Chapter 40- Many Happy Returns
It took about a week for the sarcastic salutes from crewmembers to wear thin and it lost all novelty. Pavel was the worst offender, taking every opportunity to do it, not because he had to although I did now outrank him, but because he knew I was less than comfortable with having a division of power so starkly drawn. I preferred to remain his friend and equal as I did all others rather than his boss.
Not everything about being an officer could be covered in the 6 weeks I spent at the Academy, and I found the command to be a tight knit 'I'll get your back if you have mine' kind of structure. As such, mistakes were made but they were either corrected or smoothed over by the other officers in order to maintain a sense of integrity. McCoy and I were the clean-up crew for the bridge- often sent to diffuse and mitigate when something went wrong. I brought to the table a more personal touch while McCoy took a hard-line approach; it was like a good cop, bad cop routine but it worked.
Spock often handled our mistakes in sickbay by his mere presence. If the nurses had gotten into a snit over one of McCoy's directives and cornered him in the office with proverbial pitchforks and torches, Spock could calmly walk through the door and cast a hard, uncompromising stare across the room in his rigid stance. Without saying a word the rebellion would be put down and the crowd would slowly disburse and return to their jobs. On some level they knew that for all his yelling and tirades, McCoy was no serious threat other than administrative discipline. Spock, however, was the great mystery who had been rumored to have nearly choked the Captain to death with one hand. For his part, Spock let the fear of the unknown work to his advantage and it allowed him to talk softly and carry a big stick so to speak.
I was thankful for the quiet instruction that often came from Spock as my direct superior on some of the trickier aspects of the job such as maintaining confidentiality when it directly conflicted with orders or even his own experience in keeping business and pleasure separate if it even remotely looked like favoritism to the rank and file. Not that McCoy and I had ever violated our 9-5 rules, but there were still a few people who were reluctant to seek care form either of us because they thought we gossiped like school girls behind the office door when they left. This was more of a problem for me than him because he had the advantage of conspicuous evidence that a person was injured while I had to rely a great deal on rapport and intuition alone. Sometimes people were reluctant to speak to me about him because they thought I would repeat it back like a parrot, but I assured them that I could not even if I wanted to. And sometimes, I really did want to because some of the things they said were hilarious.
The view from the top, as it were, allowed an unexpected level of access into the private worlds of the command structure. If I thought I had known Jim, Scotty, and Spock before- I had only scratched the surface. Being in the club meant an all access pass for the most part into the everyday inner workings of the men and all of the behind the scenes doubt, fear, and triumphs of their decisions. Of course I knew that each man cared about his department, but the level of commitment was astounding; it was as if they felt personally responsible for every aspect of their well being. If a member of the crew was unhappy or seemed a bit off, they secretly fretted like a worried parent.
Spock was less affected by this, although he certainly was aware of changes in his charge's behaviors to a degree that was amazingly detailed, but the granddaddy of the worry warts was without a doubt Jim. He may have looked casual and nonchalant on the surface, but underneath it all he was a company man who just wanted what was best for his crew, and he probably noticed behavioral anomalies more so than Spock. As it turned out, he was usually at the center of the ship's grist mill. He knew every minute detail about everything that went on between most everyone on the ship. No matter how insignificant the interaction may have been, he was in the know. No two people could greet each other in the hall without his being aware of it.
I woke fairly early because McCoy had again robbed the blankets. It was almost time to get up, so I just let him be and got dressed and went to sickbay to have an extra long coffee warm-up. The lights were still dim in the main bay as the replicator dutifully made my usual and I chatted quietly with the night charge nurse. Scotty had been kind enough to make a shortcut button on the replicator just for me since I ordered the same thing every day. When McCoy made it to the office at 0859, we quickly locked lips even though I was still miffed at him. I wasn't really one to hold grudges, though.
"Who doesn't love mint coffee flavored kisses in the morning?" He mused with a smile as he sat at his desk and took a sip of the steaming black coffee I had waiting for him. "You know, I never drank coffee much until I met you."
"No, you were into things that were more likely to put you to sleep." I quipped with a smirk.
He gave a lazy smile. "Just like you. I offer you an olive branch and you eat the olives." He sighed heavily and continued, "I suppose this is about the blankets again. I can't help it that you are a sore loser."
"I'm not a sore loser," I defended, "you are assuming the battle is over. It has only just begun."
We were interrupted by Uhura's smooth voice on the intercom. "Dr. McCoy, I have a relayed live transmission on hold for you from Earth. I believe it is your daughter."
His eyes widened first in excitement, but then narrowed as he became suspicious as to why his daughter would be sending him a relayed message all the way out here rather than a video. "Send it to my office." He requested as he turned on his monitor. I could tell her face appeared on his screen by the way his eyes lit up at the sight of her. "Hey, baby! How's my girl?" He drawled.
There was a long pause before her voice came through. "Hi, Daddy." She giggled. "I miss you."
"I miss you too, darlin'." He sighed. I smiled and got up to leave to give him some privacy. His eyes flickered to me and he said, "Collins, say hello before you go."
I came to a stop behind his chair and bent down slightly to say, "Hello, Jo. How do you like Phoenix?"
Her face had become tan, making her eyes stand out even more and her hair had become lightened by the sun. She smiled politely and replied, "It's warm like Georgia and the kids at school are really nice. Daddy, the girls at school don't believe me that you are my daddy and that Captain Kirk told me happy birthday."
McCoy laughed lightly. "Well, there is no denying that you are my little girl. Those silly girls don't know what they are talking about. I'll tell you what, maybe I can talk Captain Kirk into making a video with me to send to you so you can show them."
Her eyes sparkled at the thought of sweet revenge. Ah, the politics of girlhood. "That would be great, Daddy!" She squealed. Her tan face blushed a slight red as she asked, "Can Chekov be in it too?"
McCoy's brow furrowed as he echoed, "Chekov?" I gave him a light tap on the back and tried not to laugh as he put two and two together. His voice grew deeper and he frowned, "Uh…sure. I guess I could ask him." He was absolutely seething inside, although he tried his best to hide his disgust while she exploded in joy. His little baby had noticed boys.
I gave him another supportive pat on the shoulder and left him to contend with her boisterous exuberance over the opposite sex. His eyes pleaded with me not to leave him, but he had to face it sooner or later. It was all downhill from here. Next would come boy bands, giggle fits, unfathomable fashions, glittery pink things, and irrational obsessions with her hair. There was no doubt about it, McCoy was suddenly and hopelessly lost in the land of gumdrops, sugar and spice.
I took my coffee out to the main bay to see Sulu perched on the side of the bed and squinting as the nurse carefully bandaged his hand. I approached him and asked, "Sulu, what happened?"
He glanced up at me with a sheepish smile and admitted, "Scotty and I got a little carried away last night. He was trying to teach me how to box and I hurt my hand. I didn't think it was a big deal, but when I got up this morning my hand was all swollen and blue."
"That would be because you have a fracture to the metacarpals." The nurse scolded. "You're lucky it wasn't a complete one or I would have to get Dr. McCoy to look at it."
Sulu seemed equally relieved. "Maybe I should have worn the gloves." He muttered.
"You were boxing with bare knuckles?" I gasped. "That isn't boxing, that's roughnecking."
"Scotty wasn't wearing any, either!" He defended with an innocent look.
"I'll have to keep an eye on you guys. Pretty soon you and Scotty will start a fight club in the engine rooms." I shook my head and chuckled.
Sulu laughed and asked, "Do you know Tyler Durdren?" Of course I did, it was a perennial favorite for Jim & Scotty's movie night.
"Collins?" McCoy yelled from the office. I poked my head around the dividing wall to see him standing in the doorway with a mystified look on his face. "Jocelyn wants to talk to you."
I raised my eyebrows and he gave a defeated shrug. He quietly shut the door when I took the seat at his desk. The mental countdown began in my head for the time remaining until he discovered Sulu and began yelling at him for his extracurricular activities.
"Hello, Dr. Collins." She greeted with an uneasy smile. The lag between the audio and video was a little like watching badly dubbed kung-fu movies on Saturday mornings; they didn't match and the video was jerky, making her look like Max Headroom. As if it were just as bad on her end, she apologetically said, "You guys must be drifting out of range or a ship has dropped a link, I can barely see you. Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks. I like it here in Phoenix. Clay did try to track me down, but he was arrested thanks to the restraining order. I hope you haven't told Leonard anything about what happened. And, you will be happy to know that I got a job as a secretary and I started taking night classes in business at the local college, so I am doing ok."
I smiled even though I wasn't sure if she could see it. "That's great." I encouraged. "Good luck on your courses and remember that it might be hard, but what is the cost of raising a healthy, confident, independent woman?"
She laughed and replied, "She would have been independent no matter what I do. She gets that stubbornness from her father." She paused and lowered her eyes. "Seriously, though. Thanks for helping me get out of Atlanta. I would probably still be there if you hadn't come with him that day."
"You're welcome." I answered somewhat embarrassed. "It's my job. But let's just say I had been around that block myself and I know firsthand that it takes a lot of courage to change directions. You can't always do it alone. The only thing that I ask is that when you are in a position to help someone else at some point in your life that you do it with whatever talent or connection you have at your disposal. This world can be cruel and unfair and we will only get through it if we watch out for one another."
She smiled and nodded her head before the connection was lost. "Dr. McCoy, I am sorry, but the link was too weak to pick up." Uhura apologized. I didn't respond for him.
McCoy came to bed late that night due to an emergency appendectomy on a security person who had somehow managed to hide her discomfort by rationalizing it as menstrual cramps for hours until the pain became unbearable and her roommate took her to sickbay. He collapsed into the bed with a weary sigh, but smiled faintly. "This is what I was looking forward to." He breathed into my ear as he snuggled up close.
"In that case, welcome back." I kissed his forehead as I usually did and wrapped an arm around him under the blankets. He made a strangely erotic sound that was a mix of growling and purring and I smiled.
"Security to Dr. Collins." A man's voice called over the intercom.
"Noooo." McCoy whined pulling me close. "Don't answer it."
"I have to." I gently chided in his ear. "Such is the life of two doctors who are always on call." I quickly kissed his full lips and called a little louder, "Go for Collins."
"Doctor, we have received reports of a person in distress in engineering."
"On my way." I answered pulling on my pants and groping for a shirt in the dark. I finally found one and pulled it over my head. I didn't know if it was mine or McCoy's, but since we were now the same rank and department it didn't really matter; our uniforms were identical.
"Do you want me to go along?" He asked yawning.
"No. You stay here and get some sleep. You know how long these things can go sometimes." I sighed. "I'll call you if I need you."
