Just a drunken mistake, he told himself. Just a mistake, a mutual mistake induced by the intoxication of a night of self-pity. It could have wounded up much worse than it was- it could have wound up worse than his recent divorce with Jocelyn. But it hadn't. As long as Kirk didn't find out, it could all fade into a bad memory. Well, a very foggy memory.

Actually, he didn't remember the night as all. He just remembered waking up with the head of the Enterprise's security sector in his arms, his head next to hers, far more comfortable than he had ever been with Jocelyn. And to be quite frank, he was surprised to find himself not castrated.

The shock had been mutual.

Suddenly, in the waking moment of cold realization, they shouted and sprang out of bed, falling in the tangle of sheets. She made to stand up, but then seemed to realize her apparent nakedness. He did the same thing. She yanked the blankets tight around herself, he grabbed a pillow and ducked behind the bed.

But before they could do anything more, she asked, "Where the hell are we?"

Bones grunted. "I don't remember."

The rustling of clothes signaled that she had found hers. McCoy glanced around, anxious to find his, but was graced with no such luck as to relocate his decency. Shutting his eyes, he swallowed down his embarrassment. "Are my clothes over there?" He'd rather this uncomfortable mess of finding clothes than of Jim's guffawing face if he walked in on them naked.

"Aye."

Boxers hit his face. "Thanks." The rest of his uniform shortly followed. In a few seconds he sat fully dressed, fearing to stand, fearing that he might see something that he missed since being with Jocelyn. The rustling on the other side of the bed stopped.

Awkward silence. "Dressed?" he asked.

"Yeah."

He stood, and so did she. They avoided making eye contact, instead content to find their way around the room and pick up their few and scattered belongings. Obviously they hadn't made it home from the Starfleet headquarters. Sad. Did neither of them really have a place to go?

She cleared her throat from the window. "We're in the city still. Downtown."

"Dandy."

That damned silence again. His eyes quickly surveyed the room, and he wondered who had decided on this place. Judging by the dust bunnies lying in the corners, the mud-tinged bed sheets and the yellowing wall, they weren't exactly in some upscale hotel that planned to offer them a big breakfast.

The window slid open. Bones glanced over to see her climbing out. "What are you doing?" he demanded, idiot radar going haywire. If she made one wrong move she was going to get hurt, and that meant he was going to have to help her back to proper medical facilities.

"Not leaving through the front door."

She raised an eyebrow, obviously waiting for him to follow. He sighed and stepped towards her, acknowledging that two uniformed Starfleet explorers walking out of this shanty shack probably wouldn't be the best of impressions. At least climbing out of a window would make it look top-secret or something badass.

"We're not mentioning this, right?" He swung a leg over the windowsill, watching where she put her hands and feet, and copied.

"Hell, no."

Her descent swiftly ended with deft placements of limbs. His took considerably longer, with her watching him the entire way, prepared to catch him if he lost balance. "Dammit, woman, I'm not going to fall!" he growled, halfway down.

"I didn't say anything." She raised her hands, but a smile tugged at her lips the same.

Bones nearly lost his footing. Sam Cooper, smile? "Damn it all," he grumbled quietly, cursing the way his heart rate increased just by her small expression. Usually Sam Cooper gave Spock a run for his money with the lack of emotions. Typically that sort of thing didn't work with the scrawnier of security guards, but anyone would be a fool to mess with an Omega. And Sam Cooper was a stout Omega.

Stoic, piercing eyes, no sense of humor. The Vulcans' eternal rival. At least, until now. Bones couldn't believe he had elicited a smile from the woman. A feat, truly. If only Jim had seen that.

No. Jim will not find out about this, he told himself. The smile had never happened. His feet touched the ground and he breathed an inaudible sigh of relief. "Traveling together?" she asked, voice flat.

"Sure." He didn't know the way back.

When he turned around to face her, her brown eyes were expectantly staring at him face. When he didn't say anything or move she raised an eyebrow. "How do we get back?"

He shrugged. "Where are we?"

She sighed and twisted around, taking in the street signs. McCoy reflected that he was somewhat calmer than he had ever imagined himself being in a situation like this. Had he enjoyed himself that much last night?

"There's… Van Buren Street. And Iodine. Sound familiar?"

"Nope." With a quick decision based on color, he headed towards the brighter signs, to the left, towards an entirely different intersection. "Bound to find some familiar sight, though."

She tailed after him silently. The sun lifted not too high in the sky, so Leonard figured they had woken fairly early, and therefore had enough time to make it back to Starfleet before anyone missed them too terribly. Until he came across a sign.

Sam halted before she collided with his back. "What?"

He rubbed his eyes and pointed, trying to keep at bay his sudden wave of rage. Sam looked at the sign and her stomach clenched. Central Park. They were in New York. What the hell had happened last night? "Do you have your PADD or a, I don't know, a walkie-talkie or something?"

"No." Emotionless, as usual, despite this revelation. "My pockets are empty. Yours are, too, I assume."

"Yeah," he responded, voice tight. He looked up from his hands and blew out a breath. "Well, we can sit around and stare at the cows or we can barbecue. Let's go find a way home."

Home. That's what Starfleet remained for them. They had no other place to go. They continued on their way, hoping to find some taxi or something, one of the people that somehow made a living driving strangers around. Sam walked behind him.

After a while, it got on his nerves. Did she have to walk behind him like she didn't know him? What, was he really that bad? He realized he hadn't shaved in two days, but the amount of scruff wasn't alarming or dirty. He whipped around. Her hand instinctively went to her empty belt- obviously back at Starfleet. She was weaponless. "Walk next to me, not behind me like a dog," he ordered

Her hand dropped to her side. "Sorry, habit," she offered, not really caring if he accepted that answer or not. She drew up beside him, and he relaxed a little bit. He found it much easier to have a companion than a follower. He didn't think of himself as much of a leader. He didn't need or want a Spock like Jim had.

Cars drove by, one after another. Leonard tried to hail them down, but they sped up and pealed around the next corner. But he kept trying. Finally, one stopped.

"How much to get to San Francisco?"

The driver scoffed. "Get out."

Reluctantly, they slid out, taking care to not touch each other. It drove off. They continued walking. After another silence, they stopped on a bench. "I have no idea where we're going. Hungry?"

"Yeah. How do your propose we get food?"

He pulled out his wallet. "I have a hundred."

"Peachy."

A quick conversation with a sweaty hot dog vendor and an exchange of funds, and they had two hot dogs and a broken bill. They sat on a bench to eat their meal. A much more comfortable silence fell on their companionship as they munched away. People walked by. Most ignored them, but a few casted glances their way and nodded or smiled. Probably tourists ecstatic to see someone in uniform. Luckily, none asked for pictures.

"Thank you, Doctor," Sam finally said. She flashed him a small smile, but his eyes were determinedly fixed ahead. Disappointed, she faced forward.

"Call me Leonard. Doctor is weird, considering the circumstances."

"Sorry."

He glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes, but saw her staring ahead as well. With a sigh he asked, "So what do I call you?"

"Sam, as long as I call you Leonard."

"What about when we get back to Starfleet?" Then circumstances would change and they would simply be coworkers again, nothing more.

"Lord Queen."

His head swiveled to take in her face, disbelieving that that had been humor in her voice. She cast him a glance, face stoic. "Something wrong?"

"No, no."

She inwardly chuckled. The only time she had ever seen his head turn that fast was when Kirk managed to get back aboard the Enterprise during the Romulan event, chaos, incident, whatever you wanted to call it. "When do you think we'll get back?"

He shrugged and growled, "I don't know, but let's make it one hell of a story."

Tell me what you think! Hope you liked it, and depending on the feedback I'll update soon. I don't want to continue writing something nobody particularily enjoys :)