Scotty was working late in his office, slowly chipping away at the mountain of paperwork which he had been putting off doing.
This was the only part of his work that Scotty really didn't like doing, mainly due to the shear amount he always had to do.
"How is it that I have more paperwork than Jim? He's the bloody Captain of this dam ship?!" He muttered angrily to himself.
It was then when a knock came from his door, "Come in." Scotty called, not bothering to look up from his desk.
He heard the door slide open and the person walk in, but still he didn't look up. That was until the person sniffled.
Quickly diverting his eyes away from his work, Scotty saw it was Lexie who had entered his office and she was crying.
She was also in her PJ's, in one hand she was clutching the tartan handkerchief that Scotty had gifted her a month or two ago.
"Another one?" He asked softly, Lexie nodded as she blinked away a tear. "Yeah, a bad one." She answered with another sniffle.
Slowly rising from his desk, Scotty walked over to her and led his young Engineer over to the couch which sat in the corner.
He sat with her, one of his arms wrapped around her shoulders. This wasn't the first time Lexie had come by in this state.
Lexie often had terrible nightmares about events which happened in her past, events she had told Scotty about.
He never forced her to talk about them, that was up to her. So most of the time they would often just sit there.
Once again Lexie sniffled, Scotty pulled her closer to him. "You don't have to hide your tears lass, it's OK to cry you know."
It seemed like that was all Lexie needed to hear, since she instantly burst into tears and buried her head in Scotty's chest.
With a soft smile, Scotty wrapped his arms around her and hugged the girl tightly. Making sure she knew he was there.
"It's alright Lex, you're safe here." He whispered softly as he rubbed her back comfortingly.
"It was horrible Scotty, no matter how many times I see it. It still terrifies me…" Lexie muttered into the Scotsman's chest.
Scotty felt terrible that even after all these years, Lexie was still being haunted by what happened to her parents and brother.
"It will lass, anyone would feel the same way. But you're safe here, no one's going to hurt you."
He said reassuringly as he hugged her just a little bit tighter. "I'm here lass, it's alright."
Lexie continued to sob into Scotty's chest for another hour, that was until she had cried herself to sleep.
And had soaked Scotty's shirt with her tears. This was what happened most of the time, but Scotty didn't really mind.
He gently removed her head from his chest before standing up, he then laid her down on the couch, her head on a pillow.
Scotty then went over to the cupboard and pulled out a blanket, which he threw over Lexie softly.
"Sleep well lass." He whispered as he watched Lexie snuggled into her new bed, which he found very cute.
He then went back over to the cupboard and pulled out a spare uniform, he had chosen to keep as one in there for this reason.
Scotty quickly got changed before sitting back down at his desk to continue his work.
Occasionally looking up to see Lexie sleeping peacefully. But that wasn't to last.
An hour or so later Scotty heard Lexie muttering in her sleep, so he glanced over to see her tossing and turning.
She was moving around so much that Scotty was worried she was going to fall off the couch, so he hurried over to her.
He had only just knelt next to her when she sat bolt upright and screamed, not loudly but it was still a scream.
"It's alright Lexie, it was just another nightmare." Scotty said softly as he pulled her in for yet another hug.
Lexie once again started crying, but this time it only lasted a few minutes before she fell back to sleep.
For the second time, Scotty laid her back on the couch and placed the blanket back over her.
He hated knowing she was dealing with such pain, but all he could do was just let her know he was there and she was safe.
Lexie slept peacefully for the rest of the night, along with Scotty who had fallen asleep with his head on his desk.
So much for doing his paperwork, but to him making sure Lexie was alright was more important than any paperwork.
