A/N: Unfortunately I only own the people you DON"T recognize. Damnit!
To those authors out there that have written Sarek and Winona fics I'm not trying to make fun of them as a couple or your writing. Actually I'd totally forgotten about the pairing when I wrote this chapter, I was looking for the most unlikely couple from Jim's POV. I also picked them because they're the only parents we know really anything about as well. I'm not trying t offend anyone.
A scream woke them in the middle of the night. Bones rolled out of bed instantly awake as Jim dropped off the top bunk right behind him; they headed for Joanna's room with Winona a couple of seconds behind them, hitting the hall light switch as she passed.
Joanna was sitting up in bed sobbing as her dad dropped onto the edge of the bed and held her. After a pause Jim settled on the opposite side of the bed, gently resting a hand on her back. Winona sat at the foot of the bed close enough to rest a hand on her legs. She settled down after a few minutes and snuggled hiccoughing slightly into her father's arms.
"What was it Jo? Can ya tell me?" McCoy whispered.
"It's alright JoJo," Jim told her softly, making her look at him and shake her head.
"H-He'll get me," she whispered.
"No, he won't JoJo I promise he's locked up tight. If by some astronomical disaster he got out, he'd have to get past the crew of the Enterprise and a good part of Starfleet, plus your dad, Mom and me to get anywhere near you," Jim assured her rubbing her back.
"H-he was ch-chasin' me but I kept goin' s-slower. Then right as t I g-got to the stairs he was gonna push me and I-I woke up," Joanna whispered after a few moments.
"Oh Honey, you're safe here, we'll make sure of that," Winona said gently patting Joanna's blanket covered legs. "Joanna, do you want one of us to stay with you?"
"Daddy," she replied looking up at him.
"Ok Darlin', tell Jim and Miss Winona good night and lay down," McCoy told her standing up.
Jim scooted over a bit and hugged her. "Night JoJo, it'll get better, I promise," he whispered to her dropping an impulsive kiss on top of her head.
"Night Uncle Jim, Miss Winona, sorry for wakin' ya," she replied, yawning as he got up and moved to stand at the door.
"Don't worry about it, Joanna. Nightmares are nothing new around here Honey," Winona told her as she stood and carefully tucked her back in, before hugging her. "Sweet dreams Joanna," she said as she joined Jim.
"We'll see you in the morning Kiddo, night," Jim waved as he followed his mom down the hall. "She'll be ok Mom," he said softly as he turned the hall light back off.
"It still brings back a lot of memories. See you in the morning Jimmy."
"I know Mom, but we're here for her, we'll keep her safe. I love you," he replied leaning down to place a quick kiss on her cheek and head back to bed.
Bones laid down on top of the covers as Joanna snuggled against him. "Night Jo, sweet dreams, I love you," he told her as her breathing evened out.
The next morning after breakfast, Joanna came down stairs with her brush and several hair ties.
"Daddy can you help me with my hair?" she asked standing in front of where he was sitting on the couch.
"I'll try Jo but I'm a bit outta practice Darlin'," McCoy replied motioning for her to sit on the floor in front of him.
A few minutes later he had to give up. "Jo, you're gonna have to ask Miss Winona to fix ya up this mornin', all I'm doin's makin' a big ole mess outta your hair."
"Ok Daddy," Joanna said disappointedly turning to look at him.
"Hey Darlin' it's ok, give me a couple days to get back in practice and I'll be able to help you. I've been a doctor not a hairdresser for the last five years," he told her giving her a hug. "Winona?" he called.
"Yes Leonard?" she replied coming out of the kitchen.
"Can you help me get Jo's hair fixed? I just seem to be makin' a rats nest out of it this mornin'."
"Of course I can," Winona replied coming to sit with them. "Though I'm not sure how good I'll do, I never had anyone's hair to fix but my own," she admitted as she carefully began to run the brush through Joanna's hair.
"Well you're doin' better than me, the closest I've come in the last five years to fixin' hair is handin' one of my nurses a clip or pin to put theirs' back up, or handin' them ribbons and the like when we had refugee kids on board," McCoy said as he watched Winona gently pull Joanna's hair up into a pony tail.
Once the kitchen cleaned up Jim and Winona got in the van and headed into Riverside for groceries. McCoy settled in the living room with Joanna to check on her injuries and then watch a movie.
"Daddy, why'd ya send Uncle Jim in to get me?" she asked suddenly as he was putting the tricorder away.
"I was all set to go get you Jo but Jim stopped me and made me stay outside," McCoy replied carefully. For once he was glad that he'd gotten a degree in psychology at the Academy.
"But why?" Joanna asked again watching as he sat down on the arm of the couch facing her.
"Because he was tryin' to protect the three of us," he did his best to explain why Jim had done it. Though with what he now knew about his friends past his actions yesterday made more sense.
"What?"
"Jim hates to have anyone he cares about or is responsible for hurt; that's part of the reason he ends up in the Medbay so often. That's also why he didn't put you down while I was checkin' you over. He made sure he had to help me take care of you to keep himself from doin' somethin' stupid. He was madder than I've seen him since right before Spock knocked him out after Vulcan was destroyed about you bein' hurt."
"Oh. I guess that makes sense, 'cause he was almost vibratin' when he was carryin' me. I love you, Daddy," she said as she hugged him.
"I love you too Darlin'," McCoy replied as he held her close pressing a kiss to her temple. "Do ya still want to watch a vid or do you want to do somethin' else?"
"A vid Daddy," Joanna replied with a slight smile.
"Ok let's see what Miss Winona has," McCoy replied as they moved over to the shelf of vids beside the screen.
After Jim and Winona got home and they helped put away the groceries, Joanna and Jim rummaged out some old games that were in the hall closet. They played several hands of cards on the porch until it was time to get lunch. Afterwards they took a walk around the farm. As they walked, Jim and Winona took turns sharing memories of the farm and the better moments of his childhood.
The roast that night was voted delicious. They played some other games after dinner, until it was time for Joanna to head to bed. She woke them screaming again, and finally fell asleep after her dad promised to stay with her.
On Monday morning, Jim visited a lot of his former haunts, including a stop at the Riverside PD. After explaining what was going on they agreed to take his statement then, and Bones' and Joanna's when she was a bit more settled.
McCoy's conversation with Joanna's school on Monday started out frustrating the hell out of him as the administration at first didn't want to listen and tried demanding to speak to Jocelyn. They finally agreed to send her work to his mailbox after a dressing down by Winona; Jim wished he could have been there for that but he'd been at the police department when it happened.
They helped Winona go through some more boxes from the attic, enjoying the stories that were connected to many of the things. Some of the things they found reminded McCoy of stories from his own childhood which Joanna was delighted to hear.
Making dinner was a communal effort as well as a source of fun and afterwards it was either stories of their adventures and misadventures on the ship and at the Academy, or playing games, until Joanna's bedtime. Rhymer and Admiral Pike continued to keep them updated every night after Joanna went to bed on what they and the APD were finding out on the cases. After their calls talk would turn to Joanna, and the breakthroughs or setbacks in the case, and the changes having kids on board would bring.
McCoy relaxed as the week went on, just enjoying watching Joanna heal and slowly start to return to the sweet opinionated girl that he'd seen during their comms. He knew she had a ways to go before she was truly alright, but watching her chase Jim around the back yard with the hose Tuesday afternoon was enough to give him hope that even with the court cases hanging over their heads, they both had people to lean on and things would get better.
On Wednesday they all drove into Riverside to get groceries and do some other shopping. Joanna stuck close to her Dad and Jim the whole time. But other than people coming up to talk about Starfleet, the memorials or ask questions about missions they weren't bothered. It was an uneventful trip until Joanna spotted a black, flat brimmed cowboy style hat* in a store window.
"Daddy, it's perfect for ya," She kept insisting until he agreed to try it on.
"I have to agree with her Bones. And if we need to hide you from the media, you're pretty unrecognizable," Jim told him once he had it on.
"Yeah I guess; just never thought I'd be seen wearin' one of these though," McCoy grumbled good-naturedly as he paid for it and they left.
As the week went on Jim wasn't certain but it seemed that Joanna's nightmares were happening later in the night. She still woke them up screaming, but the last couple nights had been more of a cry than a scream. Jim didn't blame her though; he still had nightmares too occasionally but had learned to stop himself from screaming when he woke, most of the time. He hoped that was a skill she wouldn't need to learn.
Thursday night, Joanna managed to stop herself from screaming when she woke up. She bolted up in bed, staring frantically around the room sure that whatever had been chasing her was somewhere in the shadows. Sobbing she bolted out of bed and into the hall. All she cared about right then was that her Daddy was just past the bathroom, as she hurried past the dim nightlight. Joanna quickly opened the door and headed across the room for the bottom bunk. As she reached out to try and wake him up his eyes opened.
The door opening had disturbed McCoy, but for a moment he ignored it thinking it might be Winona checking on them when he heard Joanna sobbing and almost running across the wood floor.
"Jo?" he murmured instantly awake. "It's ok, crawl in, you're safe," he whispered pulling back the covers.
Joanna quickly clambered in and burrowed into his shoulder sobbing. McCoy held her close, gently running his fingers through her hair and whispering in her ear that she was safe.
As she calmed down he felt the bed shake and looking up could just make out the faint outline of Jim's head peering down. A moment later he was gone again.
"Nightmare?" McCoy whispered.
"Uh-huh," Joanna whispered back nodding.
"You're safe now Darlin'. So go back to sleep Jo, I've got you," McCoy told her, a faint smile curving his lips as she nestled against him. McCoy's thoughts turned to all the times that she'd had a nightmare and come running to him when she was small. He'd missed this the last five years, having Joanna able to come running to him. The only people he'd wish these damn nightmares on were the ones that gave them to her, but they weren't worth the effort, even if he could. He fell asleep thinking that things might be getting better.
He woke up very early the next morning to his daughter pulling on the covers that he'd somehow managed to almost completely cocoon himself in. He helped Joanna get tucked back under the blankets as she snuggled against him, trying to keep a tight grip on them so he couldn't steal them again.
"S-orry Jo," McCoy mumbled half into the pillow as he dozed back off.
Friday after breakfast Winona announced that they needed to get the house picked up before the others arrived. Jim rolled his eyes at that but for once didn't whine about it. Once the dishes were done, everyone headed upstairs.
"Ok get your laundry together and take it down. I'll get it started, but you have to remember to finish it. Joanna if you need help holler," Winona said shooing them into their rooms as she headed into the bathroom. Joanna got started on her room, smiling as she listened to her Dad and Uncle Jim arguing in theirs over misplaced items.
"Jim, where's my- those aren't mine damnit; so quit throwin' 'em over here," McCoy demanded a few minutes later.
"Well I've never seen them before so they're not mine," Jim said, making Joanna giggle as she moved her laundry into the hall and started to try and wrestle the sheets off.
"Don't look at me that way Bones. Why would you even think I'd own a pair of bright pink shorts with a purple heart on the butt? Answer me that," Jim demanded, bringing both Joanna and Winona into the hall.
"Who knows with you sometimes Kid; they could be somethin' from an old girlfriend for all I know," McCoy groused as they got to the door and looked in.
Both men were glaring at the boxers lying on the floor between them. Neither Joanna nor Winona could help it; they started laughing at the identical looks of disgust on the guys' faces.
"Oh honestly Jim, Leonard, you two fight like you really are related. I'll take them; and they were your dad's Jim. I was wondering what happened to them after I found them in the attic Tuesday," Winona said chuckling at the dumbfounded looks on their faces as she picked up the very hot pink pair of boxers. "Need any help Joanna?" Winona asked as they left the room.
"Yes, I can't get the sheets off Miss 'Nona. Otherwise I think I've got it all. I might need a hand gettin' the laundry down too," Joanna replied between giggles as they walked down the hall looking at the boxers.
"Ok let me put these in my room and I'll help you," Winona said.
It took another hour and a half before the cleaning was done and the beds remade. After a picnic lunch out by the old barn, they tackled the down stairs and set up the bed in the den.
"Uncle Jim, when are you gonna to tell me 'bout the Kelvin and the other memorials?" Joanna asked at dinner that night.
"I was waiting for the others to get here, cause Mom recorded the Memorials and I thought that everyone might like to see them, Adm. Pike tells what happened on the Kelvin as well as anyone. Mom can fill in any details that he leaves out and answer and questions afterwards," Jim told her, remembering the promise he'd made while waiting for the shuttle to Iowa.
"Why? Y'all were there for the memorials," Joanna asked in surprise.
"Yeah but you don't see things the same way if you're involved with what's going on. During those things you tend to get so wrapped up in, or zoned out by, what's happening that you miss stuff. Like I know they read the names from the Kelvin and I think said something about returning something to me but I never heard a word of it, till they called my name. That was a shock, I thought they were naming me among the dead for a second," Jim explained with a slightly embarrassed chuckle.
"Yeah, I had to jab him with my elbow to get him movin'," Bones added with a smirk at his friend as they cleared the table.
After dinner Jim checked his PADD again and found the last of the messages from the others passing on their arrival times. After rereading them, Jim started swearing under his breath.
"What's the matter?" Winona asked.
"Oh just a bunch of screwed up flight times. Spock, Uhura and Chekov are arriving at 12:30 and 1:00, Sulu comes in an hour and a half later, but Scotty somehow managed to get put on a flight that puts him here at 9:45 am. I'm just trying to figure out how we're going to get everyone here. Scotty says that there was some kind of problem with his original flight and the morning one was the only one they had till late Sunday night," Jim explained slightly exasperated.
"Jim I can get Mr. Scott, I have to go get groceries anyway so I can grab him on the way back. All you have to do is make breakfast. Then we can pack a lunch and get the others," Winona offered and watched her son smile.
"That'll work Mom. Let me send him a note so he isn't looking for me or Bones," Jim replied quickly typing a response and sending it. "Do you need a holo to find him?"
"I think I can manage, I have the ones you sent from the ship if I do. Does he have that little alien with him you've told me about, Keenser?" Winona asked.
"No he stayed in San Francisco; helping with a few of the tighter repairs; as in getting into places that are hard for the regular engineers to get at. He and Scotty worked it out weeks ago," Jim said setting his PADD on the coffee table.
"So everyone got leave but him?" Winona asked slightly shocked.
"No, no one could be aboard during the Memorials and the first half of this last week because of the decontamination sweeps, so Keenser got time to relax, then he went back up to help when they started the modifications on decks five and six. He volunteered to help with that as soon as he heard about it. Believe me I told him to take it off too but he just wouldn't budge on the fact that he was helping get the kids' areas ready," Jim told his mom.
"Fact is Keenser loves kids. We had a group of refugees on board durin' that evac on Tantalus V; 'bout twenty were kids of different ages," McCoy picked up the explanation. "The youngest was born on the ship. Anyway the older kids got bored and started pokin' round the ship. And before ya ask their folks did try to keep 'em outta the way, just not very hard. They ended up confined to quarters after they got caught in engineering," McCoy explained shaking his head remembering Scotty's reaction to that incident.
"The younger ones were just scared. Most had lost at least parts of their families, so I had some of the nurses and yeomen helpin' with them; a lot were sick or injured, by the older kids in some cases, and in Medical. The first time they saw Keenser they thought he was some kind of devil or somethin'. I guess some of the older ones had told 'em that there was one in engineerin' cause he was the one to catch them in there.
"I've never seen him take to anyone so fast. He wanted to help out too so I told him he could but to be careful; he's a lot stronger than he looks. The kids weren't too sure what to make of him; but a couple of days later my Head Nurse, Chapel, came runnin' into my office and told me I had to see somethin'. There was Keenser, in the corner holdin' one of the girls who wouldn't hardly let any of us near her, just hummin' some kinda lullaby to her. After that he was always poppin' up in with 'em," McCoy explained smiling at the memory of the rock-like little alien holding a small child.
"I hope I get the chance to meet him someday," Winona replied glancing at the clock. "Joanna, time for bed Honey."
"Oh alright, Miss 'Nona," Joanna half grumbled as she reluctantly put down her book and headed upstairs.
Jim looked over at his friend and grinned. "She's definitely your daughter, Bones. She even has the inflection down," he said starting to chuckle at the half annoyed look Bones sent him.
Even Winona had to chuckle, "He's right Leonard, other than the pitch that sounded like you the other day when Jim got you to go looking through the barn with him." McCoy rolled his eyes but managed to keep his mouth shut; which only made them laugh more.
The next morning at 7:20 Winona crept into what she'd come to think of again as 'her' boys' room to make sure Jim was up before she left. She had to smile at the sight of Joanna curled up back to back with Leonard, a death grip on the covers.
"Jim, wake up," she whispered, standing on her toes to nudge his shoulder.
"Humm. Wha-?" he mumbled blinking at her.
"Jim I need to head out in about ten minutes so I can get my errands done and get Mr. Scott from the terminal. That means you need to take care of breakfast. Remember?" she explained softly watching as he sat up and rubbed his hands over his face to wake up.
"Ok Mom I will," he said through a yawn.
"I'll see you in the hall Jim," she told him and left the room.
A couple minutes later Jim joined her, still rubbing his eyes, bare foot, and shirt in hand.
"Ok I'm up Mom," he said as they headed downstairs.
Winona poured them both coffee and sat down next to him at the table as he pulled his shirt on.
"Jim I had a question and I wanted to ask it just us," she said seriously, watching him closely.
"What's wrong Mom?" Jim asked worriedly reaching for her hand.
"Nothing much, I just wanted to ask you if it was alright with you I kept in touch with Joanna after you leave? I didn't want to say anything to her or Leonard without talking to you first," Winona said glancing at Jim nervously.
"Mom, I know she'd love it if you did and I don't mind, as long as you still talk to me too. As far as I'm concerned they're as much family as you and Sam. And right now I know they can use all the family they can get; this really threw Bones for a loop," he replied grinning with relief. "I thought that it was something serious like- I don't know, you marrying Spock's Dad or something," Jim continued chuckling, that was the most outlandish thing he could think of at the moment.
"No we're only dating," Winona said with a straight face just as Jim took a drink of his coffee, choked and sprayed it across the table.
"Mom!" he looked at her half horrified, as she laughed at his expression. "Mom that is not funny! Don't joke about stuff like that, please," Jim said wiping his chin.
"I know but I couldn't resist. Jim you should have seen your face," she replied between chuckles.
"Ok, ok, I walked into that one," Jim admitted chuckling as Winona glanced at the clock.
"Sorry Jim but you asked for that. I'd better get going. I'll see you around 10:00 or so. Get the three of you a snack if you get too hungry; and start cooking around a quarter to ten," she stood and gave him a quick hug. "Don't burn the house down," she said grabbing her keys and leaving as Jim rolled his eyes.
Jim sat there for a while thinking over their conversation as he finished his coffee, it would do JoJo good to have someone else besides Mrs. Parker to talk to off the ship he decided, and it would give his Mom someone to spoil.
'She can be a grandma to her and then maybe she won't start on me settling down soon. Yeah right,' Jim thought as he started poking around the kitchen for what to make for breakfast.
A/N: * If you've seen Priest then you know the hat I'm talking about. If not check out IMDB or image search for a picture of Karl Urban from the film; minus the teeth and gold eyes of course; the best ones I've found so far are of him looking back over his shoulder at the camera and a behind the scenes shot of him from the front with the clapper thing. I just couldn't get the image of him in that hat out of my head after seeing the movie so I had to use it, mostly because he definitely doesn't look like our favorite grouchy doctor in it. Lol