Title: First Snow
Fandom: Star Trek 2009
Genre: Family
Pairing: Christopher Pike & Leonard McCoy
Rating: K

Summary:

Oneshot related to "Distant Closeness". Joana loves snow and wants to share her excitement with her somewhat unwilling parents...

"Daddy!" Joana's ear-splitting scream tore through the hushed atmosphere of the early afternoon, causing the black and white tabby on the living room sofa to flatten its ears with a startled hiss.

Upstairs in the study, Leonard jumped up from his chair, his PADD dropping with an audible clank, the medical report on the treatment of Orion intestinal diseases completely out of his mind. As fascinating as the latter might be, there was one thing that would have raised Leonard from the dead – and that was the sound of his little girl screaming.

She probably hurt herself.

Joana was as easily excitable as most ten-year-olds, but she was not by nature a noisy child.

There are sharp knives in the kitchen and Chris might have left his fencing sword out.

Joana also liked to fight imaginary monsters and pretend to be her namesake, Joan of Arc. On the other hand; Chris was quite probably the most observant and orderly person Leonard knew, so it would have been unlikely…

Downstairs, Joana screamed again.

Leonard rushed down the stairs, nearly tripping over his own feet.

"Where are you? What happened?"

"In here!"

The living room. So at least, she wasn't in the kitchen. But there were still plenty of ways she could have hurt herself playing in the living room.

I shouldn't have left her alone… but she was playing so peacefully… and she's ten…

"Joana!"

She was balancing on the windowsill, and it looked dangerous enough, but at least, there were no apparent injuries. Leonard sighed with relief.

"What the hell are you doing up there? Get down!"

"But Daddy, it's snowing!" Joana protested, pointing out of the window.

Leonard followed her gaze and her outstretched hand, and sure enough, outside thick snowflakes were quietly dancing to the ground.

Joana turned to look at him, her face flushed with excitement. "It's so beautiful! And it's the first time this year!"

Seeing his happy little daughter unsteadily balancing on the windowsill and pointing at the snow, Leonard couldn't help but laugh.

"It happens every year, sweetheart."

"It doesn't in Georgia," Joana argued. "Please, can we go outside and play in the snow?"

"There isn't that much to play with yet. Besides, it's all cold and wet."

"Please?" Large, deep blue eyes were gazing at him hopefully.

It was hard to resist her, really. Damn near impossible.

"Alright. But put on your winter boots."

With another shout of delight, Joana jumped down from the windowsill and ran to the hall to put on her boots and coat. Leonard followed her more slowly

Just as Joana was ready to rush out of the door and into the Winter Wonderland that was starting to form in their garden, said door was opened and the excited little girl collided headlong with a man in Starfleet's standard command uniform. Both the uniform and his graying hair were dotted with snowflakes and he didn't look particularly happy about that.

"Whoa, what's the rush?" Admiral Christopher Pike, who somehow still managed to look his usual dignified self, asked, helping his stepdaughter up.

"It's snowing!" Joana presented him with the good news.

"Yes, I already noticed that. Everything's cold, wet and mushy. Don't you hate winter weather?"

Joana looked at him as if he'd just said that killing all fluffy little animals on the planet would probably be a good idea.

Leonard chuckled. Chris originally came from the Mojave Desert area, and not even years of living in San Francisco and suffering its colder, more humid climate had helped him get accustomed to winter temperatures and weather conditions.

"But don't you want to come outside and play with us in the snow?" Joana tried again, obviously deciding that she must have misinterpreted his initial reaction.

This time, it was Chris' turn to look horrified.

"Ah – Joana, he just returned from work. Maybe he'd like to catch his breath and warm up a little bit?" Leonard suggested. Chris sent him a grateful look over the top of Joana's head.

"But the snow might be gone later," Joana protested, "and besides, it starts getting dark so early now." She looked up, giving Chris the same pleading look that had worked so well on her father. It didn't fail.

Chris sighed. "Alright, you little menace. But I insist on getting my gloves first."

About two hours later, outside the day was slowly turning to night, but the snow just kept falling. Joana sat at the window, watching the dance of the soft flakes, transfixed.

They had all changed into fresh, dry clothes and were now assembled in the living room, where Chris had insisted on lighting a fire.

It was a little obnoxious, really, given the fact that they were living in the 23rd century, not the Middle Ages, but Leonard couldn't deny that the flickering flames added to the comfortable atmosphere.

He settled into an armchair, picking up the cat purring at his feet and watched Joana. Chris walked over to the piano and a moment later, the first haunting notes of the Adagio from Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata floated through the room. It fit perfectly.

Leonard closed his eyes and lent back.

Much as he disliked cold weather, he really could get used to this.

A couple of days later, Captain James T. Kirk of the USS Enterprise was laughing heartily as he looked at a picture on the computer screen in his private quarters.

"I do not understand the significance of this picture," Spock said, looking over his shoulder.

Which probably translated to: What the hell IS that and why are you laughing about it?

"I'd say it's Admiral Pike with a whole lot of snow in his hair, chasing Joana through the garden after she's hit him with a snowball," Jim replied, still chuckling. "Bones just sent it. Seems they're having fun down there."

"It is completely illogical and possibly a health risk to be outside any more than absolutely necessary in that sort of weather," Spock stated.

"And an awful lot of fun," Jim said, turning away from the screen to face him.

"Fun?" Spock asked, his eyebrows going up.

"Yeah, I know that's an alien concept to you, but humans occasionally like to fool around and enjoy themselves," Jim teased.

"There are safer and more comfortable ways to accomplish that."

"I'm getting the feeling that you just don't like snow."

"Vulcan is – was – a desert planet."

"See, I thought it might be something like that. Well, look at Admiral Pike. He's from a desert area, too, and yet he seems to be enjoying himself playing in the snow. Next time we're on shoreleave, I'll take you somewhere cold. We'll make a yeti of you yet."

"A place like Delta Vega…?" Spock suggested slyly.

Jim pulled a face. "Well, minus the giant ravenous animals and plus a comfortable ski resort…"

Minute frown lines appeared on Spock's face as he undoubtedly remembered their first – and as of now only - skiing trip. It had involved Spock suffering from hypothermia and spending a pretty miserable evening.

"Skiing is a pointless pastime. Why go up a hill just so you can slide down again?"

"Spock! You're taking all the fun out of this! We seriously need to sign you up for a winter enjoyment course with my little sister. You'll learn all about building snowmen and having snow fights…"

"I'd really rather not."