14. Out Of Warp
Hello, everyone!
All I can say is that I've been overwhelmed this last week. I began Running Start...so basically I'm taking two college courses while still going part-time to high school. Real life is hectic. :(
Thanks you to everyone for sticking with this story and special thanks to those who reviewed the last chapter!
Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek.
Dr. McCoy woke up gradually, with a numb arm and the vague sensation that he was being watched.
Opening his eyes, he discovered that his right arm was numb due to the fact that Rebecca was laying on it.
As for the sensation of being watched…that was probably because Reynard was sitting on the other side of the bed, staring at him over Rebecca's slumbering form.
Oh, and he also felt the need to turn the damn lights on.
Not even remotely drowsy anymore, McCoy demanded in a whisper, "When did you get in here? And how?"
"The door wasn't locked. I woke up a few hours ago and couldn't go back to sleep, so I thought I go sleep with Mom again...I didn't expect you to be in here."
But he looks pretty damn smug about it. "She asked me to stay." McCoy tried to sit up and failed, since Rebecca was still pinning his arm down and he didn't want to wake her. "You're in front of the clock; what time is it?"
Reynard craned his neck around to look at the clock on the bedside table behind him. "0730 hours."
"Oh, shit!"
"Are you late?"
"No. Unless another emergency comes up, I don't have to be in Sickbay until this afternoon. Still, I don't like it when I sleep in without planning to beforehand." He took a risk and carefully began to ease his arm out from beneath Rebecca.
"That sounds almost reasonable, except…"
Rebecca chose that moment to jerk awake with a garbled exclamation that sounded suspiciously like it included the words "warp engines".
"Take it easy, darlin'." McCoy said as she jolted upright and looked around confusedly. "And please don't tell me you were dreaming about warp engines."
Blinking, she made a face and grumbled blearily, "What?"
"Never mind. Oh, and good morning."
She laughed softly. "Good morning to you, too." Glancing away from him, she said in a surprised tone, "Reynard? What are you doing here, sweetie?"
The boy shrugged. "No particular reason."
"He woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep." McCoy stated as he slid out of bed and looked around for his boots. Then, "What is that dirty look for, Reynard?"
"Did you have to tell her?"
Picking up his once-discarded footwear, McCoy paused. "Hmm…yes. I did." He sat down and began to put his boots on. Because she's your mother and if you're not sleeping properly she needs to know about it. Shouldn't he already realize that, though?
Technically, Reynard was almost a teenager, so maybe the infamous teenage stubbornness was setting in.
Or maybe he's just worried about upsetting his mom. Since it's Reynard, that's probably it.
"What do you mean, you 'did' have to tell her?" The boy sounded more curious than angry, however.
"I'm sitting in between you two, you know." Rebecca said dryly. She reached out and took her son's hand.
"Reynard, if you're having problems sleeping, you don't have to be embarrassed about it. From what I've gathered, you've slept in the same…well, we'll call it room…with your mother your entire life…until you came onboard the Enterprise. It's probably going to be hard to adjust." McCoy paused. "You slept pretty well when you first came on board, though. I recall distinctly not having to drug you."
"The first couple days I was exhausted all the time. Going to sleep then was easy."
"Yeah, that makes sense." McCoy stood and stretched. "I'll see you later." He glanced at Rebecca, catching her gaze briefly. For the first time since he woke up, he fully realized that he'd gone and fallen asleep in the same bed as Rebecca.
It wasn't the action itself that struck him as odd; they hadn't…done anything, after all.
What seemed strange to him was that it felt perfectly normal to wake up next to her. Minus staring from Reynard, it had felt…almost nice. Comforting.
"Where are you going?" Rebecca inquired lightly, interrupting his train of thought.
"First I'm going to change my clothes." He had slept in his standard-issue off-duty wear. "Then I'm going down to Sickbay briefly…I suppose I could meet you in the mess hall for breakfast? That is, if you're getting up now."
Rebecca nodded. "We might as well."
"I'll see you soon, then."
He turned to leave, pausing when Rebecca called out, "Len? Thank you. For staying."
"You're welcome."
As he passed through the next room to exit the guest quarters, he heard Reynard ask, "Mom, why did you ask him to stay with you last night?" Once again, he sounded mostly curious.
McCoy would have liked to stick around and hear what Rebecca said in response, but he convinced himself to do otherwise.
Eavesdropping doesn't feel right in this case, damn it.
He left.
"Captain, we have a problem."
"Come on, Uhura, I'm hungry!" Kirk complained as the linguist blocked his way to the mess hall entrance. After a very brief staring contest, which he lost, he sighed and grumbled, "Fine, what is it?"
Uhura, her expression between disgusted and exhausted, said quickly, "Ever since our rescue attempt succeeded, people have been talking, making speculations. Yesterday, someone in our crew took a look at Rebecca Brandon's Starfleet records and did some more investigative work. As a result, between yesterday morning and today, almost everyone on the ship has found out for a fact that Reynard is Dr. McCoy's son. The Brigadier crewmembers already knew, from what Evan Shaw told me. But they weren't going around telling people. Now the entire ship is talking about it."
Kirk groaned. "Uhura, they had to figure it out sometime, right? And this is…well, the most obvious way for that to happen. An announcement or something…that would just be plain weird, so…"
"Yeah, it's just…" Uhura sighed, "I don't think Dr. McCoy and Rebecca know about it yet, and it's going to be terribly uncomfortable for them both." She hesitated, before adding, "I found out about the whole gossip thing very early, so I went to Dr. McCoy's quarters to warn him, and he wasn't there. So I checked with the ship's computer…he was leaving Rebecca's quarters. Someone told me that they'd seen him heading there late last night. That information is being spread around, too."
Okay, I did not expect that. "Whoa."
"Get that look off your face, Kirk. They didn't do anything; I'm pretty certain of that."
Though he personally agreed with her conclusion on a hunch, Kirk joked, "Why not? Granted, it's kinda fast…"
"Reynard was in there, too."
"Oh. So, no." Not that I thought anything of the sort…
"Exactly."
Grimacing, Kirk asked, "Can I go get breakfast now, Lieutenant? Or do I literally have to order you to hurry up and finish saying…Wait, are you finished?"
Uhura scoffed and stepped out of his way. "Yes, I am, Captain."
Kirk had soon retrieved his breakfast and joined Sulu and Chekov at a table; the last he'd heard, Scotty was down in Engineering, still investigating and repairing the damage from the explosion the day before.
There had been a time when many of the crewmembers would try to quiet down whenever the captain came into the mess hall. Before long, they'd stopped doing so when they realized that he made more noise than anyone else when he was in a good mood.
Today, however, he didn't speak much other than responding to Chekov and Sulu's cheerful greetings.
They probably figured it out days ago…And now everyone else is probably wondering why they didn't figure it sooner…It's not like McCoy and Rebecca were even attempting to hide it…the nurses didn't talk about how they were acting together in Sickbay, though…
Kirk wasn't surprised when all chatter ceased for a moment when the doctor, the captain-who-still-insisted-that-she-was-not-a-captain, and their "love child" came in. Whispers filled the hall seconds later, eventually fading back into normal conversations as time passed. The only people who did stop whispering right away were the ones close enough to the arrivals to get the full force of the McCoy glare.
"We've become the latest goddamn gossip item on this ship." McCoy growled, sitting down at Kirk's table with Rebecca on one side of him and Reynard on the other. "What the hell do you think you're staring at?" he yelled at a yeoman at a nearby table.
"They'll get over it." Sulu said wisely. "They'll talk it to death for a few days, then it'll blow over."
"Unless of course you give them more to talk about." Kirk couldn't resist saying.
He would have left it there, only he just had to make a response to McCoy's sardonic, "Like what?"
"Oh, I don't know…you two could make out right here in the mess hall."
For a moment, Kirk thought he'd gone too far. Chekov and Sulu let out uneasy noises while the looks he received from Rebecca and McCoy could have frozen an entire desert planet.
Reynard broke the tension by laughing. "Careful what you say, Captain. They might actually kill you."
"I wouldn't got that far, but..." Rebecca's face relaxed and she smiled angelically. "To quote your own words, Captain Kirk, I 'pack a mean punch'. Just remember that."
Only slightly chastised, Kirk returned his attention to his breakfast.
Instead of issuing his own threat, Bones is simply giving Rebecca a…an adoring look? I've got to be hallucinating…or not…
Most of the remaining crewmembers from the Brigadier had sought out Rebecca every so often as the Enterprise sped towards Earth. For the most part, she was happy to speak with them, hearing about the calls they'd been able to make to their families, their plans for when they reached home again. By some blessed twist of fate, all of the other twenty-six survivors still had family to return to.
Unlike Rebecca. The only real family she had anymore was her son.
And Leonard.
Perhaps that was why she couldn't decide what she wanted to do with her future, now that she had one.
Yes, some of the others were still working out the details of their plans, but at least they knew where they were going first: home. It was more than going back to the planet they had been born on, significant as that was.
They were returning to the people they loved.
Isn't that where "home" is? With the people you care most about?
The two people Rebecca loved most in the world were already with her.
Her love for her son was the love of a mother; unconditional, unchanging. Whatever the future had in store for her, he would stay with her until he eventually grew up. She didn't want to imagine what how difficult it would be to let him go.
As for the other person she loved…
She had never found an exact term for what Leonard McCoy meant to her. "Friend", yes, he had been that for years, but she couldn't call him such after they had begun their romantic relationship. "Boyfriend" didn't quite fit, either; for whatever reason it made her uncomfortable to label him so tritely. "Lover" implied, at least to her, that he was nothing but someone she slept with, when their relationship was far, far beyond that.
To others, she had had to refer to him as one of those anyway, but it had been all right, really. When together, they had never found the need to label each other; they just been.
She wondered if it was supposed to be that way; if love was supposed to remain, to some degree, indescribable.
After another day spent going around the ship, talking to her crewmates, visiting different parts of the ship again, and stopping by Sickbay for the requisite checkup, Rebecca was a bit surprised, but not displeased when Leonard showed up in her quarters again. She didn't even question it when he joined her in bed again. She simply curled up close to him and fell asleep listening to his even breaths.
And when she woke before him, not yet ready to get up, she found herself pondering the meaning of family, home, and love as she lay between her child (who had come in sometime during the night again) and the man she still loved.
I still love him.
The realization had been coming on for a while, considering that she couldn't think of the future without wondering Will Leonard stay with me for any length of time? right along with How is Reynard going to handle all these changes? Not to mention that she slept the best while in the same bed with him.
She had believed that they had both changed too much, but had come to the understanding that however much thirteen years of separation might have changed her view on life, her feelings for Leonard remained the same. Reynard's existence merely added another layer to them.
She brought herself to admit it inside her head that morning, just as she acknowledge the crushing fear that while she still loved Leonard, he might have moved beyond her.
Is that truly the case? He alone could answer that question.
Unfortunately, she didn't know how to ask, or if she even wanted to put him in the position to answer.
She might have stayed in bed thinking about it until Reynard and Leonard had woken up, if the door buzzer hadn't sounded.
Moving carefully around Reynard, she got out of bed and when see who it was.
It was Lieutenant Evan Shaw.
The one Brigadier crewmember who hasn't tried to talk to me during the last couple days. Not since I screamed at him in the corridor.
"Evan."
"Rebecca. How are you?"
"I'm fine. Come in? Just keep it down…um, Reynard's in the bedroom, sleeping." Best not to mention Leonard unless I have to…
Evan entered and stood uneasily in the middle of the room as she shut the door and turned to him. "What are you doing here, Evan? Is it about our crewmembers?"
"No." He shook his head, keeping his eyes latched onto hers. "As far as I know, all is well with them."
"Um…Kita told me that you had called your brothers…"
"Yes…" He smiled briefly. "They want me to stay with them for a while…I've some ideas about what I'm going to do with the rest of my working years…nothing's set in stone…"
"Of course." She knew where the conversation would go now, and she wasn't looking forward to it.
Sure enough, Evan asked next, "What are you going to do, Rebecca."
"It's still…I'm still undecided."
"I see." He moved closer to her, almost too close. "I may…Perhaps I could help you decide." He put his hands on her shoulders, gently rubbing her upper arms.
Rebecca had never been comfortable with people touching her, unless it was her son or Leonard. On Quirinus IV, she'd some physical contact with the other survivors. She'd relaxed around all of them eventually, Evan in particular. It seemed to be a mostly-subconscious awareness of trust.
But something about the way Evan was touching her now felt…wrong. She wasn't afraid, she did trust him, but it didn't feel right.
"Rebecca, I want you…and Reynard…to be happy. You deserve it, after everything you've been through."
"Everyone went through it." she said automatically, trying not to pull rudely away.
"I know…Rebecca, I just want you to have a real future, after it all. I want to help you…"
I am a goddamn idiot.
As Evan's grip tightened slightly, Rebecca mentally cursed her stupidity.
It's so ironic. I've finally sorted out my feelings, more or less, and Evan comes in here to proclaim his love for me.
She'd always attributed his kindness and patience to his nice personality. She'd thought he was doing his duty to the crew when he'd helped her make decisions. He had been.
But he was also in love with her.
How damn long has he been, I wonder?
"Evan…" She tried to take a step back.
Evan merely tightened his grip again and pulled her closer. "Rebecca, I…"
Her heart rate picked up perceptibly. "Evan, please let go of me." she whispered.
"Wait, let me explain…"
"You heard her. Let her go. Now."
The lieutenant released her and spun around. Leonard had come out of the bedroom as was giving Shaw a ferocious glare.
Stifling a sigh of relief, she ducked around her second-in-command and went to stand somewhat between the two men.
Evan's face had gone purple. "So." he ground out, "That's how it is, then. I heard you were visiting her quarters late, but I'd hoped you were just…How long have you been sharing her bed, Doctor? Since her first night aboard?"
Leonard didn't even flinch. "We slept together last night and the night before. As in, we fell asleep in the same bed and nothing else. And it's none of your goddamn business, Shaw."
"You…"
The conversation might have gotten very ugly very fast if the ship hadn't suddenly given a violent jerk, sending everything and everyone careening violently to one side.
Rebecca recognized the feeling of a ship dropping out of warp.
Only way too fast.
It just felt right for Rebecca to sort out her own feelings at this point.
Reviews are very much appreciated. Have a great day/night! Hopefully I'll be able to update sooner next time.