Aviophobia (Leonard McCoy)

11. The Trouble With Tribbles (Part 1)

Kate breathed a sigh of relief as she changed out of her Star Fleet uniform into a more comfortable pair of skinny jeans with a sparkly tank top.  Wearing personal clothes felt so much more relaxing than being in uniform.  She fluffed her hair and fixed her makeup before joining Nyota so they could enjoy a little bit of shore leave.  She knew that Jim was frustrated with having to deal with whatever it was he was dealing with, but she was glad for the change to get off the ship and be a normal person for a while.

As Kate left her quarters and rounded a corner so she could go to the transport room, she ran into someone and apologized quickly, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," then looked up and saw that it was Leonard that she had run into.  He seemed startled to be so close to her, and she felt heat rise to her cheeks, so she quickly rushed away from him before they could engage in awkward small talk.  Somewhere deep inside of her, she knew this wasn't really the best way to handle literally running into him, but she couldn't stand to be around him.  It still hurt too much and she knew that she needed to give some distance so that she could finally try to get over him.

She pushed these thoughts aside and determined that she was going to have a good time off ship with Nyota.  The two of them hadn't had time together in so long, it was going to be great to just be friends rather than colleagues on a ship, even if it was just a few hours.  As Kate arrived to the transport room, Nyota greeted her with a hug and said, "Ready to get off this ship?"

Kate laughed and replied, "More than you know.  Let's get out of here!"

They beamed down to the station and took in their surroundings.  It was a fairly busy area, and there seemed to be plenty of shops and restaurants for them to choose from.  It was almost too difficult to decide what to do in such a short amount of time.  Nyota looked around and asked, "Well, should we get a drink to celebrate first, then find some shopping to do?"

Kate smiled in response before saying, "That sounds great.  There's a bar that looks pretty nice over there."

Nyota put her arm through Kate's and said, "Well, let's get on with it!"

As they entered the bar, Kate was almost overwhelmed with how many people were in there.  Being on the Enterprise for so long now, she had gotten use to being around the same people all the time.  All the new faces made her feel anonymous, and that was a wonderful feeling after being around the same group of people for so long.  She and Nyota took a seat at the bar and each ordered their drink before Nyota turned to her and asked, "So, how's the awkward relationship with Leonard going?"

Kate was taking a sip of her water and was caught off guard by Nyota's sudden line of questioning.  She choked on her water and began coughing to clear her throat, then took a breath to calm herself before saying, "I should know by now that there's nothing subtle about you, shouldn't I?"

Nyota shrugged and agreed, "You should.  Now, how's it going?"

Kate sighed and shook her head.  She had told Nyota about telling Leonard that friendship wasn't enough for her anymore already.  She wasn't sure what Nyota was wanting from her, so she shook her head and replied, "I don't know what you want to hear."

Nyota kept waiting in silence, so Kate sighed before continuing, "After I told him friendship wasn't enough for me anymore, we haven't talked outside of a professional context.  I don't think we're going to."

Nyota closed her eyes and shook her head  as their drinks were delivered.  She took a sip of hers before saying, "Kate, I know you want to get over him, but is avoiding him and being awkward really the best way to handle it?"

Kate took a sip of her drink to think for a moment then said, "I know it's not, but I don't know what else to do.  We fall into the same patterns.  I think we both care about each other too much and we've got too much history to not do that.  I just can't handle it any more.  I can't handle him being kind and flirting with me, knowing it's not going to go anywhere."