Star Trek is property of its respective owners. I only own Mallory, Edison, and the treacherous Adam Price.
36
"For crying out loud, Leo!"
"Quit whining, Mal. You're like a toddler."
Mal pouted and wriggled in the biobed.
Leo promptly scowled her into submission.
They'd been bickering for the better part of an hour while Leo tended to Mal's injuries. She'd been sorely mistreated and beaten but she had withstood the worst of it solidly. That small bit of knowledge loosened the vice that had been squeezing at Leo's heart since he saw her standing in the door to medical, bloody, broken, and branded. Every whimper, every gasp of pain that snuck past her clenched teeth while he worked on her was like an icy dagger straight through his soul. It would have been easier if she wasn't so determined to fidget her way out the door, but despite her protests, Leo fussed over her until he was satisfied with her condition.
That, of course, meant she was damn near perfect by the time he was done with her.
"You're a worry wart," Mal accused through the privacy curtainas she peeled off her ruined, blood-stained clothes and traded them for the gray sweats that were stocked in sickbay. She zipped up the hoodie and pushed back the curtain where her doctor was waiting none too patiently.
Leo snorted. "If you weren't so damn much trouble, I wouldn't have to worry, would I?" he asked. "Well, what did you learn?"
Mal grinned at the familiar question and looked up at Leo. "That you're a better doctor than I am secret agent?" she teased, hoping to melt that lingering trace of worry that she could read in his eyes.
"Uh-huh." Leo smirked at her obvious attempt to placate him. "I'm implementing a new rule. No more battling evil-doers with only boy wonder as back up, got it?"
"I'm fine, cowboy!" Mal spun on the spot, letting Leo see that she was, in fact, perfectly fine. She blushed as his not so subtle elevator-eyes drank her in. "Well, do I pass inspection?" she teased. "Or do you want to look again?" She was unconsciously fiddling with the zipper of her hoodie and Leo's mind dropped clean into the gutter. There was only a thin piece of gray fabric between him and Mal's skin and she was teasing him. How unfair that all she had to do was make a suggestion and his brain turned to mush.
"I-I-I…" Leo stuttered. Mal realized what she'd been doing and giggled.
She slipped close to him, her eyes playful. "You, you, you," she teased. "Thank you, Leo. Thank you for taking care of me."
Leo pressed a cool hand to the tribal marks that masked the left part of Mal's features. "Don't thank me yet. This…" he carefully followed the harsh lines with a finger. "I can't take this away, darlin'. That bastard inked you all the way down to the subcutaneous tissue." He brushed her hair back, looking at Mal's new tattoo intently. "I'm sorry."
Mal's smile drooped a bit. "Sorry that it's permanent? Or sorry because I'm disgusting and you can't stand looking at me anymore?" Leo rolled his eyes and traced the black swirls carefully, completely disregarding her insane question. Mal ducked his touch. "Leo?"
"Yes, Mal. You're hideous," he said with a chuckle.
She pulled away from him, looking hurt and put out. "Ok, great. I'm just going to go down to engineering, now, and see if Scotty will put me down beagle-style."
Jim, under the careful ministrations of Nurse Chapel, let out a loud snort of suppressed laughter as he tried to pretend he wasn't listening to every word that passed between his two closest friends. "Quiet, you," Christine chided lightly. Jim pouted and Christine winked. "We can't hear them if you're laughing."
Leo caught Mal around the waist pulling her up against him. "You're beautiful, Mal. No mark is going to change that," he whispered, his lips intentionally brushing her ear. She reacted exactly the way he wanted her to, shivering as his breath tickled her neck.
"Liar," she muttered. It wasn't fair. She had zero defenses against that cool, southern twang. It turned her into a pile of goo every time.
Leo's had wound gently into her ponytail and he gave it a gentle tug, forcing her to look up at him. "You know better than that, darlin'."
Mal's lip twitched, turning up her mouth into a minute smile. He was burning with color, vibrant, deep, and passionate, but there were no adverse emotions. All he felt was love, worry, and… Mal gulped. There was definitely a black ribbon twisted among the others. Mal blushed furiously and stopped dissecting him before she did something highly inappropriate. "So long as I can place a clean central line, right?" she asked, recalling the day they'd met.
"That's my girl." Leo gently brushed his lips against hers, just for a moment, and the color bloomed behind his eyelids again, fading slowly as he broke away.
Jim loudly play gagged from his biobed across the room. "Ugh, you two are so freaking sweet I think I'm going to vomit." Mal burst into laughter and looked over Leo's shoulder at her younger friend. He was grinning at them, his blue eyes dancing. Chapel was no better, making kissy faces at them, unashamedly. "Seriously, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but if you keep handling our Mal like that, Bones, you have to hypo me. I don't want to watch." He and Christine started laughing all over again.
Mal flipped Jim the bird and he pretended to put it in his pocket for later, laughing at her good naturedly. "I swear that boy isn't right," she said, voice thick with laughter of her own. "We need to get him checked."
Leo shook his head and wondered how two unruly kids had become the most important people in his world. Jim was best friend and Mal… what was Mal? He looked down at the blue-eyed woman. He knew what he wanted, but he didn't know if she wanted the same. "Mal…"
There was a fuss in the main bay and both Mal and Leo snapped into doctor mode, their moment put on hold until later. They darted into the main, to see Spock dragging in two men. They scrambled to get at each other, determined to tear each other apart. Both were in gray sweats, and Mal recognized them on sight. One was Adam Price. The other…
"Eddy!" Mal's voice cut across the bay and she stomped her foot angrily. "Seriously, you know better."
Snarling, the shorter of the two men looked guiltily at Mal, gray-blue eyes. "Yeah, yeah."
Edison McKenna was a felon among his own people. It wasn't something he had wanted, rather something he had fallen into, but by eighteen he had become the irrefutable lord of the Mari black market. The man trafficked more dark thoughts by his twenty-first birthday, than a lot of smugglers had during their entire careers. Overall, things were going pretty well for Eddy McKenna. He had money, he had power, and he had a thriving empire.
Until, of course, he got caught.
There was no point in a trial. For telepaths, there never was. One had to only look into his eyes to know that he was guilty. His sentence was imprisonment, permanent and unamendable. That was the end of the road for twenty-three year old Eddy. There were no second chances for Mari who literally sold evil and malcontent.
But the sentence was never carried out. A snarling, moody Tellerite showed up in his holding cell and offered Eddy a choice. He could join up, or he could accept his punishment. Eddy was nothing if not highly intelligent. He did the obvious thing and followed the piggy, little alien with the graying beard back to his ship. Eddy left his old life behind that day and he hadn't looked back. Not once. Eddy was doing something good for a change, making up for this dubious past. More importantly, he had found a family in his team… and in the scrawny, blue eyed brat that would eventually become his partner.
The six year age difference between Eddy and Mal hardly mattered. She didn't listen to a thing he said anyhow, and he was smart enough to not try and force her to behave.
As if anyone could.
Eddy tried to get at Price but Spock's grip on his collar was unrelenting. "This… thing was trying to get into your room, Goodie. He was snooping."
"Please," Price's voice dripped with disdain. "As if some shit Mari could get into my head. I'm a full-blooded Betazoid."
"Congratulations, asshole, you want a cookie?" Eddy snarled. Price was significantly bigger than Eddy, but Eddy was a good deal more underhanded. Right under Spock's nose, Eddy took a swing at Price, connecting solidly with the bigger man's jaw.
"Eddy!" Mal dragged the Mari away and drew herself up to her full height. "Do not engage!" There was a ring of authority in her voice and Leo knew perfectly well he wasn't looking at Doctor Pike, but Chief Goodfellow of FI.
It was impressive.
Eddy glared over Mal's shoulder once before he gave a begrudging nod. "I want you to know Adam, you were just saved by a chick."
"Thank you, Eddy." Mal shoved him towards Jim and Leo, rolling her eyes. "Edison, this is Leonard McCoy and Jim Kirk. Jim? Leo? I want you to meet Helmsmen Edison McKenna... my partner."
Eddy saluted them smartly before turning his stormy eyes on Mal. "We're just telling people, now, Chief?" he asked, a lopsided smile on his face. "Part of the fun is that we're a secret." He chuckled and offered his hand over to Leo and Jim. "Nice to finally meet you both officially. Which one's the cowboy and which one's the farmer?"
Jim made a face. "Seriously, you refer to me as a farm boy to other people?"
Mal smirked at him and patted his cheek. "I guess it's Captain farm boy, now, huh?"
Spock cleared his throat, drawing their attention back to him and a rather furious Adam Price. "In regards to Commander Price, Captain?"
Mal and Eddy glanced at each other as Jim strutted forward. Eddy immediately stood a pace behind, smirking. He responded to Jim's questioning look with, "It's a precaution, Captain. Remember that he's a mind reader and you… know things. I keep him out of that pretty boy head of yours." Jim returned the smirk and crossed his arms. "You know, I'm getting sick of you messing with my friend, Price."
Price snorted. "Well, that's too damn bad, Captain." He spat the word out and there was a chorus of growls from the people at Jim's back. Mal and Leo in particular, though Mal's was more of a hiss than a growl. She took a step forward, her eyes narrowed.
"He's smug," she said seeing the deep purple ribbon that dominated the others in the recesses of Price's mind. "He thinks he's pulled something over on us. Eddy, you getting this?"
The Mari leaned between Mal and Jim, hanging off their shoulders. "What do you have in that miserable full-blooded mind?" he mocked. Eddy's eyes got a bit distant as he sifted through only the gods knew what. "Hiding something, Price? Not kosher, dude. Especially since you were so keen on outing Mal's secrets earlier. Turnabout, Price." He winked at Mal, knowing that was a rule she lived by.
"Go to hell," Price snapped straining to get away from Spock. Price was so busy fighting off a mental attack from the Mari, he completely overlooked the sneak attack from the Vulcan. Spock was hanging onto Price's collar after all, making rather unsavory contact with the back of the engineer's neck. Spock was a touch-telepath, after all.
The Vulcan's eyes widened fractionally when he caught sight of what Price had been trying desperately to keep from Eddy. "Oh," he said blankly. He cleared his throat, a small crease appearing between his brows. "I see." With surprising speed, Spock shifted his hold from Price's collar, to the bundle of nerves where the shoulders and neck junctured.
Price crumpled to the ground.
"Uh, that might've be overkill, Spock." Mal looked down at the unconscious Betazoid and poked him with the toe of her boot. "Not that he isn't vastly more tolerable this way…"
Spock sighed at Mal's making light. "It would be beneficial if Commander Price was placed in the brig for the duration of our journey. And we should ask Engineer Scott to repair the access pad outside of Mallory's quarters."
Eddy frowned while Leo and Jim both took a step toward Mal protectively. "What's wrong with the access pad?" Leo growled.
"Commander Price manipulated it so that the entry code works as a sequence detonator. A small, controlled blast." Spock said it all as though he was talking about the weather instead of an attempted murder.
Mal whistled and looked down at Price, a pile of awkward limbs on the ground. "My dad is going to be so mad at you," she told the catatonic man.
"I wouldn't worry about Captain Pike," Leo said gruffly. "Hey, Jim? Help me bring this piece of trash down to the brig?"
Jim grinned coldly. "My pleasure."
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