Title: A Sweet Ray of Sunshine
Part: 7/7
Fandom:
Rating:
Main Characters:
Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not own the characters except Lily (and the Buckman's). I don't own any songs mentioned either.

At 0700 hours the next morning Lily could be heard running down the corridor, luckily a very short distance to Uhura's room, after waking her up and telling her what day it was and Nyota playing surprised it was 'fathers' turn. And although it had been agreed no presents until the party he couldn't help it and gave her an early one, something the shop assistant had told him all the girls wanted. Ripping open the yellow paper after reading the animated birthday padd applications, Lily now wore a silver bracelet with a watch band type width and purple, red and blue gems (that matched her eyes).

It came with a booklet to explain the colours. Red for strength, purple for hope and blue for love. He had gotten them to engrave 'To my Lily, all my love forever, Bones' he knew this may well be the last time they saw each other and she had the right to remember it. He snapped a few holo images and then it was time to go wake Uncle Jim.

Uhura scolded Bones for breaking the 'no early gifts' rule but had to admire how pretty it was, as did everyone who saw it and Lily loved showing it off. Breakfast was a blur, they decided to keep Lily out of the mess until party time (and the crew from trashing it too) so there was a bbq to celebrate the end of possibly the greatest shore leave ever, at least for the A-team and Lily anyways. They had eggs; bacon, onion and hamburger rolls and all local produce which made it taste that much better according to Bones.

Beaming back on board from the planet for the last time Kirk was informed that he had to call Fleet H.Q regarding Lily and boy did he so not want to have this conversation; it wasn't hard to work out what they wanted. The party wasn't for another hour so Jim knew he had enough time and he decided that it would be a good idea to have Bones and possibly Uhura both there for this too but then Lily would have to be away from the two people she cared about most on her birthday. He asked Bones to get Scotty to play with Lily for an hour at most as they had a meeting to attend, he couldn't tell him over the comm what it was about. No, that had to be done face to face.

Bones entered to conference room with Uhura on his heels and acknowledged the admiral on the screen before he looked at Jim, wanting to know what needed his expertise and Uhura's at the same time.

Jim asked the admiral if he might explain the situation to them before continuing their conversation, he nodded moved away from his chair and the sound was cut off.

"What's this all about Jim?"

Another reason why I sometimes hate my job. "Bones I think you and Uhura should sit down for this," he gestured towards the chairs.

They sat down and he looked at Jim intently.

Don't say what I think you're gonna say Jim

"The Federation has found a family to adopt Lily…"

Damn it to hell! It was quite except for the usual Star Ship white noise. Uhura folded and unfolded her hands; Bones tilted his head to the right, his eyes seemed miles away. "Jim….where...where is she going to live?" he asked and Uhura turned to the captain for answers also, but she held a hand out to Bones and he held it tight; they both had unshed tears and watery eyes.

"I haven't been told that yet. Are you okay if I put the admiral back on to tell us?" he looked at his friends just holding it together.

"Please sir I have to know what will happen to her," Bones nodded that she had answered for them both.

Jim pressed a button and the admiral came back to his chair and audio was reactivated. The admiral told the trio that Lily was being adopted by a family from Earth, Australia to be specific. They had a small farm in the state of New South Wales, they already had one daughter that was a year younger than Lily but they had been vetted by the Federation and had the right security clearance as the father, Mr Frank Buckman had worked for them but had left to run his family's farm after the death of his father some years previous.

The Admiral sent files of them to the Enterprises computer and Kirk pulled them up for his friends to look through. Never been in trouble with any authority, upstanding members of local community…

They seemed to be your average country family and as much as it broke his heart to know that he'd have to leave Lily (or she him) Bones liked the idea that she would grow up a country kid, with a few acres to play around it.

Jim thanked the admiral and left the two alone to talk things through; he knew that they would not be as open with him around. Once the door closed behind him Uhura's floodgates opened, the doctors too, he tried to tell her that she'd be okay and grow up in a place a little like he did but he knew it wouldn't help that much. Ultimately Lily was still going away.

When Bones next glanced at his watch he realised they were two minutes late for Lily's party, he grabbed Nyota's hand and they ran to the turbo lift. Uhura rushed into the mess one step ahead of Bones and Lily ran to them. Then it was time for the rest of the presents and Jim's cake.

The A-team all pitched in and got Lily a blue 8GB I-Pod Nano with pink headphones, it came pre-loaded with some of her favourite songs from Scotty's jukebox and photos' of her family and a video of the talent quest so she could recall it whenever they were apart; very fitting given the news they had to break to her latter today.

Spock, Jim, Bones and Uhura also spoiled her with a portable dvd player with the first movie they all watched together; Josie and the pussycats.

When it came time to cut Kirk's marble cake with purple icing and yellow edible stars Lily hit the plate and had to kiss the nearest boy, lucky Pavel. Sulu had made a piñata and everyone had fun whacking it. Cupcake finally got it open, it was so thick, Sulu loved paper Mache. By the end of the party everyone was on a sugar high – nice one guys.

How do you tell a kid, let alone one on a sugar high that they are leaving, again? Another new planet and more strangers? These strangers are going to be your parents, yeah this was not going to be easy at all. Bones and Uhura decided to wait til the sugar high subsided and this also gave them time to process it a bit more before they informed her.

The three of them were in McCoy's cabin just lounging around; Lily was singing to her latest 'favourite song of all time' which happened to be one of the few songs that Bones couldn't stand, thanks Jim.

Bones looked over at Nyota who was just watching Lily, soaking in her presence. Meeting his eyes she nodded and it was time. He went over and patted Lily on the shoulder and she stopped mid word (damn video killed the radio star) and took her headphones out.

"Yes Bones?"

He had to swallow a lump in his throat. "Lily I know it's your birthday but there is something we really need to tell you and I'm sorry it has to be today," He sat on his couch again and Nyota came and sat next to him.

"What is it, am I am trouble?"

Just like last time we did this dance. "No, Lily no. We received word earlier today that…that," but she couldn't say it.

"That what Nyota? Bones?"

He took his cue. "The Federation has found you a family on Earth. They…they are going to adopt you and we have been ordered to take you back to Earth after we pick up your stuff from Rio Lati tomorrow and…" he didn't know what else to say.

Lily looked between them, "Do I have to go? Can't I stay on Enterprise?" her blue eyes looking quizzically into his baby blues.

Damn that hurt a bit, deep in his chest. The look on her face breaks his heart. "I'm sorry Lily, but it's over my head. You need a stable life and you can't have that here. Remember the Klingon attack? It's too dangerous,"

She jumped into his lap and cried while Nyota ran a hand through her hair and put her head on McCoy's shoulder. It seemed such a long time since they rescued Lily, how she had grown since with their love, guidance and protection.

Bones and Uhura talked about what her adoptive parents were like. Lily seemed a little taken back to learn she'd also get a sister, Josie. That night she slept on Bones couch, she did not want to be without him just like when she first arrived.

Jim broke the news to Scotty, Sulu, Chekov and Spock; they seemed to have a similar reaction, disbelieving. Yes, having a stable family would be the best thing for Lily but on the flip side it meant they'd see her less, if at all depending on where they were sent. Scotty shared some blue alcohol that seemed to numb everyone and Spock left to mediate. He wouldn't admit it openly but Lily had grown on him too.

When the Enterprise reached Rio Lati Bones and Kirk beamed down with Lily to pick up her stuff but they stayed in the head master's office. Skipping along and happy to be leaving because she really didn't like it here, better than Keto but not as good as Star Ship life; she went into her dorm room and grabbed pasha before anything else.

She was so caught up in what she was doing that she didn't notice the arrival of the school bullies cause every school no matter where, when or how ritzy has them. As she reached for her hanging clothes, which would be creased soon enough, she noticed them standing in the room just by the door, watching her and she froze.

They were all older and stronger than her and had on a few occasions when they were alone, eerily like right now, beaten her up. They were smart and never left a mark in a place that was visible on a daily basis just like you know who was at the start, what hurt the most was that these girls were supposed to be her peers, fine examples of acceptable behaviour they turned out to be.

She closed her eyes and prepared for what would come, at least she knew it was for the last time. Little did she know that Bones was not good at waiting around and had got directions and was on his way over to her dorm room.

After crossing the compound Bones knocked on the door and heard whispers of 'shut up'; 'don't open your mouth' and 'let's beat it guys' before the door swung open and four older girls ran past him, knocking him down but he grabbed one of them. She struggled to get free, kicking him in the knee she followed the others. Lily ran out to help him up.

"What the hell was that?" he asked his knee hurting from that girl.

His Lily girl was close to tears. He put his arms around her to hug her and she flinched, she tried to hide it but her quick intake of breath and her slight tremble were enough for him as a doctor to know something was up. He knelt down so he was about the same height as her, looking up slightly so he saw her eyes he asked her what had happened.

"Nothing, I'm fine. They were just saying goodbye,"

Bones could tell it was a lie and he sighed. "Lily, I know what I heard and they were outta here like bats outta hell the minute I arrived. C'mon kid it's me. Spill the beans,"

She sat down on her bed and again she winced. She lifted her shirt so he could see her bruised stomach, some of them he noted were not fresh either.

"It never ends for you does it kid? " Then she did cry. "Why didn't you tell someone, why didn't you tell me when we were on the planet?"

"You all did so much for me and I…..I didn't think it was a big deal and…" he put a hand up to stop her right there.

"Hang on Lily. Not a big deal? They are hurting you and it's not a big deal?" he was in protective father mode. "How long has it being going on for?" she didn't answer him and looked away. "Lily, please darlin' let me know,"

"Since the second day I was here…they said that I was a nobody. No parents, no one loved me and I couldn't tell them about you and Nyota and Uncle Jim and…" now she was balling.

Bones held her protectively and mindful to be extra gentle. He was so mad, why had nobody picked up on this? What kind of place is this? He commed Jim they were beaming back to the Enterprise and got Scotty to beam them into sickbay. He took some x-rays to be sure she had not broken ribs, thankfully she didn't. After just being there, talking to her and getting the names of the young ladies that had singled her out he gave her a sedative, kissed her forehead and went to explain the whole story to Jim.

To say Jim was furious is an understatement, Spock was less than impressed also and Scotty was as hot as his precious engines. It was agreed not to tell Nyota until after they beamed back on board, just in case she didn't like what they had in mind. They informed the head master of what had been going on right under her nose and she didn't seemed surprised, Bones guessed that she probably knew anyway and did nothing; he learned that from personal experience.

The young ladies (which I know is hardly befitting given their acts) were called to the head masters office. When they arrived Bones wanted to grab the red headed one and slap her crazy for hitting him. As an officer and a gentleman he didn't but it took most of his self-control. Spock knew that kids could be cruel, he was half human and half Vulcan so he had endured shunning on both sides as a child and Vulcans can be just as cruel as humans if not worse.

They were dressed in casual clothes instead of their uniforms and the ladies just starred at them. Kirk introduced himself and the others. The headmaster excused herself to her adjoining office and that left them alone.

One of the ladies and seemingly the leader of the pack said in a whispered voice that Spock's trained ears heard quite well; "Isn't that the one you kicked J.J?"

The one presumably J.J responded. "Can't be, he aint got no medi blues,"

Spock answered and caught their attention. "Actually I believe you are incorrect. This is the same man you attacked before and he is extremely displeased about your treatment of our young friend,"

McCoy growled. "Shut up Spock! I'm more than displeased, you are very lucky I don't have any hypo's with me. I'd love to give you Romulan measles!"

They looked at him challengingly and one said "Yeah right gramps, what can you do to us?"

He smiled. "I'm the Chief Medical Officer on the Federation flag ship USS Enterprise – not to mention a parental figure to the girl you've been hurtin'"

The leader laughed and the others followed. "Right, and who are they? An admiral and an Engineer? I'm scared," she said mockingly.

Kirk put up his hand to silence McCoy. "I'm not an admiral, yet, but it's on my to-do list. James T Kirk – Captain of the USS Enterprise. This is Spock – First officer. And you are going to wish you had never tried to hurt our friend Lily. Got it!" he yelled the last two words for emphasis.

"Wh-what are you going to do?" one of the followers asked. It seems this one had a few brain cells at least and could tell when she was out matched.

"That is a good question. What do you suggest?" Bones just smiled as he directed the question at Jim. They had worked this out before leaving the ship as they knew they could do not physical harm, mental on the other hand…..

"Well, there are over 400 crew on board the Enterprise and each one of them could find a reason to hate you for what you've done," Jim turned to look at a smiling Bones and an eyebrow raised Spock.

"Jim why don't we beam them up and let the crew deal with it?" Bones said dead panned.

"What? You can't do that! Can you?" One of the ladies asked.

Kirk turned and looked dead in the eyes of the one that dared question him. "I am the Captain, the crew follows my orders. So if I were to say, tell them to do to you what you did to Lily they are bound by regulations to follow…..know what I mean?" and he laughed and Bones joined him.

"The Captain has authority over the ship; revenge would be a logical step".

Jim and Bones may have had to coach Spock to say that for effect, but it worked. The group looked scared and had backed up as far as the door.

"If we ever have to come back here because you've hurt anyone else I will turn the crew loose on you. Staring with its CMO – he could inflict so much pain without leaving a trace". He looked at Bones. "Doctor did you bring any hypo's?"

McCoy pulled out his communicator. "Damn Captain. Say the word and I'll have them beamed down. Do you want measles or….." he didn't get to finish the sentence and the group were running out the door.

Jim called Scotty they were all beamed up. One rematerialised in the transporter room Jim said "Sorry we had to make you seem heartless Bones but it worked,"

"Yes it did, didn't it?" and Bones laughed.

"Are you sure that was a wise course of action? Are there not likely to be ramifications? Spock asked.

"Hell Spock, after what I know about what they put Lily through and who knows who else, some white lies are fine. Made me feel better,"

"Yes, I'd say job well done. Let's go see how she's doing," Jim said as they exited the transporter room. Then he started singing 'we can't be beaten' and Bones joined in. Spock would not participate in such behaviour.

Uhura was happy that the boys had not hurt anyone but she was disappointed that she didn't get to face the monsters too; she had some advice for them in Klingon.

Twenty point seven hours later the USS Enterprise was orbiting planet Earth. Lily nervously eyed the continent that was her new home from her place by Bones' side on the bridge. She intended to spend her last moments with her closet family.

"That's Australia there," Bones said as it passed on the view screen. They had just over an hour before they had to beam down to the small town of Drake to meet with Lily's new family, they had wanted to meet the people she was closet too. Get to know Lily a little form their perspectives. This showed Bones and Uhura they were keen on having Lily in their lives, she wasn't going to be ignored.

After shed tears and hugging Uncle Sulu, Scotty, Pavel, Spock and Aunty Christine Lily beamed down to the surface. Accompanying her were Bones, Jim and Nyota.

It was a small town with a local ma and pa convenience store, three star motel, a pub and two dozen scattered houses and a small bridge that was part of a two lane sealed road. That was what they first saw upon rematerialising in Drake. They had been told to order what they wanted from the pub and that the Buckman's lived a little distance from the town and may be a few minutes late.

Bones liked this place already, he'd never actually been to Australia but from what he'd read of it, at least on this area he liked it. The bar had one side for families (which is where they were) and one side for adults only. The side for kids had a separate but connected room which had two pinball machines and a juke box. Bones showed Lily how to play pinball because he thought he was a 'pinball wizard' .

Jim watched as Uhura eyed her 'daughter' laughing and learning to play with this new machine, then there was the posters on the walls. This place seemed to be caught in a time warp; sure it didn't use money anymore and it did have a transporter junction but the houses were painted in varying colours and no two were the same, which reminded Bones of his home town.

A man whom Jim presumed to be Mr Buckman walled over to the huge wooden table they sat at and was followed by his wife and daughter. He introduced himself and Nyota went to infrom Bones and Lily of their arrival.

The lady, Rachel, asked about what Lily's favourite colour was and Jim told her it was yellow. Their daughter Josie happily said, "Told you so mum. That's why I said to paint it that colour,"

Lily sat down next to Bones and looked at the three new faces. "What colour?" she asked.

"Yellow, I got mum to paint your room yellow,".

"You're my new family?... I'm Lily," and she held Bones hand under the table on one side and Uhura's one the other.

"Pleasure to meet you Lily. I'm Frank, this is Rachel and this is our daughter and I guess your sister Josie".

"Guess what, our rooms are next to each other," Josie added.

"Cool," Lily liked the idea of having Josie as a sister and Josie's/her parents seemed nice too. "This is Bones, uh….. I mean Leonard McCoy. He's a doctor,"

McCoy shook hands with Frank as best he could with Lily not letting go just yet and he nodded at Rachel and Josie.

"A doctor, that's wicked," Josie said and Lily beamed.

"This is Nyota Uhura and she's the communications officer,"

"Pleased to meet you all," Nyota replied in response to Lily's introduction.

"How many language can you speak?" Josie asked.

"Josie!" her mother said.

" I'm sorry," Josie said and realised she'd been too personal.

Uhura smiled, she was a lot like Lily. "Quite a lot and that's fine. I love my job," she said Josie's eyes lit up. She was very interested in these new people.

Bones looked over at Jim who gave a 'what about me' look.

Someone's been neglected he thought. "Lily, what about Jim?" Bones asked.

"I'm sorry, where are my manners? This is the Captain of the Enterprise, James T Kirk," then she whispered so just Josie could hear "I call him Jim and so does Bones,"

"Who is Bones?" Josie asked a bit louder than Lily had spoken and said man laughed.

"Well, that's what the Captain and Lily call me, like a nick name". Bones said as he rocked on his heels.

"I like it," Josie said.

Frank ordered lunch for himself, Rachel and Josie. Everyone seemed to get along very well. Jim was sharing one of his Enterprise to the rescue stories (one that was classified) when lunch arrived.

A fine meal was had by all; you can't beat outback hospitality and cooking.

Lily had even detached from Bones and Uhura's sides and showed Josie the bracelet that Bones gave her for her recent birthday and she really liked it but her it wasn't her colours. She's a green girl.

"Why don't you girls get to know each other in the games room so we can talk okay?" Jim suggested and like they had been sisters forever both sighed at the same time and Lily followed Josie to the games room. The adults could hear them whisper as they walked away; they really meshed that pair.

"Thank you Captain. We were told some of miss Lily's past and know about Keto but there was mention of another incident since?" Frank asked.

Bones looked at Jim. "Go ahead Bones,"

Bones nodded. "Lily was on Rio Lati for boarding school. Just before we left to come here she was off collecting her stuff, anyway I was bored waiting so I went to see her. She was in her room and had been attacked by four older girls, one of which had a go at me too."

"Did you see them hurt her?" Rachel asked.

"Nuh but Lily came to me when they left and helped me up. She's a great kid. Anyway she winced and I got her to show me and….. Jim do you want to tell the next part?"

"Sure. The two of us…" he pointed to Bones "…we took our First officer and had a meeting with the brats responsible. We acted like the doctor would inject them with a nasty virus if they hurt anyone else. Needless to say Bones wouldn't do that but they didn't know that. I'm not proud of it but it did the trick".

Uhura spoke up. "We were all so angry that they'd hurt little Lily. I think the crew may have gone rouge Sir,"

Kirk looked at her. "Maybe, they do like her a lot, even Spock."

"If I may ask who is Spock?" Frank asked.

"Mr Spock is the first officer of the Enterprise. He's a Vulcan but he has shared a few choice moments with Lily too. She has that effect on everybody," Bones said.

"Lily will have to tell Josie all her stories about Enterprise life, I think she wants be join Starfleet when she's old enough," Rachel said.

"Follow her old man's path," Frank added.

They all moved to join the girls playing Mario kart 64, with last hands over rules. Jim Kirl is not very good at racing a kart but Bones with Yoshi was kickin' butt. A lot of laughs were had when Uhura dropped banana peels and sent Frank, who was playing as Luigi off the rainbow track. Lunch time came and the group chatted about this and that for ages. But like all good things it ended too soon.

Kirk's communicator chirped. Spock notified them that it was almost time for them to depart orbit. Damn he wished they could have stayed a bit longer. See Lily settled in.

Josie was asking Bones a lot of medical questions, seems she wanted to be a doctor in Starfleet. She liked listening to stories about planets he'd been too (the ones he could talk about with a 12 year old). Now it was time for them to go, to let Lily settle in, when they came back (or if) from their next deployment Frank and Rachel had said they were always welcome to drop in. Lily and Josie had insisted on it.

Jim, Rachel, Josie and Frank gave Bones, Lily and Uhura a few minutes to say their goodbyes in peace.

"Why do you call him Bones?" Josie asked Jim said man was not in hearing range.

"Well it started when we were at the academy in San Francisco and it's just stuck since. Why do you ask?"

She looked like she was thinking about that for a minute. "It just sounds like you're ship is a big family,"

Jim smiled. "That we are, well most of the time," which was true. Frank went to pull the car around the front of the house.

Bones was trying not to cry and damn it was hard. Uhura and Lily said and hugged their final goodbyes and she went to join the Captain and Rachel and Josie, and that left Bones and Lily.

Bones held her tightly and ran a hand through her hair. "I don't know what I'm gonna do without you Lily. I'm gonna miss you so much,"

"I'll miss you too. Keep safe, please look after Uncle Jim,"

"I will. Look after yourself yeah? Send us all a holo vid once in a while yeah? I don't want to let go Lily,"

Her hands gripped him harder, "Me either Bones,"

How he loved when she called him that. Now they were both crying, when he saw Jim walking over he knew it was time. She needed a stable life and a star ship, especially Jim Kirk's Enterprise was not such a place.

Frank pulled the jeep up in the front parking lot where they all stood. Jim took both his friends hands. "Goodbye Lily," he said as she got into the vehicle.

After watching Josie put on her seatbelt she did the same then turned her head back to the trio. "Bye Bones, bye Nyota , bye Jim," and both parties waved as the jeep headed over the bridge and became a spot in the distance.

"Let's go home. Scotty beam us up,"

When they got off the transporter pad Scotty hugged Nyota, Jim and Bones headed to Jim's cabin where they talked and Bones cried. He felt the loss like Lily was his own daughter, his Joanna. Jim guessed Lily was like a substitute and now she too was gone. He held his friend and tried to comfort his as one might a small child as Bones had done with Lily in the beginning. Damn he had watery eyes too.

For the next few days the A-team, actually most of the crew's mood was a little depressing. The Lily ray of sunshine that loved yellow was gone and this time, unfortunately for good. The third day after the Enterprise had departed Earth a subspace message came through, addressed to the Alpha bridge crew so Jim had Nyota put it on the main view screen.

When it started playing and it discovered it was from their Lily, Jim had her pause it and called Bones and Scotty straight up.

Lily was learning to ride a horse and Josie was teaching her. Bones thought she was doing pretty well for a first timer, he'd fallen off umpteen times. The rest of the five minute video showed the house, which was Queenslander style, typical of the 20th Century for those parts according to Spock's study of Earth history and culture.

The Buckman's had gotten Lily a cattle dog as Josie already had one and she had named him 'chance' as Enterprise wasn't a name that suited a dog. Uhura liked that as she had a dog as a kid too. The video ended with Lily telling everyone she was happy but she missed and loved them too. Then she added "Bones and Nyota I will always have a place in my heart to call you mum and dad. And dad please take care of Uncle Jim, I want to see him again, in one piece okay?. I love you all so much. Be safe,"

That broke Nyota's banks. Spock put a hand on Nyota's shoulder as she cried and Jim put a hand on Bones arm to let him know that he wasn't alone, even if his Lily girl was light-years away. The video was replayed in the rec hall that night as were the two video's that followed, after that they were only able to get audio waves.

In the weeks after saying goodbye to their Lily and she was and always would be; life went on as it did before her. Duties were carried out, planets explored, patients were healed. But everyone that had got to really know her knew something was missing; they couldn't wait to visit her again, to see how she was going. Did she still like yellow? Was she seeing someone?

What about Lily? Josie and her get along so well you'd swear they had always known each other. Josie has always wanted to join Starfleet and Lily wants to join her sister, they do everything together. Frank and Rachel are awesome parents; bedtime is 9:30pm on school nights before midnight school holidays and weekends.

They have these old school games consoles, like Nintendo 64 and their own pool table. Lily can't wait to shoot pool with Bones; she dreams about her Star ship family often. Lily loves when she gets holo video's from them especially when someone adds in a snippet of Spock/Bones confrontation, that's always good for a laugh.

Whenever the Enterprise was near Earth Lily visits were scheduled. Thought never back as often as anyone would like, Bones, Jim and Uhura got to see Lily grow into a remarkable young woman. Very head strong like Bones yet still sweet and reasonable.

The end