A/N: So, here goes another god. I'm pretty much determined to write this whole thing, so don't worry about consistent updates, they are coming. I'm seriously interested in writing this.

IF you haven't done so already, please read and review! I really want to hear more feedback! Also, there's at least one line taken partially from Doctor Who, said originally from Jack Harkness.

Also, this is the first time Jim tries to sleep with Rose.

3 years ago...

"First day, Bones, we're gonna crush it!" Jim's arm wrapped around his shoulder in what was supposed to be a supportive and encouraging way.

Bones winced at the choice of words. He still didn't really want to be here, and he knew that Jim's idea of crushing it didn't refer to actually doing well. He sighed as he saw Jim's eyes peruse the crowd of freshman in front of them. Bones usually felt much older than Jim, considering his general youth and antics, but right now, he felt years younger. He felt as if he was being led around by a parent on his first day of school, which suddenly didn't seem like such a bad analogy.

"Oh, c'mon it'll be fun!" Jim's enthusiasm was grating. He really didn't need this, not on the first day.

The past year of Starfleet academy had been equally fulfilling and aggravating. While he and Kirk were in the top ten percent of their class, Bones would spend hours studying in his dorm, while Jim would pass with flying colors and have spent most of his time in other dorms. Nonetheless, Jim had become his best and only real friend.

"Hey, there's one now." Jim pointed with his chin. Bones looked in the direction, and only saw the backs of heads and matching Starfleet required uniforms.

"Which one?" Bones asked annoyedly, already frustrated with the whole situation and vaguely aggravated with Jim's behavior, on the first day, of all days. Which wasn't to say that Bones didn't expect this of Jim.

He looked over at Bones with exasperation.

"That one. Right there." Nothing. After a pause, Jim sighed.

"The one with the excellent bottom."

Bones rolled his eyes. It still hadn't been long enough since his divorce to really think about women in general like that.

"Fine, well. I'm going to go socialize." As Jim pulled away, he slapped Bones on the shoulder.

After a moment of standing around awkwardly and muttering about how annoying Jim was like this, Bones threw in the flag and walked over to where Jim stood and watched as he introduced himself to a pretty young girl.

"My name's Jim. and you are..." He heard Jim trail off expectantly.

"Rose." He heard the girl reply, relenting.

"So, tell me Rose, how is that someone with such uncommon beauty has such a common flower for a name? Although, a Rose by any other name would smell just as sweet."

Oh god. Bones resisted the bile that rose in his throat at Jim's words. Did that actually work on girls?

"Like I've never heard that one before." after a pause, Rose continued with a hesitant lilt,"Listen, Jim, you seem nice, but I really don't think I'm not your type."

Apparently not on Starfleet enlistees.

Jim's expression turned indignant.

"Oh, and what exactly is my type?"

Much stupider. Or at least more desperate.

With a sad look on her face the girl, Rose, replies, "I'm not that easy to sleep with."

He saw Jim scoff and listened to him try to backtrack. Bones drew in a breath through his teeth and held in the chuckle that threatened to escape.

He looked over at the girl again. She was pretty and had nice skin, but nothing extraordinary jumped out at him. The girl, Rose, had nice enough hair, and wasn't too short or tall, but Bones couldn't see why Jim jumped at every opportunity or possibility he got.

As he couldn't take to listening to Jim's pitiful spluttering and recovery, Bones swooped in to pull Jim away.

"Sorry about him." Bones said with a loathing smirk.

"Who're you then? His wingman?" Rose asked playfully.

"No, just his chaperone," Bones leaned in and stage-whispered sardonically,"he needs to be monitored on a regular basis."

As he pulled away, Bones saw her grinning with her tongue caught between her teeth.

"What's your name then?" She asked him.

All this while Jim, had been wriggling and muttering complaints. Bones let go of him to shake Rose's hand.

"Bones. Well, Leonard McCoy, but most people know me as Bones."

There was a teasing lilt to her voice as she spoke, her grin as wide, and cheeks pink.

"It's nice to meet you, Bones. My name's Rose. Rose Tyler."

He almost smiles when he sees her big brown eyes, but realizes that he hasn't let go of her hand yet. Bones, embarrassingly, feels his ears heat up and drops her hand instantly. He feels young again, which is more annoying now than ever. Just the fact that he's probably got years on this pretty girl, and here he is, fumbling around like a schoolboy.

When Bones turns around briefly, Jim's nowhere in sight. He supposes, that it can't be the worst thing, since Jim's most likely on another conquest, and doing fine.

He faces Rose again, who's looking up at him expectantly.

His mouth opens and closes.

"Do you want to go for a drink?"

His answer is delayed by a few things racing through his mind. Firstly, Bones doesn't really want to get into a relationship. Secondly, he can't tell if she wants to. Thirdly, he still doesn't know how old she is, but if she wants to for a drink with him, well, he won't argue.

"Sure." Bones replies, in what he hopes is a smooth fashion.

She looks around him, staring past him and nods.

"I'll see you around, later?" She's turning away and looking expectant again. She walks away when she sees his responding nod, and a small part of him is vaguely upset about this.

Bones goes off in a vain attempt to find Jim, but instead sits through orientation by himself.

It's about late afternoon next time Bones sees Jim.

"Hey! Bones!" Jim calls, and motions with his hand. Bones walks over and falls into step next to him.

"So, what the hell was that orientation?" Jim asks lightly.

"What was what? I saved your ass from sexual harassment."

Jim scoffs.

"You just wanted her." Jim continues, ignoring Bones's indignant retort,"It's okay, I get it. Wasn't I right? Excellent bottom." Jim's elbow digs in his side in a show of male camaraderie.

"That wasn't it at all."

A knowing and confident grin breaks out across Jim's face.

"Oh? Aren't you going out for a drink later?"

"How did you-" Bones stops himself,taking a deep breath,"It's not like that. It's just a drink. Can't people just be friends?"

Jim smirks at him. Bones senses that Jim doesn't believe him. He isn't sure if he believes it himself.

"I'll see you later, Bones. Tomorrow." Jim replies, his walking away accompanied by a small chuckle and melodramatic wink.

Bones shakes his head, mutters something about Jim's ego needing to be cut down, and continues walking to get something to eat, having missed lunch earlier.

It's only fitting that he sees her when he's about to leave the academy's cafeteria. She walks in by herself, and bites her lip as she looks around the room. She spots him and walks over.

"Thought I might find you here." Bones idly thinks how he likes the way she seems to smile more with every word.

"Yeah, even us cynics need to find time to eat." Bones replied dryly, with a smirk. Rose gives a small laugh at his humor, and speaks.

"We still on for that drink? I thought maybe around eight would be good, after dinner and all."

His throat's gone a bit dry, as all of his questions from earlier resurface about the implications of 'going for a drink', but he nods, swallows and forces a yes out of his mouth.

"Good, good. Uh, I guess I'll meet you at that local joint. It's that one with all the fleet groupies." He gives a short laugh at that and agrees to meet her there.

The next few hours were torture.

Bones really wasn't sure how he felt about this drink. Or how she felt. More than anything, he really didn't want Jim to be right about this.

He had this weird tingly feeling in his palms, which he hoped wasn't the early signs of Andorian mumps.

Bones still pulled up to the dive fifteen minutes early. As he went over to sit down at a stool, he heard his name being called. Over, towards the back, he saw Rose sitting in a booth, fitted with a drink and a smile. Bones felt the corners of his mouth lift, and walked over to her. While he was happy to see her, bones was anxious, and wished he had that few extra minutes to mull over this whole thing.

"So, what're you drinking?" Bones heard himself ask when he got within hearing distance.

As he approached, he saw Rose clearer. Even in the dim lighting, Bones saw her appearance had changed slightly in the soft lighting. She had on makeup, accentuating her dark eyes further. It suddenly became very difficult to tear his eyes away from hers.

From what he could tell, she was wearing something different from her Starfleet uniform, which in itself was distracting.

"I'm not really sure. It's got some sort of fruity juice in it. This is what I got when I asked the bartender what he'd recommend."She shook her head and made a show of an eye roll.

Bones slid into the booth across from Rose, and looked at the menu on the table. Bones ordered a simple drink for himself and Rose, and tried to think of good small talk without bringing up what was still running through his mind. Luckily for him, Rose spoke first.

"So, um, I don't want there to be any confusion about this." She took a deep breath before continuing hesitantly,"I'm new here and I don't really know anybody. I'm not really looking for any sort of relationship."

Bones was extremely relieved. In that small, sort of back of the mind way, he was disappointed. Rationally, Bones knew that this was the best scenario. She spoke first, so he didn't hurt her feelings in any way, and things would be platonic.

There was also that horrifically irrational part of him that was crushed by this. This girl, was paying him quite a bit of attention, and he can't help being a bit sweet on her. Not to mention, she was quite pretty.

"Oh, good, good." Bones said, as convincingly as he could. He really shouldn't have to sound convincing. This was definitely the best way this could've gone.

Rose smiled and sighed.

"I'm glad that's over with. I wanted to just really talk to you. You seem..." she hesitated, "nice."

She nodded as if affirming her statement, and Bones just held back a smirk the best he could. Nice.

"I just really don't want to be alone here." He watched as she finished her first drink and drank some of the simpler one he order for her.

He nodded in understanding. He knew what it was like to be alone, and how difficult that could be, especially when it mattered.

"Where're you from?"

"London, actually. I used to live with my mum."

Bones had guessed she might've been, from her accent. Talking to Rose was more than nice, which was a terrible combination of good and bad things for Bones. He's already really enjoying spending time with her, which is good for both of them, he guesses.

"So, did you get the sudden urge to serve the great Federation?" Bones asked sardonically.

Her lips pursed.

"Not exactly. That's part of the reason why I'm not really looking for a relationship right now. I left this... horrible guy, who I lived with for a short while." Her eyebrows raised and sighed before continuing her story, "he had this band and I was stupid to think it would work out."

Bones at this point was slightly stunned. Her easy smiles and bright eyes were deceptive. His divorce left him ruined, in every way possible.

"I'm sorry to hear that." The words left his lips instantly.

He watched her take a large gulp from her drink.

"And all that they say about being with a guitarist? Don't believe the hype." She gave another eye roll.

I don't think that's something I wanted to know about.

Bones, had been in the middle of a sip while listening to Rose speak. The lump that formed in his throat caused him to choke on his drink, and have his face turn beet red, from both embarrassment and coughing.

Through the clearing of throats and coughing, Bones heard a mix of 'oh my god', and 'are you okay', and felt a hand slap on his back.

While, now the both of them blushing and thoroughly embarrassed, settled again.

"I'll, uh, keep that in mind." Bones replied suddenly, still blushing.

After a brief moment of silence, Rose let loose a laugh that made Bones join in. Her near-permanent smile was unfailing in her laugh. The warmth that spread through his chest was most likely from the alcohol burning through his system.

He was starting to feel his limbs loosen, and hoped that his tongue wouldn't loosen too much.

God, she was pretty.

Most of the night continued in a similar fashion, with their easy conversation and minor slip-ups. The drinks came easily and continuously, until the night was almost over.

"You need to get me home." Rose had moved next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder. Her drowsy voice drifted directly into his ear, and he held in a shiver. Bones nodded his assent and tried to shift them over.

Rose hummed.

"This'll be much better than having girl-friends." Rose shifted to look him directly in the eye before very seriously stating, "Girls suck, Bones."

If he was more or less drunk, he wouldn't have laughed.

"I'm serious. Girls are gossipy and selfish and jealous." Rose nodded gravely as she spoke. The loose feeling all over Bones body held, and bit his tongue to keep himself from speaking, or else he would start saying inappropriate things.

He nodded again. Rose stared.

"Guys can be terrible friends too. There's all that unnecessary tension of will-they-won't-they and guys-and-girls-can't-be-friends-without-sex."

Bones thinks that she's starting to ramble a bit. But it's adorable, and painful, and he's got just enough sensibility to realize he shouldn't say anything about how he wouldn't mind having sex with her.

Once Bones is sure that nothing about how he feels will come out, he helps them both get up and try to exit the bar.

It's not long before they're stumbling and being led out by the bouncers.

Overall, Bones thinks, it could've really been a much worse night.

A/N: If there's any confusion as to where this story is headed, I'm going to put it out there. There's no Doctor, Rose, Jim and Bones become friends, and they all are enlisted in Starfleet academy. It will be very Bones and Rose centric.