Jessica – I'm sorry your birthday wasn't the best, but I'm glad my update helped a little. Happy belated birthday! Thanks for your review!
Vikki – Surprisingly I find it easier to hear condolences and talk to stranger about my brother's death, then my family. I find that if I talk to family I bring them back to the truth of him being gone, and that sets a very said mood for all. So thank you for your kind words, obviously I don't find it asinine. As things progress deeper into Spock/Emmy there will be flashbacks, at least that's what I'm planning! Thanks for your review!
Thank you all for your reviews!
Looking in the mirror the next morning, one thing really stood out from Emmy's normal appearance. The bite mark on her left shoulder was puffy, red and swollen. Touching it gently she winced at the soreness that flickered through her body. Not for the first time, Emmy was glad her uniform covered the mark. She didn't even want to think about the rumors that would follow if it was discovered.
Adjusting her uniform once more, Emmy quickly made her way to sick bay to start her shift. Once inside she felt odd; like everyone was watching her. Deciding that she was just paranoid, she started her work quietly, decidedly avoiding as much contact with others as possible. An hour into her shift, no life threatening illness had appeared, and the time continued to move slowly for her. Suddenly, she was approached by two other nurses.
Nurse Jenna Williams and Nurse Bonnie Pannet, the two biggest gossips in sick bay.
"Emmy, you'll never guess what we heard from Layla in security," Jenna said in a hushed tone.
"Oh… what did you hear?" Emmy asked, trying to sound interested while not losing her focus as she catalogued the vials of medicines that needed restocking.
"Well Layla was on duty last night monitoring the staff bedrooms and…" Jenna trailed off, looking towards Bonnie with a grin.
"See, Layla claims she saw Commander Spock enter your room and stay for a while and then leave with his clothes were messed up," Bonnie finished with an evil grin.
"We're only saying because we're concerned for you, but we don't think you should have to sleep around to get popular," Jenna said, picking up when Bonnie finished.
"What?" Emmy said sharply, looking up in shock.
"Well it's just that after the Commander left, Layla saw Dr. McCoy go in," Bonnie said.
"Then there was shore leave about two weeks ago. People are saying you and the Commander were…seen together," Jenna said seriously.
"Well, we were just wondering which one's better," Bonnie said, leaning in as if telling a secret.
Emmy snapped out of her daze to find the entire sick bay looking at her. Jenna and Bonnie had loud voices.
"Nurse Marshalls. In here. Now," McCoy said, pointing to his office, causing the other nurses to snicker. Emmy moved by everyone quickly, unable to believe that this was happening to her— how could they all think that?
"Nurse Marshalls," McCoy said steadily, closing the door.
"Yes," Emmy said, tears filling her voice.
"Emmy, calm down. Don't let them know they're getting to you. We'll deal with this, but for right now, I'm going to tell you to go back to your room until I get the Captain down here. Everything will be fine," McCoy said, trying to stay upbeat. Failing miserably.
"How's everything going to be fine? They all think I'm some kind of…whore!" Emmy exclaimed, tears sliding down her cheeks.
"I'm not sure yet…but the Captain has gotten us out of worse things. Just calm down. If they see you like this, they'll think they've won," McCoy said, trying for reassuring. Still failing.
"You're right. I need to stay calm," Emmy said, wiping her eyes.
"Go back to your quarters. The Captain and I will figure this out," McCoy said with a pat on her back before quickly removing it, realizing his office was made of clear glass. Emmy looked at him questioningly when she felt his hand fall so quickly.
"Hey, I don't mind them thinking you and I are together. That's great for me—I mean look at you…but not so much you, so it will be…addressed," McCoy said seriously.
"I wouldn't be so bad if they didn't think I was a whore and…" Emmy trailed off, not sure how to mention Spock without revealing everything.
"And you didn't like Spock?" McCoy questioned with a wide grin.
"How? Oh never mind. Not a word to Spock. Ever," Emmy said, doing her best to be intimidating.
"Nah, you don't have to worry about me saying a word. Watching him try to figure you out is enjoyment enough; I don't want to give away the ending," McCoy said lightly.
"He tries to figure me out?" Emmy questioned. Her breath caught at the thought.
"Man, you two were made for each other. Forget I said anything, back to your room for you," McCoy laughed, showing her out of his office and walking her to the door of sick bay, knowing that everyone was watching.
"Nurse Williams and Pannet? My office…now," McCoy said angrily before the doors of sick bay closed fully.
Emmy made it back to her room with out an incident, thankfully. But she wasn't sure what to do the rest of the day—she'd done everything she needed to on her day off the day before.
Sighing, she changed into white capris and a black wife beater before settling down on her bed and pulling out the first romance novel she had fallen in love with as a teenager.
Emmy must have drifted off, because the next thing she knew, she was waking up to her door ringing. After sitting up and tucking her book away, Emmy stood and walked to the door, glancing at the time on the wall—she'd slept all day. It was dinner time now.
She sighed and pressed the button to open the door. Once opened, they revealed Kat, standing there with a tray of food.
"Hi best friend," Kat said, letting herself in to Emmy's room without invitation.
"Um. Hi Kat…what's up?" Emmy asked, trying to recover from the shock of Kat suddenly very much in her room.
"Oh, well, we were at dinner—we being Jim, Spock, Bones and myself—and I decided to bring you dinner since no one had seen you since it all…went down in sick bay," Kat said, placing the tray of food on Emmy's small bedside table.
"So you all know, then?" Emmy asked, tucking a piece of hair behind her ear shyly.
"Ehh…I hate to bring the bad news, but most of the ship knows sweetie. The gossip runs faster than Jim looking for ice cream on this ship," Kat said sadly.
"Oh," Emmy said, tears filling her eyes, wanting to fall. But she held them back resolutely.
"But, the good news is Layla from security has been demoted, so now she's stationed as security in the mess hall. And those two bitch nurses have been given two weeks of lockdown in their rooms with a notation in their permanent files for slander of a crew mate and malicious intent," Kat said brightly.
"That's nice and all, but the damage is done already," she said sadly, sitting on her bed, her hands clasped tightly.
"You're right, but you should have seen Spock when he found out what was going on. He was downright furious; I mean the temperature in the room dropped like twenty degrees. It was scary," Kat said excitedly.
"He's probably just mad that everyone thinks he slept with a nobody like me," Emmy said grimly.
"Or he could be upset because they were slandering his woman," Kat said, almost pulling off convincing. Emmy gave Kat a skeptical look. "I guess you just had to be there. And if you had been, you would be on my side. He was upset that they were talking about you like that," Kat said with a sigh.
Emmy laughed lightly at Kat's dramatic style.
"Oh! I brought you plomeek soup for dinner," Kat said excitedly.
"…Why would you bring me a Vulcan dish?" Emmy asked, confused.
Sighing again, Kat sat down next to Emmy on her bed and placed her hand on top of Emmy's.
"Emmy. I have been given a mission. And I take that mission very seriously" Kat said holding a hand to her heart and looking up as though that explained it all. Which it didn't.
"Um. And what's your mission?" Emmy questioned, although she wasn't sure she wanted to know the answer.
"To get you and Spock together silly," Kat said in a duh tone.
"Oh. Wait, what?" Emmy yelped, standing in shock and looking down at Kat, who was still seated on her bed.
"You two are made for each other! Why do I always have to explain this to people; I should have brought my rubber muffin," Kat said, the last part more to herself than to Emmy.
"You have…a rubber muffin?" Emmy asked, completely derailed.
"Yup. I'll bring it by next time to show you," Kat said, excitement radiating off her.
"Why would you want a rubber muffin?" Emmy asked, confused.
"So I can throw it at Jim and I don't have to waste a perfectly good muffin," Kat said with a grin.
"Oh. Well. Surprisingly, that makes sense," Emmy said with a little laugh.
"I know, right?" Kat said triumphantly, grinning.
"But back to this Spock and me thing—" Emmy started, but she was cut off by Kat.
"You won't deter me from my mission. If you try and get in my way I will lock you in a storage closet," Kat said, standing quickly, with her hands on her hips.
"Wait part of your mission is about me. You can't lock me away somewhere, that makes no sense," Emmy said, confused and just a bit worried about being locked away by the Captain's girlfriend and her supposed-best-friend.
"True. But I'm not afraid to do it if you stand in my way," Kat said fiercely.
"Okay, well, for the sake of my health, what if I wasn't going to deter you?" Emmy questioned lightly.
"Oh. Well, that would be okay, then," Kat said with a smile.
"Just for the sake of argument, if I was…?"
"Storage closet," Kat replied grimly.
Emmy nodded slowly, as though thinking deeply.
"Emmy, just tell me honestly. Are you really against Spock and you getting together?" Kat asked seriously.
Emmy didn't answer.
"Well I've got my answer, I've got to go plan. …And spend time with Jim; he's such a woman sometimes. I'll check back with you tomorrow," Kat said, suddenly in a hurry.
"Oh. Okay," Emmy said, walking toward the door with Kat.
"Bye," Kat said quickly, hugging her tight before bounding out the door.
"Bye," Emmy said softly as the door closed.
After eating her plomeek soup, which Emmy had to admit was kind of different, but not in a bad way, Emmy was ready to shower and head to bed.
She still wasn't sure what was going on with work. Was she supposed to go into the sick bay tomorrow, or was she supposed to stay in her room? Kat hadn't mentioned anything other than everyone knowing, and McCoy—or Bones, as she was beginning to be tempted to call him— hadn't stopped by with any news.
Just as she was about to start stripping of her clothes, Emmy's door chimed. Heading to the door, expecting Bones, she was shocked to find Spock on the other end.
"Hi," was all Emmy could muster.
"Hello. May I come in?" Spock said, void of emotion, like last night and the shore leave before had never happened.
"Of course," Emmy said, being polite and moving her hair to cover the bite mark.
"I am here on request of the Captain," Spock said, his face perfectly blank.
"Oh…okay," Emmy said, not sure what was going on. "Would you like to sit?" she asked quickly, not wanting to be rude.
"I would prefer to stand," Spock said, hands behind his back, feet spread.
"Oh. Um…okay," Emmy said, not sure how to respond to that. Who chose standing over sitting when visiting?
"Tomorrow at oh-eight-hundred hours, Captain Kirk, Dr. McCoy, you, and I will hold a meeting on the bridge in the briefing room to deal with the slander that has spread throughout the ship." Spock did not look at her—he stared straight ahead.
"Okay," Emmy said. She remembered this Spock.
She'd met him the morning after.
"I will be here at oh-seven-fifty to collect you," Spock said, his voice perfectly, flawlessly even.
"Okay." There wasn't much to say—Spock was just reciting facts to her.
"Any questions?" Spock asked blankly.
"No sir," Emmy answered, just wanting him to leave. She didn't understand how he could be like this, again.
"Very well. I shall take my leave," Spock said, nodding slightly to her before turning and heading out the door without pause.
"Bye," Emmy muttered softly when the doors sealed tightly behind him.
Oh great Emmy thought. She was gonna sleep well tonight.
Not.
The next morning, Emmy woke up with bags under her eyes, feeling like she hadn't slept in weeks. She'd slept later than she wanted and only had 10 minutes before Spock came to collect her. Rushing, she dressed in her nurse's uniform, not sure what else to wear. Spock hadn't mentioned formal wear, but then again Spock didn't mention a lot of things he should have.
Emmy's door chimed alerting her that someone—she assumed Spock—was at her door. Opening the door, she wasn't surprised to find Spock waiting there. She motioned him inside, and he entered.
"Good morning," Emmy said with a small smile.
Spock just tilted his head in a small nod.
"Was I supposed to wear this, or my formal uniform? I wasn't sure," Emmy questioned him.
"Your apparel is adequate," Spock said without looking at her.
Emmy just nodded. "We should go then," she stated quietly. Being in the same room with this Spock made her feel small and unimportant. He nodded slightly again in agreement.
They walked in silence. Emmy ignored all of the whispers and glances as they walked past other crew members. She glanced numerous times at Spock but he seemed to ignore everything, like he didn't hear any of the gossip as they passed by.
To get to the briefing room, you had to step on the bridge, momentarily, and Emmy had never been there. Once on it, she couldn't believe it was so large, white, and amazing. After her small pause, she began to follow Spock but was stopped by Kat.
"Emmy!" Kat said, standing from her station and rushing to give her a hug.
"Hi," Emmy said softly.
"Don't worry about the meeting. You'll be fine; you're not in any trouble," Kat said softly so only Emmy and Spock could hear.
"I'm not?" Emmy couldn't help but question and glance back at Spock for confirmation.
"No. You are in no trouble," Spock said quietly.
"You didn't tell her that?" Kat asked Spock.
"I did not see a logical reason—" Spock started, but he was cut off by Kat.
"Yeah, well, not all of us are as logical as you. We sometimes need assurance…and aww, I bet you slept horrible last night," Kat said, directing the last part at Emmy.
Emmy could only nod. She'd never felt so relieved.
"Poor Emmy…next time we'll send someone else to deliver a message," Kat said, looking condescendingly at Spock.
"I am qualified to deliver a message from the Captain," Spock said rigidly.
"Not when you don't tell the person what it's—" Kat started, but she, in turn, was cut off by Emmy.
"Kat its fine. We better go so we're not late. Talk to you later," Emmy said quickly.
Kat nodded and headed back to her station. Emmy turned around to follow Spock again, only to find herself smacking right into him, his arm keeping her from falling.
"I do apologize for not conveying that you were not in trouble," Spock said softly, so only Emmy could hear.
"It's fine, just…if there's a next time, please let me know," Emmy said softly, looking down, not daring to look up with Spock watching her.
"As you wish," Spock said before stepping back and turning to continue their trip to the briefing room.
Emmy glanced back at Kat and saw her smiling widely giving her a thumbs up. She couldn't believe Kat would bait Spock like that! Oh, Kat was so sneaky! Emmy smiled before following Spock into the briefing room where the Captain and Bones were already seated.