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Hiding behind Christine’s desk, Leo poked his head out the side and glared at the Andorian crewman sitting on one of the biobeds, having an injury tended to by Doctor M’Banga. He had seen Andorians before on earth. There we many of them in his classrooms whose families had moved to earth and settled down in his home town. Leonard loved hearing about their cultures and all of the things they did back home. He especially liked asking questions about their biology. He didn’t always understand the answers, but he loved hearing all about it anyways.
“Did someone bring a kid on board?” They asked, their eyes glued on Leonard while Joseph fixed up the cut in their arm.
“You could say something like that.” Chuckled Joseph, finishing up with the cut and putting his dermal regenerator off to the side. “There, all healed up and ready to get back to work.”
“Thanks Doc.” Hopping off of the biobed, they checked the healed arm and smiled brightly when they saw that there wasn’t even the hint of a scare. “I’ll make sure to be more careful this time.”
“That is alway appreciated” Patting the Crewman on the back, Joseph watched as they headed out of medical, and turned himself around to face Leonard. “He’s gone now. It’s safe to come out.”
Stepping out from behind the desk slowly, Leo glanced around the room and bolted to Joseph’s side to grab hold of his leg.
“Oh ok,” Joseph reached down to put a hand on top of Leo’s head, laughing when the little boy looked up at him with wide eyes. “Hello to you too.”
“Are there more?” Asked Leonard.
“More?” Joseph attempted to decipher what Leo was talking about, but came up with nothing. “More of what kiddo?”
“More of them?” following Leo’s hand, Joseph glanced over at the door where he was pointing and raised an eyebrow “More And...ando…”
Oh!
“More Andorians?” Inquired Joseph, smiling when Leo nodded his head excitedly “there are lots of Andorian crewmen on the Enterprise. We have two who work in Medical, but they both seem to like the night shift.”
Leo’s eyes went impossibly wide at the sound of that. “And others?” he asked “other Awiens?”
“Oh, we have lots of different species on board.” Joseph chuckled “do you want to see some medical diagrams for them?” in the past few hours Joseph had learned one very important fact about Leonard McCoy. He loved Medical diagrams more than life, both as a child and as an adult.
It reminded Joseph of their academy days. Medical diagram posters that filled every inch of the walls on Leonard’s side of their shared quarters. Andorian, Vulcan, Human, he had even managed to procure a diagram of Klingon biology. It was a sight to behold, and Joseph had started to miss that jumbled mess of diagrams that he had gotten so used to over those two years.
That was until, of course, he walked into Leonard’s old quarters and found those same diagrams on his friends walls, organized in exactly the same way they had been at the Academy.
Joseph wasn’t ashamed to admit he had locked himself in the room after seeing that and just sat down in the middle of the room looking at those diagrams. Remembering all the studying him and Leonard did while they shared hot chocolate and asked each other quiz questions in the dorkiest voices they could muster up.
He had always thought Leonard would be there with him, making those funny voices when he asked Joseph a medical question and laughing when Joseph would respond in an equally dorky voice.
He hadn’t thought of the day he might not hear Leonard’s laughter ringing out through medical.
“Joe…” Leo tugged on Joseph’s pants, pulling his attention back down to him “Can i see Vulcan? I’ve never met one.”
A smile pulled at Joseph’s lips. “I think you’ll love Vulcan’s.” he said softly, leaning down and placing his hands under Leo’s arms so that he could pick him up. Once Leo was close enough, he wrapped his arms around Joseph’s neck and held on tight while Joseph walked both of them over to his office.
Making his way over to his desk, Joseph sat down careful and chuckled when Leo let go of his neck and sat down on his lap so that he could see the computer screen on Joseph’s desk, clutching Doctor Padsey to his chest tightly. It only took a few key strokes to pull up the best depiction of Vulcan anatomy, and Joseph beamed when Leo let out an excited squeal.
The next hour was a blur of excited questions and bright blue eyes staring up at Joseph as he explained everything. Those blue eyes were a little unsettling. Joseph was so used to the soft hazel eyes that used to stare at him whenever him and Leonard were talking, but there was still that same wonder and awe. A rare sight for most people who knew Leonard McCoy , but a look that Joseph had gotten used to over the years. A look Leonard always had when he was learning new things in exobiology.
He loved that Leo had chosen Vulcan anatomy to learn about, since it was an area of expertise for Joseph and the most fun to talk about in his opinion.
“What’s that?” Joseph glanced at the screen where Leo was pointing and smiled.
“That’s the Vulcan heart. They have it in the lower right side of their body, instead of in the left side of their chest like us.” explained Joseph. “It beats several hundred times a minute.”
“That’s fast.” Leonard whispered, his eyes glued on the diagram.
“It is. In fact, human hearts can’t handle the speed at which a Vulcan heart beats.” Joseph continued, a sense of pride boiling up inside of his chest when Leo looked up at him with awe.
“Heart go...BOOM!” Leo spread his arms out like an explosion for emphasis.
“Heart go Boom.” Joseph chuckled, ruffling Leo’s hair playfully while the little boy giggled.
“I do not believe that is a proper medical term in regard to one’s heart exploding from pressure, Doctor.” glancing over at the door, Joseph bit back a laugh when he saw Mr. Spock standing there with his hands clasped behind his back and an eyebrow perfectly arched upwards.
“Vulcan!”