Thank you for all your reviews for the last chapter! I know it was *35* updates in the making, and I'm so grateful to everyone to reviewed and got so excited about the kiss (because I was so excited to write it!). However... I do like some drama, so stay tuned to see what happens next ;)

Thirty Six

Spock nodded to the two lieutenants standing by the console as he entered the Science Deck, making a beeline for the desk at the back that, for the past week, had been occupied every time he had taken his rounds. The duty roster had said Lieutenant Natira Woodville was supposed to be off-shift at this hour, but he was unsurprised to find her sitting at her desk, looking through a microscope and making meticulous notes – by hand, he noticed – with two PADDs propped up in front of her.

"Just a second, Commander," said Victoria, her eyes still glued to her microscope's lens. "These materials are highly unstable at best, and at worst could cause a small vacuum to open up in the middle of Science Deck, which I'm sure neither of us want."

"Volatile materials should be monitored in the containment unit, Dr. Woodville."

"I'm aware of that, but moving these would make them even more unstable," said Victoria. She pushed the microscope away and looked up at him, smiling pleasantly. "Call it a well-calculated risk. What can I do for you?"

Spock folded his arms across his chest. "You are working too many hours."

Victoria blinked. "Excuse me?"

Spock resisted the urge to sigh. "You should have taken at least a four hour break over sixteen hours ago. You are working at a level that is unadvisable for optimum performance in humans, and is against regulation. As First Officer, it is my duty to ensure the crew is working at maximum productivity, and getting adequate recuperation time in order to do so."

Victoria raised her eyebrows. "So, what, you're grounding me?"

"I am merely advising you to spend the next six hours elsewhere on the ship."

Victoria's eyes darkened behind her glasses, and Spock noted the way her eyebrows furrowed, and her teeth gnawed at her bottom lip. She was anxious. "I'm fine," she said. "I appreciate the concern, but I don't need to go. I can sleep at my desk if I get tired."

"That is not physically comfortable," pointed out Spock. "You would do better to rest in your quarters."

"I told you, I don't need to."

"Lieutenant, I do not want to order you to leave, but I will if necessary," said Spock. Victoria glared at him, but he was undaunted. "I strongly suggest you leave voluntarily before I am forced to ban you from the lab for the necessary amount of time."

"I can't leave. I have samples to watch."

"Lieutenant Homer will assign someone to monitor any active experiments you have while you are gone."

"Lieutenant Homer is an idiot," snapped Victoria. "I'm not leaving my work in someone else's hands. I told you, I'm fine."

Spock narrowed his eyes, mentally calculating the likelihood of convincing Victoria to leave the lab simply by arguing with her. In any other circumstance, he would have given her a direct order and been on his way, but he was making an effort to be less antagonistic towards her now. After many months of working with her, and seeing her interact with the crew, he had seen that he had been unfair, and she had been too defensive. After all, he had been right the first time he had suggested to the captain that they should attempt to recruit her; she was a perfect fit for the Enterprise. Unfortunately, that also meant she was an impossible colleague: too distrustful, quick to anger, and completely unwilling to use her entire skill-set out of paranoia, despite repeated assurances that she was safe on the ship. The worst was her relentlessness, an admirable quality in a scientist but not one that Spock wanted in a subordinate. Judging by the glint in her eye, she was ready to fight him on staying in the lab until she possibly collapsed from exhaustion, and Spock was not in the mood to argue with a human as emotional as she currently was.

Oh. Of course, that was what it was. She was emotional.

"Join me in my office, lieutenant," Spock said. Without waiting for an answer, he turned to walk towards the room he seldom used across from Victoria's desk. He heard her chair scrape as she stood up and followed him slowly, and her hesitant tread told him that she was less than enthusiastic at the prospect of talking to him alone. So, she was emotional and not in a pleasant way.

Fascinating.

Spock sat down behind the desk in his sparsely decorated office, indicating for Victoria to take a seat opposite him. She sank down into the chair and folded her arms across her chest, sighing and rolling her eyes all in one go. It was reminiscent of the way the captain sometimes acted when he did not get his way. It was childish, and petulant, and no way for a grown woman or a Starfleet officer to behave.

Again, it was something Spock knew how to deal with.

"You are emotional," he stated. "I would like to know why."

Victoria's eyes flashed up to meet his incredulously. "What did you just say?"

"I said that you are emotional," Spock repeated himself without faltering. "Your body language and tone of voice suggests that you are experiencing emotions of a negative nature. The fact that you are overworking yourself to a degree that even the ship's computer has informed me that you are overdue for a break suggests that you have been in that state for almost a week now. And frankly, Lieutenant, I am unwilling to let you overcome it yourself, since your emotions tend to impact your work. So, I will ask you again. Why are you emotional?"

Victoria stared at him. "I'm not going to answer that," she said finally. "Not that I am emotional," she added, and her snappish tone merely confirmed to Spock that she was lying. "But even if I was, I wouldn't tell you."

"Why? Perhaps I can help."

"You – what?" Victoria blinked. "You – you want to help me?"

"Yes," Spock nodded. When she continued to stare at him in confusion, he elaborated. "We are colleagues, and you have attempted, in your own way, to help me before. I may be able to reciprocate."

"Oh – you – I –" Victoria stammered out words incoherently and then bit her lip, forcefully silencing herself. She took a deep breath. "Your… concern, Commander, is noted, and appreciated, but it isn't necessary. I really am fine."

Spock raised an eyebrows. "I have been told that often when women say they are fine, they are not, and one must ask them repeatedly what is wrong before they provide an answer. Is this one of those times?"

Victoria's lips twitched. "Who told you that, Uhura?"

"No. Dr. McCoy."

Immediately, the smile slipped off Victoria's face and her eyes darted away. Breaking eye contact, the stiffening of her shoulders, and the awkward air that suddenly hung around her told Spock all he needed to know. He had, after all, noticed the CMO's interest in Victoria, in a decidedly more-than-professional way.

"I see," he said, leaning back in his chair. Carefully, he added, "It is a… personal matter?"

Victoria bit her lip. "If I say yes, will you let me keep working?"

"No," said Spock, and she groaned. "However, the well-being of the crew is also my responsibility. If you would like to –"

"If you end that sentence with talk, I may throw something at you," snapped Victoria, and Spock quirked up an eyebrow at the sudden venom in her voice. He saw her expression change as she heard what she sounded like, and she winced. "Okay, I heard it that time. I don't sound fine, but I will be fine. And whatever the reason may be for me possibly not being fine right now, it won't last. I just… need some distractions, from everything that is not fine in my life, and I tend to work myself to death when I'm… not fine. So, can I please go and be not fine in the lab?"

"I was not going to suggest talking, Lieutenant," said Spock calmly. "I was going to suggest you use this office to rest, and return to the lab to work when you have completed six hours of… recreational activity."

Once again, she stared at him speechlessly. For a woman who certainly enjoyed talking, she seemed to lose the ability quite easily. Fascinating. "You're giving me your office?" she asked, sounding surprised.

"Yes," said Spock. "I do not use this office regularly, Lieutenant, and your reluctance to leave the lab is illogical, but emotions are often illogical. If it will help you, I see no reason why you should not make use of a room that has no other function at this moment. There is a food replicator in the corner, and my chair is not as uncomfortable as your own."

"That's… really nice of you, Commander," said Victoria slowly. "Thank you. I'll stay here, for a few hours, and then get back to work."

"Because you are not fine?" confirmed Spock.

Victoria smiled grimly. "You win. I'm not fine, but I will be fine. I would explain it to you, but it's very illogical."

"In that case, I do not require an explanation," said Spock. Satisfied that his duty was done, he stood up and headed to the door. "I will inform Lieutenant Homer that an ensign should watch your experiments."

"Don't bother," said Victoria, without turning around. "I lied, I don't have any active experiments."

Spock raised an eyebrow. "Lying is illogical, Lieutenant."

"I'm human, Commander. And what's worse, I'm a woman," Victoria glanced back and grinned. "It doesn't get more illogical than that, does it?"

"I have not found sex to have anything to do with logic, Lieutenant."

Victoria looked as though she wanted to laugh. "I think you'll find, Commander, that sex has a lot to do with it. Bye now."

Spock frowned, but nodded and left the office. It wasn't until he reached the turbolift that he realised the double entendre he had unknowingly made that had made Victoria want to laugh. Despite himself, his lips twitched.

Fascinating, indeed.

!

As Spock walked out of the Science lab and headed back to the bridge, across the ship Julia Riley took a deep breath and pressed the button to gain access to the CMO's office.

"Hey," she said, walking in as the doors slid open. "You know, I was on my honeymoon and I swear you were sitting in this damn chair when I left."

"You came in three times during your honeymoon because you're a control freak," retorted Leonard. "And I'm sitting in my damn office, what's your problem?"

"My problem is that you're overworking yourself," said Julia. Stomping over to Leonard desk, she put a steaming mug of coffee down by his elbow and narrowed her eyes at his computer screen. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Lay off, Julia."

"You're not even working! You're playing online poker!" Julia groaned. "Chief, just go to your quarters. Get some sleep. When was the last time you ate a proper meal anyway?"

"It's not like I shower here," said Leonard defensively. He picked up the coffee and took a large gulp, grateful for the caffeine. "Thanks, by the way."

"The last time you were this bad, I threatened to make M'Benga pull you off shift. Don't make me do it again."

"I said I'm fine, Julia."

"Then why the hell are you still here? Are you avoiding the captain? Does he want you to run some funky experiment on him again?" asked Julia. Without invitation, she sank down into the chair opposite his desk, clearly unwilling to leave until Leonard answer her questions. Or, unless he ordered her to leave.

"It ain't Jim," said Leonard shortly. "How was the honeymoon?"

"Honeymoon was great, except when I came back to find that Chapel reorganised my files, so now I have to fix them," Julia rolled her eyes, and then suddenly gave him a sharp look. "Wait, if it's not the captain, is it something else?"

"I never said that."

"You're not denying it," Julia sighed. "Oh no."

"What?" demanded Leonard.

"Don't tell me you screwed it up with Tori already," Julia groaned. "I went away for a week, Leonard. What did you do?"

"What makes you think I did anything?"

"Because I've seen the way that woman looks at you!"

"How many times do I have to tell you nothing's goin' on there before you'll believe me?"

"You're really telling me after the way she sat by your bedside for almost a whole day and night and the way you two were practically glued to each other at my wedding, that nothing happened?" When Leonard's gaze faltered and he looked away, Julia gasped. "Oh my god. Something happened, didn't it? What did you do?"

"Nothing!" hissed Leonard. "I didn't do anything, Julia, damn it. I didn't get a chance."

"Why not?" persisted Julia.

"Because she didn't want me to!" said Leonard harshly. When Julia looked taken-aback at his tone, he closed his eyes and leaned back in his seat, running a hand over his face. "Sorry," he mumbled. "I just – I don't want to talk about it."

Julia bit her lip. "That makes no sense," she said quietly. "I – Leonard, I'm not blind, and neither are you. There's no way she doesn't want something more with you. That makes no sense, at all."

"Yeah well, very little about any of this makes sense," said Leonard. Suddenly tired – because he had grown tired of thinking about Victoria More non-stop for six days, seventeen hours and fifty two minutes – he gestured to the door. "Thanks for the coffee, Julia. And don't worry, I'm fine, and so is she. But nothing happened, and nothing's gonna happen. So just… drop it."

Julia continued to stare at him, and Leonard braced himself for more poking and prodding, because Julia Riley liked nothing more than to pry into his personal life any chance she got. From Pam to his mother to Joanna, she knew everything about every woman in his life, because she was relentless until she got what she wanted. It made her an excellent nurse, but a damn annoying friend. So, when she merely nodded and stood up, without a word, Leonard was too relieved to try and stop her.

And then, she paused at the door and turned around. "Last thing," she said, and Leonard nodded slowly. "Just… don't give up on her, okay? I don't think she doesn't want you. But whatever's stopping her, I think you can change her mind."

"I can't force something on her, Julia," said Leonard. "You know I won't do that."

"Oh, I'm not saying you should," she said immediately. "If she wants space, or time, or whatever, I know you'll give it to her. But maybe she won't want it forever, and if she comes back… just give it a try, Leonard. Of all people on this ship, you've earned some happiness."

On another day, Leonard would have rolled his eyes and dismissed her words. How many times, after all, had his friends told him to try and date more, try and settle down, try and be happy? But it was normally a joke, with Jim leading the charge and insisting getting laid regularly would fix his temper. Usually it made Leonard groan, but this time… he merely nodded.

"I'll keep that in mind," he said. "I'll see you later, Julia."

Julia nodded and left. As the door shut behind her, Leonard returned to his computer screen. The poker game he had been allegedly playing was nothing more than a hand of bad cards, something Julia would have picked up on if she had been a poker player. Fortunately, she wasn't, and neither was M'Benga, something Leonard was counting on. As he swiped across the screen, the file he had been perusing, and the one he had hastily closed so Julia wouldn't see it, popped up again. The title of the page stood out, almost taunting him as he braced himself to continue reading.

The GX: Human Experimental Procedures 01-59.

!

Two days later, on her way to the turbolift to head back to her quarters, Victoria heard a familiar voice coming from around the corner of the Science lab, and promptly froze in her tracks.

"You told me we were going to the bridge," she heard Leonard saying, annoyance colouring his tone. "This ain't the bridge, Jim."

"I'm just stopping in to see Tori," said Jim, sounding confused. "What, you don't want to see her?"

"I didn't say that," snapped Leonard, and Victoria bit her lip. Hesitating, she took a few steps forward and peered around the corner. Leonard was standing with his back to her, but Jim was within sight; a few more inches, and she was sure he would see her. "I don't have time, Jim. I'm busy."

"I know you're busy trying to change the face of medicine, Bones," said Jim exasperatedly. "But what does that have to do with –"

"I can't see her right now, Jim," interrupted Leonard. The frustration in his tone was surprising, even for Victoria, and she frowned. "Just – not right now, okay? I can't look at her and pretend everything's… normal."

"Oh," understanding coloured Jim's tone, and Victoria's eyes widened. Had Leonard told Jim what had happened between them? "Okay, yeah. Of course, I get it. I'll meet you up at the bridge."

"Thanks," Leonard sighed with relief. The sound of footsteps made Victoria hastily begin to back away, but Leonard's voice was getting fainter, and she realised he was going in the opposite direction, back the way he had come. "I'll see you later," he called out.

"Sure," called back Jim. As his footsteps drew nearer, Victoria instinctively turned on her heel and fled, past the door of her lab until she came to the turbolift that was at the other end of the Science Deck. She could hear the blood rushing to her head, and it made her dizzy; blindly pressing the button, she darted inside and waited for the doors to close, relief washing over her when she was finally alone again.

"Deck eight," she gasped, leaning back against the wall. As the lift began to move, she rested a hand against her forehead and tried to control her breathing. In her pocket, her comm buzzed; she knew it was Jim, probably asking where she was. Ignoring it, she tried to collect herself, telling herself she only needed to make it to her quarters. Once she was there, she could break down. But not until she was alone.

Alone.

A bubble of hysterical laughter built up in her chest, and Victoria practically bit her tongue to silence herself. Of course, she was alone. Why had she assumed, for even a second, that she wouldn't be alone? Had she thought everything could go back to normal with Leonard McCoy, after kissing him and wanting to keep kissing him, but rejecting him? Had she thought she could keep flirting with him, and he would flirt back? She had told him she wanted him, wanted something more with him; hell, when he had asked her if she'd consider it if things were different, she had practically jumped at the idea.

But that's all it was, an idea; Victoria knew that now. The turbolift jerked to a stop and she exited it, barely registering where she was going. The fact that Leonard couldn't bear to see her had hurt more than she had expected it to, because there was a small part of her that had really thought that, once she was finished hiding out the initial period of awkwardness in her lab, that things could go back to normal. She had assumed, foolishly, that once they had had a cooling-off period, they could run into each other in hallways and smile, or even sit next to each other at poker games and make fun of everyone around them. Eventually, he would go back to hassling her to speak to someone about her issues, and she would tease him for staring at her legs.

But it had been a fantasy, and a stupid one at that. It had never crossed her mind that Leonard would be awkward or unwilling to see her, after what had happened. He was always so unfazed; in many ways, she had been relying on that, because she was a nervous wreck on a good day. But she'd heard the reluctance in his voice when Jim had told him they were going to see her, and Jim had understood it. And if even Jim Kirk thought Leonard was right to avoid her, she knew she had screwed up.

Jim.

Victoria glanced at the screen on the wall opposite her, and sighed. The clock told her that she had been standing against the door of her room, staring into space and lost in her own thoughts, for over twenty minutes. Any longer, and she was sure Jim would come looking for her. Sure enough, when she checked her comm, there was a message waiting for her. Where are you? Quick meeting, then you're free for the day. – JK.

Victoria took a deep breath. She could do this. No more hiding; and no more pretending.

She was on her own.

!

"Bridge," said Leonard, stepping onto the turbolift. Eyes glued to his PADD, he barely glanced up to see who else was in it. As he leaned back against the wall and continued reading, the hushed conversation of the other officers reached his ears.

"She never leaves the lab," the ensign, Jones, was muttering. "And she's worse than the Commander and Homer, because she knows everything. I tried clocking out early but she caught me and made me catalogue those stupid sediment deposits."

"She needs to get a life. Or a date," the other officer, a woman, mumbled. "I thought she had a thing with –"

"Hannity said that wasn't true," Jones interrupted. "Apparently, they're just friends. Plus, he's younger than her."

"As if that matters. And I didn't know it was possible to be just friends with the captain," giggled the woman. "I mean, she is pretty. She shouldn't have any trouble, if she ever leaves her desk."

"She's too quiet," said Jones. "Take it from me, guys aren't into that."

"She could be into girls."

"Hannity says she's not."

"You and Hannity seem to be getting close," she nudged Jones conspiratorially. "Care to share?"

Jones smirked, and Leonard promptly tuned out the rest of the conversation. Absently, he wondered who they had been talking about before the subject of Hannity had come up; considering both ensigns were wearing blue, it must have been someone in the Science Deck. He frowned. Could it be –

The turbolift stopped at the bridge, and the two officers preceded him out. As he followed them, he stuffed his PADD into the pocket of his lab-coat, and almost ran into another officer.

"Sorry," he said, reflexively taking a step back. The woman opposite him looked up from her own PADD, seeming surprised at the sudden interruption.

It was Victoria.

Despite his decision to try and keep some distance between them, he felt his lips twitch. Her hair was open, exactly the way it had been the last time he had seen her. "Hey."

Victoria didn't smile back. "Hi," she said simply. The hand that wasn't holding her PADD tucked her hair behind her ears; as Leonard's eyes followed their movement, he realised she had done the same thing repeatedly the night of Julia's wedding. Almost as if she was remembering the same thing he was, she glanced up at him quickly, and then her eyes darted back to the floor. It was so uncharacteristically timid of her that Leonard blinked, and it took him a few seconds to realise she hadn't spoken after returning his greeting.

Something's wrong. "You working up here?" he asked casually, unable to think of anything else to say.

"Yes," she nodded quickly, her eyes jumping from his face to the PADD in her hands, and then to the floor again. "I, uh, had a meeting. With Jim. Now I have to go meet Spock. He's just coming from Jim's office." She jerked her thumb behind her, and then shoved her hand into her pocket.

Leonard nodded slowly, eyes narrowing at her fidgety actions. "Yeah, I had a meeting with Jim too."

"Oh," said Victoria. "Well, you shouldn't keep him waiting. Is it urgent?"

Leonard didn't answer, staring at her until she finally raised her eyes to meet his. They were guarded, and reluctant. What was wrong with her? She looked uncomfortable, as if she couldn't wait to get away from him. Did she want to get away from him? If anything, Leonard knew he should get away from her; every second he looked into her eyes, he was lying to her by not telling her about his acquisition of Dimitri's files. But he didn't want to walk away now, because the feeling he got when he was around her was greater than the sudden guilt he felt at hiding something from her. "Kind of," said Leonard. His grip on the PADD tightened; unbeknownst to Victoria, it was the only device in his possession that had Dimitri's research on the GX on it. "It's… well, it ain't bad news."

"That's nice," Victoria nodded, a little too enthusiastically, and her voice was developing that fake, cheerful tone he had heard her use all too often. Except, it had never been aimed at him. Leonard almost reached for her, wanting to touch her arm, or her hand; something, to show her that she didn't need to be this hopelessly awkward in front of him. Before he could, she cleared her throat. "Well, I should go." Waving, she side-stepped him and indicated the turbolift. "Nice running into you."

"Is something wrong?" he blurted out, before he could stop himself. As she stepped past him, he touched her sleeve, and she froze. "You're –"

"I'm fine," she said, a little too sharply, and he dropped his hand immediately. Victoria didn't look at him, and kept her eyes fixed on the turbolift. "You won't have to run into me this often, don't worry," she added, her voice suddenly much quieter. "I – I'm sorry, I should have realised you didn't want to see me."

Leonard frowned. "Who the hell said I didn't want to see you?"

Victoria bit her lip. "Never mind," she said. Leonard opened his mouth to tell her that he did mind, already getting annoyed at the fact that she seemed convinced of something that obviously wasn't true. He didn't get a chance, because Victoria had already walked away from him and inserted herself into the turbolift between three other officers. The doors had slid shut before he could even react, and Leonard let out a grunt of frustration. Realising that he couldn't exactly catch her now, he gave up and headed for Jim's office, making up his mind to corner her after he was done and ask her what the hell her problem was.

A few feet away, Uhura, Jim and Spock watched Victoria and Leonard part, identical looks of confusion on their faces. The two had been too wrapped up in their own conversation to realise that the other three senior officers had seen and heard every word. As the door to Jim's office slid shut behind Leonard, they turned to each other; Jim looked confused, Uhura looked taken-aback, and Spock's eyebrows were raised.

"Was that normal?" asked Uhura. "I mean, they don't normally talk like that… do they?"

"Not exactly," said Jim slowly. "Did we miss something?"

"Apparently, we did," said Spock. "I was not aware I had a meeting with Dr. Woodville today."

"That's the least of your problems," said Jim. He ran a hand through his hair tiredly. "Something tells me you're going to have a harder time getting Tori out of the lab now than you did before, Spock."

"And something tells me you should head to your office before Leonard breaks something," said Uhura. She threw a concerned look at the closed door of the turbolift, then shook her head and returned to her station. Sighing, Jim headed to his office, inwardly wondering exactly when his ship had become the sight of this much confusion.