leftwithmybones | (no subject)

(no subject)

When he wakes up, he hears two things that make him distinctly terrified for both his life and his sanity. See, thing is, on the island, he wakes up with Jim clinging to him like a lamprey and that's about normal, that's fine. He gets used to the cat in his face yelping for food. What he's not used to is his Mama's voice shouting from downstairs that breakfast is on and if he doesn't move his ass, then Jo's gonna eat all of it.

So, you know, what in hell has he been drinking? He starts awake, hair a righteous and holy mess and he stares around him -- no grogginess left, not today. There's a dozen recognizable things around him and his eyes flit between them -- his Vitruvian man poster, the skeletal poster, his favorite sports teams and the merchandise, and the assorted antiques that litter the room. He breathes out and flops back on the bed, but it's not mattress he hits.

It's Jim.

"Fuck, ow," he hisses, then stares at the door in the event his mother (or Jo, how is Jo here, it must be break, the one time he ever got her and his grandparents left no mystery as to where she'd be spending it). He bolts for the door, clad in nothing but his tight black boxer-briefs and locks it firmly, reaching over to flick Jim in the leg. "Get up," he orders. "Now."

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He tugs Jim even closer for the singular second that he gets him, slipping his fingers against the warmth of Jim's waiting skin. "How the hell could you screw any of this up?" he wonders, given how he genuinely doesn't see that as a possibility. One last kiss to Jim's hair and he eases back. "Come on, she wants to show you the tire swing and I'm pretty sure you're about to get recruited for swinging duty."

"Awesome," Jim exhales, reluctant to leave Bones' side, but bounding down the steps in the next moment to catch up with Jo. "Always wanted one of these myself," he admits, holding the rope steady for her to climb on, free hand catching her before she can overbalance. "How high do you want to go?"

Jo climbs on cautiously after checking with McCoy -- no more than a precious glance from daughter to father to verify that she's safe in Jim's hands. As far as McCoy's concerned, there are no safer. He settles in front of the tire swing to catch her just in case she flies too high (which is a problem with Jim). "I want to go high," she demands, blue eyes shining imperiously as she flips her dark hair in a whip and grips tight to the tire. "Grandma says you must be made of magic, because you got Daddy to go up into space. I don't believe that, though. There's no such thing."

"You're right," Jim agrees with a broad smile, because that's at least true of her world, if not the island's. He pushes her into motion, determined to build gently to a higher arc. "Everything can be explained with science, but sometimes, science is so cool, it seems like magic!"

"I don't think it's that cool," she says dismissively, clinging tighter onto the rope, turning her head each time she spins away from Jim (in order to get a better look at him). "It's really coolest when you have to go in and negotiate and you end up showing off your military might!"

"Who the hell's been talking like that to you?" McCoy asks, semi-horrified. "Is this Clay?"

"It's just kids at school, Daddy," Joanna replies, rolling her eyes as if it ought to be common knowledge.

Equally wide-eyed, if a little more pleased than Bones looks right now, Jim touches the edge of her tire to make it spin. "Maybe not cool," he says, "but oftentimes necessary. But we try to use our might as a last resort, and do you know why? Because we beam down to a new planet, we're the guests, and it's not nice to threaten your hosts when you could all get along instead."

McCoy shifts around to the back of the tire swing, taking solace in the fact that he can wrap his arms around Jim's waist from back here and hope that Jo doesn't notice it much. "Listen to the man, kiddo, he's talking a good diplomacy game," he murmurs, brushing his soft smile against the skin of Jim's neck.

Jim grins, resisting the urge to lean into Bones too hard. "We're prepared for anything out there, though," he adds, "Just to be safe. The entire crew has to go through combat training and learn to use a phaser, your daddy included."

That gets Jim a hard pinch at the hip, seeing as he doesn't want to encourage his precious baby girl to start using weapons to that degree. "Or," he says heavily, "we can use our words instead of things that kill people because it's first do no harm, right?"

"The Hippo oath," Jo agrees dutifully.

"Yeah. Close enough," McCoy agrees with a fond smile on his face, leaning in to press a hard kiss to Jo's nose when she gets close enough. "I love you kiddo, you know that, right? No matter what."

Jim can't help the arm he slides around Bones' waist when Jo spins away again. "She really is great, Bones," he murmurs. "Smart as a tack, and sassy. I'm going to remember the Hippo oath, by the way."

It's all perfect.

It's perfect and it doesn't exist. As much as that pains him, it's wonderful in the same vein and he hates the fact that he wants to laugh and cry at around about the same time right now. "She's my daughter," he says, getting the words out. "She's a good girl," he murmurs, meaning it wholeheartedly. "Listen, Jim, go wait upstairs for me, will you?"

"Okay," says Jim, but there's a note in Bones' voice that has him reaching out to cup his jaw, waiting for Bones to meet his eyes. "Hey, everything okay?"

"I don't know," he admits, seeing as that's the truth and he's not sure he ever wants to lie to Jim. Not anymore. He chances a glance at Joanna and when the coast is clear, he leans in for a slow kiss, giving him a light push. From there, it's fairly easy to lift Jo up into his arms, carrying her inside and giving his mother a kind suggestion to take Joanna out for lunch and to buy some new clothes and charge it to his account.

"And how long will Jim need?" his mother asks curiously.

McCoy's fairly sure the shade of tomato red he's gone hasn't yet been recorded. "Just be back for dinner," he grumbles, heading upstairs and only feeling secure when he hears the lock click.

"Hey," Jim says when Bones enters at last, turning from where he's been inspecting the holos on the dresser. Bones looks flushed, but his eyes are dry; still, Jim's voice is worried when he asks again, "Everything good?"

He closes the door firmly behind him, taking the extra moment to appreciate the heavy click. He doesn't really want to think much about it, but he knows that things are...well, things are going to be difficult to go back to when real life comes calling. "Everything is perfect," he says wryly, given that it's home, but so far from reality that it aches.

"Yeah," says Jim, and he's never had a kid, but he misses the Enterprise so much he wakes up aching for her every day. He can't imagine how he'd feel if he had a real person to miss. "It's a lot."

Crossing the room, he wraps his arms around Bones from behind. "I'm scared for when it's over," he admits. "Feels like all this will hurt you as much as it helps."

"It's gonna be like the divorce all over again," he agrees, because the custody hearings had been a kind of nasty that McCoy doesn't want to experience ever again in his life, but it's going to be happening. He leans back into Jim's touch, closing his eyes as tight as he can. "Jesus, I haven't seen her in years, but she hasn't even changed that much. Suppose my mind can't simulate that for me."

"She's just like you remember her," Jim murmurs, spreading his fingers over Bones' heart like he can keep it whole for him. "It won't be like the divorce, Bones. It'll hurt, but you won't be alone with it this time."

"I wasn't alone last time, either," he reminds Jim heavily, giving him a look fraught with meaning. He wasn't alone because he'd ended up on a shuttle with another new candidate who looked (somehow) worse for the wear than even he did. With that in mind, he turns in order to press a slow kiss to Jim's lips, walking him to the bed, step by step.

"Right, but," says Jim, or tries to - it's hard to drag his mouth away long enough with Bones kissing him so sweet, "I've got better than booze and bar fights to distract you with this time."

"You better have, I wasted three years of my life trailing you around like a lovesick puppy," he grumbles, hands on Jim's shoulders so he can slide his palms down the front of the borrowed t-shirt, yanking it off in a quick, stripped motion. "On the bed."

Jim looks down at his bare chest in surprise, an uncharacteristic flush spreading over his cheeks as he looks between Bones and the door. "Are they still here?" he asks, even as he moves backwards onto the bed.

"Ma and Jo went out to lunch and to buy my daughter some school clothes," McCoy murmurs, taking a step back to truly appreciate what Jim looks like when he's only wearing the pants. "So," he drawls. "How about, Jim, you get real naked for me and you decide what we're about to do."

"Uh," says Jim, ears burning hot as the rest of him warms to the command in an entirely different way. "I believe I heard mention of a fantasy before." Tugging down his borrowed zipper, Jim hooks his thumbs in his beltloops and tugs the jeans down, kicking them off with a flourish.

"Something about being spreadeagled on your college bed?" he says as the boxers come off, too. "Tied up in sweaters?"

McCoy takes a long look at Jim's lean body before he turns, opening the dressers and digging out his old cardigans and sweaters. When he's got four that he doesn't mind stretching a little, he starts to do up sailor's knots in order to keep Jim nice and secure to the four posters of the bed. "We only got a few hours time, so you better be a good boy and come with haste, darlin'."