TOO COOL VERSE (A much needed cheerful note.)

[bones_mccoy63]

After a long day in medical, McCoy was looking forward to spending the evening with his girlfriend. Things had been going perfectly for him and Nyota had suggested earlier that they make use of the ship's bowling alley since they both had the night off

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[bones_mccoy63]

"All day? You poor thing. I'm the worst boyfriend a girl could ask for, darlin', you really can do better," he teased back as she turned to face him. Once she was facing him completely, he stepped forward and leaned in to press a gentle, but lingering kiss to her lips. It felt so good to be back in her arms again, to taste her lips on his once more. Even though he'd just seen her that morning before his shift, being able to do more than sleep beside her was nice. They'd both been so busy that they really deserved a little bit of relaxation by now. All of his stress from earlier in the day melted as his lips meshed with hers and he finally pulled back to let out a slow breath.

He grabbed a pair of bowling shoes and took a seat in the chair beside the one she'd been in just a moment ago when he walked in. "So, I'm going to forewarn you, Nyota, I really am quite good at bowling. I may not let you win," he said, in an equally teasing tone. Everything was so simple with Nyota, maybe that's why they got along so well. So often they had entire conversations that really had no point whatsoever outside of teasing one another or giving the other a hard time about something silly, but it was such a comfortable chemistry between the two of them that it never caused problems.

[nyota_uhura24]

"You're awful," she teased back. "Going to work all day and healing people instead of paying attention to me." She laughed, and then he was kissing her. She melted into it, laying one hand on his cheek. The other hand found his and tangled their fingers together. The kiss was gentle and slow, with no intention of being anything more than a kiss, but it meant so much to her. It was so simple, but she'd missed it. She'd missed him and instantly she felt the stress melting away. She didn't want him to pull away, but she never wanted him to pull away. It just felt right to be with him. She treasured every moment they had together.

She laughed when he told her that he was good at bowling. "Let me win? That'd be completely impossible," she said, waving a hand airily and raising one eyebrow. "Mostly because I'm actually awful at this." She laughed. "Actually, I've only bowled a few times before. But maybe beginner's luck will prevail?" Not that any of it really mattered. She was happy just to be around him, especially with the knowledge that neither of them had to be on duty until tomorrow morning. They could actually relax and just be with each other.

[bones_mccoy63]

"I know, I know.. It's a sad, shameful profession. I really should just give it up so that I can spend more time with you... I've missed you far too much lately," he replied, chuckling softly as he did so. He was going to break the kiss, really, he was, but then her hand was on his face and in his hair and although he was not going to push the encounter past a kiss, the passion and warmth of her lips dancing with his just shivers down his spine. It felt so good to just hold her there for a moment and put the rest of the world on hold. God, she was perfect... but then, he needed to breath, Damn you, reliance on oxygen, so he pulled back and took a deep breath, smiling down at her.

"You're awful, huh? Well you throw the first frame, then, maybe I can help!" he said with a grin. It really didn't matter to him either, whether he won or lost, because the point of the outing wasn't the game, it was the time they were able to spend with one another. He picked up a ball that he figured was light enough for her and stood up, holding it out to her. "You're up, darlin'."

[nyota_uhura24]

She snorted at his reply. “A shameful profession indeed. I think you should give it up and wait around all day for me to come home, because clearly at least one of us needs a job.” They were being completely ridiculous, but that wasn’t really all that unusual for them. It had surprised her, at first, that he had this gentle, teasing, side, but now it was one of the many things she loved about him. When he pulled away from the kiss, she resisted the urge to kiss him again and just grinned. “So how was your day?” she asked, her smile slipping just a little. “Most of the departments seem pretty stressed out with all these computer problems and missing equipment. I hope things weren’t too bad in medbay.”

He handed her a ball, and she took it. “All right, here goes,” she said. It didn’t matter that she didn’t really know how to bowl, although maybe he could help her get better at it. If she was going to do something, she might as well at least try to do it well. She actually concentrated as she threw the ball. It knocked down 3 pins on one side. She laughed. “Well, at least it didn’t go in the gutter.”

[bones_mccoy63]

"Well, we have some equipment missing and our computers have been going completely haywire. I even sent for a computer technician, but Gaila couldn't figure out what was going on the file system either, so my day was admittedly stressful," he said, but intended to reassure her that he was okay within the next few sentences as he lifted a hand to caress her cheek with his thumb affectionately. "I am, however, in a pretty incredible mood now that I'm spending time with you."

"Here goes," he said with a nod, watching her form as she bowled and hit a few pins along the edges. "That's very true, you've got a good step, your hand is just angled wrong!" He stood up and picked up her ball for her as it rolled back up. "Here, let me help," Leo said with a smile as he placed the ball in her hand and cradled her hand in his, stepping in behind her. He led her through the process as she bowled and held her hand steady as she released the ball so that it went straight, knocking down the rest of the pins. "See, you're not so bad!"

[nyota_uhura24]

Nyota frowned. Whatever was going on on the ship was truly affecting all departments. For a moment her thoughts strayed to the computer code she'd been looking over, but his thumb on her cheek brought her back to the moment. She smiled at his next comment. "Good to hear," she said, and then took a step back because staring into his eyes too long tended to distract them from doing anything else. "You know, despite all the chaos, I actually had a really interesting day. Lieutenant Keenser was helping me rebuild one of the missing files, which was on his native language, Elgemese. So I'm actually learning a new language." It was impossible to keep the excitement out of her voice.

Still grinning, she turned to the bowling. His hand was around hers, and he was standing so close to her it was... distracting, but she forced herself to focus on the way he was directing her movement. "That's how it's supposed to feel?" she said in realization. "Ah, I've been doing it wrong. Thanks." Even though it was just bowling, if she could learn to do it well, she wanted to.

[bones_mccoy63]

He smiled as she talked about learning a new language and her whole face lit up with excitement. He loved how much she enjoyed her job and really liked listening to her talk about it because he admired her passion. "Did you? Well that sounds pretty neat. It still amazes me that you can take all that knowledge in and store it. I would think that trying to learn all those languages would just lead to me forgetting the ones I started with, you know?" he said with a chuckle as he shoved his hands into his pockets and watched her.

It felt good, the warmth of her back against his chest, even for a few moments. "Yes, darlin', that's how it's supposed to feel." He smiled and grabbed the ball that was probably a good three or four pounds heavier. "You're more than welcome, Nyota," he added as he threw a ball on a well balanced curve, knocking down nine of the pins. "Agh! So close."

[nyota_uhura24]

She laughed. "It used to feel like new languages might replace the old ones, but now they all sort of reinforce each other, even if they're not related." She tilted her head in thought, trying to find a way to explain what she meant. "It's just switching into a different way of thinking, I suppose. Just like right now you're calling on your bowling knowledge, even though that's not something you usually think about. It's sort of like that. It's just become second nature by now." She grinned. "In any event, Elgemese is a very guttural language. It doesn't sound pretty, but it's actually quite fun to speak."

She watched carefully as he threw the ball, blushing ever so slightly at his words. "You actually are good at this," she said teasingly. "I was wondering whether or not it was all talk."

[bones_mccoy63]

He listened carefully, chuckling as he nodded. "You know what, I'll admit, most of the time when you're talking about your work, I don't quite understand it, but that particular explanation happens to be quite helpful! It makes a lot of sense. Don't get me wrong, though, I don't mind listening, in fact, I rather enjoy it, but I don't always quite comprehend what you mean because the majority of my knowledge has been focused on the medical field for so long and I've never even learned one foreign language," he said with a smile.

Laughing, Leonard turned back to face her. "Oh, you thought I was pullin' your leg, didya, darlin'? Well, this time, I meant it." After easily knocking down the one remaining pin, he returned to where she was sitting and leaned over to press another kiss to her lips. Something about this woman was beyond addicting.

[nyota_uhura24]

"I know it probably doesn't make a lot of sense, but then again I don't know anything about medicine, aside from the basic first aid we all had to learn at the academy." She smiled gratefully. "I'm glad you don't mind listening. I know I tend to ramble on and on about languages. It's just... such a big part of my life. I actually daydream about languages, if that makes any sense." She blushed a little. "There are usually a lot of languages running around in my head, but sometimes I can get it down to just Standard, with the little whispers of Swahili that never go away. It's a little ironic, because Swahili was actually my first language, but I think more in Standard than anything else."

She watched him knock down the last pin and raised an eyebrow. "Very impressive," she said, a hint of teasing in her voice. Then he kissed her again, and she felt herself melt. One touch was all it took. She kissed him back and then pulled back just a little. "You're very distracting," she teased.

[bones_mccoy63]

"Actually, the way you explain things is normally quite helpful. In helping me to understand what you're talking about and even when I don't fully understand it, I enjoy listening because I know how important it is to you. Your eyes light up when you talk about your work and you speak with such passion... It's really incredibly inspiring." He couldn't help but smile as she blushed. "Really? I can't even begin to imagine what it would be like to speak a different language, let alone truly think in another language. You know, I think Swahili is really my favorite of the languages you've spoken to me. Maybe it's because it's your true native tongue, but something about it just... transcends the boundaries set by Standard."

"Well, I do what I can," he replied with a wink as she teased him about his bowling skills. His knees grew weak for a second as his lips connected with hers, but he regained his balance a little as she pulled away and he smiled down at her. "Darlin', it's not my fault you were sitting over here all alone, those beautiful lips of yours practically beggin' for more attention."

[nyota_uhura24]

She nodded, glad that she was at least making sense. It would be a little ridiculous if she couldn’t explain things properly, given that she was a communications officer. When he told her that her eyes lit up when she talked about it, she blushed a little more. How the hell can he still make me blush? “Thank you,” she said, a little embarrassed but definitely happy about the compliment. “You like it when I speak Swahili?” she added, actually looking away for a moment to hide how touching this was. “Swahili is… the language of my heart,” she admitted softly, and then looked up at him. “There’s a way to express love in Swahili that I know will sound strange in translation, because in Standard the cold-hearted are cruel and unfeeling, but in Swahili the cold-hearted are deeply in love. Wewe ndiyo barafu wa moyo wangu. It literally translates to you are ice for my heart.” She reached out and entwined her fingers with his. Wewe ndiyo barafu wa moyo wangu, mpenzi.”

She laughed at his next comment and then smirked a little as she stood up. “Were they? Well, then I suppose it can’t be helped. And mpenzi, that wasn’t begging,” she teased, grinning as she turned and walked back over to the bowling lane. She forced herself to concentrate for a moment, and managed to knock down six of the pins. Not awful. Still not good…

[bones_mccoy63]

His smile widened as the flush of her cheeks deepened and he ran a hand across her cheek. Gods, she's beautiful... How did you get so lucky, Leonard? What could you ever have done to deserve a woman like her? McCoy nodded as she questioned his statement and pushed a stray lock of her hair back behind her ear. "I adore it, actually. It's strange because... even though I wouldn't be able to, for the life of me, tell you what you were saying, I feel like, somehow, I can understand it none the less," he said, not sure if it made sense or not. When she looked back up at him, he squeezed her hand gently and pressed a far gentler kiss to her lips, whispering softly. "I love you so much, Nyota... Darlin', you mean the world to me..." Leo felt like his expression was far inferior to hers, but he didn't know any other way to say it. He had no vast knowledge of different languages and what not, he was stuck in Standard, not that he thought she minded a bit.

As she stood up, he was reminded that they were in a bowling alley and were actually mid-game at the moment. He laughed softly at her comment and shook his head. "Call it what you like, darlin', but I'm just speakin' the truth!" He smiled as she knocked down six pins this time instead of one. "See! A little practice and you'll be great! You're picking it up already!"

[nyota_uhura24]

Her eyes widened at his explanation. “Some things are beyond mere words, even if we’re using words to express them. So… yes, it makes sense. At least it makes sense to me. Some people would probably tell you that you were being crazy,” she teased lightly. “But it makes my heart cold, in the Swahili sense of the word, to hear you say that.” He kissed her with so much tenderness she felt her heart swell with something so much more than mere attraction. “I love you too,” she replied. “Naku penda Leo. That’s I love you in Swahili.” She knew, both from his words and from something beyond them, how he felt about her. It didn’t matter that he could only tell her in one language. That was all she needed to hear.

She grinned and shook her head. “Well, I’m fairly certain that my lips always look like this… which means they must always be begging for your attention,” she said, picking up the ball and throwing it again. It went into the gutter. She frowned. “You really are distracting me!”

[bones_mccoy63]

"Well, as a linguist and a communications officer, I'm glad you think so... I'm also a little relieved that you don't think I'm crazy for saying that because I really don't want to spend any more time talking to Elizabeth Dehner about my feelings," he teased right back, his smile seemingly perpetual whenever she was near. He exhaled softly and pressed his forehead against hers for a moment, biting his bottom lip as he took a second to just revel in the perfectness of their union. Everything about their relationship was uplifting for him and he knew that he had the same effect on her seeing as she'd confirmed it several times vocally and otherwise.

With a wide grin, he nodded. "You see? You catch on fast, that was exactly my point. Now you understand why I have a hard time keeping my hands to myself when you're within 100 feet or so," he replied, laughing softly as she turned around to face him, pouting. "Nyota! Don't be upset with me for loving you," he teased again.

[nyota_uhura24]

She snorted at that. “You and Liz really don’t seem to get along,” she said, shaking her head. “But that’s all right. She’s a good friend of mine, but I can understand it being difficult when she wants to psychoanalyze you.” She tilted her head. “And of course, I approve of being a little crazy. I think we all must be crazy, or we’d never survive life on the Enterprise.” He pressed his forehead to hers, and she relished the fact that even though they saw each other every day and slept beside each other every night, they still reaffirmed their connection with these little moments. It was sappy, perhaps, but she loved it, and she loved that he told her everyday how much he loved her.

She laughed again when he said that. “100 feet or so? So if I walk by medical bay are you going to have trouble working?” she teased, even though they really did have a hard time keeping their hands off each other. She laughed harder at that last comment. “Why not? It makes it impossible for me to bowl!” she said, and then grinned at him and said in an affectionate voice. “Leo, how could I ever be upset with you for that?”