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[leftwithmybones]

The house before him looms still unfinished and McCoy really doesn't know whether Scotty's disappearance is some vague way of telling him to quit the project. Still, he might run away from ruins of an old life, but he's a damn stubborn ass about giving up. So rather than just let the foundation be, he's started to get back to it

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[fear_no_words]

She didn't have much that needed doing just then, her classes moving along steadily but without tedium, life settling into a constant pace like a river running through the land. Her run had been nice, but though the excess energy was gone from her limbs, her mind still buzzed and she had decided to continue walking, maybe to clear it or maybe to let her thoughts grow.

Either way, she welcomed the distraction of the doctor and smiled as she approached. "Fixing houses as well bodies. Makes sense to me."

[leftwithmybones]

If it'd been that simple, maybe he would have liked working on the house some more. As it is, he reaches back over the log for his shirt and slides back into it, buttoning it up as he sets down the wiring he's working on. "Just trying to steal back a couple comforts from home. And with Scotty gone, it's all on me, now."

[fear_no_words]

She smirked as she watched him cover up, but didn't comment. "Isn't there a building crew as well?" she queried with a lifted brow. "You could always ask them for a little help."

[leftwithmybones]

"I've asked, but it's my home," he says with all the pride that comes of something like this. "When this is finished, I want the mistakes to be mine and the bruises and scars to show for a home." Hell, he might never even finish, but if he does, he wants it to be his own accomplishment. He finishes with the last button, staring at the switch before abandoning it with a heavy sigh. "Hell, maybe I'll just live with candles."

[fear_no_words]

"You want all the mistakes to be yours, because surely Scotty couldn't make mistakes?" Uhura countered, the smirk growing a touch. The loss of Scotty did plague her, but she pushed it to the back of her mind, something to be contemplated on quiet nights full of starlight, not right now. "Or are you not accepting the help of anyone now?" So asking she stepped forward, wiping her hands on her shorts before picking up the switch and examining the wires.

[leftwithmybones]

"Suppose a little help here and there wouldn't hurt," he begrudgingly admits. It's not like this is his wheelhouse. He's not asking for help on how to do surgery or administering vaccines or giving birth. He doesn't actually know how to do this and he's not exactly a boy-wonder-genius like the others are. He's a good doctor, but that's it. "Scotty did a good job, right up until he vanished."

[fear_no_words]

"Mm," Uhura noised, unwilling to speak more on the subject of Scotty. Besides, she had a machine in her hand that she could work with. "I could do this," she decided. It was older tech, but simple in that way. She smiled as he looked up again at McCoy. "Don't ask for any elevators or transporters, now."

[leftwithmybones]

"God help me and strike me down the day I put a transporter in my home," McCoy rants heavy and firm on the subject, because he's grateful to technology for some things and for some other things, he loathes it with all of his core being. "I just want stairs and lights. Hell, I'd go by lamp oil, but there's less of that around here than there is electricity." At least, for the way he wants to burn it.

[fear_no_words]

"What are you going to do with such a big house?" she asked, smiling faintly but honestly unsure as to whether it was a subject to joke about or not. It did seem a lonely prospect to her, just him in a big house, but that was a perspective formed from how she had grown up. Maybe it didn't apply.

[leftwithmybones]

"Well, there's Spock," he points out, because as much as he has the strange belief that moving into the new place will displace Spock, he really doubts that's actually going to happen. "And the cat. So, it's two and a half people in one big place. Plus, I figure I'll keep one room as a home-laboratory for experiments. And a greenhouse can't hurt."

[fear_no_words]

"You're own little island on another island." Feeling a need to keep her hands busy, Uhura crouched down and started picking at the wires, deciding what needed to go where. "That does sound very cozy. Not for me, but I could see you being very happy with that."

[leftwithmybones]

"And what would make you happy?" It's a genuine question and he makes a conscious effort to try and make the words calm and curious instead of snappish. Some days it doesn't work, but today he manages. "One of those social situations where you're fighting for breathing room with twenty other people?"

[fear_no_words]

She lifted an eyebrow and looked at the doctor again, pulling her attention away from the wires for a moment. With an amused smirk, she said, "I had my own quarters on the Enterprise and I've got my own hut here. I like my breathing room and my privacy just fine, doctor. But I do like to feel more a part of a community, yes. I don't like stepping out my door and seeing no other signs of human life. Makes me feel lonely."

[leftwithmybones]

"Makes me feel calm," he counters, even though he couldn't go forever without people. He wants to do right by them, wants to be the best man he can be, but it doesn't mean he needs them stepping on his toes. "You know you're always welcome to visit us, right?"

[fear_no_words]

The smirk grew into a full grin. "I should hope so, now that I'm helping put it together," she teased. Her tone softened as she tilted her head. "Thank you for the invitation, doctor. Truly."

[leftwithmybones]

"And hell, now that you're helping me, I'm coming around to your place at all hours of the day to drag you out everytime I have a new idea about the place," he says, only half-joking considering he changes his mind about some of the interiors every now and again. "But when it's all done, we'll have a get-together. Maybe."