"This is nice." Lorna sat at the dining table in the rec room, one of the most coveted positions that afforded both patrons a view of the stars from the large observation deck beside them.
"Nice?" McCoy queried.
"Lovely," she corrected herself. McCoy just smiled at her, enjoying seeing her out of uniform.
"You look very beautiful tonight," he whispered and Lorna's face became serious all of a sudden.
"I do?" she knew she should have just taken the compliment, not been so in need of another's praise but that was a part of her personality she had always wrestled with, worked on to improve, but wrestled with nonetheless.
"Yes Lorna, you do." McCoy didn't take advantage of her vulnerability by making a sarcastic quip; he found he'd figured her out pretty much in all her entirety in the time they'd spent together.
"Thank you Leonard." As she blushed she took a sip of her water, the ice cubes clunking against her teeth loudly. "Smooth," she unconsciously muttered to herself making McCoy smirk mildly. He watched her carefully as she re-arranged all her cutlery on the table, turning everything so that it was at a perfect right angle. He realised she was nervous, perhaps even more so than he was. Reaching his hand out over the table he grasped her small hand in his, a teaspoon still clutched in hers.
"Lorna, why are you so nervous? It's just a date, the hard part is already over." He said, referring to the fact that they'd already kissed. He smiled warmly at her, hoping his calm would ease her nervousness. He regretted letting go of her hand as he watched as she held on to the handle of the teaspoon and repeatedly tapped the other end in the palm of her other hand. It was making a thudding sound and McCoy found himself completely distracted, "Lorna?" he finally said and watched her jump, the spoon flying through the air and landing between two other tables. He watched aghast as she scooted out of her chair clumsily and hurried over to the tableware, apologising to the other diners and scurrying back.
"Can I tell you something?" she asked, as if what just happened hadn't happened at all.
"Of course." He really wished he hadn't let go of her hand.
"I've never been on a date, well not like this. I've dated, but I've never been on a date, not with anybody that I actually wanted to…" she gave him an apologetic grin. "I'm making myself sound like some weird person, I'm not weird." Rolling her eyes at her own words Lorna shrunk into her chair, get a grip!
"I married a first date, so swings and roundabouts I guess." McCoy grinned at her and was eternally grateful in that moment that he was there with only her.
"Hey! You used it correctly!" Lorna exclaimed, referring to the old turn of phrase, to which McCoy gave her a knowing wink. They sat staring at one another for a moment, big smiles appearing on both their faces. "This is nice," she repeated.
"You've already said that."
"I know, well, it's still true." Lorna stuffed a piece of bread in her mouth to stop her from talking.
"I think we should do this again." McCoy commented after a moment of silence between the pair.
"You're not enjoying this one?"
"No! It's precisely the fact that I am enjoying this one that I already know we should do it again."
"Oh?" Lorna nodded slowly. "I'd like that," she agreed. They were interrupted by a server appearing with two cloche covered plates, setting them down he smiled knowingly.
"I hope you don't mind, I went ahead and ordered something for us?" McCoy told her to which Lorna nodded enthusiastically. With a little fanfare the server unveiled their food to which Lorna snorted loudly and proceeded to laugh to the point of tears. On the pristine white plate sat the most perfectly constructed mashed potato and pea castle, with moat, gravy river and salt sachet flag.
"Bon appetit."
"What are you doing?" McCoy asked.
"Nothing." Lorna answered.
"That's clearly not the case." Why was he even asking?
"Umhum." She really couldn't be bothered answering.
"Lorna?" McCoy said.
"What?" Lorna replied.
"What are you doing?" Really?!
"Nothing." McCoy gently swept the hair covering Lorna's eyes with his thumb and smiled when she made a contented, 'I don't want to move' sound. "I'm trying to figure out what my routine is on this side of the bed." She answered, pulling herself onto her front and tucking her hands under the two pillows that her head was currently resting on. He liked it when she rested on her front, that way he could play with the two dimples at the base of her spine.
"Routine?" McCoy asked, propping his head up with his hand as he lay beside her.
"Yes, so, when I go to sleep I have a routine. You don't have a routine?" She asked.
"No Darlin'." McCoy answered amused. "Call me simple, but I'm a head on pillow, close eyes kind of fella."
"Well, that's strange, anyhow. To go to sleep I first sleep on my left, curled up, like this." McCoy watched as Lorna put herself in that position. "And then I go on my front and tuck my hands in." Again Lorna demonstrated the aforementioned sleep position. "And then I go on my right." Huffing Lorna lay flat on her back and McCoy found himself altogether distracted.
"I take it there's a problem?" McCoy asked, puling himself up to hang over her.
"Big problem!" Lorna answered looking up at him.
"Explain it to me." He asked, his hand trailing down her arm.
"Well, you see my bed points east and yours west."
"I see." McCoy interrupted.
"Leonard, I'm not finished?!" Lorna looked at him pointedly.
"My apologies, please, continue." He was getting preoccupied by the way her hipbones protruded.
"And yours west, but you see on Earth Jupiter reaches an altitude of twenty six degrees above the south-eastern horizon." McCoy nodded slowly, not understanding what she was saying in the slightest.
"And that's bad?" He hesitated.
"No that's good!" How was he not getting this?
"Okay, so what's the problem?" He tried to concentrate really hard.
"The sun rises in the east." McCoy looked at her blankly.
"I see." He finally answered and Lorna looked sceptically at him.
"You do?" She asked, pulling him down on top of her.
"Sure, I mean…that's not west." Lorna grinned at him. "What? What is it?" She was looking at him funny.
"You are wonderful you know that don't you?" She said, pulling him closer.
"Why?" He didn't understand what was going on, he rarely did when he was with Lorna Heiland.
"Because I made all of that up and you just went with it, you completely committed to the part and just went with my craziness." McCoy looked at her shocked but grinned back at her, he didn't tell her but he'd almost found himself making sense of what she was saying.
"Well you might have made it up Darlin' but to my mind having Jupiter on the wrong side of you when sleeping is never a good thing." Lorna's face dropped and McCoy knew he'd got her back, hook, line and sinker!
"What?" She pushed at his shoulders so that she could see his face.
"What?" He repeated, pretending to not pick up on the fact that she was looking at him like he was a nutter.
"No I said what." Lorna repeated.
"I didn't say anything?" McCoy gave her a peck on the end of her nose and pulled himself up and out of bed. "I'm going to go get ready." Lorna stayed in bed watching him flutter round the bedroom until eventually he went into the bathroom.
"WHAT?" He heard her shout again which just made him chuckle, but he still didn't reply.
The sound of Glenn Miller's 'A String of Pearls' blasted out in the medical bay, Lorna lay on her front on bio-bed two, her arms hanging over the sides. Wow night shifts could be boring! She'd just had a nice little snooze (unintentionally of course) and currently she was wondering why her right nostril was blocked. Inelegantly pulling herself up she sighed heavily, how was she going to fill the next several hours? McCoy had given her a book to read as a way to while away the time but she'd left it in her quarters. Sitting crossed legged she tried to pull her legs into that position people do when doing yoga.
"How do they even do this?!" She stopped trying when she nearly toppled off the bed and ended up giving herself that feeling of nearly being sick because you knew you were 'this close' to hurting yourself, badly! Looking up at the ceiling she rolled out the creaks in her neck, pursing her lips together she must have stayed like that for a solid ninety seconds before snapping out of her daydream and jumping down off the bed. Throwing her hands out towards the main med bay doors she tried to harness the powers of a magician, or wizard or something. "Come… on… plasma burns!" The door didn't open. "Guess I don't have any powers." Lorna mumbled as she twirled herself round on the spot.
The recording echoed out around the med bay as Lorna lay on the floor concentrating.
"HIja'" The computer enunciated.
"HIja'" Lorna repeated the Klingon word.
"Translate; Don't be silly." The computer requested and Lorna cleared her throat.
"yIDoghQo'" She shouted.
"Correct. Translate. Your mother has a smooth forehead!" Lorna creased her brow in thought.
"Hab SoSlI' Quch!"
"Correct. Translate Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam " Ooh that was a tough one!
"Today is a good day to die!" Doing her best Klingon impression she hit her chest with her fist as she shouted out the translation. "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam"
"Correct."
"Ow!" She'd actually managed to hurt herself. "Computer, end lesson."
Doing snow angels not in snow but on a med bay floor wasn't as fun.
Playing knock a door run with the science bay opposite was hilarious! Until she panicked and Lieutenant Doetsch opened the door before she rang, scaring her half to death and making her run into the wall instead of running through the med bay door.
"Sorry Doetsch!" She shouted when she opened a communication to the poor science officer.
"Remember what happened when you tried to override the lock?" He said warningly and Lorna cringed.
"Yeah, alright, fine." Closing off the communication Lorna filled her mouth up with air and blew it out like a fish a couple of times. "What to do?" She muttered to herself, looking around the bay. Looking over to McCoy's office a smile formed on her lips, hurriedly skipping over she closed the door behind her and sat at his desk. Turning on his desktop she quickly typed the message.
Alright Doctor Sexypants?! Sat here bored out of my mind! Just thought I'd let you know. Bye X
Lorna grinned at her own immaturity but sent the message anyway, pushing his chair back in she left his office smiling at the thought that he'd see the note in his inbox when he turned up for work in the morning. The main door opening caught her attention and when Ensign Xin Xia walked in she practically ran over and hugged the man.
"What's wrong Ensign?" She asked, trying to keep her excitement and eagerness to treat a patient under wraps.
"Sorry Doc, I wouldn't have even bothered you with this but my Wife told me I had to." He told her apologetically.
"Don't you apologise Ensign! There is nothing too small or insignificant that you should ever ignore or not come get treated. Now, what seems to be the problem?" She asked, internally hoping for a decent case of appendicitis.
"I've got really bad indigestion." Lorna's face dropped, all hope was lost!
"Indigestion?" She repeated disbelievingly.
"Yeah, sorry Doc." Xin Xia answered sheepishly. Lorna gave herself a second to reply, trying to keep the disappointment off her face and in her tone of voice. All she needed to do was give him a hypospray. That was crap!
"Don't apologise Ensign, just give me a minute." Sulking off to retrieve the hypospray Lorna came back and administered the medicine. "All done." She told him sadly.
"Thanks Doc, much appreciated." Hopping off the bed Xin Xia gave her a big grin and started making his way to the door.
"Are you sure there isn't anything else Ensign Xia?" She shouted after him.
"Err no, that's great! Thanks Doc!" Giving her a bit of a sideways glance Xin Xia picked up his pace and left, leaving Lorna stood pouting, pulling her earbuds from her coat pocket she popped them in her ears. Selecting some music to listen to, she made sure it wasn't too loud, just in case somebody came in.
"Now I've had the time of my life, no, I never felt like this before. Yes I swear it's the truth, and I owe it all to you…" Lorna was pretty adept at the shoulder shimmy, in fact, she found herself doing a full on Swayze down the middle of the bay.
"Bravo! Bravo!" Lorna spun on her heel and screeched when she saw McCoy stood clapping.
"Damn it Leonard you scared me!" Lorna looked at him angrily.
"Sorry Darlin', just thought I'd come and check in on you." McCoy closed the gap between them and gave her a long, gentle kiss. As they pulled away from one another a blue little light flashing on the ship's environmental controls caught Lorna's eye, making her way over she scanned the readouts.
"That's not good." Frowning Lorna opened a communication channel to Kirk, all the while McCoy putting together the pieces himself. "Doctor Heiland to Captain Kirk?" She waited for a response and when none came her level of panic began to rise. "Captain Kirk, come in." She repeated staring at McCoy with concern.
"Doctor?" Kirk's voice was strained and panicked, something was definitely wrong she knew that much. Tapping away on the console again she swore under her breath, "Leonard, come with me, now." Grabbing his hand she made a mad dash towards the decontamination chamber, McCoy happy for her to take the lead. "Computer, isolate chamber and place on lock down." She could feel the slight pull of air around her and the two ping sounds denoting that they were locked in allowed her to let out the breath she'd been holding. "Computer, ship wide environmental check." She instructed as McCoy went to the other console and started tapping away himself.
"How was Jim affected but not us?" He asked, not knowing what they were dealing with but knowing enough to know that the crew were breathing something in that they shouldn't be.
"Perhaps the life support units rotate to different decks in different orders?" Lorna guessed, not having a clue what she was saying but it still somehow making sense to both her and McCoy.
"Ship wide environmental check complete." The computer answered.
"Results." McCoy instructed.
"Airborne contagion level detected." McCoy gave Lorna the briefest of looks before turning back to his console.
"Contagion?" Lorna got to work, trying to run diagnostic after diagnostic. "Computer, give me the chemical composition of the ship's atmospheric controls."
"Seventy eight point zero nine percent nitrogen, twenty point nine five percent oxygen, zero point nine three percent argon, zero point zero four percent carbon dioxide, one point five percent nitrous oxide and current variable water vapour of zero point four percent."
"Nitrous oxide? From where?" Lorna scanned all decks of the ship. "Computer, increase oxygen levels to compensate for the nitrous oxide."
"Oxygen increased."
"It'll take a while for the oxygen to take effect, we need to get out there though, there may be some people who got a pretty heavy dose?" McCoy came to stand beside Lorna.
"Computer, locate source of the nitrous oxide." Lorna instructed. "I'll stay here, try to figure out what happened and prep for patients, you get yourself out there." McCoy nodded.
"You read my mind Darlin'." McCoy answered, pulling equipment together quickly.
"Or we could just leave it, have a brew instead?" She gave him a blank stare and McCoy responded with an equally dry eye roll.
"Deck eight." The computer came back with its result.
"Quarantine deck eight environmental controls from the rest of the ship and proceed with repairs diagnostic." The decontamination chamber was small, but both Lorna and McCoy danced around one another like synchronised swimmers. Working as a team, knowing what the other would do next, what the other needed next.
"Confirmed." Removing the lock on the decontamination chamber Lorna watched as McCoy strode out of the medical bay and smiled, quickly going back to her own work. "Nobody puts baby in the corner," she whispered.
"We did good today." McCoy spun Lorna's hair round and round his fingers as she laid her head in his lap.
"Yes we did." She agreed. "Good job us."
"Do you want me to get you some hummus?" He asked and Lorna beamed at him wildly.
"I love that you know I eat hummus when something 'big' has happened." She told him.
"I don't know about you but I'm ready for bed." Lorna looked up as McCoy enacted a rather theatrical yawn and stretch.
"Wow, smooth move Mister!" Lorna laughed. "Yeah, you really sold that one!" McCoy pulled her up into his lap.
"I thought I'd got away with that?!" He definitely knew that he hadn't.
"I didn't say it hadn't worked." She clarified as she planted kisses down his jaw, when he made a humming sound she laughed. "Make that sound again." She told him and he did. Anything to make her happy.
"Come on, I haven't got all day." McCoy unceremoniously shoved her off of him resulting in her nearly toppling off the couch.
"Leonard?! What the hell?!" Lorna looked at him in shock, not quite believing what he'd done. With one hand bracing herself on the floor she stared at him smiling. "Really?" She asked astonished but McCoy just threw her a wink and walked out of the living room.
Oh God! She'd created a monster!
Throughout the time it took the pair of them to brush their teeth and get out of their uniforms Lorna asked a multitude of questions; who did he think gave the best hugs out of the bridge crew? Did he think the chef in the main mess hall had probably, likely, definitely killed someone? If her tunic was tucked into her knickers would he tell her?
"Of course, but maybe…" McCoy faltered.
"Aha! I knew it!" Lorna pointed her toothbrush at him and spoke with a mouthful of bubbling minty foam.
"I'd let you walk up and down the med bay a few times first." He admitted truthfully.
"You're an awful man Leonard McCoy." Eyeing him suspiciously she spat out her toothpaste just as he was washing his brush, making sure she sprayed it all over his hand.
"Lorna! You're disgusting!" McCoy laughed, she didn't reply, still pretending to be angry.
When McCoy took her hand and walked her to bed, untucking the covers and then comically tucking her back in Lorna's lip twitched.
"What is it?" McCoy asked, seeing the feeling pass over her face.
"I don't remember us not being together like this." She whispered to him.
"Me neither." McCoy agreed, pulling his arm up and round so that she could burrow into the crook of his neck. And as with all good things, the moment was interrupted with the chime of McCoy's doorbell. "Goddamnit!" He groaned into her chest.
"Maybe they'll go away?" Lorna suggested half-heartedly.
"Knowing our luck I highly doubt it."
"Just ignore it." Lorna distracted McCoy from the door, a few little nips and pinches here and there doing the trick. Alas, the chime rang out again and with a flourish of bed covers McCoy was on his feet and storming out of the room. Opening the door McCoy's eyes narrowed on Kirk.
"What do you want Jim?" He asked gruffly.
"Is that any way to greet a friend Bones?" Kirk answered good naturedly.
"It is when I'm trying to get some sleep." Kirk could tell he was going to be invited in so walked passed his CMO anyway. "Jim, seriously?! What do you want?" McCoy stood staring after him, clad in only his sweatpants.
"Just wanted to pass on my thanks, you and Doctor Heiland really saved the day today." Kirk was being genuine, it really had been a scary experience and could have been altogether worse if it weren't for Lorna and McCoy's quick response.
"Don't mention it Jim…" McCoy was waving him off already, he appreciated the thanks but it was never necessary. It was a quick, silly little problem, fixed quicker than it lasted.
"Yeah well, I am, you and Heiland make a good team." McCoy didn't reply. "Speaking of, how are you and, she?" Kirk asked inquisitively. His friend gave him titbits from time to time but he wasn't one for sharing as it were.
"We're good Jim, thanks, now, I really do need to be getting some sleep." McCoy was practically pushing Kirk out of his quarters.
"You're no fun Bones." Kirk whispered to him.
"I know." He replied, opening his door but before he could get rid of him Kirk stopped and shouted out.
"Good night Lorna!" And when the reply came.
"Good night Captain!" from the bedroom Kirk grinned at McCoy who could only close the door behind him and shake his head tiredly.
"Will you ever get bored of me?" she asked him when he'd got back into bed.
"Not likely!" McCoy answered. "You?"
"Absolutely not! You're stuck with me McCoy, whether you like it or not." McCoy kissed the top of her head.
"I'm counting on it."
McCoy strode in to the Med Bay the next morning bright eyed and bushytailed, nodding at the Nurses who had congregated in the middle of the bay he bid them good morning. A chorus of 'good mornings' came back his way but one stuck out more than the others. It was Nurse Vallo, who's very friendly and energetic, 'Good morning Doctor Sexypants' made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end. Closing the door to his office and sitting down at his desk he started to work through his normal morning routine; part of which was seeing if he had nay messages waiting for him. And lo and behold! A message from Lorna Heiland. McCoy read the message slowly and then his eyes scanned to the top of the message.
To… ALL.
There was nothing to say, there really was no words. Lorna Heiland had sent a message to the entire crew of the U.S.S. Enterprise stating thusly 'Alright Doctor Sexypants?! Sat here bored out of my mind! Just thought I'd let you know. Bye X'
"Yep," said McCoy. "That seems about right."
The End