"Bones, the usual." Kirk looked like shit as he stumbled into the medical bay and pulled himself on to one of the examining table. McCoy lifted an eyebrow.
"Sometime you're going to come in here asking for a new kidney..."
"I'll be sure not to ask for one of yours; I saw you pounding back the champagne last night!"
McCoy prepared a hypospray and jabbed it into Kirk's neck before he had a chance to react.
"GAH! Geez, I don't think I'll ever get used to that!"
"For all the times you come here for hangover remedies, you'd think you could apply it yourself!" McCoy grumbled. "Now go away and bother someone else; I've got work to do. The sick don't get better just because Starfleet throws a party."
"Fine, fine! Don't forget; we leave at nineteen hundred hours."
"Good, I'll remember to pack my toothbrush."
"Aren't you excited? Our first real mission?"
"Just what I wanted; more blunt trauma, open wounds, compound fractures ..."
"What are you saying, that I can't captain?"
"So far your 'captaining' style has more in common with the bulls of Paloma than a Starfleet Starship."
"Hey, that hurts!" Kirk replied.
"You'll get over it. Now will you go and give me some peace?"
"Alright, I'm gone!" Kirk shuffled out.
McCoy let out a sigh and sat back down at his monitor. It was true that he had patients still recovering from their meeting with Nero. What MccCoy hadn't told Kirk was that they were recuperating planetside.
He continued his solitaire game.

The intercom buzzed..
"Dr. McCoy, Nurse Chapel reporting ..."
"Quiet as the morgue with a couple zombies. Take the day off; I can handle the hangovers today."
"Thanks, Dr. McCoy. Chapel out."
"I hate to admit it, but I may be one of the hangovers you treat."
McCoy turned in his seat to see Uhura walking in with a sheepish smile. She had showered and dressed in a fresh uniform, making McCoy conscious of his layer of stubble and tousled hair. *At least my clothes are clean,* he thought.
"Trust me,you aren't the only one." He stood and prepared the hypospray. Uhura took the shot in her her neck without flinching, and watched curiously as McCoy deposited the used canister in a bin with several others.
"I don't usually need assistance in the morning. I should blame you for supplying me with all that Jack last night."
McCoy chuckled. He was just glad she had come in *after* Kirk; how embarrassing would that have been? "I had been trying to cut out early. Thanks to you my hangover treatment hit the bin first thing when I got here."
Uhura leaned back against the counter. McCoy was irritated; she had such a lovely laugh and her eyes sparkled when she did. He cleared his throat. "So what becomes of your lover now, hm? Hope he's not someone you've got to work beside ..."
Her smile faded. McCoy felt a little guilty for that, but he was in danger of developing something more that he wasn't ready for.
"I don't know, I actually do work closely with him ... I mean, he's ... well ..."
"I know it's Spock." He looked squarely at her. "No matter how big it is, it's still a floating box. There are no secrets."
"I shouldn't be surprised." She looked down at her hand and tapped the first on the counter. "I do wonder, though, if we were a little less secret would we have been a little more ... oh..."
"Stable?"
"Exclusive."
"Ah...don't think that public knowledge would change that." McCoy grumbled, suddenly plagued with an all too clear mental image of his ex-wife with...he had never figured out who the guy had been. "So...who did you find him with?"
"Oh, I couldn't tell...that'd be too cruel."
"And what he put you through wasn't?"
"You have a point...but we all work so closely together."
McCoy started thinking of everyone on the bridge. Chekov? Too young. Sulu? Too uptight. Suddenly, the image of Kirk in the hallway with the champagne and the flutes, and the nameplate with Spock's name on it popped into his head.
"Don't worry, I think I may have figured it out."
Uhura looked at him sharply. "Really? Are you going to tell anyone?"
"Just Kirk - to give him a good long talking to. I doubt anything I say to that pointy-eared ba- uh, Spock ... will make much of a difference."
"It's all right. I'll talk to Spock. Don't feel obligated to talk to Kir-"
"Obligated? I've been the closest thing that guy has to a moral compass since we met; If I don't say something, than he'll think it's okay to interfere."
Uhura shrugged. "Who's to say it's not? Spock and I never really stated anything about exclusivity ..."
"Stop right there. You were pretty damned upset last night, and you just don't get riled up about a one night stand; feelings that strong don't need an ultimatum; it's already proven itself as such." *Why am I getting all riled up about a one night stand, then?* McCoy asked himself.
Uhura pulled herself up so she was sitting on the counter and lightly clunked her heels against the cabinet doors. She looked vulnerable. "True ... but I'm finding it hard to hold anything against him if there was a misunderstanding."
McCoy walked over to her and leaned on the counter. "Well, whatever you decide to tell him, just remember you deserve better."
She smiled. "Who, like you?"
"God no, anyone but me."
"I had a good night." She tapped her foot against his knee, affectionately.
"Well, lets not make it a habit."
Uhura leaned into McCoy. The doctor leaned back, surprised by the sudden closeness.
"What, are you saying your old bones can't take it?"
Then, before McCoy had a chance to react, she kissed him. He tried to resist at first, but he had been resisting through the whole conversation and was worn out from trying to avoid something he wanted anyway. He wrapped his arms around her and she eased off the counter and into his embrace.
It was far less messy, this time around and both being sober. McCoy figured they would have ended up on the examining table in another moment if a small cough hadn't diverted their immediate attention.
"Maybe I will just come back later ..."
McCoy pushed back from Uhura with a little more force than was probably necessary.
"Chekov, no ... we were just ..."
"Lost my earring ..."
"Looking for it ..."
Chekove frowned. "You lost your earring in your mouth?"
McCoy and Uhura stared at him for a moment. Then McCoy cleared his throat and Uhura straightened her uniform.
"Thank you for the medicine, doctor." Uhura turned and left.