Lieutenant Romero hurtled through the cave's tunnel as fast as she could. But she was encumbered. She clutched a small child to her chest with her right hand, the 2.5 kg not as much of a burden as the child's father, whom she was practically dragging with her left hand. He'd probably fractured his ankle, but as the ceiling was falling in around them, she pushed on, figuring Dr. McCoy could set it as long as they made it out alive.
Ahead, Olivia could see the light of the roughly-hewn exit. She couldn't be sure for the dust, but it seemed as if McCoy and another Science Officer stood at the mouth. She screamed something, nothing really, and squeezed the bicep of the man at her side. Two women had managed to escape and there were only maybe a dozen or so meters left.
But the ceiling was giving way. It was a mosaic above her. She roughly shoved the man to his feet and shrieked, "Run run run!"
He managed to pull ahead, screaming someone's name. And then the crack happened. Romero knew she wouldn't make it through. So she let go of the man and with the rest of her strength, hurled the child through the air toward the exit. The last thing Romero saw was McCoy catch the child, and then there was darkness.
"Get out'a there!" McCoy shouted at the man, who was stumbling and crying and coughing. McCoy handed the child to him as the medic bent down to examine them.
"Romero!" McCoy shouted into the cave. "Romero!"
"Where is she?" a deep, still voice asked the doctor.
McCoy turned and faced Spock, whose expression was even, but his eyes seemed to shimmer. McCoy looked into the cave. The collapse of it had stopped and the terrain was quite still, the din subsiding as the dust settled.
Before McCoy could say anything further, Spock plunged into the cave. "Spock!" McCoy shouted.
"Come along, doctor," he said flatly. McCoy would have thought him callous for the lack of feeling, but he held his words as Spock bent down, lifted an enormous boulder as if it were nothing, and tossed it behind him without looking. Then he tossed another, and another, and another.
"Spock…" McCoy said. "Let her go…"
"Lieutenant Romero," Spock said loudly, ignoring the doctor. "Please respond." He tossed more boulders. After a moment of watching, McCoy changed his mind. He bent down and began to help. After a few minutes, there was a free space.
Spock reached around for his tricorder and switched on a flashlight. There, in the space he created, lay Lieutenant Romero. Her face was still, passive, her eyes closed, dark lashes dusting her cheeks just as the dust settled on her blue uniform.
McCoy bent near her and scanned her briefly. He gasped. "My god, she's alive."
Spock shifted more boulders away from her. Several had fallen on her legs, which were apparently broken very badly. Her uniform trousers were torn and increasingly soaked with blood.
"Olivia," Spock whispered at her. McCoy shot a look of shock at him. She didn't reply.
"Let's get her back to the ship," McCoy said. Spock had already extracted his communicator and hailed the Enterprise.
"Three to beam up. Have a medic team standing by." He flipped the communicator shut and after a moment, their bodies shimmered and disappeared.
Olivia couldn't open her eyes, but for a moment she thought she heard Commander Spock say, "Anything to report?" and then Dr. McCoy reply, "Unless you need those ears checked, you'll remember I said I'd tell you as soon as something happens."
Then Olivia was out again.
When she finally was able to open her eyes, the first thing she saw was the beautiful face of Nurse Chapel, the light of the room reflecting white off of her cheekbones, blue eyes glittering. Olivia smiled. Then a wave of nausea hit her as her legs burned with pain. A groan escaped her and Nurse Chapel said, "Alright, I've got you." She touched something above Olivia's head and after a moment, her stomach settled and her legs felt numb.
"Thanks, Christine," Olivia mumbled. "Sickbay painkillers are really good."
Chapel chuckled. "Hopefully you won't need too many of them."
"Well, well," Dr. McCoy's voice came from the doorway. He was fuzzy from that distance, but as he came closer Olivia could see he was smiling. "How's the heroine?" McCoy asked.
"A little busted up, it seems," she whispered.
"Don't try to talk too much. You've just had quite a bit of surgery."
"I don't feel dead, so good job," Olivia said.
McCoy chuckled, "Glad to see your spirit wasn't crushed."
"How many people made it out?" she asked.
McCoy smiled softly and patted her arm. "All of them," he said with a sigh. "Thanks to you." Then he chuckled. "Also, that was a pretty nice throw. Your little football made it all the way to the end zone."
"Go Bears," Olivia whispered. Then she closed her eyes and sighed to sleep.
McCoy checked her vitals and then returned to his office. He leaned over the computer and flipped a switch. "McCoy to Commander Spock," he said.
After a moment, the Commander replied, "Spock here."
"Lieutenant Romero just woke for a moment. She's going to come out of it." McCoy smiled, then blinked as he was met with silence.
Just as McCoy was about to check if Spock had heard him, the Vulcan's voice replied, "Thank you, Doctor."
McCoy smirked before flipping another switch to tell Ensign Mori to inform the rest of her friends that Romero would make it. The tiny Science Officer actually shouted "Yahoo!" when she heard. McCoy went back to his work laughing.
That evening as most of the crew was let off duty, a crowd had gathered around the sickbay doors. "Damn it, Nurse!" McCoy shouted as he clambered in from the group of crewmen all shouting questions and cheering. "I'm a doctor, not a bouncer!" He nearly stumbled turning and stopped to block the door. Mori, Patil, and Luo were asking so many questions at once, he couldn't catch any of them.
Finally, putting his fingers in his mouth, Dr. McCoy fired off a loud whistle. "All right!" he shouted. "You're all going to have to draw straws because she gets TWO" he lifted two fingers, "visitors a day, for fifteen minutes!" There was a loud "awww!" and much complaining, but McCoy whistled again. He announced, "I know you want to see her, but she's just won a chess match with death. Let her rest a while!" Then he looked down, "Mori, Patil, you can come in. Everyone else, come back later!"
Mori and Patil turned and held out their arms. The rest of the crewmen dropped books, PADDs, and bags of candy into their hands. Once full, they marched into sickbay and dumped the lot in the bio bed next to Olivia. The Lieutenant had sat up slightly and was grinning at the spectacle.
"Boy oh boy, I feel like a regular technostar!" Patil and Mori laughed, the latter lifting her hand to high-five Romero.
Two more days passed and Olivia could finally sit up for more than a few hours. McCoy complimented her for not resisting his treatments, remarking, "Most people can't wait to get out of here."
"I doubt most people have had a cave collapse on them," she replied with a yawn. "Besides," she said, "I am madly in love with you. How could I go anywhere else?"
McCoy laughed and patted her hand. "You're too charming for your own good." Then he walked away and she was left alone.
After a few minutes Olivia heard the door to sickbay decompress. And then she heard, to her astonishment, the voice of Mr. Spock say, "Doctor."
"Spock," McCoy replied, "What can I do for you?"
"I came to inquire after Lieutenant Romero," he said, and Olivia's jaw dropped.
McCoy had obviously paused in surprise. Then he said, "Well, it's not quite visiting hours…" After a breath he continued, "I suppose you're not likely to excite her."
Sick burn, thought Olivia.
But neither officer spoke again. Instead, Commander Spock walked into the room, meeting her eyes immediately.
She smiled widely, laying a book in her lap. "Hello, Commander."
"Lieutenant," he said, walking to her side and clasping his hands behind his back. "How are you feeling?" he said with a sort of effort.
"Much better," she said. "Thanks for digging me out," she added.
"No thanks are necessary," he said. "It was my duty."
"Of course," Romero said. "But I'm still grateful. Would it be unnecessary to thank you for visiting?" she asked with a sly smirk.
He paused a moment, lifting his eyebrow in that way everyone loved. "No," he said finally. "It is agreeable to see you." She smiled and adjusted herself slightly against her pillows.
"We received a formal honor from the high command." He tilted his head slightly, "Your act of heroism greatly impressed the dignitaries. Captain Kirk was able to make diplomatic progress in this system."
"That is very exciting," she said. Then she wasn't able to restrain a huge yawn. "Pardon me," she said. She blinked at him. "I'm doing better, but I find every time I try to read, I get very sleepy. I can't get more than a few pages in before I'm out like a light."
Spock nodded. "I imagine that would be… frustrating." He looked down at the book in her lap.
Then she said, "Yes. I was just about to attempt this one when you arrived."
He swallowed, looking at the book, and seemed to be thinking something over. Then, finally, he looked back up at her and said, "May I?"
She blinked at him, the look of expectation on his face. Then she reached down and picked up the book. She held it out to him and he took it, glancing at the cover. "A paperback classic," he said. She smiled politely. Still holding the book, he looked up and around the room. In silence, he crossed over to the table and picked up a stool. He returned to Olivia's bed and sat the stool beside it. He touched a button on it and it rose in height slightly. Without looking at her, Spock sat himself on the stool and swiveled toward her. She could have reached out her right hand and patted his knee. She didn't, of course.
Olivia's eyebrows were very high at this point, incredulous, disbelieving. But Spock had not so much as spared a glance for her face in the time he adjusted himself. Then, just when Olivia felt at a total loss, he opened the book.
He turned a few pages and read a moment. Then he looked up at Olivia and announced, "Mrs. Dalloway said she would buy the flowers herself."