I'M DONE PROMISING TO BE ON TIME! I DON'T THINK PUNCTUALLITY IS MY THING! WELL I WILL APOLOGIZE FOR THE LENGTH OF MY ABSENCE, AND I WANT TO APOLOGIZE FOR FUTURE ME, WITH THE HOLIDAYS I'M NOT SO SURE I WILL BE ONTIME WITH CHAPTER 8! BY THE WAY, CROSSING MY FINGERS FOR A SMALL TRIBBLE STUFFED ANIMAL, HOPEFULLY IT WONT OVERPOPULATE MY ROOM! WELL ENOUGH JIBBER JABBER! LET'S GET TO THE STORY!
CHAPTER-7
"Looks like you can go back to your quarters tomorrow," says Leonard in his usual gruff voice looking down at his PADD.
"It's about damn time." I reply grouchily, which only makes him chuckle. He puts down the PADD and pulls out his tricorder.
"You're almost as bad as Jim." He jokes still chuckling, as he waves his tricorder over me.
Once he sets down the tricorder and fills the empty seat next to my bio bed I speak again, "How far are we?"
"I talked to Jim this morning and he says that we should be arriving the day after tomorrow." He replies, and I take a deep breath it's almost over.
I nod in reply, and he reaches out and grabs my hand, he has done that a lot over the past few days, but I still find it comforting. It's even better that he pretends not to notice how I flinch almost every time.
"Hey," he says his voice soft, "It's almost over, he won't be able to hurt you ever again." He says and gives my hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Thank you Leonard. I couldn't have done this without you." I tell him, "I'm so glad we can continue to be friends, even if I'm not stayin' on the Enterprise."
"Me too darlin'," he says with a sad smile, he has taken to calling me darlin' over the last few days. "Are you sure you don't want to stay? You would fit in good round here."
"What? Someone as dysfunctional as me is the last thing this ship needs." I say, even though we have had this conversation a lot over the past few days.
"And what? You think you're anymore dysfunctional than the rest of this crew? I'm pretty sure Jim handpicked the most dysfunctional people to match his sanity." He jokes, with a chuckle.
"I… I just can't stay, Leonard. Can we not do this again?" I ask, my tone having a sort of finality to it, ending the conversation.
He only nods in reply; he then gives my hand a final squeeze before standing, "I should probably get back to work." He says, looking slightly disappointed. He then grabs his PADD, and goes to check on his other patients.
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"Mind if I talk to you for a little bit?" asks Captain Kirk, who is standing in the doorway of my room in the medical bay.
"Sure thing Captin'." I reply, looking up from my PADD.
"Jim." He corrects.
"Right, Jim. Sorry. Well what can I do for ya Jim?" I ask, as I quickly turn off the PADD, and set it on the side table.
"Bones tells me that you decided not to stay." He says as he occupies the chair at my bed side.
"Yeah, I did."
"What are you going to do?" he asks and he leans back in the chair.
"It would be best if I spent some time with my mother, she recently moved to San Francisco, so I could stay with her and get a job at the Academy." I tell him.
"So why do you want to go back?" he asks.
"Didn't I just explain it?" I ask with a small laugh.
"No, you explained why you should go back, not why you want to." He says looking straight at me.
"I don't know..."
"Do you want to know what I'm thinking? I may not know you that well, but I am thinking that you don't want to leave, that you feel like you should want to since you believe it to be the right thing to do." He replies, which leaves me slightly taken aback, since his guess was right on the money, as my dad used to say.
"Um..."
"Bonnie, I know you feel like you should do this. I also know that before now you husband controlled your whole life. You are finally free, you should start doing what you want to do, no matter if it is not what you think you are obligated to do." He says, but I can't help thinking about how little he understands, he doesn't understand how hard this is, how hard it is to transition from no choices to whatever you want, to transition from just surviving to actually having a chance to live.
"You don't understand-" I start but then he cuts me off.
"No Bonnie. I think I am one of the only people on this ship that does understand." He says, surprising me. "I know what you're going through. I went through the same thing when the authorities took me away from my Uncle Frank." He says, surprising me yet again with this sudden honesty. "I won't go into detail, but you should know that I know what you're going through, and if you decide to stay, you can always talk to me. I won't judge, and I won't say a word to Bones, unless you want me to." He says, and gives me a small smile. He then reaches out and gives my hand a reassuring squeeze before walking out the door.
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"Easy does it." Leonard says quietly in his gruff voice as he helps me of my bio bed.
"You know I'm perfectly capable of gettin' out of a bed all by myself." I tell him and I roll my eyes.
"You haven't used those things in days; God only knows how they will react to the weight." He says with the usually gruffness, which I oddly enough have come to find it endearing.
"Well it looks like they're handlin' it fine." I say, as I finally am standing up straight for the first time in what feels like forever. My response earns me an eye roll from the grouchy doctor.
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be right outside the door, just holler when you're done changing." He says throwing my temporary uniform to me. He then exits the room, types in a code that causes the door to hiss shut as he exits.
I quickly shed the gown they have forced me into, almost overjoyed at the prospect of wearing pants. I throw the top over my head and it rests comfortably on my torso, I then slip on the pants, forgetting how remarkably comfortable they are.
"You can come back in!" I holler, and the door hisses open, gracing me once again with Leonard's grouchy demeanor.
"Do you have everything?" he asks.
"Do I have anything?" I counter with a smirk, which earns me yet another roll of the eyes.
"Okay then, let's go." He says, then stands to the side of the door in order to let me through first.
We then walk on to the turbo lift and take the relatively short journey to my quarters.
Once arriving at my door I quickly punch in the code, which is answered by the hiss of the doors opening. "Do you want to come in for a bit?" I ask Leonard hoping I'm not over stepping my boundaries.
"Sure." He replies with a small smile, and I feel an odd sense of relief to his answer.
I usher him inside and I head over to the replicator, "Do you want something to drink?"
"I'm good, by the way stay away from alcohol for a few days; they won't mix well with your hypos." He tells me, which causes me to roll my eyes.
"You know I have been a doctor for twelve years." I reply.
"Doctor's are horrible when it comes to their own health." He says, sitting down on my quarters' sofa.
"Talking about anyone in particular?" I ask and give him a mock glare, which causes him to chuckle.
He then clears his throat as I take the seat beside him, "Bonnie, I know you are leaving tomorrow, but I just wanted to say this-" he begins, his voice gruff like always.
"Leonard-" I try to cut him off only to be cut off in return.
"No Bonnie. Let me say this." He says, then stands up and begins to pace and rant simultaneously, "I wanted to tell you that you would be making a huge mistake by leaving, so many people on this ship have befriended you and come to care about you, and despite the short length of your visit you have wriggled your way into this family!" He rants, it seems that this is the easiest way for him to deal with this conversation, he then clears his throat once more, seeming slightly uncomfortable with the warmth of his words, despite the fact that they are being shouted, "What I'm trying to say Bonnie is that along with the rest of them I have found a friend in you! And I... uh..." he pauses his rant to clear his throat once more; his discomfort seems to be increasing. "I know it's selfish! ...but I don't want you to leave! But the thing that makes me feel slightly better and slightly worse at the same tie is the fact that I know that you don't want to leave either!" He finally finishes, exhaling deeply.
I quickly stand, walking up to him to face him directly, but I just end up bursting out laughing for some unknown reason.
"What's so funny?" he asks looking annoyed.
"Sorry, sorry." I say catching my breath, "I know I shouldn't be laughin'. I just find it kinda funny."
"What?!" he asks, getting really annoyed.
"I already told Jim this morning," I say, "I've decided to stay!" I announce, making a rare grin spread on his face, only to vanish within a moment.
"Well, you could have told me that before I went on a whole rant!" he yells, but I know he actually doesn't care.
"You cut me off, remember." I tell him with a patronizing look, but he just rolls his eyes, "So I take it, ya ain't mad."
"Nah, I'm happier than a tick on a fat old dog." He says, with a small smirk, but I can't help but laugh a little at his metaphor. "Well, I better get going." He says, then begins to head out the door.
"Leonard!" I say, making him stop, and turn back towards me. Surprising him and even myself, I run into him wrapping him in a tight hug, which he returns, I lay my head on his chest as his warm arms encircle me, "Thank you." I say into his shirt.
"No thanks needed." He replies, and kisses the top of my head, he then unwraps me from his arms. "See you tomorrow darlin'." He says with a small smirk then walks out the door, leaving me smiling to myself.
Once the door hisses shut I just stand there for a while, thinking about how great life will be here on the Enterprise.
"Well isn't that sweet," says a cold voice from behind me, sending a chill running down my spine. Before I know it everything goes black.
I HOPE YOU LIKED IT! PLEASE, PRETTY PLEASE WITH A CHERRY ON TOP, REVIEW! IT THE REVEIWS THAT GIVE THE LITTLE ENERGY BOOST I NEED TO WRITE! WELL IF I DON'T SEE YOU GUYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS, MERRY CHRISTMAS YOU GREEN-BLOODED HOBGOBLINS!
LIVE LONG, AND PROSPER!
