It wasn't that much of a surprise anymore to depart from his quarters and immediately run into Spock. It would appear that the Vulcan had appointed himself Leonard's security detail, whether Leonard liked it or not. It had been a while since the threat had been received and there had been no follow-ups to the original. Leonard had started to think that the whole thing was just a way to stir up some trouble as opposed to a credible threat against his well-being, or, more specifically, that of his child. He corrected himself frequently on that point. It was almost like having a little Spock in his head making sure he remembered the note accurately. It was a frightening thought.
"I do know the way to the sickbay, you know," Leonard stated in lieu of a greeting. "I've gotten there every single shift without getting lost once."
"You also know the way from sickbay to the bridge," Spock replied in his monotone, but Leonard detected a slight curve in the lips when he noted the Vulcan's reaction out of the corner of his eye. The closest he could usually get to a laugh at any attempt at humour. "And you insist on continuing to make that journey on your own, mid-shift, even though you are discouraged from doing so."
"Discouraged because you don't want me on the bridge or discouraged because you don't think it's safe for me to be wandering around on my own?" Leonard had to ask as he knew that Spock had a problem with him being on the bridge at times. Logic would dictate that, as the Chief Medical Officer, he should be in sickbay, but Jim, especially during slower days, had made a habit of dragging Leonard up to the bridge, and the behaviour was now ingrained into both men. Not that most of the bridge crew minded as it provided the Captain with a new target when he was bored.
"Each is equally valid," Spock stated as the doors to the lift opened. He waved Leonard in before him.
"Are you sure?" Leonard asked. "Don't want to check for suspicious individuals first before letting me get on?"
The doctor's comment caused the ensign already in the lift to shift nervously. He said nothing and smiled hesitantly as both senior officers nodded at him in greeting.
Spock ignored Leonard's dig, saying, "I would be satisfied at this point if you would refrain from doing so while there is still a possible threat against you. We could address the other issue at a later date."
The ensign was intently listening to the exchange, Leonard noted, while desperately trying and failing to look like he wasn't doing just that. The doctor rolled his eyes at the poor attempt being made and resigned himself to another round of gossip. If nothing else, his predicament was entertaining the troops. They sure weren't going to track down the culprit based on his or her public reaction. Once the idea had been given a chance to sink in, most of the crew had been simultaneously amused and supportive. Even those who didn't fall into that category didn't appear to be overly hostile.
"I don't think this is the best place to be discussing this," Leonard warned.
Spock turned to the side, taking in the presence of the ensign standing slightly behind the doctor. "The crew has already been briefed on the situation, Doctor McCoy. We are not likely to reveal anything that is not already known."
"I realize the horse is already out of the gate, Spock," Leonard said, enunciating each word carefully, "but that doesn't mean we need to continue to feed the masses."
Spock simply raised his eyebrows at the other man and turned away. At the next level, the ensign slipped out of the lift, even though it wasn't his floor, and two more crew members joined the now silent occupants.
After Spock escorted him to sickbay, an event that always got grins out of the rest of the medical staff, even though it had been going on for a while now, Leonard decided to spend the morning in his office reviewing yet another batch of PADDs. He had been timorous for a while about reviewing the damn things, letting the whole incident get the better of him, but he had managed to push past it. In the intervening time, however, a backlog had developed that he needed to clear away. He hadn't been at his desk all that long when Christine made her way in as well.
"So," Christine said, briefly dragging Leonard's attention away from the PADD he was reading, "when are you going to tell him?"
"When am I going to tell who what?" Leonard asked distractedly as he went right back to reading the PADD, giving the woman a cursory glance.
Taking the PADD out of his hand, Christine said, "You know who and what."
"I do, do I?" Leonard asked as he leaned back in his chair, running his fingers through his hair. "And you want to discuss this with me, do you?"
"Someone has to," Christine retorted. "I don't know if you've been looking all that closely at the scans, but there are certain dead giveaways as to who the other father is, and the kid is not staying in there forever. Either you do the right thing and tell him, or he'll figure it out quite quickly once she is born."
"I suppose you have a point." Leonard sighed, sitting forward in his chair again. Resting his elbows on his desk, he covered his face with his hands. "It's going to be impossible, you know."
"Impossible to tell him?" Christine asked, sitting down in the seat across from him. She had been spending quite a bit a time in that chair as of late. "I think it's rather easy. I'll even give you the words."
"You going to give me the answers to his questions as well?" Leonard snapped. "Because there will be a shitload of them. Vulcans tend to specialize in torturous questions and demand logical answers."
"That could be problematic for you, Christine admitted. "I can't help you because you haven't exactly been forthcoming with any information on that front."
"There is nothing to provide," Leonard griped as he raised his head to look directly at her. "At least nothing that'll make any sense to anyone."
"How did it happen?" Christine asked. She held up her hand and gave a little warning when Leonard was about to answer. "And don't you dare start talking about the birds and the bees."
"Doesn't exactly apply now, does it?" Leonard reminded her. "Male humans aren't supposed to get pregnant in the first place. One of the perks of two men having sex."
"I have trouble believing that either you or Spock would be cheating behind Nyota's back, but you did say that sex couldn't be ruled out," Christine reminded him. "That an implant was not the only way."
"Actually, if I remember correctly, I said my life was fucked or something along those lines, which in no way constitutes admitting anything," Leonard stated defensively. "The rest of you decided to interpret that as the father being someone I slept with."
"If the father hadn't been someone you had slept with, you wouldn't have responded that way," Christine reasoned. "We all just know you well enough to understand that."
"Can we all pretend that I didn't and go from there?" Leonard pleaded, once again with his head in his hands. "It would eliminate all the more difficult questions, and we could write the whole thing off as some crazy Abrbonian plot."
"You could write off the two of you having sex in the first place as some crazy Abrbonian plot," Christine advised as she gave her boss's dilemma a little consideration. "Was it an Abrbonian plot? I still haven't worked out how the hell it happened."
"Gee, thanks," Leonard muttered. "I didn't think it was that incredible that someone might have slept with me."
"I didn't mean it like that and you know it," Christine said. "As I stated earlier, there's the fact that Spock and Nyota were still together when your little bundle of joy was conceived. Given the way he is following you around these days, sex now would be quite believable."
"He's not following me around," Leonard objected, "and he's being paranoid."
"He's being protective," Christine argued. "And it's really kind of sweet. Maybe the Abrbonians knew something we didn't at the time? But that would only make sense if they had intended for Spock to be the father, which they did not, at least not according to what Spock reported."
"Please stop giving me ideas to work with, only to point out why those ideas will fail," Leonard said. "It's not helping."
"Sure it is," Christine smirked. Leaning forward, she shot Leonard a bright smile. "I'm eliminating all stories with the potential to explode right in your face."
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