Sorry about the slow update. I have been busy the last months finishing up college. Hopefully I can update more soon. I have plenty of things written, but they need to be edited.

Forgive my typos and errors. I hope to find time to go through and edit everything.

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek.

Two days had passed. Only two. Yet for some reason McCoy felt anxious to go to his Trill Neurology class again. He had to tell himself it wasn't because he was excited to see Lieutenant Chapel. Right?

Jim had been winding him up the past 48 hours about his "chance" encounter with her. He shook his head thinking about it.

He looked at his feet as he walked down the hallway to his first class this morning. Trill neurology. He was determined as hell to not make the same mistake twice. He reached the room 15 minutes early and no one was there. He let out a sigh slightly hoping he would have some time to talk to Chapel before class. He sat down in his spot in the front where he was last time. Might as well keep it. He wasn't scared of Chapel, he was intrigued.

McCoy set down his bag and took out his PADDs. He took one in his hands and looked at a new alert. It was a message. He felt anxious when he read the name. Joanna, Time 0700. The current time was 0820. He opened it immediately. How could he be so distracted this morning and not have read it yet?

*Dad,

I am now 6 years old. I'm going to be a grown up soon. So you better visit me soon.

At school this week a boy kissed me on the cheek because he said that's what happens when it's your birthday. I was so scared because Nanny told me that you can become pregnant from kissing. I started to cry. Mom found out she laughed at me but I was so scared. She told me a yucky thing and I never want to have kids or be married. I want to grow up to be an cool doctor.

Thanks for sending me a present for my birthday. I really love my new stuffed unicorn. I named her Bessy after Grandma Julie's horse. Remember when we rode horses last summer? Can we do that again?

I really want to see you soon. I'm afraid I'll forget how you look. So send me a picture. Ok?

Mommy said I should send you a photo of me because I'm older now.

Joanna*

Leonard stared at the screen in shock. A boy already took her first kiss? She was only 6 years old! He felt irritated that a small boy did that to his daughter. The questions started to accumulate in his mind as he read the message over again.

Why did her nanny tell her that kissing makes people pregnant? Why didn't she hear about that from Jocelyn? For a moment he felt annoyance towards his ex-wife. He sighed. At least Joanna wasn't into romance or the idea of marriage yet.

Attached to the message was a photo of a young girl with light brown hair in a neat braid. Her eyes looked exactly like his own and she had all her teeth except for one that was missing in the front. Pride swelled in McCoy's chest as he looked at the picture, but was followed by an aching pain because he really did miss his daughter.

He went to touch the reply button, and was at lose as to how to respond. Joanna made him feel an array of emotions all within 3 minutes. He was definitely going insane.

"Cadet McCoy?"

Leonard instantly set down his PADD and looked up. He felt the obnoxious butterflies start to flutter in his stomach. The feeling grew and he tried his best to ignore it. Christine had a gentle smile on her face. She looked slightly tired but she was still radiant.

For some reason he couldn't think of what to say. Instead he nodded with a small smile mirroring her own.

"Why are you here so early? Class starts at 0835."

"I would hardly constitute 10 minutes as too early?"

Her gentle facial expression remained the same,"I'm happy you took my advice last class to heart," she paused for a moment and gave his a questioning look, " Are you trying to become a teacher's pet? Do you have a bad GPA and need an A in this class?"

For a moment he wanted to respond with some irritation but he could tell she was teasing him. He had to admit that he liked that she was giving him a hard time. He wasn't going to let her win this.

"No, I wanted to show up early so you could tell me about those patients."

Chapel's face changed and she blushed in embarrassment, "Oh, I can't believe I forgot. Sorry about that. They are doing fine. They were stable and on the way to recovery when I last saw them."

McCoy was relieved, "Good."

It was quite for a few seconds and then a few students started to walk into the classroom and Lieutenant Chapel looked at McCoy, "I really have to get set up for the lecture."

She turned around quickly then turned to face him again as if recalling something "Can I discuss something with you after class?"

"Of course." McCoy tried his best not to smile he didn't want to seem too eager, but he would be lying if he didn't say he was pleased.

Christine walked away and set her PADDs on a desk. McCoy stared at her as she focused on prepping for her lecture. As he examined her face more he realized that she was really attractive. He wondered how old she was. Maybe she was 25 but not much older than that. He was 29 so that wasn't too big of a difference if that was her age.

It dawned on him that he literally knew nothing about her yet he had this fixation on her for the last five days. It was uncharacteristic of him to think of a woman that frequently. The auditorium continued to fill up as he silently stared at her.

The lecture started and it was very insightful in the fact that it theorized the origins and evolutions of Trills. Chapel also did an in-depth analysis of the chemical composition of Trills. A joined trill has two cerebral nuclei that have two different wave length patterns that work like two connected computers. Insect bites could be so detrimental to the host and symboinant because the venom disrupts that connection which could lead to death of both the host and syboinant. Lieutenant Chapel was very thorough in her explanations and reasonings.

"Don't forget your assignment is due today by midnight. Make sure you read the next chapter on common Trill diseases and sickness. There will be a quiz next time."

All the cadets rose and started to walk to their next classes. McCoy was lucky he dropped his next class for the semester. He could now talk to Lieutenant Chapel without worrying about his schedule.

He walked over to Chapel as she was gathering her PADDs. She looked up and had welcoming eyes. "Was that lecture interesting enough, Cadet?"

"Of course. I had no idea insect bites could cause that type of reaction? I wonder if there is a comprehensive study on the types of insects and which planets they originate."

"I know there was research that a Doctor M'Benga started but it would be hard to cover every insect. Maybe the Federation planets would be a good place to start?"

"Agreed, that would be one hell of a challenge."

Chapel smiled, "I have to walk to my next class that starts in 15 minutes but we can discuss this more as we walk."

She gathered her PADDs and they started to walk down the hall and discuss the topic more in-depth.

As they walked McCoy spotted Jim down the hall. Kirk squinted his eyes as he looked at who McCoy was talking to. After Kirk stared long at the woman a dawning of realization appeared on his face and he almost turned around to walk away. Instead, McCoy felt like making Jim run for his money and shouted his name, "Jim! Come on over here."

Christine stopped and looked at the person McCoy was waving and yelling at. Irritation started to become visible, but she instantly put on a professional face. She was after all still an instructor. Kirk started to walk towards them hesitantly. Even though Christine's face was professional he felt like her eyes said that she had a vendetta for him.

McCoy wanted to laugh but remained neutral as he saw Jim's face. Jim looked like a nervous schoolboy who was avoiding getting flogged by a wooden paddle.

"Jim, we should go get a drink after classes are over today."

Jim was avoiding looking at Chapel. Leonard felt pleasure at making him squirm. " We should. I need one."

"Oh, Jim I forgot this is Lieutenant Chapel."

Christine spoke first, "Kirk and I have met before but not on very favorable terms, but the past is the past." Her eyes became ice as she finished the sentence.

Kirk had a feeling that McCoy was really enjoying this as he eyed him with a smug smirk. He may have felt extremely uncomfortable but he was going to turn this around and get away from the judging gaze of Christine Chapel.

Jim's face became more relaxed as mischievousness began to fill his eyes, "Yes we didn't meet under the best circumstances but I am truly sorry. I'll be heading to my next class. Make sure you don't take Bones on any shuttle rides anytime soon. He has extreme aviophobia. Extreme. Trust me I know."

Kirk winked at Bones as payback and walked down the hall. Leonard felt some embarrassment and anger at his friend giving away one of his biggest weaknesses. He looked over at Christine's face which was confused about what just happened and then spoke.

"Is he joking about the aviophobia thing? I don't if know I can trust what Kirk has to say."

McCoy's mouth felt dry, "Uh-no he wasn't."

Christine nodded her head and you could she the sparkle in her eye as she found it amusing. "I would have never thought that you would be terrified of flying in shuttles?"

He felt dread at her wanting to know, "Oh, trust me it's a long tale to tell."

"I bet. I guess you will have to tell me another time."

As they walked Christine stopped in front of a classroom, "Well, this is my stop."

Right as Christine was about to turn around she hesitated and turned to him, "I'm currently working on a funded bio-research project for Starfleet. The Academy has given me permission to hire an assistant researcher to the project. I was wondering if you would be interested in a project like that." She paused for a moment and started to blush, "I actually decided to ask you because I was hoping to learn more from you than the other way around. I could discuss the project in more detail on the weekend. We could get a drink and I could give you more details about it."

Chapel's face looked so hopeful and McCoy had no desire to piss her off or see her icy cold gaze ever directed at him again. He felt excitement at the thought of spending time with her alone. He responded almost too eagerly. He was flattered actually.

"I'm very interested. When and where?"

Christine's face lit up with excitement, " How about next Wednesday at 1300? We could meet at Commonwealth?"

McCoy smirked, she had good taste, "That works fine for me."

She waved her hand and walked in the room. McCoy stood there for a moment smiling to himself like and idiot. He was pleased with the turn of events.

The rest of the day was normal for McCoy. When Bones walked into his dorm he saw Kirk actually studying.

He spoke "I'm shocked that you are even here."

"Like you said if I want to become a captain in 2 1/2 years, I have to do some studying, Bones. I'm not always cheating my way through classes. Also, why did you have to talk to me when you were with Christine?"

"Jim, have you ever heard about, an eye for an eye? That was for all those times I had to save you from near death experiences."

"Whatever. I hope you had fun explaining to Lieutenant Chapel why you have aviophobia."

"Luckily, I didn't have to. She asked me if I wanted to be her research assistant, and we are going to talk about it next week."

"You weren't stupid enough to say no, right?"

"Of course not. I'm genuinely interested in the position. Being a full-time doctor the last couple years didn't let me have a chance to do as much research as I wanted. It's a good opportunity."

"Definitely a good opportunity." Kirk gave him a knowing look. Bones saw his double meaning.

"Enough talking didn't you say you were actually studying?"

"Alright, but you know I'm going to keep pestering you about any woman you are interested in."

"I wouldn't say I'm interested. I just want to get to know her."

"Same thing, Bones."

McCoy sighed, and set his stuff on his desk. He sat down and picked up a PADD. He opened it and saw that he forgot to message Joanna. It was already the end of the day. He internally chastised himself for forgetting. He ran his hand through his hair trying to think of a way to even respond.

*Joanna,

I'm so happy that you are doing well. Make sure you don't let any other boys kiss you. Tell them your Dad will have to talk to them if they do.

We will have to ride horse again, but I have no idea when. I promise I will see you in the future.

Remember to listen to your mom and study hard in school.

Thanks for sending me the picture. Here is one of me.

I love you,

Dad*

McCoy sighed he didn't even know if that was a good response. He didn't think that he was that great of a father.

His finger hovered over the send button he hesitated for a moment and pushed it.

He looked at Kirk who was studying, "Hey, Jim remember how I said how we should get drinks earlier?"

"Yeah."

"Want to go?"

"Yes, its better than this textbook on the Kobayashi maru."