A/N: OK- Reposted so I could finally throw all you dogs the love bone you have been begging for even if it is a little rotten. Cheers!
Chapter 27- Disturbances
It took another two days for my hearing to fully return, and I savored every human voice I listened to. From the soft murmuring of two people talking as they passed in the hall to Chekov's tortured announcements, I listened to the pitch and cadence as though it were the first time. Even McCoy raining hellfire down on a poor intern never sounded sweeter.
McCoy and I conducted our mandatory briefing over morning coffee and it was almost too brief to even be considered polite conversation. If Spock knew, he would have been mortified in the most dignified manner he could pull off. The entire conversation went something like:
McCoy: So we have to get this over. Is there anything you would have done differently?
Me: I would have succeeded.
McCoy: No shit. Do you feel you can do your job?
Me: I guess.
McCoy: Then get off your ass and get to work. You aren't paid to sit there, drink coffee, and be a pain in my ass.
Me: You know you love it. Admit it, you missed me.
McCoy: Don't nag me, woman. (insert sly smile)
It was almost a relief to fall back into the lunch routine with Uhura. She gave me an amused look when I put my tray down across from hers. God so help me, if she was going to start on her McCoy and I delusion again…. She laughed. "You should have seen Spock this morning. He brought that stupid cube thing you gave him to the bridge today. He was all sullen like someone spit in his Cheerios, but he wouldn't talk about it. In fact, he didn't say a word all morning. He just stood there, staring at it like it was his mortal enemy. Somehow it got all mixed up again and Jim swore repeatedly he didn't do it."
Take that, Spock.
The more I thought about it, the more starting a revenge game with Spock seemed like lunacy. I smiled lightly and changed the subject. "So did you ever make anything out from that scroll Jim found?"
She hurried to finish the bite she was working on and perked up. "I did!" She exclaimed swallowing quickly. "The writing was primitive, but it was an account of warrior women that descended from the stars called the Aurelians. The scroll said the women were led by a queen named Octavia and she had guards of men-women, some of which led the armies. The armies destroyed the towns and killed all men, young and old, except a few who would serve the queen. The women were spared and forced to join the armies and the female children were taken to be trained as warriors."
"Men-women?" I asked raising my eyebrows.
"That was the literal translation." She explained. "I would guess it means women who act like men? I am not really sure. As I said, the writing was primitive. Anyway, you can imagine what fun Jim had with that. 'Oh, take me queen! I will be your slave!" She imitated in a deep voice.
"You know, deep down I think he would love to have a dominatrix. I think he would love to be forced to lick a woman's boot." I smiled.
"Don't I know it." She muttered. There was something to her comment, but I didn't get a chance to explore it further due to Chekov joining us.
"So have you heard?" He asked excitedly as he sat down. "Ve have been diwerted to a new course. There is a disturbance on a nearby planet and Starfleet vants us to observe."
"What kind of disturbance?" I asked intrigued.
He shrugged his shoulders. "Not sure. Ve haven't made contact with the civilization yet, so Satrfleet just vants us to vatch. Preliminary scans show it to be barely habitable, but it seems there are humanoid life forms present. Ve should be there by tomorrow."
Uhura raised her eyebrows and stabbed her salad. "Should be interesting, but I guess that is our mission- to seek out new civilizations."
"Yes!" He eagerly agreed rubbing his hands together. "This is vhy I joined Starfleet. I hope the Captain vill let me go this time if we get orders. Sulu always gets to go."
"Because he outranks you." Uhura observed. "But the Captain is reasonable. Tell him you want to go and he might let you."
"Do you get to go on away missions, Uhura?" I inquired.
"Probably as much as you." She laughed. "I guess we both have gatekeepers if you know what I mean." I gave her a knowing smile. McCoy had to approve of my trips, but who was watching her? Was Spock still keeping her on the ship out of concern? The only other person it could be was Jim….
"So, Dr. Collins, do you feel vell enough to fence vith us again?" Pavel asked turning his blue eyes to me.
"Maybe tomorrow." I answered. "I am a little stiff, so you guys will have to have mercy."
Chekov chuckled and said, "Sulu shows no mercy. You know that." Yes, indeed I did know.
I went back to my quarters after dinner and was surprised by my door chime at a fairly late hour. I opened it to see McCoy leaning against the doorframe holding a bottle of whiskey. Not that I needed to see the bottle, I could smell it heavy on his breath when he exhaled. It almost made my eyes water. Hesitantly, I invited him in.
He plopped down in the chair at my desk and kicked his feet up. I tried not to stare, but he looked like hell. I had seen him drink before. A lot. But he was clearly drunk this time and I wondered how he was going to make it to work in the morning. He lazily shifted his red eyes in my direction and sighed, "She did it. It's all fucking over." He threw his free hand up in exasperation while he used the other to tip the bottle to his lips.
I sat on the bed across from him and clarified, "Your wife?"
"My ex wife, mind you." He slurred pointing at me. The remaining alcohol swished noisily in the bottle. "I am no longer legally a father to my own child. How can some guy in a black dress make that kind of decision?" He asked. "Fuck him. And her and the bastard she is riding."
"I'm sorry, McCoy." I whispered.
"Yeah, yeah. You and everybody but her." He growled. "I get it, I do. If she hates me I can handle that. If she wants to suck me dry like some damn spider that eats it's mate after sex, I can do that. I let her take everything, I didn't even fight her. Just signed my whole damn life away and all I asked was to see my little girl. That was the only fucking thing I wanted because she was my entire life, the only good thing that came from being with the Ice Queen. And now this? Can a woman really hate someone like that? I mean, Christ. I know I wasn't the perfect man, but it wasn't like I ever beat her or anything, I gave her whatever she wanted, or tried to at least. Her fucking manifesto of demands was too long for any one man to complete. Seriously, I couldn't be in the OR making money for her to spend and be at home with her too."
"It sounds like you were caught in a hopeless situation." I said soothingly. "It is clear that neither of you were happy. She wanted more than it was possible for you to give, so in that respect it is a good thing that the marriage ended. But now there is the question of your daughter." He seemed to have a couple issues going all at once and I thought it helpful to keep them separate and therefore manageable before it seemed overwhelming. "Will you still be able to contest the decision when you return?"
"Damn straight I will." He vowed finishing off the bottle. "That soul sucking harpy won't keep me from my baby girl. I don't care what any man wearing a dress says."
"Even if Jo told the judge that she didn't want to see you, she won't always feel that way. I have never met her, but if the two of you were as close as you say you were, it won't be long before she will want her daddy again. She has some big changes coming up."
He rolled his eyes and grumbled, "Don't remind me."
"It will be just as difficult for her." I laughed. "But when that happens, her mood will become more mercurial and there will be times, especially when her step father makes her angry, she will come running to you. No judge will be able to tell her how to feel then."
"If she's anything like me she will kick him square in the balls if he pisses her off." He chuckled. "The bastard would deserve it. To think he looked me in the eye all the time he was fucking my wife. That takes some kind of nerve."
"You know this man?" I asked surprised.
"Know him? He was my boss at the hospital- Chief of Surgery. I always wondered why I always seemed to get stuck doing appendectomies and gall bladder removals at 3:00 in the morning on weekends. Now I know. While I was wrist deep in someone's gut, he was dick deep in my wife." He smiled at his own joke, which was encouraging.
"You know, McCoy, I am starting to think that it isn't Jim with the bad luck- it is you." I laughed.
"Seems so." He agreed with a frown.
"Speaking of Jim, do you know anything about these new orders?" I inquired to change the subject while he was still on a good note.
He scoffed and said, "Something about a riot and we are just supposed to watch. Starfleet must be out of their damn minds to tell Jim to sit and watch. It won't be long 'till he finds some excuse to get us all drug in and then the shit will really hit the fan as it always does. Hell, I'll bet you 10 to 1 he doesn't even wait for orders before he jumps in. I just hope to hell it isn't some backwater hidden Romulan outpost or something, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was. Leave it to Jim to stumble face first into a hornet's nest." I barely caught the last thing he said because his voice trailed off and his head lilted sideways.
I sat there for a moment unsure of what to do. Should I call Security to carry him back to his room? Should I look for Jim? He began snoring lightly while I debated. In the end, I decided that the possibility of him getting caught walking out of my room in the morning would be far less embarrassing than people seeing him passed out drunk. A late night dalliance was easier to explain than a drinking problem should your professional standards be called into question. This was no longer a professional visit, it was personal and I felt an obligation to protect his dignity- no matter how tattered it was.
I tried waking him, but it was no use. He had consumed the entire bottle and who knew how much more prior to that. I wrestled him from the chair to the bed with a great amount of effort. He was much heavier than he looked. There was one embarrassing moment when my feet slipped and I fell on top of him on the bed, my arms pinned behind his back. He rolled his head and muttered something before roughly grabbing my head and pressing his warm lips to mine. His breath was hot and laced with the stinging smell of whiskey. Thankfully, he quickly slipped back into oblivion, leaving me dazed and confused about what had just transpired. I made the decision that he was drunk and didn't mean it, so as long as he didn't remember it in the morning, it would never be spoken of again. With strategic planning and frequent repositioning, I managed to get him stripped down to his Starfleet regulation boxers and covered him up, being sure to roll him onto his side so he wouldn't choke in the event he had to vomit in his sleep. That thought alone kept me up.
I sighed and sank down next to him on the floor leaning against the bed. "Collins to Medical." I called to activate the paging system. "Be advised Dr. McCoy will be off duty tomorrow." I might have imagined it, but I thought I heard cheering on the other end.