Chapter 7: Wedding plans

After her shift Jamie and Leonard met at her quarters, soon to be theirs. He had a bag with some of his stuff with him, making sure no crewmember saw him carrying it, and they had the planned dinner.

"I think it's good we're not eating in the mess hall", Jamie laughed mid-dinner. "By now probably the whole ship knows what happened. Still can't believe Spock knew and didn't tell us..."

"At least the news didn't go out as some special edition of the white alert", Leonard remarked dryly.

She giggled and winked. "Perhaps Sulu's still under shock that I know about him creating that list." Then she got an idea. "Hey, how about we hack the white alert to announce our news? And by 'we' I mean me."

Shaking his head he laughed. "Or you could just ask him for the password, Darlin'."

"Where's the fun in that? Also, I want to tee his face when he gets my white alert."

"You're unbelievable... Alright, feel free to announce it with a white alert."

She grinned now. "Buckle up."

"That's what you said when we started to our first mission. The one with our first accidental wedding."

Jamie shrugged her shoulders. "Speaking of which... Do we just carry on now or are we having a real wedding?"

He reached over the table and offered her his right hand. She laid hers in his and smiled. A short exchange of gazes was enough.

"Wedding it is", she whispered. "Something normal in this mad circus we call our jobs."

He laughed again. "Sounds romantic, Darlin'."

"Admit it, Bones, you're picturing me in a white dress."

"Maybe?" Of course he was, but he didn't admit it, just in case she didn't want to and because he wanted her to have the wedding she wanted.

She kept him in suspense for a few moments, then gave him a bright smile. "Well, that's good, because I do too. I had enough weddings in uniform or weird alien robes. Although..." She tilted her head and locked their gazes. "I really, really like you in your gala uniform."

He chuckled. "For you I'd actually wear it at the wedding."

She gave him a mockingly shocked look. "Ohhh nooo, I think I should call Doctor M'Benga. I think my husband's sick. He's not complaining, not grumbling, but saying yes to everything."

Chuckling Leonard shook his head. "Yeah, very funny..." Then he looked at her seriously. "This is us. This is important. There's no reason for old, everyday patterns to come into play."

She smiled at him affectionately. "I like my grumpy Bones. That's the man I fell in love with. But, of course, for this wedding thing I'm not complaining about a non-grumpy Bones."

"Don't worry he'll be back tomorrow as soon as the first crewmember with some stupid self-inflicted injury stumbles into Medbay."

Jamie giggled again and changed back to the wedding topic. "Date?"

"When we're back on Earth in a few weeks. My mother would kill me if I'd marry anywhere else and without her being present. Well, for real I mean. Still need to figure out how to tell her how this whole thing happened."

She smiled again. "Okay, but need to keep it low key. I think neither of us wants an invasion of the press."

"Hell, no." He shuddered.

Jamie sighed. "I think we should call our mothers before telling the crew." She got up and walked to the com panel at the wall.

"Now?" he asked surprised.

"Don't worry, you'll get dessert later", she winked and ran a hand in a suggestive manner over her body. "Kirk to Communications."

"Warren here."

"Try to get me a secure com connection to Commodore Winona Kirk on Starbase 11 and put it through to my quarters when you've got it."

"Aye, Captain."

The connection ended and Jamie stayed in front of the screen at the wall. "I'll tell her the news alone first and call you over then. Not sure how she will react. Sometimes she was teasing me about putting my carrier first and maybe never getting married."

Before Leonard could reply, the screen activated with a beep and the computer voice announced "Call ready."

Jamie turned to the screen that was showing the Federation insignia. She touched a button and Winona Kirk's face replaced the insignia.

"Hey, Mom."

"Jamie, what a rare pleasure. So what happened that you are calling?" Winona Kirk teased.

The captain chuckled. "Come on, it's not that worse."

Winona smiled. "So?"

"Well, there's a really complicated back story, but bottom line: I'm married."

"I know", her mother replied coolly.

Jamie just stared at her. "What?" she managed a few moments later, her voice in a slightly high pitch.

Winona laughed. "I was at a conference on Carah two weeks ago. The Prime Minister's wife asked me how you and your husband are. Imagine my surprise at those words."

"Well, in my defense - I didn't know until today that the wedding there became a valid marriage."

"I figured as much."

"Did you know that it's legal?"

Winona shook her head and winked. "Wasn't sure until two minutes ago. Your mission report from Carah is above my clearance. I really thought, if you got married you would tell your dear old mother."

Jamie smiled warmly and chuckled. "You're not old, Mom."

Winona returned her smile. "So, married, huh? Did something go wrong? Or did you decide to let it stand?"

Jamie sighed. "Actually... it's a yes to both."

"Complicated, huh?" Winona picked up on her daughter's earlier words.

"Yeah... Bones and I filled out the 13-13b, but it never reached Starfleet Legal." She left out the details. "Uhura, my Chief of Communications, noticed today that the marriage became valid due to Carah's new Federation membership."

"And you decided to tell your old Mom, that you're married, followed by telling you're getting a divorce?" Winona crossed her arms.

"Actually... only the first part... followed by: You might get used to me having a slight change in my name and clear your schedule for my real wedding with family and friends."

Winona Kirk's eyes grew wide and she tried to say something, but suddenly looked like she was fainting any moment. "Oh my god..."

"Mom, breathe", Jamie laughed. "I want to introduce you to your son-in-law and you should be conscious for that." She winked. "I think you remember Doctor Leonard McCoy? You met him a few times, when we were on Earth or Starbase 11."

With a few tears of joy in her eyes Winona nodded.

"Okay?" Jamie asked.

Her mother nodded again and made herself presentable. Then Jamie waved Leonard over.

Before he had the chance to say anything Jamie's mother raised a hand. "Don't you dare to call me Mrs. Kirk or Commodore Kirk."

Jamie and Leonard laughed.

"Okay, Winona," he said and slid an arm around Jamie's waist. "I won't."

The commodore smiled and took in seeing the couple like that. "This is so wonderful", she sighed happily. "I was wondering for a long time now what it would take for the two of you to get your act together."

"What?" Jamie and Leonard replied in unison.

"Don't look at me like that. Are you or are you not in love with each other for years?" she asked them with a knowing glance and didn't need an answer. "See? It's a wonder the press didn't make anything of it yet."

"Mom..."

Winona smiled again. "I'm so happy for you... You know, I think the most rewarding relationships, the ones that last, are born from friendship. It was like that with your father... One day you look at the person and see more than you did the night before, like a switch was flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can imagine yourself with."

Leonard slowly nodded and sighed. "Yeah, took us long enough."

His mother-in-law laughed. Jamie chuckled and Leonard kissed her temple.

"Awww, you two are so adorable..." Winona enthused and remembered Jamie's words. "So, you were saying something about your name and a real wedding, Jamie? You're not giving up the Kirk name, are you?"

Jamie shook her head and beamed. "No. How does Jamie Tiberia Kirk-McCoy sound?"

Winona smiled brightly. "Perfect."

The couple also smiled.

"And about the wedding..." Jamie began. "After a whole bunch of accidental or forced weddings we'd like to have the real deal."

"On Earth?"

"Yes", Leonard answered. "My mother would kill me if she wasn't there."

Winona chuckled. "I can relate to that."

Jamie rolled her eyes. "Mom..."

"We'll be on Earth again in two weeks", Leonard said.

Winona nodded. "I think, I can reschedule a few things and be there when the Enterprise arrives." She sighed again contentedly and smiled. "I'm so happy for you two", she repeated. "And at the wedding reception you can tell me how long I have to wait to become a grandmother. See you then."

"Mom!"

But the connection was already cut.

Leonard sighed. "Dammit, I think my mother will say something similar. And I guess a sibling will also be in Joanna's Top 3 questions."

Jamie giggled. "Perhaps we should postpone those calls for tomorrow..."

"I'd rather put the one to my mother behind me..." he grumbled.

She slid her arms around his neck. "Welcome back, grumpy Bones... And what will you tell her when she asks about a grandchild?"

"I... uh..."

"Relax..." She chuckled and kissed him. "How about we sort that topic out before we make any other calls? I think that's definitely something for the to-do-in-the-right-order-list... But not tonight..." She let her hands slide over his chest to the hem of his uniform shirt. "First we should do something about that wedding night we missed. Unless you want to wait till our Earth wedding?"

Leonard McCoy had his wife swept up bridal style so fast she let out a surprised squeak, followed by a happy giggle.

Author's note: This quote is from Dana Scully in the "X-Files"-episode "The rain king". It's so beautiful and I couldn't resist - I had to work it into one of my stories.

"I think the most rewarding relationships, the ones that last, are born from friendship. One day you look at the person and see more than you did the night before, like a switch was flicked somewhere. And the person who was just a friend is suddenly the only person you can imagine yourself with."