I had toyed with the idea to hold out a little longer with this update, but really I can't resist. Many thanks to my beta, TheWindowView. She was a big help with this chapter and the one previous.
Please, read and enjoy. Any comments are welcome :)
Nia sighed as she looked around the medbay. Doctor McCoy was there, but she didn't see Christine anywhere.
She supposed it was a good thing that the medbay was mostly empty. Only a couple patients, with only a few of the medical staff in view.
Dr. McCoy finally noticed her and headed her direction. "What is it this time?" He asked, clearly dreading the answer.
Nia smiled. "Just looking for Christine. Do you know where she is?"
"Yeah, she's in the back. Though, I am the doctor. I could probably help you as well as a nurse can." He told her, and then added "Even the head nurse."
"Only if you want to go to lunch with me and engage in large amounts of 'girl talk'." She said with a cheeky grin.
The CMO grimaced. "Not on your life." He promised. "Or mine. Ever. If you are expecting to get that service from Chapel though, you might find yourself disappointed.
Nia frowned. "Oh? Why is that?"
"She's already been down to the mess. Her scheduled meal break is an hour earlier. As you can see, there wasn't a reason for her to miss it." He told her as he gestured to the almost empty medbay.
"Of course." She groaned. "Is it too much to ask to want some company during lunch? My usual companion has up and disappeared, probably due to some schedule change, and while we didn't talk it was still nice and Jenkins and Michaels both bailed on me again all for the name of science." She let out a frustrated moan as she vigorously rubbed her face with her hands. Her shoulders slumped. "I give. Lunch for one take three." She mumbled. "Well then, I won't bother disturbing Christine. Sorry for taking up your time."
During her tirade, McCoy had only paid attention to one thing. The fact that her usual 'companion' disappeared, presumably without telling Dr. Sargent why and McCoy knew who that 'companion' was. He also knew Jim had decided to open his fool mouth earlier in the week about some rumors circulating the ship, after McCoy had told him not to.
As the woman went to leave, McCoy sighed internally before calling out to her "If you can wait, the bridge crew breaks on the hour." Not wanting to seem too obvious, he also said "You can rib Sulu for finally tossing him."
A new grin bloomed on Nia's face, this one a bit too smug for McCoy's taste. "I wonder if Chekov's heard about that yet."
McCoy chuckled. "I think the whole ship has heard about that by now. Harris dragged Sulu in here limping and had no trouble informing us exactly why." And the why was standing directly in front of him. The woman had finally dropped Sulu and had dropped him hard.
"You know," Nia said. "I don't think I'll be tossed as near as much anymore. See you, McCoy." And then sheShe then left,left- her steps a bit more confident than they had been previously.
As he watched her walk out of the medbay, McCoy shook his head. He was becoming as bad as Jim. Sargent was going to go and practically fawn over Chekov and Sulu. Uhura might join them, but she wouldn't be able to stop the inevitable decrease in maturity as the trio started one of their many debates. In very short time, the Paladian would share the center of attention in the mess hall with both helmsmen. Considering how the males outnumber the females the attention would mostly be on her…
McCoy felt no sympathy for the pointy eared bastard.
Nia did end up waiting, returning to her lab and setting up experiments and areas of research to look into after lunch. Earlier in the day she had briefly considered skipping lunch instead of eating alone, but thought better of it. The Paladian had finally put back on the three pounds she'd lost from previously skipping meals. Plus, the thought of another ultimatum from Michaels was not appealing if skipping lunch became a habit.
At about five 'til she head down to the mess hall, not willing to wait any longer before eating. When she got there, she was surprised to see Dr. McCoy already there and waiting for someone.
Nia grabbed her lunch from a replicator and then settled herself at an empty table. When she next looked up, she saw who McCoy had been waiting on. Captain Kirk and Commander Spock had walked in and gotten their lunch apparently just after her and were already seated with the doctor.
Without her really thinking about it, Nia's eyes lingered on the Vulcan commander. She wondered for the briefest moment if she had offended him and his no longer eating lunch with her was his way to deal with it. It didn't seem to fit, since it was an illogical way to react, to turn from confrontation. She'd just about had herself fooled into thinking it was a schedule change and nothing to do with her when she'd discovered the next shift in schedules was supposed to happen after the Paladian settlers were rescued.
Reminded of the settlers, Nia realized the ship was a day more than a week away from the planet, by the projected time. She wondered what conditions they would find the settlers in. The planet they are were stranded on was a class 'M' with poor resources, and so far that's was all she was being told. Ideally, 'poor conditions' equaled 'near wasteland', which equaled 'survivable conditions' for most humanoids. This typically entailed a desert planet with multiple flourishing oasis, or an ocean planet with some sort of land mass, or even an ice planet with caves or other forms of shelter. Each needed to have some form of food and water source, also. Concerned, the scientist wondered what kind of planet her people were on and what conditions they were forced to endure. She turned the thought over in her mind before shoving it away.
Thinking on it now was of no help to her people. It only made Nia stress more and she could do absolutely nothing to quicken the ship's arrival. It would be best to assess the situation once they got to arrived at the planet and she was fully informed.
A tray thumped down in front of her and Nia was grateful for the break for her thoughts as a young Russian sat down across from her.
"It is unusual to see you here now, Sargent. And by your lonesome." He told her before digging into his meal with a gusto reserved for seventeen year old males.
"Does that mean I shouldn't make this my new usual?" Nia asked, one eyebrow raised raising an eyebrow.
"Oh don't give him a hard time." A feminine voice said from beside her. Uhura sat down. "You know what he meant."
Nia shushed her. "Don't tell him that," she whispered loudly. "Anyways," she said in a normal voice "everyone else bailed on me for lunch. So, until further notice I will be crashing on your mess hall time."
Chekov stared at her. "You were born on Palad, correct?"
"Yes." Nia answered, not understanding where the question was coming from.
"Then how do you speak so much like a human?" He asked.
"Chekov!" Uhura hissed under her breath.
Giggling, Nia only smiled. "It's a valid question Uhura. I'm surprised Sulu didn't tell you, he's already asked me." She sighed. "I was married to a human man for five years and lived on Earth for two years prior to that."
"So you've lived on Earth for seven years?" Uhura asked.
"Nine." Nia clarified. "My husband died two years ago, but I didn't leave Earth. It also helped that I traveled to Earth frequently with my parents as a child."
Chekov looked interested. "Were your parents ambassadors?"
Shaking her head, she told him "Oh no, nothing like that. My mother was in love with xenoanthropology, and my father was in love with her."
"That's sweet," Uhura said.
Nia nodded. "She claimed Earth was always the best place for her to get the most up to date information, though I firmly believe she just wanted the excuse to travel to her second favorite planet."
"And with you living there I bet she has an ever greater excuse."
"Like you wouldn't believe." Nia shook her head and the two women shared a laugh. Chekov may have chuckled also, but his mouth was too full for anyone else to tell.
It was then that Sulu finally joined them.
"You're late." Nia said as she mock glared at him.
"Fashionably late, though." He corrected her.
"Since when do guys know anything about fashion?" Chekov belched as Uhura spoke and the woman gestured at him. "Point proven!"
Nia snorted. "Come on that was nothing, hardly even a real burp." She paused for a few seconds, looking off into the distance with her back slowly straightening, when Uhura clasped her hand over her mouth before she could let out a 'real' burp.
"Don't. Please, just don't." Uhura pleaded. "I still have mental scars from the last burping contest you two got into."
"And that was in an almost empty Rec Room where no one could see you associating with them." Sulu added.
Uhura pulled her hand away and Nia stuck her tongue out after quietly expelling the air she'd gathered in her stomach. Unfortunately the Lieutenants had a point. Maybe the crowded mess hall wasn't the best place to start that kind of contest.
Instead Nia decided to talk about the match that took place the day before. In a way. "So, Sulu. How's the leg?"
The glare he sent her had both Chekov and Uhura laughing.
Jim Kirk watched the group as the sound of laughter rose. Sulu appeared to be hiding his face and Sargent was a brilliant shade of pink as she listened to Chekov and Uhura tell a story. He could guess what it was about.
Turning his eyes back to his tablemates, Kirk decided to completely ignore the sudden shaking of Bones' head and ask "So, Spock – "
Lieutenant Commander Scott sat down at the table. "I am starving." He saw the Vulcan commander open his mouth and Scott continued "Figuratively speaking." Then the man dug into his heaped sandwich.
Kirk couldn't help, but watch in morbid fascination as the man nearly inhaled his food. "Are you even breathing, Scotty?"
Scotty gave a muffled grunt and continued eating. He gestured with his hands for them to continue the previous conversation. It was just then an excessively loud gale of laughter came from a table across the mess hall. This time, the comparatively pale skinned woman was telling a story, her hands waving as she spoke. Every once in a while she would use a hand to brush her unbound hair behind her shoulder. A portion of her story could be heard.
"… and then she came out, sputtering and swearing, claiming that the shower was possessed. She didn't know that Jacek had been turning the access to the hot water on and off for a good ten minutes…" The laughter from her tablemates covered her voice and the men at the other table couldn't hear the end of her statement.
"Oh my," Scotty said, still chewing the remnants of his latest bite. "She is certainly the life of the party. Any lucky feller snatch her up yet?"
Grinning slyly at Spock, Kirk was about to answer (again despite the look Bones was sending him) when the man he had just looked at spoke up.
"A man by the name of Matt." Spock had not intended to part with the information, but found himself doing so after the engineer's scrutiny of Dr. Sargent and the odd look the captain had given him.
"Oh really?" Scott asked, surprised. "How long has that been going on?"
Even McCoy seemed interested. "Not that I support the rumor mill, but I'm surprised that tidbit of information hasn't become public knowledge yet."
Kirk snorted. "It must not be serious then. Girls want to tell the world when they think they have a fine catch. So either she doesn't think he's much, or he doesn't think she's much." Plus, she'd been eating her meals with only a few select individuals,. iIncluding the Vulcan sitting across from him.
"Ain't that the truth." Scotty commiserated. "I remember one lass telling my mother about our relationship before I'd even had the chance to even tell my mother I was looking for someone to date."
After a glance at the Vulcan to see an unchanged expression, McCoy asked "So you think she's being used?"
Kirk shrugged and looked back over at the table where the subject of their discussion was still talking animatedly. "You said his name was Matt?" He asked Spock.
He nodded.
"You know his last name? What department he works in?" With that information, he could pull up the man's file and get a glimpse into his character. Beyond the fact he was insanely curious, it was troublesome to have an ongoing relationship onboard without his knowledge of it. While the fact she is was a civilian consultant allows allowed her more freedom havingto relationships with Starfleet personnel, there is was still documentation to be filled out so that unfavorable situations can could be avoided. Or at the very least, prepared for.
"I was not privy to that information." His first officer responded quickly and without hesitation.
"Oh." Kirk supposed he really shouldn't be all that surprised. He wouldn't have wanted to know much more either.
"Jim, why are you sticking your nose in business that isn't yours?" McCoy finally had to ask.
"Why Bones, I'm amazed you have to ask."
"Jim." Bones warned.
"Look, if there is an inter-personnel relationship, then it needs to be documented. You understand that."
Bones grumbled and nodded. Yeah, he did understand that.
"So, anything else you know about this 'Matt', Spock?" Kirk asked.
Spock paused. "Nothing pertaining to the task at hand, sir." The attraction of Nia to this man was not pertinent. Nor was his agitation by it logical. "Perhaps Lieutenant Sulu would be of greater aide."
"'Sir'? Come on, Spock. Even Scotty here knows to call me Jim when we're not on duty."
Mouth temporarily empty, Scotty offered "Aye" before taking another bite.
"So Sulu might be one to talk to." Kirk conceded, thinking.
"Or you might just talk to the female in question." Bones grumbled. "She already talked to him about it." He added with a jerk of his head in the Vulcan's direction.
"Good point." Kirk nodded. "I'll talk to her later. For now I'm going to enjoy my lunch."
Only Bones noticed the hesitation before Spock also continued eating. McCoy would bet anything the hobgoblin was at least marginally uncomfortable with the thought of Jim talking to Sargent, but had no logical reasoning for it.
A/N I hope you all enjoyed this scene, it was a bit amusing to write. Especially since, as I was writing it the event Nia is telling the others about was happening XD Hence, why I had to include it.
Thank you so much to Tsovy, England101, and LovelyDeadlyLie for reviewing. I really appreciate hearing from my readers. Also, reviews have a tendency of giving my muse the extra push it needs (hint, hint).