Echo

Chapter 28: The Game

Author's Notes: It took 27 chapters to get to a single kiss? Yeah, I even hate myself ;)

Enjoy!

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Echo

You exhaled heavily and jammed your thumb against the elevator key that would take you to a higher level. It would be a short trip, hopefully, given that nobody else joined you in the car. While you stood there, waiting for your carriage to arrive, you wished desperately for the millionth time that you possessed some sort of device that would transport you into the past so you could prevent yourself from making the largest mistake of your short career on the Enterprise; kissing the CMO.

Leonard had yet to report what you had done. Perhaps he would use it to blackmail you into carrying out favors for him; holding the fact that you had made an unwanted advance towards him over your head as a means of manipulation. Would he be so cruel? There was really no telling with him. He seemed to have a powerful moral compass, at the very least.

Perhaps that was why. He felt bad for you, and did not want to get you in trouble. Great, just what you needed; his pity.

You had asked yourself over and over again after you fled from the room with the tribbles why you had done it, and your answer was as embarrassing as it got. Truly, you had just been gazing at him in that room with no intention of acting upon the desires that had plagued you for weeks, completely willing to remain at a distance, as a spectator. But for some reason, a feeling came over you at the sight of his eyes, level with yours, and his alluringly parted lips that were, for once, not moving to make a sarcastic remark or contemptuous statement.

For some reason, your primal consciousness had abandoned logic and taken over, convincing you that somehow, kissing him was a good idea. It had seemed like a good idea at the time, until you felt the way that he wasn't responding to the affection and had pulled back to observe his stunned expression. You would never forget the seething feeling of humiliation that had crept up on you, because it still had refused to let go.

The doors slid open and you stepped inside, turning to face the buttons and pressing the number "8". You gazed at your feet, waiting for them to shut again, but before they could, an approaching officer caught the elevator car.

He put his arm between the doors so that they crept back into place after beginning to close, and you looked up to discover that your worst nightmare was entering the elevator. You experienced the curious sensation that your organs were melting as Leonard McCoy stepped inside, casually nodding at you as if you had not stupidly kissed him 24 hours ago, and facing the row of buttons.

Dr. McCoy jabbed the number 25 button, and then, curiously enough, pressed the number 8 twice so that the key stopped glowing. That irked you, because as soon as the elevator took off, you would not be able to change its course. The doors began to slide shut, and you wanted to step forward and correct the obvious error he had made, but the doctor was standing in your way.

Truthfully you could just lean around him and do it, but that would involve touching him, and right now was not the best moment for you to be doing that. You wished in vain that someone else would hop aboard and save you the humiliation of the inevitable scolding you were about to get, but the doors went unhindered and began to close.

In the last few seconds as the entrance shrank, you thought you might make a mad dash through the small opening to escape, but it was fruitless. The window of opportunity was gone too quickly, and you would have to face him eventually. Better now, than later, when his wrath might be tenfold.

The doors shut and there was a feeble lurch as the elevator began to move upwards. You blinked hard, took a deep breath, and turned to him, planning to say that you were sorry. You might as well begin in a submissive stance; perhaps that would appease him slightly.