Leonard McCoy (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
countrydoctor) wrote2013-08-07 09:55 pm
countrydoctor) wrote2013-08-07 09:55 pm
An Officer and a Lady
The Enterprise is in for repairs and that means he’s out for a walk. A starbase isn’t much of a change of scenery, but there are only so many ways through the maze of a ship’s corridors-- it’s something. A crowd of people who haven’t whined to him about their hangnails. A drink with a novel view.
“Doctor,” says a familiar voice, politely. There’s an edge of warmth.
“M--” he turns to face her, biting off his surprise and giving her a quick look up and down. “Captain,” he corrects himself, surprised not at the change of rank but that she’s there.
He'd looked her up, once. Not right away, because he'd forgotten; but he'd woken uncertainly days later from a dream of a dream, something like a memory but uncertain, and he'd remembered her name. Her file confirmed the rank she'd claimed, and the picture had been unmistakable. But he hadn't read on. It was incredible enough to think he could imagine that City, the brief time they'd spent there; unsettling enough that she was real. To think he might have dreamed (or was it more than a dream?) of a woman killed in action, or lost to the emptiness of space... (And what if they met there again? Could he have faced her, knowing her fate? Would it be worse to tell her or conceal it?)
But here she is.
It's been much longer for her, of course-- he's a gentleman, so he doesn't do the math. She doesn't look too much worse for the wear-- a few lines around her eyes to go with the stripes on her sleeves. Still a sight for sore eyes. (Is he staring? Under the circumstances he doesn't think she'd hold it against him.)
"I have a meeting," she says regretfully, touching him lightly on the arm, "but if you're available we could catch up over dinner?"
"Of course," he answers with a friendly nod, and then she's gone.
"I wasn't aware you were acquainted with Captain Robbins," Spock later observes, proving many things-- not the least of which, McCoy thinks, is that those big damn ears let Vulcans hear like bats. He's sure the first officer wasn't in sight when they spoke.
The doctor meets his stare. "I do get around," he says simply, and manages not to smile when Spock arches an eyebrow at him.
[Written by Alms
Follow-up to Poly Fourth Wall]
“Doctor,” says a familiar voice, politely. There’s an edge of warmth.
“M--” he turns to face her, biting off his surprise and giving her a quick look up and down. “Captain,” he corrects himself, surprised not at the change of rank but that she’s there.
He'd looked her up, once. Not right away, because he'd forgotten; but he'd woken uncertainly days later from a dream of a dream, something like a memory but uncertain, and he'd remembered her name. Her file confirmed the rank she'd claimed, and the picture had been unmistakable. But he hadn't read on. It was incredible enough to think he could imagine that City, the brief time they'd spent there; unsettling enough that she was real. To think he might have dreamed (or was it more than a dream?) of a woman killed in action, or lost to the emptiness of space... (And what if they met there again? Could he have faced her, knowing her fate? Would it be worse to tell her or conceal it?)
But here she is.
It's been much longer for her, of course-- he's a gentleman, so he doesn't do the math. She doesn't look too much worse for the wear-- a few lines around her eyes to go with the stripes on her sleeves. Still a sight for sore eyes. (Is he staring? Under the circumstances he doesn't think she'd hold it against him.)
"I have a meeting," she says regretfully, touching him lightly on the arm, "but if you're available we could catch up over dinner?"
"Of course," he answers with a friendly nod, and then she's gone.
"I wasn't aware you were acquainted with Captain Robbins," Spock later observes, proving many things-- not the least of which, McCoy thinks, is that those big damn ears let Vulcans hear like bats. He's sure the first officer wasn't in sight when they spoke.
The doctor meets his stare. "I do get around," he says simply, and manages not to smile when Spock arches an eyebrow at him.
[Written by Alms
Follow-up to Poly Fourth Wall]