Bones stayed around for most of the evening on Saturday, keeping them company and generally following Jo around every time she wandered away. Jim thought it was kind of cute, the way he almost couldn't let her out of his sight, like he was afraid she was just an apparition. Joanna thrived under the attention, continually running to Bones so that they could play games. Now and then she would go to Jim, but he was old news by then. When she had been given the choice between him and Maggie Jay, Maggie Jay was the playmate. Jim was just there for 'look at me, daddy!' moments.

He wasn't bitter; it was just the way that toddlers worked. He was with her every day of every week. He was the disciplinary action, the guy who made her get dressed and in general boring ol' daddy. And he really liked watching his brown haired girl hop up on the coffee table and demand that Bones catch her before she fell, despite the fact she was standing in the middle of the table and was nowhere close to falling. Bones 'caught' her, too. He picked her up from the table with a stage gasp, telling her 'Don't fall, Jo. I would be sad!'

He came around Sunday, as well, and they all went to a local market to grab some essentials, Bones all but taking notes on what Joanna liked to eat, what she was interested in other than being a space pirate, what she was allergic too. Jim almost laughed, but he managed to keep it to himself. He wanted to tell Bones to chill, that they had all the time in the world, but he refrained. Bones had missed two years of her life; it would be only natural for him to want to know everything there was about Jo.

After the 'shopping' trip, they had parted company, until Monday morning when Jim, complete in hideous red uniform, dropped Jo off at Bones' apartment, which had been a small amount of torture. Bones had answered his door with a toothbrush hanging out of his mouth, and only his cadet pants slung loosely on his hips. It had been awful. Jim swore he looked everywhere but at Bones.

No man should look that good in cadet reds, period.

They switched Joanna back and forth between them as they took their placement tests. Jim had enough of himself to notice that a few of the 'cakettes' were testing with him. After Bones' final test, he took Jo over to the other man's suite, and they stayed for dinner and Jim and Bones chatted about the safe things, how they thought they had done on their tests. What some of the perks were of some care centers and finally settling to try Sandcastles. The pros and cons of certain pediatricians. There were times Jim almost felt like they were a normal family on Monday night, but then it came time to take Jo back to his suite, and he realized they were barely comfortable with each other.

Tuesday came and Jim woke reaching for a hand that wasn't there after another dream of Bones and him, which did not help his problems at all, and the fact that it was three in the morning only made it worse. He groaned, irritated, with himself. He hadn't thought that the dreams had magically disappeared when Bones showed up in his life again, but, damn, the two nights he had been able to sleep seven entire hours had been wonderful. He rubbed at his eyes, staring at the dark ceiling, and refraining from looking around for Joanna. He had done that Sunday and Monday morning, just barely remembering that she had her own room before full blown panic set in.

Jim relaxed into the pillow, clenching his fists as if the rid them of the feeling of Bones' skin beneath his fingers, though it would do nothing to stop the noises that reverberated in his head, the gasps Bones had made, the pleas he called out to Jim as they…

Jim threw the standard issue covers away from him, kicking them down and off his legs. He swung his feet over the side of the bed, rubbing his face with his hands. He needed a shower. And maybe a long talk with Maggie Jay. She should be home by now. He wondered which was honestly more important. The wood that would probably be back the second he saw Bones, or the conversation with Maggie.

In the end he thought he probably should get the shower, if only because his erection was holy shit painful. He barely managed to check all the things he normally did, making sure Jo couldn't open the door, at the very least, but deciding to skip the cereal. It would be way too early for her to wake up. The cartoons would be put on hold for a few days, though he could probably pull up a couple of episodes on the computer screen, he hadn't quite taught her how to work the computer. He would work on that later though, if Maggie couldn't send his small holoscreen.

He showered quickly, using everything he knew, every single trigger Bones' had found with him. He washed it all down the drain in record time, washing his hair and body quickly, before he jumped out, ignoring towel and mirror for a pair of old sweats. Wandering out to the computer, he dialed in Maggie Jay's line. It would be about five fifteen there, she should be getting home by then.

Without hesitation, the line opened and showed her face, hardly tired; despite the fact she had probably been up for the last seventeen hours and had spent most of it on her shift at work. He never knew how she had managed to watch Jo, work, and sleep, but she did and he had always been thankful to her for that.

She scrubbed her hand through her hair, freshly let down from the bun she always wore it in at work. A smile broke out on her face when she saw him.

"Jim!" she said happily. "You never called. I thought you'd forgotten all about me when you got on that shuttle."

"How could I forget about you?" he asked, pulling a seat up to the computer so he could sit and chat comfortably. "You practically own my soul."

She nodded, doing something off screen momentarily as she continued said blandly, "I know, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't try to outrun the contract."

"No, just some complications came up." He thought back to Bones, and how it really wasn't so much of a complication as he had thought. If anything it almost made his life easier. He was easy to get along with, and since their one talk they had interacted well, almost perfectly. But that almost felt like the complication of the entire situation. Nothing ever went this well for Jim; it just wasn't the way.

Her sharp voice came across for him, startling him with the concern held there. He looked up into her harried eyes, refraining from laughing when she demanded, "What? What happened? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Jo's fine. It's just…" He wasn't sure how to continue. The complication was Bones, but it wasn't the man or his attitude. The man himself, aside from being completely acerbic and having terribly dry humor when he wasn't talking to Jo, was fine. It was just him being there, and not throwing a fit, and helping Jim in any way possible. It wasn't supposed be that simple.

"You're not allowed to come back." Maggie Jay glared at him, probably thinking that he was trying to find a way back to Iowa, which was so far from the actuality of this, it was pathetic. He was never going back to Iowa if he could get away with it. San Francisco had Starfleet and more importantly…

"I don't want to, Maggie," he reassured her, casting his gaze down to play with a loose thread in the tear of his sweatpants. He fingered it gently, twirling it almost reverently as he told her, "Bones is here."

There was a long pause, stunned and maybe a little confused, before trying the name on for size. "Bones?" Then it must have hit her who he was talking about, because then she just felt the need to wrap them both in the cloak of his name, asking incredulously, "Bones? The Bones?"

"Yeah, the Bones," he said with irritation marring his tone. "The Bones that I met in New Orleans, fucked around with for three days, and got knocked up by. That Bones. The only Bones I know!"

Another silence, lasting even longer than the first. Maggie Jay seemed unable to fully digest the information, which he couldn't blame. There were moments he hardly believed it. They sat there in quiet, Jim waiting semi-patiently for Maggie to say something brilliant that would somehow help him with his almost-predicament. All she could say though was, "Wow, does he know?"

Jim rolled his eyes, spinning in his chair once in a visual display of his frustration. "Are you kidding?" He snorted. "He sat by me in the shuttle. He saw me, he saw her…it was like putting together a three piece puzzle!"

"What happened?"

He explained how the day had gone. The shuttle ride, where Bones almost hadn't been able to hold his stomach contents down, and afterwards up to where Pike had come to kidnap them. He told her about the conversation, and how smoothly it had gone. He explained the last two days, where Bones had been nearly glued to Joanna, and had helped him with setting up some basic things that needed to be done for Joanna, including helping him pick the care center Joanna would be starting at later today. "It is so surreal. This shit doesn't happen in real life, especially not as easily as it did with us. Really, he just let it go, like, like…" he floundered for words.

Maggie Jay, ever helpful woman that she was turning out not to be, could only ask one thing.

"He's divorced?"

"Is that the only part you heard?"

"I heard it all," she defended herself, "but that's just the part that sticks."

"Really? Not the part where he's now seeing Joanna every day? Or the part where we're contemplating visitation? How about the part where he's back in my life at all?" he demanded, his voice rising in octave as each word escaped his lips. He was having a bit of a meltdown, and she was asking for clarification that Bones really was divorced?

"I realize that all of that would be quite shocking, and we'll get to that after we clarify once more…he's divorced?" A look was beginning to form on her face, one that spoke of bad things for Jim's future, and he was honestly a little glad there was so much land between them for once. He hated that look. It had always spoken of blind dates, hospital visits, and once even a trip to the museum of twenty-second century sports equipment, though that had been to keep her from killing one of her dates to escape boredom, but still.

He stilled in his chair, looking at her warily. "I know that look. It's the same look you had when you wanted me to go to the hospital when I broke my collarbone. It's the look that says I am going to hate what you're about to say."

"I wasn't going to say anything," she denied, shrugging her shoulder and reaching for something off screen again.

He watched her fidget with whatever she was messing with, still sitting stiffly as he told her, "Bullshit."

"I just think it's interesting." She finally stopped fucking with whatever it had been. Her green eyes fluttered to him, asking with carefully portrayed boredom, "And he's been spending a lot of time with you?"

"He's been spending a lot of time with Jo. Look, let's focus on me for a second."

"I was focusing on you," she snapped. She ran her hand through her hair again, her thin lips disappearing as she pursed them. She thought he was being ridiculous. He had no doubt about it, but he thought he was being rather logical. Could they not deal with the fact that Bones was there at all before she went off half-cocked trying to get them back together?

"A fling I had three years ago has just showed up in my life less than four days ago. I told my daughter that he was her other father. We were discussing the pros and cons of child care centers. I feel a little overwhelmed here!" he told her, feeling the full weight of everything that had happened in less than a week pressing down on his chest while feeling relieved to finally get that off his chest to someone.

He had thought coming to Starfleet would be stress-inducing, with all the tests he would have to take, his impending physical, the classes…just for starters. There was so much more that just went into Starfleet than all of that, and fate had decided to hit him with Bones? Yeah, Starfleet was actually pretty simple. Paperwork by the shipload, he could handle. It was stressful, but he could do it. Leonard 'Bones' McCoy was something that he had no clue how to approach.

And he sincerely doubted that Maggie Jay would honestly be able to help. She was even more relationship-retarded than he was. Whereas he had never had a lasting relationship, she had had five that had ended with the simple fact that they didn't know what to do with her. She was crap at relationships, though it had never stopped her from at least trying, and it sure as hell never stopped her from trying to push him into them. Now that Bones was back, Jim was a little surprised she wasn't meddling even more pronouncedly than she was.

He would however like her to be a little more helpful than she was being.

"Why?" she asked, honestly confused.

Jim scoffed, throwing his hands up in the air. "What about any of that is not overwhelming?"

She mimicked him, her confusion quickly morphing to annoyance. She was probably getting tired, not that he would know. He had never really seen her tired; had never really seen her sleep for that matter. But she was only this childish with him on a number of occasions, and he had always chocked it up to being sleep-deprivation. Her voice, stained with that same exasperation, said, "The part where it all seems to be working perfectly."

"That's the overwhelming part." He nearly hollered, but aborted it at the last second. "It shouldn't be that perfect! He should be angry, and it should be awkward, and I feel as if I should feel more worried about leaving my daughter with a man that for all intents and purposes is a stranger."

She tried to come up with something to say, opening her mouth a few times before she shrugged, helplessly. "Maybe you should talk to him about it?"

Jim spun in his chair, shaking his head at her idea. "And tell him what?" he asked, catching her eye for a split second each time his chair went around. "That he's being too nice and it's creeping me out? Ask him to be more of a jackass?"

She actually laughed at that, and it was a nice sound, though he wished she had kept it to herself at the moment. "Maybe not in those terms, but actually speaking to him would be a good start."

His hand caught on the desk, halting his spinning. "I'm not going to talk to him about this. I'll deal with it."

She made a small unsurprised noise, her smile fading to a slight upturn of her lips. "The Jim-solution to everything."

"Works doesn't it?"

She rolled her eyes. Reaching one last time to mess with that thing again, she finally leaned back in her seat. "When do your classes start?" she asked.

Obviously, they weren't going to try to help Jim fix his problems. Apparently, they were going to move on, and leave Jim on his own.

He glared at her but answered, "We have orientation on Friday. The actual classes start Monday."

The rest of their time on the comm. was spent chatting about all the paperwork he had had to fill out, and the tests he had taken, which unsurprisingly he had come out in the top one percentile. She told him about her shift at the hospital, and the new doctor who had transferred from Ottumwa Regional Hospital, whom was very interested in Maggie Jay. When they signed off, Jim had barely accomplished anything, but he felt better for having spoken with his friend.

He really did miss her already. Next time he would have to try and call her when Jo was awake.

+ststst+

He went over to Pike's office after dropping Joanna off at Sandcastles, the local daycare center that he and Bones had decided to enroll Joanna in. It had great reviews, and when he had stopped there at seven to fill out paperwork and get his daughter settled, he had liked the establishment. It was clean and the teachers and caretakers had seemed very kind and attentive towards the kids. The young man he had talked to, well younger than most seeing as he was about the same age as Jim, had smiled at Joanna and said, after talking to her for a few minutes, that they would probably put her into on of the child education classes they had, since she knew numbers, letters, and how to basically read.

He really liked them, and Joanna hadn't seemed to mind being there after she discovered the lego-blocks. He was a little worried for her interactions with the other kids, since she had never really been around other children for an entire day. When he had taken her out to play in parks and things of such nature, there had been other kids, and the few places in Riverside that had children's playpens, but she had never been around them for any amount of time. The young man had said that wouldn't be a problem, but Jim was unsure.

He left her there though, with their promise that if anything happened they would call either he or Bones, or in case of extreme emergency, he had given them Pike's number, since he would be able to contact both he and Bones at any given time. He would have to talk to Pike about that, since it had kind of been spur of the moment.

He knocked on the old oak door, getting a gruff, but professional 'enter'. He turned the old-fashioned brass knob, pushing it open to see Pike hunching over a huge mug of what he could only assume coffee. His screen wasn't on, and no padds were on his desk. Just him in his comfortable looking office chair, and a giant mug of coffee. He looked up, his grey eyes meeting confused blue. He looked just as tired as the picture had painted before he moved.

"Mr. Kirk," he said somewhat pleasantly, reaching over to tap his computer on. "Please, come sit down. Do you need some coffee?" He looked at his coffee like it was sent directly to him by some god. Jim seriously believed that if he didn't have it, Pike would not be able to form coherent sentences.

Jim declined with a small wave of his hand, taking a seat in the same plush chair he had taken not five days ago. Pike looked around groggily, tapping a few things on his computer and pulling out a padd. He made idle chat, as he did so.

"I didn't expect you to be here so early," he said, and Jim could all but see the scowl that was forming on his face as the computer flashed the time at him. Obviously, Captain Pike took a few minutes to wake all the way up. As if to demonstrate this, he blinked rapidly a few times, as if to get his eyes accustomed to the feeling. "Where's Joanna? Is she with Doctor McCoy?"

"No," Jim said easily. "She's at daycare."

"Really, what daycare center did the two of you decide on?" he asked, taking a long sip from his mug.

The way he said it, the blasé way he had just asked as if he knew that he and Bones hadn't been separated, gave Jim pause. He knew he and Bones had been spending a lot of time together, but he hadn't thought it had been that obvious, at least not obvious for a busy captain like Pike to notice. He stared at Pike for a moment, a hesitant smirk forcing its way onto his lips, until Pike caught his confounded gaze.

"It's exceedingly obvious to anyone with two eyes, Mr. Kirk," Pike told him, looking as if he was resisting the urge to roll his eyes. "She looks so much like the two of you, and if the awkward reunion wasn't enough to clinch it for me, the way you two operated like an old married couple sure as hell did."

"Old married couple?" Jim snorted disbelievingly, still sitting stiff in his chair. He could not believe he was having this conversation with Pike, his counselor and kidnapper-by-default.

"The two of you had an entire conversation with your eyes Saturday morning. I don't know many people who can do that." Pike looked like he wanted to laugh at Jim's misfortune.

Jim was a little less than enthused and more than a little confused, trying to pinpoint the exact moment he and Bones had spoken to each other with only their eyes and coming up completely blank. He was inclined to believe that the captain was crazier than he had originally thought in Iowa. Not only did he drag fucked up kids with their perfect kids from their homes; nope, he imagined things too. Great, and Jim was stuck there, with Pike as his counselor until the end of his Academy days.

"When did the two of you originally meet?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.

"Uh," Jim began. "March, 2252. He and his wife were having a hard time. Shouldn't we be getting me enrolled?" he asked quickly, hoping to change the topic.

Pike waved his hand, his face twisting. "It's way too early for that yet. I can't even see what my computer is saying, let alone pull up your file. For now, let's just chat. I like getting to know my recruits." He leaned back in his chair, slouching down into it, damn near demanding it to make him more comfortable. "What went wrong…with Doctor McCoy?"

Jim was a little uncomfortable, but he tried not to let is show, mirroring Pike's slouch but taking it a step further by crossing his legs out in front of him. "Why do you want to know?" he asked with a casualness that was completely false, and from the looks of it Pike knew that.

"I'm curious, Mr. Kirk," he said with an easy smile, reassuring. "You seem like a likeable guy; wanna get to know you, and all that good bonding-type stuff."

"Couldn't start with my favorite color?" Jim asked sarcastically.

Pike raised his brows, amused. "How would that help us get to know each other? Does your favorite color play some significant roll in your life? This isn't a slumber party, Mr. Kirk."

"Jim," he cut in quickly, really tired of being called Mr. Kirk. He was quickly realizing that he hated a lot of names people called him.

Pike tilted his head in acquiescence. "Jim. I just want to get to know you. Anything you say to me will be confidential. Kept between us…like friends."

Jim considered him for a moment, his blue eyes mistrustful. He went to fiddle, but denied himself that urge. He didn't fiddle, hadn't fiddled, fidgeted, or squirmed since he was nineteen and Maggie Jay was staring him down in between the time it took her to look at his tests and decide that he was beyond extraordinary and bordering on phenomenal.

He had never really had someone pursue a friendship with him, especially not someone of Pike's caliber. Maggie Jay and he had just kind of been thrown together. She had been his neighbor, and his nurse, and once she discovered his pregnancy for him, he couldn't get her away no matter how hateful he was to her, and he had been hateful. He hadn't taken well to the news of his pregnancy, hating almost anyone and everything except the child growing inside him. He hadn't had a friend who became his friend in a 'normal' way since he was seven.

But that was Iowa, and this was California. He was trying to start over.

So he settled for middle ground. "You first."

Pike smiled with a nod. He seemed proud for some reason that Jim didn't understand, but he let it go when Pike asked him, "What do you wanna know?"

Jim thought about it for a moment, thinking over everything Pike had said to him since they had known each other. It came to him quickly, and sharply. "You served on the Kelvin with my parents. Did you actually know them?"

Pike looked shocked for a moment, but recovered quickly, leaning forward in his seat. He seemed much more alert all of a sudden, and for a moment, Jim thought they might skip all of the 'let's get to know each other' chatter, and go straight to the enrollment, but Pike surprised him again by answering his question.

"I knew your father quite well," he started. When Jim pulled a face, thinking of how he and Bones knew each other quite well, Pike rolled his eyes. "Not like that, Jim. We were friends. He was a year ahead of me in the Academy, and in the same track. He was going for tactical; I went for piloting. A lot of our classes overlapped, though, and he took longer at the Academy than most because of how much time he spent lollygagging through the course protocols." He smiled fondly. "He took twelve classes that I always swore he would never need. Dabbled in some of the sciences and operations classes."

Pike regaled him with some choice stories about his father, things no one else had ever been able to tell him. His mother and his grandparents had only been able to tell him the wonderful things about George Kirk, and though this was no different, Pike added a certain realness to him. He added a fun side, an angry side, and even a hesitant side, instead of a larger-than-life portrayal that his grandparents told him, or a better-than-you-could-ever-hope-to-be edge that his mother always seemed to have when he asked. It was easy to tell they had actually been friends, which made a lot of what Pike had told him in Shipyard Bar seem less like bullshit and more like he actually believed in Jim, believed he could do better than his father.

It was nice, and when Pike told the story about how 'Georgie' had conned two people into getting into a fight so that he could win a bet, Jim actually laughed. That was something that his mother had failed to mention, something Grandma Kirk hadn't even known about, he was sure. It finally felt like his father was real, instead of a ghost that haunted people.

When Pike was done, he was standing, leaning against the wall, a smile on his face, as well. Jim wondered how often he was able to talk about his old friend, his best friend from the sounds of it. Pike had told him how he hadn't known Winona that well, having only met her on a few occasions. Usually, George had visited him alone, holing up in Pike's room for an evening, or 'dragging' Pike out to bar, or even going shopping. 'Georgie had this thing with shoes' Pike laughed as he told him. 'Made most women seem look like amateurs.' Winona had almost never been there, and probably hadn't kept in contact with Pike

"Now, your turn, Jim," Pike said, with an open face.

It was another hour before they even got to Jim's schedule, but Jim felt better for it. Captain Pike as a friend was a pretty amazing thing. He honestly hadn't expected that man to listen to him talk about his and Bones' three-day tryst. He didn't tell Pike about his problem now, didn't feel comfortable enough for it, but just being able to talk to someone new…someone who wanted to listen for more than medical reasons as Maggie Jay had the few times he had told her…it was fun.

It was only because of Pike's next appointment that he told Jim that they should start on his classes, which as it turned out, would be half second-year courses, and half bullshit courses that were absolutely required on pain of Starfleet death.

He was told to come back anytime he needed to talk, and that he would be helping Pike teach hand to hand combat, as well as helping some admiral-professor-guy teach relativistic physics…which was really nothing to shake a stick at.

+ststst+

After Jim's talk with Pike, he had gone over to the Academy's library, looking for something to fill the time while Jo was at daycare and Bones was off doing whatever he did when Joanna wasn't around. After looking through the archives on the computer's memory banks, he had found what would properly hold his attention. Starfleet's rules and protocols. It would be a good idea to get a head-start on the rules and regulations Starfleet operated with, knowing that they would come in handy one day. He uploaded the entire file onto his padd, pleasantly surprised when the computer didn't take twenty minutes to load the extensive collection of 'do not do, or else'.

He had taken his padd over to the seating area. There were very few people there, just a few of the staff, and few cadets that were getting ahead on the status quo as Jim was. It was quiet, most importantly. Jim wiled away his afternoon there, stuck between reading his choice of study, and thinking about Jo and Bones, and how and what they were doing. When he finally couldn't take the seats anymore, stiff and unforgiving, he meandered out heading towards his dorm. It was four already; he had spent most of the day in that chair, and at four-thirty he would have to go get Joanna, but if he was fast enough he may be able to go and drop his padd off and grab a drink before walking over there.

"Jim!"

He spun around instantly, hiding his almost-panic by smiling brilliantly. His plan was obviously going to be shot to hell. Bones walked toward him, briefcase in one hand and waving the other idly, just in case Jim needed any help spotting him. "Bones!" he called, waiting for the other man to catch up with him. "How's it going?"

Bones didn't answer, almost never did when it came to his personal life. Instead he asked, "How was dropping Joanna off at Sandcastles?"

"She seemed pretty okay with it," he said with a shrug. "I had to stay for a few minutes with her, but the blocks eventually pushed me out of the picture. I guess we'll see how she does there."

"You worried?" Bones began walking towards the Academy exit, obviously having decided that they should go get her right that second. It wasn't a hurried pace, like they had to rescue her from the fowl demons of the daycare, but more leisurely. He looked like he actually wanted to talk to Jim for more than their allotted time between Joanna-callings.

Jim kept pace easily, his smile slipping from his face. He was worried. He wouldn't deny that. Jo was precious to him and if she didn't enjoy going to daycare he didn't know what he'd do. Sandcastles was one of the better qualified centers within price range and distance.

"She hasn't been with many other kids. She played with a few at the parks in Riverside, but she's never spent an entire day surrounded by them."

"Jo didn't go to daycare in Iowa?" He looked perplexed and a little concerned. "I thought you worked at a mechanics shop?"

So he had paid attention to what he had said.

Jim nodded. "I did. She stayed with my friend for the day."

Bones made a small gesture of understanding, and they were plunged into silence, lengthy but not awkward. They walked side by side, Jim trying to keep an acceptable distance between them, almost desperate not to be reminded of what Bones smelled like beyond his dream. Bones didn't make it easy though. He walked close enough that their knuckles brushed and every once in a while Jim would catch a tantalizing scent in the air.

He cleared his throat. "You don't have to walk with me to get Jo. We were gonna head over to your place anyway. Was there something you needed me for?"

The doctor shrugged. "Not necessarily. I just thought that with Jo at daycare we could have a talk."

"About what?"

"Well," he started. "You've been acting kinda weird."

Jim resisted the serious urge to smack himself. Instead, he put on a smile and asked teasingly, "How would you know what weird is for me?"

He almost instantly regretted it as Bones gave him a look of exasperation. For a moment, he thought New Orleans might be brought into the forefront, further than it had been Saturday afternoon. However, Bones just shook his head, looking perturbed and a little sad as he said, "I don't really. You just…seemed to be more comfortable in your skin three years ago."

"I'm comfortable in my skin!"

"Oh, really?" he asked dryly. "Then what's with the awkward dance you've been doing around me? One moment you're completely relaxed; the next you look like you're ready to bolt."

"I'm not leaving, Bones." When the doctor didn't say anything, Jim reiterated. "Promise."

He thought Bones would have been pleased with that. He had promised he wouldn't leave. Bones wouldn't have to worry about missing Jo. Suddenly, though, Bones grabbed his arm and brought them to a halt, turning them to where they were facing each other. "Do I make you uncomfortable?" he asked in little over a whisper.

"No! No…" Jim said immediately, trying to meet the other's sizzling gaze. A heartbeat later he amended, trying to keep the honestly that he had set up three days ago without divulging his soul. "A little. I mean don't you find this all…crazy?"

He looked at Bones imploringly, trying to get him to understand without him actually understanding. He didn't need to know how Jim's feelings lingered for him. He seemed perfectly content with remaining amicable and talking about Jo. Jim wouldn't get in the way of that. He liked having this working relationship. He liked not having to stress over what would happen if something went south. He could take this, could even be okay with it as long as Bones didn't keep pulling stunts like this.

Seriously, they were almost chest to chest. Jim could easily feel the warmth that pulsated off Bones' body and their breath was intermingling. It felt like a prelude to…

He snapped himself away from those thoughts as Bones answered, "Starfleet? A little. Our counselor seems a little-"

Jim shook his head a little, his face scrunching with frustration. "I mean us! Bones, I never expected to meet you again! Now you're here and I'm…I'm at a loss. Aren't you?"

Bones stared at him for a long time, his brows furrowing together and a frown pulling at his lips. His hand slipped down Jim's arm, almost in a caress, before it rested by his side. "I'm pleased as punch to see you again, Jim."

He honestly sounded confused as to why Jim didn't get that. It also looked beyond his ability to properly explain it to him, which Jim didn't mind at all. Things would be simpler if they could keep whatever feelings he had and whatever feelings Bones may or may not have behind barriers. They really shouldn't even still retain feelings for each other. 'They' had been a long time ago. They had only been 'they' for three days, before parting ways three years ago. There shouldn't be feelings, and Bones should still be furious with him.

He was reminded of his conversation with Maggie Jay earlier today, and how he wasn't going to talk to Bones about his freaky niceness, but that just had to be asked.

"Three days ago, you were pissed because I didn't tell you about Jo," Jim said, not angry or upset, but just wondering why Bones couldn't just stay mad at him for a little while longer and make sense.

The other man sighed, giving Jim a slight roll of the eyes. "You're more than making up for that. It's hard to stay mad at you, when you just let me into her life the way you did, the way you do. I'm upset that I missed so much of her life, but you're letting me be here now, without me having to fight or anything. It's been a long time since I've had that." Jim almost swore he wanted to say, 'not since you.' He didn't, though, which Jim was both disappointed by and happy for. He could only deal with one problem at a time and he was juggling two or three at the moment. He didn't want Bones to still harbor feelings for him. Jim's resolve would probably crumble. "Is that why you've been acting weird? You thought I was still angry?"

Just the opposite, but Jim didn't want to get into that now. So he smiled and nodded, knowing both looked stiff but hoping the Bones would leave it be. "Yeah, Bones. Thanks for clearing that up."

He clapped the doctor on the shoulder, and began walking again, resuming towards Jo's daycare, which was only about a block away now. Bones took a moment to himself, probably recollecting his cool. Jim didn't look behind him, only giving Bones a small smile when he fell back into step.

When they reached the center, Jo was instantly calling out for them. "Daddy! Papa!"

Bones made a small face, seemingly not fond of 'Papa' but there weren't many other choices available. 'Other daddy' just wouldn't be acceptable for any length of time. Way too damn confusing. She scrambled up from the table she had been sitting at with her toy sehlat, her braided hair a mess just as it always was at day's end. She ran up to Jim to hug first before throwing herself into Bones. She nuzzled his shoulder momentarily, smiling jubilantly when she pulled away.

"'m a kitty!" she exclaimed, her smile wider than the universe in that one moment.

He and Bones shared a brief look before chuckling at her. Bones stroked her mussed braid, like one would with a cat, telling her with a smile, "You make a pretty kitty, too."

An older woman came out of the woodwork seemingly, smiling at them as she realized who they were. "You must be the Kirks," she said happily, reaching out her hand for Jim's and then Bones'.

"Actually," Jim tried to correct her, but the woman just ran over his attempts to speak.

"I'm Abigail Locke. Joanna's afternoon teacher," she introduced, her brown eyes glittering with merriment. "I just wanted to tell you how absolutely thrilling your daughter is to have in class with me. So bright. It's simple to see that the two of you are attentive to her. Her reading level is amazing. I…"

Jo interrupted her this time, yanking on Jim's hand. "I read a book 'bout kitties, daddy! There was a white one, and a black one, and a gray one, and then there was one that was black, and orange, and white, and they were all friends…"

He smiled at her, casting Bones a small look to see if he was following along as well. He was a little shocked to see Bones watching him as well, and for a moment time was frozen between them. It was a point of contention, comfort, familiarity, and just a little bit of longing, and surprisingly Bones was the one to break it, casting his green eyes back to Jo. "Jo-bear, we're talking with Ms. Locke. Can you tell us in a second?"

Her eyes widened marginally as she threw her hands over her mouth, a physical gesture that she would wait patiently for her parents to finish their conversation…as long as it was a short one.

Ms. Locke smiled proudly at them, her elderly face wrinkling easily from years of laughter. She looked between them for a moment, before continuing. "I just wanted to tell you how brilliant your daughter is. She's a real treat to have in class, with the most impeccable manners. She seemed a bit hesitant to interact with the other kids, but once a young boy asked about her toy, she had no problem opening up. Such a delight."

Jim smiled at her appreciatively, but it was shockingly Bones who reached out verbally with his appreciation, telling Ms. Locke, "Thank you, ma'am."

She nodded and bid them good evening. Bones gathered up Jo's things, slipping her backpack over her shoulders before handing her Sellit. As they exited through the front door, Jo handed Jim her toy to carry along with his padd, figuring Bones couldn't hang on to the toy and his brief case. Then, after Jim had placed the toy over his arm, she grabbed both of their hands, looking between the two of them as she launched into the story about the 'kitties.'

Both listened intently, asking questions and commenting where she took the time to breathe, but Jim couldn't help noticing that Bones hadn't objected to being called a 'Kirk.' He also didn't fail to realize that Bones would glance at him, a look caught on his face somewhere between amusement and yearning.

Jim was mortified to realize he had been doing the same thing to Bones, as well.

+ststst+

A/N: Much love to you all.

(shake your tail feathers)

InnocentGuilt