Hello everyone! Enjoy.
"I'd like for you guys to come to my house tomorrow." said McCoy one days, about two weeks after the thunderstorm. The boys were sitting in the barn.
"Huh?" said Jim.
"Just for the day. Day after tomorrow is supposed to be nice weather-wise." he said. It's just. Well. Neither of you have ever met my parents, or seen my home. Even over winter break we all spent most of it here. Mom wants me to be home every once in a while when I come home. So, I'd like for you guys to come to my house tomorrow."
"I will come." said Spock.
"Yeah, sure I'll come, Bones!" said Jim. "I'd better go tell mom, I'm sure she'll be fine with it." McCoy smiled.
"Great."
"It's sooo hot!" complained Kirk. "Of course, this is like your winter or something, isn't it, Spock?"
"It is similar to the fall season on Vulcan temperature-wise." said Spock. "I believe this is the address." They were in a town. Not really small or large, just a town. And just a house. Kirk walked up to the door and knocked. The door opened and there stood a little girl, only four or five.
"Hey there." Kirk crouched down. "Does a Leonard live here?" she nodded. Bones ran into the room, grabbing the door frame to stop himself.
"Sarah! You aren't supposed to answer the door!"
"I forgot." she said. She looked at Spock. "You have pointed ears."
"I am Vulcan."
"I know." she ran off.
"That's Sarah. My little cousin. My parents are watching her. And her brother. C'mon, I'll show you around." He led them through the house.
"I think I finally get it." said Kirk.
"Get what, Jim?" asked McCoy.
"You're normal." Bones groaned.
"I've known you for two and a half years and you just figured that out?"
"Normal is a highly subjective term." said Spock.
"Fine then. 'Normal' by my definition-and I assume Jim's-is living in a middle-ling sized house, in a suburb, with both parents, maybe some siblings, maybe not. And I went to a public school for my whole life, average grades and all that. And everyone was shocked when I decided not just to be a doctor, but a Starfleet one."
"An' you're gonna graduate and stuff and be important, aren't ya Leo?" Sarah had shown back up.
"Sure, sweetheart."
"Leo?" asked Kirk.
"Yeah, that's his name! He's my big cousin Leo."
"Sarah. Go play with your brother, okay?"
"Alright, Leo!" she ran off again.
"Leo? Hmmmm, I like that. 'Leo, pass me my PADD' 'Leo, can you help with my science homework?', 'Hurry up,Leo!'. Yeah, I like it."
"Don't DARE start calling em that! 'Lenny' was bad enough, even for one day. And now I'm Bones. Dang, you've never actually called by Leonard."
"Do you want me to?"
"Heck no."
"Where are your parents Leonard?" asked Spock.
"Eh, let's see... Dad's not home yet and Mom's outside. Come on, I'll introduce you." He led them through the house and out a back door.
"Leonard." A woman stood up from tending a garden. She was in her fifties, with brown hair starting to gray.
"These are my friends, Jim, and Spock." Mrs. McCoy took off her gardening gloves and shook both boys hands.
"Well we're happy to have you." she said. "Leonard, where did your cousins get to?"
"They're in the house somewhere."
"Fine, your grandparents'll be here for them soon. Show your friends around, dinner's at six. Enjoy yourselves." Spock crouched down by the garden.
"What is wrong with these?" he asked, lifted up a leaf of a tomato plant.
"Just bugs. I'll probably have to get rid of the whole thing."
"A pesticide could easily be used to avoid this."
"I don't want no chemicals on my vegetables, that's the whole point of growing myself. Off you go now! All you, git!" she was smiling though.
The boys left. They went up to Bones' room. It was small and simple. with the only furniture being a bed, and side table, and a dresser.
"Leonard, your mother has an accent different from yours." noted Spock.
"Hey, yeah she does." said Kirk. "Come to think of it, you don't really have southern accent. Not much of one actually."
"Weeell, would ya prefer if I talked to ya like this?" asked Bones, using a heavy accent. "'cause I can do that." Kirk laughed.
"No thanks. But honestly, why not?"
"I got rid of it."
"You can't get rid of an accent Bones!"
"Sure you can, if you talk a certain way long enough, all the time, it becomes your real voice. And I decided I'd rather not the first thing someone thinks about me to be 'Wow, he's southern'."
"Leonard I recall you once saying that 'everyone back homes thinks I'm going to fail' or something to that affect." said Spock.
"Okay, that was bit of an exaggeration. Mama and dad thought I'd do fine. My friends, grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and a few cousins my age and older weren't so sure. I was told to my face a few times I wasn't smart enough." explained McCoy. "And when did this turn into 'ask Leonard anything'? Geez. Stupid Hobgoblin. And what's so funny, Jim?"
"You call your mom 'Mama'. and you sound more southern than normal when you do." he chuckled.
"Shut up." grumbled Bones. A door could be heard closing downstairs.
"That'll be dad. Let's go, you'd better meet him."
Leonard looked a good deal like his father, as Jim pointed out later. David McCoy was a personable man, quite likeable.
Dinner was delicious, and shared by a good many people. There were Bones, his parents, His little cousins Sarah and her brother Jonas (Sarah asked question after question of Spock), Bones' grandparents, and two more cousins who had come with the grandparents.
"Thanks for having us, goodnight!" said Jim later to mr and mrs McCoy as they left. there was a Transporter base twenty minutes away by bus. Leonard was going with them to the bus stop.
"You have a big family." said Jim.
"That wasn't even half of it, not even a quarter." replied Bones.
"I don't have any cousins at all. Just me, my parents, Chris, and Gramma Richards. And Grandpa Jake." said Kirk. "No cousins, and no aunts and uncles."
"Mama had three sisters and a brother, all married with kids. Dad is the youngest of four. All boys. And most everyone lives nearby."
"You dislike it." both humans boys looked at Spock."
"How's you guess?" asked Bones.
"My lack of emotions does not prohibit me from seeing emotion in others. You act slightly annoyed and upset naming off your parent's siblings. And I noted at dinner, you purposefully moved to sit between James and I to avoid sitting by Jonas."
"Dang it, you stupid perceptive, green-blooded-"
"Are the insults really necessary, Bones?" asked Jim. "And why don't you like?"
"Yes, the insults are very necessary. And I just don't feel like I fit in with my family. I love 'em all, but I just don't fit in with them that well." they had reached the bus stop. "This is where we part ways, see you in a few days."
"Bye, Bones. Goodnight."
"Goodbye, Leonard.
"Bye." Leonard started walking back toward his house.
"So weird, I never noticed how little we actually know about Bones." said Kirk. "I guess that's what made today cool for me."
"I do not understand your meaning." said Spock.
"Getting to actually know one of my best friends."