Hey, all!

I'm on a bit of a McCoy rant at the moment. I have a lot of Spock stories lined up, but I just want to get a couple of my lovely Leonard fics out of my head and onto the comp. :)

This will probably end up being a series, eventually resulting in a multichaptered installment of the series. Keep your eyes out for the next fic.

Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. I do, however, own this story. Please, do not steal.

He watched as she sat across from her Orion companion, eating her yogurt as they giggled about one thing or another. She would reach her spoon into the small carton, scooping up its gooey contents before shoveling it into her mouth. Nyota Uhura would then deliberately lick the small, metal utensil free of the white goop before dipping it back in again. He couldn't help it, and sighed at the realization.

"Bones!" The good doctor felt a hand hand his shoulder and quickly looked down at his untouched meal tray.

"What can I do for you, Jim?" he asked him gruffly, digging into the food he was not at all interested in, his thoughts on how he longed to be that spoon...

"I need you to perform a test on Uhura's vision. She's too stubborn to admit it, but I think it could effect her work - and be detrimental to her health," he told him, still in Captain mode. It was moments like those, the moments when Leonard McCoy stopped and really looked at his friend, that he felt a brotherly, almost paternal, pride.

"And how do you expect me to do that, you numbskull, if you say she's too stubborn to come in?"

The younger, blond boy shrugged. "That's your job, not mine."

Leonard sighed, rubbing his temple as he watched Nyota get up and walk straight into the chest of some young ensign. "Send her to Medical Bay first chance she gets, alright? Today, preferably before someone looses an eye."

At the last second, he reached back to grab Jim by the sleeve before he could leave.. "Hey, uh," he started, lowering his voice, "Have you heard from New Vulcan?"

His face became solemn and he sat down beside McCoy, inclining his head to his. "Spock completed koon-ut last night and is still in Pon Farr. He is hoping to return to the Enterprise once his new wife gets pregnant," he whispered, unable to hide the disgust in his voice.

"He really is a cold-blooded bastard," he muttered, wishing that his drink was much stronger than a soda. The Captain just nodded in agreement, patting his back as he stood up.

"Well, thanks, Bones."

"Yeah, yeah, you overgrown teenager..." he said to him grumpily, his mind already back on how the exotic woman before him, who was now chatting eagerly with another of her many friends, could make even white, goopy yogurt so deliciously appealing.

He stood up suddenly, dumping his tray on the way out of the Mess, muttering about his old bones, and trying not to notice the way she seemed to float when she moved.

- - -

"Leonard?" she called into the nearly empty Sick Bay. It was a slow day for the Medical Staff, so most of them were given a break - Nyota could see the perfectly white coats hanging up along the entrance wall.

It always gave her a sense of satisfaction, but also discomfort, to see the perfectly sterilized stations. Everything in the Medical Bay was always perfectly clean. The monitors gleamed above the beds, the taintless drawers were filled with shining, silver medical tools, the walls were bright and white - even the lights that hung over head seemed untainted and pure, as if staring into little bright, white suns.

"Thanks for stopping in," she heard him call from his office, followed by the sound of his chair scraping against the floor. She walked in the direction of his voice and leaned against the threshold, watching him raise from where he was at his desk.

He looked up at her, his eyes appraising her tall form wearily, still unable to comprehend how anyone could walk away from someone so captivating. "Jim wanted me to give you an eye test," he said.

He watched as Nyota's eyes lit up in anger, her arms crossing. "I told him I do not need it! My vision is perfectly fine!" she seethed, "He just told me you needed my help with something."

"He's a goddamn chicken shit, I never denied that," he told her and, to his hidden joy, she smiled in amusement.

"Okay, where do you want me?"

Leonard ignored the unintended innuendo in that statement and led her into a darker room off of the Medical Bay. She tried not to bump into anything as she followed him, wanting to prove her wellness. What she feared in the confirmation of her deteriorating eyesight was that she would be put off duty until they could go pick up whatever she needed - glasses, contacts, anything.

"Sit down right there," he said, pointing to the chair in the center of the room. The computer dimmed the lights automatically upon sensing the presence in the chair and the machine swung before her face.

"Just rest your chin right here," he said, reaching forward to place in chin on the rest. Again, he wondered how anyone could leave such a woman - not only was she so beautiful, but she was intelligent, kind, and when she looked deep into one's eyes, all fortifications just fall away.

"Alright. I'm going to need you to read off the second-to-bottom line," he said.

"FO... E... QZP? Maybe?" The computer recognized what she said and the machine suddenly moved, flipping and switching slides of glass.

"Please state preference. Slide one," the automative voice said from through the walls. "Slide two," it continued, the gears in the machine turning and switching the lens once more.

"Slide one," she said. The next few minutes continued like that until Nyota's prescription appeared on the monitor before them and the machine swung away from her face, the lights brightening once more.

"Alright, what's the consensus, Doctor?" she asked him softly, the smile she had carefully tacked in place this past week slipping into one of exhaustion.

"Well, you are definitely going to need some glasses or contacts," he told her, slipping out a few pairs from one of the drawers. Nyota stood up to look at them and laughed, picking up a pair.

"I feel like my Baba," she said with a playful grin, slipping the extremely large pair of wire-rimmed glasses onto her face.

"How about these hot HRGs," he suggested teasingly, holding up the large pair of horn-rimmed glasses and she laughed again.

"Eh, I don't know, I think those are too hot for me to handle," she said with a grin, "Let's try some smaller ones."

He rummages through his small pile before holding up a pair of thin, dark red-rimmed glasses. "How about these?" he asked and she nodded.

Once they were on her face he settled them correctly over her ears, balancing them properly before giving her the mirror.

"These'll work," she said and he took them off of her, running them under the heater before placing them back over her eyes. His face, mere inches from hers, focused on fitting the glasses. He lingered for a moment longer than necessary, his fingers still behind her ears.

"Leonard?" her breath tickled his face pleasantly, but caused his hazy eyes to refocus.

"All done," he told her with a small smile, backing away from her. It was too soon for her, still too soon for him...

Nyota smiled at him weakly, starting to feel the emptiness seep back into her bones. Bones. She looked up at the man in front of her once more, finally truly understanding.

"You still have that stash of liquor in your office?" she asked him. Something about her question - the way it was delivered in one, exhausted breath, perhaps - changed the situation around. She wasn't in control any more. She was no longer the confident woman that she paraded as, no longer Lieutenant Uhura.

She sat on his couch, a little uncomfortable from lack of use, as he pulled the drink from under his cabinet. Nyota supposed that, since he was no longer kicked out of his room by a horny Jim Kirk, he didn't need to sleep on it any more, anyway.

"Long day, huh?"

"Long week," she told him, taking the glass offered to her and shot it down. He kindly poured her another, which she nursed much more slowly.

"You wanna talk about it?" he offered, sitting down on the couch beside her.

"I don't know if I should," she told him, her mouth set in a straight line, "I might cry, and I know how you hate that."

He smiled at her attempt at a playful jab. "I can handle it."

She sighed, shaking her head slowly. She knew he didn't want to be the rebound guy and, honestly, she didn't want him to. Be the rebound guy, that is, and she wouldn't want to mistake whatever relationship they could end up having for just a fling. Leonard had always been her friend, and she has seen what detrimental turns a friendship could endure - and how they break because of them.

"I'm done with the crying. It's the hollowness that's harder to handle, the need to keep constantly busy, and the break of habit - expecting to see - "

She stopped herself, telling herself that she was becoming too open, too emotional. She was always strong. No one would want her if she wasn't strong.

"I got over the shock," Nyota finished. She then reached for more alcohol, but she grabbed it before she could, pouring it for her. She adjusted the new glasses on her nose before taking another sip, the warm feeling starting to make her feel a pleasant tingling.

For some reason, he doubted that. She was stronger than him, stronger than he would ever admit, but it took him a long time to truly get over the shock of his wife cheating on him like she had - and Spock had been engaged since he was a child, married the new woman days after leaving the girl who had doted over him unconditionally, and was in Pon Farr at that moment trying to have their baby. But he said nothing, only refilling his glass.

"How did you do it?" she asked him softly and his eyes sought out hers, his hand resting on her forearm tenderly.

"Time and a lot of drinks," he said with a bitter smile, "But I didn't have what you have. You have a family who loves you and is here for you, whenever you need them."

"My family is back in Kenya, Leonard. And I can't talk to them since my mother can't afford a proper monitor."

"I meant all of us, here on the Enterprise. But them too, of course," he told her, taking another sip of the golden liquid.

Against her promise, her eyes welled. She quickly wiped at them, though, refusing to shed the tears in front of anyone.

"Thank you," she said after a second of unwilling sniffling, smiling at him. The smile came easier to her than any of the others she had forced this past week.

He knew it wasn't time yet, that it may be a while until it was time, but he smiled back at her - hoping that, one day soon, the time would come.

"I hope you know that he made the biggest mistake of his life," he told her, and she gave him that look - when she stares deep down into you, and made your insides feel like the yogurt she was eating that morning.

She knew that the statement was genuine, and was even more touched when he didn't bother insulting him when he said it. Nyota pulled him into a hug, pressing herself against his warm body. His arms found their way around her, and she finally felt the world disappearing around her.

"That green-blooded, pointy-eared, fucking stupid jerk-off," he grumbled upon feeling her tears on his shirt. She chuckled softly, enjoying the sensation of his warm hands combing through her hair comfortingly.

"Thank you, Leonard."

He finally allowed himself to release her, even though his soul didn't want him to, and watched her stand up. As if putting together the pieces of a complex, three-dimensional puzzle, he watched as she pulled herself back into Lieutenant Uhura. He stood up and assisted her with wiping off her eye makeup with a tissue.

"Any time."

She pressed her warm lips to his cheek before telling him that she really should get back to the bridge, something that Nyota definitely regretted having to do. He just watched her walk out the door of his office and picked back up his drink.

"To illogic," he whispered, raising his glass to the empty air around him before gulping it down.

R&R