Chapter 1

Dr. McCoy had just turned the corner when he glimpsed her down the hall, all smiles and bouncy blonde curls. Beth Morris's snub nose crinkled in a smile, creases forming around her blue eyes, the same color as her dress. Then those blue eyes widened in excitement. Muttering curses, McCoy ducked into Sickbay, but it was too late. She had spotted him.

"Doctor!" she squeaked, waving emphatically.

McCoy sighed and leaned back out into the corridor. "Hello, Lieutenant Morris."

The young woman positively glowed as she flounced into Sickbay. If she smiled any harder, the apples of her cheek were liable to burst. "I told you before, I insist you call me Beth," She sobered. "Oh, but of course, you're just trying to be professional. I see."

McCoy offered a tight smile. "What can I do for you, Lieutenant?"

"I…I have some forms for you to sign," Morris replied.

"Okay."

Silence.

"Well?"

Morris's smile slid away in an instant. She closed her eyes and turned away dramatically, her blonde curls bobbing about her shoulders. McCoy rolled his eyes.

"I suppose there's no need to deny it anymore." She spun back around, her eyes sparkling with tears. "I think it's time we face our feelings for each other."

McCoy blinked. "Our what?"

"Oh, don't play innocent. I've seen the way you look at me." She took a step closer, and he took a step back. "I've only been here for two weeks, and I have never felt such vibes off a person in my life." She took a few more forceful steps, and the doctor retreated, smacking into a wall and scrunching back as far as possible. "Don't deny you love me!" Morris insisted.

McCoy opened his mouth to object, but Morris snapped a finger over his lips to silence him. "No, wait, don't say anything. Let's just savor the moment."

Morris's bright purple eyelids squinted closed, her eyebrows crinkled together, and her free hand clutched to her heart in the heat of passion. Seconds passed in silence.

"I hate to break it to you," McCoy's words were muffled from behind Morris's finger, "but only one of us is having a moment."

Morris furrowed her brow as she withdrew the finger. "What do you mean?"

"I mean…I don't…we aren't…" he stammered.

With every word, Morris's face grew more crestfallen. Her crystalline eyes brimmed with tears and her lower lip trembled.

McCoy sighed. Cursing his soft heart, he swallowed and grasped for a believable lie. "You're a very nice girl, don't get me wrong, but I'm…ah…involved with someone else."

Morris nodded her understanding. But then her eyes lit up again, the corner of her mouth turned up into a sneaky grin. "Space can be lonely, though… Nobody has to know." She said with a wink.

"Well! As…tempting as that sounds, I…well, see, the 'someone else' is…on the ship." McCoy stuttered.

"Oh…that would complicate things."

"Yes, and I'm very happy. I wouldn't want to ruin that." McCoy added quickly before Morris could think up another scheme.

"So…who is this special someone? And exactly how involved are you?" Morris's face evolved into yet another expression—suspicion.

McCoy cleared his throat. His palms had suddenly grown damp. Was it hot in here? Morris's skeptical glare continued to burn into his eyes. Think, think, say something.

"I-I'm…married! Yes! It was very recently. We didn't want anyone to make a fuss about it…you understand, don't you?"

"Oh, I understand, alright," Morris's eyes narrowed. "But you still haven't told me who your significant other is."

As McCoy fumbled to thread another string into his web of lies, a miracle happened. A green-blooded, pointy-eared miracle just happened to walk through the door at precisely that moment. McCoy had never been so glad to see Spock in his life.

"Spock! I've never been so glad to see you in my life!"

Spock tilted his head slightly.

"Well, Lieutenant Morris, I clearly have some very important business to attend to, so I'll just have to…take a rain check on this discussion." McCoy shepherded her to the door.

"Oh, okay, Dr. McCoy," Morris had now adopted a smarmy, knowing smile. Gone was the accusation. Gone was the sob perched on her lip. She leaned close to the doctor's ear and whispered, "Why didn't you just say so?"

McCoy gave her an inquisitive look. She smiled again and nodded discretely in Spock's direction, her eyebrows lifting a few times.

Oh.

There were several options McCoy could have chosen. Practically innumerable, in fact. All he had to do was choose one.

He chose the worst.

"You got me," he whispered with a wink.

Morris's nose scrunched again with a tiny smile. She swung out the door, her golden curls flying behind her. McCoy leaned back against the wall and breathed a sigh of relief.

"What exactly has Lieutenant Morris 'got,' Doctor?" Spock asked.

McCoy's eyes slid to Spock, who was waiting impatiently, three feet away. "Oh damn, you're still here."

"How astute of you to notice."

A corner of McCoy's mouth turned down in a grimace. "What did you want?"

"It can wait. I have the distinct suspicion—"

"Don't tell me you have a feeling."

"—that you were talking about me." Spock plowed through his sentence, ignoring the doctor's attempts to frustrate him—or distract him? One slanted eyebrow quirked accusingly.

McCoy took a preliminary breath, prepared to make up more excuses, but he released it with a defeated sigh. "Okay, I may have made a little…mistake."

"And you've chosen to involve me in your error."

"Well that's mistake number one on my list, for sure." McCoy rubbed his forehead. "I can't believe I did that. Why did I do that?"

"What did you do?" Spock persisted.

"I may have insinuated to Morris that I was married so she'd leave me alone, and she may have assumed I was merphh…" McCoy buried his final words into the side of his hand as he looked at the floor.

"You were what?"

"I was…uh…"

"Yes?"

"She thinks I'm married to you! Okay?"

Spock's eyes widened to a dangerously emotional level. "How did she come to that conclusion?"

"Your guess is as good as mine. But listen, you can't tell her the truth. No one can tell her the truth." McCoy punctuated his command with a threatening finger pointed toward Spock. Spock regarded it with a dismissive glance.

"I do not see the point in continuing a farfetched lie."

"Dammit, Spock, I just don't want to hurt her feelings! But of course you wouldn't know anything about that. There's no treading lightly with Vulcans."

"I simply cannot understand how misleading someone preserves their feelings," Spock said, his hands clasped tightly behind his back.

McCoy rolled his eyes. "There's no use trying to explain it to you. Look, I don't ask a lot from you—"

"Only to indulge your emotional tirades."

"Yeah, well I have to deal with your infuriating logic all the time, so I think we're pretty even. Just…one favor is all I'm asking."

Spock stifled a sigh. Though he personally couldn't wrap his brain around the concept of sympathetic deception, it did seem important to the doctor. Perhaps this was the logical conclusion, based on flawed human logic, of course. And perhaps Morris would be happier living in ignorance, since her happiness was clearly McCoy's goal.

"I will at least hear the request," Spock agreed.

A faint smile appeared on McCoy's lips for just a moment. "Just pretend for a while that we are…you know. Eventually she'll move on and forget all about it."

Spock stared at McCoy for a long time. "You are confident in that assumption?"

"Fairly, yes. Who really knows with Morris? She's kinda fickle."

"That character trait would be an advantage to us."

McCoy raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You'll…you'll do it?"

Spock half-nodded, half-shrugged. "It is only temporary."

"Believe me, a few days, a week tops. I don't know if I could stand to be around you for much longer than that."

"Agreed."

"One more thing,"

"Yes?"

"No one breathes a word to Jim."