1lostone | Just a Jealous Guy 1/5 (Reply)

Title: Just a Jealous Guy...
Author: 1lostone
Beta: jademac2442
Pairing: Bones/Jim
Warnings: jealousy, angst, FDA approved fluff, kidfic, possible overuse of italics and exclamation points.
Summary: Bones had never really realized just how manipulative his ex wife was. Or just how jealous he could really be.
Word Count: ~~A metric fuckton~~ 15,000ish
Status: Complete
A/N: Merry Christmas jlm121 !!! My very first time writing this pairing. A thank you for introducing me to Jim/Bones and ~~forcing~~ encouraging me to read it. (Although it STILL feels like Jim is cheating on Spock... hehe.)

PART I PART II PART III PART IV PART V EPILOGUE

PART ONE

It took Bones a full two minutes of sitting there in shock before the anger set in.

He sat there, in his office as he did for so many hours of the ship’s day, PADD forgotten in his hands. He hadn’t been thinking that hearing from her would be all that much of a shock. In fact, he usually preferred to take calls from his ex in his office; knowing that she would keep her communication coldly polite when there was a chance of one of his nurses wandering in.

As would he.

The subspace communication hadn’t been in real time. She hadn’t bothered. There was no point really; it had all been decided. This had just been a courtesy call, and the southern drawl had been all the more smug for it.

“Len. You know how you’re always on me to let you have some more time with Jo?”

On her. Jesus, Jo was his kid. What the fuck was he supposed to do, ignore her? Jocelyn barely let him see Jojo as it was. And it wasn’t like he was expecting special treatment or anything. He’d known what five years in space would entail. But in the year that he’d been gone, it would have been nice to see her when they were docked near Earth, coincidentally around Jojo’s birthday. And sure, despite the several subspace communications (she said they’d arrived late) and the two holocalls, Joanna had been off planet during the four days Bones had been on Earth.

”I’ve decided to allow Joanna to participate in the Cerberus School. It’s quite a feat, you know. Out of thousands of applicants, m- our daughter was hand selected. Of course, that might have been due to my … communication... with the Captain. You know, Len when you used to blather on about him you never really explained how dynamic he was. How... compelling.” Jocelyn sighed. “Anyway, Joanna will be arriving on your little ship tomorrow. I understand it should take about a few days to arrive at the colony. I should warn you. She has quite a little crush for that Jim Kirk.” There was a laugh, the sound sliding across Bones’ eardrums like glass. “Y’all have a good time, now. Joanna is over the moon with excitement. It should be a fun little trip for the both of you.”

Bones listened to it again, muscle twitching in his jaw. Joanna on the Enterprise? Preposterous. It was too dangerous. Just last week he’d had to stitch Jim back together, damn near rebuilding the fucking idiot kid’s spine in the process.

And what about that catty little comment? “Communication” with the Captain? With... with Jim? Bones didn’t think that they he and Joce had even known each other. Anger, sudden and sharp, seemed to come out of nowhere. It swam through his veins, bubbling just under the surface. Very, very carefully he set the PADD onto his desk. The small click of sound seemed very loud in the room.

“Computer. Where is the location of Captain Kirk?”

“Captain Kirk is in his quarters.”

The worst part was how Jocelyn had presented this whole crazy fucking plan as a done deal. Joanna going to some colony? In Space? What the everlovingfuck? Bones stood, his body creaking as though he’d aged years in the past ten minutes.

He made the trip to Jim’s quarters on auto-pilot, still reeling from the shock of news. His baby. His little girl, who’d just turned eleven, was going to go to school off-planet?

Over his fucking dead body.

Of course, that might have been due to my … communication... with the Captain. You know, Len when you used to blather on about him you never really explained how dynamic he was. How... compelling.

Jocelyn had absolutely no constraint about doing whatever she deemed necessary to further her own ambition. Bones hadn’t known about all the favors she’d racked up by fucking her way through most of the movers and shakers in Atlanta until she’d divorced him, the same little smug tone in her voice as she presented the divorce papers as a done deal. Bones hadn’t been kidding when he’d told the kid that the ex had gotten the whole fucking planet in the divorce. The ink had barely been dry before she’d married Treadway; both of them cold-hearted and ambitious. They deserved each other. Bones had been reeling from the fact that Jocelyn had slept around on him, let alone that she’d slept around on him with people who had the power to control his career. She kept Jojo from him, purposefully, gleefully sharing that Jojo called Treadway” daddy” on the infrequent communications; guilelessly driving the spike into his heart with each careful word, each careful action. It had been child’s play to have him declared an unfit father. In some ways, Atlanta was a very small town, and the news of his father’s death had been very big news. He hadn’t even bothered to fight for Jo, not wanting to put her through that kind of trauma. She meant too much to him for him to do that to his little baby girl.

Bones didn’t even think twice about using his medical override to gain access to Jim’s quarters. It wasn’t like Jim had ever minded before. Of course Bones had never been this furious, either. His hands were shaking, fine tremors going through his body as he attempted to suppress his complete and utter rage. He fucking hated feeling this helpless. He was Jo’s father for fuck’s sake. How dare Joce do this without even consulting him?

Even deeper, his own voice whispered, How dare Jim?

The doors slid open with a small whhhsht of sound, closing behind Bones with hardly a change in the air current. He blinked for a moment, the room dark except for a muted blue glow of a fish tank set into the wall near the replicator. Bones stalked forward, moving around the partition, wishing that he had something to throw.

Jim lay there, deeply asleep, sprawled across almost the entire bed. He was naked, the sheets sliding off of the mattress, one corner low over one buttock. Bones’ eyes had adjusted to the dimness, and he stood there, mouth dry, greedily taking in the sight of Jim’s sprawled form from head to toe. The familiar sick feeling hit him then, the way his fingers itched to touch, and he blew air out of his nose, frustrated, the choked sensation closing his throat and pissing him off even more.

“Wake up.” Bones’ voice sounded almost unrecognizable, harsh and twisted with everything he was repressing. Fuck, he could give the hobgloblin a run for his money at this rate. Except for the way his hands still shook. Bones balled them into fists. “Jim. Wake up, dammit!”

“’ones?” Jim twitched, turning slightly to peer at Bones’ still form standing near his bedside table. He cleared the sleep from his throat and tried again, tip of his tongue moistening chapped lips. “Bones?”

Somehow the familiar nickname made Bones feel even sicker.

Due to my … communication... with the Captain.

Yeah. He could guess what kind of communication that fucking bitch had with Jim. Anything to get ahead. Jojo going to some fancy school, being picked to go to some fancy school would have been just another kudos for her to gloat over with her petty, catty friends.

Bones kicked out, jarring the bed with his boot. “Get the fuck up, Jim. Get dressed. We need to talk.”

Bones turned, ignoring the surprised sound Jim made. He couldn’t be in there while Jim stretched, couldn’t keep impassive if he had to watch the kid get dressed. Everything he was feeling was too close to the surface. Jim’s stash of whiskey helped to give him some semblance of calm. He tossed back another shot, ignoring the sounds of drawers opening, the soft slide of fabric onto skin. Cursed himself for being weak. And so incredibly fucking stupid.

“Bones, seriously. What the hell, man? I just fell asleep.” Jim yawned, scrubbing one hand through hair that already stuck out in all directions. Bones turned, flinching at the way Jim stood there, knuckling sleep out of one eye while he scratched at his stomach with his other hand. The Starfleet sweats he’d pulled on hung low on his hips. Bones had this urge to use them to pull Jim to him, to take what he’d wanted for so long that the yearning had become some sort of absurd second nature, a feeling long denied and buried.

Mostly.

Jim yawned again and shuffled over to the small table, flopping down in one of his chairs and looking up at Bones with a small smile.

“Tell me about the Cerberus colony, Jim.” God, even saying that made Bones’ voice tremble. He cleared his throat and belted back another gulp of whiskey.

Jim raised an eyebrow. “You woke me up for me to tell you about our mission?”

Bones nodded tightly, beginning to hate Jim a little for the nonchalant way he asked his question. Deceit. It never fucking changed. Jocelyn had been his best friend until... until everything had... Gone to hell. Now Jim, no. Captain Kirk was doing the same thing. Bones told himself that it didn’t hurt.

But he was a fucking liar.

“Cerberus? How do you know about that?” Bones could see the wheels beginning to turn behind Jim’s eyes. His tone changed, the sleepy confusion bleeding away.

“Just fucking answer the goddamn question!”

Jim jumped, shock from Bones’ yell apparent on his face. His eyebrows came together as he frowned. “My mom. She was sick as fuck with Starfleet and resigned her commission. You know what it was like when we got back. People crawling up out of the woodwork with stories and pictures. Met up with this guy. Winston. You’ve probably heard of him- Carter Winston? Anyway some fucking ‘Fleet moron introduced them and suddenly there are plans for this school for gifted kids from all sorts of planets. Kind of a study in xenophobia by having the kids need to work together. Bring people together after the clusterfuck that was Nero and his band of merry men. And learn together. My mom’s gonna be the headmistress, if you can believe that shit. Those kids have no idea what’s in store for them. Starfleet is on board with what is basically a PR wet dream and we were ordered to ferry the kids to the plan… what. What’s wrong?”

Jim had stood, taking a step forward, reaching out to Bones as he always did. Kid was almost obsessively tactile- needing to touch, constantly. Bones jerked away, pushing Jim’s shoulder with his hand, sending the younger man reeling, pinwheeling his arms for balance. Jim’s hip hit the table and he grunted, holding one hand to his hip and staring up at Bones with what could only be called shock.

“How did you pick the kids, Jim? What, did your mom decide to let you head the process? What the fuck do you know about kids, anyway? ‘Cuz who would deny the fucking Kirks anything, right? Tell me this, did you even look at the kids before picking them? Or did they just get in on how quickly their moms would spread their legs for---“

“Bones! What the fuck are you talking about?”

Jim took another step forward, freezing when Bones’ lips twisted in a snarl, lost in the images of Jim and Jocelyn together, twisting and sliding in and out, over and around each other. “I’m talking about Jocelyn. My wife.” Bones knew this dance. The acidic taste of jealousy was as familiar to him as his own drawl.

Jim’s eyelashes fluttered for a second, blinking rapidly, darting from Bones’ clenched fist to his furious face.

“I…”

“Oh, she was thrilled, Jim. You should have heard her message. Pretty much bragging that she’d used your cock to make sure Jojo had a place in this fancy fucking school of yours. You know, okay it sucks that my best friend doesn’t seem to have a problem with fucking my ex wife, but the fact that you two used Jojo as a—“

“Now wait just a Goddamn minute, Bones. I don’t even know your wife. If she’s telling you shit then-“

Bones actually saw red for a moment. He saw his fist connecting with Jim’s face. He trembled, keeping it in place.

He absolutely could not abide liars.

“Jocelyn. McCoy. Treadway.” Bones snarled, spitting out the words as though he couldn’t keep their foulness inside of him any longer. He watched recognition flicker behind Jim’s impossible eyes and took a step closer. They were so close that Bones could see the way Jim clenched his teeth together. He was close enough to see the recognition, the realization bloom on Jim’s face.

Bones turned away, sick. He had to get away. He ignored Jim’s strangled-sounding “Bones!” and walked, moving quickly now before he completely lost it.

He was really old enough to fucking know better.

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