"You wanted to see me, Captain," Bones asked. She laughed at the look he gave her when he said it. Bones didn't refer to her by rank often, someone had to keep her honest as Hoshi would say.

"I did, doctor. I have a problem and you're the only person that can help."

He looked at her, "What might that be?" Jamie took a breath from her spot sitting at the end of their bed.

"I'm sore. I really wanna take this crap off but I can't move," she told him. Bones laughed as he leaned over and kissed her.

"I think I can help with that, darlin'. I thought you told me you were fine in sickbay."

Jamie shrugged, "I am fine, it's been a very long two days and all the adrenaline is gone." He chuckled and kissed her again. He pulled her boots off and slid her shirt over her head. He sucked in a breath and she looked at him, "What?" Jamie had a bruise from her hip to right under her arm, she had no clue when or where she got it. "I'm fine, Bones. I don't even feel it." Of course, he poked her in the side and dared her with his eyes to say she didn't feel it. "Okay, it hurts a little but not that much."

He glared at her, "Jim…"

She stopped him and stood up, "I'm fine. No, you know what, I'm not fine. Giant lizard things tried to kill us. My ship… my home was attacked. One of our Commodores caused a Rip in space. New Vulcan is a mess. Surok was killed, T'Mar was tortured, and we lost nineteen crew members, three of which were with me when they died. My side is killing me but I don't care because right now, all I want is my husband. So, if you're planning to stand there and glare at me, go back to sickbay and I'll go help Scotty or some…" He cut her off with a kiss. She deepened it and pulled him closer as he wrapped his arms around her. Jamie pushed the uniform shirts off of him and let them fall to the floor. Bones wasn't without his bruises, "What's that?"

He looked down and muttered "nothing."

Jamie chuckled, "Nothing? That's a bruise, a huge bruise. Where did you get that?"

He shrugged, "No clue, darlin'." She ran her fingers over the discolored skin on his right shoulder.

"I'm sorry," she sighed.

Bones looked at her, "You're kidding, right? This isn't your fault, Jim. You and the hobgoblin pulled off another impossible feat. Yea, I got a little banged up, we all did. I'm fine, Chapel already checked me over."

Jamie laughed, "All that crap you give me about getting hurt…"

"Yea, I know," Bones kissed her again and pressed her against the mattress, pulling of the last of their clothes as he went. She wrapped her legs around his waist and circled her arms around his neck, pulling him close. There was nothing gentle about it when they brought their bodies together.

The reality slammed into her like a ton of bricks; they almost lost this fight. If it had gone differently, she would've lost him; the thought brought tears to her eyes as their bodies moved together hard and fast. This was a side of Bones that she'd seen before, after Nero almost killed them. His movements started out sure and measured but his control was beginning to slip. Jamie clung tightly to him; she wasn't going to last much longer, she was so close. Bones picked up his pace and whispered in her ear.

"I'm fine darlin'. I'm fine and I'm right here." She didn't realize that she had vocalized some of her thoughts. Jamie gasped as every inch of him pushed into her, over and over. His voice was thick with love, exhaustion, and lust; it sent shivers coursing through her and pulled her over the edge. One more thrust and she felt him shudder as he followed. "We're okay, Jim. You made sure that we were all okay." He knew what was bothering her, again. She looked at him and smiled.

"I hate you sometimes." He kissed her shoulder and rearranged them so that they laying side by side, facing each other.

"Ha, you couldn't hate me if you tried. Now, tell me what Pike said," her husband said. She chuckled because he was right, then she told him everything that she was allowed to tell him about what the admiral said while they laid exhausted in their bed, Bones running his fingers through her hair. Starfleet was going to give them a few weeks off since the ship got damaged.

"Bones, I wanna go to Iowa." Aside from working on the Enterprise, Jamie stayed far, far away from Riverside. With Aurelan's death, she knew her brother went back to his hometown. The house belonged to the Kirk siblings anyway.

"You want to see Sam?"

She nodded, "Yea. I feel like I just abandoned him."

"You didn't, he needed to be without you for a while. I think we should go see him, check on Pete and Alex. Maybe grab Jo… she's in school but we'll still get to see her." Jamie smiled and kissed his jaw.

"Sounds like a plan, Bonesy."

Shore leave starting was the best thing Jamie could think of in a long time. Scotty wasn't going but she didn't expect him to, their girl needed some love and he wasn't leaving her with the idiots from the docks on Starbase One. They decided to go to Georgia first and Fred met them at the shuttle port. He pulled them each into a hug.

"How's my favorite sister? Heard you got hurt," the tall man said.

Jamie chuckled, "I'm always getting hurt but I'm okay. I married a doctor for a reason." That earned her a laugh from both men.

If there was any relationship that surprised her, it was how close she and Fred got. Jamie doesn't know why she never thought of it but she really was Fred's only sister. He had plenty of friends but most of them were guys, he was an only child and Bones was his only brother. Even though they were in-laws, they never really acted like it; Fred grew up down the road from the McCoy kids.

"How's mama?" Bones asked as they got into the hovercar and Fred went on to give them updates about everyone. They arrived at Joanna's school a few minutes before the day ended, Fred and Donna didn't tell the little girl that her parents were coming.

"She's gonna flip," Donna told Jamie over the comm when the talked to her the day before.

"Here they come," Fred warned when the bell went off, signaling the end of the day. Jamie and Bones stood next to Fred in their uniforms as all the kids rushed out of the building. A smile broke out on her face when she saw the youngest McCoy heading their way. It took Jo a second to register what she was seeing but Jamie was sure the whole state heard their daughter.

"MAMA! DADDY!" The other kids, parents and teachers moved out of Joanna's way as she ran right into Jamie's arms. The Starfleet Captain didn't care one bit that she had tears in her eyes as she held her daughter tight.

"Hey, sweetie."