It felt foreign to walk into Jim's apartment building in her dress uniform. The rotating security guards had seen her in plain clothes for most of the nine months that the captain had called the glass edifice home, often dragging Jim behind her in varying states of inebriation.

Sometimes it was just them, more often a trio that included Leonard, but never alone in in gray from head to toe.

It was stranger still to have a cap to tip back at Lawrence, the doorman for as long as Kirk had been living there plus a whole decade. He found amusement and joy in it, where she found awkwardness. On any other day, they would have likely shared a laugh.

Today was not any other day.

When she got to Jim's penthouse, she was quick to knock, just wanting to peel off at least the cap and jacket to somewhat resemble herself again. However, her surprise must have been evident when Leo was the one to open the door.

"Darlin'?" He was barefoot in jeans and a long-sleeve shirt pushed up to his elbows. "Everything okay?" he asked, forehead creased with concern.

"I just need to talk to Jim," she blurted out, ducking past him and into the living area. Anything to avoid having to tell her boyfriend about the deal she'd made with her father.

His reply didn't come until she was already well past him. "Jim's not here."

Danielle's green eyes found the digital display on the wall and noted the time. It had been two and a half hours since her meeting with the Admiral, which was followed by a pensive walk through the gardens until she decided to sit on a bench near the bay to be alone with her thoughts.

Ignoring them had been decidedly better.

At any rate, the blonde wondered if enough time had passed for her father to pull all of his string to set off the dominoes, to rescind Jim's reassignment and swap it for a demotion instead with her godfather at the helm in his place.

She hadn't heard from Chris yet, but it didn't mean that call wouldn't come soon.

Danielle's gaze swept the apartment, landing on a broom and dustpan propped against wall on the other side of the room. "How many things did he break?"

Leonard's hands were stuffed into the front pockets of his jeans once he came to stand next to her. "Two glasses and a vase. I didn't even know the kid owned a vase." He exhaled in a huff. "At least he had the good sense to keep his mitts off the bottle of whiskey."

The corner of her mouth lifted as amusement temporarily broke through the surface. "I take it you bought the good stuff, then?"

He shook his head. "It's decent enough, but it in my extensive experience, it doesn't matter what you drink when you're trying to drown your sorrows so long as it gets you drunk as fast as possible. Taste doesn't matter. Still…" McCoy looked over at where scratches lingered on the wall from the thick-walled vase. "There's some things you just don't do."

"Like throw a perfectly drinkable bottle of whiskey?" Danielle offered helpfully.

"Exactly." His body turned inward so that he was facing her. Even with her hat on, the blonde was at least four inches shorter than him. "And on the subject of things you don't do, what's with the uniform?" He tapped the brim. "I know they're better than our cadet reds, but I've heard you complain every single time you've put on the dress grays. So what gives?"

Her stomach did roughly seven backflips and then a full twist straight into a blender. "I told you. I had to go try and pull whatever strings I could."

"They must have been really hard to reach if calls weren't enough."

"I forgot how much I hated the bureaucracy of it all," Danielle noted. She deposited the cap on the nearby side table next to the couch. "Makes me remember why I refused to enlist for so long."

"Cowtowing aside, how'd it go?"

She cleared her throat. No matter how many times she practiced what to say while sitting on that park bench, nothing had seemed suitable. How did you tell the love of your life that you'd traded your morals and relationship? "Well—"

The woman was saved by the chirp of her communicator.

Adm. Christopher Pike

Or maybe not.

"It's Uncle Chris," she told him with the phone already halfway to her ear and feet carrying her over to the doors to the balcony. "I'm gonna, ah—I'm gonna take this outside."

When the door was safely closed behind her, leaving a very confused Leonard McCoy blinking on the other side, she took a deep breath before answering. "Hello?"

"Of all the god damn impulsive things," a voice growled in her ear. "I'm in the process of calling in every favor I've amassed in my career, finally making some headway, only to hear that John recalled an emergency meeting of the disciplinary committee. I'd tell you that Jim is no longer being sent back to the Academy, but I have a feeling you already knew that."

She pinched the bridge of her nose. He'd always been so smart. It was one of the reasons she'd grown up idolizing her godfather: his ability to not only plan several moves ahead, but to reason his way back to the origins of any problem. "I did."

Chris heaved a sigh. "I'm afraid to ask, but I'm sure I'll find out anyway, so might as well. What did you give him in return?"

"… what do you mean?"

"You've barely spoken in over a decade. I know that he tried to get in touch with you in the Academy, arrange meetings with different members of the brass. Whether it was to help groom you to carry on his legacy or if he just wanted to parade you around like a show pony, I don't know. But I do know you wouldn't respond to a single attempt. Your father isn't used to hearing the word no." There was a pause. "I know John Blake as well as I know myself. He would have wanted something from you for any favor you'd have asked of him and taken payment upfront."

Her knuckled were turning white where her hand gripped the metal railing. "Commander Fabien is first in line in the fleet to be promoted and he thinks she'll get the Montgomery next year. When that happens, I—" She grit her teeth. "I will be offered the opportunity to take over her position."

"And you have to accept," Chris finished for her. "Jesus fucking Christ, Danielle."

"I know."

"Does McCoy?"

"… not yet." Her voice was softer now. "You'd have heard the level of destruction occurring in this apartment from wherever you are if he did."

"To be a fly on the wall for that conversation." Her godfather's tone was anything but amused.

"If they didn't put Jim back on the ship, I'm not doing anything, Uncle Chris. He still has to hold up his end of the bargain." It felt as much like grasping at straws as it actually was.

"Well, you don't have to worry about that because Spock is being reassigned elsewhere, Jim is being demoted to first officer, and I've got the ship."

A maelstrom of facts hit her at once. Danielle did her best to compartmentalize them in order of importance. "You're back on active duty?"

There was the tiniest hint of a smile in his voice. "Yeah," Pike affirmed. "It surprised me, too. I'd made peace with the fact I was never going to sit in the chair again, on the Enterprise or anywhere else. I was always going to miss it, all of us do, but I really thought that time in my life was over. You've got younger, bright potential captains in much larger supply again after the massive hit we took last year." The word Nero inserted itself between the lines. "Why would they want an aging guy like me who needs a cane to get around when they could just have one of them?"

"Because your reputation speaks for itself," she countered, conviction returning to her voice. "I like Fabien just fine, she was always nice to me as a kid, but she's not you."

"You know, the fact that we'd have a real chance to serve together for more than a few years was one of the first things to cross my mind. It was selfish," he conceded, "but something I'd always hoped for. When I went looking for your father to see what the hell had happened, he said I should enjoy serving on the ship with you while I could. For a split second, I thought it was a threat. Then I realized it meant something else entirely."

"I couldn't just stand by and do nothing. Spock is not meant to be our captain. For all of Jim's faults, he'd have done for anyone on the crew what he did for Spock. He'd never leave a single being behind. He's a good man." She raked her fingers roughly through the hair from her forehead to the start of her ponytail. "Jim being on the Enterprise is what's best for everyone and now you, being on the bridge, is just as good if not better."

When all Danielle heard was Chris's breathing on the other end of the line, she knew that something was wrong. The relative silence continued on for what felt like hours. "Sunshine, Spock was never going to get the Enterprise. He'd have needed to jump quite a few people in line."

The realization hit her like a brick to the fact.

"… Commander Fabien was next to get a ship." Her vision blurred as her eyes turned glassy with frustrated tears. "He gets to keep Fabien for another year and then, gets me for who knows how long out of the deal. Any other way, he gets nothing." Danielle's chest tightened and it was suddenly incredibly difficult to breathe. She absently wondered if Leo was still close enough to see her drop if she passed out from lack of oxygen. "He knew. He fucking knew."

Chris had always said that her father had been one of few people he could seldom beat at three-dimensional chess. Now she understood why that had been the case.

"He knew that if Jim was sent back to the Academy, I would want to stop it from happening. He knows—what Jim means to me and to Leo and that I'd have no other choice but to come to him for a favor." She sunk down into one of the chairs, legs suddenly unsteady under her weight. "So he waited and I played right into his hands." She snorted bitterly. "I had to wait in reception for an hour for a few minutes of his time. No—he made me wait, when he already knew why I was there and what his offer was going to be. And all his time, Jim was a means to an end."

Her whole body felt like it was no longer her own and her vision was turning black at the edges. Was this what people felt like when they had a nervous breakdown?

"I'm going to fix this," her godfather insisted lowly. "I promise you that this isn't going to stand. But right now, I need to find Jim and tell him before he does something stupid or reckless or, more likely, both that will undermine every sacrifice and every deal we've both made for him."

"I don't—" she croaked. "I don't know where he is. Leo said he stormed off somewhere."

"I know this is a lot to ask of you right now, but do you think you could ask Leonard if he knows?" He was met by silence. "Danielle?"

Her legs were still shaky as she pushed herself up from the chair. "Yeah, just—just give me a second."

The glass door creaked open and Leonard's head snapped up where he was sitting on the couch. A holovid was on, but it was merely background noise to him.

"Hey…" Danielle called out to him softly. "Uncle Chris wants to know if you have any idea where Jim might have gone? He's not answering his comm."

"Of course he wouldn't because it's not like another rogue Romulan could attack at any moment or anything." McCoy's scowl was particularly impressive, but it was only heightened by the sight of her red-rimmed eyes. Something was wrong. "You'll probably find him at MacGregor's."

"The one right off campus?"

"Yeah. He's always had a soft spot for that place. Plus… makes for a special brand of nostalgic masochism."

Leonard watched her nod and angle the communicator back towards her lips. "He thinks he went to MacGregor's. Do you want us to- ?"

The question died on her lips as she listened to her godfather's words. "No. I'll handle it. I think it's better if it comes from me. He's… the closest thing I've ever had to a son."

The lump in her throat was painfully thick. "He deserves better than this."

"He does," Pike agreed, "but this is certainly better than the alternative. He can work his way back this way. The other was—well, we both know it was a death sentence for his Starfleet career." A beat of silence hung between them. "I'll tell Jim how this started. He's going to find out anyway and probably in the worst way possible. Still, Danielle?"

The blonde braced herself. "Yeah?"

"You need to tell Leonard." His tone was sympathetic, but left little room for argument. "Jim wouldn't tell him if you asked him not to, he owes you that much, but you shouldn't keep this a secret from him. It may mean he doesn't get hurt now, but it'll be that much worse when the time comes."

The dart of her eyes in his direction wasn't lost on him either. "Yeah, I will."

"It's going to be okay, Sunshine," Chris promised, warmth seeping from his words. "Everything is going to be okay. I love you, kiddo."

"I love you, too." The urge to cry was overwhelming. "Let me know how it goes."

She received a promise that he would and then the call ended, although she did not move a muscle for many passing seconds. Danielle could feel Leonard's gaze boring into her from across the room.

She finally put the communicator back in her bag. It bought her an extra minute to compose herself and school her features, even if she did not know how long that would hold.

"What was that about?" Leo inquired, closing the gap between them. His head was cocked inquisitively. "Why is he going looking for Jim?"

Danielle's back was still facing him and she fumbled around in her bag for absolutely nothing in particular, merely desiring a distraction. "The committee changed their decision. He's not going back to the Academy."

McCoy's instinct was to celebrate, but he could ascertain from her behavior that something was off. She seemed too morose for the story to begin and end there. "Chris manage to change their minds?" The sudden rigidity of her body struck him. Immediately, her attire made sense. "Or did you change their minds?"

She looked wounded when she managed to muster up the courage to look at him. "You should probably sit for this conversation."

His chest heaved with the force of a sigh. "Gee, that doesn't sound ominous or anything. Should I fix myself a drink, too?"

"A stiff one," Danielle murmured and deposited her hat on the side table. "Possibly a double."

"Well, shit." He retrieved his half-downed tumbler with dexterous fingers from the glass coffee table and sank onto one of the couch cushions with surprising grace. "Should I fix you a drink?"

She joined him on the sofa, yet kept a carefully calculated amount of distance between their bodies. "Maybe after." If you haven't thrown me out, that is. She neatly folded her hands in her lap. "What would you like to know?"

He considered the amber liquid carefully prior to making a decision. "What is going to happen to him?"

Explaining that part of the deal came easily. "Officially, he'll be demoted to First Officer and Spock will be transferred to another ship. Uncle Chris will be reinstated as commanding officer."

Leonard breathed in relief. "Well, that doesn't sound as bad as I thought it was going to be. Sure, it's bullshit that he's being disciplined in the first place, but he gets to stay on the Enterprise and your godfather can continue to mentor him. It'll only make him a better captain in the long-run when he gets back in the chair again. And hey." He nudged her leg with his knee. "I know you'd always hoped you would get to serve with him after the Academy. You get the chance to do that now for the foreseeable future. Softens the blow a little, y'know?"

She shook her head with closed eyes. "I did something very stupid."

"Stupid was not leaving Spock in that goddamn volcano," Leo groused, yet the manner in which he touched her cheek was tender. It was the perfect illustration of the natural dichotomy she had the privilege of observing. "It can't be as bad."

Her green eyes were glassy when they lifted. "… I only had one string to pull, Leo."

The statement perplexed him at first. Danielle Blake was a distinguished and well-respected officer in her own right. Maybe she hadn't amassed many favors during her short tenure on the Enterprise, but her instructors in the Academy would most likely go to bat for her if it absolutely came to that. Besides, it wouldn't look favorably upon Starfleet if something happened to the daughter of one admiral and the goddaughter of another.

Then again, if Chris hadn't been able to overturn the committee's decision on his own, even with his reputation and position within the ranks, how the hell had a lieutenant commander with just over a year of service under her belt managed to accomplish such a feat?

His next thought slammed into him like a ton of bricks.

"Your father," he surmised quietly. It wasn't posed as a question.

"He—he offered me a deal: become his First Officer in a year when Commander Fabien gets her own ship and Jim gets to stay on the Enterprise." Her next breath left her lungs with a shudder. "I had to take it, Leo. There wasn't going to be another way—"

Leonard McCoy had never thought he would ever have to experience again the soul-shattering heartbreak that wracked his body when Jocelyn informed him that she was leaving him for Clay Treadway and taking their daughter with her, using the most hurtful and hateful words that could she could possibly spew from her lips.

He was wrong.

His leg jerked back. "You're leaving."

"Not right now." She picked at a phantom thread on her skirt. "In about a year. Maybe a little more if things are delayed." Danielle decided now was not the best time to confess that her father had come out as the victor in a well-played game of chess using both Starfleet brass and officers for pieces on the board. "But eventually, yes. The Enterprise, anyway."

Leonard returned his glass to the table, setting it down harder than he'd intended. She flinched. "And you didn't think that maybe you should discuss it with me first? Or did you just figure it was your career, your decision, and my opinion didn't matter?"

"I didn't think the offer would stay on the table if I left his office. Leo, you have to understand…"

"Let me tell you what I understand," he seethed. "You decided to make a life-altering decision and expected me to blindly accept that there's now an expiration date on our relationship."

"Leo," she rasped, normally steady-hands trembling as she reached for him only to recoil when he ducked out of range. "I promise I never meant to—"

"To what? To hurt me?" McCoy laughed bitterly. "Well, at least you're not leaving me for another man. That's a refreshing change. Although, you definitely get bonus points for doing it within three weeks of moving in together and introducing me to your grandparents."

"What choice did I have, Leo?" she shot back in defense of her actions, flush with misery. "Don't tell me if you were in my shoes, you wouldn't have made the same choice!"

He groaned. "Oh, don't give me that fucking hypothetical bullshit, Danielle! I don't have much in life, but I always figured I got a job I'm pretty damn good at and an incredible woman who, for some reason completely beyond all logic, actually likes having me around, so I was doin' alright. But, sweetheart," he drawled lowly and the endearment was anything but kind on his tongue, "a job don't keep me warm at night."

All Danielle wanted to do was curl up in a ball, knees tucked up to her chin, but the inflexibility of the wool uniform restricted her movement too much. Leonard's blow had struck her deeply, probably even more than intended.

"It was the only way to keep everyone safe," she whispered. Her vision was blurred so immensely by tears that it was impossible to gauge his reaction. "Jim was never going to come back from the Academy and for all I knew, they were going to happily hand the chair over to Spock as a reward for being their perfect lapdog." She violently wiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. "You said it yourself: if Jim was in the volcano and Spock on the bridge, he'd have let Jim die, Leo. What if someday, it's Hikaru? Or Pavel? Or Scotty?" What if—" Her voice cracked. "What if it's you?" She tasted saltwater at the corner of her mouth and realized that tears were no longer threatening, but falling. "I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you and I could have prevented it. I refuse to take that chance."

The fury that boiled in Leo's veins slowed to a simmer. He couldn't deny that he'd said those words, which he knew hadn't been rash in the moment. They were as accurate now as they'd been days ago.

As much as he was loathe to admit it, Danielle had a point.

The doctor sighed, leaning to slump against the back of the couch. "So where do we go from here then?"

The vice around her heart seemed to unclench just enough to allow it to beat again. "Forward, I guess. There's not much else to do until I have to hold up my end of the bargain and anyway, a year is a long time."

"Not when you thought you'd have at least thirty or forty times that, probably more."

Well, that certainly caught her attention, but their current predicament didn't leave the room for discussion the statement deserved. "It's not forever, Leo. We're not always on missions and there will be plenty of times we're both planetside." She dared to brush her fingertips against the side of his kneecap. "We can still share a bed, a home, a life, even if the first happens a little less often than we'd like."

Leonard stared blankly at the ceiling. The feeling was still strangely familiar. "This is how it started, you know." He could feel her gaze on him, so he rolled his head to the side. "Jocelyn and I. We shared all of that, too, less and less until we didn't anymore."

Emboldened, her hand traveled until it landed over his wrist. "So I give him six to twelve months on the Sagittarius and then I call it a career. We'll only be separated for less than a year and then I'm home whenever you are. "

"You can't—"

"I had a real good run, Leo. I won't get to serve with my sister, but I will get to have Uncle Chris as my CO for a while and I can proudly say I helped save the world once. I mean, that's far more than I ever expected. Especially the saving the world thing." For the first time, her face softened and maybe, she held a little hope. "I never promised him I'd take the job forever. I just have to put in a little time to make good on our deal and then it'll be one last middle finger to him before I ride off into the sunset."

His jaw clenched. "You're willing to give up your career because of him." McCoy felt the anger rise and boil in his veins. "The job that you love and worked your whole life for. That doesn't sound like a ride off into the sunset to me."

Danielle fell silent for a long while in response. Then she started to unbutton her jacket until it fell open and she could neatly fold it to set it aside on the side table beneath her hat. She turned back to him in just a white cotton tank top tucked into her skirt.

"I do love my job," she conceded with a tilt of her head. "As much as I ran away from Starfleet for the first twenty-plus years of my life, it was really the only thing I ever wanted." She exhaled a short, sad laugh. "As soon as I finished my PhD, work was all I had. Trading the private sector for the Federation didn't change that. But the Enterprise did." She absently smoothed her hair back towards her ponytail. "I have made some incredible friends who have become my family. I have you, Leo. None of that changes when I leave. At least, I hope not." When she looked up at during a long breath, an undercurrent of fear was evident. "But that isn't necessarily up to me alone."

Leo's posture grew rigid and he sat up again. "And if it was up to you?"

"I told you that for me, the only way out of this was in a body bag. That hasn't changed."

"And I still have absolutely no fucking idea what I want my future to look like," he countered with a snort. "But I know I want you in it. We can fill in the specifics as we go."

He was immeasurably pleased when she smiled genuinely for the first time since that morning. "Yeah?" Her whole face lit up with the force of it.

McCoy clasped his larger, perpetually-steady hands around her right and drew it to his mouth so he could kiss the center of her palm. The tightness in his chest was still present, but it wasn't a constricting anymore. "Yeah."

Leonard kissed the inside of her wrist and then continued his path up the length of her arm. He stopped once he reached the strip of fabric over her shoulder. "I love you, Leo," she said softly. "There is never going to be anybody else. There never was."

He slid closer to cradle the back of her head for a kiss. Though, he took his time, running his nose up her jaw and along her cheek. The doctor knew his girlfriend was angry and frustrated with the circumstances and even if he couldn't do anything to change them, he could show her that where they were concerned, she had nothing to worry about.

His lips eventually found their target and moved slowly against the soft pink flesh, deft fingers massaging her scalp. The ministrations elicited a soft moan and she took a breath. Her face was tinted pink.

"Sorry," Danielle murmured, bashful.

Despite the fact they'd done unspeakable things to each other in the dark (and truthfully, the light just as often), the surprising shyness sent warmth shuttling through Leonard's veins. "Nothing to be sorry about, Darlin'." He gently pulled her hair tie free so her hair could tumble freely. "It is one of my favorite sounds of all-time."

"… what are the others?"

"Your laugh," he told her at once, lips curled fondly, "and you do this thing in your sleep where you snuggle closer to me and sigh like it's the best place to be in the universe." His fingertips skimmed down her cheek to the point of her chin. Then the pad of Leo's thumb pushed up until it stroked across her lower lip. "But I'd say the top spot is definitely all the ways you say my name. Every variation. And it isn't necessarily sexual."

"I'm kind of surprised there aren't more lascivious sounds in your Top 5."

"Well." He cocked his head. "There are at least half a dozen others that I've made the decision to group together under the title of 'Sex Noises' to give the others a fair chance." At the close proximity, she could see the distinctive flecks of gold in his hazel eyes. It dawned on her suddenly how much he was crowding her. "Should I include those, too?" he inquired with a risen brow and she felt his breath tickling her skin.

Her fingers twisted into the hem of his tee-shirt. "I'm not sure. I can't seem to recall what noises you speak of, so I suppose you'll just have to remind me."

"The pleasure would be all mine, Darlin'."

She licked her lips, pointedly slow in her movements. "No, it won't."

"… you're absolutely right," he growled lowly and she could swear she saw the moment his pupils dilated. "It sure as shit won't be all mine."

Leonard barely uttered the words completely before he had surged the remaining distance between their faces to kiss her. It was more forceful than she was regularly accustomed to, but Danielle did not have any objection given the circumstances. For all he'd calmed and grown to understood her reasons, as well as her future intentions, McCoy was still in pain.

She knew the feeling all too well.

The surprising warmth of his fingertips slipping beneath her newly-untucked shirt (smooth, Leonard) drew her from her thoughts and back into the moment. It did not take an empath to know where the couple was headed, but she also recognized they weren't in the comfort of their own space.

"… I'm afraid of what this couch might be contaminated with," she laughed quietly against his ear, in the perfect position to do so with his mouth latched onto her neck. "I mean, we're talking about Jim here."

"I really wish we weren't," he groused in reply.

"Well, this is his apartment. I didn't just decide to bring it up while you have me pinned to our bed." She gave his hip a squeeze. "It's kind of hard not to mention it when there's a framed photo of him and—" Her eyes darted to the side table between their sofa and the neighboring love seat that was cattycorner and she blanched. "Okay, we're moving…" she declared with a shudder."

"What?" His teeth grazed her jaw and then he blinked up at her. Leo caught the minute tip of her head and followed her gaze to the picture. "Yeah." He groaned with a hint of disgust, nodding at the sight of Jim shaking the now-Admiral Pike's hand on the day he'd relieved him of command. "We're moving."

There was a reason they kept holophotos in their respective quarters on the Enterprise and her apartment. Very easy to switch off to avoid killing the mood.

"Besides," he continued as he climbed off the couch and extended a hand. "God only knows who and what Jim has brought onto this couch. I'm all for interspecies lovin', but I doubt he actually knows what to clean this with, if he cleans it at all." He shuddered, nearly full-bodied. "Danielle, sweetheart, love of my life—please immediately get off that thing." He rapidly curled and uncurled his fingers in an effort to get her to hurry. "I'm starting to get banta fever just looking at it."

She held up her hands and rose without touching it any further. "Okay, okay. I will not go near the couch again. At least, not until I can adequately disinfect it."

"Ugh." Leonard grimaced. His hazel eyes darted all over the apartment. Was there nowhere they were safe?

Danielle's lips twitched. She could read his thoughts as clearly as if there were actually speech bubbles over his head. Her fingers hooked into his belt loops. "The shower," she decided for them and tugged him closer. "Self-cleaning. Remember after the first time I saw it, I told you I wanted to put one of those in our place, but I'd have to get a different showerhead and break the tile to install the vents?"

His throat ran dry. Not only did he recall that little piece of information, but he definitely remembered the circumstances that gave rise to the discussion. "Yes." His index finger tugged at the scoop neck of his shirt. "I imagine that it also locks?"

"Mhmm…" the blonde hummed, using her position as leverage to tug him forward by his jeans and back with her towards the bedroom. "I like the way you're thinkin', Dr. McCoy."

"I promise you that I'm trying the best I can, considering the current direction of blood flow."

She barked out a laugh at that and relinquished her hold on him to open the bedroom door behind her. Given her line of vision, it was particularly difficult and she couldn't seem to get the right angle to turn the knob.

Eventually, her boyfriend grew impatient and pinned her to the door with his body, mouth crashing onto mouth, even as he tried to finagle it open himself. He was eventually successful in his endeavor, but the panel opened blindly and they wound up falling through the open gap into a heap on the hardwood.

Laughter bubbled from her lips immediately and proved infectious when he joined in.

They never made it off the floor.

A/N: Hello, all! Long time, no see. Things are a little bit more settled at home these days, although work is insane. I've been using my morning commute to write, but sometimes I just need a darn NAP, you know?

I am so grateful for all of your reviews, especially your follow up ones telling me how much you couldn't wait for an update. I just couldn't leave you hanging any longer!

This scene took me a really long time to write because it required me to write both McCoy and Blake under the influence of emotions that were all over the spectrum. Oddly, I had a random light bulb moment while treating myself to a massage with a gift card I'd gotten for my birthday. Long story short, I wrote the scene from the beginning until the end of her call with Pike in my head during my time on the table. Take inspiration where you can get it, I guess!

I hope you like this chapter. The you-know-what is only going to hit the fan from here!

LLAP!

Elle