McCoy was once again sitting by the flickering fire, watching the flames dance about. He could hear Scotty grunting angrily behind him as he continued to work on the communicator, which he had been working on for what seemed like hours. McCoy then heard Scotty mutter something in Gaelic, so he turned to see what was wrong. "Everything OK?" "Yeah, just struggling to concentrate." McCoy gave the Scotsman a soft smile before he patted the ground next to him, "Come take a break Scotty, you've been working on that for a few hours." Scotty wanted to argue, but he knew that he wouldn't win.
He slowly placed his work beside him before standing up, well more like attempting to. His leg where he had stabbed himself with his screwdriver was burning with pain, McCoy noticed this instantly and walked over to him. "Here, let me help you." McCoy gently helped Scotty up from the rock he had been sitting on, then he walked him over to the fire and placed him down before sitting down himself. "I should have gotten that thing working by now." Scotty muttered, McCoy placed a hand on his shoulder. "Don't beat yourself up over it Scotty, you'll get it working soon." But Scotty didn't seem convinced. He hung his head low, almost in shame.
"It's my dam fault we're in this bloody mess in the first place." "Don't say that, this was just an unfortunate accident, that's all. No ones to blame, especially not you." McCoy replied quickly, "I should have fixed that stupid transporter when I first spotted it acting up, but I left it like a bloody fool and now look what happened." Scotty grunted as he rubbed his face. McCoy hated seeing Scotty blaming himself for this, "You're a busy man Scotty, you keep the whole ship from falling apart. Besides, if we're trying to find someone to blame then that person is me." "What?" Scotty questioned suddenly.
"If I hadn't come storming in and distracted you then you would have been able to fix it." McCoy sighed as he pulled his knees up to his chest, Scotty reached over and placed an arm around the Doctors shoulders. "Don't say that, us being here isn't because of you. If I hadn't been so stubborn and just went for my exam when you asked, you wouldn't have had to come up to the Transporter room in the first place." McCoy chuckled quietly, "So you admit you're stubborn?" Scotty smiled slightly. "I've admitted many times that I'm stubborn, I'm bloody Scottish, we're all a bit stubborn." Both men looked into each other's eyes before bursting into laughter.
"You probably still hate me though huh?" Scotty stated as he stared into the flames, "I don't hate you, in fact, I've never have. What ever gave you that impression?" McCoy answered quickly. "The fact you yell at me all the time…" Scotty muttered, "That don't mean I hate you Scotty, you just act so stubborn sometimes. I actually care about you a lot, more than you probably think." "You do?" McCoy turned and smiled at him. "Of course I do, you're one of my best friends. You're probably the one I worry about the most." Scotty shuffled closer to the Doctor. "Really? I thought that spot would be taken by Jim."
McCoy laughed, "Hell no, Jim may have a habit of getting into trouble, but I don't worry about him as much as you, since you work down in an environment where there's always some level of danger." Scotty didn't really know how to reply, but he soon found some words. "I'll be honest, I care about you a lot too. Ever since the day I came on to the Enterprise you've been there for me, even when I'm being a stubborn kid."
McCoy smiled as he felt himself get pulled closer to the Scotsman. "What are you doing?" Asked McCoy, "You're shivering again, I'm just trying to keep ya warm." Scotty asked as he yawned, McCoy felt his cheeks blush bright red. "You know, I wouldn't want to be stranded on this planet with anyone else, we make a great team… Scotty?" McCoy glanced down to see that the Scotsman had fallen asleep, head resting on McCoy's chest. The CMO smiled as he gently laid Scotty down, his head on his leg before lying down himself. "Rest up Scotty, you lovely Scotsman." Muttered McCoy before he drifted off to sleep.