The Sickbay doors swooshed open. McCoy looked up from his microscope to see his nurse rushing to the back room. Her usually cheerful expression was twisted into a depressed frown, and she appeared to be holding back tears.
McCoy stood up swiftly. He caught her wrist just as she was about to enter the back room. "Whoa, now. Slow down Christine. Where's the fire?"
Christine looked up at him. He could never help noticing before how lovely her eyes were. So clear, so blue. Of course now they took on a reddish tint from the unshed tears she bravely held back. "It's Spock." she whispered.
For a reason he understood all too well, this explanation made him extremely frustrated. "What's that green-blooded hobgoblin done now?" he asked, his voice taking on an unintended edge.
"Nothing. That's the point. Absolutely nothing. I feel like such a fool, launching myself at him. Now the whole crew knows that I-" She broke down. McCoy, feeling slightly out of his element, patted her shoulder. "It's okay, Christine."
Christine sniffed. "Doctor, do you know what it's like to love someone that will never love you?"
McCoy sighed. He thought back to his two failed marriages. Both times he had loved a woman who seemed to love him back, but who, in the end, was after him for his rank in Star Fleet. He had felt the pain of having his heart wrenched in two too many times before, so he had taken a vow to never love again. But here he was, standing in front of his attractive nurse, feeling things he had sworn to forget. The only problem was, she loved that green-blooded hobgoblin.
"Yes. I love someone who will never love me. It's a terrible pain." Christine looked up, interested. "Who? How do you live with the pain?"
Doctor McCoy sighed. "I can't tell you who, but I can tell you how. You just keep moving. That's all you can do." "Thanks, Doctor!" Christine smiled and hugged him. He was just beginning to enjoy the embrace when the intercom buzzed. "Kirk to sickbay. We have an emergency. Doctor McCoy, please report to the bridge at once." McCoy regretfully let go of Christine, grabbed his medical kit, and rushed out the door. "Keep moving." He told himself. "It's the only way."