Leonard McCoy (Star Trek AOS)

Damn it, Jim, why'd ya have to go and challenge me to answer this damn thing?

( Behind the cut because I'm not sharing this with all the world )

Things had been busy on the Enterprise-D.

Morgan and Tonia had returned from the Shore Leave on Risa married, so the senior staff had thrown them a reception. Then, of course, because nothing could ever go uninterrupted on a ship by the name of Enterprise, they had been called to help a ship that had been attacked before the night was through. After helping the ship back to its home planet, they had then assisted with an outbreak in a nearby sector.

The ship was now heading back to Deep Space Nine. Leonard and Jim had both gotten the day off, but unfortunately Athena hadn't been able to since she was in the middle of a project. Leonard had suggested delaying his day off for a time when Athena could join them; however, she told them to have some fun with Jaime. Leonard had relented...while hoping that maybe she'd be able to duck out of her shift early to join them.

It was gonna be nice to spend time with Jim, though.

They'd decided to have a picnic with Jaime on the holodeck. She wanted to bring her stuffed animals, of course, so they'd turned it into a Teddy Bears' picnic. Leonard had set up the program - he'd actually gotten quite good at working with the computer on that sort of thing - and then he brought her stuffed animals down and set them up so they would be waiting when they arrived. The setting was perfect. It was a clearing in a forest with tall trees and sunlight peaking through.

Once everything was ready, he went back to their quarters to find Jim and Jaime.

"You two ready?" he asked with a grin.

It had been a hellish few months for the Enterprise crew, and Leonard was ready to climb the walls of Sickbay. Mission after mission with no break was wearing on all of them, so of course, people ended up coming to him with anxiety, exhaustion and any number of stress-related maladies.

So when the ship discovered a beautiful planet in the Omicron Delta system with a temperate climate and lakes, it seemed that they were finally in for a break. It seemed so promising, in fact, that Leonard actually volunteered to be part of the away mission to survey the planet and make sure that it was in fact safe for the shore leave for the rest of the crew.

God, he hoped that it was. They needed this.

As the away team gathered in the transporter room, Leonard looked over at Tonia, who was going down with them as part of security. He gave her a smile as they took their places on the transporter pads to beam down.

"Lookin' forward to this?" he asked, hoping even more that this planet turned out to be a good place because maybe then he could spend some time with her.

Happy Birthday to my favorite admiral.

It had been just over a month since Leonard's father had died. Having Katie and Joanna there had done more than he could even say to help him deal with the grief of his passing. Together, they were truly a family, and they were able to get through the difficult time surrounding the funeral together.

They had decided to find a new home both to start the next chapter of their lives together and to provide more room for their soon to be growing family. His father's home had been just that - his. Not theirs, and Leonard wanted them to have something that both of them had chosen. It hadn't taken them long to find a great house on the outskirts of Savannah with several bedrooms and a large yard. It would be perfect for all of them. All four of them.

Once they had moved from his father's house into the new house and Katie had finished her semester at Mercer, they had turned their attention to getting married. They had decided that they wanted to go somewhere to do so, so after some discussion, they had decided to go to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. They'd found a villa overlooking the sea to stay at and made arrangements to get married on the beach.

It was going to be wonderful.

When they arrived in Santo Domingo, Joanna was jumping around in excitement, wanting to know how long they had to wait before the wedding. They'd bought her a new dress before they'd left Savannah, and she was looking forward to wearing it. Leonard laughed, taking Katie's hand as they headed from the transport station out to find out a taxi to take them to their villa.

"Sometimes, I think she's more excited than we are about this," he told her. "And I know I'm pretty damn excited."

Happy birthday to my favorite girl.

As Leonard drove into Yosemite National Park, he looked over at Katie and gave her a smile before reaching over to touch her hand. He really hoped their long weekend away went well. After everything that she had been through, she deserved some times away from everything. He knew how hard things had been on her and how scared she was that things would never be normal for her again. He at least wanted to attempt to give her something nice.

Especially since they were still waiting on news about where she was going to be assigned. If those at Starfleet Command had any brains, it would be the Enterprise. She was the best at what she did - she deserved to be on the ship.

If not...well, they'd figure that out together.

"There're the Falls," he said, turning down a road toward the Lodge where they would be staying. "It's really beautiful out here."

It didn't take them long to reach the lodge, nestled in a secluded area. Leonard had picked it because of that, not only so they could have some privacy, but also because he knew the other hotels on the grounds were much busier. Once they were parked outside, Leonard got their bags from the back before holding out his hand to Katie.

"Shall we?"