"Charlie!"

Charlie turned around to see a very unwelcome sight: Ryan. "What do you want?" she barked. She was well over Ryan by now, now she had Leonard.

"I just wanted to catch up," he said innocently.

But Charlie saw through the bullshit. "After a year?" she asked scathingly. "Look, I really don't have time right now because I'm supposed to meet someone."

At that point, she was speed-walking to her apartment to change, hoping that Ryan would give up. He didn't. "I heard you're on the Enterprise," he persisted.

"Yes, I've been on the Enterprise for a year now. It happened not long after I decked you in the face."

He grimaced at the memory but continued anyway. "Well, that's really impressive. Only the best of the best get put on the Enterprise."

"Very true," she agreed. "I've been very grateful to be serving on such a prestigious ship with, in my opinion, the best crew in all of Starfleet. However, I know you aren't here to talk about my accomplishments since we last saw each other and I'm certainly not interested in the cases you have worked, so cut the bullshit. What do you want?"

This situation was all too familiar to Ryan – after four years together, Charlie had become very good at looking through any ruse he might put up. "I hear you're dating that McCoy guy. The medical officer."

Charlie couldn't be sure, but she almost thought that she heard a hint of jealousy in Ryan's voice. She certainly hoped so because that idea made her feel very superior, which she knew was a little childish but she honestly didn't give a damn at that point. "Yes. Leonard and I have been together for about a year as well. It seems that everything started to get better after I knocked you out."

Ryan pulled a face. "You can't be serious with that guy? First of all, he has got to be one of the most ill-tempered guys I've ever met. I've also heard that he's difficult to work with from several people. Honestly, Charlie, I think you can do a lot better than Leonard McCoy."

Now Ryan had crossed a line. "He's probably cantankerous around you because he knows what an asshole you are and the only people who would think he's difficult to work with are the incompetent people who can't handle a med bay that runs proficiently. And finally, you do not get to say who I can and can't do better than and you definitely do not get to say a single word against Leonard. You told me last year that you didn't think you and I would work because I would be off planet so often. So, since the amount of time that I spend off planet remains the same, then by your logic, we are still completely incompatible. Also, Leonard and I happen to spend the exact same amount of time on and off planet – perfect, wouldn't you say?"

By now they had reached her apartment and she closed the door behind her without another word. He had a lot of nerve, but then again, Charlie already knew that. Soon, she had changed out of her Starfleet uniform and was on her way to meet Leonard. They had apartment hunting to do.

She and Leonard were looking at one they thought suited them well: it was small, but he had always preferred to live in a home that had a more old-fashioned look to it. She had no complaints so she raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. When he nodded, she strolled over to the agent showing them the apartment.

"We'll take it. How soon can we move in?"

The agent appeared very pleased to have the apartment rented – after all, there was very little demand for the type of old-fashioned look that Leonard liked. "You can move in tomorrow if you like and I'll tell you that you have excellent taste."

They both signed the necessary contracts and decided that since they had found an apartment so quickly, they would go to lunch. They didn't often have leisure days on Earth so they had to take advantage of the few they had.

"So, how does it feel to be a Lieutenant Commander?" he asked her.

"You tell me," she replied. "I've only been one for about a week and we haven't left the planet since."

"Actually, it feels about the same," he complained. "They act like it's so prestigious but I don't particularly appreciate the ranking system that Starfleet employs."

Charlie had to smile at his grumbling – he would often go off on tangents that had very little to do with a conversation. "Well, the bonus is nice," she said good-naturedly.

"I guess," he agreed. In fact, her bonus was what helped them get such a nice apartment, especially one so specific.

They were about to continue their discussion when Leonard's phone went off. He looked at it, clearly not a call and the color suddenly drained completely from his face. "Leonard, what's wrong?" Charlie asked. She had never seen him give such a look of panic.

He ignored her question before making a call on the phone, leaving Charlie in the dark. "Yeah, I need to get in touch with Kathleen," he said irritably, almost yelling. "I don't give a damn what she's in the middle of, she needs to get on the goddamn phone right now – it's about Joanna."

He didn't appear as if he was happy to be talking to Kathleen, whoever she was, and seemed even testier once she answered. "You know that you are the last person on Earth I want to talk to but you have to just listen for ten seconds. Cerberus is in the middle of a crop failure and they're worried that people could start dying."

Now Charlie could hear a very shrill commotion coming from the other end, though she still couldn't see who Leonard was speaking to. At this point, though, she had given up trying to put it all together and decided to wait until he had calmed down before demanding an explanation.

"Calm down!" he yelled. "Besides, you shouldn't be yelling at me. You're the one who sent her there in the first place for that private school! No I don't know what's going to be done about it, I just thought that you should know, as much as it killed me. Now, I'm going to actually try and help her while you continue to run around like a chicken without its head."

He quickly ended the conversation before looking around as if he didn't know what to do. "Leonard, what is going on?" Charlie demanded.

He turned to her, as if he had only just noticed her presence. The look on his face clearly indicated he didn't want to have this conversation. "Cerberus has had a crop failure and I have only just been informed that starvation is imminent." He was trying to be as vague as possible.

"Who are Joanna and Kathleen? And why would you be so shaken by a crop failure on Cerberus?" Cerberus was not exactly considered to be an important planet by Starfleet. In fact, most of the time, it was all but forgotten.

He rubbed his face with anxiety, realizing he wasn't going to dodge the issue with Charlie. "Kathleen is my ex-wife and Joanna is our daughter. Joanna is currently on Cerberus."

For a second, Charlie thought she might fall over with the shock of new information. All that she had known was that he had an ex-wife and a messy divorce had been all she thought he had to show for his marriage. The fact that Leonard had left out his ex-wife's name was of no particular concern to Charlie but he had never mentioned a daughter. "You never said you had a daughter," she told him quietly.

At this, Leonard gave her a pained look, knowing that he should have told her. "I never found a good time."

"Well, you could have mentioned her when you were telling me about Kathleen." He gave her another pained look but Charlie knew that this was not the time or the place for the conversation – people in the square had been staring at them. Not to mention the fact that Leonard was in no state to be discussing anything. At this point, she just had to roll with the information she had because now, Joanna was her main priority.

"Come on," she said quietly. "Let's get to your apartment so you can get in touch with people." However, at this point, Charlie knew exactly what she would be doing. She took him gently and began leading him in the right direction.

Charlie felt as if her heart had become one of those old squeeze toys that children used to play with – it squeezed whenever she saw Leonard and the agony he was in. She had to make the call.

She walked into his bedroom and brought her phone out. Her father's face popped up on the screen and a delighted look appeared on his face. "Charlie, it's great to hear from you."

"I can't talk long, Dad," she told him, her voice only barely audible.

As he took in the look on her face, he gathered that it was not a social call. "What's wrong?" Panic began to cross his face, thinking that Charlie may be in trouble.

"Dad, are you capable of calling Uncle Carter?"

Now he appeared confused, his eyebrows knitting together. "Yes. Is there any particular reason?"

"There is a planet called Cerberus that needs his help. Unless someone can come to their aide, they may face starvation. I know Uncle Carter is very invested in philanthropy, so this seems like something that he would be interested in."

"I can call him," her father told her. "Am I going to get a better explanation later?"

"Yeah, but there's someone who needs me right now," she informed him. "I can't stay. Bye."

Their conversation ended abruptly as she walked back to Leonard's couch, where he appeared to be almost catatonic, tears rolling down his face. "No one from Starfleet can get there in time to help."

"I'm so sorry." She sat down next to him and wrapped her arms around him. There were no words, really, that could express how horrible she felt knowing that there was the possibility Leonard might lose his daughter. Charlie could only hope that Uncle Carter came through.

A short message popped up on her phone from her dad. Carter said he was redirecting his ship towards Cerberus as we spoke. When do I get to know what's going on?

When did her father get to know what was going on? Charlie hoped it would be a while but told him: Once the crisis is over. The message was vague enough to give her time to think of how she would explain to her parents: they were probably still under the impression that Charlie was dating Ryan – she had never told them otherwise. That was going to be one awkward phone call so she figured she would put it off, especially until she knew Leonard would be okay. If Carter was going to Cerberus, they were likely going to make it.

Neither of them slept that night. Charlie simply held Leonard in her arms – their explanations would have to wait. Charlie had never even considered the thought that he might have any children, given the fact that he had never mentioned it. Honestly, she didn't know quite how she felt about it at first. Any ties to his previous marriage wasn't exactly a welcome thought; the alimony didn't exactly make either Leonard's or Charlie's life any easier.

Then she thought: this is Leonard's daughter. After that, all confusion over how to feel was over and Charlie knew that she loved Joanna already.

The next morning, Leonard received an update on his phone regarding the disaster on Cerberus, confirming that it had been averted. He collapsed onto the floor in relief then pulled Charlie into a bone-crushing hug.

What made matters more awkward than they should have been was the message McCoy received next on his phone, from the administration at Joanna's school. It read:

Mr. McCoy, due to the recent issues we have had on Cerberus, we will be temporarily closing the school and sending students home. This will likely only last a matter of weeks. That said, we are happy to announce that Cerberus will continue to prosper, thanks to the philanthropy of the humanitarian Carter Winston. When we met with him to express our gratitude, he had a very strange request which we consider to be incredibly bizarre. However, we will oblige and we hope you may make better sense of it than we can. He requested that you tell Charlie, whoever that may be, "Hi".

McCoy turned to Charlie and gave her a look that made her extremely uncomfortable. "What? Is Joanna okay?"

He nodded. "Joanna's fine. They're actually going to send her back to Earth for a few weeks."

"Will I be meeting her?" Charlie asked carefully.

"Assuming my ex-wife doesn't get her talons on Joanna first, then yes. Luckily, being in Starfleet, I'll be told all of this before Kathleen so I may actually get a few days with Joanna without her around." He began to shift uncomfortably, realizing that this was not a situation Charlie was in any way prepared for. "Do you want to meet her?"

Charlie nodded earnestly. "I would love to meet her. You have to understand, though, that this is a lot to take in."

He understood perfectly and actually thought Charlie was handling it fairly well, given how this had been thrown at her. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I know I should have but I guess I was afraid of how you would react. Not everybody is eager to date a man who has children."

"Wait, do you have more than one?" Charlie really didn't need any more surprises.

"No, sorry. That wasn't phrased well. I'm just saying that I scared you would leave."

She saw the fear on his face right now. "I'm not going anywhere, Leonard," she told him firmly. "How old is she?"

"Eight."

"She's living at a boarding school on Cerberus at eight?" Charlie didn't want to sound judgemental but….

"I wasn't given much of a choice in the matter," he grumbled. "Kathleen made that decision last year and given our messy custody situation, she gets to make all the decisions. It doesn't help that I'm off planet half the time because of Starfleet. I haven't seen Joanna in a while."

Charlie was at least happy that they shared the idea that Joanna was too young to be shipped to a different planet for school. "That's just so…terrible. I already didn't care for your ex-wife, but at this point I'm beginning to think she is the poster child for malicious bitches everywhere."

"Yeah, but at this point there's nothing I can do about it. I just would rather Kathleen didn't know Joanna was here until she absolutely has to."

"I think I could arrange that." Charlie quickly whipped her phone out and sent a message to her father regarding a delayed notification to a Mrs. McCoy. He in turn would contact Carter and McCoy would have his daughter all to himself. After a few anxious minutes, Charlie got the reply that she wanted. "Consider it done," she said as a smile spread onto her face. "Your ex-wife will not be informed of Joanna's arrival until we contact her school.

"How the hell did you do that, and how the hell does Carter Winston know you?" McCoy had thought that, out of consideration for Charlie, they should discuss the Joanna situation first, but he was still baffled that Carter Winston, considered one of the most important people in the galaxy, had wanted to tell Charlie "Hi".

"Well, Carter Winston and my father were roommates their freshman year in college – they've been friends ever since. So, last night, I called my father and had him contact Uncle Carter to tell him to go to Cerberus."

At first, McCoy's only response was "'Uncle Carter'?" The idea that anyone would call Carter Winston 'Uncle Carter' was absolutely mystifying. Then it all came together. Charlie had been the person who told Winston to go to Cerberus in order to save his daughter. Realizing this he rammed his lips onto Charlie's, not knowing how he could ever express how grateful he was. "You sent Winston to save my daughter?"

"I had to do it; she's your daughter."

He pulled her in again and began to think about how lucky he had been. Not only had Charlie saved Joanna but she had also sent the very clear message that she was not only okay with him having a daughter, but that she cared about Joanna, too. This left him feeling so much lighter. No more secrets.

Joanna would be arriving within the next day or two but Charlie had a very important appointment to keep with Pike.

She stepped into his office, in full uniform, and sat awkwardly in front of his desk. "Dr. Jacobs," he greeted her warmly. "How have you been? Taking up combat training, I hope."

A smile began to make its way onto her face, remembering how good Pike had been to her. "I have been taking advanced combat training – thank you for that, sir. I wish that we could spend more time on pleasantries, but I know that you're busy. As I'm sure you're aware, I've sent in an application to be transferred to the U.S.S. Archer."

Pike nodded somberly. "I had seen that, though I didn't understand why. Both Captain Kirk and Commander Spock have left glowing reports on you performance aboard the Enterprise, as has Dr. McCoy. Kirk even said, and I quote that 'Dr. Jacobs is vital to the Enterprise and her work ensures the ship can behave as a cohesive unit.' Why do you want to leave? Is there some type of issue that can be resolved?"

She shook her head. "I have loved my time aboard the Enterprise and become very close with many of its crewmembers. My reason for wanting to transfer to the Archer is because of my position on the Enterprise. I am second in command in med bay and while I have had no problems aboard the Enterprise, I need to point out that most doctors of my rank and with my qualifications would already be Chief Medical Officer aboard a starship. Dr. McCoy is not going to be leaving the Enterprise any time soon, nor should he as one of the most capable medical officers in Starfleet. But I want to have that position and I have that option aboard the Archer."

"Jim won't be happy," he told her, throwing formalities out the window. "You know he will fight that transfer."

"I'm aware," she said sadly. "I was hoping that you may be willing to help me. I'm likely to receive the open position on the Archer and I don't want this to be any harder than it has to be."

He sighed, as if he didn't like her decision, but he understood. "I'll see to it that Jim can't interfere if you receive the position."

"Thank you. Now I just have to inform them all of my impending transfer to the Archer, should I receive the position."

"I wouldn't delay," Pike told her. "You all but have the position and I think it would be better to avoid Jim having that surprise waiting for him."

"Yes, sir."