( Huge thank you to aheart4aheart for your kind words! You really motivated me!)

1 Month Old

After the first week, McCoy and Spock had both fallen into a routine after much trial and error. After the first month, their routine was flawless. Neither of them knew how this arrangement panned out, but it did.

Each morning, Spock would change Amanda's diaper since he was always the first one awake. McCoy woke up a little while after that and fed and dressed her in new clothes for the day. He usually played with her too, if he had the time. After that, he'd go to work when the babysitter came. He and Spock had recruited his friend Kraila as the babysitter since they had both known her at the Academy and she was an esteemed medical officer. She worked Beta shift, so there were no complications with work.

McCoy only worked half his shift, and went home a couple hours after lunch time to take Amanda over. He'd take care of anything she needed, play with her if she wanted to be awake, or let her sleep if she wanted to sleep. He'd make sure to roll her around every once in a while too. When Spock got home, Amanda was usually awake, so he would entertain her for some time.

When she started crying, McCoy would take her because Spock's ears were so sensitive. When she needed a diaper change they usually switched off, but Spock was always willing to do it if McCoy was otherwise occupied. When she wanted attention McCoy was usually there to play with her, since Spock didn't really know what to do. They were always rolling her over from her stomach to her back and then over again- it was a good thing to do for young infants for various reasons.

They had also agreed on a feeding and temperature plan. They would decrease the temperature slightly at night hours to make it more realistic to a planet and to have her exercise her body temperature regulation. They would also fed her on a steady schedule, since they had figured out after much trial and error when she usually got hungry. It did require one of them to wake up in the middle of the night to feed her, which they switched off every night.

It worked pretty efficiently for them, as they were like a well-oiled machine. They ran into conflicts every once in a while, considering they were raising a pretty unique child. She didn't cry too much, but when she did it usually lasted for hours and hours before she got so tired of crying that she just fell asleep. She didn't know how to crawl yet either, so she was always reaching for them and she was happy when they set her down somewhere new. She was quite adventurous.

Not much changed between McCoy and Spock, though. Things were quite tense at first, since McCoy had rejected him, but they eventually worked back into an environment of trust and amicability. They talked a lot, actually, but some days they just sat around quietly, both tired and ready to rest.

Most days when Spock came home, McCoy would leave for an hour or two to go work out at a recreational center. He had gotten somewhat addicted to it, since he didn't realize how much he missed doing those sorts of activities until he couldn't do them for several months. His baby belly was almost gone as he had been working his abs pretty hard, but he also ran for miles on end many days. He enjoyed being able to eat and work out like he used to.

After he got home from work one day, Kraila handed Amanda to him, the baby wailing loudly. "She's been crying almost all day. I've tried everything you suggested, too, but she just won't calm down. I don't know why." She said over the crying, and McCoy stroked Amanda's little head.

"It's alright. Thank you so much Kraila. Make sure you tell me if this ever becomes too much for you. I can always find someone else if you need a break." McCoy told her, and she smiled.

"No need, McCoy. I love working with babies throughout all the good and bad times!" Kraila said, beaming, and McCoy nodded. She left the quarters, and he sighed. Amanda was especially loud today.

He started humming to her, some random tune that he'd made up the first time that she started crying like this. He held her against his chest as he hummed to her, rubbing her back and walking around the quarters. He thought of only his everlasting love her her, and how happy he was that she was there with him, and she eventually calmed down to little sniffles. "I don't know what's wrong today, but I love you regardless." McCoy said as he made her look at him, and he wiped the tears from her cheeks. She made a noise at him, and he smiled.

He knew that Vulcans were touch-telepaths, and he and Spock had gotten the sense that Amanda could do it as well. If one of them was in a negative mood then they had to hand the duty off to the other in order to preserve Amanda's sanity. So whenever she was in a bad mood, they would hold her and think about how much they love and appreciate her. It usually worked wonders.

Both of them were also anti-baby-talk. Spock wouldn't be caught dead using baby-talk, and McCoy just hated it in general. It made him feel as if he was down-talking a kid when he used that tone and manner of speaking, so he always just talked normally. Sure children responded more to higher pitched voices, but if she has two dads then what're you gonna do?

McCoy kissed Amanda's forehead and sat down with her on the couch. He handed her a nearby stuffed animal- which happened to be a very cute rendition of an Andorian forest spider- before the door chimed. "Come in!" He said, trying to get Amanda to keep ahold of the little stuffed arachnid.

Jim came in, scrunching his face up when he saw the toy. "Gross, why make her play with that?" He asked with obvious disapproval.

"Do you see her rejecting it?" He asked, gesturing towards the baby in his lap. She was hugging the blue spider with a smile on her face, her little pointed eyebrows raised up. Jim smiled and shook his head.

"I guess not." Jim admitted, sitting down next to him. He pat Amanda's head, ruffling the small, short bits of black hair that she had. "She looks like you, but Vulcan." He laughed, and McCoy snorted.

"Yeah, unfortunately for her. She'd be better off looking like Spock." He said, but froze when he realize that he pretty much just called the man attractive. "I mean that in the sense that his features actually suit the Vulcan attributes. Mine don't." He added in attempt to save himself.

"You and Spock seem pretty close." Jim observed, and McCoy shrugged.

"You mean other than the fact that we live together and have a child together?" McCoy asked bluntly, looking down when he felt Amanda's hand on his finger. He smiled at her, causing her to smile back.

"That's true... But no, yeah, you guys do seem close other than that. Especially because Spock is okay with touching you. I don't know if you've noticed, Bones, but he's not even comfortable coming into skin-to-skin contact with ME. And he and I have been good friends for a long time." Jim all but complained, and McCoy sighed.

"Is that all you came here for, Jim? To see if Spock was single?" McCoy said angrily, and Amanda made a sad noise. He took a breath and smiled down at her. "I love you Amanda." He said, and she went back to looking at the forest spider like before.

"For a one month old she sure is intuitive." Jim observed, and McCoy nodded.

"Yeah, I think it's a Vulcan thing. Human babies aren't usually as good company as she is." McCoy said, pinching Amanda's cheek gently. "She's really expressive too, which is good."

"Yeah, I've noticed. How is Spock with her?" Jim asked, again turning the conversation back to the Vulcan. McCoy sighed.

"He's good with her. Plays with her when he feels up to it, and he's always really gentle and willing." He answered, and Jim nodded.

"So you two are like a married couple now, huh?" Jim asked, and McCoy shot him a glare.

"Jim, if you came here to accuse me of fornicating with the pointy eared hobgoblin, then you can leave my home. But by all means stay if you intend on being decent company." He said, still glaring. Jim gaped at him.

"Of course I'm good company!" He said dramatically, and McCoy nodded.

"Good." He said, handing Amanda over to him when he started to smell the full diaper. "Then take care of her while I shower." He got up, and Jim made a whining noise.

"But... her diaper-"

"Yep!" McCoy said before closing the door on him, and he could hear the man groan from the other room. He smirked as he grabbed clothes to change into. It was also nice being able to wear pretty much anything that he wanted now that he didn't have a huge belly to compensate for. He just felt like everything was better now that he wasn't pregnant.

He showered for a while, savoring the solitude. He didn't like Jim coming in there and making him think about things. He didn't like to think about how much he'd been thinking about Spock. He didn't like thinking about thinking about how much he'd been thinking about Spock. It was all so confusing. It was like he couldn't live without him, but they weren't even too close. But what was 'too close?' They were closer than Spock and Jim were, evidently. McCoy even favored Spock's company over Jim's most of the time. What a friend he was...

He knew that he was willing to die for Spock, though. That was made evident months ago when he'd had that dream where Spock almost died again. He shivered, not wanting to think about it. Even the thought of Spock dying the first time made his breathing constrict and his chest ache. He swallowed down the old sorrow and scrubbed it all away. The fact that he was still upset about that even though it was almost a year ago was concerning.

McCoy thought again about how Spock was going to kiss him. He entertained the thought of 'what if' for a while. What if he had let Spock do it? Would things be different between them now? What would it have felt like? How warm would Spock's lips be on his? How hot would his body be on his?

When McCoy walked out of the room to see Spock sitting with Jim and Amanda on the couch, he felt warm and embarrassed at the sight of Spock. He swallowed hard and went to get himself a drink, ignoring the men's eyes burning holes in his skull. He turned to face them while he waited for the replicator, raising his eyebrows causally.

"That was a long ass shower, Bones." Jim said, ignoring the deadly look from Spock when he said the profanity.

"I wanted to be clean." McCoy said with a shrug, drinking down the whiskey. It'd been a while since he'd had some straight up whiskey, and he felt like the situation probably called for it.

"Well, I'm going to leave then. I was just sticking around so that I could say goodbye to you, Bones." Jim said, getting up and stretching. McCoy felt a flicker of panic about being trapped here with Spock, but he masked it as he nodded to his best friend.

"Have a good night, Jim." McCoy said, and Jim nodded back at him before leaving. McCoy cast his eyes to the floor as he drank some more. If he was a teenager he wouldn't be so ashamed about what he'd done. He drank more of his beverage, feeling it calm him with each gulp. "So... you and Jim have some fun times?" He asked, finally looking up at Spock. He was holding Amanda, who kept grabbing at his face.

"He kept directing the main point of conversation to you- for which reason I do not know." Spock said, grabbing the forest spider and putting it on Amanda to occupy her hands. McCoy glared, since Jim had done the same thing with him by making it all about Spock.

"Our captain can be a real nut job sometimes." He snickered, sitting down next to them on the couch. At Spock's inquisitive look, he added, "He can be crazy. Strange."

"Indeed." Spock agreed, making him smile a little. "He did seem to talk... fondly of you." He added apprehensively, and McCoy raised an eyebrow at him.

"Meaning...?" He asked, waving his hand for the man to elaborate.

"Meaning... He speaks of you in the same manner in which a person would speak of their romantic partner." Spock said, causing McCoy to gape at him, and Amanda started crying. He handed her to McCoy, and he realized that she started crying because of Spock's negative thoughts. Of what? Of he and Jim being together?

"Me and Jim?" McCoy scoffed, standing up and patting Amanda, who was crying right into his ear. "I would never." He shook his head, and started humming and thinking happy thoughts. Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, what made him happy? Amanda made him happy. His job made him happy. Spock made him happy...

Amanda stopped crying, and he blew out a breath of relief. Damn, if the only thing he ever had to do when she cried was think about Spock, then that would be easy. He walked back over and gave her back to Spock, who let her cuddle into his neck.

"I'm going to go for a quick run. I'll be back later." McCoy said, bounding out the door before Spock could reply. He needed to get away. He didn't want to think, he didn't want to talk, he just wanted to run and get all his frustrations out through exertion.