2 | Roses
Somehow, Leonard had met all four Rosalind Davises through pure coincidence.
The first Rosalind Davis was an assistant instructor for a phaser training course. It was required that all Starfleet personnel became familiar with the standard weapon for emergency purposes though he knew he'd never touch one again. It was a short and quick class where they barely interacted. He only remembers her because she shares her name with three other women.
The second and third Rosalinds were friends that had joined Starfleet together. They became known in the Engineering College after they had "fixed" a malfunctioning replicator that then would only give out orange juice when ordering a drink. Some would walk all the way to the other college's mess halls. It then prompted others to offer orange juice to engineers as a joke. It took them several weeks to sort out the problem.
The fourth and final was Rosalind H. Davis. Out of all the other Roses he had met, she was the one that stuck out. She was a tactical officer, every now and then visiting the student clinic with fellow cadets in tow or for minor injuries she'd sustained during training. She could be found in the basketball court, Leonard watching her play a game once in a while, but mostly she sat in the sidelines to watch. She also frequented the places where he studied such as the library and near the coffee carts scattered around campus. They had attended some of the same lectures too.
They were a coincidence just waiting to happen.
Actually, Leonard met her because of an accident.
He had planned on spending part of the afternoon in the basketball court having picked up the sport again. He needed a way to clear his head and to allow his mind to wander without having his body do the same.
The basketball court was mostly used by the team to practice. In the bleachers people chatted their breaks way and others sat in the side court seats to watch the games. The team that was playing this time was between friends and it had become a heated game for some reason so he decided to wait for them to finish instead of joining in.
He had sat near Rosalind Davis who was going back and forth between watching the game and reading whatever was in her PADD. He was going to do the same, catch up on homework maybe, until something hit him the back of the head hard.
He felt pain but it had gone away as quickly as it came. It was like blinking. When he opened his eyes, he was still in the basketball court with Rosalind Davis still reading her notes.
"You're awake." She said without looking up.
Then he noticed that he was actually in the student clinic, lying down on one of the medbeds.
Who is this woman?
He still asks himself that.
Before he could ask questions, she filled him in. "You hit your head three times; once by a basketball, the second time you lost balance and hit the seat, and then the third time you fell to the floor. You were conscious for a moment but started to speak incoherently and passed out so we brought you here."
"We?" He searched around the room but it was only the two of them.
"The guy that hit you, by accident," —she used air quotes— "and me who stuck around so I could pass on his apologies for a) hitting you and b) not being able to stay and say it personally."
"Well tell him message received," he snapped at her, "he's an ass."
She glared at him, "I was a bystander, not a messenger. In fact, I did this as a favor to you." He cocked an eyebrow and she continued. "You didn't see him, but I did, and I don't know what kind of person you are but if someone knocks me unconscious and doesn't have the balls to apologize face to face, leaving a stranger to do so, he probably deserves some kind of retribution."
He realized that this woman was just as irritated about the situation as him, perhaps even more despite having a less painful headache to deal with.
"He's an ass," he reminded her, "doesn't mean I have to hunt him down and strangle him."
"You're right," she conceded, "and wrong. See this couldn't have been the first time he harms someone and leaves someone else to clean up his mess. He probably does this all the time. Besides, I didn't mean we go beat him up."
She was offering something but he wasn't even going to guess what it was. He knew trouble when it was standing in front of him.
"I can imagine this was a hassle for you but I'm good. He was just another prick in this big wide galaxy. Can't get too hung up on getting even with all of them."
She pursed her lips, mentally disapproving of his rejection.
"I see, well," she began to gather her things, "you're not dead or in danger of dying, I got you all caught up like I was asked, and it was nice chatting with you" —she hastily shook his hand— "but I have work to do."
She left just as a nurse entered. The nurse looked at the retreating back on the stranger that was probably planning someone's murder.
The next time he saw her was when she sat down in front of him.
"Hello, stranger. Mind if I sit here?" She said this when she had already sat down.
"What are you doing here?" It had been a while since they crossed paths and she obviously wasn't a regular in the Medical College's Mess Hall. He also remembered the look she had on her face the last time he had seen her; with a determined gaze to exact vengeance.
"1 o'clock. The guy who nearly killed you." He looked towards that direction and he continued to describe the man. "He's the tallest at the table and eating green Jell-O."
He was an average guy oblivious to whatever was going to happen to him and probably didn't deserve it. The punishment didn't fit the crime in McCoy's book.
"He didn't kill me."
"Doesn't matter," she waved her hand dismissively, "Like you said, he's a prick."
"Listen, I don't know you or whatever you're about to do. To summarize, keep me out of it." He already had James Kirk to drag him into trouble.
"And as I said, this isn't the first time he leaves strangers to clean up his mess. He's a klutz on purpose."
"How can you be a klutz on purpose?"
"He thinks it's endearing. He was looking at me while playing, I thought it was creepy. When he knocked you out with that basketball—thinking I hadn't seen it was him—he tried to appear as the white knight there to save the day, i.e. help you after injuring you, and then tried to flirt with me." He hadn't processed what she said when she continued to talk. "He flirted while we checked if you were breathing, he flirted as he offered to carry you to the clinic, and then he flirted when he rejected to being a decent human being and staying to see if you were alright."
"Man's a prick."
"Thank you, Dr. Obvious."
"Well you could've told me before y'know."
"I didn't tell you because I didn't know if you were in on the whole thing. So, yeah, sorry."
"Apology accepted. So, what are you doing here if you didn't need me?"
"Oh, I did need you." She pointed back towards the man, "I needed to see your reaction to that." In that moment, the man stuck out his tongue and began to fan it. He stood up in a panic, knocking his food onto the table.
"My mouth is on fire?" Confusion turned into panic quickly. "Why mouth on fire?" His friends started to hand him glasses of water and milk which he grabbed and began to drink, the liquids spilling over him.
"Oh, and I wanted to make sure you didn't grab the wrong Jell-O." She grabbed Leonard's green Jell-O and substituted it for her own red Jell-O.
"My name's Rosalind by the way." She said and started to eat her lunch as if she hadn't pulled an impossible prank somehow. "What's yours?"
"Leonard."
This chapter's title song comes from Carly Rae Jepsen. I should explain that some songs have more to do with the overall story than a specific chapter.
I was having some trouble with what Rose's first impression should be. I wanted her personality to come out but not all at once. There was also the matter of McCoy and Rose's meeting which I wasn't happy with but published anyways. It took me a while to figure out how a meeting between them would feel while bringing certain elements together.
For those of you who read the first version of this chapter, any opinions on the new one? I won't be changing it back though… I prefer this one. – B.B.