Hello friendly supportive strangers! Disclaimer; no not a disclaimer about not owning Star Trek, quite frankly by this point I'd be highly surprised if CBS or Paramount hire some poor soul to trudge through the world wide web in search of someone pretending to own Star Trek... no my disclaimer is pertaining to this story. This is fluff, silly, it appeared in my mind and I wrote it down fluff. No real character development, plot holes a plenty and most probably if not definitely a serious Mary Sue issue! But, alas, it was fun to write and I hope you enjoy because we all need fluff, if not in our washing machines but in our Fan Fiction from time to time!
Five Weeks Ago
Leonard H. McCoy walked briskly towards the library, pulling his thick jacket closer round his neck and dipping his head low to keep out the icy wind. Campus in winter was just one large grey concrete hellhole as far as McCoy was concerned, which did nothing to improve his already irritable disposition. He missed the balmy breezes of Georgia something rotten. He worked shifts then studied, worked shifts then had to take damned ridiculous classes taught by spotty faced kids who didn't know their arse from their elbow.
Every day he second guessed his decision not to have taken the job at his local practice, at the time he had made a list as long as his arm as to why it would be hell on earth to work in the same town that his ex-wife lived, but now, walking across the square at an unholy hour he wished he'd swallowed his pride.
He walked with his head down and arms clutching his overstuffed book bag, he always took the furthest desk away from the front door, around the corner and out of sight. As he stalked round, pulling at his scarf which hadn't come loose as he intended but had simply tightened round his neck he stopped in his tracks. Somebody was sat at his desk, it wasn't lost on him that his internal monologue was essentially the plot to Goldilocks and the Three Bears but he couldn't help but feel angry and possessive of his area in the library. As he stood and glared at the intruder he viciously pulled at his scarf one more time, grunting when he'd finally freed himself from his noose. His pained groan had caught the attention of the trespasser who was now peering up at him.
"Can I help you?" She asked, looking at him with unwavering hazel coffee eyes so round that McCoy immediately pictured her as an owl.
"You're in my spot." He replied gruffly, balling up his scarf and stuffing it into his pocket.
"Excuse me?" Flipping her hair over one shoulder she set her stylus down, giving him her full attention. His focus was drawn to her pursed lips that looked as if she was perpetually drinking pink lemonade through a candy striped straw. It took more than a pretty face for McCoy to be deterred though.
"My spot, you're in it." He dumped his book bag down on the table in front of her loudly, as if staking claim to a new land. Looking from his bag and then back to him the woman was clearly lost for words. Looking around at the empty desks around them she considered whether it was really worthwhile arguing with the man or just sitting in another spot. McCoy caught sight of one of the titles on the large PADDs strewn on the table, 'Teaching Advanced Physics of Astronomical Objects'. Shit! He hadn't realised she was a Professor; he closed his eyes slowly and wished himself anywhere but where he was right now. He should have known, she didn't look like a kid, like a Cadet. The flecks of silver grey hair around her temple and the way she wore the large unconventional black jumper with its billowing sleeves should have tipped him off to the fact that she was a member of the Faculty. "You know what, never mind." He picked up his bag and gave her a quick nod, the closest he ever came to apologising to anybody. He didn't need another Professor complaining about his 'attitude'.
"You can have the desk, if you really want?" Now he really did feel like a shit, because it didn't matter if she was a Professor or not, he'd basically tried to push somebody off the school bus! He turned to her bashfully.
"No, it's alright, really. There tends to not be many people in at this time of night and I always sit there, old habits die hard I guess." His tone was a lot less gruff than before and he noticed she smiled in response.
"Routine is good." She offered encouragingly.
"Not when you end up telling a Lady to move from her chair." McCoy countered, his eyebrow arched pointedly. He watched the amusement in her eyes and then turned to find himself another desk. He ended up sitting facing opposite her, tipping out his bag he settled down for the long slog he had ahead of him. It had been a while since he'd needed to study for tests but becoming an Officer in Starfleet was far more than what his MD had already taught him. Shielding his eyes from the bright light above with his hand, his focus didn't leave the PADDs in front of him for the next two hours.
Laila Wade pulled at the sleeves of her jumper, bringing the cuffs up to the top of her forearms. Pulling her hair from the nape of her neck and over one shoulder she stole a glance at the man sat opposite her. She was intrigued, she knew he wasn't a member of the Faculty so he must have been a Cadet? His brusque tone, five o'clock shadow and creased brow made clear the fact that he wasn't fresh out of College or one of the unfortunates who had been harangued by the Recruitment Officers. It wasn't unheard of but it was uncommon.
So who was the man who had stood in front of her rudely, told her to move and then apparently had a change of heart, or at least grew one and in a roundabout way apologised? Honestly, she wasn't that bothered. She had too much work to do and by far had not consumed enough coffee to make it through it all. Stifling a yawn behind her arm she willed herself to finish the last chapter, Christ this stuff could be boring at times! Standing up her eyes flicked to him again, her movement had caught his attention and he was looking at her but only briefly as she watched him return to his work. He had a really nice jaw! Laila shook her head, where had that thought come from? Pulling on her cloche hat and wrapping her ridiculously large and woolly scarf round her neck she put away her PADDs and hooked the strap of her bag in the crook of her arm. She walked towards the exit and as she passed him an image of him standing in front of her desk having a tantrum came to mind, smiling she looked over her shoulder and found that he was already looking at her.
"I'll make sure I sit somewhere else next time." She teased in a hushed voice.
"Much appreciated." He answered back quickly and with the same amount of humour lacing his words, Laila found herself laughing out loud at his response.
"Maybe get yourself one of those little metal plaques that say 'Reserved' on them? Avoids any further confrontations?" She watched him laugh easily at her deadpan proposal.
Stretching out his hand he introduced himself.
"McCoy, Leonard H. McCoy." He said as she took his hand and shook it firmly.
"Wade, Laila I have no middle initial Wade." When McCoy laughed out loud Laila grinned in response, proud of herself for seemingly cracking through that hard exterior he seemed to pride himself on.
"Nice to meet you Ms Wade." Before what she might have expected to be an uncomfortable silence she nodded politely and continued on her way. McCoy watched her leave and then after a moment, went back to his studies.
Each time McCoy rounded the corner in the library he half expected to see Laila Wade sat there, at his desk. The small pang of disappointment he felt when she in fact wasn't there didn't go un-noticed to him. It was rare that he found himself conversing with anybody and enjoying it, even Jim pushed his patience every now and again. Lectures, studying and everything else that was required to graduate took over much of his time and he was finding it increasingly difficult to enthuse himself with the mandatory subjects he had to master. Still, it was a means to an end and he was still able to practice medicine which was the one last thing keeping him sane.
"Hello." Looking up he saw that it was Laila Wade, speak of the devil he thought to himself.
"Hey." He said perhaps too excitedly.
"I see you got your spot." He almost grinned back at her in triumph, watching her pull off her hat and unwrap the ridiculously large scarf around her neck he smiled when he noticed that she was wearing another oversized jumper.
"You cold?" He asked.
"Always." She answered matter of factly, "Well, I'll leave you to it. Nice to see you again." McCoy looked around the library, at the late hour that it was nobody else was in the room.
"Do you want to sit here?" He asked quickly, she looked at the desk and then to him. He could tell she was thinking it through.
"Sure, I'll grab a chair." Setting her bag down McCoy stood up.
"Take mine, I'll get one." He offered, striding round the desk and walking passed her. He noticed that she was quite short in comparison to his six foot one stature, he guessed she was maybe five foot four? Her hair went down to the base of her spine, brown and as straight as a dye. The large jumper masked her figure but from her slender wrists and slim face his interest was piqued already. His mind wandered, it had been a while since he'd looked at any woman with interest. He was getting to the point where he felt like he was living the life of a monk!
"Thank you." She answered as she took the seat, McCoy grabbed one of the chairs closest to him and set it down on the opposite end of the desk. Reaching for his PADDs Laila picked up a few herself and handed them over. "You're studying medicine?" She asked seeing some of the titles.
"Extra-terrestrial Anatomy, I'm already a Doctor." He answered, taking the PADDs from her hand and setting them down.
"So it's Doctor McCoy?" He liked the way she said it, it made him straighten his back and sit taller.
"When on duty." It was his way of inviting her to use his forename. "And you? What's your poison?" He jutted his head towards the PADDs Laila was taking out of her bag.
"Psychology of consciousness." She answered, pulling her sleeves up subconsciously. He was surprised he hadn't seen her before, being a Professor in Psychology he would have sworn he would have bumped into her at some point on campus given that all the science divisions shared the same building. Not having taken Psychology as an elective though he supposed it wasn't entirely out of the realms of possibility.
"I thought I saw you with an Astrophysics journal the other week?" McCoy sat back, completely forgetting why he had come to the library in the first place.
"That's an add on." Laila answered easily.
"Are you preparing for a lecture?" He asked, not wanting the conversation to end, he liked the way she looked at him when he was talking. She listened intently and dipped her head ever so slightly when he spoke. He felt like he had the captive audience of the Sydney Opera House, her large owl like eyes projecting a wisdom and solemnity.
"Yes, it feels like that's all I ever do!" She scoffed and heaved, which made McCoy smile. He wanted to ask her out, for a drink, a coffee perhaps? But it was against the code of conduct for members of the Faculty to fraternize never mind have personal relationships with Cadets. He felt like she was the first 'Woman' he'd met since arriving there, he didn't get that 'creepy' feeling he got when he rarely spoke to one of his fellow classmates. It was all in his mind of course, but still, it was nice knowing that he could converse with someone who was at least born in the same decade as he was. So he resigned himself to the fact that all he could hope for was bumping into her in the library.
"I'm going to get a water, would you like one Ms Wade?" He asked politely.
"That would be great, thanks. And call me Laila." The last part was added nonchalantly. Retrieving two waters from the small break out area he walked back and carefully placed the cup down next to her. "Thank you." The next two hours they studied, more out of necessity than anything else. McCoy desperately wanted to talk to her more but didn't want to get on her nerves, she'd come to the library for a reason after all.
"Argh." He looked up at Laila, her groaning sound catching his attention. She was stretching her arms up above her head and letting her head loll back. "My God I'm tired!" She exclaimed wearily, hearing her neck crack when she brought her arms back down McCoy winced.
"You should see someone about that neck." He remarked, Laila's smirk made him crease his brow in confusion.
"You offering Doctor McCoy?" She said insinuatingly, he swallowed hard. Her features suddenly appeared more seductive to him and he had to blink a couple of times to regain his composure. When she winked though he realised she was joking with him and he pursed his lips in annoyance, she'd got him good and proper. My God he felt liked he'd known the woman for years! As if they were long lost friends who'd always been attracted to one another but life got in the way. McCoy told himself to get a grip.
"The physiotherapy department have a number of qualified members of staff." He answered, making sure she picked up on the fact that he would offer his services in a heartbeat but his chivalrous manners prevented him. Laila smiled at him broadly, obviously not taking offence.
"Thanks Doc, do I get a lollypop?" McCoy's jaw dropped ever so slightly, from anyone else a line like that would have come across as well, brazen but Laila's face and tone of voice was so full of humour that he found himself laughing heartedly.
"You know I never gave lollypops out, but I'm not a Paediatrician so…"
"That's no excuse!" Laila interrupted.
"It isn't?! Well, don't I feel bad for all my patients over the years!" He pretended to look sullen. A shushing sound from behind them caught their attention, turning McCoy saw a kid sitting two desks away looking at them angrily and putting her finger to her lips. He raised his hand in the air, acknowledging their wrong doing and turned back to Laila, making a face pretending to be reprimanded. Giggling, Laila pulled her hair over her shoulder and cleared her throat trying to regain her composure. Looking back down at her PADD she tried to focus on her work.
"What are you reading?" McCoy whispered to her.
"Shh, no talking!" Laila stifled the laugh and creased her brow in seriousness, McCoy didn't buy it for a minute.
"You're gonna let that snotty nosed Cadet tell you what to do?" Laila looked over at the 'shusher'.
"She's in my class!" She whispered back, "That wouldn't be very nice." McCoy faltered, he'd forgotten she was a Professor.
"Fine." He replied, slightly grumpily due to the fact that he couldn't ask her out for a coffee. He might have been living the life of a monk since he arrived but he wasn't blind, the woman was definitely flirting with him because he was definitely flirting with her!
Laila interpreted it as McCoy being disappointed they could no longer chat, she began to put her books away.
"You going?" He asked.
"Yes, but you can too. Do you want to get a coffee?" She asked pulling her coat on. Even though his head said no his heart, and, let's be honest another area of his body said hell yes. Before he even uttered his answer he was up out of his seat and pulling his own coat on.
Thanks for reading xxx