Among The Stars

Part 3

Bones and Maggie had been in constant communication via subspace letters and vids so she didn't worry about their friendship being rekindled as he took over as CMO. She did, however, worry about her friendship with Kirk and Uhura. How would it change because of the four years of separation and little to no communication? How would their friendship change because of Kirk's new role as youngest Captain in Federation history? The short answer was: she needn't have worried. On the bridge and in front of the crew there was a natural difference because of the position they both held but in her office and at mess/recreation it was as if nothing had changed. Jim, Maggie, Uhura and Bones were together again.

As time progressed and Maggie shared medbay with Bones, she could see the toll this life was taking on Bones - -how he could see his daughter in some of the younger Ensigns that he could not save, how he constantly worried about Jim and his antics, how not being able to see Joanna on a regular basis was difficult. Bones could slip into a darkness that it was hard to get him out of, despite her best efforts on a personal and professional level. She prepared a hypo to help him during these moments and hoped that there was someone who could come along to help balance him out.

As they sat together in the mess hall after dropping young Charlie off at the nearest starbase, Maggie began to notice something. McCoy was worried about how he would change one of the young crewmembers from iguana to human, Spock gently pressed his middle and index fingers to McCoy's wrist for the briefest of moments. Maggie saw McCoy visibly relax, she would have to watch these two more closely. She gave McCoy a brief raised eyebrow and he answered with a brief smirk. Very interesting indeed...

A few days later Jim asked McCoy and Maggie to stay behind after a senior staff meeting. Once everyone had left the room, Jim took a deep drink of coffee and let out a sigh. Turning to his two heads of medical (the Enterprise was unique and a test ship for having two CMO's - one for the physical aspect of medical and one for the psychological) Jim asked "Is it my imagination or do we seem to be having more accidents on this ship than normal? I don't need anyone hurting my ship." Maggie snorted and rolled her eyes, while McCoy muttered, "Damn infant", out loud McCoy confirmed what Kirk had asked, especially in the engineering department. Maggie confirmed an increase in therapy sessions - this long in deep space, with as many entanglements the Enterprise was in, people were bound to get burned out. Both doctors agreed shore leave was needed - planet side, NOT on the holosuite. Jim nodded thoughtfully and replied, "Well it's a good thing we're picking up our new Chief Engineer and exchanging some crew members at DS9 - we can do a shore leave then." At the mention of the new chief engineer, Maggie's tattoo did a little tale shake. Odd, she thought but put it out of her mind as she and Len were dismissed.

As they walked toward the rec room, Maggie gave Len the side eye and said, "So, you and Spock eh? How long has that been going on?" Len blushed only slightly and gruffed out, "Oh about four months now, trust the head shrink to figure that out. Keep it quiet will ya kid?" Maggie rolled her eyes, and replied, "Of course! For what it's worth, I think you two are good for each other." Len huffed as he got a piece of peach cobbler and a glass of bourbon.