A/N: Howdy Ho! Here is another chapter all good to go as promised. Seriously, I can't believe the speed at which my beta reader SherLoki81 and I have gotten of this story out. It's like I (I write and she beta reads my work) have some kind of writing runs! We hope everybody enjoys this installment. Please note, that I put humor as the second category but there is a lot of drama too obviously. I could only choose two and I think humor wins over drama this time.
Happy reading and thanks for the faves and follows!
Hasta Pasta,
SherLoki81 and MissMely
Disclaimer: We own nothing but the plot, Annalise and now Jakob.
A Huge Case of The 'Ick'
Annalise
Annalise was currently trying to clean up a mess left behind after treating a patient with a pretty good cut in his hand. The patient's name was Jakob Williams. He was a new Ensign who worked in engineering. He was very nice, albeit a little bit clueless and sometimes a klutz.
While she was trying to clean up the biohazard in front of her, Nurse Chapel wouldn't shut up about how the young Ensign had been trying to 'make time' with her while they were fixing him up.
It was seriously driving her up the wall. Yes, Jakob was cute but finding a boyfriend was seriously the last thing on her mind right now. She had way too many other things to worry about.
'Or it could be because he isn't tall, dark, handsome and pointy eared.' Her mind helpfully supplied.
She held back an aggravated growl.
Between her mind being an asshole and Nurse Chapel not shutting up, she was ready to start flipping tables.
"I'm serious, Annalise. If you just clean yourself up a bit like, tame that hair, loose some of the piercings and drop the colors. Jakob would be all over you!" She gushed.
Something about what Christine just said really rubbed her the wrong way. She loved colorful things, and she liked her hair the way it was. Sure, it was nuts, but it was who she was. She didn't think that she was THAT ugly that she would have to change everything about herself just to get people to like her.
Getting upset, she was about to tell Christine off but before she could, Bones' head slowly popped out of his office door. The look on his face was slightly frightening. It was as if he was daring Christine to open her mouth again and see what would happen.
Thankfully, Christine got the point loud and clear. She changed the subject quickly.
"Anyways, do you mind finishing this up? I'm supposed to meet Nyota for lunch. Thanks a bunch!" She said, exiting the med bay quickly.
Rolling her eyes at the spot that Christine used to be standing in, she finished cleaning up the mess she left behind. Bones told her time and time again that failing to clean up biohazardous material was unsanitary. It had to be done right after the patient was discharged. Unfortunately, she knew that she would do it regardless so she just ended up leaving it all on her.
'What on EARTH have I done to be treated like such shit by her?' She thought in frustration.
Sighing softly, she finished picking the mess up. After she did that, she decided that she would skip lunch because the whole interaction she just suffered through killed any appetite that she did have.
Instead, she would just meet up with Spock right away and have something for dinner later.
However, before she could leave, Bones called her into his office.
"Hey kiddo, I can I talk to you for a sec?" He called from his office.
Turning around, she headed back in the direction of his office. When he called her 'kiddo' it usually meant that he wanted to talk to her about something serious. So even though she wanted to ignore him, she knew that she couldn't.
Quietly, she entered his office, and he turned his chair to face her. He was looking at her with a look she knew well. It was one he used when she was feeling like shit and he wanted to cheer her up.
"Don't take anything she says to heart, okay? You are amazing because you are you, please don't ever change who you are." He told her seriously.
Deep down, she knew that he was right, but it was so, so hard not to take what Christine and Nyota said to heart. She knew that she would have to do her best to try though.
"Alright, DAD. I'll try my hardest not to let bother me." She replied, making sure to put emphasis on the word 'Dad'.
She knew it drove him nuts when she called him that. He always whined that it made him feel old.
"Heeeey, quit it! I'm not that ancient yet!" He whined.
She couldn't help but burst out laughing at his reaction, it was exactly what she needed at the moment.
"You can go now, your green-blooded hobgoblin needs you." He added.
As soon as those words exited his mouth, she turned a shade of red that was quite frankly magical and let put an annoyed growl.
"Oh would you just SHUT UP! He isn't my anything!" She griped loudly.
Flipping him the bird, she stomped out of his office and left the med bay.
Bones
Bones laughed loudly as he watched Annalise flip him the bird and stomp out of his office. She could say whatever the hell she wanted about it, but he knew it was bullshit. He was far more observant than people gave him credit for.
He knew that she had a monster sized crush on the pointy eared bastard. He also knew that said pointy eared bastard reciprocated said feelings even if he didn't realize it yet. He could deny it all he wanted, be in a relationship with somebody else, but none of it mattered. One way or another it was going to happen eventually.
Did he like it? Absolutely not. Could he do anything about it? Unfortunately, not a fucking chance.
The only thing he could do was be there for her when it got messy, and he had a feeling it was going to get extremely messy before it got any good.
Since he took her under his wing at school, he had been there for her, and he would continue to be there for her as long as he could. Even though he whined when she called him Dad, he really loved it when she did. For all intents and purposes, she was his daughter in every way but blood.
When Nurse diesel got in her face about her looks again, it took every ounce of self-control he possessed not do something he would regret about it. Honestly, he had no idea where she got off, thinking that she could speak to somebody like that. Especially somebody as sweet as Annalise.
Though she tried to hide it, he saw how much it bothered her, and he hated it. Her love of bright colors and vintage things, her curly hair and her piercings made her who she was. He never, ever wanted that to change because she wouldn't be her anymore.
He made sure to tell her this as often as he could, he only hoped it was it was enough to make sure she kept on believing it.
Several Hours Later
Annalise
Annalise was working in a companionable silence with Spock while they continued to map more stars. While she did this, her mind was going a mile a minute. She couldn't get the distress signal or whatever it was out of her mind. It sounded like nothing that she had heard before and she couldn't help but think they were going about everything all wrong. Distress signals didn't sound like songs, because they were distress signals. They were supposed to sound mechanical and urgent because they wanted somebody to get there as soon as possible.
What she was hearing was absolutely a melody of some kind and not a distress signal at all. She thought it was some kind of weird beacon calling something to it. What or who it was calling to, she had no idea.
The one thing she did know was that it gave her a huge case of the 'icks' and she wasn't a fan of it at all.
She wondered if Spock had listened to it and what he thought it sounded like. She decided that now was as good a time as any to find out.
"Mr. Spock, I need you to listen to this right now." She told him, breaking the silence suddenly.
Looking for the PADD that Jim gave her underneath all the crap she was researching, she finally came up victorious and pulled it out from the mess in front of her. Tapping the screen, a couple of times, she brought up the copy of the 'distress signal' that Jim gave her and sent it to Spock's computer. Plopping down into his chair, she pulled up the sound file on his computer and pressed play.
The whole time she did this, she could see out of the corner of her eye that Spock was watching her with his brow raised.
The odd 'distress signal' began to play and again she had to fight off a huge case of the 'icks', she tried to ignore the strange feeling the melody gave her because she didn't really want to have to try and explain to Spock what that part was about. Especially because she was unsure about it herself.
"Does this sound like any distress signal you've heard before? All the distress signals I've heard before sound mechanical, and this sounds like some kind of melody. It feels more like a beacon calling for something rather than a distress signal. What do you think?" She asked curiously.
Looking at her with his brow still raised, Spock's facial expression remained the same she could see the pride in his dark eyes at her figuring such a thing out all on her own.
"I believe you are correct, Annalise. I have never heard such a sound coming from any type of distress signal before. I will call Captain Kirk and you can tell him your findings." He replied, tapping the comm badge on his chest.
While Spock called Jim to come to his office, she stopped the sound clip. She had heard enough for the time being and it really was starting to make her feel uncomfortable.
After she did this, she turned her attention back to him. He seemed to be assessing her intently and this made her feel very uncomfortable.
'Just what in the HELL was his problem now?' She wondered, shifting uncomfortably.
Before she could ask him, Jim walked into the office and greeted Spock. After he did that, he strode right up to her and deliberately ruffled her hair. It drove her insane when he did that, he knew that took forever to get her hair just right.
"Hey Annie-pants, what's up?" He asked playfully.
Letting out a frustrated growl, she tried to fix her hair and straighten the shiny baubles she had in it. It took all of the self-control she had not to punch him square in his stupid face. She could feel that Spock was still watching her, and she fought hard not to blush hard.
"This is what's up, you annoying jerk!" She hissed angrily, forcing him to look in the direction of Spock's computer.
She turned the sound clip on and forced him to listen to all of it.
"Does this sound like any normal distress signal to you?" She questioned, yanking him closer to the computer hard.
At being yanked so hard, he inadvertently let out a squeak probably higher pitched than he wanted it to be.
"Okay, okay, Alright! I'm sorry I messed up your hair! No, I suppose it doesn't. What do you think it is, then?" He asked curiously.
At his apology, she let loosened her grip on Jim's shirt letting him free and instead focused her attention on the odd sounding clip they were all currently listening to.
"We aren't sure, I think it's some kind of beacon calling to something. What or who I don't know. It's just way too melodic to be a distress signal, distress signals usually sound way more robotic and urgent. I really think we need to change our approach." She explained.
Briefly, she turned her attention to Spock who inclined his head in agreement with her and then turned her attention back to Jim who thankfully seemed to understand just what it was that she was trying to tell him.
"Alright, here's what we're going to do. Mr. Spock, I want you to start looking into this and Annalise, I want you to take the rest of the day off." He ordered.
Her jaw just about hit the floor at what he just said.
"Excuse me?" She yelled incredulously.
Turning to face her fully, he placed both his hands on her shoulders and gave her a look he only used when he was being extremely serious. It was so intense that she looked away from him.
"Look at me, Annie-pants." He said softly.
She had no choice but to comply and look back up at him.
"You are stressed out and don't tell me you aren't. I also know that you've had a couple of bad days. It's okay to take half a day off, you know. It won't kill you and you won't miss anything." He admonished gently.
Making a face, she completely deflated. She knew that he was right. She was both insanely frustrated and humiliated at that fact. She realized that Bones must have been feeding him information about what was going on with her. She was going to make him pay dearly for this bullshit. Mark her words.
"Alright, fiiine. I'll take the rest of the stupid day off." She grumbled.
As much as she wanted to tell him to fuck off, she couldn't. He captained this ship and she knew that he would use his rank to force her to do it.
Instead, she bid both him and Spock goodbye and shuffled rather pathetically out of the room.
After she left, she tried to decide what she was going to do with her sudden half a day off. She could just go back to her quarters and try to relax but she wasn't sure if that would work. Listening to that signal so many times wound her up unmerciful.
She decided instead to check out a new holo program that Jim had made up for her as sort of a 'congrats on your first mission' type gift. He did try to take ice skating before of course but it wasn't easy. This way she had her very own arena that she could go and use whenever she pleased. It was a dream come true to be able to skate whenever she wanted. Unfortunately, she had been far too busy to test it out until now.
Skating it was. Hopefully, skating a couple of laps around the arena would tire her out and get rid of most of her stress so she could relax a bit.
Six Hours Later
Annalise
There was darkness all around her and there didn't seem to be a way out from wherever she was. It felt like limbo and no matter how much she ran, she got nowhere.
All she could hear was the melody of the beacon, it was so loud and all it did was repeat itself over and over.
This had to be a wacked out dream of some kind, she didn't know what else it could be. She needed out before she was driven insane.
Why was it doing this to her? It needed to stop, NOW!
Eventually, she managed to rip herself violently from her odd dream and her brown eyes snapped open. Sitting straight up in bed, she struggled to breath and then panicked. Not quite in her right mind, she tried to jump out of bed, but the sheets were all tangled around her legs, and she ended up falling out of bed with a huge 'thump'.
Falling onto her shoulder, she felt the disgusting feeling of her shoulder joint popping out of place and then nothing but blinding pain.
She couldn't help the pain filled yell that exploded out of her mouth.
