A/N: Hi guys! Sorry for disappearing again, but you know, life happens. I travel a lot and I work a lot to be able to travel a lot, so I don't have much time to write. Still, the story IS NOT on hiatus.
Special thanks to JularaVon for betareading the story. And thanks for all your reviews. Your words are a great reward for all that work, so really, thank you.
This chapter is short, but I figured that short chapter is better than no chapter =) So we have what we have. I hope you'll enjoy.
McCoy finally found out what had happened in Engineering only when Scotty visited his subordinates in sickbay. Judging by the look of the Chief Engineer, Scott spent all the time since the emergency cleaning up the mess after it. In other words, Scotty looked like hell, and McCoy could only sympathize with him.
"So, what happened?" the Doctor asked, giving the engineer a hypo with a mild analgesic.
"One of the warp core's wires overheated," Scott replied wearily, barely reacting at McCoy's fuss around him, "It made a spark that another wire caught. It created a chain of explosions. A pure coincidence, but it dropped us out of warp. I don't know when I'll fix it. Maybe in two days, not earlier."
McCoy stopped loading the next hypo, and it occurred to him that he couldn't hear or feel a usual hum of the warp core. The sound had disappeared almost two days ago, but he hadn't noticed it until now. Fuck. It all was Lee's fault.
"I wasn't there," Scotty continued his tale, "If I was, it wouldn't be such a disaster. I should have been there."
"It's not your fault," McCoy pointed out.
"No, it is. I am responsible for all these lads and lassies in my department. And now half of them got themselves burned. I should have been there, not drinking Romulan ale with Keenser."
McCoy raised an eyebrow but didn't comment on this Romulan ale confession. Everyone was relaxing in their own ways. Who was he to judge? He was quite fond of his bourbon too.
"I should have been there," Scotty repeated.
It was ridiculous, of course, to feel guilt because of the situation you couldn't foresee or control. But it was a part of the human psyche, so McCoy decided not to play a shrink and just poured the engineer a glass of bourbon that Scott accepted gladly. McCoy would also have a drink, but he still had sickbay full of patients and one devil that wasn't exactly happy with him lately. So the Doctor didn't allow himself a glass of his favorite drink.
Scotty left shortly after that and a minute later McCoy had a visitor again.
"What's wrong with you today?" Lee asked when the door closed.
She was approaching him, so McCoy made a step back, despite his urge to meet her halfway and just take her into his embrace. He missed her, missed her soft smile, her gentle touches, and her bright eyes. And he'd only spent a day without her, damnit. He needed an antidote to her. Now.
"Nothing unusual," he replied taking another step back, "You should return to your bed."
"No, I shouldn't" she firmly stated and grabbed his upper arm, "Stop running away from me."
It was more than he could take. Her touch was electrifying, and it set his whole body on fire. If they kept on touching, he would lose control in seconds. So he snatched his arm out of her grip.
He did it with too much force and Lee, having not expected this, was thrown back. She collided with a shelf behind her with a gasp. It was an unlucky fall. Her shoulder blade met a sharp edge of the shelf and pain crossed her face.
"Oh shit, sorry, girl, I'm so sorry," he dropped his detachment instantly and reached for her. Crap, he'd always been so gentle with her and now he'd hurt her.
Apparently, she thought the same thing because the next moment a grimace of pain was replaced with a cold rage.
"You son of a bitch," she hissed and blindly took something from the shelf that appeared to be a box with empty hypos. The box collided with his shoulder the next second and McCoy released a cry of pain. She wasn't satisfied, though. Other boxes and different objects were flying in his direction now with an astonishing accuracy.
He had to stop her, which meant that he had to grab her and make her calm down. She understood his intention and ducked away, without interrupting throwing everything she could reach at him.
"Fuck, girl, stop it! I told you I'm sorry! I didn't want to hurt you!" he tried to calm her down again. She didn't listen.
Now he understood what M'Benga had meant about the girl being fast. Her movements were graceful, performed with impressive speed.
He was chasing her around his desk while she kept on throwing everything she saw in a complete silence.
"Damnit, Lee, I said I'm sorry!" he shouted, barely avoiding a PADD directed at his head.
"You promised!" she growled from across the desk, "You lying bastard."
Oh, fuck. This 'won't let you fall' thing. He screwed up badly, then.
"Lee, please…" he begged, but she didn't listen. Instead, she sent another PADD flying to him.
Okay, that was enough. McCoy jumped on the desk and ran to her. She turned on her heels and headed for the door, crashing everything on her way. He had to catch her somehow, damnit.
But she was in the main room already. He heard a sound of shattered glass and surprised cries. She decided to ravage his department in revenge. Shit, shit, shit.
He stormed out of the room and saw her standing on one of the biobeds and kicking blankets from it on the floor. The engineers and the medics stared at Lee in complete shock. McCoy raced to her with a roar "Girl, stop it, now!"
She looked at him and he didn't see the girl he knew. What he saw was a demon, a furious creature that would destroy everything in its way. Lee's eyes, usually green and bright, were almost black now. He tried to reach her again, but she started to jump from one bed to another, not bothering if the bed was empty.
The peripheral vision told McCoy that his staff went out of stupor and hurried to help him. I won't allow them anywhere near me he heard her voice from the past.
"Leave it!" he yelled at the nurses and M'Benga, "I'll handle it!"
Something heavy almost threw him on his knees. McCoy turned around and saw Lee inches apart. For one split second, he hoped that it was it, but he should know better. The furious witch that took his Lee away from him was directly attacking him now, her newly regenerated nails put into action. He felt blood running down his cheek after its skin contact with Lee's nails. God, she could scratch hard. He tried to catch her arms, but she whirled in his arms and was too far to catch her again.
He noticed M'Benga with a hypo in his hands, approaching Lee from behind. If they knock her out like this now, he'd never be able to reach her.
"I said leave it!" he howled to the other Doctor and turned to the girl, "Lee, please, calm down. I won't hurt you, just stop, girl, please. You can hurt yourself."
She snarled and ran to her favorite cupboard. Well, that's just typical.
"Don't let her get to that thing!" he heard M'Benga's shouting. Two nurses blocked Lee from the shelf, so she changed her direction instantly. She almost collided with six security officers who entered sickbay in this very moment. M'Benga must have sent for them.
The security officers accessed the situation fast and dispersed in different directions, blocking Lee from running out of the room. She ducked and barely avoid a security officer's arm.
"I order you to stop, or we will use phasers," the leader of the group, Lieutenant Alcantar firmly said.
She didn't stop, of course she didn't. She was flying around sickbay like a flash and wasn't going to ever stop.
"No phasers!" McCoy shouted.
Not if he could help it. God, what should he do?
She flew past the security like mercury, but there were two more officers, and they finally caught her. Then hell broke loose.
Lee shrieked and shook so violently like there were a million panicking girls instead of one. All present security officers were holding her in place. M'Benga approached her with a hypo, ready to sedate her. When Lee saw the hypo, she abruptly went completely still. She looked at McCoy and he saw an acute panic of a haunted beast.
"M'Benga, stop, that's an order!" he roared, and his subordinate halted his steps. McCoy approached his violent patient, firmly held by four officers, the other two were pointing phasers at her.
"If I tell them to release you," he asked, "will you stop this madness?"
She nodded.
"Let her go," McCoy said to the security. They hesitated.
"Sir, she possesses a real threat to the crew. We should sedate her and lock her up," Alcantar objected and boldly met his gaze. The kid wasn't afraid of him. A fierce one, McCoy had to admit. It didn't matter though.
"It wasn't a request, Lieutenant," he raised his voice a little, "I said let her go. That's an order."
Technically speaking, they weren't obliged to obey his orders: they reported only to the head of their department and to Jim. But McCoy was a commanding officer and had a reputation of a man who could make their lives exceptionally miserable.
"Yes, sir," Alcantar said after a short pause and nodded to his guys. They reluctantly loosed their grip.
Lee immediately broke free and rushed to McCoy, but something stopped her. She froze in the middle of sickbay, her eyes still dark and empty. When he made a step toward her, she turned on her heels and ran to his office.
"Sir, we have to report on this to the Captain," Alcantar pointed out.
"Do what you fucking please," McCoy barked in response and followed his personal devil to the CMO's office.