Chapter Text
“Welcome to Enterprise Day Care!”
Leonard looked over the head of his three year old daughter, to be greeted by a woman with wild red hair. She smiled brightly up from her seat at the reception desk, the words ‘Enterprise 1701’ written in blocky lettering across the front.
“Hello there,” Leo switched JoJo into his other arm as he leaned her against his hip. Clutching his neck tightly, he could tell the change of atmosphere, didn’t make his daughter any less anxious of him leaving her for the day.
This was their fifth daycare in a month. Joanna, simply put, wouldn’t stay at any of the others. She had always found ways to to sneak out, cause trouble, or plain cry the entire time she was there. Leonard was feeling guilty, leaving his JoJo as it was, but this was plain maddening. He prayed somehow this place would stick.
“Hey there sweetie, I’m Gaila,” the red headed woman placed her attention to the little curled up bundle in Leo’s arms. Peaking one eye out from her hiding place, Joanna just stared. That was a good sign in Leonard’s eyes. Meant she was giving the charming woman a chance.
“My name is Leonard McCoy, I believe we may have talked last friday about starting JoJo here today.”
“Ah yes, I remember now!” Gaila responded cheerfully, never letting her gentle gaze leave Jo. Leonard liked this one. Coming around the desk, she stood closer to the child now, letting the little girl size her up and down. Smart woman and good with kids, this was looking more promising by the second.
“JoJo here, well she hasn’t really been taking it well that I’ve been have to leave her in the care of others,” Leo squeezed Jo in apology and kissed the crown of her head. Joanna never dropped her full gaze from Gaila.
“Her mother isn’t in the picture either if I remember correctly?” Gaila was now leaning her face closer to Joanna, which to Leo’s surprise, Jo wasn’t backing away from.
“No her mother,” Leo trailed off as he looked up from Gaila cooing at the bundle of limbs in his arms, looking straight into a pair of eyes, that would be forever burned into his soul. The man smiled as he noticed Leo staring, and began to walk over. Flustered momentarily, Leo shifted Jo quickly, which caused her to drop her favorite doll in the process. Letting out a shrill screech, Joanna began to cry as she began to try to claw her way out of Leo’s clambering arms.
Suddenly the doll was back in Joanna’s hands, ceasing the crying almost immediately, as the man smiled down at Leo’s little girl.
“It’s okay sweet pea, I got your doll back to you safe and sound,” lightly patting her hand, Joanna beamed back at him wholeheartedly.
Still floundering over his own tongue, Leo couldn’t quite comprehend how the younger man had been able to calm JoJo so easily in mere moments. Usually when Leo gave JoJo back her dolls after they fall, he nearly needs to pamper for a full thirty minutes before she’s calm again. He must remember to ask the blue eyed man how he does that.
“Oh thanks Jim,” Gaila muttered as she patted his shoulder, smiling at the dissolved situation. Jim, that was his name. Somehow it fit him perfectly. It felt right in Leonard’s mouth.
“Oh Gaila, you must introduce me to this lovely little girl, her smile is enchanting me.” Jim winked at JoJo as she began to giggle, the first noise she had made besides the stomach churning scream moments ago.
“Jim, this is Joanna,” Gaila grandly said, clearly playing along with Jim’s antics. Jim bowed in front of Leo and Jo, making his daughter break out into another fit of giggles, nearly dropping her doll again as she clapped. Jim was there to catch it though, securing it under JoJo’s arm.
“and this is her father, Leonard McCoy. The new head neurosurgeon at the hospital the next town over.” Gaila, who must have remembered this from their conversation nearly four days ago, smiled wickedly at Jim, in a way that Leo didn’t fully understand.
“Leo for short, you can just call me Leo,” Jim looked up into his eyes then, and the bright blue irises danced in the light of the lobby. It was entrancing.
“Leo.” Jim curled his tongue around the word, and something in the pit of Leonard’s stomach flipped. They stared at each other like that for who knew how long, until they heard a slightly cough, breaking whatever was happening in an instant.
“Jim, why don’t you show the McCoy’s the facilities, while I get some paperwork ready for them, huh?” Gaila raised a perfect eyebrow in deliberate questioning as Jim chuckled and nodded along with the woman’s words.
“Right, right, how silly of me. If you would just follow me Leo, I can show you around on our tour.” Jim grinned brightly again, in that way that Leo could feel would cause trouble for his heart. Just nodding to the guy, Leo followed him out of the main lobby, a smirking Gaila waving behind them. She was definitely up to something, he could feel it in his bones.
xxxxxx
“So where does the name Enterprise 1701 come from?” Leo was staring to the man at his right, as he got shown countless play rooms and a large courtyard filled with children running and playing. A young man, who must barely be out of high school, waved eagerly at Jim as he passed. His curly hair falling in his face, as he acted like a human jungle jim to the older kids there. Jim waved back as some of the kids began to yell to him, he just chuckled at them all, smiling so bright it could match the beaming sun on the clear day. Clearly Jim was well liked here.
“Hah, yeah a lot of people ask about that one. Well as you might know Starfleet, our mother company, has been around for thirty odd years now.” Jim looked back over his shoulder and saw Leo’s blank stare, smiling even brighter.
“I guess not then, thats okay. Well Starfleet, who specializes in the care of families in NASA and other space programs, began this entire operation in San Francisco. It was originally just one daycare for the families of the workers stationed there. Soon it thrived and they created more. Now, every single town that has a Starfleet base, has at least one of our daycares.” Jim was waving his hands around at different memorabilia hanging on the walls, looking more excited the more the talked. It was endearing to the older man. Leo appreciated a man that enjoyed his job, and the lives it touched.
“Where do the names come in?” Leo asked as he looked at a particular photo on the wall of Jim, and who he would assume to be a higher up runner of the daycare, smiling together in front of the main sign out front. Jim looks even younger in the aged framed photo. A arm was wrapped around the older man, who was smiling just as happily. Clearly they were close, even from just a moments glance at a photo.
“Oh well those get picked by the head caregiver. I held a poll for all of our employees to which names everyone liked best, and Enterprise won.” Shrugging, Jim passed off the knowledge as something not as important as it was. Leo knew he was secretly hiding something, but he didn’t press the subject.
Continuing down the hallway, they finally ended the tour in a smaller room, with what seemed to be kids around JoJo’s age. A woman with dark raven hair pinned up in a messy bun and cocoa skin, was currently sitting in the middle of the floor singing to the kids. Her voice echoed beautifully off the walls of the room, a compliment to the soft music coming from the corner of the room, where a dark haired man sat playing what looked to be a small harp. They seemed to be in perfect sync with each other, even with the new intrusion of their group. Jim simply smiled at the scene, looking back at Leo with expectant eyes.
“Do you think Joanna would be okay to leave in the care of Uhura? She’s really great with the really little kids, but we can of course take her into my office while you sign some more paperwork.” Jim whispered, as he leaned closer to Leo. Ignoring the slight shiver running up his spine at the close encounter, Leo just bit his lip as he looked at his daughter. JoJo to his surprise was nodding her head slightly to the music, a clear indication that she liked what she was seeing.
Putting her down closer to the circle, Jim and Leo stood back to watch for a few minutes, until they were certain Jo would be okay. Leo felt a weight being lifted at last, as he watched Jo crawl closer to the group, Uhura smiling at her as she continued her song. Looking up she winked at Jim, as Jim crossed his arms smiling back.
xxxxxx
“You know Jim, I must say how thrown for a loop I am by this place. Hell, Jo isn’t usually a picky kid, but I’ve had the hardest time trying to get her to stay at a Daycare. This place looks promising.” Leo sighed, as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. The past few months really had been hell on the doctor. After Jocelyn left with Clay, Joanna had been a roller coster of emotions. One moment she seemed to never have known her mother was missing, the next its like the entire world was crashing around her. It was nearly killing him from the inside out.
“Well I’m glad to hear so Bones!” Jim was shuffling papers on his desk, he assumed Gaila must have dropped off while they were still touring the grounds.
“Bones?” Leo raised a questioning eyebrow, confused by the sudden nickname.
“Oh I’m sorry,” flustered Jim looked up realizing what he had suddenly said. “I can stop calling you that, I just thought it was fitting because of the whole ‘sawbones’ thing, you being a doctor and all..” trailing off, Jim looked back at the papers in his hands, a clear flush of color on his cheeks. Leo smirked to himself, being able to get this man so riled up.
“It’s alright Kid, I don’t mind nicknames, just didn’t realize we were at that stage yet,” Leo smiled as he sat back in his chair, enjoying the view of this flustered man. Raising an eyebrow of his own, Jim looked at Leo in question.
“Kid?” Jim drawled out, an evident slight accent to his tongue.
“Yeah, Kid. You look barely old enough to graduate College, yet alone run an entire DayCare Center.” Leo chuckled at Jim’s aghast face.
“I’m twenty-seven.” Jim furrowed his brows together. If Leo wasn’t having so much fun, he would almost worry about actually offending the guy.
“Well you ain’t looking the part,” Leo finally let out a laugh, that seemed to calm Jim down a peg, as a smile crept on his face as well.
“Yeah well.. I still do get carded every bar I ever go to.. Can be a damn nuisance sometimes.” Jim cockily smiled at him and Leo just shook his head.
“Maybe if you went out with someone a little older, people wouldn’t think you were still a teenager.” Feeling bolder by the minute, Leo let his own grin encompass his face completely. Jim squinted at him slightly, taking a seat on the corner of his desk facing the older man.
“ Is that a proposition to a night out Bones?” Jim leaned forward slightly, letting his hand rub up and down his thigh. Leo couldn’t help from licking his bottom lip slightly.
“Is it allowed for you to go out with the parents of the children here?” Leo breathed out, not being able to look away from those piercing eyes once more.
“Well Bones, let me tell you that I am very good at finding loop holes to policies I might not agree with.” Jim got up and began scratching a pen across paper. Holding it out, Leo noticed a phone number scrawled across it. “I might just know of a loophole I would love to jump through.”
Leo knew this man was trouble from the moment he saw him, he just couldn’t help being sucked into the world that was Jim’s taking. Leo never was one to say no to love.