The First Time
Someone got it wrong
He wasn't going to sugarcoat it; he was lost.
Staring down one long white passageway (void of any activity he might add), Montgomery Scott pivoted to stare down the length of another long white passageway (which was also void of activity-what kind of crew did he sign on with?). A bead of sweat protruded from atop his forehead; he swiped at it quickly.
Right.
He stepped back into the lift.
"Next floor then." He assured himself.
The whirring of the rising lift mocked him. He was the bloody Chief of Engineering! He'd been on the Enterprise for nearly three months now, running the ship, tending to her, loving her, and completely infatuated with her as he was the first day he landed aboard (after all she proved to be rather feisty in their first encounter). And yet he still could not make heads or tails of Skyla's directions to the blasted cafeteria! His journey was going on ten minutes now, he'd been informed it should have only taken five. But, where were the other members of the ship? Where were the helpful coworkers to point a finger in the right direction, to give a man a bloody bone? It was as if life was mocking him. Give the Scotsman access to all the food he wants, but give him the navigation of a nine-year-old in the dark after having spun around whilst counting to one hundred.
The door slid open and before the engineer could step out, a threatening voice sliced through the air causing him to freeze in place.
"Jim!"
"I'm not listening unless you have something relevant to say, Lieutenant."
His captain appeared before him, expression haggard, shoulders straight, upright, stiff-all the things Scotty had not associated with the Captain's personality on first meeting. Jim Kirk nodded as he took a place beside him, murmuring 'Scotty' under his breath in greeting.
"Captain," Scotty returned meekly just before a Lieutenant with the security insignia swept into the lift, eyes dark and glowering.
"What the hell is more relevant than your safety?" She snapped as the lift doors whooshed shut behind her. "Mr. Scott," She greeted distractedly.
Scotty nodded; his throat tight; his tongue dry. Clasping his hands behind his back, the engineer attempted to look anywhere but at the arguing duo. He found himself wishing he had taken a chance in exploring those hallways at the previous stop.
"We're explorers, Laxely," Kirk began, rolling his eyes up to the ceiling.
"Answer the question, Captain." The woman snapped.
"Yours." He answered abruptly, voice raised a decibel higher than he'd intended. He licked his lips, pushed forward as if he hadn't temporarily lost his patience. "The safety of everyone on this ship is my top priority. I'm not going to send down a team if I myself am not certain that it is completely safe for them."
When the security officer responded, her voice sounded level, though her temper remained very much heated. "Stop acting as if we're incompetent children. You're the one required a babysitter and we're the team trained to be so."
The air sparked with thickening tension as Kirk visibly bristled at the comment. He resolutely held the woman's gaze, his torso turning to tower over her.
Scotty swallowed, cleared his throat and wondered how the lift could be taking so long to reach the next deck.
"I'm overly qualified to take care of myself, we both know that. However, if it'll put your mind at ease, I have already recruited two officers to come along for the ride-from your team as a matter of fact."
"Velit and Hennigan?" The Lieutenant growled the names as if the owners personally offended her.
Azure eyes deeply assessed her reaction before turning away. "That's classified information."
"They're on my team, remember."
"How about we talk about this when I get back."
"How about you let someone qualified in the sciences go in your stead."
Suddenly the hard lines in Kirk's face fell away as he smiled in his condescending 'oh you' way and faced the lift doors once more. "Not happening. You heard the report; I gave it ship-wide."
The Lieutenant rolled her eyes and faced the doors as well as they blessedly, finally, opened. "I'm relieved you know the comm is used for more than just staring at your pretty little face." Then, without a backward glance, she stepped off the lift to disappear amongst the bustling passageway the lift had opened up to.
"Can we leave the normal size of my pretty face out of this?" Kirk called out just before the lift doors shut. Scotty watched forlornly as the help he'd earlier been seeking disappeared behind the white doors of the damned lift that caged him with his captain.
Scotty rocked back on his heels, resigning himself to his fate with a sigh. He chanced a glance over at Kirk. There seemed to be a slight tick in the man's hard jaw, his eyes continued to burn holes through the lift, and a sudden deep breath puffed up his chest and his shoulders as he tried to relieve the tension still held in his muscles.
Scotty pursed his lips, held his breath, shook his head, and let his eyes wander to the floor. "So how long you two been married?"
As soon as the words left his mouth, Scotty's eyes widened and he quickly turned to his captain. He hadn't meant to say it, damn his lack of self control. It was because he hadn't had lunch yet. Yes, that was it.
On Kirk's end, his head had snapped to the side to stare at his Chief of Engineering, his mouth falling open soundlessly.
"We're not..."
Scotty nodded fervently and quickly resumed watching the doors. Kirk slowly followed his example, the silence growing between them.
"We're not." Kirk repeated firmly.
Again Scotty nodded, slower this time.
Kirk glanced back at him, eyebrows furrowed, eyes presumably troubled, but Scotty didn't dare a second glance.
He just wanted to find the blasted cafeteria.
A/N: Thank you Kat7CA, Guest of Anon, anon, Ducky the Insomniac Panda, and Sablire for reviewing-you guys are awesome. Those who have started following and have favorited this story, I thank you too; its nice knowing the story is appreciated.
I'm sorry for the two month absence. July was not good to me and August was the healing month. I'm going to try to pick back up some firsts for everyone and will work my hardest to get the best out-because I'm sure writers know how picky we can get when it comes to the quality of our own work.
Also, I just realized this story was added to two communities-thank you for the inclusion, I'm grateful!
If you have any questions, thoughts, requests, please let me know, I'm always willing to talk. :)