Author's Note: Apologizes for this chapter taking so long and that it's short. It's 90% dialogue and it's harder than it looks to write so much dialogue for so many people at once without it getting choppy, also three pages of dialogue can sometimes only be a few minutes of conversation especially when there are so many people, have I mentioned that yet? It was bloody hard to write this and if anyone has anything with this story they'd like to see, please do let me know or, if you want to request a different story all together (hint hint, nudge nudge).
There was a small change in last chapter that's mildly important, I'll leave it for you to find so as not to give to much away for a future chapter. If enough people can't find it I'll tell you in my A/N in the next chapter. (It's placed during Bones and Izanna's lone conversation in the sickbay)
I do realize the people Jim sends in the small group he probably wouldn't actually send but, plot and stuff so let's pretend otherwise. I also added a little extended ending sort of thing so tell me what you think of that.
Special thanks to those who asked for a chapter where the crew must navigate in the dark; didn't go as planned but I hope you like it regardless.
Constructive criticism and comments are always welcome, seriously, I love hearing from you guys. Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoy~
I am currently taking request for fics, details on my profile.
Izanna stumbled out of the darkened turbolift, carefully shuffling forward till her foot hit the edge of the small step that lead down to the main part of the bridge. Finding her footing she walked forward a few steps and ran into someone, namely her boyfriend, who currently wasn't very pleased with her along with the rest of the ship.
"Who ran into me?" Bones asked, breaking through the low muttering on the bridge.
"I did," Izanna replied softly as she wrapped her arms around his waist.
Bones snorted, "Cuddling up isn't going to do you much good."
She sighed but kept her hold on him, unable to give him her signature puppy dog eyes which he would melt his grumpy mood on the spot; doesn't mean he wasn't upset and wouldn't lecture her, he'd just be less of a grump about it.
"Iz," a voice she recognized as the Captain's called out.
"I'm here," she said, laying her head on Bones chest and speaking in the general direction of the Captain.
"What happened and can you fix it?" Jim asked, diving right into the point.
"I may have cut out the lights to the entirety of the ship," she said, "And I can fix it but, I kinda need light to see what I'm doing."
"And you also managed to knock out the back-lights of the computers?" an exasperated voice called out, possibly Sulu.
"Anything that gave off light and is connected into the ships power."
"Captain," said Spock, "Do we not have emergency portable light sources in storage?"
"Yes, we do. And I had thought of that but I was hoping we wouldn't have to resort to it considering how long it'll take searching in the dark," Jim bit out.
"Well," Izanna started, "It's not like any of us can do much currently, that's a lot of free people to look around."
"Also a lot of people free to run into one another and get hurt," Bones said.
"A small group, including you Iz, will go down to the storage area and search. Volunteers," Jim said, calling out the last word.
The room stayed silent, no one wanting to walk around a pitch black ship and stick their hands in unknown containers. Izanna was worried that'd Jim would just make her do it alone, though she knew Bones would come with her if no one else did; since they started dating two weeks ago he'd gotten more than a little over protective. She figured it'd die down in time and things would go back to normal, well, as normal as anything ever got on this ship.
Jim let out a frustrated sigh, "Fine. Spock, Uhura, Sulu, Chekov, Bones. You'll be joining Miss Latimer."
"God dammit Jim, I'm a doctor-" Bones said.
"Who can't do anything because you can't even see your patients," Jim interrupted, "Chekov, you're to go with Latimer after you have the lights and help her fix this since Scottys' gone AWOL. Now go."
The six of them made their way over to the turbolift with several curses and a few banged up shins. Once in the turbolift Bones grasped Izanna's hand, intertwining their fingers and tugging her a bit closer into his side; Izanna hummed lightly and smiled up at him, even if he couldn't see. The lift descended in silence, only breaking with the sound of the doors opening and more curses as a soft green light suddenly greeted their eyes.
"I thought you said all the lights were out," Nyota said, her dark skin giving off an almost eerie glow under the light.
"It must be running on residual energy and it looks like it's the only one too," Izanna replied.
"How did you-" Bones started, "You know what-"
"What?" Izanna sarcastically asked, interrupting him.
Bones shot her a glare, "Smart-ass."
"When you two are done flirting," Nyota cut in, "We should each pick a direction and split up."
"Wouldn't it be wiser to have a partner in case someone gets hurt?" Chekov suggested. Everyone shot a glance at Izanna.
"Wow, thanks for the faith in me guys," Izanna deadpanned.
"I do not think anyone is likely to get seriously injured during our search and we should all be within ear shot," Spock said.
"Good enough for me," Sulu said with a shrug and walked off.
Spock gave a small inclination of his head and walked in the direction directly opposite of Sulu. Uhura gave a light sigh before walking off, parallel to Spock; Chekov glanced between Bones and Izanna, quickly scampering away when Bones shot him a look. Izanna gave Bones a small smile and lightly tried tugging her hand out of his only for him to tighten his grip.
"We're suppose to split up," Izanna said.
Bones raised an eyebrow, "Do you really think I'm going to let you go off by yourself?"
"I was hoping you wouldn't," she muttered shyly, glancing between the floor and him.
Giving her a smirk, Bones leaned down and pressed a soft, sweet kiss to her lips; he could feel her smiling into it and couldn't help but smile himself. Pulling away, Bones tugged her off in a direction the others hadn't gone off in.
"Come on, I'd like to be able to see soon," Bones said, "Also I don't want to you ending up in my sickbay."
"Do you have no faith in me?" Izanna scuffed.
"Considering you've been in the sickbay nearly every week for the last six months, I don't have much," he replied, "Not in your ability to stay out of the sickbay for a week anyway."
"At least you're honest," she deadpanned.
Bones chuckled, leaning over he pressed a chaste kiss to the top of her head. Walking a bit farther they stopped when the light no longer illuminated their surroundings.
"Don't run into anything," Izanna joked, dropping his hand and shuffling forward.
"Damn, there goes my plan," Bones replied sarcastically.
"Good, wasn't a smart plan to begin with."
"And your plans are?"
"... Sometimes."
"You mean rarely."
"Oh hush you."
"And if I don't?"
Izanna ignored his comment and kept shuffling forward, coming across a shelf she started to feel along it; finding a number a weirdly shaped objects she rejected them all, none of them feeling like the lights. Moving along the shelf she stopped when she heard a thump quickly followed by a loud curse.
She laughed, "How'd that plan work out for you?"
"Shut it," Bones growled.
"And if I don't?"
"I'll make you."
"I'd like to see you try."
He chuckled darkly, "Just wait until the lights are on."
"What, can't catch me in the dark?"
"Not without one of us getting hurt."
"I don't th- ow!"
"What did you do?" Bones asked in an exasperated tone.
"Something fell on my foot," she whined, rubbing her foot.
"You mean you dropped something on your foot."
"Same thing."
"Not really."
"Just keep looking."
They spent the next half hour shuffling along the shelves and searching in silence, only broken by an occasional curse as they slammed a body part into something; hearing a loud shout they both paused.
"Think we shou-" Izanna started.
"Yeah," Bones interrupted.
Walking as carefully and quickly as possible, they hurried in the direction the shout came from. Izanna let out a yelp as she was knocked forward from someone running into her, slamming into the floor she hissed in pain.
"Len," she scuffed, "watch it."
"That wasn't me," Bones voice came from in front of her.
"Apologizes Lieutenant," Spock said.
"Apology accepted," she said, dragging herself up from the floor.
"You alright?" Bones asked.
"I'll live," she replied.
They trudged along a ways and upon hearing loud voices, followed until they found the source.
"Don't you think if I knew where the bloody lights were I'd already have them?" said Scotty.
"So you have no idea where they are?" Sulu asked.
"Do I look like I'm the one in charge of inventory? I know they're in this general vicinity," Scotty replied.
"Scotty?" Izanna called out.
"Izzy, what the hell did you do?" Scotty asked.
"Why does everyone always assume it was me?" Izanna said in exasperation.
"Was it?" Scotty said.
"Not the point," she said.
"Anyway," Bones interrupted, "What was the shout?"
"I startled Chekov and then he smacked his head on something, knocked himself unconscious," Scotty said, "At least I assume, since he hasn't said a bloody word."
"Where is he?" Bones asked.
"On the floor? Somewhere?"
"Thanks Scotty, that was real helpful," Bone said sarcastically.
"Well he's somewhere near me. I didn't really bother fucking looking in case I step on him," Scotty scuffed.
"Doctor McCoy," Spock said, "I suggest you find Mr. Chekov and make sure he's not bleeding. The rest of us will keep looking."
"Shouldn't one of us call Nyota?" Izanna suggested.
"I'm already here," Nyota said, voice right by Izanna's ear.
Izanna gave a surprised shout and jumped away from Nyota, knocking into Scotty, almost sending them both to the ground.
"That was my foot," Scotty hissed in pain, "And my ribs."
"Sorry," Izanna said sheepishly.
"Let's just get looking," Sulu said.
Bones shuffled around the area Scotty had said Chekov was in while everyone else scattered in different direction. Curses filled the air every few minutes or so as someone ran into things; Bones eventually announced that Chekov, while still unconscious, wasn't bleeding and would be fine. After two hours of looking, everyone was becoming frustrated and annoyed, especially Chekov who was not allowed to move from his position on the floor.
"Didn't you say the lights were nearby?" Izanna called out to Scotty.
"They are, but we could be passing by without realizing it," Scotty called back.
"Just fucking great," she muttered.
"Reminds me of the time we got stuck in a city wide blackout together," Scotty said.
Izanna gave a short laugh, "Only we didn't have to fix it and we weren't stuck in space until it's fixed either."
"We still had fun."
"I wouldn't qualify you almost breaking my nose with your knee fun."
"Besides the assortment of bruises acquired."
"Assortment of bruises?" Nyota cut in, "What the hell were you two doing?"
"Getting drunk," Izanna replied, "And it was dark, we'll all probably have a least a few bruises."
There was a slight lull in the conversation before Nyota spoke up again, "You never did tell me how you and Scotty met."
"At a bar," Izanna quickly said.
"You're not a bar person," Nyota said lamely.
"So?"
"What aren't you telling me?"
"We met at a bar, talked, became fast friends and have stayed in contact."
"And that's it?" Nyota questioned.
Before Izanna could answer Sulu interrupted. "I think I found it," Sulu said quickly followed by a bright light illuminating the area.
Everyone let out a cry of distress as the sudden light stung their eyes.
"Bloody hell Sulu, a fucking warning would have been nice," Scotty practically shouted.
"Sorry, accidentally pressed the button while feeling for it."
Keeping their eyes closed they let them adjust to the light, slowly opening them and blinking several times before making their way over to Sulu one by one.
"There's enough for each of us to have one," Sulu said, "But I don't think we'll need that many."
"Certainly not," said Spock, "Doctor McCoy, can you handle taking Chekov to the sickbay by yourself?"
"Yeah," Bones said with arms crossed and brows furrowed, giving Izanna a curious look.
"Mr. Scott, I'm assuming you only need Lieutenant Latimer," Spock said.
"You would be correct," Scotty replied.
"Then the rest of us shall head back up to the bridge," Spock affirmed.
Spock, Scotty, Bones, and Izanna all grabbed a lantern. They all stayed silent as they boarded the turbolift, Izanna and Scotty got off first, quickly making their way to where Izanna had been working before the blackout. Setting down his lantern Scotty started to examine the wiring, Izanna looking over his shoulder.
"You never told her," Scotty stated in a light tone.
"You never told your friends either," she quipped back, "We both had our reasons for that."
Scotty fiddled with the wiring for a minute or two before speaking again, "If I'm being honest, I'm sad it ended."
Izanna offered him a small smile. "I am too," she paused, "Do you regret it?"
"Of course not," he said as if he offended she even asked, "Do you?"
"No," she said softly but firmly.
Izanna pointed out a mistake to Scotty every once and awhile, otherwise they stayed silent; the awkward atmosphere slowly dissipating. Scotty gave Izanna a warning before completing the circuit and both shut their eyes; they couldn't help but laugh at the surprised and slightly distressed cries coming from the rest of the ship.
Jim's strained voice came through the com stationed nearby, "A little warning next time."
"Sorry Captain," Izanna said, failing to hold back her laughter.
"No you're not," Jim said, "Just do me a favor and don't mess with the engineering for awhile."
"Will do," she replied. Hearing the com end the call she turned to Scotty, "I think everyone's going to be busy for awhile. Dinner?" she asked, offering her arm.
"Gladly," he laughed, taking her offered arm and letting her lead him away.
oOOOo
"Hey Len," Izanna said, walking into Bones quarters, "Yo-"
She let out a startled yelp, suddenly being pinned against the wall, Bones using his body to hold her in place; she saw Bones smirk before he swiftly lowered his head to hers. His lips crashed into hers causing her to gasp in surprise and Bones took advantage to let his tongue enter her mouth. His hands came up to hold her head, tilting it to deepen the kiss and enticing a small whimper from her. She felt his lips press even harder against her's as his tongue explored her mouth, dancing across her tongue and running along her teeth. Finally gaining back some brain function, she clung to the front of his shirt and kissed back, trying to gain some control over the kiss. He let her have control for a moment, letting her tongue enter his mouth before sucking hard on her tongue and taking back dominance.
Izanna broke the kiss, breathing deeply as her head leaned against the wall and tried to will her cheeks not to burn so hot. Her gaze locked on his kiss swollen lips for a moment, flicking up to look him in the eyes and noticing him staring at her she looked over his shoulder. Letting go of her head Bones place his hands on the wall on either side of her head and leaned in; she could feel his heavy breaths caress her ear, sending an involuntary shiver down her spine.
"Told you," he whispered lowly in her ear.
Retracting his head he watched as she blinked up at him several times in confusion before understanding crossed her face.
"You ass!" she exclaimed.
Embarrassed she shoved her face in his shoulder as he laughed, wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close. Dropping a kiss on her head, he let go and stepped back, chuckling at her inability to look him in the eye. Walking farther into his quarters Izanna grabbed a book and sat down, determined to ignore him; smiling, he grabbed a book of his own and sat down next to her. He rested his arm across the back of her seat, spending the few hours till she left enjoying one another's silent company.