McCoy dragged himself to his quarters when his body calmed down a little. Good God, it was insane. The girl had finally had him, just like she wanted from the very beginning of their acquaintance.

He wondered if she'd be willing to give her life away and join Starfleet - that was an interesting question for sure. Something told him that if Jim offered her to enlist, she'd just ask where to sign.

He really hoped that it wasn't just a game for her. The chemistry between them seemed too perfect to be real, but he knew that this arousal he'd seen in her earlier was hard to fake. What is more, he didn't want to think of her as a fake. Her past was a very questionable thing, but they'd deal with it later. Now, he just wanted to enjoy the moment.

He stripped out of his clothes in the safe darkness of his room and collapsed on the bed. Damn, this life in Starfleet was too demanding. And they weren't even in the time of crisis.

He closed his eyes and the exhaustion of the day immediately took its toll. The last thought he had before falling asleep completely was about Lee's real name.

Her warm smile was the first thing McCoy saw when the next morning he entered his domain. What he really wanted now was to run straight to her, but he couldn't afford to give her too much attention after everything that happened in the last few days. Instead, he checked on the other patients and noted that everybody was healing well. Great. That meant they'd leave sickbay soon and give him an opportunity to have fun with Lee in his office during an unlimited period of time.

Finally, he stood in front of his favorite patient and smiled at her.

"How are you feeling today?" he asked.

She returned the smile with this light in her eyes he loved so much.

"Pretty good. I was actually wondering, maybe you can let me out already? I really am fine. And I miss normal clothes."

McCoy frowned. He didn't intend to sign her out just yet. Her health still wasn't on the top level, not even close. But he had to admit that the flu had been long gone, malnutrition treated with a proper diet and exhaustion would be healed with enough sleep and rest. None of it required her constant presence in sickbay. Besides, if she voiced her wish to get out of here, he was sure as hell that this wish would be satisfied, even against his will.

"Please," she begged, "As much as this robe is convenient for some things," she smirked, and he felt how some blood left his head and flooded south, "It is not very comfortable. I want my pants and shirt back."

He sighed.

"And what would you do if I say no?"

"Haven't decided yet. But I'll do my best to impress you."

Oh, this wicked smile and these mischievous eyes. They'd be the death of him. McCoy didn't have any chances to fight her before, and he certainly didn't have them now.

"Fine," McCoy grumbled, and she beamed at him, "I'll let you out of here and talk to Jim about giving you some guest quarters. Just don't sing, okay?"

"So you didn't like my signing? Why haven't you said it back then? I'd stop it if I knew you don't appreciate my effort."

McCoy resisted the urge to ravage her there and then. Damn her. She was so hot when she did all these devil things.

He scowled in response and went to settle her signing out. Her robe was indeed fine, but her outfit with these tight pants and a long shirt that outlined every curve of her upper body did look good on her too. In fact, he couldn't wait to see her normally dressed again and finally think of her like of his girlfriend, not as his patient.

Good God, girlfriend. It sounded so silly and so weird. He'd have to get used to it.

He ordered to give Lee her clothes back, and ten minutes later witnessed her being fully dressed.

"Come to my office," he said to her, trying to sound as nonchalant as possible, "I need you to sign some papers."

"Sure," she replied and quickly marched out of the main room. He followed, and when the door slid shut, had his hands full of her. She was kissing him madly, and he finally was able to do what he wanted for so long - to give her a proper, thorough kiss without thinking about the moral aspect of this action.

"Privacy," he rasped, letting his hands explore her body.

She moaned into the kiss and pushed him back. When his legs hit the edge of the couch, she shoved him down, jumped on him, and resumed her lips' electrifying movements against his mouth.

Any coherent thought left him completely. He grabbed her hips and pulled her closer, letting her feel how much he wanted her. In response, she rocked her body, and he realized that if they didn't stop now, they wouldn't stop at all.

"Hey, hey, slow down," McCoy wheezed, taking her face and urging her to look at him.

She was kissing him with her eyes closed, and when she opened them, he saw a lustful, incoherent gaze.

"I want you so fucking much," she whispered hoarsely.

He growled and buried his face in her neck. How much more would he be able to take if she went on at the same pace?

"I know," he finally managed to say, "I want you no less. But we can't do it now."

He pulled away and leaned at the back of the couch.

"Besides, I do need you to sign some stuff."

Lee looked at him with pure adoration.

"I'm not signing anything, Leo."

McCoy stared at her in disbelief, feeling the desire vanishing and anger building inside him.

"Oh come on!" he exclaimed, "We're together, finally, and you still don't want me to know your name?"

She looked away and pushed off of him, taking a place at his side instead.

"You know my name," she said with a clear uncertainty in her voice.

"Right. And Lee is all I get after almost taking you on my desk."

She went silent, studying her hands. McCoy felt familiar coldness somewhere near his heart.

"Lee, look at me."

She didn't oblige, staring at her hands.

"Girl, please."

She turned to face him and he saw this neutral expression she enjoyed putting on whenever things went tough. This expression made him shiver.

"What's all of that means to you?" he asked. He wasn't sure he'd like her reply.

Lee was giving him an empty look one more second. Then her indifferent expression broke, a grimace of pain came on its place.

"It means everything to me, it really does," she whispered, "But I can't tell you anything yet. Please, you have to trust me on this."

She'd got to be kidding him. After everything he'd done for her, after everything he'd risked to be with her, she still didn't trust him.

"Unbelievable," he muttered mostly to himself.

How could he fall for it? How could he ever believe that he'd be more than just a toy for her? How could he be so goddamn stupid?

"There's a place in sickbay where you can wait until we get you some quarters." he flatly said, standing, "Ask someone, they'll show you. I'll go talk to the Captain and we'll decide where you'll be living now."

She nodded and fled his office so fast McCoy didn't even register her movements.

He glared at the door that closed behind her and fought back an irresistible urge to crush everything within his arm's reach.

He was a goddamn moron. The girl just wanted to have fun, and he made a fuzz of it. So fucking moronic.

He glanced at the timer. 0936, the alpha shift was in its full momentum with Jim on the bridge. McCoy could just comm his friend and settle everything without leaving sickbay.

No, he'd go to the bridge personally. He hadn't visited it for ages anyway. Would be nice to see all friends on duty, just like good old times, when there were no insane girls in his life.

He ordered himself to look as impassive as possible and strode to the turbo lift.

The bridge gave him the comfort he needed so desperately. The same result could be also achieved with a bottle of bourbon, but he was still on duty and couldn't let himself find a dark corner and hide there just yet.

In the meantime, his friends would do just fine.

He nevertheless received a slightest eyebrow's rise from Spock and a frown from Jim. No wonders, he must be looking like shit. He felt like shit, that was for sure.

"Bones," Jim nodded and gestured at the chair next to his captain's throne, "What brought you here? Another Lee's insanity? Please, tell me the witch came up with something new and funny. Your reports are getting too boring to read."

McCoy fought back a wave of despair and scowled.

"Thank God, no. But I've signed her out this morning, so we need to give her some place to stay while she's onboard."

"I know great free quarters three doors away from yours," Jim smirked, "I believe they'd be great for her."

McCoy cringed. Damn, he had to tell the kid what was happening, or Jim would continue to play a matchmaker. A sharp response was already on McCoy's lips when the ship lurched forward without any warning.

The consoles in front of Sulu and Chekov burst into a frenzy, beeping and screeching in the most intimidating ways possible.

"Captain, someone's just penetrated the ship!" Chekov shouted, panic clear in his voice.

"On screen," Jim barked, not a hint of his previous light mood in his voice.

Chekov pressed the button, and they saw three small ships that looked more like shuttles. The ships bumped into the Enterprise's corpus and made huge holes so that these little things' owners could enter the Enterprise. So like Krall's bees… Oh good God, no, not again.

McCoy missed Jim's next order, but Sulu's reply made the Doctor freeze.

"Captain, the panel doesn't work. Someone's taken control over all the ship's computers and now clearing the decks for the intruders. The guy's sealing them off from the rest of the ship," the helmsman calmly said, but McCoy knew that Sulu was as frightened as they all were, "I think they're heading for the bridge."

"How didn't we notice them?" Chekov darkly mused.

"I might have some ideas," Jim replied as sullenly, his fingers dancing on his own console.

Then the Captain of the Enterprise turned to his First Officer, "Lock the bridge."

McCoy felt dread taking over him. Locking the bridge down meant that the crew had totally lost control over the ship. The only way to withstand the outside force was to give the Captain full control that overrides every computer onboard. It meant that no matter who hacked the system, the Captain's computer still wasn't affected and could be used to resist the hacker.

"Can we fight?" Jim asked Spock.

"We have phasers, but we are outnumbered," the Vulcan said, looking at the screen. It showed them a small crowd of Klingons, humans and a couple of Orions outside - too many to just fight back without getting someone killed.

Jim nodded and turned the shipwide channel on.

"This is the Captain speaking. You have invaded the Federation's starship without warning or a declaration of war. What do you want from us?" Jim demanded.

"Surrender the ship," a huge even for his race Klingon growled, "Or we will kill the hostages."

And he shoved two security officers - both young girls - at his feet.

Jim turned the channel off and shared a long look with Spock.

"Prepare your phasers," the Captain finally said, "We're coming out shooting."

The bridge crew muttered an 'aye, Captain' and moved to the wall where phasers were hidden.

They were stopped by the voice coming somewhere from behind.

"I wouldn't do it if I were you," the voice said.

Well. McCoy was clearly mistaken when he thought he'd felt dread before. The day when they had brought dead Jim to him didn't count - it was more shock and pain than anything else. But this… Everything that had happened before was just a resemblance of the real dread that now was running through his veins.

Because he knew that voice.

Slowly, he made himself turn around and face the speaker. He saw Uhura with regret and despair on her face. He saw a dagger firmly pressed to the comm. officer's throat. And he saw his new girlfriend holding Uhura by her hair and exposing her hostage's neck.

"Put your phasers down and let the guys in," Lee evenly said, "Or your pretty officer here might find a rather huge hole in her neck. And do it now, please. We don't have all day."