Chapter 12: Interesting Conversations
Looking at the kissing couple Sulu's smirk suddenly changed. "Damn, she hacked the white alert..." he whispered in awe. It actually had taken him a few minutes to realize.
Enwrapped by Leonard McCoy's arms Jamie Kirk-McCoy turned her head to the helmsman and gave him a smug grin. "Admit it, you like what I did with it, Sulu."
The Lieutenant crossed his arms and smirked. "Well, I like the outcome of all of this, that's for sure. And I'm a volunteer for the moving crew."
"Me too", Chekov chimed in. "Congratulations, Keptin." He beamed. "I was a little afraid that you might get a divorce."
Jamie and Leonard exchanged some glances, hers asking him if she could tell them. He nodded.
"Well, actually..." she started, turned around in Leonard's arms and leant against his body. "There was going to be a wedding anyway."
"What do you mean by that?" Uhura asked.
"Before we found out about the valid Carah marriage Jamie proposed to me", Leonard answered in a completely calm voice as if it was the most normal thing in the universe to say.
Uhura just stared at them. The other present crewmembers did too. This whole conversation and seeing the captain and the doctor's arms made them speechless now.
"What?" Scotty finally managed to get out.
Jamie chuckled. "Okay, so, after the Elara wedding two days ago we were pretty annoyed about things like that happening repeatedly. I thought about a solution and came up with something."
"A marriage of convenience to prevent further incidents on away missions? There is a certain logic about it", Spock replied.
"You Vulcans are real romantics", Leonard remarked dryly.
Jamie laughed, enjoying that everything was out in the open now and feeling Leonard's arms around her waist. She relaxed against him. "Well, it occurred to us very fast that there wouldn't be really much convenience about it. But things got a little crazy after that. Uhura told me about Carah and, yeah, well, poof, suddenly we already were married."
Laughing Uhura shook her head. "Only you could go from no romantic relationship to fully committed marriage in the blink of an eye, Captain", she said and then pointed at Sulu and Scotty. "Did you know they made a bet on how fast you'd decide to stay married?"
"Traitor..." Sulu muttered, but grinned, and Scotty mumbled something incomprehensible.
Jamie just chuckled. "You brought losing on yourself."
"Well, who could know that you would go and propose to the doctor just like that, lass?" Scotty replied, still trying to process that piece of information.
"Well, I don't do normal... most of the time", she winked at him. "Although..." She raised her left hand and looked smiling at her engagement ring. "A little normal and traditional can be nice."
"Just nice?" Leonard chuckled and let her out of his arms.
She grinned. "Okay, the ring is gorgeous, though I'll need to get used to wearing one." She gave him a tender kiss. "And I think I need to call my mother-in-law to thank her for giving it to you."
"The hell you are. If you talk to her, she won't let you go without promising her three grandchildren." Leonard mouth was faster than his mind could keep up. As he realized that he'd accidentally started that topic in front of half the crew it was already too late.
Excited whispering started in the background and Uhura, Sulu and Scotty exchanged some meaningful glances. Chekov's eyes lit up like a kid's under the Christmas tree and Spock just raised an eyebrow.
Jamie laughed again, giving him a You-did-not-just-say-that-glance at the same time. "Well, can't be that much worse than my mother", she gave back coolly, winked at him, then turned to the crew. "Alright everyone. The show's over. Back to your lunch or stations", she ordered brightly smiling, but with a determined expression preventing any remarks or questions.
She kissed Leonard quickly and whispered to him: "Dinner in our quarters." Then she walked off, heading for the bridge.
Spock followed her.
Everyone else remained kind of frozen and Leonard McCoy rolled his eyes. "You heard her", he gestured and left for Medbay.
The crewmembers slowly scattered, went back to their tables or stations. Uhura, Scotty, Chekov and Sulu exchanged some glances.
"So..." Uhura started. "This was..."
"Uh-uh..." Sulu made chuckling.
"It's wonderful, isn't it?" Chekov beamed.
Scotty clapped his hands together. "Well then, I'll better start making that new door sign..." He grinned and headed with fast steps towards the exit, pulling out his communicator. "Keenser, where the hell are you? You missed everything..."
Leonard McCoy might have thought his wife was kidding. But she wasn't. After an hour on the bridge Jamie went to her ready room and asked Uhura to make a connection to Eleonora McCoy on Earth.
"Hello, Eleonora." Jamie smiled, when she woman appeared on the view screen.
"Jamie", she greeted her surprised. "Did something happen? No... you're smiling. You're..."
The captain saw the proverbial penny drop, when Eleonora's gaze fell on Jamie's hands which were resting on the desk. The elder woman's face lit up brightly.
"Oh my God, Leonard asked you to marry him!" she squealed in excitement and put a hand over her heart.
Jamie laughed. "More like the other way around. And it's actually quite complicated."
Eleonora just smiled, waiting for Jamie to tell more for she'd the feeling that she didn't really have to ask questions right now.
"We'll tell you the whole story when we're back on Earth in two weeks, but I wanted to tell you the... well, very abridged version right now."
"I'm listening", her mother-in-law - who was now about to learn that she was exactly that - said.
Jamie took a deep breath. "Okay, so... we're already married... by accident. Long story", she gestured and hoped Eleonora wouldn't get mad. "But we want to do it the real and proper way soon."
"Grandma, are you home?" a girl's voice suddenly sounded and Jamie saw ten year old Joanna McCoy walk into the room in the background.
Jamie froze and her heart skipped a beat. She hadn't accounted for the possibility that Leonard's daughter might be at her grandmother's house. She had met the girl a few time and they got along very well. But Jamie wondered what Joanna would think of the prospect of them becoming family.
"Jamie!" the girl exclaimed, when she saw who her grandmother was talking to.
"Hey, Joanna", Jamie greeted her with a warm smile and hoped this wouldn't end in a big mess and an angry girl, followed by an angry Leonard later.
Joanna was about to say something when she discovered a sparkle in the lower area of the view screen - the ring on Jamie's left hand. She squeaked. "Grandma, that's our family ring."
Eleonora looked very pleased at Joanna, proud at the perceptiveness of the young girl.
"You and Dad are getting married!" Joanna called excitedly. No question at all.
Jamie blinked in surprise. She was shocked and relieved at the same time. She'd hoped Joanna would be happy when she and Leonard would tell her, but she'd really not expected this level of excitement.
"Uhm... yes", she finally managed to answer.
"When? Can I be your flower girl? Will you be wearing a white dress or your uniform? Please, make it a dress. This is so great!" Joanna talked almost at lightspeed.
Jamie laughed. "Wow, uhm, so, you're really good with this? This wasn't how we wanted to tell you. Actually your Dad wanted to tell you himself." She sighed and tilted her head. "He'll probably be a little mad that you learned it this way." She leaned a little bit closer, winked at Joanna and whispered: "He doesn't know that I'm calling your Grandma."
Joanna giggled. "I won't tell him, I promise." She gave Jamie a bright smirk. "I can pretend that I don't know if you'd like."
Jamie stared at her in surprise and awe.
Eleonora laughed, but reprimanded the girl playfully. "Now, now, Joanna. Your father will have to manage. You won't tell him fibs."
Joanna pretended to pout at that, but couldn't get the happy smile off her face.
"But don't tell anyone else, okay? "Jamie asked.
The girl nodded. "Is it a secret?"
"Remember the press after we defeated Nero?"
Joanna nodded again.
"We don't want them to follow us everywhere and ruin the wedding. And we don't want a big thing. Just a quiet ceremony and reception for friends and family", Jamie explained. "And yes, of course you will be my flower girl."
Joanna smiled brightly and turned to her grandmother. "Can we go shopping for a dress later, Grandma? Pleeeeeease?"
Eleonora chuckled. "We'll see. We just have to be careful because of your mother."
The nodded again eagerly and looked again to Jamie on the screen. "Do I get a sibling?"
Jamie's eyes grew wide. Damn, that question took her off guard. She'd expected - well, dreaded - Eleonora asking. Not Joanna.
But help came from an unexpected direction. "Sweetheart, that's a question for much, much later", Eleonora said, stroking gently over the girl's dark hair. "Go to your room and start your homework. I'll be with you in a few minutes."
Another nod and Joanna waved to the screen. "Bye, Jamie!"
The captain smiled. "Bye, Jo-Jo."
When the girl had left the room, Jamie sighed and decided to take the bull by the horns. "So, do I need to answer that question for you?"
Eleonora held her gaze for a few moments, leaving her in suspension. Then she smiled softly. "I have to admit that this is one of the questions I am very curious about. But this is all very new to the both of you, as I can see, and you're a starship captain. You tell me your plans when you are ready, honey."
Jamie relaxed a little, now realizing how tensed she'd been. She smiled and felt very happy. "We will."
"Did you decide on a date and location yet?" Eleonora moved to the next topic.
"Not exactly, but it'll be when we're back on Earth."
Eleonora's eyes grew wide. Now excitement took over again. "Oh, how wonderful. Leave it all to me, sweetheart. I will set up everything here at McCoy Mannor. You know the gardens - they're perfect for a wedding."
Jamie blinked in surprise. "Well... that's... uhm..." She thought about it for a minute, then smiled. "That sounds wonderful."
"We need a few days for you to settle in, get a dress and all those things. So, three weeks from today?"
Jamie nodded. "Perfect. I have already some dress in mind."
"I would offer you mine, but it might be a little outdated. Not as timeless as the McCoy ring. It's in our family since the 20th century."
Jamie touched the ring. "It's a really gorgeous piece... I got it just a few hours ago, you know?"
"I almost feared he would never give it to you." Eleonora chuckled shaking her head.
"What can I say? It was always complicated. I think neither of us wanted to risk that close friendship... But a few missions with accidental weddings might have opened our eyes."
"Is that the story you'll tell me when you'll be here?"
"Yeah."
"Good."Eleonora smiled again. "I think I should look after Joanna now. I doubt she'll do homework. She'll have probably drawn up pictures of you and Leonard at the altar or something like that."
Jamie chuckled. "If she did, please send us a copy."
"I will. And you can send me the guest list and your wishes for the wedding. Flowers, food..."
"Okay, but I don't want to burden you. We can organize everything from the Enterprise or when we're on Earth."
"No", her mother-in-law declared firmly. "This is what I'm looking for since I first saw you walking into this house with my son. I always knew you'd end up together." She smiled warmly. "Always imagined your wedding. Why do you think I gave him that ring?"
Jamie nodded, returning her smile.
"And", Eleonora gestured, "look at your hand. It fits perfectly. As if it was made for you. I'm too old to wear that ring, Joanna's too young and Jocelyn was never the right woman for it. Our family ring was waiting for you."
Jamie blushed a little. "Thank you."
"Well, I'm going to Joanna now and you'll have a ship to run. The next time you call I expect Leonard at you side", Eleonora winked at her. "See you then, honey."
Jamie nodded. "Bye, Eleonora."