Among The Stars

Part 5

    They walked down the corridor towards the mess hall, chatting about the small things like favorite colors. Hers: yellow, his: the sliver of the Enterprise. At this Maggie shook her head and said, "I'll always have to compete with her eh?"

With a solemn nod he said, "Aye lassie but I think the ship will always come in second to ye."

"Oh you are a cheeky one" Maggie shot back with a smirk. By this time they had got their food and found a secluded corner by a window. Maggie smiled as she saw McCoy and Spock in another corner playing chess, yes those two were good for each other. "What makes you smile so large, Miss Maggie?"

Maggie smiled back and replied, "Oh, I'm just so happy for Len, he's had a rough go of it with relationships. I'm glad he and Spock finally got the gumption to be together. "

  "From the looks of it, the captain needs that kind of steadying too" Madge raised an eyebrow as she looked at Jim who was watching Len and Spock play their game. Scotty responded to the raised eyebrow with an, "Oi! My head isn't always stuck in the Enterprise's warp drive!"

Maggie snorted and continued to eat her wild salmon. "Alright Mr. Scot, an easy question for you, where in Scotland are you from?" The conversation flowed easily from there and the hours flew by as they talked about their families and childhood. He talked about his sister who had just married and even though she was older by a couple years he still felt protective, to which Maggie had to interpose and say that yes she knew what that was like all too well with two younger brothers. Both knew from an early age that they wanted to be among the stars and wanted more than anything to be fixers and healers.

"When did you know you wanted to be an engineer?"

    "Ach I was a wee little thing and had just learned about warp engines so I decided to try and fix my fathers hover craft that had sat in the garage for years. Well let me tell you, he was speechless, here was his six year old son covered in grease and fixing his busted old hovercraft! That feeling of pride when it was fixed was something else. I fell in love right there, and knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life fixing, repairing and improving." 

Maggie nodded in understanding, she understood that feeling. She told Scotty about reading her history books, and wanting to know the why behind the exploration, and their decisions. She loved women like Mary II, Anges Campbell and others who stood their ground. She always wanted to see the stars but having observed her father travels in space, she knew how stressful it could be and that crews needed professionals to talk to, and so she did.

Scotty and Maggie continued to talk about this and that, finally landing on reading material. Scotty loved reading the latest in engineering and had a stack of journals on his nightstand, his idea of relaxing. He also loved the occasional classic crime novel (Sherlock Holmes being a favorite) , he stayed away from action novels and films - he saw too much of that in real life to be spending his down time reliving it. He also had a set of bagpipes hanging in his quarters, at one point he had been fairly good at playing - even playing for local fairs and the occasional Federation fancy dinner (which Lord he hated but it was an excuse to wear a kilt, and he wasn't ashamed to admit he looked damn good in a kilt). He hadn't played in years and was a bit rusty. Maggie chewed on her lip for a brief moment and narrowed her eyes, Scotty saw the look and asked, "What is that look for lass?" Maggie responded, "Oh I am trying to imagine you in a kilt and I am liking the mental picture quite a bit." The Scotsman blushed, laughed and said, "Ach then maybe after ye get to know me better, I'll show it to ye."

 Maggie grinned and nodded in excited agreement. Maggie then admitted to having learned how to play the piano, and had played all the way through the Academy but had become a bit rusty since joining the Enterprise.

    Maggie only realized the time when her eyelids started to grow heavy, "Scotty! It's 0130!" Both their eyes grew comically wide as they started to laugh.

 "May I escort ye to your room Miss Maggie? I do believe I know where ye live."

 
"Why certainly Mr. Scott, I do believe we are neighbors!" This was something that had made Maggie flush scarlet when Jim needled her about it a few days before - he was the one that made sure these soulmates were next door neighbors. She just shook her head at Jim's brotherly behavior. As they got up from the table and began to walk towards their quarters, Maggie nervously reached out for Scotty's hand to which he quickly responded by closing the gap. Both had a soft smile as they made it to the door of her quarters. Scotty lifted Maggie's hands to his lips and gave a small kiss, "Good night Miss Crawford see ye in the mornin'"