Sickbay -- Day 10, evening [backdated & private/finished]

[my_god_man]

It was on the late side for the CMO to be working away in Sickbay. Even better, it was supposed to be Leonard's day off. But leave it to an underling -- Anderson, specifically, again -- to royally fuck up something as simple as a growth culture. Except this culture -- synthflesh for grafting purposes -- was anything but simple. And his

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[transwarp_beam]

He'd be honest: as a rule, doctors weren't his favourite people. And the Enterprise's CMO had one hell of a reputation. But unfortunately, no Starfleet officer could be cleared for duty without a physical. He'd put it off until he couldn't any more. If there was an emergency during tomorrow's mission - however unlikely that seemed - he wanted to be able to do his bit.

He was surprised to hear someone singing in the medbay as he approached and even more surprised to see who it was coming from. For all his fearsome growling, the good Doctor had quite the singing voice.

Scotty cleared his throat as tactfully as possible.

[my_god_man]

Leonard liked the song he was singing in part because it reminded him of Jo. Back when life was a little more sane, with a wife and kid by his side, he used to sing to his little girl every night. And often in the mornings. And sometimes over a transmission, when she was being sassy with her mother...

Ah hell, it was easier to say that their native tongue to each other had been music.

Well, anyway, this song had been one that Joanna liked sleeping to best. It was a nice evening song, full of promises. It conjured images in his mind of beautiful strawberry blond hair and dark blue eyes. So it was something of a surprise to hear a noise behind him, turn without thinking and find.... well, a blond-haired, blue-eyed man looking at him as if he were speaking in another sort of tongue

[transwarp_beam]

"Oh, no." Scotty paused, thinking over the truth of that statement. "Well, not today. Well. Nothing bad enough to be needin' a trip to sickbay anyway. No..." he gave a sheepish little grin, "Actually, I'm apparently meant to be getting a physical of some sort. Cleared for active duty and all that."

[my_god_man]

"Well, that'd be a first," he muttered back, then regretted it. The man looked like a yellow lab pup who'd been caught with a favorite sneaker. This wasn't Anderson, after all. "More than 'apparently'," McCoy sighed, then smirked. "You're cutting it a bit close, though. We're heading off to mission tomorrow mornin'. What kept you?" He thought he already knew the answer, but he liked to make them squirm some. Besides, the Scotsman made interesting noises when put on the spot.

[my_god_man]

Was the damage severe? Well, the man could obviously hear and didn't seem to need any assistance for it. But there was definitely damage to the cochlea. And unfortunately medicine wasn't a cure-all even in this day and age. It was a shame, really.

"Be happy, you say...," Leonard let out a sigh and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I'll be a happier man the day more people start following Starfleet's example. Mind you, half the time they're not hard enough either." He paused in his grumbling to check the other ear. Yep, same story, different page. He stepped back to look at the man proper. "Inner ear damage is a little like hypothermia: once you get it, it'll only get worse with more exposure. You said you experience dizzy spells? Well, that's a symptom of this particular injury. There isn't a lot I can do for ya 'bout this. Except get on yer case regularly to take care of them ears." His smirk came back for a visit. "A prospect I feel is inevitable anyway, so why don't we start now? Try to be better about that, yeah?"

[transwarp_beam]

"Hasn't slowed me up yet," Scotty said, giving the little half-shrug that had become habit in those first days of trying not to strain his injured shoulder. He grinned again, sincere this time rather than taking the piss. "Don't worry about it - ship's got those fancy new vibration dampers inbuilt. But just for you, doc, I'll make a special effort."

[my_god_man]

He'd been waiting to launch into the passionate part of his lecture, especially after that off-handed shrug. Only he didn't get any sassy. Just a simple, sweet smile. And the promise to do better. He stood there for a second, blinking, no doubt looking like an idiot.

Dr. Leonard McCoy didn't know what the hell to do with a compliant patient.

Maybe Starfleet conditioned them extra stubborn. Perhaps Jim and Spock only hired people as mulish as them. But Leonard was momentarily stymied by not having to threaten, shout, or in some other animated way force health sense on a person's brain. "... Thanks," stumbled out of his mouth clumsily. The irony of the situation caught up with him, then. And he smiled. Between Sky and Scott, his cheek muscles were gonna get a workout.

"You keep behaving like that and you just may get a treat after the physical," Leonard snorted, then adjusted the probe again for an oral cavity scan. "Now put that mouth to a use other than cheeky grinnin'. Open wide."

[transwarp_beam]

For a moment there he'd been worried he might have broken the doc's brain, though he wasn't sure exactly what it was he'd done. There was definitely a certain element of 'landed fish' in his expression. He was also a little hazy on why he was being thanked for not wanting to go deaf. Who knew? Maybe it was a doctor thing.

He opened his mouth as instructed, which - McCoy had probably planned it that way - prevented him from passing comment on exactly what kind of 'treat' he fancied...or perhaps the other uses to which his mouth could be put: a tragically missed opportunity. Instead he merely raised his eyebrows, letting the mischief in his eyes speak for itself.

[my_god_man]

His scowl deepened at the sass Scott had the audacity to throw him. In his own fucking medbay, while Leonard had been doing him a favor. He wanted so badly to give the man a sizable chunk of mind, but he had to be a professional even on off hours. Still, he didn't move or say anything more for a moment. He wasn't gonna heel for some fuzzy little engineer, no matter how cute he'd been earlier. More importantly, he wasn't gonna do anything that might endanger a patient, despite that whole supposed allergy thing. His hands weren't gonna touch his patient until they could do so with sensitivity

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty just grinned. He quite frankly lacked the emotional attention span to stay angry for long, and from an objective standpoint this was pretty amusing.

"I don't know details," Scotty said with a very cautious one-shouldered shrug, "Doctor said it was an allergy and I took him at his word. First founf out about it..." He tapped his chin thoughtfully. "Oh christ, that. Aye. Seven years old, strapped into the dentist's chair. Was getting some teeth out. She gives me the hypo right in the gum, waits a few minutes - taps my jaw and asks if I can feel it. I say 'aye'. She says 'don't be daft' and starts in anyway. Haven't been near a dentist of my own free will since. What kind of person can ignore a child screaming in pain?"

"Next time they tried to give me a local hypo was about three months later, and I freaked out so badly they couldn't get near me. Gave me some sorta sedative. It didn't work out like it was probably meant to - I was bouncing off the walls for days after. Never had any sorta drugs just work like they're meant to."

[my_god_man]

That brow was back up the more Scott went on about his experiences. Goddamn, this man was gonna be tricky to figure out. He made some notation, when back to the tricorder and programmed in a new scan. Carefully made to lean in, so as not to spook the medically-shy -- despite that sudden, nearly-bipolar smile -- engineer. And with good reason too, from his stories. McCoy's face made it clear what he thought about that. It was one thing to under-medicate a reduction. Those things hurt like a bitch under most any situation. But at least it was brief and you were on your way to healing. But to have continued a procedure under obvious discomfort? Well, that wasn't right

[transwarp_beam]

"Nope," Scotty replied, "Never been under. Really don't fancy it. I've heard horror stories - y'know, some people react to general, awake but paralysed...things like that. Don't wanna find out the hard way if I'm one of them." He tried not to tense under the tricorder, but it was a hell of an effort of will. "You'll have to forgive my paranoia, doctor. My experiences with your profession have been...pretty unpleasant, for the most part."

And wasn't that the understatement of the century. The triptacederine worked, so he'd stuck with it, but nothing else he'd ever taken had done what it was supposed to. On more than one occasion he'd ended up telling his attending not to bother dosing him. In some strange - probably psychological - way, it was easier to deal with the pain when he didn't have some doctor looking down their nose it him like he was imagining it.

[my_god_man]

"I think the problem is that no one's been doin' any maintenance in here," Leonard growled distractedly, assessing the damage to his hands. Thank god he didn't have Scott's problem. The pain was retreating quickly, one less thing for him to worry about when he went to use the dermal regenerator on himself.

"That unit's been testy since Nero. No one wanted to listen to a mere acting CMO, an' when we took off again I still had the damn same unit. I keep puttin' in requests fer new equipment. Dunno what the hell becomes of 'em all." The brunt of the damage seemed to be his left hand. A mixed blessing, as he was right-handed. Normally he'd use a sterilite to disinfect the wound, but once zapped twice shy. Used a spray applicator instead, then picked up a dermal gingerly. "It was annoying but we lived with it. 'Til today, then no amount of sweet-talkin's been makin' it work. We have a second unit but it gets damn busy in here. One good emergency would cause a line with just the one. What we really need is four." Like

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty made a noise uncannily like a growl, startling coming from the normally laid-back engineer. "When I find out who's meant to have been on maintenance in here I'll string them up by their thumbs." He reached inside the unit and began fiddling with it. "What's happened here is you've got a partial short - interferes with the workings, but it's not dangerous unless the earth burns out. Which I'm thinking just finally happened."

A few muffled thumps issued from the unit, followed by a sharp crack. Scotty stood, wiping his hands on the legs of his overalls. "That's the short fixed. 'S not earthed right now, but it should be good enough until it gets fixed up proper

[my_god_man]

Leonard was a little surprised by that growl. Wasn't a noise he expected from the small Scotsman. He looked up to watch the man after a sweep of the dermal over his knuckles. Scott was wholly intent on his work, face animated and fixed on the unit. Not that Leonard would call the man reserved. Well, he had a feeling there was definitely more going on in that fuzzy blond head than he let on. But the engineer seemed rather emotionally available nonetheless. When he made another, softer, one of those noises, Leonard couldn't help smirking. It was kinda... cute.

He kindly reminded himself that he was still on duty -- sorta -- and this was still a physical. Scott was still his patient

[transwarp_beam]

"Nah, nah," Scotty said with a dismissive handwave, eyes not leaving the unit, "'S nothing. In everyone's best interests to have medbay in top form, right?" He'd never really had cause to work with medical equipment before. It'd be an interesting change of pace.

He turned to McCoy and gave a shrug. "S'the least I can do anyway. This wouldn'a happened if my department had been doin' their damn jobs." Once he fund out who was responsible for this, they were going to be on waste disposal for the next five years.

[my_god_man]

Well... damn. Leonard hadn't expected that. He was just starting to get used to the man's easy-flirty manner -- and maybe suspecting there might be something more to that -- but outright bluntness about personal affairs was another thing. His eyes bugged out worse than a junebug picnic.

"That's... impressive," he replied awkwardly, unsure how readily this topic was available for discussion. Well, he supposed if the man was just gonna throw that kinda info out there, what worse could Leonard do with it? He was impressed, too. Wouldn't have thought the blond Scotsman would outdo Jim on that one. Could he have? Leonard mentally paused, found himself giving the man a once-over before he could stop himself, tore his eyes away as the turbolift door opened. Inside there was a small group from Stellar Cartography -- was it a damn pajama party? -- so the two of them had to share a corner. Manners dictated he let Scott go first. Pride demanded he get the engineer behind him so he wouldn't see his face, wouldn't see that answer

[transwarp_beam]

"Eh, s'not that impressive," Scotty said absently, wandering into the turbolift and laying claim to the free corner. He leaned back against the wall and grinned at McCoy, who- wait, was he blushing? That was...odd. Had he inadvertently said something? He couldn't think what though.

He dismissed it with a mental shrug and continued with his previous thought: "Gone longer stretches without a solid eight hours in my own bed before."

[my_god_man]

Okay, this was getting raunchy. Or confusing. Likely both. His mind was starting to supply its own devious ideas, latching onto 'solid eight hours in my own bed' before the rest of what Scott had said. What the hell? Not like Leonard had never had an impure thought in his life -- and he'd just proved that, anyway -- or hadn't been a horny, hot, young thing once. But he was a grown man now, three year's off a nasty ol' divorce. Add a year or two if you counted the last time he'd ever touched his ex with something approaching tenderness. He was past that kinda thing now. Being best friends with a flirtatious Jim Kirk had proved that

[transwarp_beam]

That was a very interesting shade of red that McCoy was turning. Were they both having the same conversation? He gave a politely mystifed smile and said, "Never really needed much sleep," he said, "Anyway, you know how it is when you really get into something. You don't really notice you're going without sleep and food and the like." He'd been getting rather wrapped up in some of the projects going on in engineering, not to mention his own personal pet theory.