'You really are a royal pain my ass, Melanie, you know that?'

Bones all but glared laser beams into the video console of his desk communications centre where he saw the equally pissed off projection of his nefariously snotty ex-wife. The temptation to drag his hands over his face was strong but he would have French-kissed a straight razor before giving Melanie the satisfaction of seeing she'd gotten to him tonight.

'What I am is short on money.'

'I told you-'

'Don't you love your daughter, Leonard? Don't you care about her schooling? Not all of us are doctors who are so cold-hearted that we abandoned our families to go play space pirates halfway across the galaxy,' Melanie spewed at him, making it hard for Bones to believe he'd once found her so beautiful when riled up. 'What would you like me to say to the school, to our child when she is sent home from school because the payment didn't go through? I still would like to be able to show my face in this city you know.'

'Melanie, I already told you, we were experiencing interference in our outbound communications signal due to the asteroid field passing through the planetoid's orbit where the crew were on a diplomatic mission to the Shavian colony. We couldn't even get signals through to Star Fleet about our mission, nevermind-'

'Nevermind my ass, Leonard,' she spat. 'Thank god I got the money this morning, I have things to look after here since you just don't want to be the responsible father Joanna expects you to be.'

Bones felt a sick punch in his gut at the mention of his twelve year-old daughter's name; Joanna, the one thing he'd gotten right in his life beyond his career as a doctor. He missed her with a tangible ache, and had gone to bed more than once in his quarters playing her video messages over and over just to hear her sweet voice. 'Mel, whatever happened between us to make you hate me so much aside, I love Joanna. I've loved her since before she was born and nothing will ever change that.'

'Then send the fucking money she needs on time or I'll have my attorney tell you what comes next.'

'You weren't- bah, dammit!' Bones swore as his video-chat feed vanished, Melanie having cut him off and he was left staring at the last picture he'd taken with Joanna on his last shore leave on Earth seven months before. They'd gone to Golden Gate Bridge park and spent the day at a music festival, getting matching Grateful Dead t-shirts as souvenirs - blue for him because of his status as a science officer, green for her as a civilian attache. She looked so much like her mother and had inherited nearly all of his personality which surely had to drive Melanie nuts.

Huffing out a short sigh and dragging his hand across his face, he leaned back in his chair and grumbled behind his palm, then got his second unwelcome jolt when he heard the voice over his shoulder.

'Bones? Should I come back later?'

Good god, the universe hated him today, Bones thought miserably as he took a moment to school his face out of the gargoyle-like snarl Melanie infallibly put there then turned him around to face the other woman causing him grief these days. 'No, Nurse Chapel, I could use a distraction.'

Bones tried not to think about the way the skirt on Christine's regulation blue uniform swished over her lush yet athletic legs, nor the way she always carried the scent of lemon meringue pie on her skin. Her eyes were worried, even as she smiled and took a seat across the desk from him.

'I hope I didn't catch you at a bad time.'

'I just got off the comm with my ex-wife, ragging me out about being late with the child support payment due to our away mission last week.'

'I'm sorry,' Christine replied, and truly meant it - nothing made her feel worse than seeing Bones upset; he was always so cocksure and full of swagger that seeing him in such a state made pity swell inside her like a switched had been flipped. She tried to think of something clever to say but Bones was already getting the rest of the vitriol out of his system.

'Woman's more trouble than she is worth most days. Don't know how my Jo puts up with her.'

Now it wasn't gentle sympathy but a sucker punch Christine felt in her gut. Jo, she thought, your daughter, because you are older than me, and have been married and have a child. She forced the school-girl romantic notions of him back into the farthest corner of her mind she could reach at the moment and opened the tablet cover she'd set on his desk. 'I brought you the calendar I drafted for scheduling the crew's six month check-ups and I promise I didn't double book anything this time.'

'You're my senior medical aide, not my secretary Christine,' Bones reminded her, 'but I appreciate it.'

'I also brought you the updates on those viral samples you were incubating, and logged my own notes on the hydroponic greenhouse I've been working on with Uhura. Thought you might like an update on some of the plants she's helping me grow for alternative remedies.'

'Hydroponic greenhouse?' The moment the words were out, Bones felt like an ass at the sharp flicker of disappointment in her eyes.

'Yes, the captain gave us permission to use part of one of the cargo holds for our experiment, and it is turning out even better than we hoped. We've even given a few remedies out for minor issues to keep the hard stuff stocked for when it's truly needed.' Christine steeled herself against any flutterings he dredged up in her. 'Perhaps if you have a spare moment this evening, you'll be able to come down and see what we have accomplished?'

'Yeah, that sounds good, I'll think about it.'

'If that's all, I think I'll head to the mess hall. The kitchen sent out a memo that they're doing Mexican food tonight.' Damn it, she scolded herself, unable to resist. 'Would you like me to have them save you a bowl of chilli in case you don't make it down?'

'Yeah, that would be great, Christine, thanks.'

Christine flashed him a little smile, unaware of how that quick moment made his belly tight, his heart pump a little harder, and made a quick exit; only when she was in the lift to go fetch herself some dinner did she let out the sigh she'd been holding in the whole meeting. Smarten up she reminded herself. No matter how much she fantasized about what was under that snug blue tunic, she would only ever be his colleague; besides the whole doctor-nurse cliche, she was still given plenty of side-eye by some crew members over the reasons she'd come back to the Enterprise in the first place. The last thing she needed was the gossip mill churning once more over her personal life.

When she reached the mess hall, got her cafeteria tray to make her selection with the chef, she found a thermal container deposited on her tray without a single request. Glancing up, Christine saw Ensign Kinney give her a wink.

'Bones texted the chef, said you'd be coming in to grab him a bite to eat. Late night in the office?'

'I think he just needs some alone time.'

'Well that chilli is loaded with beans from Oaxaca and Rigel Seven so he'll have lots of alone time once he gets a taste of that.' Kinney gestured at the bowl with his serving ladle. 'Say hi to him, and tell him that rash cleared right up with your Aleutian mint paste.'

'Sure thing, Kinney.'

Christine took her seat at a table for two near the door so she could sneak out with Bones' bowl with what she hoped would be little to no notice, but it was not to be; she'd barely lifted the spoon to her lips when Chekov sat down across from her, combing his fingers through his tousled curls.

'Good ee-wening Nurse Chapel, I heard rumours it is you who are in charge of ze crew medical eh-wal-uation schedule? Zis is true?'

Christine had to laugh; there was something so sweet and cute about Chekov she wanted to treat him like a puppy. No wonder he was considered one of the ladies' men on the ship - who could say no to those soulful eyes?

'Yes,' she told him, 'it is true.'

'If possible, could my eh-wal-uation take place on ze first morning? I have plans to meet a friend after ze sving shift and I don't sink telling her ve cannot spend, uh, time togezer-' at this phrase, he gave her a meaningful look '-because of my appointment time vould be wery appreciated.'

'Hmm, let me see.' Christine pulled out her PADD, and called up the schedule. She had done it alphabetically by day and so Chekov was indeed near the start of list, but she knew this game well. She tapped the screen, pretending to move things around when she was really confirming her plans to meet Uhura, then smiled at him. 'Well since you asked so nicely, and I know it would be very cruel to Sayuri to make her wait, we'll expect you on day one at ten-hundred thirty-five.'

'I did not mention my friend's name, I zink, Nurse Chapel.'

'The only thing that flies faster than this ship is gossip. I think it's very sweet,' Christine reassured him, then felt her appetite vanish when the blinking message from McCoy, L appeared on her PADD. She tapped it, breathed a little easier when she found the message reading that he would come and get the chilli from her in the greenhouse in an hour. Deliberately, she looked towards where Chekov had been sitting, but found the seat empty and a glance around told Christine he'd already jetted over to the pretty Japanese engineering ensign the good news. Looking down at her own meal, she found her appetite reduced but not gone and did her best to put away the enchilada without making herself sick or appear to be ungrateful.

The moment she'd done so to her satisfaction, Christine was heading down to the greenhouse where it was warm and welcoming as a summer's day. She changed out of her uniform and into coveralls before picking up the thermometer to check the temperature of the nutrient-rich growing solution. They'd transformed one half of the cargo bay with some help from engineering and physical plant staff: four long rows of tables were neatly marked into vegetables, fruits, herbs and hybrids. She and Uhura had used some away missions to bring back seedlings such as Barilkian potatoes and Cygnusian strawberries, as well treasures from home like heirloom tomatoes, portobello mushrooms and Aleutian mint. Despite the lack of soil, there was always a delightful earthy smell in the greenhouse, like the forest after a rainstorm.

Christine stopped when she reached the row of hybrid lemon plants; this one made her particularly proud. She'd blended a Meyer lemon seedling with Moravian sun-fruit seeds and the result had been a citrus product that tasted like pie and made an excellent addition to her exfoliating scrub recipe. She'd been unable to resist using herself as a guinea pig and once she'd discovered how soft it made her skin, she'd told no one so as to keep it her own little secret.

Unable to stop herself, Christine let her mind wander to Bones, thinking of his miserable expression when she'd walked into his office. Maybe she shouldn't be here, maybe she should have taken the chilli to him right away so he wouldn't have to feel obligated to come and see her in the greenhouse. Last thing she needed was to feel like he was taking pity on her; somehow that was even worse than a potentially outright rejection of her feelings about him.

She was so deep in her own swirling thoughts that when a finger poked her in the shoulder, she let out a short scream, as did the owner of the finger.

'Good god in heaven, Nina! You scared me!'

'Clearly,' Uhura replied on a shaky laugh as she tried to regain her wits. 'You were so deep in thought I figured my stomping around would break your concentration. What's got you so turned inside out?'

'Work stuff,' she replied on a shrug, feeling only three-percent slimy about the partial truth. Technically Bones was work stuff, right? 'The upcoming medical evals.'

'Ah, yes. It's why I never understood the male fantasy about a hot nurse,' Uhura admitted as she checked the zipper on her coveralls and tugged on her work gloves. 'How can it be a turn on to have someone poking and prodding at you with no romantic intention at all.'

'Bones says it's because lots of men have the fantasy of being completely and totally serviced by a woman who loves them.'

'Bones may have a point,' she replied, think of when Spock had contracted a strain of Vulcashi flu and he'd been miserable as a wet cat for three days straight. 'If Spock so much as sneezes wrong, he wants to be babied.'

'Really? That guy?'

'He's more human than you might think,' Uhura admitted with a resigned smirk and affable shrug. 'But I'm crazy about the man so what can you do?'

'What can you do,' Christine echoed under her breath, then sighed when she checked the water level. 'Think we have a busted hose, there's vitamin solution leaking into the aqueducts.'

'Oh, damn, alright, I'll go take care of it.

'No, I can-'

'Evening, Nurse Chapel.'