Smile
Leonard McCoy was a man from the 23rd century raised by old traditions. So, when he proposed to Selece, he said to her that he was doing it in the old fashioned way, meaning that he was going to speak with her father and ask her hand in marriage to him. Selece, obviously, laughed until she lost her breath and tattled to Jim Leonard's idea, turning the doctor the Captain's source of amusement for weeks until their next shore leave on Earth.
But nobody can say that Leonard 'Bones' McCoy wasn't a brave man. After all, he spent the last two and a half years in a ship, a thing that he hates with all his might, under the orders of a crazy brat. So with this in mind he grabbed Selece's hand and together they walked the last meters between them and the brilliant doctor waiting for them in the pier over San Francisco's bay.
Dr. Liori was a legend, well known in all Federation even with his dark past in Chizeta. He helped a lot with his knowledge in genetics since his coming to Earth and McCoy did make a paper or two, or a dozen, about the Chizetan doctor's work. So yeah, he as about to ask his role model the hand of his daughter in marriage and inside he was pretty scared, even if outside he seemed steady like a rock.
"Navta?" McCoy had to admit that he loved to hear Selece speaking her home planet language. "Daro ta Leonard McCoy, asu bayravd." Dr. Liori's gray eyes fixed on Leonard's form and the CMO felt a chill run down his spine when he saw himself under the other doctor's intense gaze. Selece had the same eyes as her father, also the same hair color, with Liori's being, now, a little on the grey side than her black as night color. But beside that, the Chizetan warrior other features where nothing alike the geneticist, what made Leonard think that she was physically more like her other father.
"Bayravd?" The word coming from Selece's mouth was like an endearment, from Dr. Liori's mouth seemed like a curse.
"Ja." She smiled a brilliant smile in her father's direction before turning to McCoy to squeeze his hand in reassurance and took a step away from him. Bones wanted to call her back immediately when he saw she was walking away to give them some privacy to talk, especially that now Liori's judging eyes were on him again.
"So..." Leonard almost jumped in place when he heard Liori's rough voice addressing him. "My daughter told me that you wanted to talk to me." Dr. Liori had a very strong accent, like someone who was a beginner in their English class, pronouncing the words like they were spelling every syllable.
"Yes. I would like to ask your permission..." Leonard paused and gulped. Those gray eyes were really scary. Funny, because with Selece they were lovely. "sir to marry your daughter." There, he said it, now he only had to wait for the 'yes'. He hoped that the good old doctor would give him a 'yes'. But his hopes were dying as the seconds ticked by without an answer.
"No."
Well, McCoy couldn't say that he wasn't expecting that. Liori's face was a big give away of his thoughts, thoughts that probably were saying that Leonard wasn't good enough for his baby girl. But again, nobody can say that Bones was the kind of guy to go down without a fight. Selece and him were both consenting adults, they could marry if they want to and the world can just go to hell. But, as previously said, Leonard was also a guy who was raised in the old fashioned way. The way where a man is taught to treat a woman right and to ask her parents for permission to court and marry her.
"With all due respect sir, but why not?"
"My daughter is too good for you." A blow in the guts. Dr. Liori seemed to be the kind of man who doesn't measure his words. "I created her, I raised her, I brought her to Earth to have the best of all things. For me, you are not the best of all things."
"Sir, I..." Leonard had to defend himself. He wasn't perfect, nobody was, not even Selece with all her genetic enhancement, but he was also a father, he had a little girl so he knew a bit about how Dr. Liori felt. But before he could say anything, Liori raised his hand, stopping any argument from Leonard's part.
"I investigated you Dr. McCoy. When my daughter first told me about the change in your relationship, I searched for things about you. You had the highest grades in medical school, a promising career, but you married young because you got your girlfriend pregnant. But the marriage, it seems, didn't work. Your wife betrayed you with another man while you were too busy building a name for yourself, got all you had together in the divorce, including your daughter, and left you with nothing, no even a respectable name. So tell me Dr. McCoy, what makes you think that this time the marriage will work?"
"Well, for one, Selece and I live in the same place, a spaceship, so if I ever get too busy with my work she will come along to tell in my face this. She did it before."
Leonard tried to smile a little to easy the tension, but he wasn't the smiley type and Liori's face didn't encourage the gesture.
"Look..." Maybe the best course of action was to let go of the jokes and to simply tell the man the truth. "I love your daughter and it scares me shitless to feel this way. Even with my ex-wife I didn't feel this way and if you think that I never thought about what you said, I did. Selece is young, is fierce, has so much potential that scares me. She is like Jim, Jim Kirk, our Captain. For them the sky isn't the limit, is a way to beyond. Do I wake everyday thinking that this will be the day that she will leave me? Yes, I do. Do I always ask myself why does she loves me? Yes, I do. But I'm also selfish, so while I have her I'll hold her with all my might and do everything in my power to never let her go. So if you don't want us to get married, fine by me, but never ask me to let her go because I won't do this, ever." Leonard finished his speech with a long breath and waited again for Dr. Liori's reaction.
The Chizetan only looked to the Enterprise's CMO with an arched eyebrow and then changed his eyes' direction to where Selece was waiting for them, looking for something in her cellphone. When she felt eyes on her, she turned to them and gave both men a wave and a big smile that lighted not only her face but her whole being like she was a star herself.
"It was a pretty speech Dr. McCoy, very moving."
"Enough for you to give us your permission, sir?"
"Doctor, you had my permission the moment you two arrived and my daughter introduced us. But as a father, you also understand that I had to make you sweat a little." Leonard understood and knew that he will do the same when Joanna get old enough to date, even if he prefers that she never do.
But now he was curious, if he had the older doctor's permission from the beginning, what changed the Chizetan's mind?
"Not wanting to push my luck sir, but what changed your mind if wasn't my speech?"
"You make her smile, Dr. McCoy. And this is enough for me."
"Navta?": "Dad?"
"Daro ta Leonard McCoy, asu bayravd.": "This is Leonard McCoy, my beloved."
"Bayravd?": "Beloved?"
"Ja": "Yes."