"And stay down you monster." Scotty muttered angrily, he then heard Lexie grumbling in pain behind him.
"Lexie!" He dropped his phaser and rushed to her side, quickly placing her in his arms.
Her shirt was not only ripped to shreds, it was also drenched in blood. Her blood which was dripping from her wounds.
"Scotty?" She muttered weakly. Her eyes trembled as they struggled to stay open.
Scotty felt tears in his eyes, "Aye lassie it's me, you're safe now." He stuttered. "You're gonna be alright Lex."
But Lexie just giggled as she raised a slightly bloody hand up to Scotty's cheek, "Thank you for everything Scotty, I'll never forget any of it."
"Don't talk like that! You're going to be fine, I mean… You can't die…" Scotty was now crying, he just couldn't hold back the tears.
"Know that I always saw you as my dad Scotty… Know that I have and always will love you." Lexie said weakly.
Scotty felt his tears slowly trickle down his face, he wanted this to be a nightmare. He wanted this to all be in his head.
"Please don't leave me Lexie…" Scotty whimpered, "I won't be truly gone Scotty… I'll live on in you… Take care of Delta for me…"
Lexie's voice was so quiet by this point, so much so that Scotty was struggling to hear her. Then it happened.
Her hand slowly dropped from Scotty's cheek and fell limp at her side, while her eyes closed for the final time.
"No…" Scotty muttered, McCoy hurried over and scanned the young Engineer with his tricorder, but he didn't want to believe the results.
"I'm so sorry Scotty… She's gone." McCoy managed to say past the lump in his throat. Scotty rested his head on Lexie's and just sobbed.
"Lexie, please don't leave me…" The Scotsman whimpered.
Kirk was just staring, did he just hear right? Was Lexie really gone?
"Told you I'm a man of my word. I said I was going to kill her and I did." Kyle said smugly before laughing manically. Scotty lifted his head up, anger burning in his eyes.
He placed Lexie's lifeless body down before spinning round, "You cold blooded murderer! She was only a child!" He screamed.
Kyle stopped laughing and smirked, "She got what she deserved, she should have obeyed like the pet she was." After hearing that, Scotty's eyes only seemed to burn brighter.
Suddenly he leapt for his phaser, clutching it tightly in his hands before he fired. But Kyle just dodged it.
"My work here is done, so long." Kyle waved goodbye just before he vanished.
"KYLE!" Scotty roared which echoed around the cave. He wanted to kill him, he wanted to be the one to rip the life out of his body.
His hands were shaking as he walked back over to Lexie, Scotty once again had tears streaming down his face.
He knelt down while placing his phaser back onto his belt and scooped up Lexie in his arms, "I'm so sorry Lexie… I failed…"
Kirk slowly rose his communicator to his face, while he wiped away the tears which had pooled under his eyes.
"Spock?" "Yes Captain?" Kirk sniffled quietly, "Four to beam up Spock." There was a short pause.
"The transporter is only detecting three life signs Captain." "That's because we've sadly lost someone, just beam us home."
It took a few moments for the group to be beam back onto the Enterprise, to be greeted by Spock who looked horrified at the sight that was before him.
"Is Lieutenant Smith…" Spock didn't get to finish asking, since Kirk had stepped over to him. "Yes Spock… She's dead."
Scotty couldn't stop staring at Lexie's face, it looked as if she was sleeping but this time, she would never wake up.
How was he going to tell Delta? How was he going to tell Keenser? He just didn't know.
"We'll give her the send-off she deserves Scotty." McCoy said slowly as he placed a hand on the Scotsman's shoulder.
Scotty simply nodded, he couldn't talk due to the ever growing lump in his throat.
McCoy patted him gently, signalling for him to follow as he stepped towards the doors.
Once again Scotty just nodded as he followed McCoy, still carrying Lexie in his arms.
The pair walked into Sick Bay and headed off into one of the side rooms, this way they would have some privacy.
Scotty stepped over to the bed and gently placed Lexie down, folding her arms across her stomach.
"I'll give you some time to be alone with her Scotty…" McCoy muttered, he knew that was probably the best thing to do.
"Thanks Leonard…" Scotty's reply was almost a whisper, he just couldn't talk past his ever growing sadness and pain.
McCoy left the room, not before glancing over to Lexie once more, tears trickling down his face.
With tears slowly falling off his chin, Scotty reached over and took a gentle hold of one of Lexie's hands.
"I'm so sorry Lexie… I should have been there to protect you…" The Scotsman's words were muffled by snivels.
He tightened his grip of her cold hand, just as he heard the door open and a familiar voice call out her name.
Slowly turning his head round, Scotty saw Delta hovering there and he had never looked sadder.
"Lexie?" The tiny robot muttered quietly, Scotty felt terrible, he should have gone and got his digital friend himself. "Delta… I'm so sorry… she's gone."
Delta's already dim eyes only got dimmer after hearing that, "You mean she's…" He didn't finish since Scotty's face was a good enough answer.
He flew over and landed next to Lexie's head, "Lex? Please wake up…" But his creator didn't reply or even move, now Scotty felt even worse.
Delta probably never had to deal with something like this, even if this type of thing did come close several times.
"You promised we'd be together forever! You can't break that!" Delta cried as he buried his head in Lexie's cheek, if he was able to cry real tears then he would be in floods of them.
This was the only time that Scotty wished that Delta wasn't able to express emotions, mainly since this may have been much easier for him to deal with.
After a short time Delta lifted up his head and turned to face Scotty, who was still crying. He was scared that the little guy would blame him, to be honest he would understand if he did.
But instead of speaking, Delta jumped up and clung to the Scotsman's shirt. He was muttering words but they were just so muffled, so Scotty just hugged him back tightly. Much like how Lexie used to do when Delta was upset.
"Just cry lad, it's alright." Scotty wasn't just telling Delta that, but also himself.
They stayed that way for what felt like an eternity, before either of them let the other go.
"Did she say anything before she died?" Asked Delta, as he wiped the non-existence tears from under his robotic eyes.
Scotty nodded slowly, "Aye she did lad, she asked me to take care of you. If that's alright with you?"
Delta nodded slowly, "Of course it is, I would love that very much."
When McCoy returned to the room, he almost cried at the sight which was before him.
Scotty had his head resting on the bed, while in one of his hands he tightly held one of Lexie's.
While Delta was lying under Lexie's other hand. It was heart breaking to see.
Just then Scotty lifted his head up off the bed and turned to face McCoy.
His eyes were bright red, not to mention blood shot. "Sorry Scotty, I didn't mean to wake you."
"You didn't wake me Leonard, I wasn't even asleep." The Scotsman replied quietly, as he used his other hand to wipe away the tears.
"When did Delta come by?" "About an hour ago, poor lad was a wreck."
That was understandable, "How are you doing?" McCoy asked, knowing full well it was a stupid question to even think about.
"Like I've lost a part of myself… None of this would have happened if I'd just believed her in the first place…"
Once again Scotty's eyes were dripping with tears, "If I had been half the dad she saw me as, then she would still be alive…"
Suddenly he felt himself getting pulled to the side, he knew it was McCoy since there was no way Delta could have done it.
"You're not to blame for this Scotty, that monster Kyle is. Lexie wouldn't want you to blame yourself for something that was completely out of your control." McCoy's words were both stern and comforting.
"But I'll…" Scotty stuttered, "But nothing Scotty, there was nothing you could have done differently. This is all on Kyle's shoulders, NOT yours."
Deep down he knew that McCoy was right, Kyle was the one who took Lexie's life.
"If I ever come face to face with him again… I'm going to make sure he'll never walks again. I'll kill him for this." Scotty muttered angrily.
McCoy knew he meant that and he couldn't really blame him. "Trust me Scotty, we all feel the same way."
Finally, McCoy let the Scotsman go. He wiped away the tears which were sat under Scotty's eyes, "Go and get some rest Scotty, you need it. Doctor's orders."
Well, that made it so Scotty couldn't really argue. "Alright Leonard, I'll go." Scotty then returned the Doctor's kind gesture of wiping away the tears.
With a faint smile appearing on his face, McCoy helped Scotty up from the chair and walked him to the door.
He had every right to walk him to his quarters, but knew the Scotsman wouldn't like that.
But as normal, Scotty didn't do as he was told since he was now on his way down to Engineering.
Keenser had to know about this and it was only fair that Scotty was the one to tell him.
It didn't take him long to reach Engineering, "Keenser? Where are ya wee man?" Scotty called out, trying not to cry.
From behind him he heard a sad whine, he turned to see his alien friend standing there.
"Lexie?" The Engineer questioned, Scotty sighed quietly as he walked over and knelt in front of his friend.
"I'm sorry lad… Lexie's gone." Keenser's face turned white almost instantly, "Died?"
Scotty nodded slowly, "Yes lad, she died." The Scotsman watched as tears quickly formed in the aliens eyes. He reached over and pulled him in for a hug.
"I know you were close with her laddie, I'm just sorry this had to happen… really I am." Now Scotty was crying once again, even if there were no tears left to cry.
Scotty didn't let go of Keenser, in fact he just hugged his friend tighter as he cried more.
But soon the two Engineers did separate, "Take the day off Keenser… take as much time as you need."
Keenser just nodded as he dried his eyes before running off, Scotty hated seeing the wee man cry.
With a loud sigh Scotty began the walk back to his own quarters, along the way passing Lexie's.
The memories of his time with his friend swarmed around in his mind, they were some of his best memories.
Not long after, Scotty came to his own quarters and quickly entered.
He just wanted to be alone now, to stew in his own grief.
Scotty walked over to his bed and just collapsed onto it, burying his head into the pillow.
"Why did you have to go Lexie?" He muttered between sobs.
It didn't take long for him to fall asleep, clearly all the crying he had done had tired him out.
Scotty wasn't dreaming about anything, the world around him was just pure white. But then, someone called his name, someone very familiar.
He span round, his heart almost stopped when he saw the person standing there.
It was Lexie, she was stood in front of him in a flowing white dress with a small pair of lace-like wings on her back.
"Hello Scotty." She said in her sweet voice, Scotty just blinked. "Lexie? Am I… Am I dreaming?"
Lexie smiled as she stepped towards him, "In a way yes, I thought I'd come by to say a proper goodbye."
"I don't want to say goodbye…" Whimpered Scotty, he really didn't want this to be how it ended. "Like I said Scotty, I won't truly be gone. I'll always be with you."
Scotty's lip was quivering, "I'm sorry Lexie, I failed to protect you like I promised." He then felt a hand on his cheek.
He looked to see Lexie smiling at him, oh how he was going to miss that beautiful, bright smile.
"You didn't fail Scotty, you came for me." Lexie said still with a smile.
Scotty simply cried, while Lexie wiped away the tears. "Don't be sad Scotty, I'm going to a better place. I'm going to be reunited with my parents and my brother."
Lexie told him, which made Scotty feel a little bit better.
"You help me to grow as a person, to show me what I could really achieve and I'll never forget that."
She then reached around to the back of her neck and uncoupled the necklace which hung around it.
Lexie then placed it in Scotty's hand and closed it tightly, "Take this as a reminder of me."
Scotty nodded, "I will always remember you lassie, always. Not just as my friend but…"
He snivelled before continuing, "But as the daughter I never had." Lexie smiled, "And I'll remember you as the dad I could have had."
Scotty wrapped his arms around her for possibly the last time, "I've always loved you Lexie and that will never change…"
"And I've always loved you Scotty, I'll be sure to tell my parents and Noah all about what you did for me." Lexie said.
They hugged for a while, until Lexie whispered something in Scotty's ear. "It's time for me to go Scotty."
Scotty just nodded, "Will I ever be able to see you again?" He asked. Lexie gently pushed him away and wiped away his tears again.
"Just call my name and I will come." Scotty finally managed to smile, "Thank you Lexie." "No thank you Scotty, you gave me the best life I could ever dream of."
Lexie then slowly walked away, her hand slipping from Scotty's. He watched as she slowly began to fade away.
"Scotty?" She called, "Yes Lexie?" She smiled brightly at him. "Take care of yourself and try not to annoy McCoy too much."
The Scotsman chuckled, "I can't promise I won't annoy the Doctor too much."
Lexie giggled as she faded completely away, in turn waking Scotty up.
He could feel something in his hand, when he looked it completely amazed him.
It was the star necklace which Lexie always wore, so whatever he just witnessed was more than just a simple dream.
With a small smile on his face and tiny tears in his eyes, Scotty put the necklace on.
"Thank you Lexie, for everything."