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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[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 Starfleet would cough up the extras.

[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."

He stood back and examined the two sterillite units with a thoughtful tilt to his head. They couldn't exactly requisition fresh equipment out on the five year mission - as the name inplied, they were going to be gone a while. But that same detail meant a lot of redundancies were built into the systems... "Give me a few days to see what I can scrounge up. Might be able to cobble something together." He was very much a member of the 'scavenging and improvisation' school of engineering - the kind of wing-and-a-prayer constructions the workshop techs back at James Watt South had called 'MacGyvered'.

[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.

And a doctor wasn't much good without his hands, so Leonard continued with the dermal. Listened as he worked, and looked up pleased when it was over quickly. When Scott offered to do more than just fix things, volunteered to go out of his way, all on a bit of bitching... well, pleased wasn't quite the best word for the smile. "Thank you... Scotty." It felt a little odd using Jim's nickname for the man. Despite the shenanigans of tonight, he didn't know the man very well. Besides, he'd always thought it odd calling the Scotsman by that. Would be like calling himself 'Southy' or something equally stupid. "I'd much appreciate it. I know yer a busy man, though, so don't put yerself out too much."

[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]

Damn, his cheeks kinda were hurting from all this grinning. He should be careful of developing a cramp. Wouldn't do to be stuck with this face tomorrow, likely scare people.

Sass aside, Leonard replied with a lazy, wide smirk, "Well I could certainly use medics without some singeing 'round the edges. An' none of this would have happened if Starfleet weren't so damn cheap. I'd blame them first." He fell silent then for a moment, just standing there with half a grin still on his face. Just sort of sinking into the experience of getting to know one Montgomery Scott. "Well... I'd like to get some sleep before Bacchus II. Let's finish this physical before one of us turns into a pumpkin." He slowly pulled his eyes away to glance at his hands, making sure of his handiwork. Satisfied, he picked up his abandoned tricorder and PADD. Smirked wider. "After all that work you put into it, I'm afraid I'm gonna need to ask you to drop trou 'gain. Just one more scan, then I'm outta ya pants for a little while."

Yeah, maybe he was fishing a little for a fresh comment this time.

[transwarp_beam]

"Really, doc," Scotty said, pulling off his overalls again with a certain air of resignation, "'Strip off' this, 'bend over' that...my ma warned me about boys like you."

[my_god_man]

And freshness he got. "What, that'd we'd be healthy for ya? Heavens to mercy I come between you an' yer suffering every once in a while," and freshness he gave. Once Scott had his overalls around his ankles, Leonard just halted him with a hand on his good arm and knelt. Ran the scanner over the man's lower-half.

"Yer file mentioned a history of heart disease an' diabetes. Ever have any numbness, pain or loss of sensitivity in yer legs or feet?" Scanner told him everything was good. He'd seen enough evidence of the man's reflexes when he'd sprung over the biobed like a confused cricket. Balancing PADD and tricorder on one knee, he gently took hold of Scott's right knee in both hands. Encouraged him to bend it slightly, and carefully felt around the joint. It seemed solid, as well as the other. He then drew himself back up.

"Alright, you can put yer business away like the chaste little thing I know you ain't," Leonard threw him a smirk before entering the last of his data into the PADD. "By the way, how long has it been since yer last contraceptive implant? Do you need me to authorize a new prescription? And speaking of that, I'm gonna take you off the triptacederine. Use what you have left for any lingering pain in that shoulder, but go lightly. I personally think it'd be best not to completely anesthetize it. As long as you've had that subluxation, we need to make sure yer tissues remember things the way they should be. Go lightly on it so it can heal properly, the pain will guide ya."

[transwarp_beam]

"What, diabetic neuropathy? No. None 'a that. No retinopathy either, in case you were wondering." None of the other symptoms either. Seeing what his mother had gone through after being diagnosed, he'd been damn sure to check out the symptoms and make sure he didn't have any. He glanced down at McCoy. Was it the time for a 'while you're down there' joke? No, too easy.

"Nah. 'S only been about a year," he replied, "Should be good for the rest of the mission."

And no more drugs. Yeah, he'd seen that one coming. At least the shoulder was fixed. It'd been nice to have them, though - his was a remarkably injury-prone profession.

[my_god_man]

He was thankful that Scott had the maturity for an implant. As a doctor, Leonard had heard all sorts of bullshit from hesitant patients. Of course, a contraceptive implant could also cause bullshit of another sort. "Well, good. Just remember that ain't no free pass to unwisely indiscriminate shenanigans, sailor. Eventually you'll have to come back to me, and I'll be on yer ass worse than whatever bug you pick up."

That time, he hadn't been deliberately dropping his hook.

[transwarp_beam]

For a moment, Scotty was genuinely struck speechless - something which had only very rarely ever happened to him before. After a moment he found his voice again. "If that's an offer, doc..." he trailed off with a wink.

[my_god_man]

Maybe it was a language thing, certain ways of speaking taking on a whole different meaning when you weren't strictly going by Basic. Or maybe it was just an engineering thing. Leonard had sure heard some tales in the Academy, especially when anesthetics were involved. But he'd just been plain ol' sassing back when he'd made the comment. So he didn't except what came out of Scott's mouth next. Hit a few wrong keys on the PADD, nearly whipped out a paragraph of new data. Nearly dried out his eyeballs from staring at that monkey-grinning face.

"What?" Brain came jogging up to his mouth finally and he gave a half-laugh of disbelief. Man nearly had him there. "I said on yer ass, not in it." Alright, so that was a bit more crass than he needed to be. What he wouldn't give for a julep right now. "... Just... behave fer once in yer life, when yer out there. All I ask." He engrossed himself for a moment in frantically retrieving his data. And some composure.

[transwarp_beam]

"Chalk that one up to cultural differences," Scotty said with a grin. How was he meant to not when he got handed a line like that? He couldn't help himself. He opened his mouth and innuendo just sort of happened. Well...mostly innuendo, anyway. The doctor was a rather attractive man, and he wouldn't exactly have been unhappy if his little joke had been taken in all seriousness.

He couldn't help but grin, though. He had evidently rattled McCoy's composure quite badly. It was pretty entertaining. He could get used to this.

"Misbehave? Me?" he said innocently.

[my_god_man]

Leonard's eyebrow told the engineer on the sly what it thought about the large chasm that divided their cultures. Were all Scots this bad? How the hell did they manage to sincerely show interest with all this general flirting? Course, at one point in his life he'd been nearly as bad. But also half Scott's age.

He's just rounded up at least the data and had carefully saved it. There, a much more complete medfile. And no, he wasn't lingering on his masterpiece in medical bureaucracy. "I know, preposterous thinkin' on my part. Must be another of those cultural differences." A smirk snuck around the corner of his mouth and peaked up at the other man. "Much more of that and we'll need sensitivity training."

.... He just had the horrible feeling he gave Scott more fodder.

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty smiled at him; bright and sincere. "Careful, doc. Someone overhears you talking about sensitivity, it'll ruin your reputation."

In his particlular case, the good doctor's reputation was already hanging in tatters. Turned out the Enterprise's professional grouch was a hell of a laugh when you caught him behind closed doors.

[my_god_man]

"No one would believe 'em. It's a long and well-established reputation, founded on graphic demonstration and plausible rumors." Try as he might, that sweet smile Scott pulled on him wouldn't go unanswered. Leonard gave up on finding anything more engrossing about the medfile. Let that sneaking smirk come out and kick back into something lazy again. "They'll likely think the man... daft. Exile him to some place cold and far away. Like an ice planet, or engineering." Eyes grinned back with that smirk, before he turned to take the PADD over to a computer station. Set things up to download the information, then looked up again.

"Anyway, that completes your physical, Chief. You passed with flying colors, more or less." Eyes and mouth were still grinning, but his hands fiddled a little restlessly on the console. "Again, I'll get back to you after the mission 'bout settin' up. That experiment, on yer drug tolerances."

[transwarp_beam]

Oh no, the sensitivity training wasn't needed at all. There was nothing he liked better than having the biggest failure of his career and the worst six months of his life thrown back in his face. "Thanks for that, doc," he said dryly.

"More less than more, I'd imagine," he added, getting dressed again. "Whenever you've got the time. An' I'll get back to you about scrounging up the parts for another sterillite unit."