/Momma? Momma, Uncle Kirk said to come tell you that Uncle Leo needs you at work. *tugs on your sleeve* He said that Daddy needed your help. An' he called him Montgomery. He never does that./
"Call auntie Ny, ok?" she called over her shoulder as she left the room.
She sprinted to sick bay unthinkingly, she'd done it so many times. When she burst through the doors, the usually bustling rooms fell silent. She fought the urge to panic as she approached the table.
"Chris?" A lot of meaning was carried in Dr. McCoy's one word. /Are you okay? You don't have to do this. But decide now, we need to get started./
No time to process, no time to feel. She met his eyes steadily. "Ready, Doctor."
It was easier once she was standing next to Leonard, handing over instruments and monitoring equipment. She could pretend that it wasn't Scotty lying there, it was just the patient. It wasn't her husband she was piecing back together. It wasn't the father of her child who was threatening to leave her.
The operation complete, Christine stood numbly, unseeingly, as Scotty was moved to a biobed and another nurse scurried around her, clearing up. Suddenly, the wall she'd put up collapsed and she was on the floor, shaking, silently screaming. Leonard pulled her to her feet and eventually succeeded in getting her into his office. He sat her in a chair and poured a glass of something and forced it into her hand. She drank automatically. Whatever it was, it burned her mouth the same way Scotty's stupid scotch did, and with that, the tears broke free. Leonard took the glass and perched on the arm of the chair, rubbing her back with one hand. When she was spent, Leonard smoothly handed her the tissues and then the rest of her drink. She looked at him gratefully. She couldn't talk just yet and he knew it. He finally broke the silence. "He'll live, but I can't estimate when or in what condition he'll wake up."
She nodded. She'd treated Scotty dozens of times after engineering accidents, up to and including cutting off a finger, but she'd never doubted that he'd be right as rain again.
Leonard and Christine sat in silence, both sipping another drink when Nyota appeared with a whimpering little boy. He ran to Christine and firmly attached himself around her middle. "You were gone a long time."
She kissed his forehead. "I know, I'm sorry."
"I wanna see Daddy," he said, voice muffled by her shoulder.
Leonard and Nyota exchanged looks before Leonard shrugged at Christine. She stood up. "We can visit, but Daddy's sleeping and we can't wake him yet." Her voice was surprisingly steady. She carried the boy out to the row of biobeds where Scotty lay. This was going to be the most difficult wait of her life.
Part 2 of this 4 part little adventurewas written by my rp partner. You can read it on AO3 as Breaking Apart by carnelianBlood.
Leonard left a bewildered looking Scotty in order to check on his head nurse. She was already stirring, so he hovered over her and helped her sit up, shielding her view of Scotty in the process.
She felt a little fuzzy. "I fainted? That's embarrassing. Why on earth…" Realization dawned. "He's awake."
Leonard firmly held her in place, his expression grim.
Christine's heart sank.
"Sorry," Scotty interrupted. "Did you just say wife?"
Leonard moved, allowing Christine and Scotty to look at each other again. "What's the last thing you remember?"
Scotty frowned. "I was trapped in some godforsaken outpost on Delta Vega."
Christine couldn't hold back a slight gasp. Leonard had explained this was a very real possibilty, but she'd refused to believe it. She withdrew a slight distance, attempting to calm down.
The doors hissed open and Christine nearly fainted again as Robbie walked in for his usual visit. She could do nothing but watch. "Daddy!" he cried, running to the bed and jumping up. "You're 'wake!"
Scotty looked helplessly at the others. Leonard scooped the child up. "He's awake, kiddo, but not better yet. I've got more work to do."
The boy nodded knowingly as he was handed back to his mother. "And I can't stay." He fixed his eyes on Scotty. "Don't worry, daddy. Uncle Len can fix everything." He waved cheerily as Christine carried him out.
Scotty rubbed his forehead tiredly. "I don't remember 'em," he muttered.
A few minutes later, Uhura wandered in calling, "Chris? Sorry, Robbie got away from me."
"She's no' here, lass," Scotty said, attempting to be helpful.
Uhura bounded over to the bed. "Scotty!" She was nearly clapping with excitement. "You're back."
"Apparently not," he said, bitterly.
Uhura's brown eyes searched his. "What do you mean?"
"I don't remember…I don't know you, I don't know them, bloody hell I don't even know where I am."
Leonard later spied Uhura perched on Scotty's bedside, listening to him rant. He kept his distance. He couldn't do anyhing to return Scotty's memory. Maybe talking to Uhura would help.
The following days were awkward. Christine was always in early, making sure he was comfortable. She was pleasant, not effusive, but then Scotty wasn't particularly cheery himself. There was a wall there and both of them felt better when they weren't in close proximity.
The only person Scotty seemed to enjoy having around was Uhura. She visited often, telling him stories of Africa and teaching him random words in Swahili to taunt the doctor.
Christine found them laughing one day and the look that flitted across her face nearly broke Scotty's heart, though he couldn't help but feel bereft when Uhura gave his hand a friendly pat and slipped away.
"You two have really hit it off," Christine said, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.
"Aye," Scotty replied. He watched the woman fidget uncomfortably. "Come on, spit it out, lass," he said, finally.
Another pained look crossed Christine's face, but she didn't comment. "Robbie wants to see you." She noticed Scotty's look of panic. "I'll keep him away if you'd prefer."
Scotty scrubbed a hand across his face. "No, I…I want to see him. It might help, aye?"
She nodded. "We'll be by later, then."
Scotty couldn't rest the next few hours. He stood and paced back and forth so often McCoy threatened to tie him down. Then the doors opened and a smile appeared on hia face of its own accord. "Hello, lad."
The boy ran to him and Scotty suddenly panicked. Part of him wanted nothing more than to embrace his son and never let him go, but a much bigger part was telling him to stop, he didn't love this child, he didn't even know him. He froze, staring at the little boy wrapped around his legs.
"Daddy?"
Christine was there in an instant, snuggling him to her chest, kissing his hair, whispering that Daddy still didn't feel better. She studiously avoided Scotty's eyes as she left.
Scotty collapsed in a heap on his bed. This was all his fault. He'd failed them. He didn't remember them, but he'd still failed.
Back in her quarters, Christine was struggling to comfort a hysterical Robbie. "Daddy doesn't love us," he wailed. Christine couldn't deny it.
After a few weeks of going stir crazy in sickbay, Scotty finally wound up crashing on McCoy's sofa. The reasoning was that Leonard was hardly ever there and once Scotty got back to work, he'd be busy, too.
Christine stopped one day to drop off some things. They stood staring at the ground awkwardly before Christine shoved the box into his hands and hurried away.
Scotty sat down to dig through it. Clothes, which he'd hardly worried about up to now, a couple of PADDS, and a funny little stuffed green dinosaur. Scotty didn't know why that was there, but it gave him a happy feeling, so he set it next to his pillow.
He took a closer look at the PADDs. Each had a note attached. One said, 'Work PADD. The technical journals on here should be more than enough to catch you up so you can get back to work.'
The other simply said, 'Personal' followed by a series of numbers.
Scotty activated the device and realized they must be the pass code. He nodded when it unlocked and began browsing. Movies, music, none of those really surprised him. Messages…he wasn't quite ready for that. Pictures…ok.
Leonard came in a little later. "Whatcha lookin' at?" he asked, browsing over Scotty's shoulder.
"Christine brought these," Scotty replied gesturing vaguely at the box as he flicked through pictures.
"I'm gonna kill her," McCoy muttered at one point.
The picture featured Leonard lying facedown on a table next to Scotty, who was trying to grin triumphantly but was entirely too sloshed to succeed. An attached message read, 'My boss is Sleepy there. And that other idiot, that's my husband.'
Scotty turned the thing off. He flopped backwards and landed on the dinosaur. He fished it out and stared at it. He'd seen things like it frequently at souvenir and toy shops in Scotland. It was a little Loch Ness monster. He hugged it, not caring how silly he might look to McCoy. It felt like home.
It was about 3 months since Scotty woke up that he wound up in sick bay again, this time for a jagged cut down his forearm.
Christine was alone when he came in and she adopted a neutral expression as she cleaned the cut.
"Your hands are cold," he remarked.
Her reply went unheard as Scotty was thrown back in time. Memories of cool fingers wrapping around his neck when he least expected it, cold hands quickly warming up as they snaked under his shirt to rest on his chest, pressing Christine's chilly fingers to his lips as he knelt before her seeing her eyes go misty as she said yes.
"Are you all right?"
Christine's voice brought him back to reality. He clenched her hand unconsciously. "I—I remembered something."
She looked at him guardedly. "What?"
"Your hands," he said, squeezing again, "they're always cold." He laughed. "It's the first thing people notice when you touch them. I got you gloves as a present once and you smacked me." He was nearly giddy.
"Hold still, I'm not done with that arm," Christine said flatly.
Scotty took a deep breath and forced himself to stay still. "Are you no' excited?" he asked, suddenly noticing her stoic demeanor.
Christine sighed and looked him in the eyes for the first time in months. She was just holding back tears. "You just wait until I'm finished patching you up."