Chapter 10: Together
Summary:
A date and a visit to the bridge leaves Valerie thinking about the future.
Valerie was just looking through her closet when her communicator chimed. She flipped it open. "Maynard here."
"I'm leaving Sickbay now. Thought I'd check in. How do you feel about a real first date?"
"With you?"
"No, with Spock. Who in blue blazes do you think I mean, woman?"
She couldn't help but giggle. "It sounds wonderful. What are we going to do?"
"I thought I might keep that bit a surprise. But dress comfortable, it's not like we have five-star dining on the ship, so we'll keep it casual."
"Sounds great. When should I expect you?"
"Should still only be about a half hour. Won't take me too long to get changed."
"Okay, see you then."
With a wide grin she rummaged through her closet to find one of her favorite t-shirts and purple-died leather jacket. After finding her nice pair of jeans, she set about getting ready. Soon her hair was pulled back in a bun, she was dressed with black military style boots, her favorite to wear with her jeans, and just putting her leather jacket on when the door chimed.
With a smile she walked to the door and tapped to open it. The smile only got wider when she saw Leonard on the other side, also in jeans and boots, wearing a dark grey t-shirt.
"You look beautiful," were the first words out of his mouth.
"It feels great to be in my clothes and really feel like they're my clothes again."
"What does your shirt say?" he asked as he bobbed his head around trying to see it. She pulled back the jacket enough for him to read it. "The Mountains are Calling and I Must Go. John Muir" He smile. "You know I sometimes forget—you were born not too far from my own home state."
She nodded. "That's right. You're from Georgia, I'm from North Carolina. We were practically neighbors. This is one of my favorite shirts I kept from back home. I loved the mountains."
"You ready to go?"
"Yeah, let me just grab my communicator to slip in my jacket pocket in case."
He waited by the door while she ran back in. "So, you're still feeling well?"he called loud enough for her to hear.
"I'm feeling great," she said as she came back to him, slipping the communicator into the pocket of her jacket. "I've been under the care of a great doctor." She winked at him.
"Well, I hope you enjoyed it. Just because you're feeling better doesn't mean I'm going to stop caring about you."
"I should certainly hope not. That was part of the deal, wasn't it?" she asked as they began walking down the hall with him.
"Yes ma'am."
They enjoyed a pleasant dinner together in the mess hall, though had several interruptions has people came up to say hello and tell her how happy they were she was doing better. Once they were done, as they walked out of the Mess Hall, Bones asked her about their next stop. "So—if you're not too against it—there are a few people who have asked if we might stop by to see them."
"Oh, whose that?"
"Pretty much the entire bridge crew. Jim is doing a double to cover for Spock, and Uhura, Sulu, and Chekov are still there. I told them you might not be up for it, but I promised I'd ask."
She laughed. "Then I guess we're making a trip to the bridge. Feels a little weird going there out of uniform."
"It'll be fine. We'll be like tourists or something."
Soon they were stepping out of the turbolift and Bones motioned for you to go ahead. "Ladies first."
You stepped forward. "Permission to enter the bridge, Captain."
Jim grinned and spun around in his chair. "Permission granted. You too, Bones!" He hopped up out of his chair. "Look at you! I can tell—you remember it all, don't you? I can't believe Spock's mind voodoo did it! Did I ever tell you I've had a mind meld? With Spock Senior, when I first met him. Boy was that a trip."
All the other bridge officers came over and hugged Valerie, giving her pats on the back and saying nice things about how relieved they were that she was back to good health and with all her memories in place. Pretty soon, Jim was trying to shoo them back off the bridge. "Alright you too, go enjoy your evening. I'll be sure there are no major medical or engineering emergencies tonight."
Bones snorted. "Right. Like you aren't the one who usually causes all the major medical or engineering emergencies around here."
"Well, I promise to be on my best behavior."
"Captain, do you mind if we hang back for just a moment. The view is beautiful and I'd like to admire it for just a moment longer," she said as she nodded towards the view screen showing the stars ahead of them on their warp journey.
Jim smiled. "Of course, Lieutenant," he said as he grasped her shoulder and gave it a friendly squeeze for a moment. "But no thinking about work."
She smiled again. "That's a deal."
After Jim had settled back into the Captain's chair she took a deep breath and gazed out at the space ahead of them. She felt Leonard scoot closer to her side and place his arm around her waist to rest on her opposite hip. He leaned down and whispered. "What you thinkin' about darlin'?"
She smiled. "The future, Leonard. If there's one thing this has taught me, it's not to take for granted every moment, ever memory. And I look out at those stars as I see the future." She looked up at him, her smile directed towards him then. "Our future. Together."
"That's a future I look forward to." He smiled back and they both turned to look back out at the stars again as the ship sped through space, taking them to their next journey, their next memory. Together.
THE END
Notes:
Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed. I have some ideas for what it would look like with Valerie in the picture during Star Trek: Beyond. Perhaps I'll create another story down the road for our favorite doctor and his new favorite engineer. :)