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Day After Father's Day, 2268
0600 Ship's Time
Spock awoke to the usual warmth of the large bed in the modified captain's quarters he shared with Jim and Leonard. Jim was curled up against him, which was normal, but Len was not on Jim's other side, which was highly unusual. Further, Spock could hear faint sobbing noises from the head. Internally alarmed, he ran through recent events in his head, trying to pinpoint what could have upset the doctor.
Their last mission had gone well, no casualties or violence whatsoever, so it couldn’t have been that. Nothing strange had happened that would make him feel inadequate, no dignitaries flirting too hard with Jim or Spock. And while Leonard was certainly a man of many emotions, he wasn't usually one to cry… Suddenly it hit Spock; yesterday had been the old Terran holiday celebrating fathers and they had received nothing from Joanna.
If there was anything that could make Len upset like this, it was feeling that his daughter had forgotten about him.
The situation was very puzzling to Spock, however, as he could see no logical reason for Joanna to miss this day. The only other fathers she might contact were Jim and Spock, who were legally her stepfathers after marrying Leonard a few months previous, as her mother was engaged to a very nice Andorian whose quaternary sex was something akin to the binary concept of "female". It didn't make sense. Joanna was always far too excited to see her father to just forget about Father's Day, so what was going on?
Concerned, Spock gently shook Jim's shoulder until the captain was awake.
"Hnnn…Spock, what's goin' on? It's not time for shift yet…" Jim murmured groggily.
"Joanna did not contact Leonard yesterday," Spock said by way of explanation.
"Yesterday? What was…" Jim shot up into a seated position. "Shit. Father's Day. Oh my god Bones is going to be heartbroken."
Spock gestured at the door to the head. "I believe he already is."
"Fuck! What are we going to do, Spock? Without knowing why Jojo didn't call yesterday, I don't have a clue how to handle this!" Jim flopped back down. Spock didn't need the bond to know that Jim was about to start crying himself.
It was no secret that Jim had loved Joanna just as much as if she were his, even when he was just friends with Leonard. As for himself, Spock hardly had to meet her before he too loved the precocious girl as though she was his own blood. And all of their interactions with Joanna had suggested that she loved them back, or at least liked them very, very much.
Desperate for anything resembling a solution, Spock laid back down next to Jim, wrapping his arms around the captain and resting his chin against Jim's shoulder. "Perhaps we can take the day off. Our current tasks are simply routine star mapping. I think Lieutenant Uhura or Lieutenant Sulu can handle our shift, and certainly Nurse Chapel and Doctor M'Benga can manage without Leonard for a day."
Jim sniffled lightly before humming in agreement. "A day off might be nice. Bones definitely shouldn't have to show up for work when he's so torn up like this."
They laid there quietly for a few moments before Jim spoke up again.
"Do you think we should go in and try to comfort him or…?"
"I do not know, Jim. You are well aware by this point that dealing with emotion is not my forte."
Jim sighed. "I know, I know. God, I can't stand just laying here and hearing him in there."
Spock let him go, following him when he got up and headed towards the bathroom. Careful not to trigger the opening mechanism, Jim knocked gently on the door. "Leonard, honey, we're going to come in now, okay?"
They heard Len take a few gasping breaths, obviously trying to calm down enough to speak. "No, it's not--it's not okay, but I can hardly"--a pause and more gasping--"can hardly stop you, can I?"
Taking that as permission, Jim let the door slide open and walked in, Spock close on his heels. Leonard was slumped against the wall next to the toilet, face red and wet from crying. Though Len shied away some, Jim swooped down and took Leonard into his arms. Spock grabbed several tissues from the counter and joined his two lovers on the floor. He held one out to Leonard, who took it and began wiping at his runny nose.
"God," he said, almost sounding normal, "I hate you two havin' to see me like this."
Jim shook his head vigorously. "Honey, no, we married you. For better or worse and all that, right? Well this certainly isn't the worst we've seen, and it's important that you know that you're not alone."
"Yes, Len, you are not the only one hurt by the lack of communications from Joanna. She is your daughter by blood, yes, but she is our step-daughter--no, our daughter as well, by marriage and in our hearts," Spock said, voice just barely tinged by the sadness he was still reluctant to admit he felt.
"Yeah, well, you should still be asleep or gettin' ready or somethin', not tendin' to my old mopey ass," Leonard groused, turning his head to stare into the distance.
"Nope. We're going to take a day off, all three of us," Jim said. "I think it'll be good for us, and we wouldn't be any use to the crew anyway if we're all out of sorts."
It took a few more rounds of gentle cajoling before Leonard was convinced that returning to bed to cuddle for a while was the right choice. While Jim was getting Len back into bed, Spock sent off a few quick messages to the other alpha shift crew, letting them know the trio wouldn't be showing up that day. Then he joined the other two, where they simply lay in silence for a while.
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1325 Ship's Time, Same Day
Jim, Len, and Spock had just finished lunch in their quarters when a message came through from the bridge. They let it through.
"Sirs, there's a shuttle requesting to dock," said Lt. Uhura, who was manning the chair. "We've given them permission, but they've requested that you be in the hangar when the passengers disembark. All three of you, that is."
Jim looked confused. "Is that wise, Lieutenant? What if it's a trap?"
Uhura chuckled. "Trust me, sir, nothing bad is going to happen. Just come down to the shuttle bay. Uhura out."
The trio looked at each other, puzzled. Leonard was still visibly dejected, but well past crying. "Let's go see who it is, get this over with," he said.
Jim and Spock nodded their assent, and they headed out to the turbolift.
As soon as they stepped into the hangar a few minutes later, the door to the shuttle in question swung open, and a familiar human woman stepped out, followed by an Andorian, and a young human girl.
Leonard hardly had time to gasp out his daughter's name before he found Joanna leaping into his arms.
"Daddy!" she cried out. "Happy Father's Day! I know it's a day late, but I really wanted to see you in person…"
Len smiled down at her, eyes beginning to water. "It's okay, Jojo. I'm so glad to see you." He pressed a kiss to her forehead before setting her down. He would have asked if Jim and Spock were in on this, but the looks of astonishment (subtle in Spock's case) on their faces told him they were just as clueless as he was.
Joanna made a beeline to Spock next. She gave him a shaky ta'al and a smile before saying, "Happy Father's Day, Spock." She waved Jim over. "And happy Father's Day to you too, Jim. 'Cause both of you are married to my daddy, so you're my dads too. If that's okay, that is?"
Jim looked about to cry and Spock nodded. "Of course, Joanna. You can call me sa-mekh, if you like. That is the Vulcan word for father," he said.
"And, uh," Jim said, still overcome with emotion, "I could be your papa, yeah, Jojo?"
Joanna nodded enthusiastically. "Right! Just like how I've got mama and amma Shrishao!"
Spock looked over at the Andorian and raised an eyebrow.
"Ah, yes, we haven't met yet, have we? I'm Shrishao zh'Resren, Jocelyn's fiancée. I use they in Standard, if you were concerned about pronouns," the Andorian said, introducing themselves.
Joanna went back over to Leonard, so Jim and Spock headed over to Jocelyn and Shrishao.
So their day turned out better than they could have guessed that morning.