Echo

Chapter 29: Poor Timing

Author's Notes: I apologize in advance for this criminally short chapter. I have work this upcoming week and have had ZERO time to write. So, please enjoy, next week's will be longer!

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Leonard

You had always been fairly talented at hiding your emotions, Leonard supposed it was how you dealt with day-to-day life, but now that he knew where he stood with you, he was more gifted at perceiving how you felt. At least towards him, in any case, because each time he saw you, you shot him this satisfied little smirk that indicated you were sharing some sort of private joke.

Technically you did have a secret, but it was no joke. Since the coffee two days ago, he had not had a chance to take you on an actual date. It was unfortunate, because he did not want you to feel affronted, but he had explained beforehand that he was extremely busy with work.

As were you, if your recent bout of night shifts was any indication. Still, the two of you had wandered onto a patch of strange territory that was somewhere between mutual interest and dating, and he longed to move past it.

The problem was that dating a person on a starship was rather difficult if you did not want other people knowing about it. You had agreed that you ought to keep it to yourselves for the time being, but considering that there were other officers every single place you could possibly go together aside from your private quarters, the secret was bound to get out eventually. The best you could do was try and postpone that for as long as possible.

He looked down at his PADD, frowning slightly, and pulled up your name on the screen. He wanted to write you a message, to let you know he wasn't dragging his feet on purpose, but somehow he wasn't sure he could put it properly into written words. It was tough to get you alone because you were always surrounded by other members of the veterinary staff, and he could hardly justify hovering there for indefinite periods in hopes that they would disperse.

Although his office technically was not a place where he was supposed to have social interactions, he was bound to be in the medical bay for at least a few more hours and he had no idea what your work schedule was like today. Thus, he typed into the speech bubble, "Do you have a minute?"

There was a pause, before you answered, "Sure."

"My office in five minutes," he replied.

"See you then," you responded.

He tucked the tablet under his arm, looked around to make sure there were no patients, and headed out of the bay and down the hall. When he entered his office, you had not arrived yet, and he sank into his seat, stretching his arms up above his head.

The strangeness of your mutual attraction was not lost on Leonard. Just a few years ago, he had barely been able to stand remaining in the same room as you, finding your existence and your presence to be unpalatable. Now, though, he was making secret appointments with you and giving you flirtatious looks whenever they could be afforded. How on earth you had come not only to forgive him, but also to like him was a mystery, but he was not complaining.

He had just settled in when the door slid open, and he looked up expectantly, only to find to his great disappointment that the captain had walked through the entrance. Evidently it showed on his face, because Kirk looked a little taken aback once within.

"Gee Bones, don't look so happy to see me," said Jim, plopping into a seat across from him.

"I...uh...sorry Jim, I was just in the middle of something," He lied, which was pretty unconvincing considering that his PADD wasn't even lit up.

Regardless, the captain chose not to mention it, and instead told him, "Just came to warn you that we're going to be abroad for two weeks longer than we thought. Apparently there's some interplanetary pirate ship that's been robbing commercial vessels. They haven't attacked any federation ships, but we've been asked to investigate."

"Space pirates?" Leonard asked incredulously, "Damn it man, I'm too old for this crap."

Kirk chuckled and replied, "Me too. We'll need to do an inventory though, find out if we're low on any medical supplies, which I'll need your help with obviously. The Federation might be able to direct us somewhere for a rendezvous in case we do, but they'd like to avoid it if possible."

The doctor rubbed his eyes wearily and replied, "Well I know for a fact that we're low on aspirin, but for everything else I'll need to get the staff to look into."

The door slid open again, and you passed the threshold, smiling at him until you realized that he had company in form of the captain; perhaps the worst possible person to be there at a moment during which you were expecting privacy with the doctor. The only officer he would have wanted there less than Jim was Spock, but the Vulcan seldom had reasoning to visit him in his office anyways. Kirk, however, stopped by indiscriminately. He should have anticipated an alibi for you in the event that the plan would fail.

As soon as your eyes settled on Jim, your smile faded for a fraction of a second before you resumed it and said, "Afternoon, captain. Afternoon, Dr. McCoy."

Leonard just nodded solemnly at you, and Jim said, "Good to see you, ensign."

You shifted your gaze to McCoy, and said, "Dr. McCoy, one of the veterinary staff members got a pretty severe tarantula bite. The nurses disinfected it, but they asked me to let you know, said that you would probably want to take a look at it."

There was a 95% chance that your story was entirely bullshit, but Leonard was abruptly grateful that you were such a good liar. Ordinarily it disturbed him that you could fabricate with such ease, but then again you were an ex-assassin. Making up stories was probably second nature to you.

"How urgent is it?" He asked.

You shrugged and replied, "Not terribly, but if you're busy I can ask one of the other doctors."

"No, it's fine, I'll be at the medical bay in..." he shifted his gaze to Jim briefly before continuing, "Perhaps half an hour. If I take any longer, let one of the other doctors know and return to your post. For now, will you stay with the patient?"

Leonard hoped you knew that was code for, "Wait around for thirty minutes, and if I don't come out, I probably won't for a while."

He had no way of knowing, however, because you simply nodded at him, smiled at the captain again, and left the office. He watched you go with a mild sense of longing, cursing Kirk for his horrible timing, and once you were gone Jim resumed their discussion about the search for the illegal vessel.

By the time he was done, about 25 minutes had passed, and while the doctor considered it to be of great importance to listen, which he did, he really just wanted to get out of there. He had no idea when you would be available next, and had no desire to ask you on a date via a PADD message, so once Jim had left, he practically threw his tablet on the desk and wrote you a message to let you know that he was free.

He received no reply from you, but a few minutes later you entered the room, looking just as happy to see him as you had before.

"Sorry," he stated as you sat in the chair across from him, "Jim showed up out of nowhere to tell me about space pirates."

Arching an eyebrow, you replied, "You chose the captain and his swash bucklers over me? Thanks for impaling my heart with a butter knife, Dr. McCoy."

He chuckled, relieved by your sarcasm, and the two of you laughed for a while before he asked, "Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?"

You grimaced and said, "I do, but I'm working until 11:00. What about tomorrow?"

He sighed and told you, "I'm slated to be on duty until 7:00, which means I won't get out of the med bay until about 10:00."

"Er...Friday?" You ventured.

He frowned, thinking about it for a moment before saying, "Yes, Friday might work. 8:00?"

"Sounds perfect," you replied. After glancing at your watch, you told him, "I've still got about 10 minutes...want to make out?"

"I've got five," he answered, smirking slightly, "And absolutely."