McCoy

       
        Star Date: 7703.05...
       
        He tiptoed through the children's rooms, taking a long look at each sleeping child. Joanna was aware of what he was doing and meant to confront him as he came back to the central room of the compact apartment. Her father was not good at concealment.
        “They are such angels asleep,” he commented as he settled stiffly on the edge of the divan, easing the leg that still bothered him into position, and not into the comfortable sprawl that he usually assumed. She noticed and pretended not to, she knew what was coming.
        “That's a switch! Two hours ago you were yelling at them. Now they're angels.” She studied his reaction to her teasing.
        She noted the gray hair, the creases that lined his familiar face, the slight rounding of the shoulders that marked him as an older man. But his green eyes sparkled.
        He merely replied, “Two hours ago was a different world.” He lapsed into a reverie, lost in his thoughts for a moment.
        She noticed that he was beaming. The fatigue that she had seen so much lately was receding, and the brightness was back in his green eyes. Joanna decided to hold her tongue and leaned further over her sewing, yet another tear in her older son’s breeches. She insisted on repairing them. She took pride in craft skills.
        Suddenly, he leapt to his feet. She concentrated harder on the stitches, her head bent low over her work, her dark hair loose enough to fall forward and conceal the worry
        “Listen! Ah heard something fantastic today! They've almost got her repaired!” he spoke excitedly, his southern drawl heavy when he was excited.
        “Her?” she pretended that she hadn't heard about it, that bombshell her neighbors had verbally handed her this morning as she left for work.
        “The ship! The Enterprise! They've fixed her up and pulled in the same command crew, too. Damn! Those were good people! They deserve it!”” he waited for her reaction but his excitement was not to be quenched by her pretended disinterest.
        “'Course, we'll have a lot of new recruits, too.” She still made no answer, so he continued, switching tactics, justifying what he was going to say.
        “You all know, ah belong in space. Here, ah'm just another old grandfather, vegetating away like a rotting carcass. Useless. Worse than useless.” Worse yet, he believed it.
        “The kids have interests with your neighbor’s offspring. They don’t need an old man around their neck.”
        “Old is right,” she mumbled. Oh God! I shouldn't have said that! Seeing his astonished expression, she hastily added, “I'm sorry. It's just that this is your home. This is where you belong.” Joanna was bitterly defending the status quo. It had felt so comfortable having him here. A live-in baby-sitter, a male role model for fatherless boys, someone to complain to at the end of a difficult day. That’s what retired parents were for, wasn’t it?
        He persisted in his arguments against just that.
        She countered, trying to be persuasive.
        “I know that it has been hard lately...but surely you could find something to do here...on the station?” She knew that she couldn't win but she had to try. “You couldn't go back as the Chief Medical Officer anyway, not at your age, ...not in your condition.” The latter was added more softly. The leg had been saved, just barely. It still hurt him; it still slowed him down. They had both de-emphasized it over the past two years.
        McCoy pulled out a yellow sheet, crumpled from riding all day in a side pocket. He waved it at her in defiance.
        “They offered me a consultancy during the remaining reconstruction...to give mah leg time to finish healin' ... and will recommission me as Chief Medical officer! Not bad for my age,...or,” patting his leg, “My condition. Eh?”
        He had won, of course. There wasn’t really any contest. Their offer was more than she had thought he’d ever receive. He wasn’t likely to turn it down.
        Joanna bit her lip to keep the tears back. Damn! I swore that I wouldn't cry! She faced him with her affection showing clearly on her face.
        “It's just that, this time, you might not come back. The boys and I, well, we’re your family. What if something happens out there?”
        “It's better than slow death here! Oh, Joanna!” he shook his head. “It's not that ah'm not fond of you and the children, ah love you all. You are my family. But you are not my life! It's just not how ah want to live! Ah was in space too long, saw too much, to settle down and be idle. Ah know that there's more to see! ... More to do!”
        “We had two more years to finish our active duty... I wasn’t ready to be finished, washed out just because somebody got his or her feathers rumpled. Please understand... Please?” She sensed that what he was asking for was her blessing.
        “Don't make this hard on both of us,” he persisted.
        She watched him carefully for a few minutes, noting the dramatic changes in her father. He seemed younger, standing straighter, more animated than he had been for these past two months, she now realized. She also knew that she had lost, and, more importantly, she knew that she had no right to win.
        Giving in with sigh she told him, “I knew that this was coming. Ever since the rumors about the ship began I knew that it was just a matter of time. I only wanted you to be sure you knew what you are getting into.”
        She smiled, “Dad, your valise is in the hall, already partially packed. There's a fresh uniform in your closet.”
        “What!” he was totally surprised.
        “I said...”
        “Ah heard you.” He looked at his daughter with a new respect.
        “We'll be proud of you,” she added.
        “Thank you, daughter. Ah'll remember that.” He turned to go and finish the packing.
        Later that same night, through tear-filled eyes, she stood watching him stride proudly off to the air car, noticing with a smile that his limp was fast improving even as he walked away. It was already not one half so bad as she had become to accustomed to see it of late.
        Dr. “Bones” McCoy turned and waved good bye, “Grandpa” was no longer visible.
       
        RECORDS LOG ENTRY: 4-7703.11H. Federation scout Seaview has been reported lost. DEMOTH schedule has been approved. Discretionary measures as required to meet schedule approved by Star Base Central. Recruiting underway.