Speak To Me

Cosmopolitan?

[entrjocelyn]

Flashback ( 1/?) - McJoce

[entrjocelyn]

Ah, the tiredness radiated off of both of them in waves, but Joce couldn’t have looked better. He couldn’t get enough of seeing her like this. Messy haired, comfortable clothes - best of all, smiling easily at him. It took awhile for her to lower defenses like this around him, and Leo felt so damn privileged.  “Ah, I see what this is,” he said, seeing the books go away. He looked at her, knowingly - she wanted a distraction from something, and Leonard knew he was it. Hell, he didn’t mind.  “Well, I gotta get a good look at it, first,” he smiled, “You know, completely ‘practical’ as you say, Ms. Jocelyn,” he said, leaning in, before surprising her by pulling her playfully onto his lap. “It’s in the throat, actually.” He leaned back heavily into the coach, looking up at her, enjoying having his hands on her hips, her thighs on either side of his, getting a good view.  “Tell me something in that gibberish of yours, and I will give ya a diagnosis. How’s that for studyin’?”

Jocelyn laughed in surprise, the barely contained giggles finally spilling over as she fell into his lap. Placing her hands on each of his shoulders she braced herself against him and cocked her head, her hair now falling across her face.

“I happen to have quite a nice throat.” She informed him. “Not at all like the gory ones in your books.” She tossed her head to get the hair from her face. He could read her like a book. And distraction was exactly what she wanted. 

 “Now that,” she paused for effect, “sounds like an effective study method.” She thought for a moment, chewing on several phrases while enjoying the firmness of his hands on her hips, his eyes pouring over her. 

“Yaasari farakall mek-McCoy.” She smiled and it reached her eyes. 

[entrjocelyn]

Flashback ( 1/?) - McJoce

[entrjocelyn]

She plopped next to him, her cleanly smell hitting him in the face pleasantly. Better then a cup of coffee, really, being very aware how close she was to him, and how well he behaved when she reached over him for his book, red hair in his face and body stretched over his thighs. Behave Leonard. He took a deep breathe to do just that. “Hm, this is probably nothin’,” he murmered, taking her book, amused. The perpetual line between his brow only deepened when he got a look at it. No part of this book was in Joce’s native tongue. It would be like Leonard studying his surgeon’s manual in German. This was a new kind of torture.  “Ah,” he said with clarity, as if he wasn’t looking at entire page of gibberish. “…did a cat sit on a keyboard, or is this a language?”  He cocked a brow at her and the thyroid comment, a light flickering in his eyes amused. “Well let’s hope you have a thyroid of some kind. Makes life kinda hard without it, as beautiful as the organ is,” he snorted, turning toward her on the couch.  “Want me to check it out for ya? Make sure you don’t have psuedohypothyroidism?” he grinned with tired eyes. “Could be deadly.” 

“I’m convinced it’s some sort of sick joke.” Jocelyn rolled her eyes and pushed her glasses up onto the top of her head. She wanted, very badly, to smooth the ruffled curls atop his head. But with great effort she kept her hands to herself. 

“Deadly you say?” Jocelyn raised a single eyebrow in an impressive arch. 

“Well, being a practical woman, I wouldn’t mess around with such things.” She couldn’t help the smile that once more pulled at the corners of her mouth. Closing his textbook without much ceremony, she pushed it out of the way. Reaching into his lap to remove her textbook as well. 

“And where, pray tell, is the thyroid?” 

[entrjocelyn]

Flashback ( 1/?) - McJoce

Jocelyn dropped the book open on her face and groaned loudly. “This is pointless! If I haven’t learned it by now I never will!” She rolled onto her stomach letting the book crash onto the floor. Looking at the man across the room she squinted and scrounged for her glasses. “Are you still studying? What even are you?” 

[entrmccoy]

It was a hard battle, it really was, figuring out how to study with Joce. Nah, not because she was a bad study partner, but hell, they are good at distracting each other. However, three hours had gone by, and eyeballs deep in the surgeon’s manual, Bones had actually forgotten he was still here.  “A doctor. Maybe. Someday. If not a mental patient first.”  He lowered the 6 inch thick brick of a book, with frazzled hair and slightly red eyes. He took off his reading glasses, the ones his mother gave him, and took in his very gorgeous, messy haired red head.  He beckoned his fingers at her lazily. “All the thyroids are starting to look the same, which can’t be a good sign. C’mere and let’s get a look at that book.” 

[entrjocelyn]

Jocelyn laughed, as much at his appearance at his request. Snatching her glasses off the table and shoving them up her nose she scooped the book up with her free hand. Stepping around the coffee table she traipsed towards his beckoning hand and placed the book on the table. Her lips quirked silently as she opened it, the Haliian characters scrawled across the page in vertical lines. “Be my guest.” She barely kept the laughter out of her voice. 

Reaching across him she helped herself to his textbook and wrinkled her nose at the picture she faced. “If that’s a thyroid, I hope I don’t have one.” 

[entrjocelyn]

Flashback ( 1/?) - McJoce

Jocelyn dropped the book open on her face and groaned loudly. “This is pointless! If I haven’t learned it by now I never will!” She rolled onto her stomach letting the book crash onto the floor. Looking at the man across the room she squinted and scrounged for her glasses. “Are you still studying? What even are you?” 

[entrjocelyn]

The Storm - Jocelyn and Bones

[entrmccoy]

Jocelyn’s presence always did this to him, in one way or another. He might have hated it, if he wasn’t such a masochist about it. Those eyes of hers had a way of pinning him. God, but why now?  Leonard thought of that boyfriend of her’s. Words from his kid, that were just ghosts that would follow them until he could confirm it.  His scowl deepened on his face, the internal turmoil kept together with misplaced bitterness and age old feelings. He laughed grumpily at the words sunshine and bridge used in the same sentence. "Reminds me of American Football stadiums, that bridge of yours. All bright blue light. I dunno how you guys stand it. It’s less lit in Sickbay, and this place is painted white," he said grumpily, relieved she catered to his cruddy starter of a conversation. To talk about something else - anything else.

37.11 C. She was healthy al’right, but he knew that already. He could gauge Joce’s health from a satellite in space, honestly. The ivory white of her legs, the blush on her cheeks- he knew she was fine. He did her charts for three years as an intern doctor, and heck, she was the most interesting thing to happen to him in Med School.  "I will come up with somethin’.." he shook his head, thinking of Jo, "We got some painless hypo’s. I don’t use ‘em on patients often, since literally this is a military, and dermal phase shots aren’t exactly needed unless you are race that doesn’t have skin." His eyes dropped to look at her without thinking, and he noticed her eyes linger on his hand, and he wondered what she was thinking. He felt struck in the chest by it - because if he didn’t know better, it looked like want. Nah, she just wanted to know her temp.  ”..Yanno, I ain’t gonna bite. You want to see your reading?” he asked, turning over his hand with the sensor, where her eyes seemed to linger. He held the sensor between them, like a secret, close enough for them both to read.  "See, you ain’t got the plague," he offered, his eyes halting on her left wrist Fixated on it - the source of his anguish. His breath hitched. 

[entrjocelyn]

"Bright doesn't mean warm." Jocelyn replied quietly, almost as if she didn't like the statement she was making. "I don't know how you stand the whiteness of it all. It's so....sterile." She wrinkled her nose like a rabbit, a habit her daughter had picked up. 

Jocelyn laughed, "You'd better have stickers and lollipops on hand, as well as Jude." Jocelyn raised an eyebrow at the military comment. "I always seem to forget that part," She commented quietly. But pondering exactly why that was, was business for another day. 

She almost made a comment about biting, but stopped herself before the thought could fully form. She wanted to banter with him, to tease and snark as if there was nothing strange about it. But she wouldn't. She absolutely couldn't, not just because it would have been strange, but because she was scared to. 

Knowing the readout barely required a glance. She knew when she was healthy and she knew when she was sick. She'd been sick enough times that she knew exactly what it felt like. 

"What a comfort," she quipped back, a smile starting to form before she noticed his gaze. Mistakenly, she thought his focus was on the lack of ring on that hand. She'd long ago noticed that he too lacked the matching band on his hand. She curled her slim fingers into a tight ball, knuckles going white as she clenched the fist.

Uncurling them slowly she didn't look up at him until she had swallowed the pain, feeling it land like a rock in her stomach. If she was sick, it wasn't physical, it was mental. 

Letting him continue his work, Jocelyn began to speak again. Her mind was a mess but she hadn't forgotten the curiosity that had driven her there in the first place. "Jo was awfully quiet after the crayon incident." She managed to sound relatively normal. "Usually she'd be full of excuses all night long. Instead she brushed her teeth and went to bed. It was strange." 

[entrjocelyn]

The Storm - Jocelyn and Bones

[entrmccoy]

Adorable animal shapes? He couldn’t help but snort at that one. He would keep that in mind.  He was going to get his answers, and he was still unsure if he was crazy for wanting to know ‘em at all. But just as easily as she stood up and straightened her dress, Leonard stood along with her. He felt that old sickness return to his bones, being so close to his answers. He couldn’t live without knowing, he realized, too hurt to do otherwise.  The hallows in his eyes and his five o’ clock shadow where apparent in the white light of the examination office. He pulled on his lap coat and reading tricorder over his shoulder, taking a frustrated moment to himself before he followed after Jocelyn. He realized he was being difficult, hard to read - which is how he wanted it really. He couldn’t confront Joce until he was certain—  "Thanks. And you don’t waste my time, by the way," he said without thinking, truly apologetic. He glanced at her from beneath a heavy brow, feeling steely despite his best intentions.

"Just. I got a lot on my mind," he didn’t volunteer much, compiling his tricorder data, he lifted the sensor as she settled on the examination table. He could smell her perfume from where he stood, see the sheen of her hair, and Leonard really was bad at acting coy. If she touched his neck, she could feel his heart beat in his throat.  "You missin’ the earth weather?" He asked vaguely, taking her temperature. He lifted the sensor to her forehead, not looking her in the eye. 

[entrjocelyn]

She left the office and slowed her pace so that she was nearly in step with him. The sight of his lab coat was a familiar one, and not one often seen on the Enterprise. She wasn't sure what it meant, but it brought a rush of nostalgia rushing to her chest, and the thought of the time she'd nearly ruined one when she'd put it in the laundry with a red sweater.

She smiled softly and bowed her head in acknowledgement. She opened her mouth, a thank you on the tip of her tongue, but the words died before she spoke them, and she instead simply lowered her eyes, not able to reply. 

Lifting herself onto the exam table she crossed her ankles as if she were seated for tea, the movement simply automatic. She watched him silently, every movement he made seemed as automatic as her own delicate positioning. She couldn't tear her eyes away, despite the fact that she knew she was staring. Somehow she wanted to memorize every inch of him, as if he might disappear the next time she blinked. 

"Only the sunshine." She replied without thought. "It can be sweltering on the bridge and it's still not the same kind of warmth you get when you're burning to a crisp on a sunny day." Jocelyn tried to catch his eye, every attempt failing. She didn't want to talk about weather, but if it was what it took to get him to talk, she'd spend hours debating the humidity of a summer's day.

The tri-corder hovered above her skin and her eyes glanced upwards, his hand just visible in her peripheral vision. She had the sudden impulse to reach up and grab it. To what end she didn't know, she just wanted to touch it, to confirm it was real. 

"Does Jo need to come in? She isn't exactly crew, and you'll have a tantrum on your hands if she thinks it's a doctors appointment. Vaccinations back home didn't exactly go well." Jocelyn's voice was light, but her eyes didn't match.

[entrlaurent]

"Actually, ma’am, I quite enjoy my job, especially if I can be of use. It is always good to be useful, you know?"  He looked up at her, smiling bashfully. She was very kind.  "You speak quite well, ma’am. You must be very useful, being a translator and all?"

[entrjocelyn]

  "Much less so then you might think." She admitted with a laugh. The poor man seemed almost shy, and she couldn't imagine him interrogating anyone if an interview was such a bashful occasion. 

"Don't get me wrong, please. I love this ship and the crew, but they aren't exactly what you might expect." She found her expansive vocabulary came up short when it came to describing the Enterprise.

[entrkiara-blog]

"Soil science is a fascinating and rewarding field. Perhaps you should encourage it."

[entrjocelyn]

  "If it was science, I would encourage it. As it is, she mostly just hoards things that are capable of making messes. It's kind of like her own private cache of weapons of mass filth. 

[entrlaurent]

"I have to interview everyone on the Enterprise, so I am afraid I can’t help pulling you out of your shift, sir/ma’am." 

[entrjocelyn]

"Don't apologize, I can only imagine this isn't a pleasant job. Only half the people on this ship speak in complete sentences." 

[entrkiara-blog]

"Today has been a good day. A small child gave me a rock that turned out to have numerous fascinating properties."

[entrjocelyn]

"If Joanna's thinning out her collection then today really is a good day. I'm going to throw that sock full of rocks and dirt from my garden away as soon as she forgets it exists. I don't know why any child would bring a sock full of dirt on a ship." 

[entrjocelyn]

The Storm - Jocelyn and Bones

[entrmccoy]

"Actually you caught me at a bad ti—" —And she sat down… well, shit. Too late. He exhaled in frustration.  Alright Leonard, you gotta do better than that. Jocelyn was a sly one, he knew, but he didn’t expect she would corner him in his office like this. He sighed, a deep exhale from his nose and gave up on ignoring her. He sat down his tricorder to lean back and give the Treadway— Jocelyn— the full attention she so politely demanded. She might as well have plucked the machine out of his hand, Leonard knowing when she meant business, and this was one of those times.  He was being polite, sure, in the most ass-way possible, but Leonard claimed to be a doctor, not negotiator dammit. And, hey, she was the one chasing him, wasn’t she? Whadda turn of events, and heck, it might’a even been nice two years ago— Jocelyn chasing after him for once. Hell, it was nice now— Leonard was forced to admit— seeing Jocelyn sit in front of him even under shitty circumstances. He hated how calm she looked, catching the subtle flickers of danger in her feminine lines. He knew better than to trust this facade. Leonard was never good at this ‘playing nice while being pissed to hell’ thing, but Joce had it down to a damn art.

"Yanno, you might be surprised how similar Jim and Jo are," he wilted against the back of his seat, tired, but his willingness to divert legendary. "He’s about the same as a five year old when it comes to controlling his diet. If you got any tips, I am all ears." Leonard had to keep diverting if this was going to work. He couldn’t lie to save his breath, especially to Jocelyn. He had to think on his feet.. feeling the crippling anger coil in his gut when he thought of Jo— and what they talked about the other night, still red hot in his memory.  His eyes hardened on Joce, refusing to visually wilt under her stare, despite how fucking well it was working on his insides.  "…Jocelyn, why don’t we kill two birds with one stone and get your PE outta the way? You haven’t seen Doctor Ava yet and it’s not like i’m not busy and can just sit and talk." Leonard frowned, feeling like his wording was cold. And it was. He hated it. He softened, wanting her to come half way with him here. He wanted answers. Needed them.  "Please?"

[entrjocelyn]

He set his work down, and she relaxed a bit, there was some sort of safety in knowing that she at least still deserved his attention. As she watched God, he was mad at her, that was it. She was certain she'd hit the nail on the head. But why? Jocelyn couldn't help wondering, what the hell had she done now? Or was this just the anger she'd deserved all along finally appearing? 

His face shifted and she struggled with the fact that despite feeling as if she understood him, she was completely in the dark as to what haunted him in this moment. The anger wasn't constant, and she couldn't return any sort of menace where none was offered in the first place. 

"Cut the food into adorable animal shapes." She quipped back with a half smile. "Or if that doesn't work, put him in time out." Jocelyn couldn't help rolling her eyes with a good natured laugh. 

And just like that, his casual demeanor was gone, his eyes boring into her. This was Leonard she barely ever saw, and she had come here to find why he had emerged, but he seemed more than reluctant to share.

Jocelyn cocked her head, it was a strange proposal, and hardly a friendly one, but if it bought her time to talk, she'd accept it.  She paused, opened her mouth, shut it, and peered at him as if she was uncertain as to who he was. It was the please that got her. The softness of his voice was in such contrast with the harsh dismissal of her presence. 

"Alright. Fine." She stood quietly and straightened her dress. "I wouldn't want to waste your time." She returned the cold words, but couldn't manage to put it into her tone, and the words came out more apologetic than anything. 

[bookloverevealed]

I didn’t need to search the world for a positive female role model….

I already had one

[itisnaptime]

Click to embiggen and see the text. Tumblr ruined the quality/shape.

[entrjocelyn]

[entrjocelyn]

The Storm - Jocelyn and Bones

[entrmccoy]

So they were docked. Which meant no one was walkin’ into Medbay unless they managed to trip on somethin’ or too hungover to work, and frankly the slowness was nice. Ava had a brilliant idea to catch up on check ups, which wasn’t nearly as exciting as the research he had hoped to drown himself in, but hey - it kept him busy, and off the bottle. To be honest, Leonard didn’t need a minute alone these days. Right now, he was eyeballin’ Lieutenant Gypton’s biopsy, which wasn’t exactly a cake walk, since the alien’s chemical make had more in common with Leonard’s sack lunch then a terran. He knew Jocelyn was comin’ to see him a some point, he felt it weigh on his heart and occupy his thoughts. Exact’y why he was keepin’ busy, and avoiding babysitting duty. He had to turn in Halloween plans, able to justify it with the ship’s landing. Leonard asked Jocelyn drop off Joanna at med-bay when he did have her, just so he had an excuse not to dawdle, and here he was - caught with his pants down - because one of his deck nurse’s decided an A Class Translator needed to be in his office without a reason.  Jocelyn— “Lieutenant Treadway,” he steeled, his voice light, like it didn’t taste like grit in his teeth when he said it. God, it sounded weird, but he didn’t want to do this. Give him another week (—a not dry week dammit—), and maybe he could deal with this.  "I am between appointments.. what can I do for you?" 

[entrjocelyn]

Jocelyn blinked and then rolled her eyes. Whatever this was, was clearly still upsetting him. She found the use of her title childish, not that her rolling her eyes was any less so. She took two steps further into his office and allowed the door to close behind her. "Glad I'm not interrupting anything." She marveled at his ability to astound her. At least she usually knew what she had done. 

"You know that nonsense isn't necessary and it does nothing but make us both uncomfortable" She dropped her small frame into the chair opposite his and crossed her legs with a relaxed laziness. She was hardly as nonchalant as she seemed, her eyes were trained on his face, waiting for any hint as to what had brought this about.

 "Joanna's with Sulu. When I left they were discussing the merits of consuming vegetation versus simply growing it." She laughed to herself without meaning to. "I think she likes vegetables less than Kirk does." 

Her manicured fingertips tapped an idle pattern on the handle of the chair. Everything about this situation felt off but she had not an inkling to go on. A moment of silence passed and it was clear they were both lost in their own thoughts. 

Jocelyn sighed as he worked on. ".....I can wait until I have your full attention." She prodded gently. 

[entrjocelyn]

The Storm - Jocelyn and Bones

As she slipped out the rec room door Jocelyn could hear that Joanna was loudly informing Sulu that she like plants, but not eating vegetables. She'd been strangely quiet the last night, although all hints of that seemed gone this morning. A smile traced her lips and she shook her head as she walked. That girl was trouble, but she wouldn't have had it any other way. The thought of trouble turned her mind turned to the events of the previous night. 

The crayon was long gone from the walls, and although she wasn't sure of the state of Leonard's scrubs she was certain he had removed worse from them before. He had been far too upset for the childish vandalism to have been the cause. Not to mention the emotions had not been the type he was willing to share, not simple frustration, but something much different. 

These thoughts carried Jocelyn towards the Med Bay. She could not fathom what would upset him so deeply when Joanna was fine, the crew was fine, hell, even Jim had been fairly well behaved as of late. The doors sliding open with a gentle hiss gave away her presence and a young cadet greeted her with a friendly smile. "Dr. McCoy?" She inquired, as her eyes swept the carefully kept room. The damage from the Gorn was long gone, no hint of the catastrophe visible in the gleaming sterile walls. 

"Just in one of the exam rooms." came the reply. She smiled and nodded a silent thanks. Off duty that morning she wasn't wearing her characteristic heels and although she detested her short stature she was thankful for her ability to approach silently without their click on the cold floor. Knocking on the door frame as she entered she gave him a chance to acknowledge her presence.

"Any chance you'd have a minute?" 

[entrmccoy]

Leonard, somewhere along the line, forgot that this was temporary, and looked up with just as much surprise as his little girl. Leonard felt his heart jump right up into his throat when he saw Jocelyn— gah, it was always a surprise seeing her. That gorgeous red hair and intelligent eyes sharp enough to fillet better men than himself — not so different from when they were kids.  He dropped his eyes to her delicate wrists, a subconscious action. Anger swelled in his throat as he imagined Jocelyn somewhere else, at a different time, with a different man. McCoy quickly drew his eyes up again, ironing out the anger, as he’d realized what he was doing. He swallowed it down, like shards and shards, he managed to clear his throat.  "Huh, I shouldda’ thought of that," he realized, cockin’ a brow at his daughter who squirmed sheepishly. He felt an urge to pick her up, play with her, if only to distract himself. Keep those dark thoughts at bay, instead of focus on that eye of a storm next to him. God, no matter what he did he couldn’t stop picturing it eating at him. Bruises, yelling, stairs.  The man sat down his daughter to stand up, dusting off his washer-white scrubs, realizing he got waxy purple pigments on his shirt after doing it.  "Well, I dare say these have seen worse," he joked, not too concerned, messing up Joanna’s hair thoughtfully.  "And as for that masterpiece, I think Jo has been working on something for a few hallways, eh - Da Vinci?" He encouraged, grinning wryly, and not all there. 

[entrjocelyn]

Jocelyn bit her lip, trying not to smirk at the purple streaks on the white scrubs. She noticed her daughter wearing the same expression, the amusement much less hidden on the child's face. Yet despite the suppressed laughter she noted the furrows of his brow and the darkness in his expression. 

"I'm sure that Jo will clean all of this up at a point that isn't past her bedtime." She made careful eye contact with Joanna who sighed in an over dramatic manner. 

Hazel eyes traveling to Leonard, Jocelyn raised an eyebrow and tilted her head a bit. "Is there something wrong?" She put it quite bluntly. He was usually an open book, but here she was at a loss. Quite clearly something was abnormal, but the cause was hidden. Surely crayon covered walls wouldn't evoke such a reaction. 

Joanna was picking up her roller skates and stuffing crayon shards into her pockets, dawdling as hard as she could. "Dawdling doesn't mean you won't have to take a bath." Jocelyn reminded her softly. Her eyes never left Leonard, although she spoke to her daughter.