Chapter Two
Spock was on the bridge with Kirk when McCoy entered the bridge and walked to the Captain's chair. "I need to speak to the two of you," the doctor's words, caused Spock to straighten and turn.
The three of them entered the turbolift and descended to Deck 5 and followed Kirk to his quarters. Upon entering, Kirk went to his desk. "So?"
"Both of our guests are in excellent health."
"But?" Kirk asked.
"But Elise – that is Ms. Jean-Marie – seems to have some old injuries that haven't been attended to properly. For example, her arm shows an old fracture – like someone who lives on a planet without modern medical care. But she told me she's from Earth."
Kirk frowned. "Why would she say she's from Earth, if she's not?"
"Perhaps it is a public persona for the sake of her career," Spock offered.
"Maybe she was injured during her travels and was not able to get proper medical care," Kirk said, thoughtfully.
McCoy frowned. "Maybe, for one injury, but she has a least a dozen. She would have had to fall down a mine shaft to get that many injuries in one location and not receive proper medical care. But then she probably wouldn't have survived that kind of hack job."
"Do you have a theory?"
McCoy shook his head. "I can't think of anything."
Spock did. "She refused medical care last evening. Perhaps it is her habit."
"Are you trying to say that she doesn't like doctors, Spock?!" McCoy shook his head in disbelief. "You've both experienced a broken arm; would either one of you walk around with that pain rather than go to a doctor?"
Kirk shook his head. "I get your point, Bones. Is there any reason to think that Ms. Jean-Marie's hiding something that may endanger the ship?"
"Not necessarily," Bone started.
"Perhaps, Captain," Spock interrupted. "If she is hiding something about her past, then it is an unknown factor that may leave the Enterprise exposed."
Kirk took a deep breath. "I'll talk to her. See if she'll open up about anything in her past."
"Just keep in mind that she told me she was from Florida, on Earth," McCoy said.
Kirk nodded. "Will do."
###########
On the second evening of her voyage on the Enterprise, Elise Jean-Marie arrived at the Officers' Dining Room at the time requested. She didn't see anyone but the galley staff there and wondered if she'd gotten the time wrong. There was one table set for two near the observation window, but nothing to indicate an official function. She opened her mouth to ask one of the staff members as the door opened and Captain James T. Kirk entered.
He was dressed in a green wrap-around uniform tunic and black uniform pants and boots. She was dressed in a blue-green, knee-length dress. She wondered if she'd misunderstood the message.
"Hello, Captain?" she said, cautiously.
"You're early," he smiled a disarming smile.
"Am I?"
"Well, it's not often my dinner guest beats me to the dining room. I apologize for making you wait."
"I'm confused, actually. I thought this was a dinner for your staff, like last night."
Kirk continued to smile as he approached her. In two strides, he was close enough to smell her perfume. "Would you have come if I'd said it was only the two of us?"
She blushed at the way he looked at her. "Perhaps. You are, after all, the Captain."
He smiled, clearly amused. "I am, at that," he chuckled. Then he looked over at the set table and waved a hand in that direction. "Shall we?" He took her elbow gently and guided her to a chair that placed her back to the door.
She frowned for a moment. "Would you mind, terribly, if I moved my chair to that side?"
Since moving her chair would put her next to him, instead of across from him, Kirk smiled, "Absolutely not."
She smiled. "I'm sorry. I just have a thing about having my back to the door. Call it nosiness - I like to see who's coming and going."
"I understand," he said, making a mental note. "But we should remain undisturbed."
She nodded as the galley staff rearranged the table accordingly. "I'm so sorry to be a pest."
"Not at all," Kirk smiled. "I never object to a beautiful woman being close to me."
She smiled as a blush warmed her cheeks, again. "Thank you for the compliment."
They sat and as the staff began serving their meal, he asked her about herself. She shook her head. "I'd much rather hear about you," she said, with a smile. "It must be exciting to be a starship captain."
He smiled. "How about we take turns? I tell you something about me, you tell me something about you?"
She nodded. "Okay."
"Where are you from?"
"A small town called Apalachicola, Florida. It's in the panhandle on the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. Where are you from?"
"Riverside, Iowa, right in the middle of the NorthAm continent."
"Wow, what are the odds that I should meet two people from NorthAm this far away from Earth? Your Doctor McCoy says he's from Georgia."
"Georgia's real close to you, isn't it?"
"Not far. About two hours by shuttle, depending on which part of Georgia you want to go to."
Kirk smiled. "So what led you to singing professionally?"
"When I was young, I loved to sing and my father saw that I had a gift. So he pushed and pushed until I was accepted to audition at a school I was far too young for. When I started having trouble there, he pulled me out, signed me with Jordan and I've been working with him ever since," she looked down at the straight-lines of embroidery on the napkins when she finished. Then she brightened. "How did you enter Starfleet?"
Kirk told her about his dad and Starfleet Academy.
Finally, Kirk stopped trying to get information about her and just began to enjoy their evening together. For her part, Jean-Marie started to relax more, smiling more openly and laughing with him. By the end of dinner, they were on a first name basis.
After dinner, he walked her back to her quarters. They were a respectable distance apart but smiling and laughing when her manager appeared at the door of his quarters.
"Captain?" Von Cleef asked, frowning.
"Mr. Von Cleef," Kirk smiled. "I hope you're finding everything to your liking."
Von Cleef smiled then. "Of course." He moved to stand next to Elise, placing a possessive hand on her back. "Is everything okay with your quarters, Elise?"
Her smile was still in place but it seemed different to Kirk. "Absolutely," she assured him. "The Captain was inquiring if we could have our first performance at a staff dinner tomorrow evening."
"Sounds perfect," Von Cleef smiled. "Then perhaps we can give one performance per shift for the next two days?"
Kirk noticed a fraction of a second's disbelief, then the smile was back in place on Jean-Marie's face. He tilted his head thoughtfully. "No need to push all the performances into two days. There's plenty of time before we get to your next port of call. I'll have Yeoman Rand contact you tomorrow to work out a schedule," he looked at his dinner companion and smiled. "Have a good evening, Elise. I look forward to your performance tomorrow."
"Thank you, Captain, I do too."
As Kirk turned away, something started to nag at him about Elise's relationship with her manager. Then he realized that she stopped using his first name when Von Cleef showed up. He decided he'd have to keep an eye on the pair.
###########
Leonard McCoy, after speaking to Jim Kirk about his evening, decided to stop by Elise's quarters to discuss her test results and ask her to come by Sickbay for a follow up. He pushed the button to alert her to his presence and paused for a moment, then pushed the button again. There was still no answer and he frowned. Finally, he moved over to a communication panel and paged the bridge.
"Bridge, here."
"Uhura, could you locate Elise Jean-Marie?"
"Yes, sir." There was a pause. "She is in her quarters, Doctor." Another pause. "She's not answering the comms."
"Use my medical clearance to scan her quarters. Something turned up on her test results and I need to make sure she's okay."
After a moment, Uhura's voice returned with more urgency. "The medical scanners are reporting that she's unconscious!"
"Override the locks on her door on my authority," McCoy ordered and rushed back to her door, which then slid open. He moved into her room and found her lying, face down, prone on the floor, next to an overturned table. He quickly tapped on the comm panel inside the door and snapped. "Medical emergency, VIP quarters!"
He rushed to her side and began his assessment of her. "Elise?" he called to her gently. After quickly scanning her with his medical tricorder, he determined that she did not have a broken neck or back or any internal injuries. He turned her over as Jordan Von Cleef entered the room. McCoy frowned as he saw a split lip and swollen eye.
"Elise?!" the taller, older man stormed in. "Doctor, what are you doing here? What happened?!"
McCoy growled at the man. "Get out of my way, Von Cleef, and let me find out."
The emergency medical techs showed up at that moment and they lifted her unconscious form onto a hoovercot. She groaned as they moved it to the door.
"Stop!" McCoy moved to her side. "Elise, it's Leonard McCoy. Can you hear me?"
"What happened?" she murmured weakly, through swollen lips.
"Don't talk, we'll find out. Don't worry."
###########
Kirk showed up in Sickbay to find that McCoy was alone with Nurse Chapel and Elise Jean-Marie. Von Cleef was scowling and stalking back and forth in McCoy's office, furious to be kept away from his ward.
"Can't you talk to him?!" Van Cleef pointed in the direction of the med-bay.
Kirk shook his head. "The CMO is actually the only person on a starship that outranks the Captain." He smiled, attempting to charm the manager out of his anger. "And I wouldn't think of second guessing Dr. McCoy. Don't worry. He's an excellent doctor. He's put me back together more times than I care to think about."
Von Cleef took a deep breath. "Of course, Captain. He must be well qualified to be CMO in the first place, right? I suppose part of my concern is how did he come to be in her quarters in the first place? Perhaps this was something he caused?"
"Doctor McCoy only entered the room when he suspected something was wrong," Kirk felt his hackles rise at the not-so-veiled accusation. "When she's able, I'm sure Elise will tell us what happened."
Von Cleef took a deep breath and ran his hands through his close-cropped grey hair. His ice blue eyes closed, then opened. "I'm sorry, Captain. Of course, you're right."
Spock entered. "There does not seem to be evidence of an intruder or foul play within her quarters."
Kirk nodded. "There is, at least, that."
McCoy emerged from the room, finally. Von Cleef stepped forward.
"How is she?" he demanded. "Did she tell you what happened? Why were you in her quarters?"
McCoy held up his hands. "I went into her quarters on a hunch when she didn't answer the door. And be grateful I did. God knows how long she might have lain there, unconscious and hurt if I hadn't." He took a deep breath and turned to Kirk. "She'll be fine. One of the small bones in her face, near her eye socket was fractured, but I've mended it. Nurse Chapel is finishing the tissue regeneration therapy. Then I'm ordering her to stay here for the night, so I can monitor her concussion."
Kirk nodded, but Von Cleef questioned, further. "Will she be able to perform tomorrow evening?"
"We can postpone the performance," Kirk cut in. "It's not as important as her full recovery."
Von Cleef started to say something else but something stopped him. Kirk looked to his left and saw Spock there, impassively standing to his full height – equal to Von Cleef – but something about his demeanor took the wind out of Von Cleef's sails. The older man narrowed his eyes briefly, then turned back to McCoy.
"I want to see her."
McCoy shook his head. "She's sedated and will stay that way until morning."
Kirk held up his hands. "Why don't you turn in, Mr. Von Cleef?"
Von Cleef threw his hands in the air, turned on his heel and left the sickbay.
McCoy shook his head. "Something about that man just bugs me."
Kirk took a deep breath, but did not comment. "Report, Bones."
The older man shook his head. "She said that she tripped."
"Tripped?"
"It is possible, Captain. The table in her quarters was overturned," Spock reported.
"If she hit it on her way down, it could account for her injuries and for her being unconscious when I got there. It was right next to her." McCoy frowned, thoughtfully, then.
"And you found no evidence of anyone else being in the room?"
"None," Spock affirmed.
Kirk shook his head. "Okay. My gut says there's something fishy going on here, but if the evidence doesn't seem to support it…" He pressed his lips together under furrowed eyebrows. "Let me know if either of you find anything else."
###########
Elise Jean-Marie was out of bed when McCoy walked in after breakfast.
"Where do you think you're going, young lady?" he asked, with a smile.
She looked decidedly embarrassed. "Back to my quarters. I'm so embarrassed for being such a klutz."
He put his arm around her shoulders. "You don't have anything to be embarrassed about, my dear. I just want to make sure you're 100 percent before you go. It won't do any good for you to pass out in the middle of a performance."
She stiffened under his arm, but smiled. "You're right, Doctor."
"Call me Leonard," he smiled his most disarming smile. "And let me run a scanner over you one more time before you go."
She regarded him for a moment.
"I really just want to make sure you're fully healed, my dear. For your sake, not for any other ulterior motive."
She relaxed again. "Okay," she nodded.
"How are you feeling?"
"Other than embarrassed?"
He chuckled, "Other than embarrassed."
"I'm fine." She touched her face. "You're a great doctor, Leonard."
He shrugged with a smile. "Now I'm embarrassed."
She smiled.
McCoy looked at her and smiled widely. "Oh, I see," he tried to look upset, but couldn't muster more than pursed lips. "Embarrass me to reduce your own embarrassment?"
She shrugged, still smiling. "Misery loves company?"
"You," he wagged a finger at her with a chuckle. "Come on, let me give you the once over and I'll walk you back to your quarters."
She nodded.
As he conducted his scan, he asked nonchalantly. "Do you recall how you fell?"
She frowned. "I tripped trying to get out of my shoes."
"I mean, how did you hit the table? Do you remember?"
She narrowed her eyes. "Why?
"I'm running over the scene in my head and the table that was knocked over was on your left, yet it was your right eye that was injured."
She shook her head. "I don't know, maybe my head was turned as I fell."
"And you didn't think to catch yourself with your hands?"
She smiled, sheepishly. "I did call myself a klutz, Leonard. Are you trying to emphasize the fact?"
He forced a smile. "Not at all, my dear. You seem to be all better." He looked at her directly. "You let me know if you feel any dizziness at any point, okay?"
She nodded. "I promise."
"Let's get you to your quarters," he said, then helping her off the diagnostic bed. "We'll stop and get you some breakfast on the way."