Annie was proven correct when, twenty minutes later, they got the call to report to the shuttle bay. When they got there, Leonard squeezed her hand.
"I've got to go, it says here Jim didn't show up for his physical," he grumbled, shaking his head. Annie almost laughed.
"Did you really think he would? Especially if it was scheduled with someone other than you?" She asked. Bones seemed to think for a moment before chuckling himself.
"One of these days, I'm going to kick his stubborn ass," he remarked.
Annie laughed as she walked away. As much as she wanted to stay with Leonard, she hadn't seen Uhura since Niribu and she knew her friend hadn't reacted well to Spock's near death experience.
She boarded Shuttle B and took her seat next to Nyota. As it took off, Annie took a brief moment to get over her dizzy spell before she glanced over at her friend.
"Hey," she greeted cautiously. Uhura gave her a halfhearted smile.
"Hey," Nyota returned. Annie waited a minute for her friend to continue. Realizing Uhura was still locked in her own head, Annie spoke up instead.
"Did you ever talk to him?" she asked. Uhura shook her head in defeat. When they had arrived back at headquarters, Uhura had been upset by Spock's apparent acceptance of death. Annie had urged her friend to confront Spock about it but she saw now it had been to no avail.
"He won't talk about it. I asked him how he felt and he said he didn't feel anything. He actually had the nerve to remind me that he was half-Vulcan and doesn't feel emotions like me," she answered angrily.
"I'm sure he didn't mean it like that," Annie tried to counter. "Men always tend to stick their feet in their mouths." Uhura snapped her attention back to her friend. She could tell that Annie didn't just mean Spock.
"What did Jim do this time?" she asked in an attempt to lighten the mood. Annie shook her head.
"It wasn't Jim," Annie replied in no more than a whisper. Uhura tried to cover her shock but couldn't stifle the small gasp that escaped her mouth. If it wasn't Jim, then it had to be…
"Annie, what happened? What did he say?" Annie thought about the past day and a half.
"He told me he loved me," she answered. "But then he asked that we not tell anyone. It was like he was ashamed of me." Uhura hugged her friend close.
"Oh Annie, that's not true at all. He really does love you, everyone can see it. Whatever his reason for keeping it a secret, I'm sure it has nothing to do with you." Annie began to nod slowly as the shuttle docked on the Enterprise. Once the shuttle had stopped completely, the girls left the shuttle together to head toward their posts.
They were amicably chatting away when Bones caught up to them on their way to the bridge. Annie could tell immediately that something was seriously upsetting him. He didn't even seem to notice them as he blew past them.
"Len," Annie called after him. Leonard kept walking until she called after him again. "Leonard!" Bones swung around quickly and Annie had to stop short to avoid running into him. His expression considerably softened once he saw who was calling after him.
"Annie," he greeted in return. Uhura noted that he even had a small blush rise to his cheeks.
"Len what's wrong? You look furious," Annie asked.
"It's Captain Kirk isn't it?" Uhura added, a knowing smile on her face. Leonard closed his eyes as he let out a large sigh.
"He's not okay. His BP is off the charts and he won't let me check anything else. He's so damn wrapped up in this suicide mission. He actually intends to fire torpedoes at the Klingons!" Bones took a couple deep breaths to calm himself down. Even Uhura was stunned into silence. He watched Annie slowly digest everything he had just said. He had to fight the urge to kiss the confused expression off her face. Eventually, Annie nodded her head before she spoke.
"We're all emotional on this one. I'll watch him but if he says he's okay, then that's probably what he needs to do to cope. But I am going to talk to him about the torpedoes but I want to talk to Scotty first," Annie finally said. Leaning towards him, she gave Leonard one quick peck on the cheek before she headed to Engineering.
Bones nodded to Uhura once before he headed to the medical bay.
"Doctor," Nyota called after him. Leonard swiftly turned around to address her. "If you hurt her, I will kill you." And with that, she turned on her heel and headed towards the bridge.
Annie reached Engineering rather quickly. She set to trying to find Scotty but was surprised to see Pavel Chekov in a red shirt running from station to station.
"Pavel?" she asked upon reaching him. "What are you doing here?" Pavel looked frantic but smiled when he saw her.
"Um," he started. "I don't reelly know. Meester Scott resigned and Kirk named me chief."
"Scotty quit? What the hell did Jim do?" she replied. Pavel only shrugged before continuing to check the station they were at.
"I think it's about the torpedoes," he answered. "Everything about them is classified." His comment only served to worry Annie more. She was about to say something else when Jim came on over the comm. Annie was pleasantly surprised to hear that the mission no longer consisted of just destroying the Klingon planet. He signed off by asking Annie to meet the ground crew in the shuttle bay. So she said her goodbyes to Chekov and headed to the bridge.
Annie hadn't gotten far when the ship went to warp. Knowing what was about to happen, she braced herself against the wall and held her nose tight. Once she got her bearings she changed directions and headed to the med-bay. She was just outside the doors when the ship lurched, sending Annie into the wall. She caught herself to avoid any actual injuries but her nose persisted in bleeding. At least now I have an excuse, she thought.
The head nurse patched her up quickly and she hurried to meet Jim, Spock and Uhura in the shuttle bay.