Hmmm. No reviews on the last one. Okay... I understand you guys are probably busy. Just remember, these things motivate me! They give me life! LIFE, I TELL YOU! (Basically, please continue reviewing! I promise you, I love them!)

Chapter Seventeen: In which we have mostly filler fluff. Karina and Bones bond, Camille has a moment of self-discovery after plummeting 20,000 feet through the air, and all is well on the McCoy-Osbourne front.

Once again, I apologize for the relative shortness of the chapter, and for the amount of filler fluff, but I promise, we'll get back to a bit more action in Chapter Eighteen! We're on the downhill swing from here. At this point, we've got eight chapters and an epilogue, so action will pick up from here on out!

Enjoy!

I do not own Star Trek or its characters. I only own my OCs.

Karina's face screwed up in mild pain, but she didn't want to insult Bones by asking him to stop. He'd noticed she was favoring her left shoulder, and offered to get the kink out. Figuring the man was a doctor and knew what he was talking about, she'd accepted the offer with gratitude. But while it was certainly working, he was definitely not the most gentle of masseuses. And Karina, though she hated to admit it, could be a bit of a delicate flower physically.

"Ow," she muttered under her breath. Apparently it was louder than she'd anticipated, because he stopped in his tracks and looked down at her.

"What part of that hurt?" he asked, concerned.

Not even attempting to sugarcoat it anymore, Karina replied, "All of it."

He sighed and retracted his hands, coming around and sitting next to her on the couch. They'd been in his room for the past fifteen minutes, after about another half hour of awkwardly making small talk and, on Karina's part anyway, being bored out of her mind. She didn't know what it was that made the doctor get along so well with Camille and not her. It rather bugged her, but not because she particularly had issue when people didn't like her. It just made her curious.

"Can I ask you a question?" he said out of the blue, and she started, frowning.

"Um, sure," she said, vaguely wondering where this was going. "Shoot."

"Do you think two people, who both tend to be the alpha personality, could make something work between the pair of them?" Bones winced as soon as he'd finished, as though this conversation made him more uncomfortable than anything he'd ever experienced. Karina wasn't particularly comfortable with it, but hey, Bones was asking her advice. He never did that with anyone younger than him – for that matter, with anyone at all. This would at least end interestingly, if nothing else.

"Well, I think it depends on the person," she replied. Only a little offended when he settled back in his chair, everything about his actions stating, Might as well get comfortable, I'll be here a while, she rolled her eyes and continued. "If one of them is fiercely protective, for example, and the other one considers her independence to be very important, doesn't think she needs to be protected, ever, that could be a deciding factor."

Bones frowned for a second, and Karina smiled to herself, knowing he saw the connection between himself and Camille in what she'd just said. She hoped she'd utilized her tone correctly so he wouldn't know that had been on purpose. When he didn't say anything, she knew he hadn't. Perhaps she was getting better at this subtlety thing. That would probably be useful in her future as a Communications officer.

"Or say she doesn't like having things done for her, and that's how he expresses love," she said. "His love language."

Bones' frown deepened. "Love language?"

Karina threw her hands up in the air. "Have men seriously never heard of this concept? Oy! It's the way you express love, Bones. I thought that would be quite clear."

Bones recoiled a bit, not sure if he'd offended yet another female, but, bafflingly, Karina was back on an even keel just as soon as she'd exploded. He wasn't a psychiatrist, but sometimes he wondered if the girl shouldn't get checked for some sort of mood disorder or other.

"And say she likes to pick a fight, say that's almost her way of flirting, testing his mettle. But he tends to dislike conflict, unless it's on his terms, so he takes offense every time she tries. They might have some communication issues in that area, yes?" she broke off, waiting for an answer, though he was pretty sure the question was rhetorical.

"You're the expert in communications," he acquiesced, giving her one of his rare smiles. She returned it in kind.

"I suppose so. But I don't see why those aren't overcomable obstacles. Because once the pair of them figure out how to work around it, I think they're both strong enough to do so, for each other. You dig where I'm coming from, Bones?"

He nodded, eyeing her with a look she couldn't quite figure out.

"How old are you, Karina?"

"Fifteen. Why?"

He shook his head and laughed under his breath. "Remind me never to ask anyone that question again. How do you know so much about this?"

She shrugged. "I observe. And I think about what I observe. Really, that's it. So if you end up taking my advice and ruining your life, please don't sneak into my room and inject me with Vulcan blood fever vaccine?"

He nodded, now only half-smiling, but still smiling, so she took that as a good sign. "You got it, kid." He was still giving her that look though, as though he were trying to probe into her soul.

"Is there a reason you're sizing me up like the prize hog at the county fair?" she asked.

The slight smile disappeared, and the frown returned, but it held no terrors for Karina. Bones smiling for too long was almost terrifying. This was comfortable.

"You've been hanging around Camille for far too long," he growled. "She's rubbing off on you with those country comparisons. I was just wondering… how do you feel about kids?"

Karina's eyes widened. "Um, Bones…what are you getting at here?"

"Dammit, girl, that's not what I meant!" Bones shook his head, trying to find the right words for this. "I just meant…okay. I have a daughter, right?"

"I knew that, yeah."

"So, she's living with my parents at the moment. But I've been thinking about bringing her here to San Francisco. No telling what my father's poisoned her mind with about me at this point, or my brother. Anyway, I won't always be around to keep an eye on her. I was wondering if…"

Karina's jaw dropped. "Oh, my word. You want me to babysit her, don't you?"

Bones threw his hands up as though defending himself. "It's not a for sure thing yet! It probably wouldn't be for at least another year or so. Not until I'm out of the Academy and have an apartment. And even then, I'll need someone who's on planet to watch her while I'm off. But when we're on Earth…" His voice trailed off again. Karina sensed the desperation in his tone. It bemused her that he'd never talked about his child, yet there was so much longing there. He did love the kid, in spite of the fact that he'd left her for more than a year.

"I'd be glad to, Bones," she said. "Just call me up whenever you need someone. And I think bringing her here's a great idea. A girl shouldn't grow up without either of her parents. Take it from someone who knows."

Bones half smiled at her again. "Thanks."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before he asked, "So, how is that going, by the way?"

Karina groaned. "Ugh! I don't think I'll ever get the answers I need here, Bones. It seems like every time I have a breakthrough, another wall goes up. I don't know what to do here."

He hesitated, then said, "You know, I'm a pretty stubborn guy. But I'm not overly fond of worrying at something until it drives me mad. I've seen what mental stress can do to people. I'm a doctor, you know. And, I personally think that you should be at your best, physically and mentally, for Starfleet. Maybe you'll be on leave one day and then you can figure it out. But until you graduate… I wouldn't blame you for just letting it go."

"Really?" she asked.

"Of course not! No sense in driving yourself crazy over something you can't control."

Karina smiled, then asked, "Randomly, what's her name, Bones? Your daughter, I mean?"

He smiled, another of those rare, genuine ones, and Karina's heart warmed at the evident love in his voice when he said, "Joanna. Her name's Joanna."

"Joanna McCoy," Karina said. "I'll look forward to meeting her. On that happy note, we've talked for too long. Let's actually do something." She got up and started rummaging through his desk drawers. Bones shot to his feet, uncomfortable. He hated it when people touched his stuff without asking, but something about Karina made him stop before exploding. She called from where her head was buried in his bottom drawer, "Do you have chess or anything? I'm learning, and I want to practice."

Bones, fervently hoping he would know how to handle Joanna better than this when she reached the teenage years, said, "Keep looking, you'll find it."

Frowning, he asked, "Wait. You asked if men had no concept of the idea of love languages. Who have you asked about it besides me?"

"None of your business, thank you. Now where is that blasted chess set?"

Camille had gone through eighteen years of never knowing when the air was going to be stolen from her lungs. So she knew how to appreciate the substance.

However, masses of it speeding by her faster than light was a bit disconcerting. She didn't need this much air to take a breath in. No one ever needed this much air at one time. And they especially didn't need it while they were plummeting toward what was sure to be their imminent death.

She'd stopped screaming a while back, disliking the unpleasant sensation of air streaming into her open mouth at top speed. Jim, meanwhile, on top of her, was clearly having the time of his life, whooping and hollering and irritating the crap out of her.

What was this? She was an adrenaline junkie, and heights held no fear for her. Why did she find this so utterly terrifying?

Maybe because she realized, here at 20,000 feet when Jim finally pulled the chute and they shot upward just slightly, then started floating peacefully downward at a reasonable pace, that it would never be enough. Just constant physical thrills. It would never be enough. She needed emotional thrill, mental thrill as well.

She loved to hunt but hated to chase. She liked to be chased herself, but maybe that wasn't good enough at this point in time.

Instead of expecting Bones to bend to her needs and compensate for her in a relationship, maybe she should start meeting him where he was. Bones, it sounded like, had never had anyone chasing after him, proving they meant business with him and that he was worth it. It was high time someone did.

"I suck at this game," Karina muttered, staring at the board. They were on their fifth round, and she and Bones had settled into an easier, companionable set of interactions. He, however, was proving to be not quite an expert, but fairly adept at the task in front of him.

"Ah, you're a beginner," he said. "What brought this sudden desire to learn to play chess about?"

She shrugged. "I know people."

After a moment of silence, while he waited to see if she would deign to elaborate for him, he said, "You do know that that was extremely vague and, for that matter, made no sense with the question itself?"

Fortunately for Karina, her communicator beeped at that moment. "Huh. Cam and Jim are back. They're headed this way."

Bones moved his rook. "Checkmate."

Karina glared at the board. "This is bloody impossible."

The door burst open at that point, and Camille raced in, her eyes wild and hair flying. Jim was following behind her, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. Camille turned to Bones, looking as though she were debating what she should say, and then the words tumbled out of her like molten lava.

"I should have listened to you. That was terrifying."

Karina's jaw dropped. "You mean to tell me the girl who was born to fly hated skydiving? Someone get me this in writing!"

Camille leveled a glare at her. "I will not be sassed in this instant," she growled. "And that was not flying, that was falling to your death!"

"With style," Jim protested.

"Can it, Lieutenant Harebrain!" Camille shot at him, then fell down on the floor next to Bones' stool. She rested her head on the table where the chess set was parked, and looked up at him. "Basically, you're right. You're always right, I know that. Why don't I listen to you more often, is the question."

Bones could have rubbed it in. She was admitting he was right where she was wrong. This almost never happened. Camille Osbourne seemed to be infallible in her own eyes, and he knew this couldn't have been easy for her. Which was the very reason why he elected to not rub it in. That communication concept Karina had mentioned.

He looked up at the girl in question. She half-smiled, as though approving his decision to not speak. Satisfied, he glanced back at Camille and gestured to the table in front of him. "Chess?"

Rolling her eyes, she moved to sit in front of him and began resetting their side of the board. He watched her move expertly first against Karina, then against Jim, who was giving the younger girl a few pointers, and when Camille came back to lean against his legs, he didn't complain. All was well on the Osbourne front.