Aviophobia (Leonard McCoy)

26. Progressions

2 months later
Kate and Leonard walked hand in hand out of Star Fleet Academy.  Teaching had been going well so far.  It was a big adjustment for Leonard, but Kate was able to help him figure out how to teach the lab and he began to enjoy the process of teaching as much as she did.  Kate could tell that he was getting anxious to actually get back to being a doctor, but that would have to wait until the Enterprise was ready to go again in another ten months.

As they got to the bottom of the stairs outside academy, Kate asked, "Do you have everything you need for tonight, or do we need to swing by your place?"

Leonard groaned before saying, "We need to go by my place.  I've been wearing the same three uniforms for the past two weeks.  I need to rotate through the rest of them or I'll end up with three uniforms that look worse than the rest of them."

Kate could sense his frustration with having to go back to his place.  It was pretty out of the way considering they spent all their free time at her apartment.  Still, she hadn't really thought of a way to ask him to move in with her.  She knew he probably would, since they were practically living together anyway, but she couldn't help but remember his hesitation at even having a relationship with her to begin with, so she didn't want to scare him off.

Kate shrugged, trying to ease his frustration, and said, "I don't mind going over there, Len.  You know that.  Besides," then lowered her voice so that only he would hear her and said, "it'll be a nice change of scenery to sleep with you at your place rather than just mine."

Kate heard Leonard groan beside her again, but this time for entirely different reasons, as he said, "My God, woman, you're going to be the death of me."

Kate raised an eyebrow as she grinned at him and said, "But I sure hope not any time soon, because I do have plans for you when we reach your place."

Tightening his grip on her hand, Leonard sped up and said, "Well, I've always been told it was rude to keep a woman waiting.  So let's not waste any time," and Kate couldn't help the giggle that came out of her as she rushed off with him toward his apartment.

After they finished up, Kate wandered into Leonard's kitchen as he packed a few new uniforms and sat down at the bar to wait on him.  She noticed a sheet of paper on the bar a little further down, so she reached over and pulled it closer to her so she could see what it was.  Across the top, she read 'Lease Agreement' and looked over it a little more before seeing that Leonard's lease was up at the end of this month.  She slid the paper back down to where it had been and felt butterflies in her stomach.

Kate wanted Leonard to move in with her.  Had wanted him to move in for weeks now.  It just wasn't practical for him to have this place since they spent all their time together at her place, but she had trouble overcoming her nerves about bringing it up to him.  Now she found his lease agreement and had the perfect opportunity to bring it up.  She was just nervous that it would scare him off.  But, if it did, was Leonard really worth investing so much emotion into?

It didn't take long for Leonard to leave his room and join her in the kitchen asking, "Ready to go, darlin'?"

Kate shook her head and patted the seat beside her as she said, "Almost, can we talk about something first?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow and seemed concerned, but sat his bag down and joined her at the bar and asked, "Everything okay?"

Kate nodded and smiled at him, trying to reassure him, and said, "Yeah, Len, everything's great.  More than great, really.  I can't tell you the last time I was as happy as I've been these past two months."

Leonard cocked his head and still seemed concerned as he asked, "So what's the issue, then?"

Kate shook her head, "There's no issue," then leaned down and slid the lease agreement over to him and said, "I just found this on your counter and, I've been thinking about this for a few weeks anyway, wanted to see if you might want to move into my place permanently."