Eleven

Victoria had survived the first month.

She was impressed with herself, if she was hoenst. She had had no panic attacks, no unexpected communications, and faced no awkward questions. The majority of the science department was as new as her, and her rank as lieutenant combined with her ability to blend in with her surroundings meant that, other than the occasional wave in the hallway or the odd question at the end of her shift, she rarely had to talk to anyone. Spock checked in more often than she supposed he would have had he not had a person with practically no identity working under him, but she kept her eyes down and focused on whatever task she was given, and was grateful that he seemed to find nothing to complain about.

She avoided the mess hall entirely and ate in her room from the replicator, which she personally hated but knew was necessary. Hikaru joined her sometimes, always concerned and always with a new piece of gossip or information that made her smile. Spock had practically lifted Uhura from her chair when her console had malfunctioned, Chekov's English was giving the new engineers trouble, to the extent that they had almost caused a major fault with the transporter, Scotty had beaten up one of the doctors when they had complained that the damn ship was what would kill them all in the end (she hoped it hadn't been Dr. McCoy) and Jim was practically bouncing around in his chair with boredom.

And it was true, he was restless. He dropped by Victoria's room at least twice a week, sometimes to have a drink and sometimes just to chat. She appreciated it, because it made her feel less like she was putting his entire ship in danger. In fact, the more bored Jim got the more grateful she was. If he was bored, it meant nothing dangerous was happening. And if there was no danger, they were all safe. From her, and from anything else that was out to get them.

"Everything okay, Woodville?" Victoria jumped and forced herself to look up at the unfamiliar name. Lieutenant Homer gave her a concerned look, but she smiled and waved him off, returning to her files and chastising herself for not paying attention. However, Homer was not to be deterred. "A bunch of us are heading to the mess hall now," he continued, in an obvious attempt to keep her in conversation. "Sort of to destress. Would you like to join us?"

"That's very nice of you," replied Victoria, keeping a small, pleasant smile on her face. It wasn't hard; that was her default expression. "But, I have plans."

"Ah, I see," Homer nodded, looking only slightly disappointed. He was persistent, but he was also hesitant to annoy her. That was good. The less anyone questioned her, the better.

Shaking her head slightly, she returned to her file, only raising her hand slightly in farewell as the rest of Beta shift left the room. She was often in the lab till late, mostly out of choice. It was Tuesday. Jim wouldn't be coming to see her since she knew he played poker with the rest of the bridge crew on Tuesdays, so Hikaru wouldn't be free either. She had time to kill, and she figured she could start on the cultures she had left in the sun-room for tomorrow as well. They were asteroid debris that had been picked up from deep space, and she had been working on them for a week to determine their point of origin so as to better navigate their way through what was basically nothingness. So far, she hadn't come up with much.

Victoria had settled into the sun-room and was cautiously taking readings of the material with her scanner when her comm beeped. It was a sound that, though she remembered, she was so unused to that she jumped about a foot in the air and almost dropped her scanner. Cursing herself, she flipped it open, hoping she didn't sound as breathless as she felt.

"Woodville," she said curtly.

"Hi, Natira, it's Nurse Riley from the medbay," came the chirpy voice from the speaker. "I came by to drop off your meds for the week, are you not in?"

"Oh, no, sorry," Victoria slapped a hand to her forehead. How had she forgotten? Nurse Riley always came by on Tuesdays with her weekly hypos. "I can be there in, umm, twenty minutes?" she cringed as she looked at her experiment. She couldn't abandon it just now.

"Oh, that's okay. I'm off shift now, but I'll have someone else deliver them to you in an hour, if you want?"

Victoria sighed in relief. "That would be great, Nurse Riley. I'm so sorry to be a pain."

"Oh, don't worry about it! I'll send someone over at 0700 hours."

"Great, thanks again."

"You're welcome. See you next week!"

Victoria switched off her comm and went back to her task, rushing slightly to meet her new deadline. The cultures needed at least three hours of observation without interruption, so she decided to look in on them at her next shift. She had some paperwork to do, but she could easily do that after Nurse Riley's replacement dropped off her hypos. Packing up the equipment and quickly logging in her latest findings, she waved a quick goodbye to the few stragglers still in the laboratory and made her way back to her room.

The hallways were deserted, and Victoria was grateful for the lack of distractions. Keeping her head down and buried in her PADD – she wasn't reading anything important but it was an excellent way to avoid detection – she reached her room in record time.

"Three messages for Dr. Woodville awaiting response."

Victoria scowled at the computer's voice. Considering her lack of social interaction, it always annoyed her how cheery the automated voice sounded every time she walked in.

Sighing, she leaned against the wall as she took off her shoes. "Woodville, Natira. Access code sigma, delta, four, nine, twenty-six."

"Messages from Captain James T. Kirk, Nurse Riley, and Lieutenant Uhura awaiting response."

Victoria frowned. "What does Uhura want?"

"Hi, Tori, it's Nyota. The boys are playing poker tonight so the girls are getting together in the mess hall later for drinks. It's just me, Hannity and a couple of engineers. Jim said I shouldn't ask since you might be busy but I wanted to anyway, you're welcome to join us anytime after seven. See you."

Oh. That was oddly sweet. Victoria shut off the computer before it could bug her to listen to her other messages and sat down heavily on the armchair next to the screen. After their conversation during her first week on the ship, Victoria had run into Uhura regularly, but it was a happy occurrence that she almost looked forward to. Uhura hadn't seemed to judge her, had not even questioned her after their initial talk. She called her Tori every time they met, smiled at her if they ever caught each other's eye in public, and this was the second message she had left for her to join her friends for drinks after shifts ended. Victoria hadn't gone the last time, she had been too afraid to venture out. Now, however, she was tempted. It was only six in the morning, which meant she had plenty of time to take a nap and then get ready and go anyway. Hadn't Spock said something about her being unable to avoid everyone for two years, after all?

Mind made up, Victoria fumbled through her closet for something comfortable to sleep in, set an appropriate alarm, and stumbled into the shower. Being vigilant was one thing, but nobody had said she had to become a complete hermit.

!

"Remind me again why I agreed to this?" grumbled McCoy.

M'Benga didn't look up from his PADD. "Because Julia Riley is your best nurse, she has never asked for a favour, she is overworked and your quarters are on the same deck."

"I still don't get why –"

"Quit complaining and just go, Leonard," M'Benga rolled his eyes. "Julia's never complained about Woodville, I'm sure he's just a brainy scientist who you'll terrify into silence as you do the rest of the department."

"I wish I could terrify people into silence,'" muttered McCoy, but nevertheless grabbed the kit of hyposprays and stomped off towards his destination. He had been slightly surprised when Nurse Riley had informed him that she wouldn't mind taking over his care for Dr. Woodville, but he hadn't put much thought into it. He still made the hyposprays himself, of course, but administering them wasn't as much of a problem. He had read the man's file. Dr. Woodville had sufficient training to do them himself if he so chose, but he had to admit it made him feel better that there was a medical officer doing it.

Which was why he was now heading to deliver the medicine just before he went to his own quarters, got some sleep and then sat down to beat Jim's ass in poker again later that night. Nurse Riley had asked M'Benga to make the housecall, but the other doctor was already monitoring a patient suffering from third degree burns – he'd have to kill Scotty for that later – so McCoy had found himself stuck with the job. It wasn't that he minded, of course, it was just annoying. Jim and Spock were still tight-lipped about the guy, and he hadn't seen him even once since they'd left Yorktown. Reluctantly, however, he'd put Dr. Woodville out of his mind once it became clear the man wasn't going to be a problem.

Because of this, he'd have to at least try and be pleasant. The man was obviously well-versed with these sort of procedures, so McCoy doubted he'd be much of an annoyance. Checking to see that he was in front of the correct door, he knocked loudly.

There was silence at the other end, and then he heard a muffled, distinctly female voice call out. "Who is it?"

McCoy groaned. Considering the man had asked Nurse Riley himself to come back after an hour, he really shouldn't have company right now. Still, he called back, a little gruffly, "Nurse Riley sent me with the hypos."

There was an awkward silence after he spoke, stretched to a point where McCoy wondered if the door would ever open. Eventually the heavy metal door slid open, but only a fraction. Peeking out from behind the frame was half a face, very pale, with dark hair slicked back, obviously fresh from a shower. A single, brown eye gazed up at him in something that looked like utter terror, and the quick glance he got of the woman's face was familiar, but McCoy couldn't place it. He could, however, see that she was clad in nothing but a towel and seemed very confused to see him.

McCoy wanted to scowl. Really, couldn't Woodville keep it in his pants until after he'd left?

Understanding that perhaps the man's guest hadn't known about his medications, McCoy cleared his throat. "I don't suppose Dr. Woodville is in?" he asked, a little sardonically. The brown eye blinked once. The quick glimpse he caught of her face before she ducked behind the door again seemed to tug at his memory. He frowned at his thoughts. Of course he'd seen her before. He'd probably even treated her at one point or the other. "Right, I need to give these hypos to him, so –"

"Him?" asked the woman.

McCoy sighed. "Yes. Dr. Woodville needs the medicine. Look, if he's inside could you just –"

"He said you could leave them," said the woman abruptly "He'll take them himself." Her voice was hoarse, either naturally husky or perhaps from lack of use. Whatever the reason, it made him feel like he'd heard her speak before as well.

But McCoy didn't argue. Woodville was making his task easier for him if he didn't have to talk to anyone. Holding out the box, he was surprised when the woman swiped it from his palm wordlessly and shut the door as soon as it was in her possession.

"What the –"

On the opposite side of the door, Victoria leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor, clutching the box of hypos to her chest. She couldn't decide whether she wanted to laugh or panic.