A few weeks later and Lorna found herself stood to one side, watching the small gathering of dignitaries intermingle with the crew of the Enterprise. She tried to stop her legs from itching by ever so slightly swaying from side to side and holding onto her drink tightly. Spotting the buffet on the other side of the room she quickly made a beeline for the fare, her stomach rumbling as she walked. Nobody else was really eating but that didn't stop her from grabbing a plate and slowly but surely selecting an assortment of the small little Canapes and Vol-au-vents that were on offer. One of them she couldn't quite decipher; it looked like cheese? It may have been fish? Popping the little morsel into her mouth Lorna instantly regretted it, she could only liken it to eating an entire refuse plant. Not knowing what to do she gulped down her entire drink, wincing and waving her hands in front of her now watering eyes. Peering over her shoulder to make sure nobody had noticed her freaking out she took a couple of deep breaths and moved on down, perhaps she would be safe with the desserts?
Triple chocolate molten pudding?! Lorna couldn't believe her luck, her eyes scanned for cutlery and when she couldn't find any her focus returned to the delectable confectionary. There was only one thing for it, picking up the pudding Lorna popped the entire thing in her mouth.
"Doctor Heiland?" Oh no! Lorna froze, she had no room in her mouth to even start eating the thing. "Doctor Heiland?" the voice rang out again. Turning slowly Lorna took in the expectant faces of Captain Kirk, Doctor McCoy and one of the visiting dignitaries. She smiled a closed mouth smile, her eyes flitting quickly to McCoy in a silent cry for help.
"Umhum?" she mumbled, still plastering on the creepy closed mouth smile.
"Doctor Heiland here is one of our most experienced medical Doctors, you worked for Starfleet Medical whilst at the Academy didn't you?" Kirk asked her.
"Umhum," nodding her head in agreement she considered just running from the room, McCoy was looking at her strangely now, he definitely knew something was wrong.
"Pleasure to meet you Doctor," the nice old visiting man said to her, extending his hand for her to shake. Lorna looked to his hand in horror, peering at her own, one holding a glass and the other a mountain of crudité, she messily tucked the glass under the her arm quickly and balanced the plate on her forearm. As she shook the man's hand a bit too vigorously she widened her creepy closed mouth smile to the point where her jaw began to hurt.
"Ummmm!" she said by way of a greeting, Kirk by this point knew something was definitely amiss and Lorna felt like the melted chocolate pudding in her mouth was about dribble out of the corners of her gob.
"Well? Let me introduce you to our Chief Engineer." Kirk hurried away with the man, giving Lorna a peculiar look as he went. McCoy stood still, staring at Lorna. She just groaned and rolled her eyes in despair and embarrassment, he was definitely going to rescind his offer of marriage!
"Mouthful of pudding?" he asked. How the hell did he know that? Lorna bobbed her head slowly in confirmation. "Only you," and off he went.
Five months after that and Lorna found herself wishing she'd eaten some breakfast.
"You look smokin' Doc!" Vallo wolf whistled as she waved her hand in front of her face, pretending to be hot under the collar.
"Thanks Vallo!" Lorna blushed whilst pulling at her dress uniform with her hands.
"No seriously! Doctor McCoy is a lucky man, punching well above his weight. You sure you want to do this?" the young Nurse leant towards her wisely.
"Okay Vallo, you went too far. You took a nice thing and went too far," shaking her head Lorna told the woman to go sit down.
"Just give me a signal if you want me to object okay? Anything, I'm ready. I'll tell you what, if I see you blink three times I'll know…"
"Vallo, quit it! I don't want out!"
"Three blinks, got ya!" Vallo stuck her thumb up at Lorna as she left.
"No Vallo!" Lorna shouted after her, now worried about blinking at all throughout the entire ceremony.
"You ready?" turning to Kostas Lorna smiled and nodded her head. "Not too late," Kostas added.
"Why does everybody keep saying that?"
"To mess with your head? I don't know?" Kostas shrugged but the little squeeze of her arm that they gave her meant Lorna knew her friend was just playing. She wouldn't have expected anything less!
The ceremony was small, just enough people to act as witnesses, close friends and of course Kirk who was officiating the wedding. McCoy and Heiland hadn't had a choice on that particular topic. When McCoy had told the Captain that they were to elope, well, it didn't go down well. Lorna thought back to the evening when McCoy returned to their quarters after speaking with his friend, 'Yeah, no, we're getting hitched on the ship,' was all he said. Not that she was fussed, they could have got married on the moon for all she cared. For all either of them cared. It was considered old fashioned, what they were doing, but they were an old fashioned kind of couple.
Kostas taking her arm and turning them towards the door snapped Lorna out of her memories and upon seeing the door open and McCoy stood waiting, her heart wanted to burst out of her chest.
McCoy looked at Lorna, all radiance and serenity and everything beautiful. All his anxiety disappeared in a puff of smoke when he watched her mouth one word, seemingly unintentionally. And with that one word being very explicit and beginning with an 'F' it made him realise she felt the same as he did and the fact that they were in it together, against the universe, he knew he'd never wanted anything more in his life.
The small walk down the 'aisle' went without a hitch, surprisingly, they both laughed when McCoy realised what the song was that was playing, the one Lorna had picked. On one of their first dates together a song had played randomly in the rec room whilst they were having dinner, he had told her that without a doubt, it was the worst song he had ever heard and if he were to have omnipotent powers his first port of call would be to eradicate the song from the annals of time. As Lorna came to stand beside him he shook his head slowly and whispered to her.
"I can't believe you picked this song," he said and she looked at him mischievously.
"I thought you loved this song?"
"You know that not to be the case though don't you Darlin'?" he inclined his head towards her as he spoke.
"Is this how our marriage is going to be? Always arguing?" she teased.
"Oh I do hope so…" they were both interrupted when Kirk cleared his throat.
"Err, do you want me to start?" he asked the pair.
"Don't see why not?" Lorna answered.
"Being the Captain of a ship is a momentous responsibility…" Kirk began, addressing the room and ignoring the fact that the couple in front of him both rolled their eyes. "But sometimes it also affords the joyous occasion of being able to bring together two people, two friends, in matrimony. I wondered if I would ever see my friend, Leonard H. McCoy married again…"
"Jim!" the pure threat with which McCoy quietly ground out his name was enough for Kirk to know to shut his mouth.
"I believe you have prepared your own vows?" Kirk asked meekly and Lorna cleared her throat.
"Leonard, I promise to you to be there when you need me, to fill your days with sunshine, to comfort you and encourage you, to help you reach your goals, to be your best friend ever and to love you all my life with all my heart. Because of you, I laugh, I smile, and I dare to dream. I look forward with great joy to spending the rest of my life with you, caring for you, nurturing you, being there for you in all life has for us, and I vow to be true and faithful for as long as we both shall live."
"Wow." Kirk couldn't help but exclaim.
"Pretty good huh?" she whispered to him and then gave McCoy a wink.
"I, Leonard McCoy, take you, Lorna Heiland, to be my companion, already loving what I know of you, and trusting what I do not yet know. We will grow old together, laugh together, cry together and when I think about falling in love with you a little more every day, well, I can't wait. I promise to love and cherish you through whatever life may bring us." he could see her eyes glisten, with love and pride, and he'd never felt so whole.
"Alright, you win." she whispered to him as she tried to hold back the tears and pulling herself up, clutching his shoulders with her hands, they kissed.
"I haven't got to that part…" Kirk bobbed between the pair but then with a heavy sigh said. "Fine, whatever, I now pronounce you Husband and Wife." The small gathering of people, Vallo, Rakam and Kostas, Uhura and Spock all applauded while Scotty blew his nose so loud it broke McCoy and Lorna apart to see what was going on.
"Ech! I canny help it, it's a beautiful thing!" the blubbering Scotsman shook his head.
"Congratulations!" very gallantly Kirk gave Lorna a kiss on the cheek and when McCoy held his hand out towards his friend for him to shake Kirk laughed and pulled him into a great big old bear hug. "I love you Bones!"
"Where's the party?" Uhura asked, coming up to them and wishing them both health and happiness.
"No party," McCoy answered sternly.
"No party?" Uhura asked, turning to Lorna aghast.
"No party," Lorna repeated, shrugging her shoulders.
"No?!" Kirk looked positively distraught.
"No," McCoy repeated firmly, taking Lorna's hand the couple began walking out of the room but when the angry mob behind began heckling them he held up his hand. "Damnit, I'm a Doctor not a Babysitter, go and play in somebody else's yard!" and with that they were gone.
Drawing a figure of eight in the sand with her finger Lorna watched the salt from the sea water crystallise on her skin, making her glisten in the sun. Her head rested on McCoy's chest, the pair making a 'T' shape with their lounging bodies. They hadn't moved for hours, enjoying the sun, the sound of the waves rushing up the coarse sand and the light breeze scented with the tropical flowers that reminded Lorna of Earth's Bird of Paradise. She could still feel all the sand in her swimsuit from earlier in the day when she'd dug a hole and buried herself in it. She'd asked to do the same to McCoy but he'd refused, he did let her play with his hair for a solid half hour whilst he'd sunbathed though. Lorna was pretty sure that he'd actually fallen asleep, what with the light snoring and all.
The cocktails had gone down very nicely and Lorna had managed to keep a nice little buzz going all day, dragging herself up she sluggishly and ungainly lay herself over McCoy's midriff, letting all her weight fall on him.
"What the hell Lorna?" McCoy asked, peering down at her and struggling to breathe.
"I'm bored," she answered.
"No you're not," he answered, placing his hands under her arms and heaving her up and next to him, she didn't make it easy though, letting herself go limp and lifeless.
"How do you know?" she whinged.
"Because I've seen you bored, and this isn't bored, it's relaxed. You're relaxed," he told her as he played with the bow at the back of her neck holding her bikini top up.
"I am relaxed," she agreed.
"Do you want to go back to the house?" he asked her, noting the sun was lower than he'd expected, the time had just flown by.
"Not quite yet, do you want to build a sandcastle?" he shook his head, "Let's just have a walk down the beach then." Grabbing their towels and bag the pair padded down the coastline. "I don't want to go back," Lorna finally uttered as McCoy stopped and wrapped his arms around her from behind, the pair watching the sunset.
"Ever?" he asked.
"Ever," she repeated.
"What would we do?" Lorna turned so that they were facing one another, they'd both caught the sun and as Lorna traced the white creases around McCoy's eyes he let the back of his hand trace up and down her spine.
"Fight crime? Rob banks?" she suggested.
"They're very different things Darlin'," McCoy laughed at her.
"I'm not picky," was her answer, "As long as I'm with you." The pair turned back on themselves and started making their way back to the house they were staying in for the couple of days they'd managed to get away from the Enterprise. As they made their way up the steps that led from the beach to the house McCoy held on to Lorna's backside.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"I'm helping you up," McCoy answered plainly.
"Uhuh, thanks." Lorna laughed when he gave her a squeeze.
"Don't mention it," holding the door open for her McCoy closed it behind him and closed his eyes in response to the cool air. "Right, I'll do drinks you do bath," He instructed.
"Yes Sir," Lorna didn't need to be told twice. Walking into the bathroom she turned the taps next to the bathtub and watched as the clear, sparkling blue water began to fill the copper coloured tub. She looked to the salts and soaps that sat nearby but decided against them, her skin was quite sensitive and after all the sun they'd both caught that day the thought of anything that could maybe sting made her suck at her teeth.
The amount of sand that emptied out of her swimsuit was ridiculous!
The speaker system in the house started playing old Earth, American Country music and Lorna barked with laughter, turning the taps off she left the bathroom and went to the kitchen in search of McCoy, all the while the soft dulcet tones of a Cowboy rang in her ears.
'I see the sparkling little diamond on your hand, It's plain to see that you've already got a man, I can tell you're not about to fall for any of my lines, I see the want to in your eyes.'
"Who is this singing?" she asked as she appeared by his side in the kitchen. McCoy, taking his eyes off the two cocktails he was creating was distracted for a moment by the fact that Lorna was simply stood there in her birthday suit.
"Huh?" Lorna smiled that smile only women are capable of when they know their effect upon somebody else.
"I asked who is singing?" she repeated herself.
"Oh this? This is the High Priest of Country music Darlin'" McCoy's accent thickened and handing her a glass, McCoy's other arm wrapped around her waist as they both took a sip. "Good?"
"Good," she agreed.
"Bath?" he asked.
"Bath," she agreed.
"So? How was it?" Vallo dipped towards Lorna as she filled out her reports.
"It was lovely." Lorna answered, not taking her eyes away from the PADD in front of her.
"Oh come on! I want all the juicy details!" the young women sulked and Lorna took pity on her.
"Well, I'll tell you one thing," Lorna saw Vallo's eyes glitter with excitement. "It was a good job Doctor McCoy brought his medical kit, I ended up standing on some kind of sea urchin on our first day and if it hadn't of been for Leonard I probably would have lost my foot!" Vallo wasn't impressed. Tutting and telling her she was no fun the Nurse left her to her own devices, night shift for Lorna Heiland was here again!
Looking at her reflection for some time, Lorna wondered if she should grow her fringe out. Or bangs as Vallo called them which didn't even make sense! Why are they bangs? Pushing her hair up and out of the way of her forehead she turned from side to side, was she too old for a fringe? Did she have a big forehead? No that wasn't it, she just wasn't used to seeing it. She'd pretty much had the same style since she'd been at university.
"If it ain't broke," she mumbled to herself. Picking up her personal PADD she saw that she'd received another message from her Brother, quickly clicking on the link Lorna smiled to herself in anticipation.
'Dear Humpty, so since our last conversation just before you were getting hitched to a man I've never met we were talking about my latest collection? Well, guess who flogged the entire lot to the new council building being built? This guy! All joking aside though it'll be good to see it go to good rather use than just sitting in my warehouse.'
Lorna grinned, William Heiland had been an artist since the moment he'd been born. He'd taught her to draw, paint and sculpt and ever since she could remember he'd shown her to see the beauty in all things. He was also an older Brother which meant he'd persistently tormented her their entire lives. She told him everything and when she'd sent the message telling him that she was getting married a one word reply was pinged back almost instantaneously. She couldn't repeat that one word.
'So, I guess I should ask how it all went? I take it he went through with it? I bet you looked like a right dog's dinner! Mum's still bristling about not being there, I don't think she quite understands the concept of deep space? I tried to explain that if you waited until you were back you'd be way too old and don't have that much time left anyway but she took it the wrong way, thought I was hiding something from her about your health and well, let's just say that turned into a can of worms the less talked about the better! Rebecca and Josh want to see pictures, they think silly Aunt Lorna getting married is hilarious. Right well, I better be off. All joking aside, I know you're happy so we're all happy, we miss you and stay safe. Don't accidently walk out of an escape hatch or anything like that, seriously, why did anybody think it was a good idea to allow you to work in space?! Love ya Sis X.'
Lorna defied anybody not to cry after reading a message like that. Sat at her desk and sniffling she wiped her eyes and took some deep breaths to try and calm down. Blowing her nose she swore when she saw that she was having a nose bleed, quickly pinching the bridge and throwing her head back she sat for a minute thinking. Needing to get one of the dermal regenerators Lorna tentatively stood up, all the while holding her nose and looking up at the ceiling. Shuffling her feet along the floor she gave her desk a wide berth and went in the general direction of one of the medical cupboards. Maybe thinking that it had stopped Lorna let her head back down and released the hold she had on her own nose but when blood poured out and down her tunic she very quickly resumed her previous position.
"For goodness sake!" she cried out, banging her hip on one of the beds as she carried on her way. Blindly searching for a dermal regenerator Lorna's hand finally rested upon what she was after, sitting herself on one of the beds she got to work on her nose, stemming the blood flow. "You can't even sneeze without it becoming something ridiculous!" she chastised herself. The bleeding had come to a stop but now she had the problem of blood on her shirt, she didn't want to worry McCoy unnecessarily. Changing into scrubs was a sure fire way of getting him worried so that was out. She thought about just rushing into their quarters and getting changed but that was completely against character for her and the rule was if either of them came in form work and the other was there they would sit down and chat straight away. Rolling her eyes she racked her brain for another idea.
"Aha!" Eureka, she had an idea. Making her way over to the replicator in the break out area she stood and pondered. "Computer, one glass of blackcurrant juice." Seeing the dark red liquid appear in front of her Lorna felt super sneaky. Taking the glass and holding it in front of her she hesitated a moment, she'd only had a nose bleed, did she really need to hide that from McCoy?
"Of course not!" she answered out loud, he'd never given her a reason to hide anything and up until this point she'd been nothing but honest. That's what made it work.
McCoy had forgotten to tell Lorna about his change in shift, besides it gave him an excuse to go see her. He hadn't been able to sleep anyway, finding it more and more difficult to settle when she wasn't next to him (taking all the covers). As he walked towards the medical bay he found he was ever so slightly smiling at the corners of his mouth just at the thought of seeing her.
What happened next took him a while to process, I'm not talking minutes or hours, days later he would turn to Lorna and just stare at her wondering how in the hell him opening the door to the medical bay and her stood there with a glass of blackcurrant juice resulted in said 'door opening' scaring the life out of said Lorna, her jumping into the air and juice spilling down her front.
"Lorna!" McCoy cringed as he watched the stain inducing fruit juice pour down her front and the scream that erupted from his Wife made him think she'd been shot.
"For the love of god and all that is holy Leonard what the hell do you think you're doing you scared the life out of me why would you do that Leonard?" she only came up for air when the cold juice plastered her uniform against her skin and gave her goosebumps.
"I walked into the room goddamnit, I hardly snuck up on you!" Leonard grabbed a cloth and stood in front of Lorna trying to dab at the stain. Lorna took the cloth from his hands and started wiping at her front messily. "Hey, Darlin', what's wrong?" McCoy asked, knowing her well enough to know something was wrong. The fact that her eyes were red clearly from crying, she'd obviously had a nose bleed and she'd topped it off with spilling blackcurrant down herself!
"I had a nose bleed," she mumbled.
"You did?" he tried not to laugh, Lorna nodded silently.
"William sent me a message and I cried and then I blew my nose but that made me have a nose bleed and then I was worried you'd be worried…"
"Why would I be worried?" he interrupted.
"Because I'd had a nose bleed." Lorna creased her brow in confusion, not understanding why he wasn't getting all this?
"I see," he didn't see.
"So I thought I'd pour something darker on the blood stain but then I thought 'No, you don't keep things from one another!' and then you came in and scared me." Huffing out a long breath Lorna let her head fall onto McCoy's chest. "I don't even know how this could happen to anybody?" McCoy's hands came up and wrapped around her, kissing the top of her head he whispered his love for her as they stood still.
"Go and get changed, I'll hold the fort." Lorna looked up at him and shook her head.
"You are the best person in the world, I really don't deserve you. Well, sometimes I do but most of the time I don't." McCoy laughed again and told her to get on with it.
"Love you Darlin'." He called after her.
"Love you Love." Lorna answered, narrowly missing walking into the doorframe.
"Lorna!"
"I'm okay!"
The End