A/N: I've been playing with this idea for about a week now, and I finally have it DONE! I apologise in advance for any OOCness that makes you twitch; I was never good at capturing character properly. Also, this is my first try at romance for the Star Trek fandom. Don't go easy on me; I've done romance in other fandoms so I'm semi-experienced. Just wanted to say, first time with these characters so no one eats me. *sheepish look*
ON WITH THE FIC!
(The line is malfunctioning, so pretend this is it, 'kay?)
I
She loved the way he pronounced the word 'time'.
It was strange and by all means illogical, but there was just something about the word time being said with a Scottish accent that she just adored. And she never had to prompt it; when he talked about his work when they met for lunch it was used almost every other sentence. "I finally got the lift fixed; maybe now the thing'll get ye to the bridge on tyme.", "Hopefully next tyme he'll remember the proper safety equipment. Not tha' I'm settin' the best example, but still!", "The Captain said tha' next tyme I do tha' he'll ship me off to Delta Vega again. It was worth it though, just to see the look on his face.". There was just something about that word that only a Scot could bring out, and she loved hearing it.
Sometimes she'd pretend she hadn't quite head, just so he'd repeat the word. By now he was probably on to her tricks, but he obviously didn't care because he always repeated himself, putting unnecessary emphasis on that one word. She silently thanked him for it every time. There was only one thing she'd never heard (and might never hear) him say.
"I'll love ye till the end of tyme, Nyota. Till the end of tyme."
II
He always made time for her.
He could be in the middle of repairs from a major battle with a Klingon ship, or hurting himself making "improvements" to certain areas of the ship, or stuck in some small crawl space to reach something or other and trying to worm his way out without calling someone and without breaking his wrist (again), but he'd always take a second to talk to her, even if it was just to say that he would talk a "wee bit" later, and could she please get Keenser for him. He always tried to have, to the very least, a short conversation.
And then, sometimes, she'd be able to drag him away from repairing his beautiful girl, or improving its dilitium chambers (which he was pretty much obsessed with), or messing with the matter/anti-matter converter. Sometimes, she was the only one who could when, after three or four days of non-stop work, convince him to go back to his room and sleep, darnit, because he wasn't a Vulcan for God's sake and that he should stop acting like he could go over a week without sleep and not have it effect his performance. And then he'd walk off, grumbling to himself about how he was fine even though no one would believe him if it was said loud enough for a human to hear. It just went to show that sometimes a short conversation can be one Scotsmans downfall.
It was times like those that she was happy she knew him. Not because without her he'd run himself into the grave (which was perfectly true), but because he made her feel good about herself. Because, even if everyone else was busy in a time of crisis of after-crisis, he'd always give her the time of day.
III
He had the greatest middle name, and had the little quirk of hating being called by it.
It's a fact that, personally, Nyota finds hilarious. He'd let her call him Monty, but the mere mention of the name Edward the he'd be pouting and whining and grumbling about how much he hated his middle name.
"Oy never did like it," he'd told her one day, eyes half lidded as she led him to his quarters after nearly a week in Engineering running on no sleep and the lunch she brought him, his accent running thicker than normal. "Ma middle name, I mean. Me Mum always said it was after me granddad on her side since Da insisted on having ma first name being 'silly ol' Montgomery' and it was her way of getting' back at him fer it. Oy think it was just because he died when she was just a young lass, so it was her way of rememberin' him. Oy never liked tha' ma middle name was taken from a dead granddad tha' she missed. Da said he died the year before I was born, not when she was younger, too."
It had possibly been the most he'd ever talked about his life before Starfleet, other than hints of a younger sister he hadn't seen in years and a cousin who gave him his love of mechanics. It was also the only time he'd mentioned his parents.
She still loved his middle name, having decided when she was little that her first male child would be named Edward, but she never called him that after that day.
IV
He could talk to her for literally hours when allowed to.
It was nice after a long day, going down to Engineering and letting Scotty rant about this Cadet or that and how they treated 'his' ship, or how McCoy had officially banned him from anything that could burn, break or sprain anything. Listening to someone else's problems was and always would be a good way to forget your own, and she could often calm him down mid-rant if it was something particularly idiotic to get worked up over.
He could also listen.
Every once in a while she'd get started on a subject, the anniversary of this or that or how Kirk had been particularly childish that day, and he could just sit and listen, offering a gentle hand on her own, consoling quietly where he needed to. He may have been known for his loud mouth, but Nyota was pretty sure he should have been even better known for his good ears.
V
He was a huge animal lover.
He'd had pets ever since he was a kid, starting with fish and his most recent being two tribbles (without certain organs, obviously) and what used to be Admiral Archer's prized beagle, Porthos. (He'd gotten another dog at some time in the seven months Porthos went missing, so when he materialized on the Enterprise in as they started to leave Earth's atmosphere Scotty had decided to keep the pup.)
There was something about this quality that she liked in a guy, and always had. Maybe it was the fact that if they could take care of something else they could take care of kids, though that was a bit doubtful, but it was probably just the fact that she was an animal lover herself. If a guy already had several pets, he probably wouldn't add a few more, like her cat Isis, for instance, so maybe she was just drawn to that. Either way, it was something she hoped he never grew out of.
N
He was… taken.
It had just come up at some point. They had been talking about past relationships and they started getting into current. She said a bit about Spock, but not much since Scotty already knew about that full well at the time, so she had asked if he was taken. He had turned a deep crimson, looking up at the ceiling.
"I've got a lovely lass waitin' back home," he'd said. "Somehow, we miraculously stayed in touch while I was on Delta Vega, so she doesn't mind the long distance part. She's teaching basic xenopysiology back at the academy and dabbles in engineering in her spare tyme." And the subject was dropped.
Sometimes she wondered if they were still together, after seven months of being out in space and six of being friends with Scotty, but she never asked. It was an awkward topic for both, and she wouldn't torture him any more than she normally did with light (and possibly flirtatious) teasing.
And on those days, she wondered when she'd fallen in love, but she ignored that question too.
(More line malfunctions...)
A/N: A few things.
1) I did my research; Scotty's middle name is Edward. Look it up yourself if you don't believe me.
2) Yes, the dogs name is Porthos. More research and you may all now thank Wikipedia for that bit of information.
3) 'N' is the Roman Numeral for zero. It's used very little, and is known even less than used.
Okay, I feel better about people correcting and questioning now. :D
I know it's not the longest fic out there, but I wasn't really going for long; just finally finishing. As said earlier, idea has been infesting my brain and I needed to get it out. I just hope it was enjoyable. :B