Chapter Text
Doctor Leonard McCoy wasn’t a fan of his birthday. He hadn’t been since he went past 30. His last good birthday was probably the year before his dad passed away. He was very happy just to spend the day like any other. It had gotten to the point where McCoy only realised it was his birthday when he happened to glance at the date on his PADD while drinking his morning coffee.
“Oh, dammit.” McCoy groaned to himself.
So today will have to be spent dealing with Jim and his idiotic ideas of how to celebrate a birthday. No doubt it consists of drinking – which McCoy does not mind – and making a big deal out of it – which he really does mind. He still flinches when he thinks of his first birthday at the Academy and rubs his shoulder out of habit. He rubbed his eyes when he felt his PADD vibrating in his hands. He smiled.
There is one thing that always brought a smile to his face on his birthday.
A large picture of his dark-haired gap-toothed daughter had filled the screen. It was his favourite picture of her, when she was a happy three year old, running around in a princess dress and a plastic tiara nestled between her pigtails. One of her front teeth was missing and ready for the tooth fairy – she had spent her reward on a large chocolate bar. He pressed the answer button and a much older image of Joanna McCoy sitting in the dining room filled the screen – her messy pigtails now in loose waves, pinned back with butterfly clips, and her teeth pearly white with no gap to be seen, her smile widening as she sees him. God, where had all the time gone?
“Happy Birthday, Daddy!”
He grinned, “Hi Jo! Thank you! How are you?”
“I’m good! Dad, yesterday, I caught a mouse! Mommy will want me to drown it but it’s so cute and I’ve already got him in a cage andhisnameisSpindlerandhe’ssocute!” Her eyes were wide with excitement as she spoke so fast her words were starting to run into one.
“I’m pretty sure you’ve said that twice. But let me go back – you’ve caught a mouse, from where?” He raised an eyebrow. Jocelyn definitely wasn’t gonna like this.
“He was living in the attic. He looked cold and scared, Daddy! I couldn’t just leave him!”
McCoy sighed. God, it was his birthday. He shouldn’t have to be the bad guy.
“Honey, you know how it is. You can’t just bring pets into the house. You need to ask. Besides, it’s an outside mouse. It’ll miss being in open spaces and running in grass. Remember what Pops used to say? If you try to cage a wild creature, you’ll end up on the wrong side of its claws”
Joanna scrunched up her nose in the cute way that she does, “What does that even mean?”
Suddenly, there was the sound of a door opening on Joanna’s end, the girl turning to her right to acknowledge the person who just walked in. McCoy froze as he heard his ex-wife’s voice through the PADD.
“Jo, what’re you doing?”
“I’m vidding Daddy. It’s his birthday, Mom!”
“Honey, I told you to wait until it was a reasonable hour – it’s 7am! Your daddy’s probably very busy!”
“No, he’s not. He’s drinking coffee.”
Jocelyn McCoy walked into view behind Joanna. She froze at the sight of her ex-husband as well. McCoy noticed she was wearing her old pink dressing gown and her light brown hair was in a dishevelled bun on her head. She had definitely only just woken up.
“Oh. So he is. Hello, Leonard.”
“Hi, Jocelyn.” McCoy replied courteously, “Sorry if we woke you.”
“What? Oh, no, I just haven’t had my own coffee.” Jocelyn shook her head, “Joanna, we have a dentist appointment at 10am. You can have one more hour with Daddy, but I need you to start getting ready soon.”
It took everything McCoy had to not snort in laughter as his daughter rolled her eyes, looking the spitting image of her mother, “But, Mooooom, I hate the dentist.”
“Well, I’m sure they don’t like you much either, if you keep trying to bite them.” Jocelyn bent down and kissed the top of Joanna’s head, “8am. Off and not a minute later.”
“Okay, Mom.” Joanna pouted momentarily, before suddenly brightening up, “I’ll bring you Spindler! You’ll love him, Daddy!”
Before McCoy could call after her and tell her how much of a bad idea it was to bring a mouse into the same room as her mother, the little whirlwind took off, leaving the two exs in an uncomfortable silence. He couldn’t recall the last time they were left alone together, even if it was over a vid comm.
“So….” McCoy decided to break the ice, “How have you been?”
“Oh, I’m good. Um, just got promoted at work, actually. Manager of the whole beauty salon.” Jocelyn gave a half-smile, “I get half-day on Fridays now and Joanna comes in after school on Wednesdays. If the customers really like her, they ask her opinions on what nail colour to get.”
“Nail colours?” McCoy was surprised, “Since when has she cared about that?”
“Well, she isn’t little anymore. She keeps begging me to dye her hair pink, which in no way in hell is that happening. At least not until she’s a teenager.” Jocelyn chuckled before sobering up a bit, “God, that’s only three years away.”
McCoy sat back in his chair, pondering sadly, “She’ll be fifteen by the time we get back from the mission.”
That seemed to break Jocelyn out of her own stupor, “Oh, yes. How is that going? Don’t you have to get ready for that soon?”
McCoy shrugged, “It’s okay. Finishing off some medical classes that I’ve been teaching while I’m grounded and then we have the memorial happening next weekend. After that, it’s all hands on deck until we take off.”
Jocelyn nodded in response, “Wow. Five years is a long time. She’s gonna miss you.”
McCoy grimaced a bit, “I’m always missing her, Josie.”
Jocelyn didn’t respond to that, only to glance at the dining room clock, “I should go get ready soon. Um. It was nice to see you, Leonard.”
“Yeah. You, too.” His heart wasn’t in it though.
“Oh, and Leonard?” Jocelyn actually met his eyes, “Happy birthday.”
McCoy nodded back, “Thank you, Jocelyn.”
Of course, that peacefulness was broken when they heard Joanna’s footsteps, Jocelyn looked up and immediately screamed, “WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?”
“Ah, so you’ve met Splinter.” Leonard smiled at his ex’s reaction, hiding it behind his hand.
“His name is Spindler, Dad!” Joanna corrected as she came back into view, Jocelyn quickly backing away as their daughter held up the transparent plastic container that had the tiniest grey field mouse sitting in it, “Isn’t he cute?”
“Yes, he is, sweetheart. However, I think your mom might have different ideas.” McCoy gestured to her mother, “Shall I go now?”
“Yes. Please” Jocelyn bit out her words, “And I will speak to YOUR daughter about not bringing wild animals into the house.”
“Oh, she’s my daughter now?”
“She is when she does sh- stuff like this”
That time, McCoy laughed outright, “Okay, darling. I need to go now, but I’ll talk to you later. OK?”
Joanna’s face fell. Her little lip even wobbled, “Oh, okay, Dad.”
That just goddamn broke his heart. He ran his fingers through his hair, “Look, if you are really good with Mommy, I’ll vid back this afternoon and we can talk all night if you want.”
That brightened her up a bit, though the glint in her eyes was unmistakable, “You promise?”
“I promise, honey. And you know me, I never break a promise.” He smiled at her, “I love you, Jojo.”
He put his hand against the screen, just as she did the same. God, he wished he could actually feel the warm of her hand instead of the cold of the PADD glass. He just missed his little girl. And then she has to go and say the one thing that hurts more than anything else.
“I love you too, Daddy.”
McCoy had to hang up pretty quickly after that. He couldn’t guarantee that he wouldn’t be able to let some tears out in front of her.
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“Bones!”
McCoy internally cringed at the sound of the overly-cheerful voice outside his dorm door. Goddamn him. Reluctantly, he trudged over and opened the door to the smiling youthful face of his best friend and pain-in-the-ass captain, Jim Kirk.
“Alright, let’s get this over with.” McCoy rolled his eyes, crossing his arms and leaning up against the wall, “Go ahead.”
“Wow, someone woke up grumpy this morning.” Jim cocked an eyebrow at him, offering one of the two cups of Starbucks coffee he was holding, “You wanna drink your wake-up juice and then tell me what your problem is?”
McCoy slowly took his offered coffee and drank through his confusion. Jim must not know what today is. He must have actually forgotten! Which is strange, as Jim never forgot his birthday. This almost made McCoy extra paranoid that there was a surprise around the corner. But if there was a chance that Jim had actually, truly forgotten, then McCoy wasn’t going to remind him.
Instead, he finished his gulp of steaming hot coffee and sighed, shaking his head, “I just had a call from Joanna this morning.”
“Oh.” Jim nodded. He had been there during the whole first year of the messy divorce, the resulting estrangement and the cautious rebuilding of bridges with Jocelyn. He knew how McCoy could be after speaking to his daughter, “How is she going?”
“She’s good. She caught a field mouse and was trying to convince me that she should keep it. Jocelyn didn’t even know about it until she brought it into the room to show me. That was funny.” McCoy chuckled to himself sadly, “Yeah…”
McCoy looked up as a hand found its way to his shoulder. Jim gave him a sympathetic smile, “Hey, it’s all gonna be okay.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know.” McCoy shrugged, “I just – you know, she’s actually gonna be a teenager when we get back from the mission.”
“A teenager? No way, not little Joanna McCoy!” Jim looked stunned at that, “She’s only five, six?”
“Try ten, Einstein.”
“Ten?!” Jim gawked, “Ten? She can’t be ten! I won’t allow it. Captain’s orders.”
“Hey, you’re welcome to try and stop it.” McCoy shrugged, putting his coffee down, “I’ll be back in a minute, I gotta grab my things, and then we can get going.”
Jim nodded. McCoy left the room and let out a weary sigh. Today was going to be tough, but at least no one knew it was his birthday. If Jim didn’t know, who else would care?
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McCoy was right, for the most part. No one else knew or cared. No surprise confetti to the face, no one shoving gifts in his face and waiting for his approval. It was an almost perfect day. McCoy did get disappointed when he received a message from Jocelyn to tell him that Joanna wouldn’t be able to call him back that afternoon. He sighed. He thought they were over this kind of shit. He also was a little sad that Jim had to take off around noon and there was a very, insignificant small part of him that missed the begging and nagging, which he got over quickly when he relived Jim’s birthday surprise from last year. But that aside, he continued on and enjoyed the fact that everyone forgot.
Well, almost everyone.
He came back to his room that night to see a present out the front, wrapped in bright blue wrapping paper with a golden bow on top. Picking it up gently – he was wary of this sort of shit after the last two years – McCoy took note of the envelope attached. The lettering, very fancy calligraphy, simply said ‘Doctor Leonard McCoy’.
He looked around him, as if whoever left it for him may possibly still be there. When he confirmed to himself that there was no one in the hallway, he let himself into his room and, after confirming with all of the scans he could that it wasn’t going to explode, opened his present.
He stared in wonder.
A hard-copy edition of A Tale of Two Cities – looking on the front page, McCoy was astounded to see it was printed in the 20th Century - two bottles of his favourite brandy, and a little device with a large silver button on it. He looked over at the envelope and quickly opened it. It wasn’t a silly monkey birthday card, like he expected, but a simple note on very fine card paper.
‘Dear Doctor McCoy,
The device is a Techno-Silencer. Pressing the silver button will emit a radio signal which will prevent any communications with you from the outside world for 5 hours. You had previously stated that isolation with a good book and good alcohol is your ideal style of celebration, so I have provided it to you.
Happy Birthday, good doctor’
There was no signature.
Well, McCoy wasn’t gonna lie, as he pressed the Silencer, grabbed a glass and collapsed into a chair with his new book, this was the best birthday that he’s had in a while. He was even surprised that Jim could be so thoughtful this year, leaving him alone with booze and a book – actually listening to what he wanted. He thought sadly that it would only have been made better if he could’ve seen Joanna again, just for a little while longer. But with a quick swig of brandy, McCoy got himself comfortably lost in Dickensian tales of poverty and strife, until he fell asleep in his armchair.
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Bang! Bang! Bang!
McCoy was startled from his rest. God, he felt like crap. He looked over at the empty glass and the half-full brandy bottle on the coffee table, along with the bookmarked tome. Ah, right. The banging on the door continued as McCoy forced himself out of his arm chair and stumbled over to the door.
“Alright! Alright! I’m coming!” He called out, muttering to himself, “If anyone has gotten something stuck up their ass, I’m going to stick them with-“
He didn’t finish his sentence as he opened the door and a dark haired short blur bowled into him, knocking him to the ground. He couldn’t speak – half because the wind was knocked out of him – but mostly because he was in disbelief as his ten-year-old daughter was currently hugging him, beaming from ear to ear, her eyes wide at him.
His daughter. The one who lives Georgia. Was standing in his doorway, hugging him tighter than a python squeezing its prey.
“Surprise!”
McCoy looked up and saw Jim, Spock and Uhura standing in the doorway. Jim and Uhura were smiling at them – Jim definitely more shit-eating than Uhura – while Spock watched them in the same calculating, scientific way that he watched everything.
“What- Jo- how?”
“Jim mentioned how you were missing your daughter, so we gave your ex-wife a call.” Uhura gestured to his best friend, “Jim made an excellent case of pointing out how long we’ll be in space and respectfully requested, as part of boosting crew morale, that our Chief Medical Officer get to spend a few days with his daughter before take off in two weeks.”
“And then, thanks to how well Uhura got on with your kid in the vidchat, your ex agreed – and we have this recorded! – for Jojo here to come and visit you for the whole week!” Jim looked so proud of himself.
“I flew here all by myself! Mummy waited with me at the airport last night and then Uncle Jim and Mr Spock picked me up from the airport here and Miss Uhura showed me all around campus and Mr Spock showed me how to do the Vulcan hand thing! Look!” Johanna looked down at her fingers, counting the right amount of fingers before enthusiastically doing the Vulcan salute. McCoy swears he saw Spock’s lip twitch in amusement, “And Uncle Jim said he could take us around San Francisco when we have time off! Can we do that, Daddy?”
McCoy looked down at his gibbering child – his in-the-flesh, very-much-here, happy, wonderful, beautiful little girl – and just grabbed her, hugging her as tight as he could. He could have broken down in tears right then, and he was so goddamn close. But hell will freeze over before he lets Spock see him cry.
“Daddy! You’re hugging me too tight!”
He loosened his hold, leaning back to look at her, “Sorry, my girl, but this is the best birthday gift anyone could have given me.”
He looked up at his friends, smiling, “Thank you. Thank you so much!”
Jim’s victory grin suddenly turned to confusion, “Birthday? What, is it today?”
“Very funny, Uncle Jim. It was yesterday!” Johanna giggled, “Daddy, can I put my backpack in your room?”
“Yeah, it’s just down there, first door.” McCoy pointed down the hallway, waiting until his daughter was out of earshot before looking at Jim, “Don’t play coy, Jim.”
“I’m not! Yesterday was your birthday? No, it can’t have been! I have it marked in my calendar!” Jim pulled out his phone and started going through it.
“I have it mine too.” McCoy looked over at Uhura, “Yeah, May – wait a minute… there’s nothing here. It’s been deleted!”
“Same here!” Jim looked up at McCoy, horrified, “Oh, God, I forgot your birthday. I’m so sorry!”
McCoy looked all around at them. He was confused, “No, don’t. I had a pretty good day. But – then – if you all didn’t remember my birthday – then who left me the present last night?”
They all looked at each other, no recognition in any of them.
“Oh, stop playing games!” McCoy walked over to his coffee table and grabbed the note, showing them, “One of you had to have written this!”
Spock raised an inquisitive eyebrow as he beheld the note, “I cannot say who wrote this. However, I believe that the person who left the present and deleted the reminders from Uhura and Jim’s device are one and the same.”
“That’s a good deduction.” Uhura rolled her eyes, grabbing her boyfriend’s arm, “After all, aren’t you the one who usually says that birthdays are stupid and your ideal birthday would just really just be you being left the hell alone?”
McCoy raised an eyebrow, “But who would-“
But he was cut off as he felt his daughter wrap her arms around him, “Daddy! Can I go see your lab? Please, please, please?”
McCoy looked down at Johanna, letting a big smile break out on his face as he was just reminded his daughter is here, “We sure can. And then we can go get ice cream at the place across the street from the Academy. How does that sound?”
Jim looked down at Johanna, suddenly standing at attention, “So, Captain Johanna McCoy, shall we go where you have not gone before?”
Johanna looked at his friend with the most serious expression on his face, “Only if you piggy-back me, Captain Jim Kirk.”
Jim crouched down and Johanna immediately leapt on. With that, the two children ran down the hallway, leaving Uhura, Spock and McCoy watching after them.
“I thought we only brought you one kid to watch for a week.” Uhura responded
McCoy shook his head, “Give me a second to get cleaned up.”
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McCoy watched his best friend and his young daughter, looking intently at their ice cream selection like it was the most serious decision they were gonna make this week. Spock and Uhura had abandoned them after McCoy got himself presentable for society and Joanna had decided that ice cream came before a tour of Starfleet. Like he was gonna argue with that.
“So Bubblegum Surprise or Orion Green Gelato?” Jim asked the younger McCoy
Joanna grinned, “Both!”
McCoy laughed, “Of course. Jim?”
“Gimme a minute. You gotta think carefully about these things.”
“Yeah, well, don’t be too careful. Wouldn’t want to risk a concussion.” McCoy rolled his eyes and looked out the window, absentmindedly watching Starfleet cadets walking, their red standing out amongst the busy crowds. It was so distracting he almost missed the young Vulcan woman dressed in black and grey, sitting at a bench, reading.
The first reason that startled McCoy was that he cannot recall a time where he has seen Septhera wearing anything that wasn’t Starfleet regulation. The second was that this was the first time he had seen her in about two or three days. If he remembered, it was probably the day before last.
Before his birthday.
“Hey, Jim. I’ll be right back.”
Jim turned at him, startled, “What? Where are you going?
“Just saw someone who I need to give a talkin’ to.” The doctor gave him his credit chip, “Do not just buy yourself six-feet tall sundaes.”
Joanna giggled as Jim tried to look offended, “I’m ashamed you would think I’d do such a thing. I’d go for the ten feet if I was gonna do that. Go big or go home.”
“That should be your autobiography.” McCoy rolled his eyes, “I’ll just be across the road, Jo. I won’t be long.”
“Okay, Dad. C’mon, Uncle Jim, you’re taking too long!”
With that, McCoy dashed out of the ice cream shop and crossed the road to where Septhera sat. She was wrapped in a warm grey coat, with dark leggings and wearing her trademark silk-like gloves. He was halfway across the road when Septhera looked up from her book, her dark green eyes looking directly at him.
“Doctor McCoy.” She greeted him, “I suspected those were your footsteps. How are you today?”
“I’m good. Surprised to see you back in San Francisco, actually. When did you get back?”
“I only returned from London 3 days, 5 hours and twenty seven minutes ago. The investigation into Section 31 is concluding and they decided that I should return to report to my station in time for the memorial, as well as providing me with ‘leisure time’.” Septhera looked minorly confused at those last two words, as if they were alien to her, “An unnecessary provision, but not entirely unwelcome.”
“Unlike you workaholic Vulcans, humans sometimes need breaks or we’ll go mad.” McCoy gestured over his shoulder, towards the ice cream shop, “My daughter is here for a week trip, and our esteemed captain is joining us, meaning I’m actually looking after two children for this week.”
The corner of Septhera’s lip twitched in amusement. McCoy counted it as a win. He noticed her looking past him and turned around, seeing Jim and Joanna exiting the ice cream shop, precariously balancing their five scoop ice-cream cones and giggling.
“Goddammit, why did I think it was a good idea to leave Jim in charge of getting ice cream?” McCoy grumbled. She was gonna be bouncing off the walls all day now.
“That was quite an oversight on your part, Doctor.”
McCoy looked back at Septhera, not missing the smile that had graced her face before it quickly disappeared behind the Vulcan mask. It was a shame she didn’t let anyone see her smile. It really suit her.
“Look, I got these two tagging along and Jim is sure to do something half way between amusing and stupid. Why don’t you join us?” He stuffed his hands in his pockets, trying to look as casual as possible
Septhera stared at him. Her green eyes darted from the troublesome twosome across the road back him. As a doctor, McCoy had learnt to pay attention to the little details when talking to people. When they nervously playing with their jewellery while swearing up and down they were a virgin, that they had no idea where the bruises came from and never making eye contact during the whole examination, hands shaking while denying they had never done drugs, their arms are covered in needle holes because of numerous blood tests. If he was half a good doctor as he thought he was – and he was a damn good doctor – McCoy would swear on the Bible that Septhera was actually looking torn, like she wanted to accept, but something was holding her back.
After a moment, she stood, closing her book, “Thank you for your generous offer, Doctor. However, I must decline. I have been neglecting my training and am due to meet up with Hikaru and Pavel soon in order to practice. It has been pleasurable seeing you, Doctor.”
McCoy watched as their security chief turned and began to walk away. Before she could take two steps, he suddenly called out, “Septhera!”
She turned back. He noticed her hair wasn’t in its usual ponytail, long waves of thick dark brown hair swayed gently as she looked at him.
“Thank you for my birthday.”
Septhera cocked her head a little, “Is today your birthday, Doctor?”
He grinned, “Septhera, of all the things you can do, playing dumb isn’t one of them. I only know a handful of people who can hack their ways into sensitive places like personal comms and mobile phones, and not counting your own skills, you treat one of them like a little brother.”
Septhera watched him, her mask still firmly intact. He continued, “Aside from the clearly prototype technology that clearly looks like one of your creations, which I will definitely be using next time I go to a cinema – your note calls me ‘good doctor’. You’re the only one who refers to me as ‘good doctor’.”
He paused to watch for any effect it may have on her. She wasn’t giving anything away. Maybe he was wrong? He decided to be sure.
“You know, for a stealth expert, you weren’t exactly stealthy about it.”
Her eyebrow immediately cocked. And a miracle – she allowed a small smile.
“Perhaps I wasn’t trying to be.” She nodded at him, still smiling, “Good day, Doctor. Happy Birthday.”
With that, she turned and walked away, McCoy watching, stunned. After a moment, he shook his head. Nearly two years later and he still didn’t know what to think of her.
“Thanks, Septhera.”
“Hey, Bones!” McCoy almost jumped ten feet out of his skin as his captain and daughter hi-fived each other for scaring him.
“Goddammit, I’m old, Jim! You’ll give me a heart attack!” McCoy scolded his friend, who showed absolutely no remorse whatsoever, damned lunatic.
“Oh, you’re fine. You’ll live to 102.” He looked past McCoy, watching Septhera’s retreating form, “Hey, was that Seppy? Why didn’t she come over?”
“Thera isn’t far enough away that she can’t hear you yet. Maybe she knew that you’d annoy her so much she’d used you for katana practice instead of Sulu.” McCoy retorted.
Joanna peeped up suddenly, “Who’s Thera, Dad?”
McCoy turned to his inquisitive daughter, “Her name’s Septhera. She’s our Security Chief and she’s our friend.”
Joanna’s eyes widened in recognition, “Wait, is she the Vulcan lady who almost broke Uncle Jim’s back?”
Jim groaned, glaring at McCoy, “You told her about that?”
“I told anyone I could meet about that. It was hilarious.”
McCoy and Joanna laughed at Jim’s indignation as the trio walked back to Starfleet Academy, Joanna begging to hear the story one more time.
At the end of the street, Septhera was standing there, taking in the conversation she just heard and focusing on willing away the sudden flush of green breaking out on her skin before she could meet Hikaru and Pavel.
Who knew just being referred to as McCoy’s friend could affect her in such a fashion? Fascinating.
While she was able to return her complexion to its natural pale, it was a lot more difficult to remove the smile that seemed to stubbornly refused to leave her lips.