Hello, friends! Apologies for the relatively short chapter but I figured more frequent, shorter updates were better than having to wait months for longer ones. i have been loving the reviews so far, please do continue to tell me what you think - and tell me if the delayed gratification is what you're most looking forward to (because I know I am).

Thirty One

When Leonard woke up, the first thing that came to his mind was that he was going to kill Spock.

Damned half-Vulcan knew his body was reacting oddly to the planet, knew that Leonard was a damn doctor and was therefore qualified to tell him to beam back onto the ship, and he knew that touching that damn plant would probably cause a disaster of some kind. But he'd done it anyway, and Leonard had gotten shot with that paralysing concoction Victoria had warned them about for his troubles, while Spock had ended up with third degree burns on his hands while he was trying to save him from bleeding out.

At least, that was what Leonard remembered before he'd passed out in the middle of the transporter room.

"Try not to move," said a voice next to him softly, interrupting his thoughts. "You're not toxin-free yet."

The voice was familiar, but unexpected. Slowly, Leonard turned his head to see who was speaking to him. And there, opposite his bed and seated on one of the uncomfortable plastic chairs all too common to sickbay, was Victoria More.

She had been resting her elbows on her knees, cupping her face in her palms when she spoke. She smiled when she caught his gaze and straightened up. "You know," she said, and her tone was just a little amused. "If you wanted my attention, there are better ways to get it than injuring yourself. Some men just pay for dinner."

Leonard grunted out a laugh, even though his side hurt as he let out the short breath. Victoria's face faltered, and suddenly her smile wasn't the flirtatious smile she had been giving him for days when they'd been working together, drawing up plans and picking officers for the training exercise she had designed. This smile was softer, and a little sadder. It made him uneasy.

"How do you feel?" she asked. "Other than the obvious."

"M'fine," grunted Leonard. As he attempted to sit up, Victoria didn't try to stop him, and he managed to shift his weight enough that he was now leaning back against his pillows instead of resting his head on them. His arm was hooked up to an IV and felt at least a tonne heavier as he raised a hand wearily to massage his temples. "How long was I out?" he asked.

"About twenty four hours," answered Victoria. Leonard noticed that she was holding a PADD in her hands. Without invitation, she placed it at the foot of his bed and picked up a tricorder, scanning his frame quickly and nodding to herself at the results she saw. "The transfusion to clear your system should be done in a few more hours," she told him, replacing the tricorder and picking up her PADD again. "Spock's fine, by the way. The toxin causes paralysis in humans but reacts differently with Vulcan blood. He burned his hands pretty bad when he touched your wound to stop the bleeding. Heroic, but also stupid. Seems Jim is rubbing off on him."

"Shouldn't have touched it in the first place," mumbled Leonard. "I told him not to."

"He was lightheaded," said Victoria quietly. "The scanner picked up the change in brain function a second before he touched the plant."

Leonard frowned. "So, what? He wasn't payin' enough attention?"

"Essentially, yes," Victoria returned to whatever she was doing on her PADD, as if avoiding his eye. "Vulcans have a very strong hold on not only their emotions but also their physical responses to external stimuli. He knew he was supposed to be careful while harvesting a sample from that plant. His hand just… slipped."

Leonard snorted. "So, the Vulcan made a mistake."

Victoria smiled grimly. "Yeah, but he feels awful. Absolved me of all responsibility and insisted it wasn't my fault before I could even tell him how stupid he was. Jim practically banished him to his quarters to rest, otherwise he was waiting for you to wake up so he could apologise to you."

"Ain't all his fault. I've been hit worse," Leonard shrugged, then winced as pain shot down his side again.

"Here," she was standing next to him now and holding a straw against his lips. Leonard wanted to point out he was perfectly capable of drinking from the cup like a normal person, but his right arm felt too heavy to move, and his throat was too dry to speak. Painstakingly, he took a few sips of water and lay back down, exhausted with the effort. Victoria replaced the cup on the table next to the bio-bed, her hands hanging limply by her sides as she flexed her fingers. There was dried blood under her fingernails.

Leonard was holding her hand before he even realised what he was doing, panicking slightly until he realised it wasn't her blood, and Victoria had stiffened as soon as he touched her. Her face was a little ashen; he wanted to ask her what was wrong, whose blood it was, and why she hadn't washed her hands, but only one thing seemed to come out of his mouth.

"You didn't have to stay," said Leonard hoarsely. The hand he was clutching seemed to wind its way around his own until their fingers were intertwined, and he couldn't remember the last time holding a woman's hand had been so effortless. It was impossible to tell who was instigating it – Victoria was squeezing his fingers tightly, but his thumb was rubbing soothing circles into the back of her hand. Every movement was automatic, almost reflexive, as if they'd been doing it for years.

Victoria sank down onto the edge of his bed, sighing quietly. Wordlessly, she used her free hand to brush his hair off his forehead, her fingers lingering against his temple. Leonard tried to ignore the warmth spreading from their joined hands up his arm, and now suddenly across his face, but it was hard to pretend he wasn't affected. If Victoria felt it too, she gave no indication of it. Instead, she smiled. "Yeah, I did," she said quietly. She looked like she was about to say more, but then the curtain around the bio-bed was being pulled back, and Victoria dropped his hand and turned around, avoiding his gaze as she began to twist her fingers together in her lap.

A few seconds later, Julia Riley appeared in their line of sight.

"You're awake!" Nurse Riley smiled brightly and set down a tray of hypos on the table next to his bed, and Leonard grimaced. She laughed. "Sorry, Chief, but it's for your own good. Something for the pain, another round of the regenerator to heal that wound, a few more hours of transfusions and you're free to go. Simple."

"Simple," snorted Leonard. "Where'd you get your medical degree from again?"

"Here we go again. Doctors are the worst patients," complained Nurse Riley, turning to Victoria, who had returned to sit in the plastic chair. "Do you know how many times I've spiked his coffee with sleeping pills so he takes a break?"

"Too many times," interrupted Leonard. "It ain't cute, y'know. I have work to do."

"You've been out for almost a day and sickbay is functioning just fine without you," said Nurse Riley smugly. "Admit it, Leonard. You're important and all, but sickbay would only collapse if I was out."

From behind Nurse Riley, Victoria giggled, and Leonard's lips twitched at the sound. "Don't embarrass me in front of the pretty lady now, Julia."

Victoria laughed again, and the sad smile Leonard had desperately been trying to wish away off her face vanished as her eyes twinkled behind her glasses. He remembered thinking that she smiled too much, the first few times he'd met her; clearly, he'd been insane to think that was a bad thing. He'd spent practically every second of the last three days trying to get her to smile, working out what it was that would make her roll her eyes, blush, giggle… he hadn't let himself consider why he was obsessed with her smile, just that there was a pit in his stomach if she looked tired or upset or was too quiet, and the easiest way to get rid of it – and thus to get any work done – was to get her to laugh. It was just an added bonus that flirting with her was the easiest way to accomplish that goal.

It was Nurse Riley clearing her throat suddenly that jerked them both out of their thoughts; when Victoria suddenly blinked and turned red, Leonard realised she'd been staring right back at him, still smiling.

"Just take your medicine like a man and we won't have any problems," she said, and something in her voice told Leonard the few seconds of silence and staring hadn't gone unnoticed. After all, when she turned to face him, he was still staring at Victoria. Nurse Riley snorted. "Alright, Romeo," she said, quiet enough that Victoria didn't hear. "Try not to act like a complete child."

Leonard scowled, but didn't edge away as she administered the hypos, took another scan, and adjusted the IV hooked up to his arm to ensure the transfusion was going smoothly. She had just told him to take off his shirt so she could use the regenerator on his injury when Victoria cleared her throat.

"I'll just go," she said, when both medics turned to look at her. "I – I should get back to the lab. I'm glad you're feeling better," she added, giving Leonard a smile and an awkward wave. "Um… see you both later."

"Huh," Nurse Riley frowned thoughtfully as she walked Victoria walk away. "So that's what it took."

Leonard gave her a confused look. "What?"

She shrugged. "She hasn't left since we brought you in here. M'Benga bet she wouldn't leave until you did. I said she'd leave when you woke up and pretend she hadn't been here all night. Guess I win."

Leonard stared at her in disbelief. "She was here all night?"

"Pretty much," said Nurse Riley. As she gestured for him to sit up and hooked up the regenerator, she continued talking. "We brought you in around twenty six hours ago, and she was with us then too. M'Benga stabilised you pretty quick and then the Captain came in to check on you and Commander Spock. Tori was still here, she didn't go back to the bridge even though the Captain told her to, and it wasn't exactly comfortable for her here," grimacing, she indicated the hard plastic chair behind her. "I told her to go lie down in your office, but she wouldn't leave. She had your blood all over her hands and her lab coat, it took me ages to convince her to take it off too. She was really quiet, seemed really shaken."

Blood. Leonard winced. "My blood?"

Nurse Riley nodded. "Yeah. She grabbed you just before you collapsed, none of us realised you were bleeding until you fell over. And you were headed straight for her, so I assumed…" she suddenly trailed off, and then looked a little embarrassed when Leonard raised an eyebrow at her. "Sorry. I know I shouldn't assume."

"You shouldn't," said Leonard, but there was no bite in his voice. His head was spinning a little. Victoria had sat at his bedside all night, refused to return and run the training sessions she had set up, and probably slept in the single most uncomfortable chair on the entire ship. She'd stayed for him.

And he couldn't figure out why.

Well, that was a lie, thought Leonard as Nurse Riley turned on the regenerator. The skin at his side was smarting as she ran the laser light over it, but he ignored it. If it had been any other woman, Leonard would have assumed she had feelings for him, and had stayed to make sure he was okay. But this was Victoria More; it was likely she'd stayed to make sure he was okay, because she'd been the one running the training exercise he'd gotten hurt in, and they were friends. To be worried about him as a friend was completely acceptable, after all.

Then why did he feel like that wasn't all there was to it?

"Julia?" he asked suddenly. Nurse Riley hummed in response, her eyes focused on the regenerator's movements. Leonard sighed wearily. "I ain't sayin' you're right but… if you did assume… What d'you think is goin' on here?"

"Well, my assumption was that something was going on between you two, which was why you headed straight into her arms instead of letting me or M'Benga check you over for injuries," said Nurse Riley matter-of-factly. She was still concentrating on the regenerator, and Leonard appreciated that she wasn't trying to scrutinise his facial expressions at that moment. "Of course, the fact that she fled as soon as you woke up and you look completely clueless tells me there isn't anything going on, but at least one of you wishes there was?"

Leonard shook his head smilingly. "That's a lot of assumptions."

"You're not denying them. You want to know what I think?" Nurse Riley bit her lip to hide a smile. "I think you like her. And I think it's about damn time."

"That ain't the question here," said Leonard, ignoring the way his pulse quickened at his head nurse's words. He shook his head. "She's –"

"Leonard, the woman just spent the night sitting by your side in sickbay and may have disobeyed a direct order from the Captain to return to her station," Nurse Riley snorted. "Trust me, I'm a woman, I know what that means. She's crazy about you, even if she hasn't admitted it yet."

Leonard was quiet for a few seconds, and Nurse Riley handed him back his shirt, helping him put it on and adjusting the pillows behind his head as he lay down again. Before she could walk away, however, he spoke again. "What now?" he asked, a little helplessly.

"Now?" Nurse Riley smiled. "She did spend all night sitting next to your unconscious body, Leonard. Ball's in your court now. Get to wooing, play the game. You're better at it than you think."

Leonard snorted. "Don't know if you've noticed, Julia, but Tori ain't the type to want to play games."

"So then skip to the ending," Nurse Riley shrugged. "Not all women want love letters and fancy dates. Some just want a guy that sticks around, through the good and the bad. Either way, it's your move."

Leonard didn't answer, and Nurse Riley switched off the regenerator, offering him a small smile and telling him to get some rest before leaving to attend to her other patients.