Enterprise, 2258
Sophie-Anne tried to brush herself off, look important, and slip into the hall, but Leonard McCoy wasn't having any of it. He watched Spock stand, an impassive and unreadable expression on his alien face, and quickly spun to chase after Sophie-Anne.
When he caught up with her she'd nearly reached engineering, obviously hoping to outpace him. "What was that?" he asked, biting off each word. She didn't even slow.
"Excuse me?"
He had to reach out a hand to pull her back, before she disappeared into the depths of the Enterprise to hide. "You heard me. Is there not enough to do down in engineering? You do know we're in the middle of a crisis, right?"
The ship hummed around them, but when she whirled on him all he could hear was his heart thumping awkwardly. Boy, did she look mad...
After a moment of intense staring she seemed to pull herself back together, voice softening. "Len, he just lost his mother and his home. He needed a minute," she said, but the gentleness in her tone did little to erase the memory of seeing her with Spock, sitting closer than he'd even seen anyone get to the Vulcan. Was there something between them?
"That explains what he's doing, but what's your excuse?" McCoy ran a hand down his face, knowing the words were petty but unable to keep them from spilling out. Sophie-Anne's eyes narrowed, chin jutting out in a defiant gesture he knew all too well.
"The last time I checked, you weren't my mother or my superior officer," she told him, taking a step forward and making him fall backward. When he realized what she'd done he stepped forward too, bringing them face to face.
"That's not the point. Do you know what it looks like, the two of you in there alone? Is that really what you want people to think about you?" he asked, groaning inwardly. Why don't you tell her what your real problem is? Jealousy isn't a good look for you, Leonard, he told himself, but noticed she didn't pull away when he laid a hand on her shoulder.
But her voice had gone low and dangerous, so sharp he might almost have preferred screaming. "I don't owe you any explanations. You made your choice when you chased after Jocelyn, so don't pretend you've got some sort of moral superiority over me. At least I'm not a cheater!"
"Neither am I!" he roared, startling them both. If only she knew.
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Georgia, 2245
"Get off the porch, Leonard, before I break that pretty face of yours," Wilder warned. It didn't seem possible, but Sophie-Anne's older brother had actually GROWN over the summer... or maybe he just seemed bigger because he wanted to beat the living crap out of him.
Luckily, Leonard wasn't above begging. "Please, let me talk to her. Just for a minute..."
Instead of answering Wilder picked up a nearby baseball bat, giving in an exploratory swing. "Final warning, you've got thirty seconds before I show you why I'm on a baseball scholarship," Wilder said, but his threat was interrupted by the banging screen door.
"Wild, don't." Sophie-Anne's voice stopped all of Leonard's rational thought. He hadn't seen her since her disastrous visit, hadn't even been allowed to speak with her, but there she was. He'd been expecting her to look different somehow, pale or drawn, but she looked just the same as always. Peachy skin and rosy cheeks, hair pulled back in a messy braid that always seemed to verge on collapse... the only difference were in her eyes, which seemed older somehow. Sadness, he realized, was the only word he could think of when he looked into those eyes, and it made his blood boil that he'd been the one to make her sad.
"Go inside," Wilder said, not even turning toward her, and she sighed.
"It's fine," she persisted, stepping down to lay a hand on his arm. "Seriously. I'm fine. Just give us a minute.
Wilder finally looked down at her, then glared up at Leonard. "Okay, but if you need anything just yell," he told her, pointing the bat at the teenage boy still standing on the lawn. "If you make her cry, I will end you.
He left them alone then, and Leonard had to fight the urge to run forward and take her up in his arms. The look on her face was anything but impressed, stepping down off the porch steps and onto the grass in her bare feet. "Okay, you wanted to talk, go ahead."
How many times had he gone over it in his head? All the times he'd played out what he would say if he could talk to her, how he would explain it if she would just listen to him... his mind was a total blank. "I don't know what to say," he admitted.
Her lips pursed together, like she wanted to say something but thought better of it, and after a moment of silence she shrugged. "Maybe you could start by telling me why."
The longer he thought, the less ideas he had. "I don't know."
"How can you not know?" she asked, voice rising sharply
"I don't remember!" he cried, arms flying into the air. "I don't remember any of it. She was there, and she said something to me, but I told her that I was with you, and then... nothing. The next thing I knew, it was morning and you wouldn't come out of your room. Jocelyn was there, talking about what a good night we had..."
"Stop, please-" Sophie-Anne started to turn away, but Leonard forgot himself and tried to grab her shoulders
"I don't remember it though! I would never have done that, I love you," he told her, but her attention had turned to the vehicle parked on the curb.
"Why is all that stuff in your car? I thought you didn't leave for school until August," she asked, taking a few steps forward to see. All his belongings, at least the ones that didn't come from his stepfather, were piled haphazardly in the backseat. He'd carefully left the shotgun seat empty, though.
"That's why I'm here, Soph. I want you to run away with me." Even though he knew the words were ridiculous, he still felt a swell of adrenaline saying them. Images of the two of them raced through his head: driving West until they hit the desert, sleeping under the stars...
"You're joking." Sophie-Anne didn't laugh. "You cheated on me, and now you want me to run away with you? What am I missing here?"
"I can't explain it, but I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Please, say you'll forgive me."
"Don't change the subject. There's something you're not telling me." Her expression had gone from disbelieving to positively suspicious.
He had to tell her. "Jocelyn says she's pregnant." He could barely get the words out, just saying them made him sick to his stomach.
"Pregnant," she repeated the word without emotion, but he could see the shattering in her eyes.
"Garrett says I have to marry her, but I don't even know her! I've spoken to her maybe, twice, in my entire life!"," he told her, finally capturing her shoulders. She didn't pull away, but her eyes refused to meet his, instead boring a hole into his chest. Realizing it was his last chance to get through to her, Leonard hoped Wilder wasn't watching out the window and took her face in his hands, touching their foreheads together. "I'm leaving, right now. Come with me."
She finally met his gaze, eyes filled with tears, but for a split second he realized she was considering it and felt his heart leap. "This is crazy," she muttered.
"Please. I love you so much," he pleaded, taking a chance and pressing his lips against hers. Her mouth was so soft, and he could feel her resolve weakening...
"No!" She pulled away hard, stumbling backwards away from him, and his blood ran cold. Shaking her head, she crossed her arms over her chest and looked away. "I'm sorry, Len, but I just can't. There's more people to think about now than just you and me. If you're the kind of man that would run away from his baby, then you're not the person I thought you were. Go home, marry her. That baby's going to need a father."
"Soph-"
"No."
His world seemed to crumble then, piece by piece. "This isn't fair," he told her, watching as Wilder appeared on the porch again.
Sophie-Anne laughed, but it was a humorless sound. "Life isn't fair, Leonard. Whoever told you it would be?"
She was gone with a slamming screen door.
XXXX
Enterprise, 2258
"I know what I saw, and babies don't lie," Sophie-Anne hissed, lowering her voice as a pair of engineers raced by.
"No, but crazy women do," he told her, silently begging her to read between the lines. Just come out and tell her, you idiot, let her know how Jocelyn was a lying psychopath. Tell her there was never a baby...
Her expression softened with confusion. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"I've never lied to you, Sophie-Anne, no matter what you might think," he began, finally convinced she might listen to the truth if he told her. Tired of denying his feelings and certain she still had them too, he decided it was now or never. "Soph, I have to tell you something important."
Her PADD beeped loudly in her hand, an emergency tone she'd assigned to Kirk. It seemed like he was always getting into trouble of some sort, so she'd jokingly programmed it to sound like a funeral march. When she glanced down her eyes widened. McCoy caught a glimpse of what it said, in big red letters.
I NEED BACKUP ON THE BRIDGE, FI !
Kirk had been a little overzealous in his use of exclamation points. Sophie-Anne sighed, tucking the machine into her waistband. "It'll have to wait, JT's having some sort of emergency on the bridge," she told him, and disappeared before he could protest. James Tiberious Kirk, McCoy grumbled, King of poor timing.
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a/n: i had intended to make this a 2/1 special, as an apology for my long absence, but it's getting way late :( i'll try for tomorrow, i've got a spock chapter lined up that i'm pretty excited about!