Work Text:
"She's not gonna like me, is she Bones?" Jim said, clutching his duffel bag to his chest, and glanced at Leonard with a look of apprehension. They were on shore leave for an entire month, a rare break from the Federation and Leonard wanted Jim to meet his daughter, Jo. Jim, on the other hand, felt that he’d ruin everything Leonard and Jo had worked so hard to build.
"She's seven, Jim. All of my friends are her friends," Leonard told him, taking one of Jim's hands down from his duffel and squeezing it. "She'll like you fine. Especially since I like you fine."
Jim stared up at Leonard's apartment building with the Georgia sun glinting off the windows, forcing himself to relax, and squeezed Leonard's hand back. "If you say so. Bones," he sighed. Leonard led him upstairs and while he unlocked the door, Jim had another panic. "What if I scare her? What if I don't know how to talk to her? What if I treat her like she's dumb on accident?" Jim’s expression was full of pure terror, his eyes wide. Leonard thought he looked as young as Jo.
"You need to stop this nonsense, Jim. Dammit, man, look at me," Leonard commanded, grabbing Jim around the shoulders. Jim froze, his eyes locked with Leonard's. "I raised her. By myself. Do you really think that she wouldn't understand what I see in you?"
Jim sighed and put his forehead against Leonard's, his breath ghosting across Leonard's mouth. "No, Bones, I don't. I'm sorry."
Leonard pressed a quick kiss to Jim's lips before opening the door. "Jim, if you had a kid, I'd be scared about making a good impression, too. Just be yourself, darlin', and she'll fall in love with you as fast as I did." That got Jim to laugh and Leonard relaxed in his home, calling for Jo. Jim heard the pattering of tiny feet and a whirling dervish of brown hair and a glittery tutu pulled over a pair of tiny jeans scurried into the room and collided with Leonard.
“Daddy!” She exclaimed, hugging him around the waist and looking up at him with surprise and adoration.
“Hey, sweetheart. Have you had fun with TrU-D?” Leonard asked, dropping his bag and picking up Jo to kiss her cheek.
“I did! We made lots of yummy foods this week for when you came home!” Jo explained. “I guess that was good since you brought a friend over!”
From the back of the house, the humanoid android appeared to smile at Leonard and his daughter, tucking her artificially graying hair behind one ear. “Everything went fine, sir. Your daughter was well behaved and thoroughly enjoyed throwing flour around the kitchen.” Leonard laughed and tickled Johanna, who started to giggle as well.
“Who is your friend?” She asked, pointing at Jim.
“He’s the captain of one of the big star ships, baby. His name is Jim Kirk.” Jim waved and grinned while Leonard did the introductions.
“Hi! I’m Johanna McCoy and I’m seven years old! My favorite color is green and I was just having a tea party that you should come and join!” Jo squirmed her way out of Leonard’s arms to run over and take Jim by the hand, pulling him to her room with strength that was surprising for such a small child. Jim heard Leonard talking with TrU-D before the droid went back to her warehouse for maintenance and another assignment, but Jo shut the door of her room almost all the way and drowned them out.
“A tea party, huh? What do you want me to do?” Jim asked, a smile growing on his face as Jo flitted around the room grabbing some stuffed animals (as well as stuffed aliens) and some more tea cups.
“You can have TrU-D’s spot! She wasn’t very good at tea parties but she made some really yummy juice that we can have! Daddy said the juice would make my other friends sick, so they can’t have any,” Jo said sadly, patting some of her stuffies on the head.
Jim folded himself into a pink plastic chair and accepted a cup of tea with a gracious inclination of his head, his knees almost up at his shoulders. “What do I call you? Princess Jo? World Ruler Jo?” This was Johanna, basically the love of Leonard’s life, the one connection to his past but also a connection to himself. Jim didn’t want to call her “princess” out of reflex and have her be insulted. That would ruin everything.
“I like Destroyer of the Universe Jo the best! But Princess Jo is nice too! Now, we are going to sit down and have a civilized tea party, isn’t that right Mister Jim?” Jo sat across from him, prim in her tiny chair and looked up at him with expectant brown eyes.
“It is right! Can you introduce me to your friends here?” Jim asked, sipping at his tea and holding out his pinky as he did so, just like Johanna was. Johanna brightened even more and pointed around the table, telling Jim all of their names, which he committed to memory, and a short story about them, usually something involving how they needed to be rescued from a planet and that Johanna was the only one who could take care of them (Jim was pretty sure that Leonard had been the one to put those in her head but he was glad; it was noble.)
“I have some questions to ask you, though, Mister Jim,” Jo said after their second cup of “tea.” Jim almost choked on the juice, caught off guard by her serious attitude. The way she looked at him reminded him of Leonard so much it made his heart hurt.
“Sure, anything, Destroyer of the Universe Jo,” Jim acquiesced, setting his teacup down and giving Jo his full attention.
“Well, it’s about you and my dad. He really seems to like you,” Jo commented. Jim was surprised that she had picked up on that, seeing as how they’d been together for about thirty seconds before Jo had dragged him away. She continued, saying, “He said your name a lot like he used to say Mom’s name. Before Mom went away to do whatever. That’s how I know he really likes you. But I gotta ask, do you think he loves you? Do you think he loves you like he loved Mom?”
Jim opened his mouth to answer before shutting it and thinking for a moment. Johanna was the most important thing in Leonard’s life. He wouldn’t have brought Jim to meet her if Jim wasn’t nearly as important to him. Hell, he wouldn’t have stuck around Jim for as long as he had if there wasn’t something in Jim he wanted or craved or loved. “You would have to ask your dad to be sure,” Jim started, “but I think he does.”
“Good!” Jo’s eyes crinkled with her smile the same way Leonard’s did before she grew serious and cocked a thick, dark brow. “Now here’s the really hard question: do you love him, too? Like he loved Mom?”
This was an easier question to answer. “I love him just as much as he loves you,” he told Jo with sincerity. Jo was the sunlight in Leonard’s life just like Leonard was the sun in Jim’s life and he hoped they could all be each other’s sun so they never had to know a dark day in their lives. Jo’s smile widened and she sat up straighter in her chair and took a deep breath. Jim thought the words were going to burst out of her mouth from the way her eyes danced with glee.
“Then I love you, too! You’re part of the family, now, since you had tea with me! No backing out now!” She laughed and offered to refill Jim’s teacup, and he accepted gratefully.
“I don’t think I want to back out ever,” Jim said, glancing towards the door. If he looked at Jo any longer, the pressure behind his eyes was going to come out of his tear ducts. He didn’t expect to see Leonard leaning against the frame, the door only open a few inches and Leonard’s face in shadow. Jim could see that Leonard was fighting the same happy tears as he was. Jim didn’t know what having a daughter was like and he was already getting emotional, so he knew that Leonard was feeling the same pride and relief and joy amplified by a hundred, no, a thousand times.
Jim smiled at Leonard and jerked his head for Leonard to come join them. He slipped in the door, running a hand through his dark hair, and planted a kiss on both Jim and Jo’s heads, accepting a cup of tea from Jo.
Leonard thought it would be nice to have a house full of family again, even if it was just for a month. But he wouldn’t think about that now. Instead, he chose to think of how enamored Jo was with Jim already, Jesus, he’d have to get a crowbar to pry her off of him now that he’d had tea with her. But that was okay. He wondered if Jo and TrU-D had put enough food in the fridge to make a feast for dinner, a dinner he could share with the two brightest people in his life. Leonard let one small tear crawl down his cheek before he laughed it off, looking between Jo and Jim with a stupid grin on his face. “I love you both, you two chuckleheads know that, right?”
Jo met Jim’s eyes and he could see the mischief brewing in her gaze and when she leaned up to kiss Leonard on the cheek, Jim mirrored her and said, “Of course we know.”
“We love you too, Daddy,” Jo added, throwing her arms around both of them.
Leonard felt that he had finally found home.