THE DOCTOR IN THE MORGUE

4.

Dev had learned very quickly that the medical doctor of the USS Enterprise moved faster when he was motivated or on a mission. She supposed he was often on a mission if living on a spaceship was anything to go by. She didn't know much about the real workings of living and working on one but she assumed it had to be very hectic at times if it wasn't anything like the hospital or even a naval ship. Everyone had their part.

Even so, she hadn't really done much running lately, and having to rush behind the doctor who was distracting her in his uniform pants. She managed to slip once or twice once they hit the hot boiler like area where everything was warm and unbearable to stay in for more than necessary. It had gotten to the point where Bones backtracked, and grabbed her hand and kept on going.

He didn't say anything to her which surprised her a bit. She was getting accustomed to his irritated comments about her doing things that he didn't like. However, his mission must of have been more important than biting her head off for slowing him down. It wasn't anything new actually considering Molly's companion of a consulting detective. Sherlock was much worse. She found herself wondering what would happen if the two were in the same room with each other.

Well…that had already happened hadn't it? She hadn't paid much attention to what the two men were talking about when she entered the morgue. She had originally gone down to see if Molly wanted to go grab some dinner since it had been a little while since they had been able to do that. Molly had been really busy, as had Dev considering she was surrounded by parents and children most of the time.

Then she spotted the not alien – human doctor and well everything kind of melted away. It was kind of funny actually. She was mostly curious about the fact that he was on Molly's slab. She liked to find new ways of discovering the mask beyond people. She supposed she had Sherlock to blame for that. He had started to rub off on her in their little time with each other.

When she felt the loss of contact from Doctor McCoy she came out of her thoughts and noticed they were in front of a desk that was less put together as the doctor's own in the medical bay. There were greasy pieces laying all over it, this wasn't of any interest to Bones however who just moved over to the opposite end of the small crapped space and pressed a button on a command center. He then turned back to her and held his hand out. "I need your phone."

Dev gave him a curious look as she took the mobile out of her front pockets on her top, and held it close to her chest. "What are you going to do with it?"

This was when his annoyance came into place. "I'm not going to break it if that's what you're worried about. It'll help pinpoint your friend's location so I can pull up a video call."

"Kind of like Skype?" Her eyes brightened as she came to understand it.

Bones looked a little impressed with how easy it was for her to get it. "Something like that." He mumbled as he took her phone and turned back to the center which looked like a very complicated computer. It had levers and buttons, and a small place for you to hook up a device of some kind. It had little plugs that would work for most electronics. Dev watched as Bones found the one that fit hers before he began tapping away on the buttons. He seemed to know what he was doing, or he was just that that concentrated on getting it to work. Both ideas made the Peds doctor smile a little.

It wasn't too long before she saw the crackling of an image on the monitor. It took a shorter amount of time for her to realize that it was the lab in St. Barts. The curly mop of hair was just as familiar. It popped up as Sherlock grabbed the phone which more than likely was Molly's.

"Molly!" He started yelling.

The woman in question could be heard from off screen asking him what he wanted. "Sherlock, you do realize my hands are covered in guts right?" There was an audible sigh as Sherlock looked at the reflection on the phone. The child doctor was alive, he gave a little nod when Dev waved at him. He took the phone with him as he moved over to where Molly was.

"Your friend is video calling you…apparently."

"Which friend?" Molly's eyes could be seen just barely out of the frame as she moved her head over to see who was trying to contact her while she was working. "Dev!" She shouted, before ripping her gloves off and taking her phone from Sherlock. "Are you okay? Do you have any idea how long you've been… not here?"

Dev shared a look with Bones who had moved to stand behind her, so that she was directly in front of the screen. "Time passes at a different rate when you're in space."

"I've only been gone a day, max." She whispered, though both detective and pathologist were already talking over her statement.

"You've been in space for a least two weeks," Molly started. To which Sherlock corrected her. "Two weeks, three days, four hours and thirty seven minutes."

Dev shook her head at Sherlock. "Aw, it's nice that you actually care."

Sherlock scoffed. "If you mean I care that Molly's been worried sick ever since you disappeared with him." The detective pointed an accusatory finger at Bones who leaned a bit closer to Dev to address the bean pole. "Listen, I didn't ask for her to come here either. It's the Russian's fault, not mine."

Dev shook her head at both of them. "Alright, everybody relax. I'm fine and there are people here working on getting me back to London in one piece."

"How long will that take?" Molly inquired, asking Bones more than Dev considering she was sure her friend was still trying to wrap her head around where she was at the moment.

Bones was frowning. "It's hard to say. Right now we're dealing with two problems that will factor in getting the system back and running so that we can get her back to where she belongs. Plus, we need these things fixed too. I imagine a trip will have to be made to get better parts and equipment so that it can be done. It's not a simple as that but that's what I have to go on for right now. The Captain and I were talking about it earlier when I informed him of Dev's situation."

Molly didn't look any happier than Bones but by the look that Sherlock shared with her it seemed the two of them knew that there was little that they could do.

"Okay. So using this communication feature is the only link we have for the moment?"

Bones nodded. "I'll get Scotty on equipping her phone so that we won't have to come all the way down here to use it every time. It's the mobile itself. In comparison to the gadgets we use here it's dated by several hundred years."

Sherlock blinked at this information. It seemed to catch him by surprise. "Really?"

"It'll take years for your earth to catch up."

"What do you mean 'our earth'?" Molly was intrigued now.

"As much as I would love for this loveable doctor to continue to impart wisdom it's not the easiest thing to explain." Another man popped up, he was wearing a red shirt and had a head full of red hear. "I can probably do better, Bones usually stays to his name sake if he can help it."

Bones rolled his eyes, shrugging Scotty arm off his shoulder. "None of you give me much of a choice half the time. Constantly throwing me into the fray with Kirk every second you get."

Scotty chuckled, "Oi, that's your fault for being so concerned with the Captain all the time."

"He makes it hard!" Bones grumbled as he started to turn to walk away.

"McCoy! She's your responsibility remember."

Bones rushed back and pulled Dev before he got the urge to strangle someone.

Molly and Sherlock hung back looking greatly amused by what had transpired.

Scotty waved at the two of them. "As Doctor Grumpton was saying, we got yer lassie covered. She'll be back as soon as we can get it all together. This ship is a work in progress. You can call me Scotty. Mum called me Montgomery Scott, but like I said Scotty should we have the pleasure of speaking more than a few times."

"Scotty it is then." Molly beamed. "I'm Doctor Hooper, and this is Sherlock Holmes."

Scotty looked alarmed at the introduction of the detective. It didn't take though, as he started clapping immediately. "Wait until Spock hears about this! Nice to meet ya, Mister Holmes. I would love to talk to you more but I'll to start look into these things. Captain wants to have a meeting about it later."

"'Course." Sherlock commented though he found himself feeling strange about the man's reaction to knowing who he was. Before they bid goodbye to the ginger, Molly pipped in. "Would you fix the phone for Dev. I'll grow mad if I don't have a way to contact her that somewhat constant."

Scotty saluted the female morgue worker. "No problem. Take care in the meantime." He disconnected the call.

"Well, that's something. Sherlock Holmes in the flesh." He mused as he began to tweak the mobile phone. It would take about fifteen minutes to get it in order, then he'd run it up to the medical bay. Or hell he could send someone else to. Things were hectic down here. He needed to get some other things done while he was here.

"I don't know why you're so surprised Sherlock." Molly giggled, after ended the call with Dev, Bones, and Scotty. "People do know who you are. It's never bothered you before."

"These are people who live in space. I don't have an interest in space, why would it's inhabitants care about a detective."

Molly patted his cheek. "Maybe you'll get to ask them. Scotty did refer to a Spock character…"

"If you're insinuating that we get on a space ship, you're out of your mind Molly Hooper."

Molly shrugged. "I didn't say it, you did."

Sherlock could tell that Molly wasn't as worried as she had been concerning the bubbly Pediatrics doctor who was now in space with an entire crew of people who would be looking after her in the meantime. It didn't mean that she wouldn't worry, because Molly worried more than anyone he had ever met apart from his mother.

"It'll have to be a dire situation if I ever agree to do such a thing."

Molly had to try not to roll her eyes as she expressed the one thing that he would care about beyond his friends somehow being trapped there. "You mean a murder, Sherlock?"

Sherlock bit back a grin. "You said it."

Don't you just love those two cuties together? I know I do.

I left a few hints to things that will happen in later chapters. Foreshadowing is so fun, guys.

Also, Dev will be introduced to the rest of the crew soon enough. I just like making one pop up here and there to kick things off. Scotty is by far one of my favorites apart from the others I've already introduced. He's just so funny.

If you're imagining a scenario where Mr. Spock and Sherlock meet...you're not too far off. Something will happen...later.

I hope you guys liked this one. It finally came out when I had the energy to write. Getting proper sleep is hard right now.

It's like 10PM when I'm posting this so I mean...

See you next time.

much love,

day