Lexie turned to face Scotty for a moment, "The nightmare I had isn't really a nightmare, it's more of a memory." Scotty smiled faintly, "You wanna talk about it? If you prefer not to then that's fine. We can just sit here." Again, Lexie waited a moment before answering, "I've never told anyone about my nightmares, but I guess now's a good time to start." Lexie took a deep breath; she couldn't believe she was about to tell someone about something that had happened in her past. "When I was six, my parents and my older brother were murdered in our own home, while we were all asleep. I was the only survivor, because the person didn't know that I was in the house. " As she spoke, her voice was slowly turning into crying and tears had started to flow down her cheeks. Scotty didn't know what to say, the poor girl was only eighteen and she had lost her family in the most horrendous way imaginable at only six years of age. Lexie was trying her best not to completely break down in tears but her attempt was useless as she broke down sobbing loudly. Scotty still didn't know what to say, even if he did he wouldn't have said anything in case he made things worse, but he knew what to do. He wrapped his arms around Lexie and pulled her closer to him, he rubbed her back, trying to comfort the girl. He guessed she hadn't had a shoulder to cry on for some time. "Why did they have to go?" Scotty heard her sob into his chest, of course he didn't have the answer.
Scotty didn't let Lexie go; in fact, he only hugged her tighter as she continued to cry. His shirt was soaked from the teens tears but Scotty didn't mind. After hearing about what happened Scotty had a feeling that she just needed someone to be there to comfort her. Eventually Lexie pulled herself away, her eyes were red from crying and her cheeks were flushed with embarrassment when she saw the state of Scotty's shirt from her tears. "I'm so sorry." She stuttered but Scotty just smiled. "Don't be sorry lass, everyone needs to cry every so often and after what you just told me, I'm not surprised you cried." Lexie wanted to smiled back but she just couldn't, so she turned to look back at the music box which was still playing its soft tune. "Do you think my parents really would be proud of me if they were still alive?" She asked suddenly, Scotty placed his arm around her shoulders. "Of course, they would be lassie, you have achieved so much at such a young age. You graduated the Academy a whole year early and with some of the highest grades ever recorded. And they're not truly gone lass, they'll always be with you." Lexie looked up at Scotty and managed a small smile.
Lexie went to wipe her eyes with her sleeve when Scotty handed her a tartan handkerchief to use instead. "Use this, that way your eyes won't become sore." She took the handkerchief from his hand gratefully, "Thanks." As she wiped her eyes she remembered that she hadn't ask Scotty why he had come here. "Why did you come to the observation deck?" Scotty sighted, "To relax after a stressful shift of trying to keep the ship from falling apart. I still blame Star Fleet for not letting me help with her re-fit. It's as if the whole thing was done by Klingons." Lexie laughed at his statement; she had heard about the Enterprise's refit but was surprised to learn that its own Chief Engineer wasn't part of it. "That's a bit stupid, I mean the fact that you weren't allowed to help with it. You're the Chief Engineer." Scotty threw his hands up, "Thank god someone agrees with me." The two of them laughed, "Then there's the fact I was yelling a Keenser every few bloody minutes to get down from someplace high, I think he has a death wish sometimes." Lexie tilted her head, Scotty then realised she didn't know who he was going on about. "Keenser is one of my Engineers, wee little thing he is. We met on purgatory some time ago." Lexie giggled slightly, "Purgatory?" She questioned, "Delta Vega is the places actual name but I've always called it that. I was stationed at an outpost there. That pitiful excuse for a planet is the reason I now hate snow." Lexie couldn't help but giggle again, "Why were you there in the first place?" "Because of a transwarp incident involving a certain pet." Lexie immediately knew what he was referring to, "You mean Admiral Archer's prize Beagle?"
Scotty was surprised to hear that from the young officer, "How did you know that?" "We were told about it at the Academy in our transwarp classes." Scotty rolled his eyes, "They're still going on about it?" He yelled; Lexie nodded. "Yep but they don't ever say the person's name so don't worry, your reputation is safe." That made Scotty feel a little better but he was still annoyed that they were still moaning about it even after all this time. Both of them couldn't help but laugh, it was a funny story. Lexie smiled brightly at Scotty who was happy to see it, "Thanks for listening Scotty, sorry I ruined your plans of relaxation." Lexie said as she twiddled her thumbs, "You're welcome lass, I'm just glad to see you smiling again." Scotty could see that Lexie was growing tired. "Come on, let's get you off to bed. We don't want you falling asleep during your first shift tomorrow do we?" He said as he stood up, Lexie looked up at him. "No, we don't." She reached over and closed the music box; Scotty helped her up off the floor then they both left the observation deck.
Lexie wasn't surprised when Scotty told her that he would walk her back to her quarters, nor did she argue with him since it seemed he wouldn't take no for an answer. The halls were empty since most of the crew was either asleep or on duty, so it was just the two of them which Lexie was thankful for since she was in her PJ's. There was one thing that had surprised Lexie about Scotty, which was that he hadn't mentioned her eyes. Not when they first met and not even when the two of them were sitting together, its normally the first thing anyone talks about upon meeting her for the first time. "Scotty, there's been something that's been bugging me." Lexie said as the two of them turned a corner, "What's that then lass?" "You haven't mentioned my eyes, typically it's the first thing people mentioned since they probably have never seen anyone with something like them before." Scotty smiled softly, "I didn't mention them because I didn't think you would appreciate that being the first thing I said." Lexie was stunned beyond belief; Scotty was the only person she could think of who had done this. "Do you think they're weird?" She asked quickly, Scotty shook his head. "Not at all, I think they're wonderful and they make you unique which is perfect." Lexie blushed; she still wasn't used to people saying that about her eyes.
They soon came to the door of Lexie's quarters, the two of them then turned to face one another. "You didn't have to walk me all the way back." Scotty just smiled, "I wanted to walk you all the way lass, just wanted to make sure you were alright, that's all." Lexie just didn't argue, she was too tired. She then remembered that she still had the handkerchief that Scotty had lent her to dry her eyes, Lexie held it out in her hand. "Here, this is yours." Scotty reached out but instead of taking the handkerchief from her hand he just pushed it away, "Keep it, considerate it a personal gift and plus this way you won't have to dry your eyes with your sleeves." Lexie smiled shyly at Scotty. "Thank you." The two of them then stood in silence for a few seconds. "I best be heading to bed now." Lexie said as she turned to pin in her code when she heard Scotty speak. "Lass." She turned back to face him, "Yes Scotty." "Listen if you ever need someone to talk to or if you have any more nightmares, my office and quarter doors are always open. Their much more comfortable than sitting on the floor of the observation deck and by any chance ya can't find me just drop me a message on your PADD." Lexie smiled, "Thank you Scotty and I really mean that." Scotty patted her on the shoulder, "You're welcome lass, sleep well and I'll see you tomorrow for your first shift, I'm sure Keenser will be happy to meet you." Lexie nodded as Scotty walked away, she waited until he was out of sight before opening her door.
Lexie walked over to her desk to place the music box back in its rightful place. Just as she placed the box down she saw Delta's eyes light up, then his head turned towards her. "Lex?" He asked, she smiled as she gently picked him up. "Sorry Delta, I didn't mean to wake you." She said as she sat down softly on her bed, "It's alright Lex, where did you go?" He asked. "I went for a little night time walk as I couldn't sleep. It's going to take me a little while to get use to sleeping on a Star Ship class mattress." She laughed, not wanting to tell Delta that she had another nightmare as she didn't want to worry the little guy. Even though Delta was an AI program he had feelings and could show emotion, Lexie made sure of this since she didn't want to have one that reminded her of a Vulcan, not that she didn't like Vulcan's it was just that she wanted to be able to talk to him about her emotions and for Delta to understand her. Lexie then placed Delta back on her desk, "I've got to get some sleep, I start work tomorrow." Delta nodded, "All right, night Lex." Lexie laid down as she replied, "Night Delta." The little robot when back into sleep mode and Lexie soon fell asleep.