Love

Author's note: This story includes the following characters: Kirk, Scotty, McCoy, Keenser, Spock, and my OC Tanith Aldridge. And yes, there is indication of two parings, one more appearent than the other. The appearent one being Scotty/Tani, the less appearent being Spock/Uhura. But for those who don't like Spock/Uhura, it's barely even there. :D

And please don't let the OC paring scare you off, at least try it. :] Thank you. Reviews greatly appreciated.


"I'll take the high road
And ye'll take the low road
An' I'll be in Scotland afore ye
But me an' me true love
Will ne'er meet again
On the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomand"

The loud, slurred, and not particularly musical rendition of Bonny ended with Kirk sliding out of his bar stool onto the floor and Scotty giggling madly at his drinking partner. Kirk also started to snigger and two sighs arose from the table nearby. One had come from Leonard McCoy, known to most as 'Bones'. He had just begun nursing his Altairian brandy and was shaking his head at his young Captain and friend. Sure, he got drunk but at least he did it with grace. Not flopping around on the ground like a goddamn fish.

The other sigh had come from Tanith Aldridge, McCoy's assistant and chief-medical-officer-in-training, should something ever happen to him. But while his sigh was more of a growling huff, Tani's was heartfelt and slightly amused. Her jade eyes watched the Scottish engineer with exasperated affection, the toffee-brown rings around her pupils glinting in the light. She wasn't one for alcohol, her drink some sort of fruit cocktail.

The doctor and his understudy were joined by a third person at their table. Well, technically, he was an alien rather than a 'person' per say, but on the Enterprise all were equal. The light green-yellow, wrinkled face of Keenser appeared to be blank as he looked at Scotty, who was leaning dangerously in his seat. However, Tani caught the large, glistening onyx eyes roll skywards before returning to his small glass of neon green liquid. Tani wondered vaguely what it was but before she could ask her attention was drawn back to Scotty, who was severely close to tumbling out of her seat.

"Scotty, be careful! Ya idiot." Tani called but was smiling softly.

Hazy deep forest green eyes slowly focused on her and Scotty grinned goofily. "Allo ye gorgeous *tat." The drunker Scotty was, the thicker his accent and the more Scottish terms he seemed to use. He lurched forward in his chair toward her "Come 'ere and lemme see yer."

Tani shot out a hand, though she was too far away to do much, and opened her mouth to warn him against leaning so far forward in his seat but it was too late. The drunken Scotsman and the bar stool tumbled forward in a mass of limbs and wood. The three fairly sober beings winced when there was a thunk as Scotty's head had an unpleasant meeting with a nearby table before he landed with a thud. Kirk burst into hiccupping laughter while McCoy and Keenser starred at the downed engineer with nearly identical incredulous expressions. Biting her lower lip, Tani quickly hopped out of her chair and knelt down next to Scotty on the floor.

Expertly, Tani inspected Scotty's head with gentle, practiced fingers until she found the spot that had connected with the table, at which point Scotty groaned. She was relieved to find that it wasn't serious, he'd just have a bump and an even worse hangover the next morning. "You alright?" she inquired, slim fingers brushing down the side of his face, which was pinched with pain.

"Oh yeah, I'll be fine. Thick ol' head like mine." He grinned then his foggy gaze seemed to focus in on her a little more "Though if ye'd lean in a li'le closer I'd be much obliged."

Tani snorted in amusement "Maybe later when your breath won't kill me Casanova."

She took his arm and pulled it around her shoulders "Come on ya lump, let's get you to bed before you really hurt yourself."

Unfortunately for her, Scotty was not being particularly helpful in getting up. "Eh, is the world supposed to be spinnin' like tha'? Oy, somethin's comin' up." He turned a little green "I think I'd rather stay down 'ere, thanks."

Tani wrinkled her nose at the thought of Scotty vomiting, she liked bodily fluids inside the body where they were supposed to be, but she didn't want to just leave him there on the floor. She wasn't a particularly weak person, but she was small and Scotty was bigger than her. Add the fact that he was trying very hard to remain on the floor; Tani wasn't having much luck getting the engineer off the ground.

She blinked in surprise when Scotty suddenly began to lift off the floor. Looking over, she found McCoy on the moaning Scotsman's other side, a small grimace of annoyance on the doctor's full lips.

"Thanks Doc." Tani offered her boss a small smile while they straightened and adjusted themselves so that each of the two medical officers had an arm around their shoulders.

McCoy emitted an irritated grunt, scowling "He's a health risk to himself and others. I don't want my only damn night off in the past week to be interrupted by someone getting' drunk that ain't me."

Tani pressed her lips together in a slight smile at her mentor's ever-gruff persona but she was distracted by Scotty sagging in between them. "I'm no' feelin' too grea'." Scotty moaned.

"You throw up on me and I'll throw ya out the air lock." Growled Bones as the two medics dragged the nauseated engineer from the bar.

It was quiet for a moment before Kirk giggled and slurred to Keenser "Joo look like a cabbage, joo know that?"

---

A clipboard held to his chest, Lieutenant Spock walked with measured, precise steps down the hall. He had just walked Nyota Uhura to her room and, if one looked hard enough, they could see the corner of his mouth twitching ever so slightly in the closest thing he ever got to smiling. The Enterprise was quite peaceful. It had been a calm, uneventful day so most of the crew were off partying and making use of their free time. He and Uhura had had a long, intellectual conversation, the ones that made her lively, chocolate-brown eyes glitter with interest.

Spock was pulled from his thoughts when his pointed ears picked up what sounded like some sort of commotion farther on down the hallway. The hardly-there smile disappearing, Spock's footsteps quickened in pace as he followed the curve of the hall to find out what was going on.

"Dammit Tanith, would you hurry up already?!"

"I'm trying, just give me a minute! Almost got- shit! Stop squirming!"

Spock raised one diagonal eyebrow, wondering just what the hell was going on between Ms. Aldridge and what sounded like Mr. McCoy. There were few logical conclusions he could come to, none of which were exactly comfortable situations. But he felt that it was his duty to check, just in case. If it was… awkward, he could always slip away before he was seen.

What he found was not exactly what he'd been expecting, but he preferred it much more than the alternatives. It was indeed Ms. Aldridge and Mr. McCoy, the two holding up the Enterprise's chief engineer, Mr. Scott. Ms. Aldridge appeared to be trying to open the door to her cabin, fumbling with her keys while trying to keep the groaning Mr. Scott, who appeared to be ill. McCoy looked more irritated than usual, glowering slightly at his understudy.

"Allow me to be of assistance." Spock calmly took the keys from Tanith, who jumped slightly while looking up at him in surprise. McCoy muttered something in relation to the color of Spock's blood while the Vulcan opened the door, Tani shooting her advisor a reprimanding look.

Spock pushed the door open and Scotty lurched inside. Moving faster than one might think a drunken man could, he stumbled into the bathroom, collapsed to his knees, and promptly threw up into the toilet. Tani hurried over to him and, despite her disgust at the bile, bent down next to him and murmured some soft words into his ear while rubbing his back gently with a soothing hand.

The doctor and Vulcan remained in the doorway, the doctor shaking his head with a repulsed expression while the Vulcan remained emotionless. "Scotty's lucky he's gotta gal who cares about him enough ta do that." McCoy snorted.

Spock's brow furrowed in confusion at this "I do not understand. Isn't Ms. Aldridge simply carrying out her job requirements? 'Bedside manner' I believe it's called?"

McCoy cast the Vulcan a side-long glance, raising an incredulous eyebrow. "Well first off, it's our night off so neither of us have ta 'carry out our job requirements'. Second, I've been cuttin' people open and treatin' all kinds'a diseases for years and I can tell ya that nothin' is more disgustin' than vomit. The fact that she's willingly bein' near him and doin' that-" McCoy gestured to his assistant, who was carefully wiping off Scotty's mouth with a tissue "When she's not getting' paid for it?"

McCoy shook his head while crossing his arms "If that ain't love, I don't know what is."


* Tat - shortened use of the word 'tart'. Meaning silly woman