Author's Note: Have some short fluff which hasn't been betad. Hence, all errors are mine!

Chapter 10: An Interesting Conversation

Isara's POV

I was awoken by a strangled yell. Again. This time it came from Bones, who had been pounced on by Alanna. Actually, let me back up so this makes more sense.

Kirk and Alanna woke up first on our second full day in Seattle. They apparently conferred and decided that the best way to wake everyone else up would be to jump on top of them. That's why I suddenly had a faceful of curly blonde hair and an earful of a yelling doctor. A fraction of a second later, there was a scream and a disgruntled grunt from the other bed, where Kirk had body slammed our other two friends.

"What?" I asked sleepily, too confused to really understand what was going on. "Alanna? What are you doing?"

My insane friend came to rest between me and Bones, apparently completely unaware of the glare she was receiving from his direction. "You guys slept too long. Now get up or so help me, I will drag these sheets out to the balcony and lock you out!"

I jumped up in a hurry, because I knew that she meant it. Unfortunately, despite all the time they had spent together, Bones still didn't understand what she was truly capable of. He grunted and dove under the covers, which were quickly grabbed and tied by Alanna. Kirk, grinning, helped her to drag the yelling bundle out onto the small porch outside the room, and neatly locked the door.

I laughed in spite of myself at the murderous face peering through the glass door. Then, with a cheerful wave and a kiss blown from Alanna, the three of us girls went back to our own room to get ready for the day.

"Hey Isara, where can I go get us breakfast?" I continued to brush out my wet hair while Kirk poked his head around the bathroom door.

"Have you ever heard of knocking?"

"No, usually the doors just slide open for me automatically."

"Fair enough." I scowled at the rebellious damp knots at the nape of my neck, which refused to stay in the bun I was trying to fix. "Just give me a few minutes and you and I can go get some food for the others."

"'Kay." The blond head disappeared, only to return a moment later. "Are we going to let Bones in before we go?"

I considered. "No, we can have Spock let him in after we're out of the blast range."

"Sounds like a plan."

A few minutes later, I was ready for the day in a comfortable t-shirt in my old familiar medical blue. I tugged on an old pair of tennis shoes and donned a light coat and a scarf, which was apparently still "in" even in the summer. At least, that's what Alanna kept telling me whenever I complained that I was dying of heat.

I went into the guys' room to get Kirk so we could leave, and had to chuckle when I saw that Bones had fallen back asleep on the balcony, wrapped up in a nest of sheets and blankets. "Ready to go, Mr. Perfect Hair?"

Kirk stared at me. "Is this going to be a thing now?"

"Yes."

"Fine."

"Yes."

"Can we go now?"

"Yes."

"Is that all you're going to say right now?"

"Yes."

He rolled his eyes at me and marched out the door. I turned to Spock.

"Let Bones in once we've been gone a few minutes, OK?"

"Of course. I assume that you wish to avoid the inevitable outburst?"

"Yeah, something like that. See everyone in a few minutes!"

A chorus of "goodbye"s and "see you later"s were cut off as I shut the door.

"All right, Captain. What kind of food do we want for breakfast?"

"Definitely coffee."

"OK, that can be arranged, but what else?"

A shrug was the only response. I sighed. "Fine. Let's start walking around and see if anything grabs you."

That turned out to be a big mistake. After about an hour and a half, we were still just "walking around," and nothing had appealed to the picky farmboy yet. My feet were starting to hurt, even in my comfortable shoes, and the scarf was stifling me in a rare burst of Seattle sun.

"Remember what I said before about how we were going to pick? I've changed my mind. I'm going to order food, we're going to carry it back, and everyone's going to eat it." I marched into a coffee shop without waiting for a response. I gazed thoughtfully at the menu while Kirk lurked in the background. "We'll take six bacon sandwiches, three pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, three apple turnovers, and six coffees." The woman behind the counter raised an eyebrow at the large order for just two people, but turned and industriously began preparing the food. Kirk and I grabbed our coffees and sat down to wait.

"This is such a weird, ordinary thing to do," he mused, "especially after everything that's happened recently." I nodded as I took a long draught of the rich, strong coffee. "Sitting in a coffee shop with a friend. Ordering food to take back for other friends. Going on a road trip, even. It's so strange."

I decided not to comment on the fact that he had named me as a friend because, in spite of how much of my life I spent being exasperated by this person, I counted him as a friend, too. "Well, life goes on."

"Not for everyone," he commented darkly. I winced at my insensitive statement and tried to think of a way to backtrack.

"I mean for you. For me. For us." I made a sweeping gesture that included the two of us, the coffee shop, Seattle, the world. "We couldn't stop everything every time there was a tragedy. We have to keep going, rebuild. Move on. Not forget, but learn from events and not live in them forever. That's how you get eaten alive."

He smiled wryly at my. "Why does it feel like the world is never going to be the same again?"

"Because it won't. It wasn't after Auschwitz, or Stalin's purges, or the Revolutionary War, or the civil rights movements of the 1960s and the early 21st century and the 2190s. Nor were things the same after the moon landing, or the bombing of Hiroshima, or the invention of penicillin, or contact with Vulcan. Terrible, terrible things have happened, and they've changed the world. Wonderful things have happened, too. They've all made their impact, and we've adapted. It's what we do."

Kirk sighed and changed the subject. I knew that no amount of rationalization would help him deal with his guilt until he was ready, but I also knew that he was beginning to turn my argument over in his head. "So, Head Doctor, huh?"

I nodded and took another sip of my coffee. "I'm glad I get to work with all of you guys."

"As much as I hate to admit it, I'm glad too. Mostly because I don't want to hear Bones whine for five years about not getting to see you."

"Five years?"

"Oh, um, yeah. Forget I said that. You'll find out later."

"Okay."

"I mean, aren't you annoyed that you've been demoted?"

I put on my best professional air. "Dr. McCoy is an excellent surgeon and mentor, and I'm proud to be working under him." I paused for a second. "By the way, if you ask me if that was a euphemism, I'm going to dump this hot coffee over your head, because that's basically the same one that I used on the Enterprise. It's your turn, but you have to think of your own."

"Are we taking turns now?"

"Yep."

"Since when?"

"Since right now."

"OK."

There was a short silence, in which Kirk decided that his coffee was finally cool enough to drink and I gulped down the last few sips of mine. I sighed and swiped a hand across my mouth. "So. You and Alanna."

"What?"

"What's going on there?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "I honestly couldn't tell you."

I smirked. "I think you've finally met your match."

"We'll see about that."

I laughed, then grew serious. "Honestly, Kirk, you guys had better be careful. She had a rough childhood, she's scared of getting hurt. Besides that, she doesn't like to commit, simply because she's Alanna and that would be too boring. I feel like you're similar. If you just keep dancing around on the edges of this, sooner or later one of you is going to have their attention grabbed by something shiny, and the other's going to get their heart broken."

He sighed. "I know. And I don't want to do that to her."

"I have a brilliant idea."

"What?"

"Ask her out, you idiot! We can do date night tonight."

He looked slightly panicked. "Can I do that? Will it be weird?"

"If you want to keep your dignity, I'd suggest that you grab her before she grabs you."

"If you say so."

At that moment, our order was called. We collected the boxes of food and did our best to balance them with the four new coffees, then walked back to the hotel in companionable silence.

"What the hell is wrong with you people?" I laughed to see that Bones was still ranting by the time we got back. "You locked me out, then let me fall asleep?"

"You let yourself fall asleep," Alanna retorted. "You could sleep through anything!"

"Actually, I'm a fairly light sleeper."

Alanna glanced at me and I grimaced and shook my head, but she just smiled and continued anyway. "No you're not. Isara and I tested that once"

"What?"

"You were asleep. Well, obviously. We came to see if you were up yet, and Kirk had left the door wide open. We stacked credits on your face and you never woke up."

I shuffled my feet and looked at the floor. "I was harassed into taking part. Blame Alanna."

Bones stared at us in disbelief. "Are you the people I call my friends?"

"Admit it, you love us." Alanna smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "And besides, we were helping you with your fears."

"What? How?"

"We literally locked you out while Kirk and Isara went and got coffee. They both came back, nothing happened, and we let you back in. Now we all get muffins."

"Well, for all you know, nothing happened," Kirk grinned and put his arm over my shoulder. I shrugged him off and walked over to give Bones his coffee.

"Smooth, Kirk. Good job." As far as I could tell, Bones wasn't paying him any attention, but I was worried nonetheless. If we were going to share our deepest fears and worries, we were going to have to take it seriously. Or maybe joking about it would help to relieve the tension? I shook my head and stole a sip of Bones's coffee, earning an annoyed grunt. That was an important topic for thought and discussion, but it was also a topic for another time.