Learning To Love

New Friends

Spock

          Bewildered by the young doctors course of action, I stood in my spot 34.5 seconds after she left before speaking. "She seems..." I decided to choose my words wisely. "She seems to be an extremely, illogical, girl." I stated as I looked at Jim. Amused, the Captain set a smug look into his face. Mentally rolling my eyes, I knew the Captain excited over the fact that I might be 'in love' as the human race defines it. "Jim," I muttered. "The doctor obviously was 'checking me out,'  as you would put it. Therefore the only logical course of action was to 'flirt,' once again using your choice of words, with her since she is, indeed, a human."
The Captain nodded enthusiastically, still keeping a knowing smile on his face.
          "But you don't deny the fact that you find her attractive?" He smirked, narrowing his eyes at me.
          I tilted my head forward so that he couldn't see my neck, and my bottom lip jutted out. "Sir," I replied, slightly shaking my head. "I will admit that her record as a doctor is, in fact, admirable," I paused and narrowed my eyes. "...although her understanding of chemistry is somewhat lacking. I have reviewed her record in Starfleet Academy and it seems perfect. She was recommended by some of the greatest professors at Starfleet and they think very highly of her-"
          "Spock, your ranting." Captain Kirk smiled. I paused with my mouth open. "If I didn't know better, I'd say you were in love. You've got the con." He chuckled, standing up and entering the turbo lift.
"Captain I-"
The turbo lift doors slid closed, cutting me off.

Amber

"I think I'll have a green smoothie and a small strawberry cheesecake muffin for breakfast." I muttered to myself in the crowded Rec room.
Shoving in my card, the food replicator opened, and I took my breakfast. Turning around, I scanned the room for an empty seat.
"Hello!" A strong Russian accent beamed from bedside me. I cranked my head up to see who it was. "I'm Chekov!" The guy smiled, balancing his tray of breakfast in one hand while holding his other out for me to shake.
"Nice to meet you!" I smiled back, holding both of my food items in my left hand to shake his with my right. "Dr. Amber Presley."
"Would you like to come sit with me and my friends? I was just getting some seconds. We have an extra chair." He shrugged, pointing to a table in the left corner with two empty seats.
"Why the heck not." I laughed, allowing him to lead the way. After we approached the table, Chekov took his seat and patted the seat next to him. Sitting to his right, I stretched my legs out underneath the table and leaned back, closing my eyes. "Sorry, I'm not an early riser." I muttered to the three strangers around me.
"No problem girl," The only girl of the strangers chuckled. I felt the eyes of everyone on me. "I'm not either. I almost didn't make it to the final at the Academy. I had to beg the professor to let me in, and even then he took eighteen points off my grade!" She explained as I straightened up to listen to her story.
Raising my brows, I sunk my teeth in my muffin. "Zoinks. That sucks." I shook my head, using one of my favorite words. Swallowing my food, I smiled. "I'm Dr. Amber Presley! Nice to meet you..." I dragged off, forgetting if she told her name or not.
"Nyota Uhura. I'm the Communications Officer." She grinned, then took a bite of her biscuit.
"I'm Scotty, Chief Engineer." The man to my right smiled, leaning back after he shoved the last of his breakfast into his mouth.
          "Nice meeting you guys!" I replied, looking around the room. Suddenly, my eyes landed on my favorite game. "No way! You guys have 3D chess?! I wanna play!" I yelled, flying out of my chair and sitting at the table containing the game. "Who wants to play? I was the champion back in the Academy." I giggled, glancing between my three new friends. Chekov, Scotty, and Nyota crowded around me.
"Sorry lass, I've gotta get to main engineering in ten minutes. I'd have to leave ya hangin'." Scotty shrugged, looking down at me regretfully.
"I've never been too good at the game. Sorry Amber." The Russian chuckled, holding up his hands.
"I'm afraid I'm not too good either." Nyota scrunched up her face. Suddenly, a light turned on in her head. "Hey! Our Science Officer is a master at the game! Why don't we meet later and the two of you battle it out?" She suggested as I froze, my hand lingering over a chess piece.
"Y-you um..." I didn't know how to say it. "Are you talking about the Vulcan?" I managed, suddenly becoming very interested in my shoes.
"Oh! You've already met him?" Nyota asked. I could feel her eyes staring at the back of my head. Slowly, I bobbed my head up and down. "Perfect! What time then? Seventeen hundred hours?(5 pm)" She giggled, clapping her hands.
          I shrugged. "I-I guess." Just the mention of him, my stomach tumbles over. I thought, just now realizing Nyota was talking.
          "-right Amber? Anyway I'll see the three of you later!" She yelled, exiting the room.
          "I've got to get going too lass. See you at the game!" Scotty laughed, waving as he exited too.
Chekov stared at my pale face for a moment, before standing up. I didn't even realize he had sat down... "You okay? You seem a bit pale." He asked gently, furrowing his brows and touching my arm. Heat flooded to my face. I am NOT about to tell him about my dumb fantasy of crushing on Spock...because that's all it is. A crush. Right? I've had crushes on guys before, but I've never thought about dating them. Guys just hurt me. They use me. Plus, Spock's a Vulcan. He cares more about his career than he would about a girl, much less me. If anything, he would want a Vulcan girl, not a human. He was just flirting with me to be nice, probably because he noticed me checking him out. Wait, was I that obvious?! Zoinks!
"Uh-yeah! Yeah I'm fine. I'm perfectly fine! Well, I gotta go now! Gotta get to sick bay! See you later Chekov! Glad I could meet you guys! Bye!" I stuttered, biting my lip after standing up. In one swift movement, I swiveled on my heel and dashed out of the door, smacking straight into a blue shirt.
"Ouch!" I hissed before I felt myself falling. Suddenly, two large hands wrapped around me, one around my waist, the other wrapped around my right wrist, pulling me to their chest. Once I stabilized, I took one step back, the two large hands gently releasing me. Without looking up, I ran my tongue across my bottom lip, wincing once I felt blood. Tears welled up in my eyes, but I quickly blinked them away.
          "Doctor! Are you okay? I apologize, I was not looking where I was headed." The familiar voice said, lifting my chin up with their forefinger. I kept my eyes lowered as he lifted my face, just in case the tears were still visible.
          "Yeah Mr. Spock, I'm fine." I mumbled, still not looking up at him. Quickly retracting his hand, he folded them behind you back.
          "I see now that my question, and your answer, were illogical. Your lip is bleeding, therefore, you are not alright." Spock decided, shaking his head and raising his brows as he talked. "I will escort you to Sick Bay. Please, follow me."
"No!" I yelled, whipping my head up to look at him. My heart froze and my mouth became dry.
Spock was looking down at me, his lips a bit puckered, eyes searching me, and his head tilted a bit to his right.
"I-I mean, I was just headed there myself. N-no, um, no need for you to uh, to escort me there. I know my way..." I stuttered, again, and turned my body right, not breaking eye contact. I couldn't!
I slowly backed away from him, one foot behind the other until...
"Ah!" I screamed, my left foot tripping over my right. Instantly, I felt Spock's arms wrap around my body, pulling me back up. Holding me close to him, Spock glared down at me as I grinned sheepishly up at him.
"For one, Doctor, the Turbolift is that direction," he said, jabbing him thumb over his shoulder with his free hand. "-and two, you are too clumsy right now to be unattended."
Sighing, I unwrapped my arms from around his waist, which I didn't even realize they were there, and followed him to Sick Bay.

Sick Bays doors slid open, and Spock ordered me to wait while he fetched Dr. McCoy.
"I'm a Doctor! Not a veterinarian!" I heard a voice yell from my left. Entering the room, I saw Spock patiently waiting behind, who I presumed to be the Doctor, not veterinarian, and an older lady with a Golden Retriever puppy.
Eyes widening, I squealed and ran to the puppy. "It's so cute! What's its name?!" I exclaimed, picking the pup off of the table and stroking its golden fur.
"Her name is Rosebud." The older lady mumbled, glaring at the Doctor. "She's hurt and this Doctor won't treat her."
Tensing up, the Doctor beside me rolled his eyes. "I have two patients showing signs of the Rigelian fever. If I don't give the this hypo-" the Doctor paused to hold up the hypospray he was holding, "-to them immediately, there will be no one to take care of the puppy. Now, if you will excuse me..." He said as he straightened up and turned away. "What do you need Spock?" His voice drifted away as Spock and he turned the corner.
Sighing dramatically, the lady threw her hands into the air. "What am I going to do?! That stupid old Doctor." She growled.
Glancing up at her, I smiled. "He's right you know. Rigelian Fever spreads fast. Perhaps I can help with little Rosebud while he treats the other patients. Here-" I grunted as I put the puppy down back on the table. Turning around, I searched for a medical tricorder. "there..." I mumbled once I found one, returning to the dog. Scanning her body, I noticed a fluctuation when I scanned it over her right, front foot. "Ouch! Poor little Rose. It seems like her bone is cracked in three places!" I exclaimed and searched around for the proper treatments.
Five minutes later, Rosebud was back in her owners arms, yapping at and biting her.
"Come see me in a week to see how little Rosebud is doing!" I exclaimed as she walked out the door.
"I will. And thank you again!" She giggled as the doors slid closed.
"Your not supposed to be starting work until next week!" The Doctor chuckled from behind me as I jumped. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare ya."
"Oh! No it's fine. I'd do anything for an animal, and seeing that you were busy, I decided to help her." I shrugged, looking around for Spock. He must have left. I thought as I mentally pouted.
"Well thank you. Now come over here so I can treat that lip!" Doctor ordered, pointing to a table I could sit on while he found the proper treatments. After he found it, he came over and lifted my chin up, dabbing my lip with a piece of cloth. I swung my legs back and forth, trying not to show how bad it hurt. "I'm Doctor Leonard McCoy, but my friends just call me Bones. Spock told me your my new Doctor, and boy am I glad it's you. When Jim told me a new girl Doctor was coming aboard, I figured it was going to be some mean, stuck up fresh outta the Academy, girl. Spock's told me you're very intelligent and that you graduated at the top of your class. He kept going on and on about how brilliant and amazing your medical record is." Bones chuckled, giving the last touches to my lip. My face burned red at Spock's complements. "If he wasn't a Vulcan, I'd say he had a thing for you Amber."
          I laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of my neck as he put up the items. "Well-um...yeah that's funny..." I tried, forcing out a laugh. Freezing in his spot, Bones slowly turned around. I bit the other side of my lip that wasn't injured.
          "Don't tell me YOU have a thing for that pointy-eared machine?!" He hissed, staring at me through his vibrant blue orbs.
          "I don't?" I tried to lie, jumping down from the table so he couldn't see my face.
          "Oh well this is great. My new Doctors in love with that crazy, unemotional, machine!"
          "Shhhh!" I hissed, running over to him and clamping my hand over his mouth. "Don't tell anyone!" I pleaded, giving him my best puppy dog eyes.         
          Peeling my hand off, he agreed. "I won't. Anyway, I've never seen him with a girlfriend anyway! This will prove to be interesting." Bones smiled, seeming to be pleased with himself.
          Sighing a sigh of relief, I dropped my hands to my side. "Thank you."
          "No problem Amber. Hey, I gotta check on my patients, I'll see you at the chess game later! You better win!" He hurried, leaving the main room.
How many people know about the chess game later? I thought, furrowing my brows as I headed out of Sick Bay.