A/N: This is for you, only-one-of-each-of-us. Enjoy your special day, my dear friend! ❤️
1. Choosing a Subject
Clutching his coffee cup, Dr. Leonard McCoy was ambling along the main path of the little park across from his hotel, enjoying the sunshine and… Yes! She was here again, same spot as the days before. The mysterious artist, whose quiet dedication, the way she meticulously kept improving her work – drawing, erasing, redrawing – he found so incredibly fascinating. There was a dreamy sweetness about her that did the most unexpected things to his heart. He just couldn't help it.
He'd got a glimpse of her art the first day he'd come here. Passing behind her, he'd been enraptured by the picture of a little girl and boy playing with some pebbles by the swing and slide on the small playground in the centre of the park. The drawing had been staggeringly beautiful, not just because it was such an accurate and perfect depiction, but also because she'd managed to capture all the joy, the happiness, the warmth and gentleness of the scene, too.
Not to mention that she was a piece of art herself, this delicate beauty quietly sitting on a bench sketching, and the reason why he'd left his hotel at the same time every morning all week now, crossing the park in the hopes of seeing her again, this stranger who made his heart beat faster just walking past her. Every morning, the doctor would sit down on a different bench, somewhere near but not too close, sipping his coffee and simply watching her beautiful face, lips slightly pursed and frowning in concentration, as she was completely engrossed in her art.
She'd caught him gazing at her once, and thrown him a heart-meltingly shy smile that had kept him awake half the night after. But since he didn't want to come across as a stalker, he'd limited himself to fifteen minutes in the park after that, just as long as it took him to finish his coffee, before going on to join his colleagues at the AIMC, the Annual Intergalactic Medical Conference, which was hosted by Starfleet Medical on Earth this year, and held in San Diego, California, a beautiful and enchanting city he'd somehow never been to before.
Just like he'd never experienced anything like this before. This woman was a total stranger, and yet, he found his thoughts circling back to her throughout the day. And the nights, too. Up to now, whenever someone had talked to him about love at first sight, he'd just laughed and made some dismissive remark, certain that such a thing didn't exist. But now McCoy wasn't quite so sure anymore.
x-x-x-x-x
She'd noticed him the first day he'd come to the park. Looking up from her sketchbook, she'd found those strikingly blue eyes in this stranger's kind, handsome face gazing at her intently. He'd immediately looked away again, a shy smile playing around those full, sensuous lips, as he made his way past her, coffee cup in hand, and she couldn't but admire his lean frame, moving so gracefully, light-footed like a dancer, seeming so confident and at ease in his body.
He'd been wearing a sleeveless denim vest over a tight black T-shirt tucked into skinny jeans that morning, and cowboy boots of all things. The look suited him, though. He was a tall, very slim man, but his shoulders were broad and the well-defined muscles in his arms, stretching the material of his shirt's short sleeves, hadn't gone unnoticed.
She wasn't usually the type to hanker after some random stranger, so this man with his observant eyes and gentle smile catching her attention like that had totally taken her aback. She hadn't been able to get him out of her head all day, and had found herself wishing he'd cross the park again the next morning. Of course, she'd planned on going back to finish her picture there, anyway.
To her great delight, the handsome stranger had indeed returned the next morning, and the one after that, too. He'd taken on this routine of strolling around for a bit, then choosing a bench to sit down, sip his coffee, and idly glance about, watching the people passing by, and occasionally her, too.
On day four, they'd started exchanging friendly nods, not quite in greeting but as a polite sign of recognition, the way you do with people you've seen around but don't actually know. That had been the moment when it hit her how much she'd really love to get to know this gorgeous man who could make her day with a single brief smile. The brightest, warmest, kindest smile she'd ever seen on anyone.