A/N: This is short, but soooo full of emotions that it's going to make you burst. It's going to get a little steamy from here. Enjoy!

Jordan was running as fast as her petite legs could take her, zipping through groups of cadets roaming the sunny courtyard. It was late in the afternoon, and she had finished her last course for the day when Jim cornered her outside the lecture hall demanding to know what had happened the night before.

Her last thoughts of the evening were sitting in that little bar, enjoying a light conversation with Leonard, and then she had woken up with a terrible hangover, that much she remembered. The rest was a hazy blur, but as Jim explained to her that Leonard had not returned to their dorm until after 07:00, the dots began to align in her head, and the memories flooded her like an overflowing dam.

And she ran. She ran as fast as she could, leaving her brother calling out to her in a frenzy.

I'm perfectly happy here with you. I'm always happy with you.

The words kept repeating itself in her mind over and over like a broken record, drowning out any other lucid thoughts. She had told him. She flat out told him the truth while drunk.

I like you Leonard McCoy.

The memories flooded back to her in bits and pieces, but his caring eyes were the ones that stood out the most. How he held her in his arms while he got her back to her dorm, how he carefully took off her shoes for her and got her in bed. Her words repeated in her head once more, soft and then loud, a repetitive mantra of her exposed feelings.

If you still feel the same way when you wake up tomorrow, come find me and we'll talk about this.

And she knew without a doubt that he felt the same way. God, she needed to see him. She knew Leonard would be at the library, finishing his research paper they had spoken about so many times.

Jordan rushed through the library doors and stopped by the reception desk, leaning against it as she took a few deep breaths from the exertion of sprinting across the campus. Composing herself, she walked into the medical hall, eyeing the row of tables until she caught sight of Leonard, sitting all the way at the end, a pencil in his mouth as he read a medical journal.

Jordan stood there in the middle of the aisle, watching him with a strong feeling coursing through her. It was a warmth that blanketed her body, a warmth that was something she had never felt before, and she welcomed it blindly with open arms. It was stronger than the obvious attraction she had toward him, stronger than a fleeting infatuation. She was watching him in a new perspective, and she knew right then and there that she couldn't pass this up.

He sensed her staring and his eyes were up in an instant, staring right back at her. The way he was looking at her, really looking at her, was enough to make her almost fall down on her knees. She trekked the few steps toward him, and carefully sat in the chair across the table.

Leonard was the first to speak. "I wasn't expectin' to see you."

His voice was soft, almost like a caress, and she hummed. "What were you expecting then?"

"I dunno honestly. I thought you'd probably avoid me."

There was a shyness to his subtle words as if she would completely reject him, and it made her chest clench like a ton of bricks had fallen on her. "I remember some bits of last night, mainly the conversation we had when we were in my dorm."

"But you're here, which means you want to talk about what happened last night."

"I can't avoid it Len, not anymore." She sighed deeply, placing her hands flat on the table in front of her as if grounding herself to the wood. "Everything I said to you is true. It wasn't a drunken outburst, and frankly, I don't normally drink that much, but I guess that's why some call it liquid courage."

"How long?" It was a simple question that held so much weight to it.

"For a while," she simply responded and smiled. "I would say that it hit me when we were at that little lounge, but I've been dancing with the notion for a little longer than that."

Leonard nodded, a slow smile forming on his lips, and he reached out, taking one of her hands in his. The touch was electrifying, almost magnetic, enough to knock the wind out of her.

It felt right.

"How about we talk about this more over dinner tonight?"

Wait, what? "Dinner?"

"I know this little place not too far from here that cooks the best Italian food."

Jordan leaned closer. "Are you asking me out on a date?"

"It's what a southern gentleman should do to try and woo a pretty lady," Leonard responded and mimicked her movement, leaning toward her, lifting their intertwined hands and bringing his lips to the back of her hand.

It was a lingering kiss, soft and intimate, a side of Leonard that was raw and unexpectedly new.

She wanted more.

"Pick me up at 19:30?"

——

Jordan couldn't have imagined a better night as she strolled through the streets of downtown. Her steps were in sync with Leonard's, her arm looped through his as she leaned her head on his shoulder.

Leonard had showed up at her door at exactly 19:30, looking his Sunday best, brandishing a bouquet of calla lilies and a smile that resonated her entire body.

The few blocks of walking distance to the restaurant were spent in constant conversation, mostly medical jargon and school affairs, but when they had neared their destination, he was beyond the perfect gentleman, opening the door for her, pulling out the chair for her to sit, holding her hand as they shared a bottle of white wine.

He was nervous, Jordan could tell, as he spoke to her in soft words, his hand clammy while he held her smaller one.

He told her stories of his childhood, his home in Georgia, his family history in the medical field, the heartfelt story of his father's passing, the rocky divorce that ultimately set him on the path to Starfleet.

She shared her life without her father's presence, the trouble she got into by protecting her brother, her vigorous studying to become a doctor by the age of 22, her reasoning behind her case of latrophobia.

They listened to one another with the utmost attention, and it was the most comfortable she had ever felt.

Their dinner was sincerely beyond her expectations, and as they walked out into the cloudy night, he asked her to take a stroll with him around the streets, and she couldn't refuse.

"We should've done this a long time ago," she said thoughtfully as she looked up at him. He hummed in agreement, taking her hand in his and interlacing their fingers.

"I was a damn fool, baby girl. I needed to get that proverbial stick out of my ass you mentioned to me so many times."

Hot damn, she was going to turn into mush.

"You keep calling me that and I might just swoon."

Leonard laughed and stopped in his tracks, turning his full body toward her. His hand was hot when he placed it carefully on her cheek, his calloused thumb caressing her skin in a whispery touch. There was a glint that burned in his eyes, something between avidity and affection… And something else. Desire.

God, he was looking at her with a crazed amount of desire, like a man that longed to quench his thirst while wandering a hot and deadly desert.

"You like me callin' you my baby girl?"

"It sounds rather nice when you say it in that southern accent of yours," she murmured faintly, hypnotized by the way his eyes roamed her face. He stepped closer to her, his arm wrapping around her middle, his face inches from hers. She could feel his hot breath as his lips parted slightly in a satisfied sigh, and his thumb reach down to caress her bottom lip in a weightless touch.

Jordan wanted this. She wanted this beyond comprehension.

"I want to kiss you Jordan." It was more of a statement than a question, and it made her heart skip in her chest.

"People are watching us Len." She couldn't really tell if they had an audience, not with her full attention on the man that had her trapped in his arms.

"Let them see us," he responded, his eyes hooded and dark. "I can't get enough of you right now. I don't think I'll ever get enough of you at all."

Jordan let out a throaty sigh as Leonard kissed her forehead, his nose in her hair, inhaling a deep breath and then another. His arm tightened around her, their bodies flattened against each other with little room to maneuver. He groaned as he nuzzled his nose further into her hair. "Goodness, I love how you smell."

Her hands curled on his chest, her eyes closing as her fingers played with the buttons of his plaid shirt, and she arched into his touch. The sensations in her were on maximum warp drive, flying into uncharted space, and she was lost in the nebula of what was Leonard. She wanted to lose herself completely in him and never find her way back.

Pulling slightly away, his hand on her cheek made its way under her chin and lifted her face to meet his eyes once more. His forehead touched hers, their noses rubbing together softly. "I've wasted so much time, darlin'."

Jordan brought her hands up to the back of his neck, her fingers toying with his hair. "Better late than never."

And she did the one thing she secretly had been wanting to do since the first time she met him.

She acquiesced to his wish, her hands pressing firmly on his neck as she pulled his head down, and she kissed him fiercely.