Carol, Hannah and Uhura all burst into giggles. Drinks in hand, cross-legged on Carol's bed, they were like teenagers that had raided their parent's liquor cabinet. Hannah sank her head into her free hand and smothered her hysteria my ducking her chin into her neck. Carol giggled freely, and Uhura made no attempt to stop the laughter that burst from her. The three women all sniggered in unison at something which was not all that funny, but it had been a long day for all three of them, and it felt good to just laugh. Hannah's giggles subsided first, and she leant her head on Uhura's shoulder, comfortable, relaxed. Still smiling, she raised the glass to her slanted lips, and somehow drank from the glass without spilling anything. Uhura let her head rest atop Hannah's, and pulled Carol by the shoulders into this half-hug, half-doze.
When Hannah stumbled back towards her room, exhaustion swamped her, and like an over watered plant, she wilted through the doorway. Her thoughts felt muffled, her brain too large and too stuffy to be held within her skull, and she sank on to the floor on the other side of the door. She let her head fall backwards on to the wall, and it connected with a solid, loud and painful 'thud'. Feeling too tired, mentally, physically, emotionally, to care, Hannah didn't even bother to mutter an 'ow'. Her giggle had long since died on her lips, and she closed her eyes shut against reality, the cotton wool that was her brain muffling all of the firing synapses from the back of her head. The bleeping of the door was loud and obtrusive, penetrating through her muffled non-thoughts.
"What." It was not a question. It was barely an answer, with the singularity of the word emitting such a hostility that Hannah felt a twinge of guilt as the doors slid open. She slowly rolled her head to look at the door. The light spilling out of the doorway flooded into the room. Hannah closed her eyes against the brightness. "Uhhhh, in or out, just get rid of the light," Hannah whined petulantly. She struggled upright, and wobbled on her feet to the window. Each step she took was strong, more certain of herself and then she leant against the glass, forehead pressed to the void of space. McCoy pulled the girl back towards her bed, and sat her down on it. She reached a hand towards the window.
"I'm a doctor, dammit, not a babysitter," He muttered under his breath. "Hannah, how much did you drink?" Hannah grinned a wicked grin at him.
"Honestly, not much," she beamed, and then the energy drained from her again, and she rested her head on his shoulder. McCoy sat tense, uncomfortable at the sudden affection. "I'm just tired."
"I heard your conversation with Jim," McCoy began. Hannah mumbled a disapproving grumble, incoherent but distinctly irritable. McCoy smothered the amusement that glinted on his face, like a fish just out of sight under a river's skin. "I know your past is your business-"
-"You got that right, stay out of it."
"But," McCoy continued unperturbed by Hannah's interruption. "drinking yourself into oblivion isn't the answer." Hannah snorted in derision. She rolled her eyes to look at McCoy, condescension dripping off her gaze. Her head remained on his shoulder, until McCoy pressed a single finger into her cheek and pushed it back upright. He turned to look at her. "Kid, shit happens. You can't keep it all locked inside."
"Why do you care?" Hannah folded her legs on the bed, and stared at them intently, her words sounding like they belonged to an argumentative teenager, rather than a 27 year old woman.
"I don't." The bluntness of the comment made Hannah's head snap up to look at McCoy, and her vision swam with the movement. "But I don't want to have to give you a cure for a hangover every other day."
McCoy sat waiting for Hannah to wander in, complaining of a headache. He was instead greeted with a sheepish wave and a mouthed apology. He accepted the apology with a tiny nod- Hannah might have missed it if she hadn't been watching intently for a reaction. She grinned at McCoy, still a hint of the apology wavering her with hesitancy.
"So, Doctor McCoy, what's on today's agenda?" Hannah chirped, sitting on McCoy's desk. McCoy wordlessly handed her a PADD, and she skim read it, looking up midway through to raise an eyebrow at the CMO. McCoy challenged her to question him, with silent daggers piercing through Hannah. They had no effect on her. "Really?" McCoy nodded once.
"How can I expect you to treat my fellow crew, if you don't know their physiology? And behavioural attributes?" He asked rhetorically. Hannah grinned at him, and hopped off his desk. She bowed in mock deference, her nose coming level with her knees.
"I shall proceed with my studies immediately," She announced, and skipped off to read and memorise an entire textbook on Vulcans. McCoy smiled to himself as the door slid shut behind her, leaning back in his chair. This ought to be a calm day, after all, Kirk was safely stuck on the bridge till 6, no one currently had any illnesses, and now he had distracted Hannah for the good part of a week trying to understand the complex that was the Vulcan body.
Hannah danced back in two hours later, and handed the PADD back to McCoy. He merely stared at it. Hannah pushed it back towards him.
"Not to sound like Oliver Twist, but can I have some more?" She asked, a wry smile twisting up her features. McCoy stated at her, agog.
"You can't have learnt all that- not in two hours," He objected. Hannah beamed at him, and began listing various features of the Vulcan physiology. McCoy waved a hand for her to shut up, and Hannah, for once, obeyed. She continued to look expectantly at McCoy, hoping for more distractions. McCoy frowned at her, and slowly spoke; "What organs do Humans have that are absent in humans?"
"Appendices, singular: Appendix," Hannah answered smugly, a grin forming on her face.
"Where would you find their hearts?" McCoy spluttered out immediately. Hannah smirked at him.
"Where our livers are." Hannah poked herself in the abdomen to demonstrate where human's livers are found. McCoy narrowed his eyes.
"Fine. Do they have mitochondrion?" Hannah rolled her eyes at his question, in mock disapproval. She placed a hand on her hip and her smirk widened.
"Eassssyyyyyy," She taunted. "Of course they do, much like us, their digestive system- and other systems- requires active transport, so how else would they produce ATP if not with mitochondrion?" Hannah grinned at McCoy. He frowned.
"Do you have an eidetic memory?" He asked, puzzling over the strange phenomenon stood in front of him. Hannah shook her head jauntily, and smiled at McCoy.
"Just great revision techniques and a short term memory that just won't quit," She answered. McCoy narrowed his eyes at her, and Hannah continued to smile at him, irritatingly cheery. "Nah, I just taught myself to remember things quickly. It's a useful trick." McCoy peered at her, and then stood up wordlessly. He turned away from her and then tossed a hypospray over his shoulder towards the girl perched on his desk. Hannah caught it with ease and looked at it, confused. McCoy turned back to her, and smirked.
"Do you want to stab Kirk in the neck with a needle?" McCoy asked coyly. Hannah tilted her head and frowned. McCoy's smirked widened. "It's a fun pastime, I mean, half the time, he doesn't technically need the injections, but equally, they won't hurt him." Hannah's grin widened to match McCoy's.
Kirk rubbed the side of his neck, the mild pain irritating him. Hannah almost apologised, but then decided against it. He probably deserved. Probably. Maybe. Hannah instead opted for a cheesy grin and nudged him with her shoulder.
"Oh, don't be such a baby," Hannah teased. Kirk turned to her, and pouted comically at her, and Hannah's laughter filled the turbo lift. Kirk's eyes crinkled with humour, and he grinned right back at her.
"You're a bully, you know that," Kirk answered, equal mockery in his tone. "A little bundle of evil wrapped in a small deceiving frame of innocence." Hannah grinned at him and winked.
"You don't know the half of it," She smirked, folding her arms and looking up at the Captain. "Anyway, what's this I hear about a landing party?" Her attempt to continue the conversation was clunky and obvious, but it worked. Kirk grinned at her, and answered her vague question instantly.
"Yeah, there's a nearby planet called Neural. Spock thinks it would be 'prudent' to collect plant life samples," Kirk answered, struggling to contain an eye roll when he quoted Spock. Hannah pushed herself off the wall of the turbo lift, and didn't break away from his gaze. Standing less than a metre away from the Captain's face, Hannah spoke softly.
"Well, don't you go getting hurt. Can't be doing with Spock as an acting captain for long," Hannah smiled, but the teasing was weak. A note of falseness rang through her voice, and as she lingered a fraction of a second too long after the trail of her words left the air. The turbo lift opened, and she hesitated just that little bit too much before leaving. She looked over at the Captain, her head turning over her shoulder for one final time and her heart lifted a fraction to see the Captain looking right back at her, equal parts curious and amazed. Both of them lifted a corner of their mouths into a smile. And then the doors closed, and the gap between them was infinite and impassable.
Hannah wandered into the Mess Hall, too early for her to have woken naturally. Bedhead still exploding from her head in a frizz of brunette. She hadn't changed out of pyjamas yet, and didn't care what any of the crew thought of her state of dress. Flopping into an empty chair at an empty table, Hannah flipped off the gawking security officer sat across from her. She mumbled something into her coffee and drank deeply from the mug in front of her. Deciding on a solely liquid-based breakfast, Hannah folded her legs on the chair beneath her, and flopped her head on the table. Closing her eyes for a moment, she woke up with her coffee having practically frozen over in front of her it was so cold. Blearily blinking herself awake, Hannah rubbed her eyes with the heel of her hand, and tried to force herself back awake. Deciding that changing out of pyjamas might wake her up slightly, Hannah stumbled back out of the Mess Hall towards her room, leaving behind only a half drained cup of coffee.
Meanwhile, Captain Kirk had landed on the surface of Neural along with Spock and Uhura. Kirk thanked the stars above him that the two of them were getting along again, as, whilst The Enterprise had less drama revolving around their silent fight, it did make away missions so much easier. He'd insisted on accompanying them in the guise of enforcing professional boundaries between the two of them. That comment had caused Chekov to hide a little innocent smirk, and Uhura to roll her eyes at him, before dutifully following him off the Bridge. Kirk had been surprised Spock hadn't objected to both the Captain and First Officer leaving the ship, spouting some protocol, or advice about it being an illogical and irresponsible course of action.
"Captain, whilst I assume you will ignore my advice, I am obligated to inform you this course of action is both irresponsible and illogical."
Ah. There is was. Kirk almost smiled at the plant life he was gathering, before acknowledging Spock's mandatory warning, albeit a late mandatory warning. Ah, the two fo them had gotten to know each other well over these past few years. Spock knew him so well, or Spock at least knew Kirk's compulsive inability to follow rules he disagreed with. He looked up to gaze admirably at his First Officer, when a high pitched scream flooded his ears and he saw a blue shirted figure be flung across the clearing.
Sulu had sat in the Captain's chair, slightly bored, and waiting for Kirk's command to beam the away team back on board, when they were hit with some slight complications. The transporter's locking system had malfunctioned, and they were no longer able to lock on to the away team. Sulu was just relieved that the away team weren't due back for another two hours, and Scotty assured him it would be fixed by then and the captain need not know that Sulu broke his ship.
"Sulu beam us up!" Kirk's voice screeched over the comm.
Well. Shit.
"Slight problem there, Captain," Sulu winced. "We can't lock on to your location."
"WHAT?!"
"The transporter's locking device is faulty, we'll fix it as soon as we can, just hang on!" Sulu talked rapidly, his words tumbling over each other.
"Hurry, we have casualties here!" Kirk's voice was panicky and stressed as Hannah entered the bridge, for once actually wearing something resembling Star Fleet uniform.
"If they have casualties, can you send someone down?" Hannah suggested. "You don't need precision for that." Sulu nodded at her, but his opinion was overridden by Kirk's spluttering of;
"No!"
"Captain, it makes sense," Sulu interjected. "Hannah is trained in both human and Vulcan physiology, she could be useful." A moment of silence.
"Okay, fine- just hurry up!"
Hannah took her cue, and ran out of the Bridge towards the Transporter Room.
Disorientated for half a second, Hannah glanced around the woodland, hoping for signs of life. Noting the trail of stomped flat flora, Hannah broke into a sprint, Med Kit in one hand, phaser in the other. She burst into a clearing in less than 10 seconds, the leaves whipping clear of her sight to reveal a large, hairy beast creature terrorising the Captain and Uhura. Another of these creatures was beginning to emerge from behind them, clawed paw outstretched. Hannah let out a warning cry to the two Star Fleet officers, and headed over towards them. She spotted the First Officer lying on the ground by the shuttle they had taken down to the planet, and rushed towards him instead. She quickly analysed his condition, lifting his head in her heads, and forcing his eyes open. Glad to see a normal reflex, she hauled him up on to her shoulder, and struggled the ten steps inside the shuttle, and placed him gently on the floor inside. A white furry paw reached inside, and Hannah whacked it with the Med Kit, the metal connecting with tissue with a solid, painful thwack. A grimace formed on Hannah's face, as she inspected the Vulcan lying on the ground. A green tinge had formed at the side of Spock's head, up by his temple, and his emerald blood stained his shirt. Hannah found the wound, and pressed a bandage into it, holding pressure on it, praying it would stem the bleeding. She then whirled around, and moved back out, phaser straight ahead of her.
Turns out Mugatos were harder to stun than the average organism, Hannah sent Uhura, blood dripping from her temple, inside the shuttle to care for herself and the first Officer. Between the three of them, they had taken down one of the hulking white beasts, but the other circled Kirk and Hannah like a cat would circle a trapped rabbit. Hannah glanced sideway at Kirk, trying to assess his state, but couldn't tear her gaze away from the Mugato long enough to tell if he was okay or not. Out the corner of her eye, she spotted Spock struggling upright, and called a threat to him;
"Spock, if you dare try to leave that shuttle, I will shoot you myself." Spock, surprisingly, sat back down. Uhura pressed her hands into his shoulder, and watched the Captain and Hannah with fear and awe. The Mugato's gaze was now solely on Hannah and it stalked towards her. Hannah smiled menacingly, bared teeth emanating the sneer of the Mugato, and flung her body to the side. She scrambled up a tree, moving just fast enough to stay out of the reach of the Mugato, and on to the roof of the shuttle. Spock and Uhura could hear the clattering of feet above them, the sound echoing around the hull of the shuttle, pounding out a rhythm similar to the panicked fluttering of Uhura's heart. When the Mugato opened it's mouth to roar at Hannah, she shot it directly in the mouth. The beast fell backwards, stunned. The huge mass landed on the floor, in a definitive clod of dust. The plant life around it seemed to be ripped from their roots with the sheer force of its landing, and the impact threw Kirk back a metre. Hannah leapt off the end of the shuttle, landing squint on her foot, but not allowing herself to acknowledge the pain until all her patients were back on the Enterprise. Miraculously, Kirk was unharmed. His shirt could not say the same, however, and Hannah couldn't stop her gaze from dropping ever-so-slightly to the abdomen of her Captain. Through the ripped fabric, she could see the scar she formed by sowing his flesh back together.
"You're bleeding," Kirk stated, lifting a hand to Hannah's chin and tilting her head to see the cut. Hannah grasped his wrist, and pushed the hand away.
"You're okay?" Her words were less certain, but luckily they received a positive response. Her face broke into a relieved smile. "Home?" She suggested quietly. The single word took both Kirk and Hannah by surprise, neither one of them expecting her to refer to The Enterprise as home, yet that was what it was. To the Captain, to the crew, and to the stowaways they had accumulated along the way. Never fixed in one position, roaming restlessly through the galaxy, The Enterprise was home to hundreds of people, and so they returned to it, gladly.