[locked to notaphysicst] Dinner Date

[rightawaydoctor]

Going out to dinner with her boss wasn't a big deal. There had been times they had eaten at the same table at the mess hall, but on many of those occasions the Captain had been there too. What made things different was that this was shore leave, and it wouldn't be just dinner on the ship

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[notaphysicst]

It's just dinner. That's all it was. An apology dinner of sorts, for him being an ass and scaring (what he guessed) was the ever living shit out of her in the pool. Since his divorce, he'd had dinner with other women, so what difference was there with this? Besides the whole 'she's my Head Nurse and if I mess this up, it'll be awkward to work with her' scenario that kept playing out in his head. If they were pretty much friends at this point, why was he so worried?

When she'd left him at his hotel room, Leonard had made use of the hotel shower - with real water washing over his skin - before taking a quick nap. If he hadn't been so damn nervous, it probably would've been refreshing. The doctor had tried to take his mind off of it by getting ready, picking an outfit that was casual at least. Nothing to fancy looking, it was just dinner. Leonard made sure to save, maybe even flick a few drops of sandalwood cologne to his collar because friend or not, he at least wanted to smell nice.

By the time 6:55 rolled around, he was on the third floor and the nerves still hadn't settled. His stomach was going topsy-turvy like a rollercoaster going too fast as he moved down the hallway, looking for the right door. Which one was it? 302? No, but it had a two in it... Reaching up to rub his forehead, he moved to knock on what he thought was the right door -

-but he was wrong as the person who opened it was most definitely, absolutely not Christine Chapel. It was a woman, judging by the physical appearance, but definitely not Human. With the blue skin, along with a thick protrusion from extending down over the face to draw the eye towards the nasal lobe and brow, it was most definitely not a Human.

“S-sorry, I think I have the wrong room, I’ll jus-“ He was cut off as she moved towards him, obviously intrigued by him, but Leonard moved back, attempting to keep him…her…it at a distance as his back hit the door of another hotel room. ’Goddamnit, why me…’

[rightawaydoctor]

Seeing that it was close to the time Leonard was supposed to show up, she turned off the movie and checked her appearance in the mirror. After fluffing her hair and straightening her casual dress, she was just about to put on some lip gloss when she heard Leonard's voice in the hall. He had the wrong room? Well that was kind of funny.

Skipping lightly to the door she opened it to be met with Leonard falling in on her. She let out a screech as she tumbled to the floor, limbs twisted.

[notaphysicst]

Leonard was firmly leaning against the door as the...female creature advanced, until suddenly...there was no door holding him up. Arms flailing to catch onto something, anything, he failed and crashed down.
On to something soft. Warm. And moving limbs tangled with his around. It took a fleeting second to realize he'd fallen on Christine as the alien stood in the hallway, watching the spectacle with what looked to be curiosity.

A moment passed as the Georgian scrambled to his feet. "Holy hell, are you okay Christine?" He said, squatting down next to her, looking worried that he'd severely hurt her in some way or another.

[rightawaydoctor]

When she'd gone down, her right leg had gone out forward, while her left leg had buckled under her at the knee. She fell back to the floor that way, but luckily she was flexible from many years as a dancer, so besides the weight of him momentarily crushing her, she was fine. No pulled muscles or strained ligaments to report. Still, she looked up at him, none too pleased at her current position.

"Who in the hell leans up against a door like that? Especially when they're expecting the person inside to open it?" She struggled to pull herself up, trying to get her right leg back so she could push up from her knees and doing her best not to flash him in the process.

[notaphysicst]

Well, he certainly didn't want to say anything along the lines of 'There was this alien chick coming at me, what'd you' want me to do?' with said alien chick still in the hallway. He flashed a quick glare to her over his shoulder, letting the alien make a noise that was like a giggle before heading back into her room.

"I'm sorry, someone just caught me off guard 'cause I went to the wrong room." There was a damn flush on his face, he could feel it as he reached out his hands in an offer to help her back up to her feet. Leonard looked back over his shoulder to the hall to see the alien was indeed gone this time. "I knocked on that alien's door and instead of closin' it in my face, she advanced on me. Scared the shit outta me."

[rightawaydoctor]

"You're just lucky I didn't rip my dress," she grumbled at him, only half-listening to his explanation. But she took his hands and pulled herself to her feet. She had never pictured him as the clumsy type, but this shore leave was revealing all sorts of things about him.

Once she was upright, she pushed her hair out of her face and smoothed it down. "Forget about it," she said, trying to calm herself. "How're you feeling?"

[notaphysicst]

To be honest, Leonard wasn't really that clumsy. She saw how he worked around Medical and the ship in general. But there, he was focused, didn't have time to really think like he did here. The nervousness and getting crowded by an alien woman hadn't helped the matters here, that was for certain. He helped her to her feet and stood there while she fixed herself back up. Tack another thing that the dinner was making up for he guessed.

"I'm fine. Took a shower, took a nap, n' its like it never happened for the most part. Surprised y'didn' come check on me after a few hours like y'did on the Enterprise." He joked just a little, in an attempt to lighten the mood.

[rightawaydoctor]

"I'll admit I thought about it." She turned back into the room, waving him in.

"But then I thought you might be sleeping, so I didn't want to come over or call the room. Turns out I was right, since you were taking a nap." Grabbing a fuzzy, off white cardigan and her clutch, she came back over to him. "Ready when you are, Boss."

[notaphysicst]

Leonard steps in when invited, having been lingering pretty much in the door since he'd helped her back up. Unlike his room, her's was pretty organized - nice n' tidy. When he'd woken up he'd scrambled for his clothes and shampoo, thinking he was going to be late and it hadn't been till after his shower that he saw he still had an hour.

"I woke up about an hour and a half before I was suppose' t'meet you." He told her, glancing at the clutch and cardigan. "You sure that's gonna be enough? They said a cold sea breeze was gonna roll in tonight." He outstretched an arm towards the door, like a gentleman would in holding a door open - if the doors didn't do it themselves now. "There's a little place about a block and a half away from the hotel. The receptionist in the lobby said it was nice n' casual."

[rightawaydoctor]

She shrugged, slipping on the cardigan. "I'm sure it'll be fine." Pulling out her hair from under the cardigan, she smiled at him as he held the door for her.

"Thanks. Casual sounds good to me. I don't like sweatin' over what fork I should use."

[notaphysicst]

Leonard shifted his own jacket on his shoulders as they headed into the hallway. Now that the awkwardness of falling on her had passed, he didn't feel so bad, but the nervousness was still there in his stomach. "Yeah, I hate when I'd go to a place that had 'bout three forks and six spoons. It was like going to Maymay's all over again."

That was his family's term for 'grandmother', a nickname that had been given to her over the years for reasons Leonard didn't know. "Man that woman was strict. I bet if I sat down at a table, I could still tell y'what fork was for what, and where family members were supposed t'sit at the table."

[rightawaydoctor]

She clicked her tongue on hearing that. "I'll never understand grandmothers like that. The kinds that are drill sergeants. My Granny Chapel used to sit me down at the table with a big glass of milk and stuff me full of pie. And if any fell outta my mouth and on the floor her chihuahua would gobble it up."

[notaphysicst]

"Maymay liked t'think of herself as a fancy southern belle with all of us in Georgia. We weren't really that fancy, in fact, all our best china for the holidays was mismatched, but she made sure y'knew y're stuff." He chuckled a little bit. "When I was good at church though, she'd let me have some cookies when we got home. And that was only when I was with the rest of the family and not in Sunday school."

Now could one imagine a small Leonard McCoy dressed in Sunday best, with his hair combed and acting like a total angel? All just for a cookie.

[rightawaydoctor]

"Ah, gotcha. We don't really act that way in the Delta. We're a little... nuttier." They reached the elevator and she hit the down button.

"When you grow up in the Mardi Gras capital, you can't really act restrained and proper all the time. Though my Momma tried."

[notaphysicst]

Leonard moved into the turbolift and leaned against the wall, one had pushed into his pocket. "I think the biggest thing we had was Saint Patrick's day, but Savannah was a little far, so we never went. We liked to watch it on the holovid though. Maymay would remark how stupid people were when they were drunk." He chuckled a little bit.

"I remember wantin' t'go to Mardi Gras, but I always figured I'd just watch that on the holovid too. Until I joined Starfleet, I didn' really make enough credits to do any vacationing."

[rightawaydoctor]

"I traveled 'round the South a bit for dance competitions and such. But before Starfleet I hadn't traveled much either." The doors slid open and she stepped out into the lobby.

"I wish a trip back to Earth could coincide with Mardi Gras so you could experience it for yourself."