Star Trek fic: Time Will Tell [Kirk/McCoy, adult]
Title: Time Will Tell Author: celandineb Fandom: Star Trek XI Pairing: Kirk/McCoy Rating: adult (although not very explicit) Length: 4327 words Warnings: frottage, a little language Summary: McCoy and Kirk travel to Atlanta for McCoy to visit his daughter Joanna. Note: Fifteenth in the "Heart of the Matter" series.
The shuttle to Atlanta was on time.
McCoy still didn't like them, although he had worked hard to overcome his aviophobia. The level of fear that he felt was irrational, but there was some justification in fact for its existence. Only six years ago there had been that crash of the Canberra flight, after all. Resolutely he pulled his thoughts away from that and looked at Kirk, relaxed in the seat beside him.
"You gonna throw up on me again?" Kirk grinned. "Don't feel you have to. I mean, we're already introduced, now."
McCoy had to chuckle at his cockiness. "I hope I won't," he said honestly, "but no promises."
A warning chime sounded.
"One minute until takeoff," announced a disembodied voice.
Kirk rested his hand on McCoy's arm, and now the ready smile was a sympathetic one.
Trying to smile back, McCoy closed his eyes.
The flight was uneventful, and they arrived in Atlanta a scant hour and a half later. The ten-thirty crowd here was significantly larger than the six o'clock one had been in San Francisco, and it took a while to collect their bags, but even with that and some difficulty in finding a cab, they had reached the hotel by noon.
"Reservation for McCoy," he told the desk clerk.
She tapped on her keyboard, peering at the screen intently, and nodded.
"You're in luck, Mr. McCoy. That room was unoccupied last night, so I can check you in right now, if you'd like." Her dazzling smile was directed not at him, however, but over his shoulder at Kirk.
"Thank you, yes." He passed her his identification to be swiped, then accepted a pair of key cards. "Come on, Jim."
Kirk smiled back at the woman, but his attention was all on McCoy as they headed for the elevators. Their room was on the twenty-second floor, and boasted a view of the city.
"Home sweet home," said Kirk, setting down his suitcase. "Which bed do you want?"
"We're not going to use them both, are we? I only asked for two in case Joanna comes here. I don't want to have to explain things to her... especially not if Jocelyn happened to come up with her." He scowled at the thought. "But I'd rather share a bed with you, if that's okay."
"Sure. Better than last night when it was squash into that narrow cadet bed with you or borrow your roomie's. The bed by the window, then, and I want the window side."
"That's fine." McCoy would rather have the side closer to the bathroom anyway. "I'll just hang up my clothes, and then try to call Joanna. We can get another cab to pick her up."
"I meant to ask, why didn't you arrange to rent a car if we're going to be going all over the city with Joanna?" Kirk watched as McCoy unpacked.
"I don't much like city driving, especially cities I don't know well, and I never lived here." McCoy slipped a hanger into a jacket. "It seemed easier to just take cabs or maybe buses."
"You should have asked me. I love driving."
McCoy knew that all too well, having heard Kirk's stories of his teenage years, during which he had totaled no fewer than three vehicles although he'd walked away without a scratch each time. Pure dumb luck, and McCoy didn't want to risk Joanna to Kirk's driving, even if he had probably calmed down a little by now.
"Too much trouble. Don't worry about it." He finished hanging the final pair of trousers, shoved socks and underwear into a drawer, and put his toiletry kit on the bathroom counter. "Okay, I'm going to call now."
Kirk nodded, flinging himself down on the bed they weren't planning to sleep in.
McCoy picked up the receiver and dialed, nerving himself to speak to his ex-wife.
The phone rang. And rang, and rang, and rang. Then an unfamiliar male voice said, "This is Brian Whitworth. Please leave a message and we will return your call as soon as possible."
The new husband. Grimly, McCoy waited for the tone and said in the calmest voice he could muster, "Jocelyn, this is Leonard. It's a little after noon and I'm here in Atlanta, at the Peachtree Hotel, room 2207." He looked at the placard on the phone and gave her the hotel's number. "I would like to see Joanna this afternoon, so please call me back or have Joanna call. Thank you."
He hung up and stared at the phone for a moment.
"Do you think your ex is up to her usual tricks?" Kirk's voice interrupted his angry thoughts.
"I don't know. It is lunch time; I'll give it maybe an hour, then try again. I think I have her mobile phone number somewhere, too, if she hasn't changed it. She doesn't want Joanna to have one until she's twelve."
"Don't worry about it yet, then." Kirk got up and came to put his arms around McCoy. "I'd suggest that we could explore the city for a while, but I'm sure you want to wait to see if shel'll call back, so how about if we make out instead, to pass the time?"
The matter-of-fact tone in which he proposed it made McCoy chuckle despite his annoyance. "It's better than sitting around, I suppose," he teased, keeping his voice serious.
Kirk put on a mock pout. "So making out with me is boring?"
"Never boring." McCoy tipped his head and bit at Kirk's neck, pushing aside fabric to reach the hollow of his throat. Civilian clothes were so much better for this than Starfleet uniform.
"We don't have to stay standing up," Kirk pointed out.
"No, but if we lie down then we might get a little over-excited, given that hopefully Joanna will be calling back soon."
Kirk shrugged. "Leave the video pickup switched off, then. No problem."
"That's an idea." McCoy let himself be maneuvered onto the bed, toeing off his shoes as he lay down. "Still, I don't think I want to be naked when my daughter calls."
"If you were taking a shower, you would be," said Kirk in an innocent tone.
McCoy poked him. "That's different and you know it."
"Just a matter of perspective." Kirk ran a hand down McCoy's arm from shoulder to wrist, then up again over his ribs. "Can I persuade you to take your shirt off, at least?"
"I suppose so." He was wearing a blue turtleneck, and sat up to tug it over his head, tossing it onto the other bed where it was soon joined by Kirk's shirt.
"That's better." Kirk ran his fingers through the hair on McCoy's chest. "Hey, there's a gray hair here."
"Don't remind me. I know I'm getting old."
"You're not old," Kirk protested. "Older than I am, sure, but not old. You're not even thirty yet, and aren't most of the other medical cadets older than you are?"
"Medical, yeah, but the average age of a cadet is younger than you. All those teenaged geniuses running around; I could almost be their father."
"Well, I don't care. And you may have a few gray hairs but they only make you look more distinguished, so there." Kirk ducked his head and pressed his lips to the offending spot.
It was amazing to be lying here like this, half naked in the early afternoon, not working or studying or doing anything useful, just kissing until he kept from going further only because of his conviction that if he let things get too out of hand, that would be the moment Joanna called. The skin of Kirk's back was warm and smooth under his fingers as he held him tight, kissing him with long slow – but nevertheless enthusiastic – kisses. Kirk was obviously just as aroused, making little noises in his throat and sliding his leg between McCoy's so that he could rub up against McCoy's thigh.
"You feel good, Bones." Kirk's face was flushed and eager. "Come on."
"Later. Tonight," McCoy promised hoarsely. "Even taking Joanna out to dinner, we won't be back that late. She does have a bedtime still."
"Good, because you know I'm gonna be thinking about you, about this, the whole time." Kirk grinned. "Maybe not every second, but..."
"Maybe we'd better stop now then, save up all this sexual tension for tonight?" McCoy suggested.
"Not necessary, not for me." Kirk was still rocking, pumping himself against McCoy's leg. "That's hours and hours from now."
"True enough," McCoy acknowledged. He twisted a little, reaching between the two of them to adjust things so that he wouldn't be too badly chafed by seam or zipper, and proceeded to join Kirk in rubbing himself to a sticky but glorious orgasm, watching Kirk's face, his eyes half-closed as he came too.
"Mm. That was just what I needed," Kirk said with a look of satisfaction.
"Me, too." Although now he'd have to change at least his underwear; he'd look and see if his trousers were all right.
Naturally it was while he was in the bathroom cleaning up, with nothing on but his socks, that the phone rang.
"Want me to answer that?" called Kirk from the other room.
"No, I've got it." McCoy hurried out to answer, remembering to leave the video switched off. "Hello?"
"Daddy?"
"Joanna, sweetheart. I'm so glad to hear from you. I got in only a little while ago and called right away; I guess you heard my message?"
"We were having lunch with Grandma Patricia."
McCoy supposed that must be Whitworth's mother. "Are you going to be able to visit with me today?"
"We're at Grandma Patricia's right now. You could come pick me up here?" Joanna asked hopefully.
"Yes, of course. Just give me the address and I'll be there as soon as I can get a cab, all right?"
He had to wait a moment while she found out the street address – not something a nine-year-old would remember, if she even knew it – and then promised again that he would be there as soon as possible before hanging up.
"Do you want to go alone?"
McCoy turned to see Kirk watching him, his expression indecipherable.
"No." He cleared his throat. "No, I want you with me."
"Great." Kirk jumped up. "I'll be ready in two minutes."
It was actually more like ten before they were both dressed and ready to go. McCoy made sure he had the piece of paper with the address on it, and patted his pocket to check that he had the hotel key, too.
The concierge at the front desk was happy to put them into a cab, but it took a good twenty minutes to reach "grandma Patricia's" house.
"How long has it been since you've seen Joanna, anyhow?" Kirk asked.
McCoy scowled. "A year and a half. Not since the first summer I was at the Academy."
"That must be weird for you."
"Yeah. Yeah, it is." McCoy realized that he was gripping his knee hard enough that the skin showed white around the knuckles. Deliberately, he relaxed it. "I feel like I won't know her."
Kirk reached over and took McCoy's hand, threading their fingers together. "It'll be fine. You write her all the time, you talk on the phone, you know how things are with her. It'll be okay. Really."
"I know." McCoy sighed. "Look, when we get there, could you stay in the cab? I have no interest in chatting with Jocelyn, and if you're waiting that'll give me a reason to keep things short."
"Fine." Kirk gave a short laugh. "But you don't mind if I want to meet her once before we go, do you?"
"No, of course not. I'm sure we'll pick up Joanna at her own house on other days. There'll be a chance for me to introduce you to Jocelyn." McCoy just hoped Kirk would behave. No use worrying about it now.
The cab had turned into a neighborhood with huge houses, each a veritable fortress behind its own iron gates, with call boxes to prevent unauthorized entry. McCoy snorted softly.
"When we reach the house, tell whoever answers that Dr. McCoy is here to pick up his daughter Joanna," he instructed the driver, who nodded.
McCoy couldn't hear what the person on the other end said to the driver, but the gates swung open silently, and the cab glided up the long driveway to stop at the end of a walk that led to a broad white porch.
"I'll be right back," he told Kirk.
He was just reaching for the bell when the door was flung open, and Joanna darted out. She must have been watching through the window, McCoy thought, stooping to hug her tightly.
"Let's look at you, then," he said, kneeling and holding her at arm's length. Her hair had grown long, though she had it caught up in a barrette on the top of her head to keep it out of her face. Serious brown eyes gazed at him from below pale straight brows. "Are you a sight for sore eyes." He kissed her and then hugged her again, delighted that she returned the embrace unhesitatingly.
"Thank you for the books, Daddy," she said. "I already read Dragonsong yesterday; it was really good."
"You're welcome." He breathed in the little-girl smell of her, still familiar even after so long.
"Hello, Leonard."
He looked up to see Jocelyn standing there, and gently unwound Joanna's arms from his neck, keeping hold of her hand as he rose.
"Jocelyn. You're looking well."
She smiled coolly. "Thank you. I'd like you to have Joanna home by nine, please. She needs her sleep." Jocelyn's face scarcely moved as she spoke. She'd read somewhere that doing so caused wrinkles, McCoy recalled. "Now, Joanna, be a good girl with your father and I'll see you tonight."
Joanna nodded. "Bye, Mama."
Jocelyn retreated into the house, the door closing firmly behind her. McCoy blinked. He really had expected Jocelyn to try to drag him inside, perhaps purportedly for a drink, in fact to show off her new and financially successful life, but he was just as happy to be spared that, for the moment at least. He smiled down at his daughter and squeezed her hand.
"I thought we might go to the zoo, that sounds good to you, and then out for dinner somewhere. If you have a special place you'd like to go, we can eat there either tonight or one of the other days I'm here, all right?"
"Yes. I haven't been to the zoo in ages. Can we see the tigers?"
"Of course," McCoy assured her. "Tigers first on the list."
Joanna skipped next to him as they crossed to the cab, then stopped suddenly as she saw Kirk sitting in the back seat. "Who's that?" She looked up at him quickly.
McCoy opened the cab door and gestured to Kirk to come out.
"Joanna, this is my friend Jim Kirk. He's a cadet at Starfleet Academy too, and since he doesn't have any family on Earth to spend his holidays with, he came along with me."
"Hi, Joanna." Kirk held out his hand.
"Hi, Mr. Kirk," said Joanna, still holding onto her father's hand even as she shook Kirk's.
"You can call me Jim, you don't need to call me Mr. Kirk." Kirk grinned. "Actually, if you call me that, I probably won't know that you're talking to me."
"Okay." Joanna smiled shyly.
"Shall we go?" McCoy urged.
They climbed back into the cab, Joanna and McCoy in back, Kirk now sitting up front by the driver, whom McCoy told to go on to the zoo.
They spent several hours there, seeing the tigers first as requested, then going around most although not all of the other exhibits. About midafternoon, Joanna said she was hungry and they stopped for a snack. They sat in a row on a bench near the monkey and ape exhibits while Joanna nibbled slowly at an enormous chocolate-chip cookie.
Kirk finished his own cookie and wandered off to look at the chimpanzees. Unconsciously McCoy turned his head to follow his progress.
"Is he going to be with us all the time you're here?" Joanna asked, and McCoy quickly turned his head back to her.
"He doesn't have to be. Why, don't you like him?"
Joanna shrugged. "He's pretty nice. I like the way he tells stories, like the one about cows. I didn't know you could tip a cow over. But I thought this was supposed to be a visit for you to see me." She sounded wistful.
"Of course it is, sweetheart. We have three more whole days after this one, and I'm sure Jim will want to do some things by himself; he's never been to this part of the country before. Although maybe, I don't know, there is someplace special you'd like to show both of us? Somewhere you like to go, or that you learned about in school?" He put his arm around her shoulders.
"Maybe," Joanna said doubtfully. "I'll think about it." She took another bite of her cookie and leaned a little forward to look around McCoy at Kirk. "Daddy?"
"Yes?"
She chewed her lip for a minute, looking older than her years. "Is Jim your boyfriend?"
Out of the mouths of babes. He should have known that she might guess, he thought ruefully. Joanna was smart as a whip. He wasn't sure what to say, though. "We've been seeing each other for a few months," he hedged slightly.
"I thought so." Joanna's reaction was calm, to McCoy's relief. "Are you going to get married?"
McCoy almost choked on the tea he was drinking. "We haven't talked about that."
"You should," said Joanna definitely. "He's much nicer than Brian."
Now wasn't the time, but McCoy resolved to ask Joanna more about what it was like to live with her mother and stepfather. Jocelyn might have custody, but by God McCoy was not going to let anything bad happen to his daughter if he could possibly help it. Probably it was fine – for all her faults, Jocelyn was basically a good mother – but if McCoy was going to go off-planet, perhaps for years, he didn't want to have to be worrying about Joanna living with a stepfather who didn't treat her well. He'd seen what happened with Kirk, in a similar situation, although Kirk's mother had been gone too.
"I'll keep that suggestion in mind. Are you finished? Shall we go see the monkeys?"
She nodded and stood up, brushing crumbs off her jacket and trotting to the nearest trash can to throw away her crumpled napkin.
Kirk waved at them as they walked over. "I wanted to say, Joanna, thanks for having me come along with you and your dad. I'm having a really good time."
Joanna smiled, and this time when they started walking, although she still held onto McCoy's hand, she put her other in Kirk's.
She couldn't decide what restaurant she wanted to go to that night, so they ended up at a little place called Cajun Annie's, where they all had cups of vegetarian gumbo filled with okra and peppers and onions, and then McCoy had jambalaya and Joanna and Kirk each had a po' boy sandwich, Joanna's with shrimp and Kirk's with oysters; he'd winked at McCoy while ordering, but it took a moment for McCoy to remember that oysters had once been touted as an aphrodisiac.
A rather decadent chocolate bread pudding finished off the meal, during which Joanna had mostly chattered on about learning to ride a horse, a topic on which Kirk had plenty to say too. By then it was getting late enough that McCoy decided they had better take Joanna home.
"What time tomorrow shall I pick you up?" he asked.
She scrunched up her face. "Nine o'clock?" she said in doubtful tones.
"Do you need to check with your mom?" Kirk suggested, and Joanna nodded.
"I'll tell you what," McCoy said. "Check with your mother, but I'll assume that nine o'clock is fine unless you call me to say otherwise, sound good?"
"Yes," she agreed.
He got out of the cab so that he could hug her goodnight properly, and she waved at Kirk, still inside.
"Goodnight, Jim. It was very nice to meet you."
McCoy walked her the few steps to her door, saying quietly, "You don't need to tell your mother that Jim is anything but a friend of mine, okay?"
"Okay." She wrinkled her nose at him and smiled. "Mama would be funny about it, wouldn't she?"
"She would," McCoy agreed fervently. He bent down and kissed her again. "Goodnight. I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"G'night, Daddy." She opened the door and went in.
"The Peachtree Hotel," McCoy told the cab driver, and leaned back with a sigh.
"What's wrong? I had a good time, didn't you? Joanna is a great little girl, not that I expected anything else from your daughter," Kirk said.
"She's already guessed, about you and me."
Kirk was silent for a moment, then said, "Is that a problem?"
"No. It didn't seem to bother her at all. I'd just rather not have Jocelyn figure it out... but that may not be possible."
"It may not."
They dropped the topic then and instead talked about some of the animals they'd seen. It had been years since either of them had been to a zoo, and McCoy was glad he'd had the idea.
"It's not all that late," Kirk remarked when they reached the hotel. "You want to go out and do something? There must be decent nightlife, in a city like this."
McCoy thought about it. "I'm pretty beat, actually," he admitted. "I shouldn't be; it's not even seven o'clock, West Coast time, but with traveling and everything, it's been a busy day. Rain check?"
"You're not planning to go to bed right now, are you?"
"No, I'm not that tired, just not up to going out. I brought the rest of that bottle of whiskey from last night and we could have a drink in our room, watch television or something."
"Or something," Kirk murmured, a smile twitching up the side of his mouth.
"Yes, well." McCoy cleared his throat, glancing around the lobby as they walked through it although neither of them had said anything untoward.
"I made sure to pack my Christmas present, you know." Kirk's grin grew wider. He put his hand on the small of McCoy's back, guiding him as they stepped into the elevator. "I'd be happy to share it again."
"With such an offer, how can I say no?" joked McCoy.
"You can't, which is all to the good."
Once in their room, Kirk said, "I really did enjoy today, I want you to know. It was fun, being with you and Joanna. Maybe tomorrow, though, I shouldn't tag along the whole time? Give you a chance to do the father-daughter thing without someone else around. I can do some poking around the city, or if all else fails, I did bring some reading to do for next term; asked a couple of the profs and got them to tell me what the first few assignments were."
"That'd be good, yeah." McCoy was relieved that he wouldn't have to tell Kirk that he didn't want him to come along the next day. He did want him, but Joanna had to come first, and she obviously wanted to spend some time alone with her father, understandably.
Kirk shrugged. "When I was a kid, and my mom came back from a tour of duty, I used to want her to pay attention to just me. I figure Joanna might feel the same way, even though she does have one parent she lives with all the time."
"Yeah. Thanks, Jim."
"Anyhow, since I'm being so good, not butting in on your time with Joanna too much and not bugging you to go out again tonight, I think I deserve a drink, don't you?"
"Definitely." McCoy had stashed the whiskey bottle in a drawer, and now he pulled it out. "I think there are some glasses by the sink. Grab a couple?"
He gave them each a generous tot, knocked back a good swallow and refilled his glass.
"Slow down there, sailor." Kirk chuckled. "I know you have a high tolerance, but for what I have in mind I want you in full working order."
"Oh yeah?" McCoy took off his shoes, and with a sigh sat down on the bed they'd chosen, propping himself up against the pillows. "And just what did you have in mind?"
Kirk posed, turned so that his ass was toward McCoy, looking over his shoulder flirtatiously. "Would you say that I had a nice butt?" He wiggled it so that there could be no mistake.
"Oh yeah." McCoy took another gulp of his drink. "I don't think there's any doubt of that. Rumor had it that you were voted cutest ass last year at the engineers' end-of-term party."
"Yup, I was, but tastes do differ. Glad to know you agree with the general opinion."
"Mm-hm. So what about your cute butt?"
"I'm gonna let you fuck it, that's what. You should be honored, Bones." There was a hint of worry in Kirk's eyes, although his grin was as cocky as McCoy had ever seen it.
"You're sure?" McCoy couldn't help saying.
"Very sure." Kirk took a deep breath. "I've thought about it, and I want this with you." He grinned again. "You always seem to really like it when I fuck you, so why should you have all the fun?"
"Why, indeed," McCoy murmured.
He hadn't expected this, but he wasn't fool enough to turn down such an offer. He did wonder a little, though, if it meant as much to Kirk as it did to himself. Time would just have to tell.