Title: Lucky in Love on the Starship Enterprise (3/4)
Author: klmeri
Fandom: Star Trek AOS
Pairing: pre-Kirk/Spock/McCoy
Summary: Joanna McCoy visits her father while the Enterprise is docked near Earth. Her mission: to improve his love life.
Previous Parts: 1 | 2
Or read at AO3

Part Three

Joanna doesn’t know why she didn’t think of this idea sooner. A sleepover is the best kind of test and, in her experience, exactly what is required for secrets to become known. During a sleepover when she was nine, she learned that a boy named Danny was enamored with her. That didn’t work out, of course, because Danny also had a habit of liking every girl he thought had pretty hair; plus he was a whole two years younger and she didn’t have time for younger boyfriends. They’re a lot of work.

But it wouldn’t be a problem for her father. He is older, by far, than Captain Jim and Mr. Spock and seems to have a good handle on how to deal with them. She thinks it is because he is more mature.

Although, to be fair, Mr. Spock acts very mature for his age. That may just be his reserved Vulcan nature.

“JoJo!”

The man who plops down next to Joanna is the one her father regularly calls an infant. At present, he is grinning like a child closer to her age who is very proud of himself for whatever secret thing he has just done.

Joanna cannot help but grin back. She pokes at the sack in his right hand. “What’s in there?”

Jim gives the bag a little shake. “Goodies,” he claims. “You can’t have a sleepover without goodies!”

Her eyes start to twinkle just the way that his eyes are twinkling. She whispers, “You’ll have to hide it under the bed before Dad sees it.”

Jim whispers back, “We can open it once he’s asleep.”

That’s a good idea. Her dad may be more mature because of his advanced age but that also means he has to sleep earlier.

Joanna jerks her head up guiltily when said parent calls her name from the other room. “Quickly,” she urges Captain Jim, “hide the goodies!”

Jim wiggles out from under the bed just in time to look innocent as Leonard enters the bedroom.

The man observes them suspiciously. “What are y’all up to?”

Joanna grabs Jim by the arm and viciously pinches the back of his neck. He yelps.

“Practicin’,” the girl declares. “I want to learn the Vulcan Nerve Pinch.” She pinches Captain Jim again.

Eyes watering, Jim makes a noise between a laugh and a whimper, like he approves of her thinking fast on her feet but doesn’t understand how this translates into him being the victim.

Joanna’s father huffs and says, “Jo, quit terrorizing my captain—and besides, you have to do it between the neck and shoulder.”

“Oh, thanks,” she replies.

Jim scrambles away after the child pinches him again, this time in the proper place, though sadly it still does not have the desired effect of rendering him unconscious. With a hand to his neck, he mutters, “I’m going to find Spock.”

“You do that,” Leonard answers mildly, watching Jim leave.

Joanna comes to her feet and brushes down her overalls with dainty motions. “Dad,” she says in her best offhanded manner, “this sleepover is important. You know that, don’t you?”

“It’s a headache, that’s what it is.” But then her father asks, “Why’s tonight important, Jo?”

“For reasons.”

The man sighs. “Reasons which cannot currently be explained? Joanna, sweetheart, if you want something from me, you have to give me something to work with first. I’m a doctor, not a psychic.”

“But then the results would be biased.”

“Is everything an experiment to you?”

She widens her eyes. “I would never experiment on you, Daddy.”

“And I’m secretly an Andorian.” He crosses his arms with a frown. “No, what’s going on here is obvious.”

This time her surprise isn’t feigned. “It is?”

“Painfully so.” Leonard’s frown transforms into a scowl. “I let you follow Spock around too much. He’s turned you into a miniature version of himself.”

Joanna claps her hands delightedly and bounces up and down. “Do you think he could really do that? I wanna be Vulcan!”

Her father mutters an oath under his breath and turns away. “Just… spare me the ‘it is logical’ arguments for the night.”

“That sounds logical.”

Joanna laughs to herself as her father stalks away.

~~~

The first order of business, Joanna McCoy declares upon Mr. Spock’s arrival, is to play a game.

“Chess!” Jim votes.

Both McCoys veto that with a firm no.

“You and I shall play chess another time,” Mr. Spock comforts the crestfallen Jim.

“I’m thinking something more… physical,” Joanna tells her sleepover buddies, the look on her face shrewd for an eleven year-old. “Have you ever heard of Twister?”

Jim scratches his chin. “I think I played that once. It’s a serious challenge when you’re drunk.”

“This is an alcohol-free party,” Leonard inserts a bit sharply.

Jim lifts his hands in a placating manner. “Of course it is, Bones.”

“It’s more challenging when you have a lot of people, Captain Jim.”

“But I’ll still win,” replies Jim. He cracks his knuckles. “I am very flexible.”

Mr. Spock looks as alarmed as a Vulcan can. “What is the nature of this game?”

Joanna sidles up to him and presents her sweetest face. “You’ll play with us, won’t you, Mr. Spock?”

“Please explain the nature of Twister,” Spock requests again.

“We’ll have to touch each other,” her father replies, for once surprising his daughter that he would undermine her efforts to entice a reluctant player.

But Joanna is nothing if not determined. She lays a calming hand on Spock’s blue-clad arm. “It’s like a puzzle with body parts, and it is a very good way to practice coordination and balance.”

Jim stage-whispers to Leonard, “She’s going to win this argument.”

Leonard pinches Jim between his neck and shoulder. Kirk scuttles away, putting himself far out of reach of a second attack.

Spock looks from Joanna to Leonard and back again. “Is… Twister a typical activity for a sleepover?” he asks hesitantly.

“Yes,” Joanna confirms. Her expression dares her father to say otherwise.

Leonard sighs through his nose. “I suppose. For stubborn children,” he adds in a mutter.

Spock holds his hands behind his back. “Then I will participate.” He looks to Joanna. “Vulcan children do not commonly spend time in each other’s company outside of the education halls, but I have heard this is different among young humans. You must forgive me for having little experience with social functions such as ‘sleepovers’. I attempted some research after accepting your invitation; however, I believe it would be best to follow your example. If this game which requires bodily contact is what you wish to play, then I shall try it.”

“We’ll be mindful of your hands,” Joanna says, touched by his trust in her.

“I would appreciate that.”

Joanna turns to the other two adults in the room. “Captain Jim, activate the hologram.”

Jim salutes her with an “Aye, Captain McCoy!”

“Daddy,” she says to her parent, “try not to dishonor the House of McCoy.”

Leonard is indignant. “Says who?”

She sticks her hands on her hips. “Me—the future matriarch of our family.”

“I should’ve never had children.”

“You didn’t,” she reminds him. “You had just the one.” The child in question claps her hands. “Chop chop, everyone! Let the games begin!”

“This is ominous,” she hears her father say to Mr. Spock.

“In what regard, Dr. McCoy?”

“I don’t know, but I might need you to help me figure it out.”

“As always, Doctor, your ambiguity leaves me at a loss to form a sensible reply.”

“Oh, forget it, you pointy-eared hobgoblin!”

Her father stomps away.

Joanna works hard to suppress a smile. Things are going beautifully so far!

~~~

“I do not bend this way.”

“Try anyway.”

“Captain,” the Vulcan reiterates, sounding surprisingly peeved, “I am informing you that my leg will not bend as you have requested.”

“I need to reach that color, Spock!”

“Sir, if you will tell Dr. McCoy to shift his left arm sixth-tenths of a meter to his right, then flip himself over to face the ceiling—”

“Now wait a minute! Flip what where!”

“—rather than harass me to perform the impossible, you will then be able to place your foot on the color you so desperately wish to reach.”

Joanna, having lost early on in the game (quite by design) and relegated herself to the audience, covers her mouth upon spying her father’s incredulous expression. She may be secretly snapping pictures of three arguing men with her data padd. They seem to have forgotten her in their effort to stay focused on the game.

“Bones…”

“No, I am not moving. It’s not my turn. And get your elbow out of my crotch, Jim! I thought you said you’re flexible.”

“I could have sworn I was but I wasn’t exactly sober at the time, okay?”

Sweat drips off Jim’s face but that is likely due to the strain of maintaining his position as opposed to any lovesickness he might be feeling.

Jim confirms this suspicion when he complains, “My arms are burning. Spock, can I just…?” He shifts his weight.

“Hold it!” Joanna barks out. “You can’t lay on Mr. Spock, Captain Jim! That’s cheating!”

Jim grunts and returns to his awkward version of a three-legged downward dog.

“I hate this game,” gripes Leonard.

“Captain, if your hand is now secure, I will take my turn. Computer, spin the wheel.”

“Wheel spinning. Left hand, color yellow.“

Jim and Leonard simultaneously groan. There is only one free yellow square. Spock does not move to it immediately.

“Just do it,” Leonard says.

“Doctor, if you are so capable, a moment of silence would be welcome while I consider my options.”

Joanna places the soles of her feet together and wraps her hands around them, patiently waiting to see what will happen next.

The longer Spock takes to think, the more pronounced the trembling of Jim’s arms becomes.

“Christ, kid,” her father mutters, “go ahead and lean on me.”

“Can’t,” croaks the other man.

“Who cares about the rules! At this point if you collapse, we all do!”

“In this instance,” decides Joanna, having nominated herself as the referee, “I will allow it.”

“Interesting,” is Spock’s comment. “Why the distinction between myself and Dr. McCoy?”

“Because Vulcans are naturally stronger,” Joanna replies, “therefore Captain Jim would have an unfair advantage if you supported his weight, which would barely stress your system. But my father will have to work harder to win.” She thinks this is a very logical answer.

Spock appears to agree. “Your logic is sound, Miss McCoy.”

“Stop turning my kid into a Vulcan, Spock!”

“However your logical suppositions require more work, Doctor.”

“When I get my hands on you…”

“Highly unlikely. You will be occupied for some time with the Captain.”

Jim, who has somehow finagled his free leg into a hook around one of McCoy’s arms, is using Leonard like a kickstand. “Bones, I have an idea.”

“No, no, and no. I regret my kindness already.”

“I will make my move now,” announces Mr. Spock over the noise of his companion’s complaining. “I feel I must warn you that the three of us will become uncomfortably close.”

“God help me, it can get worse.”

Jim braces himself. “Ready when you are, Spock.”

Joanna rocks forward in anticipation.

The Vulcan lifts up his left hand and delicately slides it between the narrow space of the other two bodies. He then twists his arm sideways, places his palm down on the yellow square directly under Leonard’s belly, and lowers his elbow until it hovers barely two inches above the mat. In doing so, his upper torso has disappeared completely, blocked from view by Jim and Leonard. There is a complete minute of silence following this new position.

Joanna takes picture after picture.

Jim breaks the silence by quipping, “How’s it hanging down there, Mr. Spock?”

Leonard curses, along with what sounds partly like his rumble of a laugh, and the man’s body quivers, causing one of his palms to slip out of place. Jim’s leg goes with him, then Jim does too, overbalancing, and all that Joanna hears of Mr. Spock is a muffled squawk as all three men collapse in a tangle of limbs.

Joanna has never seen a squashed Vulcan before. It’s hilarious. She can’t contain her laughter.

It’s even funnier that the adults can’t sort themselves out.

Finally Captain Jim goes limp and starts chuckling too.

Her father, although he isn’t laughing, gives one of those tiny smiles that means he can appreciate the joke.

Spock pleads from the bottom of the pile, “I am not comfortable.”

Leonard smirks, then, and moves one of his arms.

The Vulcan makes a gasp of surprise that registers with every pair of human ears in the room.

“Whoops,” says the doctor innocently, “was that you, Spock?”

“Dr. McCoy, please desist!”

“Jim, I think your stodgy ol’ Vulcan is ticklish.”

Jim’s head comes up, eyes gleaming. “Really?”

“Yay!” cries Joanna, leaping to her feet. “Tickle war!” Her first attack is on Jim.

Any protests go unheeded.

A few minutes of chaotic tickling come to an end with a dazed-looking Vulcan crawling to a safe distance and Joanna flopping facedown across both Jim and Leonard.

“I win!” she says triumphantly, nearly out of breath.

An arm goes around her back, hugging her close. She thinks it is Jim’s.

“You did, Joanna—you did.”

Her father’s head comes up off the floor. “Where’d Spock go?”

“Here,” comes a slightly hoarse voice.

Joanna cranes her neck around and gasps when she sees what her beloved Mr. Spock is doing. “Don’t delete my pictures!”

The Vulcan’s fingers hover over the screen of her data padd.

“I am not,” Spock assures her after a moment. “I was merely… perusing.”

“Oh, no,” Joanna’s father groans. “Why’d you have to take pictures, Jo?”

Jim is of a different opinion. “I want all of them framed. And used as the screensaver on the Bridge.”

Spock appears to be rethinking his decision to allow Joanna’s photos to remain in existence.

“We need the memories,” the girl argues back. “I don’t want to ever forget this.”

“Your sentiment is commendable, Miss McCoy.” Spock gently places the padd on the floor in the same spot that he had found it. In the next instant, he rises to his feet, seeming just as composed as he always does despite his mussed hair.

Joanna has this sudden fear that he no longer wants to be part of their sleepover. “Are you leaving?” she asks him.

Jim shifts Joanna towards McCoy and sits up, the same question in his voice. “Spock?”

“Negative. I merely wish to use the facilities.” Having said this, Spock disappears towards the bathroom that Joanna knows is shared jointly between the Captain and First Officer.

Leonard gives her a little push and she climbs off his midsection. He then sits up like Jim and puts an arm around her shoulders. She doesn’t miss the way his other arm goes around Jim.

“Give ‘im a minute to collect himself,” Leonard tells them. “To a Vulcan, we must be acting positively unhinged. Besides,” her father adds a little more softly, “family means a great deal to Spock too.”

Joanna turns around to hug her father because sometimes a hug is better than words. He kisses the top of her head.

Jim draws a knee to his chest. “Now I feel bad,” the man admits.

“About what?” asks Leonard.

“Hiding the goodies from you, Bones.”

Aghast to hear this secret revealed, Joanna’s head jerks up. “Captain Jim!”

The corner of Captain Jim’s mouth lifts. “Oops. Did I say that out loud?”

Her father’s eyes narrow. “What goodies?”

“Oh, you know… sleepover snacks.”

“I already approved our meal cards for the night, Captain!”

“Yeah but do they include off-world delicacies such as Tellarite Sugar Bombs and Antellan Fried Gummies?”

Seeing a vein in her father’s head begin to throb, Joanna scrambles out of his lap. When he lights into Jim with a rant, Jim gives her a subtle shooing motion, so the girl hurries into the bedroom to save their special treats before they become confiscated. Mr. Spock is coming out of the bathroom at the same time she retrieves the bag.

She shoves it into his arms, ordering, “Hide this!”

The Vulcan raises one eyebrow, then looks over her shoulder toward the very distinctive sound of her father yelling in the adjoining cabin. With nary a word, he turns around and heads back to his room.

Joanna breathes a sigh of relief.

Disaster averted.

~~~

After an hour of dinner and idle chat, Joanna folds her hands over her slightly protruding belly and gazes serenely upon her companions. Her father will claim it is bedtime soon but she knows how to prolong that.

She is ready to announce the next item on their itinerary. “I want story time.”

“Great idea, JoJo.”

“Thanks, Captain Jim. All my ideas are good.”

“Will we read a story?” Spock questions, clearly uncertain if this is what she means.

“We could,” the child agrees, “but I think it would be better if we told stories that we heard.”

“Or made up,” mutters her father, not so subtly eyeing his captain.

Mr. Spock still requires further clarification. “And what would be the content of these stories?”

“Anything you want,” Joanna tells him.

“Rated for the hearing of children only,” Leonard insists.

“Bones, I feel like that comment was meant for me.”

“I’m shocked, Jim. You’re not so slow after all.”

“Daddy, play nice.”

Her father crosses his arms. “Says who? The future matriarch of the McCoys?”

“No. Captain Jim’s friend.”

Jim’s sign of approval is a thumbs-up.

“I give up,” Leonard complains. “I’m outgunned two to one. Whatever happened to my sweet little girl?”

“I believe the answer is that she became like her father.”

“Spock, I’m about two seconds away from wringing your scrawny green neck.”

Spock blinks. “Two seconds have passed.”

“Well,” Jim says, standing up to draw attention before Leonard can leap out of his chair and make good on his promise to murder Spock, “on that note, I say we start the campfire tales.”

Joanna puts her finger against her mouth. “But first we need a campfire.”

“No,” Leonard and Spock echo together.

Joanna and Jim look affronted.

“Relax,” Jim assures them, “I would never condone a real fire on my beautiful starship. But, in lieu of that…” He calls to the ship’s computer and relays a command.

The opaque wall opposite them wavers and transforms into a projection of a wall of a log cabin, complete with a mantelpiece over a fireplace and an inviting fire within. Joanna laughs in delight, drags a blanket and pillows off the nearby couch and sits in front of the simulation. The others follow her more slowly, arranging themselves at leisure on the floor or in chairs.

“What kind of story should we hear first?” Joanna asks.

Next to her, Jim grins. “A ghost story.”

“No,” Leonard and Spock echo together again.

Jim gives the pair a look that Joanna cannot interpret. “I can tolerate a ghost story.”

Mr. Spock’s voice is dryly amused as he answers, “Captain, with all due respect, you cannot.”

“You know how I hate to agree with Spock, Jim, but there it is. Joanna, let’s skip the scary stories for now, all right? Jim is a sensitive spirit, no pun intended.”

“Lies!” exclaims the captain. “Slander!”

“Should I recite examples?” Spock replies mildly.

Jim’s protest peters out.

Joanna pats his leg in sympathy. “I’m afraid of ghosts too, Captain Jim.”

The man doesn’t answer her directly, just mutters under his breath.

Leonard deftly switches the subject with “I seem to recall that part of this sleepover was supposed to involve science.”

Joanna perks up. “Oh yeah, I forgot!”

The doctor says, not quite directing his gaze in Spock’s direction, “Maybe our Science Officer has an interesting tale or two to share.”

“Why, thank you, Dr. McCoy. I believe I do.”

Joanna settles into her blanket—and offers Captain Jim a portion of it, too, of course—as Mr. Spock folds his hands in his lap and begins to recall an encounter with a species known as Tribbles. Apparently they are the much-despised enemies of Klingons, despite being impossibly cute lumps of cooing fur.

This is an experience all three men share, Joanna realizes as Captain Jim chimes in with a colorful anecdote and her father adds the occasional sarcastic remark or medical tidbit. They have done so many things together, traveled to many places, had exciting or dangerous adventures side by side.

When Spock gets to the part where his captain becomes buried under a mound of tribbles, he expresses the scene in such a deadpan way that Joanna has no hardship imagining Captain Jim stuck helplessly in something akin to a ball pit. She laughs gleefully. Then it is explained that the tribbles have been poisoned and are all dead, and she cries.

Her tears are short-lived because Jim rubs her back and Mr. Spock’s story carries on to a happy ending.

“What’s next?” she wants to know, wiping at her eyes.

“Can I tell one now, Bones?”

“Why do you act like I have the ability to stop you?”

Jim folds his arms, preening as any person who perceives himself to be a great storymaster would, and starts the next tale.

Mr. Spock quietly leaves the circle but only for a short period of time in which he returns with the bag of prohibited snacks he had hidden upon Joanna’s request. He passes the bag to Joanna and, to her delight, her father pretends to be oblivious to the tasty-looking treats that she pulls out one by one. It is only when Jim pauses in speaking to reach for one of the treats that the doctor snaps, “Story, Jim!”

Jim gives Joanna a sardonic look before tucking his hands away in his lap and resuming where he left off. Surprisingly, he does not appear to be upset to be denied his sweets.

In that moment Joanna figures out the goodies are a gift just for her. His purpose in pretending to want them is to deflect her father’s ire so that she can have them freely.

She feels that she couldn’t love Captain Jim more, the same way she feels for Mr. Spock.

The same way she loves her father.

If they could have a sleepover forever or an endless amount of time to spend as a family, that would make her happiest. Only, she knows she cannot tell her father this. Contrary to all the fairy tales she has read and loved, life is nothing so sweet.

The clock is ticking. Before she says goodbye and returns to Earth, she has to be assured of one thing: that Captain Jim and Mr. Spock are always with her father, and that her father is always with them. In less than ten years, she can enter Starfleet with their encouragement. She can have them all at her graduation. Her wedding. The day she has a child of her own.

It isn’t because she selfishly wants three fathers. She just knows with her child’s heart that it would all work out. Even now, her father’s eyes hold only a hint of the sadness they used to have. He laughs with Jim and picks at Spock, then he picks at Jim and laughs for Spock. And he rubs the edge of Granny McCoy’s ring just the way he used to when—

The girl’s eyes widen. Her mouth opens.

That’s it!

A buzz of excitement runs through her.

That’s it!

She has found her father’s symptom at last!

I cannot seem to wrap up this story! I apologize.

Also, as fascinating as the Rebooted version of “The Trouble with Tribbles” in the Ongoing comic series is, I will always have a soft spot for the original version. ;)

Next Part

Related Posts:

• Lucky in Love on the Starship Enterprise (5/5) – from March 26, 2015
• Lucky in Love on the Starship Enterprise (4/5) – from March 18, 2015
• Lucky in Love on the Starship Enterprise (2/4) – from March 11, 2015
• I Have To Share This Comment – from February 26, 2015
• Lucky in Love on the Starship Enterprise (1/2) – from February 25, 2015

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