Work Text:
It was a sunny, clear, beautifully cool day in San Francisco. The little park near the academy was always a place the students liked to go on nice days. It offered lots of shade, pretty flowers, and a beautiful escape from the stresses of academy life. Jim and Bones were sitting on a bench underneath a big oak tree and Jim was gesturing excitedly at his friend who was clearly having none of whatever his compatriot was saying.
“Hey! Wait up!” Jim gave chase after the doctor, trying to see what was happening. He could hear the sound of a child crying and see a group of people fussing over something.
The little girl – Nova, as Jim heard—had taken a pretty nasty tumble off some old playground equipment. She was holding her knee and crying loudly about it. It was probably only bruised but given she was so little, well, Jim would want to be sure too.
“Is it okay if I help?” Bones asked the girl’s mother more out of politeness than actual care for what the answer was. He was already kneeling by the girl and pulling out his emergency kit to make sure she was okay.
Jim was kind of surprised at how easily he took the girl from crying to giggling by giving her a bunch of fake “diagnoses” like a potato in her ear. He explained all his tools to her and answered all her questions about them. This seemed to put her at ease and she offered her leg to him so he could look at it.
“You think you can help me? Don’t have a nurse, “Leonard held out the little tricorder to the girl and she took it gingerly, her eyes sparkling. “Now you just point that at me and tell me what it says. All right, Nurse Nova?”
She did exactly as she was told and rattled off every number that came across the screen. Bones explained each number to her while he bandaged her leg and by the time she was done asking questions he had her all patched up.
“You did a wonderful job, nurse,” Bones gave her the most beautiful smile Jim had ever seen in his life and ruffled her hair. “I couldn’t have asked for a better assistant!”
The girl beamed up at him, her hurt forgotten. She held out the little tricorder and peered at the doctor curiously and asked, “Can I have this?”
“Nova! You give that back to the nice doctor!” her mother scolded. She turned to Bones and started apologizing for the girl’s rudeness.
“No you can’t, darlin’,” Bones said taking the device out of her hand and replacing it in his case. He turned back to her and waved his hand near her hair and pulled a lollipop out. “But you can have this!”
Jim was pretty sure he just fell in love three times over. He didn’t even know Bones was capable of being that sweet let alone good with children.