Who: Jim Kirk, Leonard McCoy, Hermione Granger-Kirk and Elizabeth Weir When: Early December Where: Jim and Hermione’s place What: Double Date Rating/Warning: Low/None Status: Complete
Hermione had ordered in. She couldn’t cook anything, so she’d asked Jim to have the ship replicate a few things, and beam it down for dinner. She’d been in the mood for roast beef and yorkshire pudding, roast root vegetables and custard pie for dessert. It was a rich meal, made complete with some good Merlot. Honestly, the place smelled so good, Hermione was salivating waiting for their guests to arrive.
Jim was forced to put on pants. This was a crime! He didn’t really mind though, and had gotten the alcohol ready. Jim Kirk? Was a helper.
Elizabeth looked up at the house as Leonard pulled up to park. He'd been the consummate gentleman and picked her up from home, even offering her his arm to walk her to the car. She took a deep breath and exited the car, taking her bag and the bottle of wine with her. She smiled at Leonard as he came round from the other side of the car and kissed him on the cheek. "You ok?"
McCoy was a gentleman, wasn’t he? He was more than happy to pick her up, lead her by the arm, do the boyfriend-y things that he did so well. He offered his arm to her once they were at Jim and Hermione’s place, and gave a gentle shrug. “Why wouldn’t I be okay?”
Jim opened the door before they could knock and grinned at them. “Bones. Liz. Come in, We’re just setting the table.”
This somehow felt a little weird. Domesticy.
Elizabeth automatically started to tell him not to call her Liz, but smiled politely at him and let Leonard lead the way. As they moved into the house she handed the wine Hermione suggested she could bring to Jim.
Jim took the wine, carrying it to the kitchen table. It was kind of nice to see Bones in a different light than in the dreams or down at the hospital or them both being drunk off their asses. To break the ice, he said, “I’m pretty sure I’ve kissed everyone in this room.”
Elizabeth raised her eyebrows and looked across at Leonard in surprise as a blush rose in her cheeks. "Well...that's certainly one way to break the ice," she grinned, stifling a laugh at the look on Leonard's face.
McCoy raised both eyebrows. "You have? Really?"
Hermione shook her head, grinning an embarrassed grin. "I'd pay to see you and Leonard lock lips."
Elizabeth covered her mouth with the hand not in Leonard’s arm as she started to giggle. She pressed herself closer to him and kissed him on the cheek to mollify him somewhat. “I can’t help but be curious about that story,” she smiled up at him.
“We were drunk. College experimentation,” Jim replied good naturedly. Maybe he was serious, maybe he wasn’t, that was all part of the mystery!
“Well, you always said you were good at biology,” Elizabeth teased, squeezing his arm affectionately.
“I’m a doctor. I have to be good at Biology.” McCoy simply shook his head, unable to suppress a smirk, then leaned over and tapped a kiss against Elizabeth’s hair. “How about that wine?” He said, stepping through the others into the kitchen to dig around in a drawer for a bottle opener.
Hermione was giddy with the domesticity of it all. A double date! Between two adult, happy couples. They were five steps away from bridge club. While she was thrilled, she was also a little nervous that this much security might make Jim feel antsy. “Let me help you with that,” she said quickly, and followed him into the kitchen to open the right drawer for him.
Hermione had a right to be a little anxious about that, but Jim was trying his best to overcome his antsyness. Being on his best behaviour was hard. He was, after all, a twelve year old sometimes, and that twelve year old tended to come out around Bones. But for Hermione. He’ll behave. Probably. “Left drawer, we like to mix it up around here.”
“So I’ve heard,” Elizabeth replied coyly as she moved to join Leonard and Hermione in the kitchen. “How have you been then Hermione? It’s been a while,” she smiled at the girl, accepting a glass of wine from Leonard when he handed one to her, sharing a small smile with him as their fingers brushed.
“Oh, I’m fine.” Hermione said, tossing a playful glare toward her husband. Then she turned her attention back to Elizabeth. “I’ve been studying really hard. This semester has been hard--and if Jim and I are really going to take that trip we’ve been talking about, I’ll have to get my winter coursework taken care of before we go.”
Jim nodded his head. “Can’t leave things hanging here while we’re off doing things. And each other. Frequently.” He kept a straight face.
McCoy chuckled. He found the bottle opener, and made quick work of opening the bottle. “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.” He said, then grabbed glasses and poured.
Hermione had flushed. Though, there was no arguing it. That was exactly what they were bound to be doing on the Enterprise. By themselves. Christening every room. Again.
Elizabeth looked right into Leonard's eyes with a sultry smile and projected a single thought to him: You just wait til I get you alone for Christmas... She was very much looking forward to being with him over the holidays. She had images of making love endlessly in front of a roaring log fire while the snow drifted slowly outside. "You're studying physics if I remember correctly? My best friend teaches astrophysics at UCI, if you need any help or anything I'm sure she'd be happy to help," Elizabeth offered Hermione, taking a sip of her wine.
Jim took a seat and settled back in the chair watching everyone curiously. He took a glass of wine and sipped at it and let them make small talk. He did smirk at Hermione’s blush. They were coming up on their one year anniversary. He had… plans.
Only, no snow in California. They were going on holiday slightly before Christmas. And McCoy had plans of skiing with Joanna, then putting his daughter on a plane to her mother, and spending the rest of the getaway shagging his girlfriend in a country where they didn’t speak a whole lot of english anyway. He sipped his own wine, following Jim’s lead.
“Oh, yes. Space physics. I switched majors when I learned that Jim had plans to go to Mars. I want to go to Mars.” She said, and tossed her husband a grin and a wink. “I’d love to meet your friend! I can use any extra help I can get.”
“Great, I’ll let her know you’re interested in meeting and she’ll be in contact,” Elizabeth smiled kindly. “How about yourself, Mr Kirk, keeping out of trouble?” she asked, turning to the boys.
“You could say that,” Jim replied, shrugging a shoulder. He really had, and it wasn’t something he could change yet. But the Enterprise at least was finally repaired. He could take his itchy feet and start walking. That was probably his only regret with marriage - he couldn’t take off on a whim. Hermione was enough of an anchor to keep him in place.
Hermione reached a hand over and slipped it into Jim’s. She gave it a squeeze, but stayed quiet.
McCoy simply burst into good-natured chuckles.
“So long as you’re keeping this one out of trouble too,” Elizabeth replied as she moved over to smile down at Leonard and cup his cheek with a smile.
Jim just grinned. “There’s no fun in that. Getting Bones into trouble is one of the things I live for!”
McCoy lifted his arm and draped it around Elizabeth’s shoulders. “Those days are mostly behind us, thanks to Jim’s beautiful and intelligent wife over there,” he motioned with his free hand, then lifted the wine glass for a sip.
Hermione flushed. “Hey, I’m not stopping Jim from getting you in trouble.”
“Mostly huh? Colour me intrigued...” Elizabeth grinned as she looked between the three others before taking a sip.
“Mostly?” Jim looked innocent, sharing a glance at McCoy as if to say ‘don’t breathe a word Bones, if we don’t want to sleep on the couch tonight.’
Hey, McCoy still had his own bed. According to California State Law, half of Jim’s bed belonged to Hermione. That being thought, anyway, McCoy simply lifted his eyebrows, gave a little sigh, and shook his head. “Mostly. Hey, dinner sure smells good.” He added, then gulped again from his wine glass. Not exactly the most suave switch of subjects there.
“Mmhm,” Elizabeth hummed next to his ear in an amused way. “We can talk about it later my love,” she teased, pressing her lips to his neck and running her hand down to his ass to give it a covert, little squeeze out of sight of the others. She casually took a sip of her wine as if nothing happened before turning her attention to the response to Leonard’s question.
“Yeah. Dinner smells fantastic!” Quickly! Redirect, redirect! “How’s work been with you, Elizabeth?”
“Work? Same old same old really,” Elizabeth replied easily. “Same questions, different day only this year I’ve got more paperwork to deal with,” she shrugged. “And yourself? What are you doing to keep yourself busy these days? Or should I not ask,” she joked, taking another small sip of wine.
“That’s classified,” Jim joked. “I actually haven’t been doing much to keep busy….”
“Why do I not believe that,” Elizabeth teased, hand running idly along Leonard’s back until she managed to slip a sneaky finger under his shirt and along the bare skin of his back. “Still taking kids up for survival trips on the mountain-side? Or have you been going with him instead Hermione?”
Would have been a covert, little squeeze if not for the pink that erupted across McCoy’s nose and cheekbones. Hopefully Jim and Hermione either didn’t notice or didn’t care. The good Doctor quickly lifted his drink to sip from it, to avoid clearing his throat. He let Elizabeth and Jim talk, then turned to Hermione when it was her turn.
“We’ve gone a few times.” Hermione said, giving a gentle shrug of her shoulders. “I don’t think he’s ever satisfied, though. Always a bit grumpy when we have to return home.” She said, turning to look at her husband. “I don’t think his life will be complete unless he can be on one constant adventure.”
Jim noticed, and Jim cared, but he decided to give McCoy the blessing of pretending he hadn't. "I can't sit still for long. As long as I have something to keep me going, I'm golden. I was born to see things I've never seen before."
Elizabeth couldn’t help the proud, little smile crossing her face at Leonard’s blush while they chatted. “You sound like quite the adventurer, you two must have some great stories to tell,” she remarked, her hands still stroking his back calmly.
“You really have no idea.” McCoy said, thinking back to their adventures on Nibiru. He grinned into his glass as he took another sip. “Well, dinner, then? Should we eat? We’re not going to get food poisoning, or something, are we?” Though, even if they did, he was sure he had medication in his medipack that would fix that.
Hermione nodded. “Let’s all sit and have some food.” She took hold of Jim’s hand for a moment, squeezed it, then motioned them to the dining room table. It was beautifully set, and in a moment Hermione had the food, still hot from the oven, on serving dishes at the table.
Elizabeth smiled at the pair and nodded, following Hermione to the dining room for dinner. She hoped this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.