the Captain was positive that it would get said mission), then Bones wouldn't be seeing his little girl for a long time.

"Where next?" he asked, lifting Joanna up so that she could see the map of the ship on the screen in front of him. Joanna closed her eyes, and pointed at a random part of the ship. McCoy grinned, "Engineering it is, then." He said, putting her down on the floor so that she could run ahead.

Several times they stopped for Joanna to talk to crewmembers she had met previously (which was a surprising large amount of those onboard), most of them saying how much she'd grown and wishing her a happy birthday. Joanna slowed down as they reached the doors to Engineering to wait for her dad, and they pushed the door open together, only to have McCoy hurriedly cover his daughter's ears in an attempt to block out the long list of obscenities currently coming out of Scotty's mouth.

"Oh, and that's another thing you thick, stupid little-"

"Scotty!" McCoy yelled, "Small person onboard! Small person with innocent ears that don't need to be corrupted by your foul mouth!"

"Oh! Sorry, Doctor! Didn't know the wee lass was around!" Scotty appeared from behind a console, grinning madly. Joanna shook her father's hands away from her head, grinning back at him.

"Hello, Mr Scott!" she said happily.

"Welcome aboard, Miss McCoy!" he replied, bowing to her, "And I hope out esteemed guest will enjoy her stay on the best starship in the Federation!" Joanna giggled.

"Jo, I think I see Lieutenant Riley right over... there!" McCoy said, pointing the him out. Hearing his name the man turned around, grinning when he saw Joanna running over to him, "Do you want to explain the shouting match?" McCoy asked Scotty, his arms crossed. The Scotsman frowned.

"Hey, I was well within me rights!" he said, "Some stupid ensign thought it'd be clever to play with the control on one of the circuit boards. The result was an explosion on the other side of the deck, which almost took out six of my engineers!" McCoy rolled his eyes.

"Just when I was beginning to have faith in your team," he muttered, "Do they possess an ounce of common sense between them?"

"No," Scotty grumbled, "That was my point!"

"Daddy! Lieutenant Riley says he'll show me how they blow things up!" Joanna said excitedly, running back to her father.

McCoy threw Scotty a look that clearly said 'I'm going to make you pay for this later', to which Scotty hurriedly explained that they only ever blew things up 'when necessary and always under controlled conditions!'.

"Maybe later, Jo," McCoy said, "We still have to see the rest of the ship." Joanna sighed.

"Okay," she said, "Bye, Scotty!"

"Goodbye, lass!" he replied, moving to go back to telling off the ensign.

*. . .*

McCoy decided to take Joanna to the Bridge last, because he knew that she'd like it there the most (though he took her to Sickbay second last, because she didn't have a choice in it being her second-favourite place onboard). They had been travelling for around three hours, and the Bridge was quiet, most people having to do the bare minimum to get their current job done.

"Uncle Jim!" Joanna squealed the second the doors opened, causing Jim to grin madly.

"Hey, Jojo!" he said as she climbed onto his lap, "How was your tour? Did your dad show you everywhere?"

Joanna nodded, "We went to go and see Scotty, and he was saying bad words, and then Lieutenant Riley said that he'd show me how they blow stuff up!" she told him excitedly, "And then we went up to Security, and we saw Cupcake, and he had a funny twitch in his eye when I called him that, but I don't know why! You told me that his name was Cupcake!" Jim grinned.

"That's what I call him," he clarified, "What about Sickbay? Did you go up there?"

"Daddy said that it was his favourite place on the ship because he never gets to go anywhere else," Joanna laughed, "But I liked it."

"Well, your dad obviously saved the best bit until last," Jim said smugly, before noticing that everyone on the Bridge had stopped to watch the exchange between him and Joanna, "Oh, come on, people!" he exclaimed, "How is Miss McCoy supposed to get a feel of a Federation starship if all you lot are doing is gawping?!" Everyone quickly turned back to their stations, a few of them sniggering, but for once Jim didn't care.

He walked around with Joanna, her gripping his hand and not wanting to let go whilst McCoy went back up to Sickbay.

"Not all of us have jobs that require us to sit in a chair and look pretty, you know!" he called as he walked out, earning a laugh from Joanna.

Walking around, Joanna knew everyone by name, but she didn't know them well. The only person she even remotely know on a personal level was Spock, and Jim wasn't quite sure a relationship between the CMO's daughter and his First Officer could be considered 'personal'.

"Hello, Mr Spock," Joanna said respectfully when they got round to him.

"Hello, Joanna," he replied, turning away from his work, "I trust you are enjoying your time onboard the Enterprise?"

"Yes, thank you," Joanna replied, a small smile on her face, "What are you doing?"

"I am currently reading through some reports regarding our last mission, which I will later send over to the Captain for him to approve." Spock looks pointedly at Jim with a look that clearly said 'don't think you're getting out of it just because there's an adorable little girl on board'. Joanna nodded, her attention already wandering to other parts of the Bridge.

"I have an idea," Kirk said catching Uhura's eye and gesturing for her to come over, "Why don't you go with Lieutenant Uhura to get some lunch, Jo? Then I can get all of my boring captain stuff out the way, and we can go and play laser tag." Joanna grinned.

"You have laser tag?" she asked.

"Deck seven," Jim confirmed, "But later. After boring captain things." Joanna nodded, smiling at Uhura and taking her hand as they walked out.

"Miss Uhura?" Joanna said after a while of them walking in silence, "Is it true that Mr Spock is your boyfriend?" Uhura smiled.

"Yes, that is true," she said, "We're very happy together."

"Even though Mr Spock is half Vulcan and isn't supposed to have feelings?" It was an innocent enough question, Uhura supposed, and one she'd often answered (though the people who normally asked were not eight years old and had been her close friends).

"Even though Mr Spock is half Vulcan and isn't supposed to have feelings," Uhura nodded, "Although, Vulcans do feel, Joanna. They're just very, very good at hiding it."

"Have you met Ambassador Spock?" Joanna asked, "He said that Uncle Jim is his best friend, but not my Uncle Jim."

"I saw him via screen once," Uhura offered, "But I've never really spoken to him. I hope to, one day. He's from another reality, so I bet he's got some interesting stories." Joanna smiled.

"Does your Spock have interesting stories?" she asked, looking up at Uhura as they walked into the cafeteria. Uhura looked thoughtful.

"Maybe we should ask him," she said, but laughed as Joanna's eyes widened at someone walking past with a slice of cake on their tray, "But after lunch."


Once Joanna and Uhura had left, Jim returned to his chair on the Bridge, knowing that Spock was following with a PADD in his hand.

"Your relationship with Doctor McCoy's daughter is... fascinating, Captain." He commented as Jim started skimming through the report.

"And what about it is 'fascinating', Mr Spock?" Jim asked, not looking up from the report for the fear of seeing Spock's eyebrows raise (as Jim just knew they would).

"Your relationship seems similar to that of a father and daughter," Spock explained, "I am curious as to how you accomplished such a bond."

"It just happened, Spock," Jim said dismissively, "She put her trust in me. I figured I might as well trust her back. Once you've got the trusting part out of the way, everything else comes easy."

Spock raised his eyebrows as Jim signed the report off and handed it back to him, "That is an interesting analysis, Captain," he said, "May I ask how you came to this conclusion?"

"Observation and interaction, Mr Spock," Jim said, wondering how a grand total of forty-six words had made Jim more bored than he had been all day.

"Interesting," Spock said, his eyebrows still stuck about three millimetres above their normal height.

"Is there anything else you needed me for, Mr Spock?" Jim asked, standing up from his chair.

"Nothing that requires your urgent attention," Spock replied, "Would you like me to take the con?"

"If you would," Jim grinned at him, slapping Spock's shoulder (seeing as he knew how much it annoyed the Vulcan), and walking in the direction of Sickbay with the intent of finding Bones and forcing him to play laser tag, "Oh, and when this shift ends, I want you all to come and play laser tag with us."

"Laser tag is a game for Terran children, is it not?" Spock asked, frowning slightly.

"Laser tag is a game for just about anyone, Spock," Jim corrected him, "It's fun. It's like that time when we were on Nero's ship, except without the death threat." Spock decided not to push it any further, knowing that the Captain often had odd ideas when it came to 'fun'.


McCoy was surprisingly easy to persuade, but it was evening by the time his shift finished and he, Jim, Joanna, Spock and the majority of the Bridge crew got a chance to play laser tag. Seeing as Alpha shift was over and they could do pretty much anything they wanted to do with the twelve hours they had before their next shift, and everyone was a bit too hyped up after their first day of travelling to just go to bed. Jim had even invited Carol along, and Joanna managed to catch every single suggestive look the crew gave each other whenever Jim laughed at her jokes a little too loud, or tried to act all clever around her. Joanna frowned slightly.

"Daddy?" she whispered, tugging on the sleeve of her father's shirt, "Why do everyone's faces go funny whenever Uncle Jim is nice to Miss Carol?" McCoy grinned internally as he answered.

"Because Uncle Jim is showing off," he explained, "And that normally means that he likes someone a bit more than a friend." Joanna frowned even further.

"Then why doesn't he just ask her to be his girlfriend?" she asked, not understanding why her Uncle Jim was being so completely stupid.

"Because you never tell a girl that you like her," her dad explained, "It makes you look stupid."

"But he already looks stupid!" Joanna protested.

McCoy chuckled, "I know, sweetheart."

The version of laser tag they were playing was significantly more difficult than it had been a hundred years previously. Instead of vests with light sensors on them, everyone wore smaller bands around their wrists and ankles, and a belt around their waist, all of which had sensors at random intervals so that, even if you hit the band, you didn't necessarily hit on target.

Many of the adults playing were reluctant to play their best when competing against Joanna, but the little girl stood up on a bench outside the arena, crossed her arms firmly and said, "I don't want anyone to go easy on me."

Everyone turned to McCoy, looking at him as if to ask if they should argue (or even ignore) his daughter. He shrugged.

"If she says don't go easy, don't go easy," he told them, "She's a damned good shot, I can tell you that." Despite his words, they all made a mutual agreement to go a tiny bit easy on Joanna.

The game began and everyone scattered, the rules being 'all versus all'. Joanna had the rather large advantage of being able to hide behind pretty much anything. On top of that, McCoy hadn't been lying when he'd said she was a good shot; she'd been playing laser tag for as long as she could remember, Jim having remembered her saying that it was something she did a lot with her dad when he suggested it.

When the first game ended and the scores were uploaded to the score board outside the arena (three points for every time you hit someone, minus two points every time you got hit), Joanna ran out and looked confused when she saw that she was top.

"Weren't any of you trying?" she demanded, "I told you not to go easy on me!"

The adults looked genuinely confused, except for McCoy and Jim.

"You're pretty good at this, Jojo," Jim said, grinning, "Want to play again?" Joanna huffed.

"Fine," she said, "But this time, you all have to try. It's no fun if you let me win!"

After a few minutes rest, they all re-entered the arena, many of the players now more determined to win after being beaten by an eight-year-old girl.

Many gave up after the second game (when Joanna beat them all again, though by a smaller amount), leaving just Jim, Joanna and McCoy playing.

"It's because she's a kid," Sulu muttered to Chekov, "Kids love stuff like that." Chekov shrugged.

"It is only a game," he said, "And Joanna is wery good at it."

When the third and final game ended, Joanna glared at Jim, who had come last with a score of minus a thousand and four, the majority of which came from him letting Joanna follow him around and shoot him constantly.

"Uncle Jim!" she complained, "You didn't even try!"

"I did too!" he protested.

"Liar," Joanna grumbled.

"It's your birthday, I have to let you win!" Jim argued, grinning down at her. Joanna frowned.

"I'm still going to get you back." She decided.

"Oh, really?" Jim said, giving her a disbelieving look, "And how are you going to do that, Miss McCoy?" Joanna thought for a moment before grinning evilly.

"I'm going to tell Miss Carol that you like her more than a friend." She said, grinning. Jim gaped for a moment before hastily trying to clear his name.

"What? I don't like Carol! I mean, of course I like her as a friend, but not as anything else. And I mean, I suppose we could play another game of laser tag and I'll play properly, I promise!" Joanna smirked.

"Too late," she sang, running back to her dad, who picked her up.

"What's too late?" McCoy asked.

"Too late for Uncle Jim," Joanna giggled, "I'm getting my own back because he let me win."

"Ahh, I see," he nodded, "Well, you can get your own back in the morning, Jo. It's past your bedtime as it is, and I don't want your mom to shout at me when we get back." Joanna sighed.

"Okay," she said, "But can Uncle Jim come and tell me a bedtime story?"

"A quick one," McCoy nodded.

"The one about your last mission!" Joanna exclaimed, "Plleeaassee, Uncle Jim? Pretty please?" Jim grinned.

"Alright, Jojo, I'll tell you the story," he said, "But only the short version. The long version involves boring conversations about politics, and that was boring enough the first time."


When Jim had finished his story, Joanna was almost asleep (sleeping in one of the other Starfleet shirts that Jim had got her).

"Daddy?" she said quietly, "Thank you for the best birthday ever." McCoy smiled.

"You're welcome, sweetheart," he said, "I'm glad I was around for it this time." She smiled.

"That's the best part," she said, yawning and closing her eyes, "Night night, Daddy."

"Goodnight, Jo."


Another chapter done! I hope you enjoyed this chapter (There's lots more Joanna/crew interaction to come!). I'm going on holiday on Saturday and I'm in London tomorrow, so the next chapter will be up in the next 10-14 days. Throw me a review to tell me what you thought of this chapter (I'll love you forever!). Thanks for reading!

P.S. Props to anyone who got the AVPM/S reference!