A/N: I'm back again. Sorry for the wait as usual. Hopefully I'll get the next one out a bit faster. Thank yous to Bookdragon01 for beta-ing. You will never know how much it means to me.
Jim woke slightly disoriented, he lay there for a minute, squinting, wondering what happened to his quarters. It was just barely dawn by the amount of light. Then he heard a rustle across the room, peering over he saw Bones still asleep in the other bed, covers pulled around his ears as usual, and the day before came rushing back.
Quietly slipping out of bed; he peeked into Joanna's room. She was sound asleep, curled up around her bear, the covers nearly kicked off. Jim smiled as he carefully covered her back up and after a quick stop in the bathroom; headed back to bed.
For good or bad Leonard McCoy was one of those that could wake at the drop of a hat, and any increase in noise would wake him out of a sound sleep. The faint sounds of Jim moving around the suite woke him, as they had for their three years at the Academy, no matter how quiet Jim was. This time the events of the day before had him half out of bed before he realized it, to check on Joanna.
"I just checked on her, Bones. She's fine; she'd kicked the covers off so I pulled them back up. All she did was shift her grip on her bear as I walked out." Jim's sleepy voice from the next bed made him relax in relief and lay back down.
"Thanks Jim," he said looking over at his friend. Soon they were both sleeping soundly again.
A couple hours later the closing of the bedroom door woke Jim. Cracking one eye open, he watched Bones finish drying his hair before sitting up and stretching.
"JoJo up yet?" he asked through a yawn.
"No but you might wanna be quick if you want to get a shower before she is," Bones replied sitting down to put on his boots. It always amazed him that Jim could sleep through most everyday sounds but any sounds near him would wake him in seconds.
"Gotcha. See you in a few. I'd better call Logan make sure she knows that we're going to Iowa." He gathered up his things and headed for the shower.
"Jim I want to check your ribs this mornin'. And I'm not gonna to let you talk me out of it, you're a bit more bruised today, I don't think it's serious, but I want to be sure. Besides you're still slightly hoarse." Bones smiled as Jim flipped him the bird and left the room, a few moments later he heard the bathroom door shut and the shower start. Standing up, with a small chuckle at his friend's antics, McCoy headed for the synthesizer to see about coffee before Joanna woke up.
Ten minutes later Jim stepped out of the bathroom, holding his shirt, and crossed to the small table.
"Ok Bones let's get this over with," he sighed plopping backwards into the nearest chair. McCoy chuckled at the disgruntled look on Jim's face as he pulled out his tricorder, some things never changed, and Jim's dislike of medical anything was reassuring in an odd way. Handing Jim a cup of coffee Bones started running the sensor over the bruises on the left side of his torso, head and throat. As he finished checking the goose egg on the back of Jim's head, Joanna came out of her room and froze.
"Uncle Jim, are you alright?" she gasped hurrying over as fast as her still mending ankle would allow, carefully looking at the bruises on his arms and torso.
"I'm fine JoJo. I got those fighting Victor yesterday. And no they don't really hurt; I get enough sparing against Spock, Sulu and a few others that I don't really even notice them anymore." He smiled at the look of disbelief she gave him.
"It's true Joanna. But I usually still see him about once a week for sparing injuries," McCoy assured her, running one more scan on Jim's head, though he knew Jim was fine.
"Just the stuff my uniform can't hide or is serious enough that I can't move right," Jim retorted indignantly, motioning at the bruises on his arms.
"Yeah and I see even less of ya when I should since you decided to keep stuff in your quarters. Or did you think I wouldn't notice that we seemed to suddenly be usin' more analgesics and muscle relaxers than we used to?" Bones groused as he put down the tricorder.
"What? Bones, yes I started keeping some stuff in my quarters, but I didn't take them out of the Medbay! I'm not that stupid! I picked them up on Starbase 10, right after we had that run in with the Romulans and the Camera Sight Flu this last mission," Jim replied shock written plain on his face. "Just how much are we talking about being gone?"
"Jim it was Kamaraazite Flu that you and the away team brought back from that medicinal drop on Bolaris. And I noticed things were missin' bout a week after the Romulans; so about 3-4 days before Starbase10. And we've lost, close as I can remember, 2 ½ cases of muscle relaxers and 4 of analgesics," McCoy said running his hand through his hair in annoyance. Of course this sort of thing would happen now, right when he didn't need the extra distraction.
"Ok Bones I'll call the APD and make sure they know about our trip and we'll both call Pike to let him know about the theft. But first breakfast," Jim said, standing up and patting Bones on the shoulder. "Pike won't be up yet anyway so we have a bit of time to kill. It's only 0800 here," he reminded his CMO as he pulled his shirt on.
"Jim, I'll comm. Pike, it's part of my job as CMO. Joanna what do ya want for breakfast, Darlin'?" Bones asked nodding at Jim in agreement.
"What's on the list?" she asked limping over to the synthesizer.
"JoJo any waffles on there?" Jim asked trying to read over her shoulder.
"Yes plain, fruit topped, or Belgian."
"Jo, do they have a real breakfast on there?" Bones asked as he finished clearing the table. The synthesizers on the ship couldn't make grits for anything. Eggs, bacon, and toast they did alright on but grits more closely resembled his memories of Paper Mache paste than anything edible. So much so that Chapel had once suggested that it would make an excellent casting agent for broken bones if the osteo-regenerators ever went out during an emergency.
"I'm not sure Daddy, yep they do. Want me to put all that in?" Joanna asked quietly remembering the huge breakfasts he used to cook on the weekends.
"Sure Jo if you don't mind." Joanna quickly entered both her and her father's orders and he carried them back to the table. Jim followed a couple minutes later with a plate of strawberry waffles; both McCoy's had eggs, bacon, toast, grits, and hash browns. Jim shook his head slightly at the grits but knew better than to comment on his friend's choice of breakfast. He'd tried them, both at the Academy and on the ship and had almost gagged at the taste and texture no matter what Bones had recommended putting on them.
After he finished eating, Jim went to make the call to Capt Logan, while Bones checked over Joanna's injuries once again. Jim hoped it would be a quick conversation but he had the feeling it wouldn't.
Captain Logan answered quickly, "Captain Kirk, what can I do for you this mornin'?" She looked like she'd just gotten in, and was finishing a cup of coffee or something.
"Good morning Captain, I wanted to touch bases with you this morning. And ask if you had anything new on your end of this mess we needed to know. I also wanted to make sure that the report from Dr Pierce at Atlanta General reached you," Jim replied diplomatically.
"Yes it did and it did help some, we managed to get an admission from her, and I guess you could call it a partial confession from him. But Victor Donovan has been in the system since he was younger than you Captain, so we're gettin' mostly threats and curses. Sometimes I wish we could go back to some of the tactics used a couple hundred years ago, and scare the truth out of him" she reported wearily.
"We'll pass that suggestion along to Lt Cmdr Rhymer, since part of this is going to be Starfleet jurisdiction, he might have some suggestions about it. Also Captain, we had a slight change in our plans last night," Jim said.
"Really?" Logan interrupted.
"I called to let my mother know that I wasn't going to make it when I'd told her, and she offered to let Dr. McCoy and Joanna stay with us for the next two weeks, in Iowa. He and I thought that it might be good to get her away from all the memories and if the media get a hold of it- well we've had our fill of dodging reporters for the moment. And I don't want to be having to bail my CMO out or be bailed out of jail cause some of them got inappropriate," Jim explained.
"I understand wantin' to get away from the media, I don't think they'll be that bad, if you did stay; but I won't force you. I agree that they both have been through enough the last few days. May I ask why you dislike reporters so much right now?" Logan asked.
"A lot of reasons Captain, most are from the last two years. The whole time we were waiting for repairs, we could hardly set foot outside the Academy grounds without getting ambushed by them. And just this last week we had one literally corner Cmdr Spock and start trying to grill him about what happened on Vulcan and to his mother. It's still a touchy subject for him, so naturally he reacted, after he couldn't get away from the idiot. When we got there the reporter was hanging by his belt off a seven foot trellis. An angry Vulcan, half human or not, is no joke; believe me," Jim gave a small chuckle and rubbed his throat. Then he sobered. "And I'm tired of seeing the people I've come to think of as family put through that shit; seeing their darkest moments, stupidest mistakes, or innocent moments twisted and splashed all over the place. Since they got our names two years ago they've been digging and once they ran out of real dirt, they started making shit up about us. I'm still mad about some of those pictures and stories; they never even tried to find out the truth," he finished almost growling.
"I remember some of the stories you're talking about Captain Kirk and I agree with you," Captain Logan said, thinking about some of the more lurid stories that the tabloids had come out with at the time. "Alright I will get with Lt Cmdr Rhymer as soon as he's available and let you get goin' to Iowa. Captain, I know I can't promise anythin' but I will do my best to keep the press off your backs. I'll comm. you if we need anythin'. I will warn you though at some point Joanna and both of you are goin' to have to make a formal statement and the sooner the better; both Starfleet and the DA here will need them. I received Cmdr Spock's and Lt Uhura's this morning. Safe travels."
"Thank you Captain, we appreciate it. I'll see what I can set up once we're a bit more settled, probably later this coming week or early next. We'll be in touch; Kirk out."
Bones had finished Joanna's check up, and they had started getting packed while Jim was talking. When he walked in the bedroom Joanna was seated on the bed dropping things into her father's bag as he tossed or handed them to her giggling when she missed and one of her dad's shirts landed on her head.
"Looks like a pretty good system guys. What can I do to help?" Jim asked glancing around.
"All your stuff Jim, have at it." Bones chuckled placing the last of his things in the bag and closing it.
"Ok. Is that all that's left?"
"Yes," Bones said.
"Did you get my stuff or just yours outta the bathroom?"
"Look around Jim it's all on your bed," Bones said as Joanna started giggling at the comically disgusted look on Jim's face as he started repacking his bag.
"Some friends you are," he grumbled good naturedly.
"I happen to think it's pretty fair Jim. Who ended up cleanin' your messes up before inspections for three years? That would be me," McCoy reminded Jim as he picked up his and Joanna's bags as the two of them headed for the living room.
"Well don't forget that you need to brave Adm. Pike's wrath for not catching those thefts earlier." The two of them shared a nervous glance at the thought of what Pike was going to say as Jim got back to work packing.
"Jo I need to get a hold of Adm. Pike. You can go back and help Jim if you want," McCoy told her as he set their bags by the door.
"I brought a book I wanna finish Daddy," Joanna replied softly, pulling a blue PADD out of her backpack.
"I'll try and be quick Darlin' but with meds missing this might take awhile," he said as he sat down and keyed in the number.
"Bones, what's going on this morning?" Pike asked when he saw who was calling.
"Well we have a bit of a problem, sir, that Jim and I just discovered," McCoy began carefully.
"Oh, what kind of problem?" Pike asked, looking a bit surprised at McCoy's manner.
"Someone's been liftin' meds from the Medbay," McCoy began and braced for the explosion.
"What!" Pike demanded. "What are we talking about, and how the hell did you not catch it before now? Also how did you manage to do it from Atlanta when you didn't while on the ship?"
"The reason we found out is cause of a remark I made when I was checkin' Jim's bruises this mornin', to help reassure Jo that he was alright. Jim told her that he got worse from sparrin' with Spock and the others; and I backed him up that he did. I figured he'd laugh it off the way he does when he's caught when I asked him if he thought I wouldn't notice that he was keepin' stuff so he wouldn't have to come in as much cause we were goin' through common analgesics and muscle relaxers faster all of a sudden."
"And what is 'all of a sudden'?" Pike asked.
"This last mission, somewhere around our bein' quarantined for Kamaraazite Flu and that damn Romulan attack near as I can figure it. I didn't really notice until after things settled down and I had a chance to go over things for restocking at Starbase 10. Those were the main medications we were usin' in most cases to treat that flu, only the worst hit got anythin' stronger,"McCoy explained. "At first I thought Jim had sweet talked one of the nurses into giving him a few extra when he came in, but the amount's too large for one person, even if they were hooked on the stuff. When we docked at Starbase One last week, we were short 2 ½ cases of muscle relaxers and 4 of analgesics if my memory is right."
"Alright Bones, I'll have Giotto look into it. I also want you to change all the medicine codes that aren't locked up when you get back," Pike informed him. "And I expect you to keep a better watch on the medicine in the future. I understand you were stretched between the epidemic and the attack, and I guess I should be grateful that it wasn't the stronger medicines that were taken."
"Those are under bio-lock Admiral; only five of us on the ship have access to them. And Spock has the only other override, I know Jim doesn't," McCoy said.
"Alright. Now fill me in on what happened yesterday after Rhymer left," Pike requested.
McCoy quickly filled in what happened after they'd left the shuttle terminal. As he finished Joanna came over and crawled in his lap. As soon as he saw the bruises Pike's eyes widened in shock. Rhymer had described her injuries and he'd read the report from Atlanta General but even after all he'd seen in the last thirty-three years in Starfleet the sight of an injured child still made his blood boil, especially when the child belonged to someone he knew.
"Good morning Joanna, how are you?" Pike asked softly remembering the lessons learned over the years dealing with the smallest victims.
"I'm doin' alright Admiral," Joanna replied with a slight smile.
"I'm glad. Well I'll let you go Bones. Have a good trip and don't forget what I told you." Pike replied with a hard glance at McCoy.
"We will, and I won't forget. We'll talk to you soon Sir, McCoy out," he said and closed the connection. "Jim you almost done?"
"Yeah, just finished Bones," Jim said coming out of the bedroom with his bag. "You can fill me in on what Pike said on the way to the terminal."
As they waited for the10 o'clock shuttle to be called they discussed things to do over the next couple of weeks. There wasn't a lot to do in Riverside but there was a lot of country, the shipyards and a few other things.
"I do want to take everyone over to the Shipyard Bar though before we leave. Probably the last night, since the last time I was there I left the next day for the Academy. Be kinda interesting to make it a tradition," Jim said chuckling at the memory.
"I remember hearing something about a bar fight that morning, but didn't pay attention, or connect you with it. Probably should have the way you looked though," Bones half grumbled, having heard the story over the last five years.
"Yep don't forget Cupcake and crew. I haven't called him that to anyone but you in the last two years and its still going around. But all in all he's more tolerable now than he was in the Academy, thankfully," Jim replied thinking back to that night.
"What happened, Uncle Jim?" Joanna asked looking intrigued.
"I went out to a bar in the next town one night and there were a bunch of cadets there. Uhura and I got to talking, but these four cadets got mad and decided to make a big deal of it. Uhura just kinda laughed it off, but I was stupid and had been drinking so I made a rather rude joke about what she'd told them. When the guys started getting in my face I called the leader Cupcake. He thought I was looking for a fight, I hadn't till then, so I said something to him, and turned back to get my drink. Then he sucker punched me and the fight was on. If I hadn't gotten blindsided by a blow to the jaw, and all the alcohol I'd had I might have come out better. Pike broke it up and dared me to do better than my dad" Jim explained carefully, he really couldn't go into too much detail, both because some of it was fuzzy anyway and because a lot of what wasn't really wasn't fit for a ten year old.
"What did your Dad do that he wanted you to beat?" she asked next.
Both Jim and Bones looked at each other over her head, Bones shrugged, and gave him an it's your call look. He knew Joanna would ask later until she found out.
"You've heard of the Kelvin JoJo right?" he asked softly leaning forward to rest his arms on his knees and turning so he wouldn't be over heard as easily.
"I heard some kids talkin' about it in school this week. They were sayin' that it was mentioned in the memorials. They mentioned it in history but other than it getting' destroyed I don't remember much," she replied trying to remember what else she'd heard.
"Well my parents were assigned to it when it was destroyed. I'll tell you the whole story when we get to Iowa JoJo, I promise. But Pike dared me to do better than my Dad, because in the last twelve minutes before it was destroyed he managed to saved 800 lives," he told her somberly.
Joanna looked at him with her good eye the left was hidden behind her hair, thinking hard. "I think you did it Uncle Jim," she told him.
"Yeah I know Kiddo. Thanks," he told her with a rueful smile as their shuttle was called.
Jim and Joanna kept Bones distracted for most of the trip before she started dozing. After she was sleeping in her seat between them, Bones looked over at Jim, "Is your Mom gonna pick us up or do we need to find a ride?"
"She said that she'd come get us when I called her from the terminal. I told you what Logan told me right; about the paperwork we still need?" he replied softly glancing around slightly nervous. No one, but the flight steward, who'd recognized him, knew who they were at this point and he wanted to keep it that way, so that if Captain Logan was wrong about the media it would be harder to find them.
"Yeah Jim, at least a dozen times. We'll get it sorted out as soon as we can but there's no use makin' a fuss on the weekend. Are ya gonna tell her the whole thing about the Kelvin or just the highlights like you did with the bar fight?" McCoy asked changing the subject.
"I'll tell her as much as she wants to know. Hell if that witch of an ex of yours would have let her watch last week she'd know pretty much the whole thing. Mom said that she'd recorded it, so maybe we could let her watch, and then answer anything she still has questions about." Jim shrugged looking at Bones to see what he thought.
"That would probably be best; Pike's dissertation isn't something she'll be able to understand totally; some of it is over my head. Are you gonna show your Mom the plaque?"Bones said thoughtfully.
"What do you think Bones? Yes. I'm thinking of hanging it either in my office or quarters. I haven't decided yet; probably won't till I get there and can see where it'll look best,"Jim said thoughtfully
"Sounds like a plan Jim. How much longer are we on this flying deathtrap for anyway?" Bones groused looking out the window irritably.
"Relax Bones, only about five more minutes ok? I thought we got you a bit more comfortable with this?" Jim grinned not really surprised to hear his friend's complaints.
"I am, ya idiot, just not with my daughter on board ok." Bones snapped back.
"Ok calm down, it's almost over then we'll be on the ground again," Jim assured him, rolling his eyes at his antics, as Bones gently woke Joanna.