Note: I own nothing involving Star Trek

When Leigh woke up she heard the sounds of a heart monitor and voices talking quietly. Carefully she opened her eyes into slits, not wanting to blind herself from the overly bright lights of sickbay. Surprisingly enough the lights had been dimmed, which told her it was night or what they consider night on the ship. Shifting a bit she realized that she was lying on her left side, likely to keep her from hurting her right shoulder further.

Said anatomy was immobilized at the moment with tight bandages securing her arm to her side so she could not move the joint. From the slight discomfort in her forearm she knew McCoy had hooked an IV into her as well. That would explain why she felt so groggy after being treated. Drugs always had a way of doing that to her, another reason she rarely sought medical treatment. If not for that and the fact she was actually comfortable at the moment, she would have escaped sickbay for her own room and bed. McCoy apparently knew that too, and he no doubt ordered extra drugs to counter her efforts.

She closed her eyes again only to open them upon feeling a large familiar hand brush her hair back from her face. A small smile twisted her lips upon meeting the soft worried gaze of Leonard.

"Hey…"

"Hey yourself," he responded quietly. "How are you feeling?"

"Sore. Groggy," she admitted, knowing there was no use trying to lie to him. "But better than before."

"I'm sure," he snorted gently, his hand moving down to hold her left hand, which was free. "You scared the hell out of me Mon. When we saw you fighting that beast…I thought…"

"You saw," she asked, confused.

"Yeah. The pirates liked to broadcast their little game show," he frowned angrily. "Klingons have been able to pick it up but the signal was too diluted to find the source. If you didn't have that transmitter…" he let the words fade, not wanting to voice what they both knew would have been true.

"Then…you saw…Nelson," it took a lot to get that out, her throat closing up as the long held back tears threatened to spill over.

"It wasn't your fault Monica," he leaned in closer, his forehead against hers. "You did everything you could to protect her." He shifted a bit, kissing her forehead as the tears finally came. He didn't say anything more, simply held her hand and stayed close letting her release the sorrow and frustration of the past several days. He stayed through all the tears until she finally wore herself out and drifted back to sleep, her hand gripping his for comfort.

The next time she woke the lights were back to full intensity, causing her to blink repeatedly to get used to it. She was in the same position in the same bed as before, however she didn't feel nearly as groggy which indicated McCoy had cut back on the drugs. Shifting around a bit she tested out her muscles. Her right shoulder was still incased in bandages, but everything else seemed fine if still sore. The minor cuts and bruises seemed to have healed for the most part.

Carefully she pushed against her left arm, bringing herself to a sitting position. Once up it took a minute to shake off the minor dizzy spell, but she was happy with the results. One or two of the other beds held their own prisoners; however no one else appeared to be in the room. Briefly she wondered if she could make it out without anyone catching her. Sadly that plan was shot down as the sickbay doors opened to admit McCoy followed by Kirk, who appeared to be annoying the former.

"Don't even think about it," Leonard practically growled at her the moment he saw her. "I don't care how good you think you feel, you need rest."

"I could get plenty of rest in my own room," she snipped back.

"Not if Bones had his way," Kirk quipped cheekily. This resulted in a raised eyebrow from Leigh and a slap to the head from McCoy.

Giving his friend one last look the doctor turned back to her. "You lost a lot of blood and your body went into shock. You also contracted a thankfully minor infection. You need to stay here for monitoring at least one to two more days."

Knowing that stubborn set to his chin all too well Leigh relented, moving back into the bed to lean against the headboard. "Fine."

Happy with her compliance he nodded. "Good. I'm going to get your medication and some food. Jim needs to ask you a few questions. If you feel tired at all you tell him. He promised me he would stop. If he doesn't let me know and I'll handle him."

"Jeez Bones, you make it sound like I'm going to torture her," huffed Kirk. He smirked as he watched McCoy walk away making sure to ask the first question while the other man was in earshot. "So Lt… How is McCoy in bed? Really?"

"JIM!"

"Oh he's a tiger," Leigh smirked back, sharing the twinkle of mischief that shone in Kirk's eyes. "Sometimes he even purrs…"

"MONICA!"

Kirk and Leigh took one look at the poor flabbergasted doctor before bursting out into hysterical laughter. McCoy growled angrily at them turning on his heal and stalking off, muttering under his breathe the whole time about immature brats.

"Oh, that was fun," Kirk wiped a tear from his eye. "I think this is the beginning of a great friendship."

"I highly doubt Len thinks so," Leigh returned the grin before growing serious. "Do you have real questions for me Captain?"

"Sadly yes," he reigned in his laughter, getting down to business. For the next ten minutes he grilled her on what happened and what she remembered. Leigh answered to the best of her abilities, keeping strictly to the facts. McCoy had come back in as she was explaining the last fight up to her rescue. Once she finished silence settled around them, only disrupted by McCoy giving her a shot with his hypo spray.

"Sir…Ensign Michaels? Did they…"

"Yeah, they killed Michaels too," Kirk informed her evenly. "We plan to have a memorial for both Michaels and Nelson. The engineering crew wanted to wait until you could attend though."

"Thank you sir."

"Aww, you can call me Jim," Kirk grinned his boyish smile that often had people falling for him. "We're practically family with you dating Bones and all."

"Get out," said doctor snapped at the man. Once more irritated with his behavior.

"Come on Bones you know you love me," Jim cajoled as the other literally pushed him from the sickbay, much to Leigh's amusement. As the sickbay doors slid shut he turned back to her with an exasperated eye roll. "You had better not team up with that idiot just to annoy me," he sent her a mock glare. "I already have enough problems on this ship as it is."

Letting a purely wicked smirk cross her lips she eyed him. "Depends…what's it worth to you?"

Groaning he came over tapping her nose playfully. "Nothing but trouble." Leaning down he caught her lips with his, allowing the kiss to deepen slightly and linger before pulling back. "If you're good I'll give you a proper reward once you're healed enough."

"Hmmm, you certainly know how to tempt a girl."

"Darlin' that's not all I know how to do," he whispered in her ear, voice low and husky sending a shiver down her spine.

"Now who's nothing but trouble," she grumbled lying back in the bed like he wanted. With promises like that she sure as hell wasn't going to mess that up.