I do not own the characters in the story.

Nurse Chapel

"Leonard, why don't you go back to your quarters? It doesn't look like he'll be waking up any time soon." Christine's voice was soft and reassuring, which was unusual, but he welcomed it.

"I can't leave him. What if something happens?" Leonard replied, the worry for his best friend obvious in his voice.

"It's not like you're the only person with a medical degree on this ship, you know," she replied smoothly, making Leonard let out he closest thing to a laugh he could manage.

"I know, I know. I just…I'm worried about him," he said letting out a long sigh and glancing down at the sleeping form of Jim.

It was at the end of a mission when Jim caught the virus. The natives knew of only a few people who had ever contracted it. They had all died. There was no known cure. That was enough to keep Leonard up for three nights working out an antivirus. The moment he injected Jim with it his vitals had gotten slightly more normal, and he was on the path to a steady recovery.

"There's more to the story than you're telling me. What on Earth is keeping your ass glued to that chair?" She asked, her arms crossed over her chest like a mom trying to get her son to spill his secrets. Leonard would never admit it, but she could be very intimidating sometimes.

And with that question, like old building walls, every mask on his face crumbled down. Every raw emotion was plastered to his face, visible for the world to see. All the love and worry he had for this man was there.

That was the only answer Christine needed.

A sly grin spreads across her face as she turns and walks away from Leonard. "I knew you two were more than friends." She called out, looking behind her to see him checking over Jim's vitals for the tenth time in the past thirty minutes. The only difference was the fact that he was holding onto Jim's hand like he was going to fade away at any moment.

Scotty

Of course Bones was upset to see some red shirts bringing a body bag into the med bay. He'd go over there and open it up and see someone he most likely knew. Maybe he'd spoken to them a few times in the halls or given them a physical (granted they would have had to actually show up).

When he walked over, Leonard did not know what was about to occur. He didn't know who was in that body bag. And he was fine with not knowing.

"Leonard…I'm so sorry. I know you were close. We tried to save him. We really did, sir." Scotty said, standing a few feet away from the table.

"What on Earth are you talking about?" Leonard grumbled, unzipping the bag.

Oh.

So that's what he was talking about.

All the light drained from his eyes as he looked upon the still body of his best friend, his lover. He could feel the tears spilling down his face and made no effort to stop them.

Scotty began to piece everything together now, the way Jim and Leonard looked at each other; those few times when he saw Leonard walk out of the captain's quarters and never questioned it because it was usually at the beginning of a shift when everyone was tired, and the random times when Leonard was on the bridge. It all made sense. Unless they were extremely close friends, the only answer was they were romantically involved. And if that didn't convince him then the look on Bones' face did.

"Oh my god." Scotty mumbled upon his realization, "I-I'll just leave you to, um, say… goodbye." The last word hung in the air with an uncomfortable silence.

The final sound he heard upon exiting the room was the relaxing purr of the tribble residing on Doctor McCoy's desk.

Uhura

There had been messages from Starfleet coming in all day, therefore when Uhura ended up walking back to the bridge in the middle of the night to make sure no more messages had come through, she wasn't too surprised.

She wasn't surprised to see the Captain still on the bridge, seeing as he mentioned he was going to remain there for a little while afterwards.

She was surprised to find that he was not alone. Even more surprising was that he wasn't the only occupant of the Captain's chair.

It was definitely a sight to see; Doctor McCoy sitting on Jim's lap with his legs thrown over the arm of the chair. They were deep in conversation, Leonard enthusiastically waving his hands around to emphasize whatever he was talking about, and Jim watching him with an amused expression.

The moment the turbolift doors closed behind her, the room got uncomfortably silent.

Uhura stood there, frozen in front of the turbolift. The thought of turning around and leaving had crossed her mind, but she needed to check and make sure no more transmissions had come through.

It didn't take long for a mischievous grin to appear on her lips. Everyone had noticed how Jim and Leonard had been acting around each other. It didn't take long for people to start a betting pool of 'are the Captain and Dr. McCoy fucking or just really, incredibly friendly with each other?'

"Lieutenant? Is something going on?" Jim asked upon noticing the smile on her face.

"I don't know. Why don't you tell me?" Uhura replied smoothly, nodding at the two in front of her.

"Well…I, uh, we're…" Jim was at a loss for words. He looked over at Bones who just shrugged and said something along the lines of, "I ain't helping your sorry ass."

"You don't have to say anything. I think I get it." She said, quickly walking over to her station to do what she needed to.

A wave of relief flowed through her when there were no transmissions, and it didn't seem like any would be there for the rest of the night. Or day. Space didn't have nighttime or daytime.

"Sorry for interrupting. And don't worry, I'll keep it a secret." She said, winking at the two.

"Thank you, Nyota." Leonard said, giving her a small smile.

"Don't worry about it." She smirked, stepping into the turbolift.

The last words she heard was Jim saying, "Wait, why do you get to call her Nyota? Since when did you two get on first name basis?"

+1

"Keptin on ze bridge!" Chekov announced as Jim stepped out of the turbolift.

It always felt good to sit back in the Captain's chair after a long shore leave, and after a month Jim was getting pretty restless. (Much to Bones' annoyance as he told him, multiple times, that this was their vacation dammit and they were going to enjoy it.)

"I trust everyone had an enjoyable shore leave?" he asked, attempting to hold a response from the crew. A chorus of "yes captain" and "very much so, sir" filled up the bridge, bringing a small smile to Jim's face.

"I assume yours was quite well." Uhura smirked as she passed Jim on the way to her station.

"Well…I guess you could say that." He replied, the light in his smile not only evident on his lips but in his eyes too.

Nobody mentioned it, but they all noticed the golden wedding band on his ring finger, which matched the one Dr. McCoy, started wearing a few weeks ago.

(They also failed to mention how fantastic the wedding was.)