[Disclaimer: The movies and its characters don't belong to me. I don't own them. They belong to their rightful owners and I'm just borrowing them for this one-shot.

A/N: Yet another story featuring Lexie, the awesome OC created by StarLightCrystalix. Please enjoy!

PS: Tissue warning]

[Promise]

Lexie rushed onto the Bridge, nearly tripping over the doorstep and falling if it hadn't been for McCoy to catch her. She glanced at the Doctor for a single moment, giving him a short grateful nod, before she fixed her eyes on the screen in front of them.

"Scotty, you'll leave that building immediately!"

Kirk was basically yelling the command at his Chief of Engineering. The Scotsman was still working on a console while the whole building complex around him was apparently collapsing. He shook his head.

"I cannae do that, Captain! The whole civilization will die if I'm not able to stabilize life support!", he refused.

"Get out off there right now, that's an order!", Jim repeated. Lexie could hear despair and fear filling his voice and she recognized the exact same feelings tearing at her heart. What was Scotty doing? He had to get out or else the building would crush down on him!

"Jim, thousands of lives would be lost. Innocent children, women, men. I will nae give up on these people! So let me do the job I was assigned to on this outpost!"

Lexie watched in horror as a part of debris crushed down right next to where her friend was kneeling. He wouldn't make it! He couldn't manage to repair the console and get out in time. Not all by himself!

She cursed herself silently. Lexie should have been with him. She wanted to beam down with him in the first place but Scotty had simply said that he could fix 'a wee problem' like that alone, that she should stay on the Enterprise and keep her going. He would have been right about the problem being small, if it hadn't been for a sudden attack by some members of the rebellion down there.

"Dam hero complex!", Lexie heard McCoy cursing next to her but she didn't face the Doctor. Instead the young Engineer looked at Kirk who hadn't managed to give an answer yet. His lips were tightly pressed together as he watched his CEO keep on working, disregarding his Captain's command.

"Scotty...", he finally muttered quietly before he straightened his body, looking like he was about to give a formal speech.

"If this is your final decision... then I can't stop you. In case you don't make it out of this place in time... I want you to know that you've made a huge impact on this ship, its crew... myself. You choose to go down by rescuing the lives of thousands, giving your own life. That... is a great sacrifice. But I, as your Captain and even more importantly as your friend, believe that you can manage to save everyone, even yourself. You're... a miracle worker after all."

Lexie felt tears filling her eyes as she swallowed hardly. Jim's words sounded like a goodbye, a last farewell to one they'd never see again. It couldn't be happening. Scotty was a miracle worker! Kirk had said it himself. So why did it sound like Jim had given up on his friend? Why?!

She could see Scotty smiling softly at Jim's words.

"Thanks, Jimbo. Can I... make a request?", he asked and the group of people standing on the Bridge all looked at him in silence, waiting for what named request would be.

The screen was starting to flicker, soon communication would break down.

"What is it, Scotty?"

The Scotsman turned his head so he could face the camera and his eyes seemed to be resting on Lexie.

"Let's assume that... I cannae make it out alive, I want a great Lieutenant to take my place as the ship's CEO. Someone who's worked hard to be where she is, who knows my silver lady just as well as I do, someone I trust with my whole life and someone very close to me. Would ye... would ye do this for me, Captain?"

The tears made its way down Lexie's cheeks as Scotty had finished talking.

"Yes, Mr. Scott. I think... I know just the right person", Kirk replied and everyone could hear the tears he fought back.

Scotty nodded and gave them the brightest smile he could give them in that moment.

"Thanks, Jim. Well... the signal will be lost soon, I guess. So... goodbye. Take care of each other."

The screen flickered once again, this time even more than the first time and when Lexie finally managed to swallow the lump in her throat, trying to say something, the transmission was cut off. The last thing they saw was a lot of debris and Scotty smiling at them before the screen turned black.

"No!"

Lexie burried her head in McCoy's chest as she started sobbing uncontrollably and she felt his arms around her, pulling her closer. No! This couldn't be true! Scotty wasn't dead! He would never leave her. He'd promised to stay with her, to be by her side after she had already lost everything dear to her. He wouldn't break this promise!

She felt McCoy rocking her softly, soothing her with a quite "Shh" but she knew that the man himself was crying at the moment. They all were.

Chekov sat next to Sulu, both of them staring at the black screen in disbelief. When Pavel finally broke down in tears, Hikaru held him close, stroking his hair.

Uhura covered her mouth with one hand, slowly allowing the tears to escape her eyes. And even Spock who stood next to his Captain seemed to be mourning the loss of their friend in his own way. His eyes reflected the sadness he probably tried to fight back at the moment.

Jim was crying too. Even though he tried so hard to be a strong Captain, he couldn't stop it. He'd lost one of his best men, a man he trusted for so long and most importantly a dear friend, a part of his family.

"Lt. Uhura?", he managed to say after a minute of silence, wiping away his tears, and Nyota glanced up to look at him.

"Please... try to hail the Mayor of the planet. I... I need to know if the life supporting systems were repaired in time."

Uhura nodded quietly before doing what her Captain had ordered her to do.

For a moment nothing happened. Fear was spreading in Lexie, who had turned around in McCoy's arms to watch the screen. Were they dead? Had Scotty died for nothing?

But finally the screen flickered and then showed the image of a young man, Mayor of the planet's species. His crystal-red eyes focused on Kirk.

"Captain Kirk?", he asked and Jim nodded.

"Yes, Mayor Bekrix, it's me. Are... you're people alright, sir?"

The man smiled thankfully.

"They are. Life support is all back to normal. I don't know how your Engineer managed to do it despite the building crumbling down. Have you beamed him out? Is he aboard again? I want to thank him for his service."

Everyone but Jim looked away, a few crying once again.

The smile on the Mayor's face faded.

"Oh no. Don't tell me..."

Kirk cleared his throat before he answered.

"He... was still inside the building. We couldn't save him."

The Mayor's eyes were filled with pity for the people he was talking to. His glance seemed to stop at Lexie who was once again crying so hard that Bones had to hold her to keep her upright.

"I'm so sorry for your loss, Captain. If you... give us some time I'm sure we can find the body so that he'll be given an appropriate funeral. He's a hero, Captain. We owe him this."

Jim nodded while forcing a polite smile on his face.

"Thanks, that... that would be nice. Should we send some of our men and women to help searching?"

The man on the screen shook his head.

"That won't be necessary. Just stay in orbit until we hail you again."

They ended the transmission and Kirk turned around to face his crew. All of them had lost a big part of their lives today but for one person it would be the most unbearable pain.

He slowly walked over to Lexie and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Lex? Why... why don't you take the day off and rest a bit?"

The red-haired Engineer looked up, wiping away her tears as she locked eyes with her Captain's.

"I can't do that, Captain."

McCoy and Kirk both gave her a sad and confused look. What was she talking about?

"After all... I'm the ship's CEO, aren't I? I've got work to do."

With that she slowly stumbled off the Bridge, leaving the crew to stare at the closing doors.

"I'll take care of her", Bones said but Jim shook his head. He thought of himself after Chris had died back then. All he had wanted was to be alone for a while.

"No, leave her some space for now. We'll talk to her later on."

And McCoy accepted it, even though he could feel the worry rising in his torn heart.

'Oh Scotty, what have you done?'

Lexie entered Engineering and walked over to a certain device to open a channel. She tried to focus on all the formal things that had to follow now, tried to suppress all of her feelings.

"To all personal in Engineering, this is Lt. Lexie Smith speaking. I'm sorry to inform you that our Chief of Engineering, Lt. Com. Montgomery Scott... has died on an away mission. In his last moments... he chose me to inherit his position. Please... keep on working for now. There'll be more information following soon. Smith, out."

Lexie had to stop since she could feel the lump in her throat getting bigger again. There was no way she could do this. Any of this! But it was her job now. It had been Scotty's last wish... and she had to fulfill it.

She remembered all the time they'd spend together. The Scotsman had been her first friend aboard the ship, he'd taken care of her. And soon she had found a parental figure in him. After losing her real relatives all these years ago, Scotty had been the one to look after her, to love her as she was. With him she had started to feel happy again, she'd found something she thought was lost forever.

And now?

Now all of it was lost again. Scotty was gone. The one person closest to her had died. It wasn't fair! Why did she have to suffer like that?

Lexie leaned back against a wall and slid down it to the floor, burying her head in her hands, crying and screaming.

"You promised me that you'd never leave me, Scotty! Why did break that promise?! Why?!"

She was startled by a sudden touch at her knee and she looked up to see Keenser standing in front of her. His eyes were staring at her in disbelief and sadness.

Lexie's eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her left hand as she stared back, realizing that he hadn't been with them on the Bridge. Which meant that she had been the one to tell him with her speech just now...

She shook her head, tears streaming down her face as she wrapped her arms around him.

"I'm sorry, Keenser! I'm so sorry. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry-", she mumbled, couldn't stop apologizing. What had she done? She should have told him in person. Scotty and Keenser had been best friends! He should have deserved to know it first. But she had failed. Like she always did. She failed to protect the one's most dear to her.

"I'm sorry."

It was the last thing she said before she lost consciousness and darkness surrounded her.

"Lex? Lexie? Wake up", a familiar voice woke her and slowly Lexie managed to open her eyes.

But she couldn't believe what she saw in front of her. There, standing right next to her, was Scotty. There was a stitched up cut on his forehead and he was covered in dirt but otherwise he looked fine.

This... had to be a dream, right? He couldn't be there! She'd seen him die. Or maybe she was dead too? Maybe she had hit her head when she lost consciousness, breaking her neck. There was no other explanation for it.

"Scotty?", she asked, her voice hoarse and the Scotsman smiled at her, as he softly put a hand on her cheek.

"Yeah, lass. It's me. What happened?"

What happened?! Did Scotty really ask her what happened just now?! He was dead, dam it!

Lexie wanted to yell at him but she just couldn't speak, her voice got stuck in her throat.

"Well, our dear Lexie here had a mental breakdown which caused her to have a circulatory failure, leaving her to pass out."

It was McCoy who answered the question for her and Scotty seemed worried for a moment, but then he smiled again.

"I'm glad she's alright now", he stated and Bones glared at him, pointing a finger at his chest.

"Yeah, no thanks to you, dam Scotsman! You gave us all a heart attack!"

Scotty's cheeks blushed as his gaze wandered to the floor.

"I'm sorry about that. But I couldn't just leave these people to die", he explained and Lexie finally found her voice again.

"So... this is real? You're... you're not dead?"

She stared at Scotty who looked up at her and tears filled her eyes once more. Scotty softly wiped them away.

"I'm fine, lassie. It's okay."

"But... how?", Lexie stammered and suddenly she realized that Jim was also in the room since he answered the question.

"Our miracle worker here managed to repair the machine last minute and hide under a stone table. It protected him until the search unit found him."

Kirk walked over to them and smiled softly at Scotty.

"And I'm so glad about that", he added, putting a hand on the Engineer's shoulder.

Lexie couldn't help it. She threw her arms around Scotty and hugged him, sobbing again. Even though her circularity wasn't completely good again and she felt quite dizzy because of the sudden movement, she didn't care.

"Don't do this, please. Don't die and leave me alone, Scotty. I can't live without you!", she whimpered and the man hugged her back, whispering into her ear that he wouldn't.

"I've made a promise to you, now didn't I? I'll stay with ya, Lexie. It's alright."

And Lexie felt like she would never let go off him again. She'd hold him forever so that this promise would never be broken.