Fandom: Star Trek 2009

Title: Exam Room 3: Heros

Characters/pairings: McCoy, Chekov, Chapel centric

Rating: M

Warning: Sexual scene in this chapter. Please do not read if this bothers you.

Words: 2857

Disclaimer: I don't own ST09

Author's note: This story focuses on McCoy, Chekov and Chapel. Exam Rooms is a series of short stories that examines McCoy's character while he treats colleagues and friends aboard the newly launched Enterprise.

Summary: Chekov is wounded in a violent attack and McCoy is forced to rethink what it means to be a hero. McCoy begins to see Chapel in a new light

Exam Room 3: Heros/ Part 2

Sitting besides McCoy's unconscious body in Exam Room 3 aboard the Enterprise, Christine tucked his bed sheet a little tighter beneath his legs as she looked on his silent form with affection. For the past six months she'd been harboring a deep attraction to Officer Spock, but a couple of weeks ago it became common knowledge that Spock and Uhura were involved in an exclusive romantic relationship. At first, she was angry at Nyota for not telling her about the affair as Christine considered her a friend. However, Nyota Uhura was a girl who played her cards close to the heart and Christine couldn't fault her character or her decision.

There was a slight hope in Christine that they might find her fiancee Dr. Roger Korby, but over the last year she had begun to realize that space was much more hostile than she had imagined and Roger probably wasn't alive and neither were her feelings for Roger – other than regret. The only man that was really in her life on a daily basis was her superior officer Leonard McCoy, a man to which she was not attracted. A divorcee, he was a temperamental, grouchy workaholic and questionable alcoholic– she wasn't surprised that his wife had left him. However, tonight was surprisingly reshaping her opinion of the ship's head doctor. It was the first time she'd noticed that Leonard McCoy wasn't just a head-strong, superior physician, but also a very handsome and virile man who wasn't afraid to take what he wanted.

Christine loved being a nurse and when she was in a hospital or sick bay setting-- she was all nurse. She loved the drama, the action, the surgery and even the quiet moments of comfort. Doctor McCoy was her boss, her work-mate, her medical confidant. Grouch and grump aside, she sincerely enjoyed his company. She wouldn't exactly call him a friend, because when they talked, it was always about medicine or botany or human aliments. She'd known McCoy since residency at Starfleet Academy Hospital and Chapel was always the first nurse that he requested on his team and that knowledge made her proud. Leonard McCoy was a highly respected physician and surgeon and his favor was not gained by flirtations or flattery; it was only gained from intelligent, superior work. And they did work very well together-- even other medical officers had noted that McCoy and Chapel had a natural rhythm. After their dancing at the pleasure club, Christine began to wonder if their rhythm extended beyond the medical bay and perhaps to a more basic, human level.

She wasn't looking for another Roger, but a little Southern comfort now and again, might be just what the doctor ordered for her recent loneliness. She smiled to herself as she wiped McCoy's forehead with a cool cloth.

"Ughhhh." McCoy moaned and touched his forehead.

"You're awake! How do you feel?" Chapel asked, rising to his side and scanning him with a tricorder.

"Like I was hit in the head by a brick." The doctor grumbled.

"That's perceptive, Doctor," Chapel laughed, "because you were hit in the head by a brick. You're getting a mix of Tordall and Simpalx intravenously. How's everything else feel?"

"Like shit." McCoy replied, stretching his back, "So basically normal."

"Your vitals are all normal and your sarcasm has returned." Christine replied, sitting on the edge of his bed.

McCoy smiled at Christine's observation. "The kid?" He asked grimacing and trying to sit up.

"He had kidney failure, but Dr. Isabel treated him immediately and he's fine. No other physical repercussions. Janice is awake, too and doing well. All the girls have decided that Ensign Chekov is quite the hero."

McCoy flopped back onto the pillows. "Hmmphff. Hero! Reckless is more like it."

"Of course it was. That's why they don't send old men to war." Christine replied, adjusting his medicine dosage.

McCoy grumbled. "I'm not old."

Christine sensed she had unintentionally ruffled some feathers. Her blue eyes locked with his dark brown. "You're not old, McCoy. You're just seen enough life to know how precious it is. Nothing wrong with that." Then sitting on his bedside and smiling, "Anyway, Checkov wasn't the only hero today."

McCoy huffed again, unimpressed with Christine's assessment.

"No one does field cardiac resuscitation without a difib- tricorder. I'd only seen it described in medical history textbooks." Her eyes wide and honest, "You scared the shit out of me!"

He laughed and thought for the first time since the pleasure club that Christine was very pretty. Noting her blue one-shoulder mini-dress, he knew she hadn't changed since they arrived back on ship. Could it be possible she'd been here with him the whole time? "How long have I been out?"

"Four hours, and don't change the topic, Doctor. How did you know how to do it?"

"Number one Nurse Chapel, I seem to be your patient today, so you can call me Leonard or Officer McCoy or the asshole in Exam Room 3, but I'm not feeling much like 'doctor' being put up in this bed and mollycoddled by you. And secondly, I'm quite adept at historical field medicine, learned a few tricks years ago when I was boy backpacking though the North Georgia mountains in Scouts. I think it was a merit badge; guess it stuck with me."

"Truly amazing...Leonard."

Christine never called him by his given name, but he'd given her permission, twice now and he liked the way she said it. Reclining on the pillows, happy, he replied confidently, "I have my moments."

Christine returned his smile slightly and made to leave the room. "I guess I should get the Captain."

"Hey wait!" Leonard called. "You still have on your party dress. Did you stay with me the whole time I was out?"

Christine blushed, was she so obvious? "Umm... Of course, I mean... I am your nurse."

McCoy was unsure about the meaning behind her answer, but he was grateful nonetheless. Taking her hand and squeezing it. "You are... Thanks."

"No one likes waking up alone." Christine lowered her eye lids.

"No they don't." Replied Leonard McCoy, who couldn't agree more.

After an hour with Jim and a brief argument with Dr. Isabel, Dr. McCoy decided to check himself out of sick bay – against doctor's orders. First, he wanted to talk to Chekov, and then he had some unfinished business with Chapel, who had disappeared from the medical bay.

As soon as McCoy entered Chekov's exam room, he was met with a flock of young attractive female yeomen and junior officers. Their attentions turned from Chekov to McCoy instantly, like flies to buttermilk. Smiling and fawning, they offered several cooing 'you're a hero' remarks; McCoy finally cleared his throat, "Um, ladies, if I could have a moment alone with Ensign Chekov."

After several giggles and kisses to his cheeks, the ladies left.

"Apparently, we're still docked at Risa." Commenting on why so many women were able to lounge about with Chekov instead of reporting to their posts.

"Yes." Chekov laughed. "I think I owe you a debt of gratitude, Doctor. I hear you saved my life." The young man held out his hand.

McCoy shook it. "Just doing my job, Pavel."

"Then I am glad you take your job so seriously." His blue eyes looking deep into the older man.

"As do you." McCoy replied and looked away.

"I didn't retrieve Janice because it was my job, sir. I did it because it was the right thing to do. I suspect it was the same reason you retrieved me."

McCoy sat on the side of the young man's bed in thoughtful silence. Why did he risk his life for Chekov's? He wasn't sure. He was use to saving lives, but he wasn't use to risking his own. Pavel lowered his lashes, looking suddenly very sleepy. It was then that McCoy noticed the morphine drip which was obviously taking effect.

"Do you really think you're motived by logic or by Starfleet, Doctor McCoy? More than any officer on this ship you're motived by сердце..." He stated the last word in Russian and then translated, "by the heart."

Closing his eyes and finished. "True heroes always are."

McCoy's thoughts dark, "Sometimes Pavel, I don't even know if I have a heart anymore. Sometimes I think it's only sheer will and a fear of failure that keeps my bones moving."

A growling snore came from the bed. McCoy's confession had fallen on sleeping ears. "All the better."

The older man looked admiringly on the blissful innocence of the sleeping youth as he pulled the blanket over Chekov. "Sleep well, son." He offered in blessing and then quietly exited the exam room.

Doctor McCoy head back to his quarters where he slept well into the afternoon. After being bombarded by a horde of giggling girls in the mess at lunch, he decided to eat dinner in his room. The time alone gave him ample silence to think about his nurse and beautiful woman, Christine primary question he pondered was why in the hell hadn't he noticed how incredibly sexy she was before last night? It certainly wasn't a case a beer goggles because when he woke up this morning from his contusion she was just as stunning, leaning over him, patting him with a cool cloth... nursing him. Damn it, no one had ever nursed him before in his life, except maybe for his mama. Could he be falling for her because she was sexy and tender?

She was highly intelligent, excellent at following his orders and meticulous in the execution of her work, but he'd never stopped to consider that she also might be caring. There was a shyness in her this morning when he'd take her hand; a sensitivity he'd never experienced with her before. He was usually rough with her, barking orders with a short temper but she took it in stride without offense. Chapel was his stoic confidant in the medical bay. If he was the fire, she was the calm waters. He didn't even trust the other doctors like he trusted Christine. He'd always known and respected the nurse, but suddenly he was very aware of the woman.

And now, he didn't just want her by his side as a professional; he wanted something more personal. He wanted to capture her tenderness and wallow in it. She was young and beautiful and he wanted to make love to her, but he didn't just want her body, he wanted a little piece of her soul and for that, he felt guilty. He was a great doctor, but as a man, he felt he had little to offer her but down and cradling his head in his hands, "This is madness."

Christine was his nurse and his direct subordinate-- his advances could ruin his career if they were rejected. Yet, consenting romantic affairs between officers weren't unheard of, but they weren't smiled upon by Starfleet. Secondly, if he did make an advance and she felt that he was threatening her position, she could file a complaint of sexual harassment. He paced the floor for several minutes, torn between his head which said, no, and his heart, which said, yes.... His heart won.

Within a few minutes he was standing outside her quarter doors with a bottle of champagne and a faint whim of hope. His actions were desperate, but he was a desperate man. Pushing the buzzer, a female voice replied, "Yes?"

"Leonard McCoy. I have some for you, Chapel."

The door slid open and Christine leaned again the frame in black shorts and a tank-top. "Oh, I was just getting ready for bed." She replied, explaining her pajamas, which McCoy noted quickly were quite small and revealing.

"I'm sorry to bother, I just hoped you'd help me celebrate." He replied, revealing the bottle of champagne.

Chapel raised a suspicious eyebrow, "Come in."

The doors shut behind him and McCoy realized that Chapel had very small quarters. A desk, two chairs and a very neatly made bed.

"So what are we celebrating, Doctor?"

"Leonard." He corrected and began to pop the cork off the green bottle. "My official hero-status. Do you have some glasses?"

Christine opened the cabinet, and supplied two plastic cups. "I knew it wouldn't take you long to see reason and embrace your true heroic self."

Leonard chuckled.

"I guess Captain Kirk is going to knight you or something?" She finished her sarcasm by taking a sip of the golden bubbly liquid.

"Of course, and then we're going to slay dragons all across the universe." McCoy answered.

"Better dragons than windmills." Chapel quipped and sat on her bed, crossing her well-toned legs.

"No todos podemos ser frailes y muchos son los caminos por donde lleva Dios a los suyos al cielo."

Chapel smiled with curious pleasure. McCoy sat beside her on the bed, the heat awakening between them. "We cannot all be friars, and many are the ways by which God leads his own to eternal life... Don Quixote...." He explained. "Nor can we all be heroes, Christine or saints."

He placed a hand over hers, his dark eyes searing her with intensity. "I assure you, I'm neither."

Christine's breathing hastened, McCoy's hand on hers was causing a dichotomy of emotions. One self, wanted to caress him, kiss him and become his lover. Her other self, wanted to shut out emotion, and be the battlefield nurse; calm reserve and resist temptation.

She swallowed hard. "Why did you really come here?"

Closing his eyes, he said a silent prayer. "Because I want you." He moved a hand to her cheek, "I want to make love to you."

Her heart pounded, she never said no to Doctor McCoy or her instinct, but.... "That would be against Starfleet protocol."

"Damn protocol!" He squeezed her hand. "But if it's against your wishes Christine, then tell me to leave and this... What I said to you tonight, it never happened and I'll never ask you again."

She returned pressure to his grasp. "Are you asking?"

"I'm begging, sweetheart. Let me be with you." He kissed her knuckles with feather-light pressure.

Without hesitation, she kissed his lips and her passion was meet with his. In moments, she was straddling his lap as they kissed and rocked with lustful desire. Both starved for intimate human touch, they quickly disrobed and tumbled in the bed like eager teenagers. Touching, entwining, kissing and licking; their foreplay hot and sensuous. Christine Chapel smelled like honeysuckle in spring and tasted like strawberry wine in summer. She was round in the right places and soft in others and he was right-- Christine was all woman. She made love like a woman, meeting his every trust with her hips. Then with strength and determination, she pushed him on his back, and rode against him. Her love making caused him to cry out in pleasure as she sought her release. Just as quickly, he pushed her back into the mattress and as her legs twined around his waist allowing deep penetration, he spilled into her. Together they collapsed, shaking.

There was a long silence and finally, McCoy, rolling onto his side, gathering her to his chest, "That was incredible!" He confessed, nuzzling his forehead against her shoulder and kissing her tenderly.

"I bet you say that to all your women." Chapel answered, flipping her back to the doctor, self-doubt creeping into her mind. Making love to Leonard McCoy was beyond amazing, she thought whimiscally.

"There haven't been many women, Christine."

She turned and looked up at him. "After my wife, there was Nancy at the Academy and then..." He looked away, "Then there was work and the battle and this post..." He was at a loss for words.

Squeezing his hands, she understood his loneliness. There had been Roger and then there was an empty bed for so long--- and an empty heart. "Shhh..." She cooed, and pulled him to her breast.

"Can I stay here tonight?" He finally asked, hoping he didn't sound too pathetic. Christine made his private world seem warm and soft without a bottle.

"I hope so!" She laughed, "Anyway, I don't think we're done here yet, Leonard." Stroking his hair, "But I'll give you some time to recover."

"Time to recover?" Propping up on his elbows, "Are you calling me old, Chapel?"

She smiled deviously.

He kissed her and this time made love to her slowly and throughly like a man should with the woman he loves.

Author's note: Thanks for the reviews and messages. They are greatly appreciated! Please review!