A/N: I just checked my bank account and no I don't own it.
Thanks to Bookdragon01 for beta-ing and keeping me from OOCing some one. Please read and review. I like to know what you think and it's the only 'pay' it get from this.
As they left the meeting Christine started to head for her quarters to relax and try and sort out everything she'd just been told, when M'Benga called her name.
"What?" she asked turning away from absently watching McCoy and Joanna head for the lift.
"Don't forget to sign in, Christine," M'Benga said as he passed her.
"Shit! Thanks Geoff!" she exclaimed as she bolted for the lift herself. "Hold the door!" she called as she saw them closing.
"Thanks L-McCoy," Christine said as she slid inside a moment later.
"Where are ya goin' in such a hurry, Chapel?" he asked as she leaned against the wall.
"To check in. I got here 'bout twenty minutes before we met y'all in the cafeteria. I was goin' to as soon as I put my stuff in my quarters, but ran into Geoff. He was just comin' back and said there was a real line and to eat first," Christine explained causing McCoy to nod in understanding.
"Sounds like that was a good idea; we were just goin' there ourselves. I need to check in too and I want to get Jo looked over again," McCoy told her.
"Daddy, I'm fine. Almost all the bruises are gone and nothin' hurts, so why do ya need to?" Joanna complained.
"I know you are, Jo, but I want to have proof of that if we need it," McCoy explained patiently as they stepped out of the lift. "The more proof that we have that you're alright and that nothin's gonna happen to you livin' with me the easier the hearin' will be."
"Oh. Ok, Daddy," Joanna sighed. "That makes sense, I guess," she said with a smile for him.
"Don't you need another doctor for that? 'Cause we can always roust Geoff out, especially if you want to keep it on the down low. You know what gossipers some of the nurses here are," Christine said as they started across the grounds towards the medical buildings.
"We'll see when we get there, Chapel. But that might be best if there's no one there I trust to keep quiet. Thanks," McCoy replied, shooting her a small smile.
'That smile's lethal,' she thought, not for the first time, as she smiled back.
"What part of the south are you from, Miss Chapel?" Joanna asked a couple minutes later.
"New Orleans, Miss Joanna. And before you ask, yes, I've been on the Enterprise as long as your Daddy," Christine replied, seeing the familiar question coming before she could ask.
"Wow. Were you Head Nurse then too?"
"No, I sort of inherited the position, the officer that was Head Nurse was injured and I just kinda stepped into the roll. Even though technically I wasn't supposed to since I was only a Brevet or Provisional Ensign at the time, and there were several nurses higher rankin' than me," Christine explained.
"Jo, she was one of the only nurses we had that kept her head after the attack. When I got down there she was already doin' her best to organize the chaos and get the injured taken care of," McCoy added proudly, remembering her hurrying from one person to another only stopping to fill him in on what she'd done already.
"Where were you again Daddy?" Joanna asked.
"I was chasin' your fool 'Uncle' all over the damn ship tryin' to stop his allergic reaction to the stuff I gave him to get him on board. We were on the bridge when we got hit," McCoy replied shaking his head at the memory.
"Chasin' that 'fool' probably saved your life, Leo. Your station was the closest to the breached wall, remember?" Christine retorted good naturedly, having had this discussion with McCoy before.
"Yeah, and he knows it too. So you went home, didn't you?" McCoy asked changing the subject as they fell into the familiar easy pattern of conversation that had started when they were working together as cadets.
"Yes, it was nice to see everyone again, but I'm very glad to get back here. I'll always be from New Orleans but it's not really home anymore, or at least my folk's house isn't. That's the Enterprise, or in a pinch, here at Starfleet," Christine said, looking around at the familiar buildings.
"I know what you mean; my folk's was the same way when I went to college," McCoy agreed as they reached the administration wing of the medical building.
Check in was quick but frayed McCoy's temper because of the inquiring looks and several prying questions about Joanna from idling medical officers, which he answered with a glare and/or an abrupt order to mind their own business. The only explaining he did was to the records system operator, who was bound by confidentiality rules not to gossip.
Christine found him a few minutes later, scowling at the list of available doctors with Joanna protectively in front of him out of direct sight of the rest of the office.
"No luck, Sir?" she asked politely, for the sake of the other officers. She knew he disliked being called Sir by his own people, Doctor was fine and expected, but outside of official functions it tended to irritate him.
"No, Chapel," he growled shooting her a glare even though he knew why she'd called him that. "I was just 'bout to call M'Benga," he said reaching for his communicator.
As he did, an older doctor with slightly graying red hair, entered from the door to the rest of the hospital. McCoy breathed a silent sigh of relief and turned towards him. "Dr. McKenzie? Can I talk to you a moment?"
Dr. Angus McKenzie stopped to see who was calling him. His face lit up when he saw it was McCoy and came over. He was what many students called the old dragon of the medical building. He had a reputation for being a tough but fair teacher and one of the best as long as you didn't get on his bad side.
"What can I do for you, Dr. McCoy?" he asked as he reached them.
"Well, Sir, I was wonderin' if I could impose on you to quietly take a look at my daughter. She was injured a couple weeks ago and I'd like to get a final report on her recovery," McCoy explained softly, glancing around the room.
"Of course, McCoy. Do you have her files?" Dr McKenzie asked.
"They're on a disk in my pocket," McCoy replied as he guided Joanna out from behind him.
"Well aren't you the pretty young lady now. And how old are you?" Dr McKenzie asked seriously.
"Thank you, Sir, I'll be eleven in October," Joanna replied softly, as she stood leaning against her father, arms loosely wrapped around his waist.
"Well it won't take long to have a look at you," Dr McKenzie said with a smile.
The main doors opened as Christine stepped forward to offer to assist, glancing over she caught sight of someone entering whom she had hoped not to see again. Almost instinctively, she moved so that McCoy was between her and the door and peered around his shoulder. Seeing her move like that made him glance at her and she shot him a worried look that had his expression darkening as she quickly looked back at the group by the door.
McCoy knew Christine didn't worry easily, hell he'd seen her loose her composure only twice: once two years ago, when the Yorktown finally reached them, but he knew that had been simple grief, stress, and lack of sleep coupled with the relief that help had arrived; the second was when they'd almost lost the evacuation team they were both on to a collapsing building during an 'earthquake' on Barengaria VII, and then almost lost Spock when he'd gotten caught after pushing her out of the way.
McCoy looked over by the door but couldn't tell which of the men there was causing her reaction. He made a mental note to ask her when they were done, as he gently nudged her with his elbow to get her attention.
"Sir, may I assist?" Christine asked, the faint tremble in her voice could be put down to nerves he knew, but he still didn't like it.
"I don't mind, Sir, as my head nurse, Chapel's more than qualified," McCoy added and received a slightly shaky smile.
"Pleasure to see you again my dear; I've heard nothing but good things about you and your work. Well let's get this taken care of, I'm sure you have more interesting things to do this afternoon than hang around here," Dr McKenzie said as he led them back out the door he came in and into the main hospital building.
As they walked, McCoy watched Christine. As soon as the door closed behind them she'd relaxed but she still looked troubled. She caught him watching her and mouthed 'Later' at him, and when he nodded she sighed softly.
"Alright let's see what we're looking at," Dr McKenzie said a few minutes later as he took the medical disk from McCoy in one of the exam rooms.
When Dr McKenzie pulled up everything his expression darkened. "Oh hell! McCoy, I sincerely hope you did something about this bastard," he said as he finished reading.
"We're in the process, that's part of why we're here. But from what I saw when they picked him off the ground to arrest him, Jim did a number on him, Spock too." McCoy replied wrapping his arm around Joanna.
McKenzie shot him a questioning look so he elaborated.
"I didn't see the whole thing 'cause I was gettin' Jo outta there. Bastard came chargin' out from behind the house and bowled Spock and Lt Cmdr Rhymer over. But Jim plowed into him at close to a full run to stop him from attackin' me while I was carryin' Jo. Then he ordered me to get outta there and meet up with Lt Uhura and the Atlanta Police. From what he and the other's reported it was some fight. Jim cleaned his clock, as the old sayin' goes. The bastard managed to fake Jim out, knocked him down and tried to strangle him but Spock got him in one of those Vulcan neck pinches and then he and Rhymer pulled the idiot off Jim," McCoy finished an edge of frustration in his voice.
"I take it that you mean Capt Kirk and Commander Spock?" Dr McKenzie asked.
"Yes and before you jump on me for the informality, Jim and I were roommates for three years and he's the closest thing to family I have after Jo. I've had to put Spock's green ass back together almost as much as I have Jim's in the last two years, usually after he saved Jim's life, so that breeds a certain familiarity," McCoy explained with a shrug.
McKenzie nodded in understanding, he'd been in the medical profession and in Starfleet too long not to understand how close friendships could be in either. He'd also met Kirk a couple times and could understand how the two had come to be friends.
"Well I don't see anything wrong with you, Joanna. You've done a remarkable job of healing," Dr McKenzie said a few minutes later as he helped her jump off the Bio bed. "Just keep up what you're doing and you should be all set."
"Thank you, Sir," Joanna told him. "But how long till this black eye goes away?"
"I'd say roughly a week for the last of the color to fade. But don't worry about it too much, some things take a bit of time."
"All right," Joanna said with a sigh.
"She's worried that someone will think either I gave it to her or one of the others in the command crew, since she's with at least one of us all the time," McCoy explained.
"Ahh, I can understand that, but don't worry; I'll put a note in your file for the next few weeks that your injuries are related to a criminal case in Atlanta. How will that be? That way if anyone tries to make anything of it the doctor will be set straight," Dr McKenzie made the note as Joanna nodded. "I think you're done here. I hope I don't have to see you like this again but I do hope that I'll run into you before you leave," he told them. "Chapel you are one of the best nurses I've had assist me in quite a while," he added shaking her hand.
"Thank you, Sir, it means a lot to me to have you say that," Christine replied almost normally.
As they left the room McCoy noticed her tense up again. "Do you wanna go out the back door?" he asked when they came to an intersection.
"Yes please, Leo. Right now I just want to get out of here quietly," Christine answered softly glancing nervously down the other hallways.
"Alright, this way," McCoy said turning right.
"Why are you so worried Miss Chapel?" Joanna asked as they hurried down the hall.
"I saw someone out front that I swore I'd never speak to again and I don't want to be made a liar by manners," Christine replied, from the way he glanced at her she could tell McCoy had picked up on the tremor in her voice and knew she wasn't telling the whole truth.
'Well it's as much of the truth as a ten year old girl needs to know,' she thought. 'Besides I did swear I wouldn't. What on Earth is he doing here anyway?' she wondered as they turned another corner, to the left this time. Now they were in the section of the building devoted to supplies and storage; there were also fewer people.
One more turn and they were outside.
"Thank you, Leo. I don't think I could have made it back out the front," Christine said finally breathing easier. "Can we go back to the barracks please?" she asked, looking at McCoy worriedly.
"Ok, but you'd have made it if you'd had to, Chris. C'mon, Jo, let's get back. Didn't you have another chess lesson with Chekov this afternoon?" McCoy asked Joanna as they headed for the barracks.
"Yes, Pavel said I was gettin' pretty good, for just really learnin'," Joanna said with a smile before darting off ahead of them.
"Jim, Chekov, and Spock started teachin' her last week. Chekov's been coverin' most of the technical stuff and Jim's been doin' the strategy. I'd started teachin' her a little years ago, just how the pieces moved and stuff. Jim challenged Spock to a match one afternoon and that started her wantin' to learn more. They ended up in a two on one game, her and Jim against Spock," McCoy explained seeing Christine's puzzled look.
"That ought to have been interesting to see. So who won?" Christine asked with a small smile.
"It ended up a draw, not that the Hobgoblin would admit it in a million years. Then Chekov added something up and I think Spock won by either one or two points. And it was interestin' no doubt about that," McCoy chuckled at the memory.
"I think Jim's Mom, Winona, got some holos of it, I'm goin' to see if I can get copies of all the ones she took. Don't worry, I'll let you see them, I know you won't give me a minutes peace if I don't," McCoy told her in a good imitation of his annoyed growl, making Christine smile a bit more. "Jo, come back here, I don't like ya gettin' too far ahead, Darlin'," McCoy called to Joanna, who'd been running ahead. When she got to them she surprised Christine a bit by grabbing her hand as well as well as her father's. The rest of the walk was filled with Joanna's chatter about the different things everyone was teaching her.
Chekov was waiting for Joanna on one of the small couches scattered down the hallways, chess board set up on a folding table next to him.
"Sorry we're late, Pavel. Daddy wanted Dr. McKenzie to make sure I was back to normal," Joanna apologized when they stepped out of the lift.
"Zhat is alright Joanna. I didn't mind zhe vait," Chekov replied smiling. "Are you ready for your next lesson?"
"Yep," Joanna replied, giving her Dad a hug and sitting on the other opposite end of the couch.
"Jo, Pavel, I need to go over some things with Chapel. Come get us if you need anything or if anyone you don't recognize comes up here," McCoy told them with a meaningful glance at Chekov, who nodded realizing something was up.
"Of course, Doktor. Ok, Joanna, vhat is your opening move?" he started the lesson as McCoy guided Christine to his quarters.
"I'll leave the door open if ya want," he offered as they entered.
"Thanks, but I'd rather not have this spillin' out to little ears," she replied glancing around in curiosity. Other than signs of hasty packing from two weeks ago and his and Joanna's bags by the door, the place was neat, she felt her cheeks warm slightly at the sight of a towel lying between the bathroom and bedroom doorways. 'Knock it off girl!' she scolded herself, taking a deep breath and sitting on the nearest end of the couch, pulling her braid over her shoulder and starting to nervously unravel it as she thought about the possible mess she was in.
As he shut the door, McCoy wondered why the sight of Christine worried like that had upset him so badly. Yes, she was a good friend, as well as one of the most level headed nurses he'd ever worked with. She had also proven to be one of the very few people to stand up to him when his temper got the best of him, telling him to go to hell once. McCoy shook his head entering the code in the synthesizer for a cup of chamomile tea, thinking of Spock saying once that his need to help went beyond common sense, but he knew that he needed to know what had her so spooked or he wouldn't be able to concentrate.
"Here, I thought ya might want this," McCoy said handing her the steaming cup and sitting on the other end of the couch.
"Thanks," Christine replied with a small smile, sipping the tea.
"So, what happened back there Chris? The last time I saw ya look like that was right after that damned dragon induced earthquake on Barengaria VII," McCoy asked, falling back on the nickname he'd given her when they were lab partners the last year at the Academy. Looking at her, he realized that this was the first time he'd seen her hair totally down; Christine normally wore it up out of the way on duty, but there had been several times she'd come in during late night emergencies or from relaxing in the rec rooms with it braided down her back like she'd had it today. With her hair loose she looked less like his Head Nurse and more like a twenty-three year old college student and he wasn't sure what he felt about the change.
"How much do you know 'bout why I changed my focus?" Christine asked softly, eyes on her cup.
"Not a hell of a lot, Chris. You remember how busy I was still testin' out of classes. Plus that was right after that whole mess with Cadet Aquardi switchin' the words on my refresher language tutoring for Dr McKenzie's 'Practicin' Interspecies Medicine' class," he said wondering what was going on.
"What happened was I was pretty much forced to switch to my minor focus in nursing because I was accused of plagiarism on my thesis," she admitted quietly.
McCoy was shocked; there was no way in hell the Christine Chapel he knew and had worked with for the last three and a half years had stooped to that.
"What really happened, Chris?" McCoy asked softly.
She gave him a small smile that just barely lifted the corners of her mouth at his faith in her, and took a deep breath. "You know I started nursin' when I was sixteen, took the beginner classes and then ended up helpin' my Aunt Susan durin' that levy break in New Orleans the next winter.
"I was roughly halfway through the basic course when I finished school and enlisted so I would have been able to skip a bunch of basic classes when I got here. I actually started studyin' bioresearch; we had a guest speaker in one of my senior year biology classes that got me interested in it, plus my Great Aunt was diagnosed with pyrrhoneuritis and one of the things I read for information was a paper you'd helped author on the disease. I still took some nursin' classes so I could work both sides if needed. You know how I hate to feel useless. The week between meetin' you and when I met Kirk I was starting to seriously work my thesis project," she smiled a bit at the memory of Kirk bursting into the clinic looking for McCoy to treat the split lip and bruises he'd acquired in a scuffle. "That's why I was so busy when we worked together at Medical and the clinic. Anyway, I was doing well enough that I was given the opportunity to work as assistant to an affiliated scientist during my junior fall term.
"He wasn't actually in Starfleet but they partly funded his research. You know how it goes. He was at the Academy doin' the final work to publish his findings from his last trip and to do preliminary plannin' for his next mission to one of the Exo planets, I don't really remember which, and I was supposed to help him get ready and possibly go with him," she paused staring into her teacup.
"He was impressed with the work I was doin' on my own into pyrrhoneuritis, turned out it was an off shoot of part of the medical archeology angle he was workin' on about how new diseases mutate out of older ones. Also how well I was handlin' the pressure of a demandin' thesis as well as the nursin' I was doin'," she sighed and continued. "He helped me out a couple of times as a soundin' board when I got stuck. I thought that it was normal to take that much personal interest in an assistant: dinners when workin' late, walkin' me back to my dorm, askin' about my classes and family; that sort of thing. You remember that huge paper I was workin' on for weeks?" she asked suddenly.
McCoy nodded remembering how obsessed she'd been about getting it perfect.
"Well that was supposed to be the final draft of my thesis for Dr Hanson, my adviser and had all my research in it. I let him read over my paper the week before it was due. I knew his was about to be published but he kindly offered. God, Leo, I wish I'd asked you to read it over instead like I'd first intended . Then things might have been different but you know the old sayin' 'bout hind sight. Anyway he praised it and only gave me a couple things to change on it. I was thrilled to think that I'd be helpin' find cures even if it meant that all my friends would graduate before me," Christine said with a humorless chuckle.
"The Friday his paper was published, he took me out to dinner to celebrate, black tie the whole nine yards. I was so thrilled that he'd picked me to go with him; I think I was more than half in love with him by then. He said that I'd helped him out by providing a different point of view for his work and dinner was his way of saying thanks; he asked me that night if I'd marry him and I said yes. That weekend I was over the moon," she said bitterly.
"I handed in my work on Monday; the next morning, I was called into Dr Hanson's office. Because of how similar my work was to parts of his, she- she accused me of plagiarizin' my entire paper. I did my best to defend myself, I even gave her my earliest notes and hypotheses from before I'd started workin' with him and all the lab hours I'd logged on my own but it didn't do any good. She'd already decided that I had done it and there was nothin' more to be said. She told me, that if I wanted to stay at the Academy I'd better change my focus; and if I did she wouldn't put it in my record other than I wasn't supposed to be in the labs unsupervised until I'd proved to her that I wasn't goin' to pull any more 'juvenile stunts'," Christine finished softly.
"Who was it Chris?" McCoy almost growled; he was holding onto his growing anger about what had happened as tightly as possible. For some reason both the revelation that she'd been engaged, no matter how briefly and the fact that she'd been manipulated like that, infuriated him.
"Dr. Roger Korby," she said the name like a curse. "Roger acted like nothin' was wrong when I went to get my things after my talk with Dr Hansen. So I lit into him 'bout how my research got into his paper and that I was gettin' accused of plagiarism because of him, as well as banned from the labs. He just smiled and said that anything I'd found while workin' with him was his property and I should have known that. And then he informed me that we'd have to wait till he got back from his speaking tour and mission to Exo whatever, to get married and he wanted to make sure I knew before he left at the end of the week for a string of symposiums covering his newest paper; so I'd be waitin' for him. I was so mad 'bout everythin' that I told him that it was bullshit. If he used my work I was supposed to get a credit for what I'd done and that V-Vulcan would freeze over before I'd have anything more to do with him. I gave him back his ring, got my things, and 'accidently' dumped some Xylathoric acid on the notes for his Exo trip as I left. I managed to time it so the group of students coming in to use the lab for a class covered me and he had no proof who did it," she finished, anger and humiliation warring on her face.
McCoy was furious both at Korby for manipulating her and at Hanson for her handling of the situation, but he had to smirk at her retribution on Korby. And at least now he knew why she always asked if she could share his lab time, but never went in the labs on her own. He also had a suspicion that she was trying to recreate her research.
"I was hopin' to never see him again, so I went ahead with the change of focus to nursing and threw myself into it and managed to end up on the Enterprise," Christine finished sadly with a humorless chuckle, eyes locked on the empty cup in her hands.
"So it was Korby you saw today that spooked you?"
Christine nodded refusing to look at him.
"Let me guess, you're worried Korby'll make a big stink 'bout you bein' Head Nurse on the Enterprise by bringin' up the supposed plagiarism right?" at her nod McCoy shook his head. "Chris, I'm not gonna get rid of my best nurse because of one bastard that can't do his own work. And I don't give a rat's ass about Hanson and her damn 'orders'. If they try to raise a fuss I'll talk to Dr McKenzie about it. He's no nonsense 'bout shit like this, and I'll bet she never told him what really happened. You're one of the most thorough people in the lab that I've ever seen outside Spock's science department geeks," McCoy told her, pleased to get a small but real smile from her.
"Ok, I trust you, besides Hanson was on the Wolcott so it's just Korby that might cause problems. But he's got such a reputation. Still, thank you for everything, Leo," Christine said gratefully as she squeezed his forearm.
"Don't worry 'bout it, Chris. But I don't mind tellin' you I'm bein' a bit selfish bout keepin' you. You're the only nurse on the damn ship that doesn't walk on eggshells around me on a bad day. And you're the best nurse I've worked with in or out of Starfleet. And if you need any help with your research, ask me." McCoy chuckled at the look of surprise on her face as he patted her hand.
Christine looked down to cover her blush at his praise and offer as she set her cup on the table. "Thank you, Leo. I'll definitely take you up on that offer, once everything's settled."
"I do have another thing I wanted to discuss with you," McCoy told her as the blush faded.
"What's that, Leo?" Christine asked sitting back against the cushions.
"Have you seen the new rosters yet?" he asked mischievously making Christine chuckle.
"No, I've had even less time than you today, as you well know, Leo," Christine told him with a cheeky grin.
"Well let's get goin' on them so we aren't up half the night for the first two weeks back on the damn ship," McCoy said getting up and retrieving a PADD from his desk.
"Ok, I'll go get mine and we'll start figurin' this out," Christine said as she got up and headed for her quarters. "I'll be right back," she called as she stepped into the hall.
As Jim stepped into the hall, straightening his gold shirt, he saw Uhura standing in the middle of the hallway between his and Spock's doors struggling with the clasp on her necklace.
"Can I help?" he asked stepping closer.
"If you would, Kirk," Uhura replied, turning her head to look at him. "The clasp's stuck or something; and it's just short enough I can't see what's wrong," she explained with a huff of exasperation as he gently took the clasp from her.
"Don't worry this'll only take a minute," Jim told her, carefully opening the tiny clasp with an inaudible pop. "There you are, Uhura," he said handing her the ends and stepping back as Spock exited his quarters.
"Thank you," she said sliding the ring off into her left hand.
"I apologize if I kept you waiting," Spock said joining them. "I was delayed by a brief message from my Father inquiring if we had arrived safely. It was only polite to send a reply and I suggested dinner this week at his convenience," he explained with a glance at Uhura.
"Don't worry about it, Spock, I've only been here long enough to help Uhura with a stuck necklace. I think there's something wrong with the clasp. At least I felt it 'pop' when I got it open," Jim said as they walked to the lift.
"Thanks, I'll have it looked at. I suppose just about anything could have happened to it. My Bibi, Grandmother, gave it to me before we left. It's been in the family for generations," Uhura said looking at the clasp herself.
As soon as the doors shut, Spock reached over and pressed the 'stop' button.
"May I, Nyota?" he asked holding out his hand to her. She placed the ring in his hand, a small smile on her face as he took her hand, and slipped the ring on her finger.
"Thank you, Mpenzi," she murmured as Spock leaned down to gently press his forehead to hers.
"Always, k'diwa," he replied just loud enough for her to hear.
After a glance at them when Spock had stopped the lift; Jim forced himself to face the door. It seemed like the least he could do since they were in such a small space. But he had to interrupt them after a couple minutes; they did have to go explain everything to Adm. Pike.
"I, uh, hate to interrupt, but we do need to get going," Jim said still looking at the door.
"Thank you for the reminder, Captain. Forgive me. It is difficult not to relax in the presence of someone who knows of our engagement," Spock said as they stepped apart.
"Don't worry about it, Spock. And I wouldn't have interrupted except that we're gonna be late if we don't get moving. It's going to be interesting convincing Pike that this wasn't a prank," Jim replied turning to look at them with a shrug, as Spock restarted the lift.
"Why would he think this was a prank? I thought you filled out the forms and saved them?" Uhura asked.
"I filled a few things out in other peoples' names, mostly Bones', my first year here. Anyway I saved a blank set, when I filled yours out so that I'd have an idea what they were next time I need them. Pike found the blanks; cause I encrypted the completed ones when I saved them," Jim replied. "And I know he couldn't break the encryption at least not this fast."
"Why is that, Captain?" Spock asked intrigued, as they exited the building.
"I used the encryption I wrote and gave you two, Bones, Giotto and Scotty after we almost got hacked by that tabloid, six, seven months ago. There's no way Pike could've done it in just over an hour. I tested it with the ship's computers and they couldn't crack it in a week. Plus, I know that if he had, he wouldn't have accused me of playing a prank on you two. I'm good with computers but there is no way I could have forged your hand writing, Spock. And before you ask, I saved the blank forms as 'Spock and Uhura' because it was only temporary till we got back here and I could put it on my PADD with the rest of my non- routine forms," Jim explained as they hurried to Pike's building.
"That explains that. Next time don't put other people's names on files," Uhura said shooting him a quick exasperated glare.
"At least not on this type of thing I won't," Jim agreed with a nod and a sheepish smile.
As they stepped off the lift outside Pike's office Jim shared a nervous glance with Spock and Uhura as he pressed the chime.
"Come in," came Pike's voice through the intercom as Jim hit the button to open the door.
As they stepped in Pike looked at them gravely, Jim was glad he had Spock and Uhura behind him in this.
"Would you care to explain this Kirk?" Pike asked sliding a PADD across his desk.
"Sir, I asked Spock to get those for me on Wednesday night," Jim started to explain only to have Pike interrupt him.
"And why would you suddenly need them?"
"Spock had heard from a reputable source that I'd need them when we got back here because of the pending engagement of two of my crew. I thought it would be better to have them ready than to have to try and figure out which ones I kept and who filled out what on short notice, Admiral. I put their names on the file because Uhura was there when Spock told the time it seemed a good way of reminding myself what it was," Jim finished looking slightly over Pike's shoulder to keep from grinning at the baffled expression on his face.
"And who's supposed to be getting engaged, as well as the name of your reputable source?" Pike inquired looking between the three of them and starting to wonder what was really going on.
"I have that information, Admiral," Spock said and handed over his PADD as he finished pulling up the forms.
As he read them over, Pike had the grace to look a bit shamefaced. But in his defense this was the kind of thing that Jim had pulled a couple of times at the Academy. The most memorable was when he'd signed Bones up for basic flight lessons, trying to help his aviaphobia, although he'd signed himself up too so that McCoy wouldn't go through it alone. But there was no mistaking Spock's handwriting; it was too distinctive for anyone to really copy.
'Well this won't be the first time I've had to apologize for jumping to conclusions. That sure doesn't make it any easier though,' he thought with a sigh as he looked up at the trio in front of him.
"Before I can sign off on this I have a few questions," Pike said turning to Spock and Uhura and motioning them all to sit. "I know you were Spock's TA, Uhura, so I have to ask when this started."
"Sir, after I began working as his TA we became friends," Uhura said with a glance at Spock. "It took a while to get used to working with each other for that to happen. As we got closer as friends, we'd talk about our days or I'd translate news happenings while we worked; it started out as a way to help me with differentiating between languages and dialects and how to translate quickly to and from Standard and other languages."
"We both came to take satisfaction in what began as a scientific drill. I found myself looking forward to our sessions as I had the classes, when Nyota was one of my students, because of her quick mind and wit. Especially accounts of some of Nyota's interactions with you, Captain," Spock added with an amused glance at Jim. "I also came to value both her opinion and advice on various human topics that puzzled me."
"It wasn't planned, Admiral. As we worked together, our friendship slowly changed. I kept quiet about my feelings because I didn't want to lose our friendship, or to cause either of us trouble. It was after my Mama died, my last year, that we came to admit how we felt. I broke down in his office and he picked up on my feelings as he was trying to comfort me. But he didn't say anything about it until over two months later, when we sat down and actually discussed what we were both feeling and were going to do about it," Uhura explained.
"I was concerned how such a regard for each other would impact both our working relationship as well as our friendship, so I did not wish to be the one to broach the subject first. And since I'd discovered her feelings towards myself while she was emotionally vulnerable, it was a moral dilemma as well. There was also the Fraternization Code to consider, and how any type of discovery could possibly impact us. It was a relief that Nyota was in the same situation as I; when we discussed matters, it became clear that we were each attempting to protect the other. The change in our relationship troubled me though since I was, at that time, unable to honorably pursue what was happening between us," Spock added.
"Why was that Spock?" Pike inquired intrigued.
"I was at that time already bonded to another. It is a form of what you would call an arranged marriage, Captain," Spock said in explanation seeing the puzzled look on Jim's face.
"When I brought the issue up during our conversation, we agreed that it was logical to wait to attempt any type of actual relationship until after her graduation. That would remove the most pressing barrier as I would no longer have an influence over her grades and behavior. I had already considered the consequences of dissolving my bond before Nyota became my assistant and put off any action until a more opportune time as any action would require time I could not afford to spend away from my duties. There were numerous rumors from reputable sources that T'Pring, the one I was bonded to, had been seeing and was involved with another. After Nyota and I 'cleared the air' I believe is the correct term, I was waiting for the end of term break after graduation to request a leave of absence to return home and confront T'Pring concerning both the rumors and request the severance of our bond," Spock explained. "Also I would have been initiating the steps necessary for starting the proceedings to formalizing a bond with Nyota with the Vulcan council."
"So nothing happened while you were a Cadet?" Pike asked causing them to exchange amused glances.
"I was on the receiving end of several spontaneous embraces, caused by high spirits, as well as comforting her at the death of her mother, which led to the revelation of our mutual regard. However, the only serious breaches of protocol occurred while we were on the Enterprise, almost immediately after Vulcan's loss. Nyota attempted to comfort me, and I kissed her moments before we beamed aboard the Narada to rescue you," Spock told him.
"It never went any further? Ever?" Pike asked. Uhura and Spock both shook their heads. "Ok. So you never let your relationship affect your judgment?" Pike asked looking hard at both of them.
"Only once; and if I had not we would not be having this discussion. I had begun hearing rumors of my favoring Nyota from several students who believed that I had marked their assignments unfairly because of conflicts they were having with her, that she was influencing me in regards to their grades. That insinuation led me to place her initially on the Farragut prior to heading to Vulcan. I allowed her anger and emotional argument to persuade me to change her to the Enterprise at the last minute. I have no regrets in light of what happened, but there was no logical reason for making the switch at the time," Spock replied.
"I did badger him into it too, Sir. I'd been working for a place on the Enterprise from the beginning and knew I deserved to be there, I was more indignant about being placed elsewhere to 'avoid the appearance of favoritism' than anything concrete," Uhura said with a slight blush.
"So that mission brought your feelings out in the open, so to speak. How many of the crew know about your relationship?" the Admiral asked taking notes.
"I think I can answer that, Sir," Jim said. "I admit that I try and keep track of the ship's gossip if only to make sure that we aren't going to have personal disputes causing trouble with assignment or missions. But I haven't heard either Spock or Uhura's names seriously linked romantically. A few times because of some of their collaborations to boost our communications, but that's all. Anytime I've heard someone suggest a romance it's been shot down as a 'when hell freezes over' possibility. I think that other than Scotty I'm the only one who has any real idea that they're more than close friends and colleagues. And we wouldn't have if we hadn't seen them kissing in the transporter room right before we went to get you and the Ambassador's ship," Jim said with a grin at Uhura. "Bones might suspect something; though if he does its more likely he suspects me of trying to match make. He accused me of that after Spock was hurt on Barengaria VII and I had Uhura keep checking in with Medbay on Spock's condition, because she didn't want to start the rumor mill about them if she was in and out on her own."
"Christine Chapel knows we're both seeing someone, Admiral, just not that it's each other. I told her once Spock had mentioned something to me in passing about being late to meet someone when we were working on a communications problem; and she knows I'm seeing someone on the ship, but I won't tell her who it is," Uhura added with a smirk at the memory of her friend trying to wheedle the name out of her.
"Ok, that clears that up," Pike said making a couple notes and signing his name to the bottom of one of the forms. "This still has to go up the chain a few more steps but I don't see any difficulty with it. All three of you might be called in for interviews on Monday concerning the impact this has and will have on the crew and your jobs, it'll most likely be a formality at this point, but be prepared, " Pike said making his way around his desk as Uhura grinned and turned her ring around on her finger.
"May I see?" Pike asked her. "It's beautiful. Spock, where did you get this?" he asked looking at his former shipmate.
"It is a copy of the one my Father gave to my Mother. It had been in her family for generations, and my grandfather gave it to my father when he asked for her hand," Spock replied softly as Pike nodded in understanding.
"Well, congratulations to you both. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions about this. The only excuse I have is that with everything going on I wasn't thinking straight," Pike said looking at them.
"That's okay, Admiral; I've done a few things similar to this before, so I guess it's natural," Jim replied with a grin that made Pike smile in return. "We really were going to tell you this afternoon, you just beat us to it finding that disk."
"Well no matter how it happened, I'm glad for both of you," Pike added as they stood to leave. "Please keep me informed of what your plans are."
"Well let me know when you hear back and how you want to go from there," Jim said as they stepped off the lift at their floor of the officer's barracks.
"You will be the first," Spock replied calmly.
Joanna was helping Chekov put away the chess set and grinned at them.
"Uncle Jim, Shangazi* Nyota, Mr. Spock I almost beat Pavel!" Joanna told them excitedly as she hugged Jim and Uhura and grinned up at Spock.
"She put me in check and captured zhree of my pieces," Chekov explained "She vill be a wery good player, I zhink," he added closing the chess box.
"Good job, JoJo," Jim said grinning at her enthusiasm. "Where's your Dad?"
"He's in our room workin' on physicals with Miss Christine," Joanna said.
Jim started smirking at the mental picture her innocent statement caused, until Uhura smacked him lightly across the back of the head.
"Ouch! What was that for?" he demanded rubbing the spot.
"To get your mind out of the gutter," Uhura calmly replied as Joanna, and Chekov started laughing at the exchange.
"Did you have to hit so hard?" Jim asked giving her his best injured puppy look.
"I didn't hit you that hard, Kirk, so don't whine," Uhura retorted, with a smirk of her own. Jim just chuckled and headed down the hall.
"I'll be right back. Why don't you change back and we'll get going?" Jim said as he reached Bones' door. It was part way open, so he just leaned in. "Hey, Bones."
"What, Jim? We're busy," McCoy sighed looking up.
"Before you yell at me for interrupting, I wanted to ask if you wanted to go with us to show Joanna around."
"Around where, Jim?" McCoy asked worriedly; around could mean a lot of things to Jim. The Kid had once dragged him all over San Francisco their first year saying he wanted to 'take a look around'.
"Just around Starfleet, and maybe go to that pizza place we used to hit all the time," Jim shrugged. "You're invited too, Christine. I thought we might all hang out a bit our last night and then get together tomorrow and go over the rosters together," he reasoned.
"Jim do you have any idea how hard it is to work these damn physicals into the schedule? Especially with two court dates on top of everything else that normally goes on?" Bones demanded.
"I know, Bones. Calm down. I'm not trying to say you don't have as much if not more to do than I do, ok. I just thought it would be nice to have a bit of fun before we have to go back to work. JoJo's gonna be doing school work at least most of the weekend to finish getting caught up from the last two weeks so we'll have the time," Jim said.
McCoy looked at his PADD and sighed again, Jim was right about Joanna's school work.
"Ok, Jim, I'd kinda forgot 'bout Jo's school work. Damn, it's just been nice to have her here," Bones said shutting his PADD off, knowing his daughter wouldn't like being cooped up for the next two days in a fairly strange place, but would handle it better if she knew a bit more about it.
"That's that spirit, Bones. Are you in too?" he asked Christine.
"I don't know, Kirk; I don't think I'd better," Christine sighed
"Why not?" Jim asked, a bit concerned seeing one of his favorite nurses looking worried.
Christine shot a glance at McCoy; he nodded for her to continue. "There's someone I'm tryin' to avoid," she said softly looking warily at the open door. "I almost ran into him at Medical, and I really don't want to run the risk."
"C'mon, we all need some fresh air. Do I have to make it an order, Nurse Chapel?" Jim asked with a mocking grin.
"Ok, just let me get my hair fixed," Christine said giving in easily, reaching up to gather her hair together, realizing that she'd have the others as cover and it would be harder for Roger to track her down if he had a mind to if she was on the move.
"Don't bother. We're going in normal clothes and trying not to be recognized," Jim said as he turned to leave. "Bones, if you can't find your sun glasses I have an extra pair," Jim called over his shoulder as he headed for his quarters to change, again.
*Mpenzi/ K'diwa- beloved in Swahili/Vulcan
*Shangazi- Aunt