A night on the town

Part 9

To say that your grandfather was surprised at the announcement was an understatement. It took him several minutes to finally make a sound. Thankfully, he was supportive and delighted that he would have a great-grandchild in the near future. However, you could tell there was the underlying point of Leonard he was thinking about. While he had never met him, he felt like he knew the man. You had talked so much about him and how he was such a good man, it was obvious that you loved him. He felt that Leonard should know about the baby. That perhaps could heal some of the pain that was burning a hole in you both. There was so much pain built inside you right now you were unsure of when or if you could tell Leonard about the baby. You were still in shock, truth be told. The signs were there all along and you are a doctor you should have seen them first. It had not been until you ran for the bathroom after landing in Maine had you realized what the cause had been. It was just a tricorder wave later and you were correct. A little life made from love growing inside you.

You still loved Leonard; there was no doubt of it. As you were certain he loved you as well. Nevertheless, there was no choice between his daughter and you. It would not be fair for you to force him to choose, not that you wanted to. You preferred having everyone together but Joanna hated you and it was something that could not be avoided right now. That was something to think about another time. Now you had to decide what you were going to do. Could you go back to the Enterprise, work beside Leonard day in and day out as you grew his child, and not be together? Did you want to raise your baby on a starship like that? It hurt thinking of it.

Two days later, just three days since you had been home your transmitted your resignation to Jim. It had to go to him first before it would be passed on to Starfleet Command. At the end of the crew's leave, you would start looking for a job in a hospital or somewhere close by so that you could live with your grandfather. You needed something close to the little family you had left so you had some support raising the baby on Earth. The decision had finally been made when on the third day you knew that Leonard did not intend to contact you. Not only did he let you walk out the door but also he had not made one attempt at contact. Maybe it was for the best. At least that it what you tried to tell yourself as you transmitted the request.

There was so much more going on in the world that you did not know. Especially down in Georgia where Margaret was berating Leonard daily about how he needed to go chase you down and get on his knees begging for forgiveness. He had thought about it many times. You were on his mind constantly and he did not know how to reconcile that with the anger Joanna had for you. There was no doubt in his mind that you would never have hurt Joanna but you were right that he would question it if his daughter had said it. How could he not? She was his daughter.

At first, Joanna was ecstatic that her plan worked. You were out of the way and she had her dad all to herself. In her mind now, he would be happy just to have her around and they could spend all their time together. It never occurred to her that she would be going back to her mother soon and leaving her dad alone, once more. At least not until she saw him crying on the porch the night you left. In as long as she could remember she had never seen him cry. Well not like this. He cried whenever it was time for Joanna to go home with her mom but the crying now was different. It was as though someone died.

"Dad? You okay?" Leonard sat up straight wiping his face quickly trying to hide the tears. He voice cracked as he answered. Clearing his throat quickly, he tried to sound like everything was fine.

"Yeah... I'm fine baby." She knew he was lying. As she walked towards him, she frowned with a tinge of hurt.

"No you aren't. Is it because [Y/N] left? You don't need her dad. You got me." Joanna tried to show him the good side of it. He sniffed, wiping his face again with a quiet laugh.