Uhura and Scotty were, for once, not sitting on the old couch in his office in Engineering. They were actually in Scotty's quarters enjoying the last drink of their five year mission. The door chime sounded and at Scotty's summons, Dr. McCoy stepped into the room. He eyed their glasses. "You, too, huh?" he asked as he took a seat.

Scotty, making a great show, said grandly, "Just this once, Leonard, my scotch is your scotch."

"I appreciate that, Scotty," McCoy said. He helped himself to a glass. Seeing a data pad lying on the table, he asked, "So what's the next big adventure?"

"Shore leave," Scotty replied with a shudder, "a whole month's worth. Then I'll be back to work. Starfleet can't leave well enough alone—I'm in charge of refittin' the old girl before she's sent out again. Between the designing yet to be done and the actual completion, it'll be at least two years before she'll be commissioned again."

Uhura couldn't help but smile at Scotty's reaction to shore leave. "Fortunately for Mr. Scott, I'm taking the position at Starfleet Headquarters instead of the one on the Archer delivering supplies to dilithium miners."

"What about you, Leonard?" Scotty asked. "Have ya made up your mind yet?"

McCoy took another sip of his scotch. "I'm retiring," he said slowly. "I'm getting too old for this, Scotty." He didn't add that he had no desire to break in another captain after spending so much time on Jim Kirk. "You heard anything about what's gonna happen to Jim, Uhura?"

She nodded. "Promotion. Admiral James T. Kirk." The thought didn't bring smiles to their faces. In Starfleet, 'admiral' meant one thing: desk job. "They're still throwing around ideas for what position. The latest proposal is Chief of Starfleet Operations."

"It'll be the death o' him," Scotty muttered.

McCoy nodded somberly as he finished his drink. He stood up slowly, noting a few new popping sounds in the process that hadn't been there five years ago. "Well, I have another stop to make. Good luck, Scotty." He focused on Uhura. "Make sure he gets out once in a while once the refit starts."

Uhura nodded. "I'll take good care of him, I promise."

McCoy smiled at the pair and headed out, muttering about Spock's objections to drinking farewell.

"Speaking of refitting the Enterprise," Uhura said, "have you heard who's going to be taking command?"

Scotty shook his head. "But I know you have."

Uhura batted her eyelashes at him. "You better believe it. He's a young man by the name of Willard Decker. This will be his first command, so he's put in a request for all the senior offices to stay with ship once the refit is completed."

Scotty sighed, fearing for the safety of his baby in the hands of a green captain.

"I've heard he's very hands-on and he's got a background in engineering. You might not be able to pull off your miracle-worker stunts on him," she said with a wink.

Scotty's eyes widened. "Stunts, ya say, lassie?"

Uhura quickly mollified him. "Of course they're not stunts. You're a real miracle worker, Scotty."

"Aye, and you'd do well to remember that, lass."

A/N: And with that, we're done. From this point, the movies can take place assuming Scotty and Uhura are together, they just don't flaunt it. The only thing that would change slightly is their interaction in The Final Frontier. The final change I would make is that Scotty doesn't get trapped in that transporter to be rescued by Picard's crew. I have more than a little hostility against TNGfor stealing Enterprise's final episode, so in retaliation they don't get to meet Scotty.

I didn't include anything about Spock in that little conversation because I don't think even Uhura, mistress of Starfleet scuttlebut, would know what he was planning on doing. In my head, I see him trying unsuccessfully to serve under another captain and then leaving Starfleet before the Enterprise refit is complete in order to return to Vulcan to complete Kolinahr.

Thanks to four-nostril for some suggestions about how the end should flow.

Bibliography of sorts:

Utopia Planitia Yards Starship Guide

Memory Alpha wiki

Chakoteya dot net (for transcripts)