Breaking Bones

Chapter 12: Jo and Jenny

Leonard was a nervous wreck the whole morning leading up to the afternoon with Jenny and Jo. Anatalia was woken at three am to the sight of Leonard dusting their bedroom before moving to clean the banister of the stairs in the hallway. She tried multiple times to bring him back to bed, promising she and Martha would help him clean all morning once the sun was actually up, but the poor man could barely sit still for longer than a minute. To say that Anatalia was taken back by this behavior was an understatement. Sure, she'd seen Leonard stressed at the hospital or on the Enterprise, but when it came to his personal life, Leonard was almost always the laid back one. Ana was helping Martha prep for dinner while Leonard paced nervously in the living room. The pair of women kept looking to the man in concern but knew that to try to speak to him right now could lead to an unpredictable outburst. Once she could no longer handle the stress herself, Talia moved to the living room and stopped Leonard in his tracks, causing the man's gaze to shift from the window to the woman before him. 

"Leo. If you pace any longer, you're going to burn a hole into your mother's rug." Leonard sighed and nodded in agreement, but his stress level clearly hadn't gone down at all. 

"Hey, Len. Everything's going to be fine. You just focus on Joanna. I'll handle Jenny, okay? You don't need to worry about her." 

"Okay but Tali, part of us coming down here was so that you could also meet and spend time with Jo. You should be with me and her, not keeping the monster at bay." Anatalia chuckled lightly at Leonard's dramatics, glad to see he could still have his bitter sense of humor towards his ex-wife. 

"I know, and I fully intend to meet her and get to know her a bit. But it's more important that you get as much time with your daughter as possible, okay? As bad as it sounds, we don't know when you'll get to see her again after today. So just make it count, no matter what. Okay?" 

"Okay." Anatalia smiled up at Leonard in an attempt to ease his tension and Leonard offered the smallest smile he could muster in return. Talia appreciated the effort though, and so she stood taller on her tiptoes and gave Leonard the tiniest of kisses, knowing he'd want more. Sure enough, Leonard pouted as she stepped back and moved to walk back to the kitchen. Having absolutely none of that, Leonard pulled Tali back by her waist and pulled the woman into a searing kiss, one that caused the two of them to smile wide as they hesitantly pulled away. 

"I love you, Tali." 

"I love you, Leo." Reluctant to leave each other's arms now, the couple shared a few more soft kisses before something caught Leonard's eye in his peripheral; a car. 

"Shit, they're here." Ana couldn't help but laugh at Leonard's immediate shift in demeanor as he watched a trio step out of the vehicle and make their way towards the house. Ana decided it best she didn't start off with Leonard at the introductions, so she made her way back to the kitchen where Martha's demeanor also seemed to shift downward a bit. 

"Lord, give me the strength not to kill her today." Ana scoffed at Martha's remark, having a feeling she'd want Martha to do just that at some point in the night. But she remembered the promise she made to Leonard: best behavior. Leonard was already at the door when it was met with a fast but gentle knock. The look on Leonard's face as he opened the door told Ana exactly who it was. 

"Daddy!" 

"Jo!" Leonard immediately fell to his knees as a small girl jumped into his arms, hanging on for dear life as he stood back up and spun her around a bit. The little girl's laugh was infectious and Talia found herself smiling from ear to ear at the display before her. The other two guests at the door were seemingly forgotten as they stepped into the house on their own, the woman rolling her eyes at her ex-husband's sudden joy.