My first story. I rated it T at first, but it got out of hand by chapter 4, so I had to bump it up to M. There is more M stuff in chapter 8 if you're the type of person who wants to skip to the good parts. Cover art by the amazing KalleJ, if you want to leave a review for him (you should!) you can do that here.

Chapter one - The hairy little creature

The hairy little creature had snuck up behind Spocks chair. Now she was pausing, trying to see if he had noticed. When she saw no reaction, she quietly climbed the shelf behind him and leaned forward over his bent neck. He was sitting perfectly still, looking at the console. She leaned more forward, pulling in air with all four nostrils and sticking out a papillose pink tongue as far as she could reach.

Spock was of course aware of the situation. It was really becoming irritating, and required a mental effort to remain motionless. Fourth attempt today, and it was only alpha shift.

What had started out as a simple visit to a newly discovered planet had resulted in this new diplomatic emissary/crew member. Short and angular with long arms and short legs. Small cranium, sharp teeth, long toes. And she was very, very hairy. Short, stiff, tapered hairs like eyebrows all over the body, even in the face. At first glance the crew from Enterprise had assumed that it was a primitive race, of Homo erectus-type or even older. Australopitecus.

Spock was wishing that they had indeed been only that. He could hear her breath just above his neck and moved sideways – as he had planned to do from the moment she came in – so that she fell face first over the console.

"Awww come on! Don't do that! How did you know I was there?"

"I heard you. Even though you move with more stealth for each attempt, I am able to hear you clearly from the start."

"Good ears you have there. But why can't you let me sample just a bit? It would get me off your back, really it would."

"You need to consider the customs of other races if you are going to be on a space ship, and vulcans do not like to be touched." Or licked, but he didn't even like to mention that. Spock turned away and left the room, leaving the creature sitting sulking on the floor when McCoy came in.

–***–

McCoy had been the one to give the hairy woman her present name. After she had come aboard, the captain had asked how he should address her.

"I use the letter L, repeated. You may add any vowels that you like. We all have different names in different territories, and often change for new ones. I have been called La-le-la and Lo-lo-lo, for example."

"So, I could call you Lily-Lee? I'd like that, sounds like a friend of my mothers."

"Yes, please do that! That would be a new!" And so the name had stuck.

–***–

"Lily-Lee, would you come to sickbay with me? Some of the photos didn't come out right and I need to get your species description as correct as possible before you are presented back home."

"Of course. This pursuit is not getting me anywhere." She got up and walked with McCoy to the turbolift.

"Well, forget about Spock and make yourself useful. When we have the pictures you could help me analyse one of the men working on the air ducts. He got a bad skin rash from something and I can't see from what."

"The one with black hair and a bald spot? I was walking past him today and he smelled of lots of things that are normally not found in the corridors. Mercaptoethanol, for example. I didn't focus on him though, so I can't say yet."

"You'll get a better sniff at him later. Here we are."

"Does this mean I can take the dress off now? I'm still not used to it. Besides, if you are going to take pictures..."

"Oh, well, yes, sure. Go into that room, I'll close the door."

Lily-Lee was sitting on the stretcher while McCoy pulled up pictures on a screen. She folded the dress neatly and scratched her elbows. McCoy was putting his finger on one picture after another, stopping on the last one.

"Feet, x-ray of feet, recorded running pattern is fine. Bone structure and composition is no problem. Muscles, nerves, veins. Head from all angles. The only problem is the surface texture. I have noticed that you have a pigment patters under the hairs."

"Yes, isn't it beautiful? I am very proud of my naturally thin swirls. When I was young the thick straight lines were much more fashionable so I was miserable then, but hey, which youth isn't? Now they are popular and I am flock leader, that's the way it goes. Always great to have something new."

"I thought you were young now? I have written here that you are twenty-one years old and that is roughly the same in earth years."

"Yes, and we live to be about forty, so I am middle-aged. I have two grown kids, you know."

"Huh. Anyway, the photos from last time show the hairs, but not the pigmentation. What can we do about that? Slant the picture?"

"We could make the hairs stand on end, that would get them out of the way."

"Can you do that?"

"Piloerection is not controlled by the will, but by the sympathetic nervous system. But we could make it happen anyway. Here, help me get goose bumps." She got up on all fours on the stretcher.

"Put your fingers on my neck and track them down each side of the spine. Yes, exactly like that. Do it again but slower. Good, you're great at this. You can follow the patters of the hairs, circle the shoulder blades and down the sides. Keep doing that." She shivered a bit.

"Are you cold? I'll turn up the heat for you."

"No, that just means it working. Can you go down the arms and legs? Especially the thighs need to get traced." Dr McCoy stroked his surgeon's fingers down the thighs to the knees resting on the table. She shivered again and he noticed that the skin was starting to contract around every follicle.

"And grab my butt!"

There are universal laws, like the law of entropy, but not one as reliable as Murphy's Law. This was the moment when Spock walked in. McCoy stood frozen to the spot with both hands firmly grabbing the butt of a small woman who was moaning and shivering. And the camera clicked.

–***–