"Trying to self-diagnose?" came the all too familiar teasing innocence of Alice's melodic voice as she sunk into the couch beside him, her hair tickling his face gently as she rested her head on his shoulder, continuing to read the article he had opened on his PADD without his permission.

"Hilarious," Leonard responded sarcastically, though the smile on his face was honest as he tilted his head ever so slightly, his cheek resting on her forehead. It was pretty good, he admitted. The comment very nearly making him laugh.

"Well, why else would you be reading an article about alcoholism now that we've started final exams?" she teased him gently, the gold mischief sparkling amongst the green and blue landscape of her eyes.

"Maybe I am studying for a final," he offered, keeping the truth just out of reach.

"That would be very interesting because I'm pretty sure you said something about how there's no point in studying now since you either know it or you don't," she continued, her voice a soft and playful hum dancing around him. It was dizzying.

"Did I say that?" Leonard asked in muffled disbelief, not looking up from the article, continuing this little game they were having.

"Yes, you did," Alice answered, jabbing a finger into his ribs playfully, causing him to shift quickly away from her prodding.

"I don't remember saying that," he argued gently.

"Leon," she breathed whiningly.

Leonard finally looked up from the article, gazing down at the woman that was leaning against him, the warmth of her body bleeding into his own. It was remarkable that he had someone so beautiful on his arm once more, someone who was as fond of him in a similar way that he was fond of her. He admired her. Her quiet teasing and innocent prodding were a few of the things he was growing to love.

"It's an article from a…colleague of mine wrote in regards to replacing the addictive properties of the neurotransmitters caused by alcohol with a supplemental drug that functions the same way," he explained candidly. "This drug, however, would curb the addictive properties caused by alcohol and replace them without any of the negative side effects, allowing the patient to no longer be dependent on alcohol, essentially stopping the addiction." If it were anyone else, he would have just given a vague, half answer. Not having to worry that he lost her interest or her understanding as he spoke was something he often worried he took for granted when he broke out the medical terminology.

Her intense eyes flickered as she read the words on the screen he held. "Is it a proposal or were there studies conducted?" she asked in genuine curiosity.

"A proposal for funding to conduct a study," Leonard answered. "He asked me to look it over for him."

She scrolled through the article, and Leonard had to stifle his amused laughter as she took control of his PADD. "I almost forgot that you hold the record for most funding granted to a single doctor for research," she mused, scanning through it quickly. "He switches tenses here."

His eyes followed where she was pointing. "Oh, thank you," he said, quickly making a note on the document.

"Injecting stem cells into conduit valves constructed through tissue-printing significantly decreases the rejection rate of donated organs in a new host body through redefining undifferentiated cells, right?"

Leonard blinked in surprise. On a good day, he could manage to string the entire title of his scientific study together, and he wrote the damn thing. How on earth did Alice manage to rattle it off verbatim as if she were reading the title of the document?

"Uh, yeah," he agreed. "I published that two years ago."

Alice must have been able to hear his frown in his voice because she looked up from his PADD. "What is it?" she asked, the question resonating more deeply in her eyes than in her voice.

"Did you remember that from two years ago, or did you look me up like Jim did when we first met?"

A small smile tugged at her lips. "It was the most interesting article I read that year. Well, for medical sciences anyway. The Vulcan Science Academy published an interesting theory about blackholes." Her eyes fell from his and returned to the article. "Also, I have a photographic memory," she added offhandedly. "He does it again here. It's also a little informal."

"Wait, you have a photographic memory?"

"That's what I said," Alice hummed, her eyes darting up to his as she bit her lip softly. "What?" she chuckled when she noticed him frowning at her.

"I don't really know that much about you, do I?"

Alice tilted her head to the side, looking at him curiously. For a moment, Leonard thought that she was going to argue with him, and sure he knew things about her she hadn't told anyone, but she was very quiet when it came to herself.

"What do you want to know?" her soft smile and tender words were an honest invitation, one he wasn't sure Alice would give to anyone else.

"Do you have any more surprises like a photographic memory I don't know about?" he started.

"Nothing that weird, no," she answered, turning on the couch so that she faced him straight on.

Setting the PADD on the coffee table, Leonard mirrored her movement, draping an arm over the back of the couch as he faced her. It wasn't just her eyes that would catch him off guard now, it was also how beautiful she was.

"Alright," Leonard dragged out, trying to come up with a question. "What's your favorite color?"

She smirked, "Well, you look good in science officer blue."

"I'm serious, Alice," though Leonard couldn't help but smile at the compliment.

The smirk faded, turning from playful to genuine as she looked off to the side. "If I had to pick one, I'd have to go with orange."

"Orange?"

"Yeah." A specific memory glazed over her eyes, giving her a thoughtful look. "It was the color of the first sunset I ever saw." Her thoughts returned, and she waited for his next question.

"Favorite food?"

"That one's easy," she smiled. "Anything pasta."

"That a hint?" Leonard asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Maybe," Alice teased him, the deep blue of her eyes sparkling with mirth.

It continued on for close to a half hour like that. Leonard would ask her some kind of question involving trivial things, and Alice would answer, always open and almost always teasing as she did so. As they continued on, Leonard focused on her answers, memorizing the way she responded and whatever comments she made in regards to her answer much in the same as she had when she mentioned the sunset being the reason her favorite color was orange. The questions ranged from favorite kinds of drinks and foods, to movies, to subjects in grade school, and the like. And the woman who was normally quiet in her elegance seated before him was so incredibly open as she shared things about herself that she wouldn't have otherwise brought up.

"Hmm, I'd have to say that classical music is my favorite," Alice answered.

"Classical? It's a little…rough sounding, don't you think?" Leonard had been disbelieving in that. As reserved as she was, he would never have guessed that she enjoyed such…barbaric music.

"Maybe," she shrugged. "It has this old fashioned charm I like about it, though. And usually some good beats."

"It always sounds angry to me," he added.

"Then I'm surprised you don't connect with it on a spiritual level, Doctor McCoy," and Leonard rolled his eyes for the first time since they started.

"Alright," Leonard chuckled, "this is the last one, for now, I promise."

"Oh really?" Alice asked, mock skepticism lacing through her words. "Is this interrogation finally coming to an end?"

"Hey, you were free to stop answering whenever you wanted to," he offered playfully, laughing as he barely tried to dodge her slugging him lightly in the arm. He paused for a moment, letting the warmth of their fun resonate quietly before Leonard finally worked up the courage to ask the question.

"Why me?"

The quizzical frown was almost instant. "What do you mean?"

Leonard was well aware of his faults. He was an older man, a divorcee; he wasn't strong or charismatic; he didn't have some winning charm that swept women off their feet; he had a bitter disposition on good days and an insulting fury on bad ones; there was also the alcoholism and aversion to people; Leonard had a gift for driving people away; and despite all of this, for some reason, Alice had picked him.

"Why me?" he echoed. "Why not someone else?"

Insecurity was something Leonard often didn't have time to care for. He was a doctor, after all, not some model that had to worry about their hair when he was elbow deep inside of someone trying to keep them from dying in the operating room. But when he thought of himself standing by Alice's side, even if the whole world didn't know about them, he couldn't help but wonder and worry about how he compared to her.

Alice's eyes softened as she understood the question, the intensity of her eyes warming and soothing. "Because you were what I needed and what I wanted."

It was something she had said to him before, and even now as she said it as if he should know the full weight she was putting behind it, Leonard couldn't help but doubt.

She must have seen it in his eyes. "Leon," her voice was music that swarmed around him. "Do you want to know the first thing I noticed when I met you?" The smile that grew tenderly across her lips was radiant. "It was your intelligence," a gentle hand traced fragile fingers across his cheek. "You have such thoughtful eyes," she mused. A flicker of mischief, "Even when you're panicking about being in a shuttle."

Leonard scoffed at the memory. He remembered their first meeting very well despite the amount of alcohol he had consumed that morning.

"I also noticed how rough you were," Alice continued. "You hadn't shaved, your hair was a mess, and you had a very…aggressive demeanor; but despite all that," her hand trailed from his cheek and tussled his hair, mirroring the mess she had mentioned, "you were very kind. It was just hidden behind your roughness, and alcoholism."

"Are you complimenting me?" he asked her with gentle teasing.

Her frown told him to shut up before Alice continued. "You have steady hands and are careful with everything that you do, even if you otherwise act brash and uncaring." Her eyes rang blue with honesty, green with natural warmth, and gold with admiration. "And more than that, you make me feel normal."

Alice's next sentence shocked him.

"I've never felt that before, and you were the first person to make me feel that. You and Jim."

"Then why—"

"Then why didn't I choose Jim?" She finished for him. "You have steady hands, and you know what you're doing. And you're careful," she echoed. There was that playful smirk that always made him smile. "And we both know that Jim's favorite pastime is being reckless."

Leonard couldn't help but nod his head in agreement on that one.

"You are what I need and what I want," Alice continued. "Don't ever doubt that, because I don't doubt what you mean to me, Leonard McCoy."

And in that moment, he could believe that he loved her.

"Are you guys gonna order anything, or just sit there looking constipated while you stare at you PADDs?" Joe asked, lazily mopping up the counter with a wet dishrag.

The glare that Alice shot him was almost enough to get a laugh out of Leonard if he hadn't been so focused on refreshing the page he was on. And Jim must have been equally intent on his own PADD because he didn't say anything either. All three of them had their eyes glued to their devices, staggering their timing on hitting the refresh button in the upper right corner.

"Seriously guys, could you not?" Joe continued, though the teasing inflection of his voice couldn't have gone unnoticed, even by the three friends who were oblivious to everything outside of their PADDs. "You're scaring away my customers."

"It's ten in the goddamn morning, Joe!" Leonard exclaimed. "Who the hell are we going to scare away? The drunks that are still passed out in the bathroom?"

Joe merely chuckled, clearly finding their behavior amusing.

"I'm in!" Jim finally whooped.

"What!?" Alice cried out, and Leonard could hear her pounding on the screen of her PADD from his place seated next to her. "Come on!" she groaned willingly in frustration.

"Top five percent!" Jim hollered in triumph, dropping his device onto the counter for emphasis.

"I got it!" Alice said is as much shock as excitement.

"Damnit!" Leonard hissed. "Mines not loading!" Of course NOW is when my PADD isn't going to load.

"Here, use mine," Jim said, thrusting his PADD towards Leonard, causing Alice to cry out as he nearly smacked her in the face with it as Jim passed it over in front of her.

Alice breathed a sigh of relief. "Five percent as well." The smile she wore made her glow with pride in her accomplishment.

And Leonard could feel both of their gazes shift over to him as they waited for him to say something. "Staring at me isn't going to make the damn thing load any faster," he growled, his annoyance directed at Jim even though he had yet to do anything; but Leonard could feel the smug smirk Jim had plastered on his face. The page finally flickered to life, and Leonard quickly scanned the information. Top marks in all his classes except for one where he missed a few—more than a few—points on his exams.

"Top ten percent," he finally read aloud, using cold indifference to hide the slight disappointment he felt.

Back when he was going for his M.D. and Ph.D., Leonard had graduated cum laude. Part of him realized how foolish he must have been to think he would manage to pull off the same stunt here, where Starfleet was literally cultivating the brightest minds in the universe outside of the Vulcan Academy.

Which Alice has apparently attended, he reminded himself. She didn't really talk about it, though. Only in passing or briefly when talking about how warm it had been or how beautiful the sunsets had been. Never about what she had studied there or how she met Uhura whenever Jim tried to pester information about the infamous xenolinguist he had started a bar fight over.

Still, it would have been nice to be in the same percentile as Jim and Alice.

"Not bad for an old man," Jim fired off quickly, the teasing inflection of his voice getting on his nerves. "I'm honestly surprised you managed to keep up with us youngsters."

"It's not like we're running a marathon, jackass," Leonard snapped, feeling his temper rise as his self-disappointment increased. It was losing those points in that damned physics class. If he had done better, then Jim wouldn't have anything to use against him. "It's academia. I can keep up just fine."

"I can see that," Jim said, continuing to act like a little shit. "It's just a little…surprising is all."

Leonard scoffed in disgust as he tossed Jim's PADD on the counter in front of Alice. "Here's your damn PADD back."

"Hey, be careful," Jim whined annoyingly. "It's fragile."

"Yeah, so is your health, princess," he grumbled under his breath.

"What did you say?" Jim accused.

"Nothing your precious ego can't handle," Leonard fired back.

"Boys! Enough," Alice chuckled. She turned to Jim. "I know this might be difficult, but can you try not to be such an ass tonight. We just finally finished surviving our first semester."

"But it's so much fun winding Bones up," Jim grinned.

"I'll be sure to remember that the next time you show up at the hospital."

"You hold grudges like a girl," Jim taunted.

"At least I don't start fights all the damn time like some kind of barbarian."

"Come one, Bones, admit it," he grinned. "You'd be bored if I didn't show up to bug you."

Leonard rolled his eyes. The disappointment in his scores long forgotten as the infuriating enigma that was Jim Kirk continued to pester the living hell out of him. He didn't even realize that Jim was manipulating him into a better and more directionally outwards sour mood for his own sake as he taunted Leonard into getting mad at him.

"Yeah, sure," Leonard sneered in dry sarcasm. "Let's go with that."

But Jim just laughed off the whole conversation, and Leonard wasn't sure if that made him angrier or calmed him down as Jim turned his attention to Alice, who had given up on ending their bickering after her first attempt.

"So, Alice," he started candidly. "What are your plans for winter break now that you've survived your first semester?"

It was Alice's turn to roll her eyes at Jim. "I'm going to partake in this wonderful thing called 'nothing' to my heart's content until the next semester starts back up."

"Well, that's boring," Jim yawned mockingly.

"I get plenty of excitement with you two in my life," she shrugged, a mischievous smile dancing on her lips. "I have to worry about one of you accidentally drinking yourself to death and the other not managing to keep his mouth shut and getting beaten to death."

"I don't drink that much," he smirked. "Bones is the one you need to worry about."

"You're hilarious, really," Bones growled indifferently.

"Oh, and then there was that incident where I was blown up in a building," Alice added as if she hadn't been interrupted. "I get plenty of excitement."

Jim chuckled softly, shaking his head before moving on. "What about you, Bones? Anything special planned?"

"Going back to Georgia." Then, in response to Jim's raised eyebrow, he added, "I'm spending the holidays with my parents."

"Ah yes," Jim grinned wildly. "The southerners and their stereotypical love for their mothers."

"There's nothing wrong with loving your family, Jim," Leonard replied, taking a more passive tone as if he were teaching a stubborn child a lesson.

"I never said there was."

"Yeah, well you were being judgmental about it."

"I was not," he argued back, tough you could hear the laughter in his voice. "I was making a simple observation."

"And judging me," Leonard added for him.

"I was not."

"You were being a little judgmental there, Jim," Alice added, a warm smile of both amusement and fondness gracing her lips.

Jim's gaze flickered between Alice's and Leonard's as he held an expression that would make an unknowing party believe he had just been betrayed. "It's not fair when you two gang up on me!"

"Well, you make enough noise for five people, so I think it's fair," Leonard countered, a small smile just barely tugging at the corner of his lips.

"I agree with Bones," Alice added with a smirk.

"See?" Jim protested. "Not fair."

Alice rolled her eyes in a whatever fashion. "Are you going to tell us what plans you have for winter break that are so much better than ours, or you going to keep us waiting?"

"I was getting to it, but then you two started making wild accusations about me being judgmental."

"Good lord," Leonard sighed, rubbing the bridge of his nose. Though it was hard to remain exhausted at Jim when he could hear Alice barely containing her laughter next to him.

"I got accepted into the Practical Applications of Leadership program," Jim finally informed them, puffing up as if he were hot shit.

"And you said my plans were boring," Alice quickly commented.

"Hey, that's not nice," Jim whined in a mocking offense.

Alice shrugged, but there was no missing her playful smile. "I wasn't trying to be mean. I was just making a simple observation."

Jim narrowed his eyes at her, and Leonard couldn't help but chuckle lightly at Alice's comment. When she wanted to, she could easily beat Jim at his own game; but she didn't do it often, apparently content to let Jim insight annoyed, argumentative, and almost equally immature quips from him. It was almost like she enjoyed watching them bicker back and forth.

~~.O.~~

Eh. Not sure about this chapter. I've kind of hit a bump in my train of thought for this story and I'm not quite sure how to proceed, but I think I've got it now. Or at least, have an idea now.

Anyway, sorry that it took a bit longer than usual, but college is starting to get a little more difficult now and I don't have as much time anymore. I will do my bet to keep at least one chapter a week, though.

Please let me know what you think. I love it when you guys talk dirty to me. ;)

Thank you for reading!

See you next chapter!