Conversations

"How are the new parents getting on?" Nancy took a sip of her tea and wiggled her eyebrows at McCoycomically, he laughed despite himself.

"Carol's a pro." He replied, shifting in his office chair as he watched her drink her tea on his workstation screen.

"And Jim?" Nancy questioned further.

"And Jim, well, I've never seen a prouder Father but I wouldn't say he has a natural knack for the day to day if you know what I mean? It's early days, he'll find his feet. He always does." Leonard had a gentle smile on his face, it was always so refreshing and calming to speak to Nancy. He missed her so much and their infrequent calls to one another were one of only things he genuinely looked forward to. She would usually call him in the evening (her evening anyway) and would be sat with her Peppermint Tea in one hand and a book of some kind in the other. She would tell him about her day, who she had met and where she was going. She would use him as a sounding board for ideas, arguments or simply which new food recipe she should try next. Sometimes the topics of conversation would be profound and existential. Other times they would argue the merits of one genre of music over the other. It was their time just to decompress and desperately try to make the most of the limited time they had talking to one another. On more than one occasion McCoy couldn't help but utter the now famous words 'Tell me a story Nancy' to which she would always on her mood she would either tell him something funny or romantic, she tried to stay away from sad stories but as time went on and the longer she had been away from him the more her train of thought veered towards the melancholy.

"Oh no really?" Nancy laughed, not being all that surprised that Captain James T. Kirk had finally met his match in the form of a new born, pacifier and nappy.

"Did I tell you he had breast milk on his uniform all day last week? David had thrown up on him in the morning and he hadn't had chance to change." McCoy quirked his eyebrow.

"Well, I'm sure everybody understood." Nancy said sympathetically.

"Well yes, everybody did understand. Apart from the visiting dignitaries who as a race I'll hasten to add all have extreme lactose intolerance!" McCoy watched as Nancy nearly sputtered out her tea. "I had the full visiting party in my Sick Bay for well over an hour, Christine had never administered so many hyposprays in one go before." The mention of Christine made Nancy's heart hurt a little.

"Oh my word, that is unfortunate! And what does baby David think of his Uncle Leonard?" She didn't fail to notice that he rolled his eyes at her last question.

"Baby David thinks nothing about his Uncle Leonardand Uncle Leonard has enough on his plate!" McCoy snapped back gruffly.

"I don't believe you, I bet you're the first to offer yourself up for babysitting duties." She couldn't help but laugh the entire time she spoke.

"Even you know that not to be true Nance." McCoy gave her a pointed look, knowing she was purposely trying to get him riled up.

"Did you give them the gift I left with you?" McCoy nodded. "Did they like it?" He laughed and smiled at her.

"Of course they did, nobody else gifted them a vintage bottle of Champagne Nance!" She chuckled and shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess not." She felt tired all of a sudden, running her hands through her hair, she pulled out the tie that had been keeping it bunched up on the top of her watched her locks tumble down and fall on her shoulders.

"I miss putting my hands through your hair." The words came out of his mouth before he realised what he had said, it took him a moment to realise he'd spoken them out loud also. He looked at her face and watched for any sign of shock, or embarrassment but there wasn't any.

"I miss you Leonard." She finally whispered back, adjusting her position on the couch so she was closer to the screen. McCoy leant in also, crossing his arms in front of him. "How are you?" She asked, more out of not wanting the silence between them to go on any longer than actually wanting to know.

"I'm good Nance, you know that. I just wish you were here, or I was there…or something. But listen, we promised we wouldn't do this." He waved his arms in the air, as if the words they had just spoken were still in the atmosphere around them both and needed to be swatted away like a fly. Nancy laughed nervously, his words bittersweet. She nodded and shook her head from side to side, as if trying to knock the sad thoughts from her skull. Her hair fell in front of her face and she peered at him through her silver tresses giving him first a sultry pout which turned into a brilliant smile. He really did love her when she was being silly.

"I better go." She finally muttered, smoothing her hair away from her face.

"I know, me too." She watched his face turn slightly sad, he rubbed his eyes with his fingers and brushed his hands over his stubble covered jaw. He looked tired, she hadn't said anything because she always wanted to keep the conversation light but she worried about him at times, she missed him and worried about him and loved him and hated the fact he was so far away. Or was it that she was so far away?

"Stay safe."

"You too Nance." She put two fingers to her lips and kissed them, placing the digits on her screen. McCoy put his own two fingers up also, wishing with all of his might that he could actually feel her right in that moment. "I do love you, you know." He whispered.

"I know, I love you too." Nancy gave him a smile. "See you soon." He watched her reach out to the console and then the screen went blank. He hated this moment he was in, the moment straight after he had finished talking to Nancy. It was empty and blank. He stared at his blank screen for a few minutes longer and then as if he had been given an electric shock, jumped up from his chair, strode out of his office and out through the Med Bay.

"Doctor McCoy!" He heard Christine shout his name and stopped and turned, she hurried up to him, her face full of concern. She knew he'd been talking to Nancy, she knew because she had realised the reason after the first few times he had locked himself in his office and after maybe an hour or so come out in a blazing mood and mope around for the rest of the day. After one such event she had pulled him to one side to ask what the matter was, he had eventually divulged the information to Christine, confirming what she already knew andallowing her to prepare for the next time. Prepare meaning telling all her staff to stay the hell away from him for the rest of the day.

"What is it Chapel?" McCoy asked, angered that he had been stopped on his journey.

"Is everything alright?" She asked, still concerned at how deep the furrow in his brow had become.

"Yes Chapel, I need to speak to the Captain about something…of a personal nature." His eyes were telling her he didn't want to say any more and she was not enough of a gossip to question him further.

"Alright, well, if you need anything let me know." She gave him a smile and walked back to the Med Bay. He continued to pound down the corridor and on more than one occasion a poor Ensign had to plaster themselves against the wall lest they be knocked down by the oncoming steam train that was the CMO. Standing in the turbolift McCoy tapped his foot impatiently and nodded to himself, agreeing with his own train of thought. As the turbolift stopped and the doors opened he squeezed himself out, almost tripping he made his way onto the Bridge and didn't stop until he was stood next to Kirk.

"Jim, I need to talk to you, now." He demanded, not bothering to look around him to check if anybody had been in mid conversation or a new alien lifeform was on the display screen welcoming them to their world for the first time.

"Not now Bones." Kirk didn't look up at him as he spoke, seemingly distracted by his own thoughts.

"It's important Jim, I need to speak to you about something important." McCoy persevered, crossing his arms in front of him.

"Is everything alright Doctor McCoy?" McCoy didn't even bother to look at Spock, who had left his station and was making his way towards the pair.

"Not now Spock!" McCoy growled out, if he had been a dog he would have simply shown Spock his teeth.

Kirk finally stood and gestured for him to follow him into his adjourning office. Walking in McCoy felt his patience waning, he took a deep breath and waited for Kirk to sit at his desk.

"Jim I really need to speak to you about something…" Kirk held his hand up, stopping him from going any further.

"I received a communication earlier from Starfleet, they carried out an audit on the data download and the additional proprietary data dump." Kirk paused a moment, as if waiting for a response. McCoy quirked an eyebrow.

"Why you telling me this Jim?" McCoy was confused and not the least bit interested in what Kirk was telling him. He had another matter on his mind that he felt was far more important.

"They know that the data is missing Bones, they know we removed Carol's integral research data." Kirklooked up at his friend, watching for signs of comprehension.

"What the hell Jim! You're a damned idiot you know that! My God, when you told me about your preposterous idea I thought you were joking, I never thought you'd actually go through with it!" McCoy'svoice had raised an octave and increased somewhat in volume, Kirk was taken aback by McCoy's abrupt reaction. He sat himself down in the opposite chair to Kirk, knowing he was going to be there for a while.

"Yeah well, I did! It was the only way Carol could stay on the ship and not lose the research. Starfleet can't get their hands on it you know that!"

"I don't know that! And don't feed me that line of horse manure Jim, we all know you did what you did so Carol wouldn't leave."

"That's a bit unfair Bones, the Genesis project is…"McCoy cut him off again.

"I couldn't care less Jim, and you don't know for sure what Starfleet would do with the research! Jim, for crying out loud what were you thinking? And what do you mean 'we', who else was involved in this? Please don't tell me Carol…" He looked at his friend incredulously.

"Carol didn't know Bones and I'm not telling you who helped me." Kirk closed his eyes, wishing the whole thing away in his head.

"Oh well thanks for that Jim, you're a real pal!" McCoy knew he was being too harsh, he took a breath. "Right so, they know. What now?" He asked.

"I don't know! We're getting pulled back." McCoy didn't understand what he meant.

"Pulled back?" He asked.

"To Starfleet headquarters, they want to conduct a review with the personnel involved."

"Christ Jim." McCoy stood and started pacing the room. "So, who does that include then?"

"Me, Scotty, Green, and Carol I would have thought." Kirk responded dejectedly.

"Well, that answers my previous question of who helped you." McCoy remarked sarcastically.

"Bones!"

"Well you four better get your story straight before we get there because they're gonna want to hang somebody out to dry for this Jim." Kirk nodded slowly.

"I know I know, I'll sort it."

"You'll have to Jim because if they pin this on Carol you can kiss your little family on this ship goodbye." Kirk went wide eyed at McCoy's last remark.

"Thanks for making me feel better Bones." Kirk remarked derisively. "What did you want to talk to me about anyway?" He finally asked, McCoy exhaled slowly and shook his head.

"It can wait Jim." He waved his hand dismissively in front of him, knowing that now wasn't the time to bring up the subject of him leaving the Enterprise.

"You sure?" Kirk asked again.

"Yeah I'm sure, you've got bigger fish to fry!"

A very special thank you for the reviews that you guys have left, it's very much appreciated! To all of you following this story I hope you're still enjoying it? I try to update regularly, not wanting to leave much of a space between chapters but I've got a busy few weeks up ahead (moving house and family holiday and school holidays and work and so on!) so my apologies in advance if there is a slight delay. Same goes with my other story I have going on at the moment 'The Butterfly Effect' – Check it out! ;-) XOXO LLAP