Echo

Chapter 35: 48 Hours

Author's Notes: Kept you waiting, huh?

- -
Leonard

The doctor stifled a yawn behind his hand as he sipped his cup of black coffee, having elected to make an especially strong brew this morning. As he sat in his lounge chair, prepping to leave for the medical bay in ten minutes, his gaze shifted to his bed.

He had observed the delightful sight of you tangled up in his sheets, wearied from his efforts the previous night during your post-coital napping session. Presently the mattress was vacant of you, because despite his offer to let you stay the night, you had reluctantly decided to go back to your own place to sleep. He understood why you made that choice, considering that you had neglected to bring a change of clothes.

Next time he would need to advise you to do so, because he liked the idea of waking up next to you. He definitely had the same level of feelings for you, perhaps even intensified by the events of last night. Due to how many times you'd wanted him, he was presently fatigued from being woken several times to satisfy your mutual lustful urges.

Leonard had never been the type of man who lost interest in a girl after sleeping with her. If it was a one night stand that was obviously different, but unless she had bizarre fetishes she didn't share, which he had never actually encountered, it was unlikely that he would cast out the idea of a relationship.

He realized not for the first time that the only other occasion on which you had been alone together in his quarters, he had made you cry. This time, he had made you very, very happy. Perhaps that cancelled out what he had done to you before, though he was no less amazed that after your tumultuous relationship a few years back, he was now bedding you with enthusiasm.

By the captain's estimate, they were due back on earth in a few weeks, and he literally couldn't wait to be off this ship.

When he finished his morning cup and exited his room, the doctor was joined by no other than Kirk himself, who was leaving his own quarters at the exact same time. They were neighbors, so this was an ordinary occurrence, but as soon as Jim spotted him, he smiled in a sinister fashion that made Leonard nervous.

They fell in stride together, and the captain said rather slyly, "Morning, Bones."

"Morning Jim," he replied, eyeing him from the side with a mild sense of trepidation.

"Have a good night last night?" He inquired.

Leonard felt a twinge of unease bloom in his stomach. Had the captain spotted you enter his quarters? That was the only way he could have known that the doctor had had company.

Despite his misgivings, he decided to employ a tactic that you regularly used; he played it cool. Well, as cool as he could.

"Yeah, how about you?" He answered.

The captain's voice rose slightly in pitch, as it always did when he was amused about something, and he said, "Good, good. So, I don't know if you've noticed this, but your bathroom is located directly next to mine. For some reason, the walls in that spot are really thin."

At that, McCoy felt a sickening sensation; as if someone had cracked an egg on the top of his head, and the cold yolk was sliding down his neck. The captain had heard you. Despite the fact that it was obvious he knew, Leonard chose to play dumb.

"Oh really? Never noticed," he quipped, his voice unnaturally high.

Obviously having grown weary of the game Kirk said, "Bones, I heard a woman screaming in your shower last night, and unless you were murdering her, you were making her really happy."