Chapter 3 – Healing
A/N: sorry! Bit overdue and last part of this ficlet. Just wanted to explore the mindset doctors must have and how it might feel to loose a patient. I have the utmost respect for real life doctors like the McCoys. May spawn sequels, I don't know. I'm pretty tied up until late May finishing this degree of mine. It's crazy I'm in 3rd year right now! Like to think people will still like and watch Star Wars in the : I wanted to be a Jedi was a kid too. Pretty sure I'd make a pretty terrible one but would be awesome. As would being an Enterprise officer. I want Starfleet to be a real thing, dammit! Hope you've enjoyed this and thanks for the reviews. I genuinely love it when I get one and people like my work :)
"LEONAAARD!" a raucous voice broke the calm atmosphere of sickbay most alarmingly "Where is that good for nothing ex of mine?"
"Ma'am?" asked a young nurse by the name of Sarah Hill sheepishly. So this was the infamous Jocelyn McCoy in all her terrifying glory? That meant that they had reached Starbase 14 already. Once she had got wind of her daughter's accident, presumably by bending the ear of whatever member of the Brass responsible for Joanna's cadet class until he or she broke, Jocelyn had demanded to see her immediately. Since Starbase 14 orbited a world with some of the finest beaches in the cosmos and that it was only a few parsecs from where Jocelyn happened to be holidaying, not to mention the crew's by now desperate need for shore leave, the Captain had wearily agreed to her request (read: demand). Hill did sympathise, after all any parent would be out of their mind with worry after hearing that gravity had seen fit to dump a building on their child and all emotions seemed heightened in this particular parent.
"Ah finally somebody notices me!" Nurse Hill felt that one could hardly fail to but kept that to herself "where exactly is Leonard?"
"Leonard?"
"Yes! As in the CMO! Trust my luck to get one of Kirk's airheaded yeoman!"
Hill felt it would be rather pointless to correct this woman on her assessment of the her profession, which she could surely see by the uniform colour, and intelligence (in which none of the crew were deficient) so calmly told her he was seeing to an injury and that she would inform him of Jocelyn's visit, privately thinking that if Doctor McCoy was hiding, she would think no less of him.
"Dammit Jocelyn! This is a sickbay not some bloody circus! Now what is all the ruckus about?"
"Well now, if it isn't the man himself and his permanent shadow Captain James Tiberius Jerk!" it was well known that Jocelyn did not approve of her ex-husband's choice of best friend, viewing him as an arrogant womaniser with far too much swagger for his own good. She certainly did not like her daughter referring to him as 'Uncle'. He was the sort of man who could persuade people to share in all sorts of deranged ideas.
"Lovely to see you too, Jocelyn. I must say you sound very well! Still as vocal as ever. How long have you been sitting on that joke by the way?"
The woman treated Kirk to her best withering glare before rounding on Leonard. "Where is our daughter? Give me a straight answer for once in our lives!"
"Dozing along with all my other patients. Or at least they were until you decided to holler the place down! She's in Ward 2."
"Thankyou!" she huffed irritably before stalking off down the corridor to Joanna's ward.
"Well, I can tell you now Jim boy it's gonna be a hell of a three days with her around!" the good Doctor grumbled. His ex-wife wasn't exactly the easiest person to be around, being prone to nagging and bouts of impoliteness under stress.
"Bones, I heartedly agree with you! Whatever possessed you to marry…."
"Seemed like a good idea at the time" said Leonard flippantly "Believe me she wasn't always this overbearing. She can be charming on a good day. I should have listened to the people who say women turn into their mother!" then for the sake of Nurse Hill who looked faintly peeved at that comment (she hadn't spoken to her own mother in years) he added rather meekly "Some women. Olivia never liked me. Feeling was kinda mutual after a while."
"Thank God there's no chance of Jo following suit" Kirk said emphatically "Glad she's on the mend. Seems like she'll be up and at 'em in a couple of days!"
"Let's not get ahead of ourselves! It only happened a week ago! I don't want her anywhere near a workstation or anything strenuous of any description for at least another fortnight. She's still pretty shaken up not to mention the healing bones and the fact the marrow's working overtime to replace the blood! Father's wishes and Doctor's orders!"
"Oh, double whammy! Got it Bones, I won't take her skydiving on shore leave then."
"What? Certainly not!"
"Hey, it was her idea!" Kirk cried defensively.
"Damn infant of a…!"
McCoy was interrupted by a shout ringing through sickbay once more, this time from a certain younger McCoy "Dammit Mom! I'm not made of glass!"
"She's your daughter, alright!" chucked the Captain, slapping his friend's shoulder in mirth.
"Don't I know it!"
"Yes, Mom, I'll call you tomorrow okay? Just stop worrying, it's stressing me out!"
"And me!" interjected Leonard.
"Don't you start! And it's a parent's prerogative dear. Now are you sure…"
Joanna sighed. Jocelyn had tried to dissuade her from her career choice at every turn since she had grown old enough for it to be a serious decision. She had spent her childhood playing doctors and said she wanted to be one like her daddy someday but then she had also wanted to be a fairy, a giraffe and a Jedi Knight when she grew up too. It was only once she entered senior school and started asking the science teachers for advice on the subject that Jocelyn began to realise it wasn't a passing phase. Once Joanna had proved her mother wrong about her mental capacity for it Jocelyn had conceded that she would make a fantastic doctor but kept trying to persuade her to stay on Earth. But Jo had set her sights on life in space. The chance to broaden the horizons of both herself and others not only medically (and who knew how many cures and therapies were hidden on far off worlds?) but in cultural knowledge as well. Unlike her father, she was very interested in languages and had relished the chance to learn under and become friends with one of the foremost linguistics experts serving on a Federation starship, Nyota Uhura. It was a very amusing shock to Leonard when Joanna had met Spock for the first time and had started a conversation with him in fluent Vulcan. Jo had told her father she felt a good grasp of language was an important skill for doctors, especially those in Starfleet as it helped patients and physicians communicate important information about their condition. There was also something instantly soothing about being understood and understanding in turn.
It may also have been true that her mother was jealous of her father for having so much more in common with their daughter. Especially as he had spent most of her teenage years in space himself. Not that he'd had many options after the divorce. Still, time had cooled the feud to a strange sort of irritable confrontation combined with gruff compassion. In the end they had wanted different things from life and had grown apart, spending less time together so it hadn't really come as much of a surprise when Jocelyn found someone else. Things had got pretty messy for a while even so and Jo had been caught between them. Leonard joining Starfleet seemed like a terrible idea at the time especially given his aviophobia but it gave all of them time to reflect. It had also provided Joanna with a friend for life in her Uncle Jim when the two men had struck up a close friendship at the Academy, mainly due to Jim's accident-prone nature. Leonard and Jocelyn had hurt each other but they were now content to leave it all in its proper tense.
Still, it had been very begrudgingly indeed that Jocelyn had allowed her to enter the Academy. Still, Joanna knew this came not from a position of judgement or mean spiritedness but of love and fear of losing her both physically and emotionally and the bone of contention had long got past the full blown argument stage.
"Mom, we've been through this how many times?! This is my passion, my dream. Saving lives is all I've ever wanted to do, you know that! I mean, you wouldn't throw in the towel with your business just cause the rent went up would you? A bit of adversity isn't gonna make me leave Starfleet! Me getting hurt was always a possibility."
"I can't deny you are brilliant Jojo and how proud I am of you saving those people but I can't help it. You're just so young. We make quite a pair. You'll keep throwing yourself into danger and I'll keep worrying about it!"
"That's not generally the idea, Mom! Anyway most of my cadet class are my age. I'll be fine, trust me! Besides, I'll still be at the Academy for a few more years."
Jocelyn looked tenderly at her daughter, shaking her head before leaning down to peck her on the cheek. "Right, you two, my shuttle leaves in 20 minutes! Look after each other out here for pity's sake! And I am NOT to hear of another incident like this any time soon!" she commanded.
"Yes, Boss!" Leonard mumbled.
"I can hear, you know!" was Jocelyn's haughty parting comment. Joanna rolled her eyes.
"Right, obvs time!" Leonard declared to Jo.
"Seriously? How many times do I need my blood pressure taken a day?" she moaned "I can't wait to be out!"
"You know that as well as I do!"
"Forgive me for not being on the ball, I'm fragile at the moment apparently!"
"Hummph" murmured the older McCoy "Fragile my ass!"
As it happened, Jo was up and about a few days after her mother's visit and allowed on shore leave. Her father had forbidden her from doing anything more extreme than sunbathing and even then warned her to remember SPF cream. Joanna was just fine with this, glad of the peaceful change of scenery as she sat on the sand reading a book on her PADD, listening to the soft roar of waves washing in a foamy cascade on the shoreline. She spent a great deal of time with Steven Carter too, walking in the shallows or around the market on the starbase. He made it clear he saw her as something of a hero and spent the first conversation thanking her profusely. In turn he provided a listening ear for her to talk about Jackson's death and her plans. They were becoming firm friends.
A month or so later, the participants in the Advance Training Programme were to be recalled to Earth to resume their normal courses. Leonard had observed dryly that the last few months were probably worth more in training value that the two years or more that the cadets had at the Academy and he could really use some of them in his staff. Jim agreed with him. There was one cadet in particular he would be very sorry to see leave and not just because she was the daughter of Bones and a dear friend in her own right. Her bravery and skill were excellent. Besides her recklessness made her something of a kindred spirit for him.
A few days before they were due to leave, Jim and Joanna had just finished a session in the Enterprise's gym before heading to lunch in the mess hall. Her father would no doubt appear at some point. "Joanna, there's something I want to discuss with you" Jim began setting his chicken sandwich and coffee opposite her ham wrap and tea.
"Yeees?" asked Joanna, puzzled at his formal tone.
"How would you like to stay?"
"Here? Now? But the training…"
"Can be completed here. If I pull a few strings. The point is, you've got smarts and guts, a combination sorely lacking in the new people coming through lately. You'd be a real asset to my crew. You'd be an Ensign too."
"An Ensign? In a starship sickbay" Jo spluttered "at nineteen?"
"Of course I understand if you want to…"
"Are you bloody kidding? I'm in!" she beamed.
"What are you in? You'd better not be plotting, you two!"
"I'm in the crew Dad! Looks like we're gonna be seeing much more of each other! I'm looking forward to the next few years!"
"Dammit Jim! What about her education?"
"Why, Bones, she'll be learning under the finest doctor in Starfleet!"
"Flattery, as they say, will get you nowhere, Jim!"
"How did you know I wasn't talking about M'Benga?" Jim teased. Joanna snorted into her tea at the sight of Leonard's face, spilling a good deal of it and prompting laughter from her father and friend and now commanding officers. Later that same day she would be on the crew roster, earning admiration and congratulations from her classmates, none more so than Carter who hugged her enthusiastically on the transporter pad as he left. There was not a sour grape in sight. For her own part, Joanna was thrilled to finally find herself practicing medicine among the stars…
\\/, fin. ,\\/
A/N P.S. Hope you all enjoyed Joanna's introduction to the NCC 1701 crew! I really like the idea of an Advance Training Programme and the crew becoming a literal family affair. Sort of like what Wesley Crusher was doing on the Enterprise D. Anyway hope to be starting a new story fairly soon and see you all there. Please let me know what you think/any ideas. Thanks for reading. Sweeney out :)