Leonard McCoy and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day...

[dctr_mccoy]

It was almost time for them to go.

Starfleet was arriving soon to deal with the Romulans, and the Enterprise would be leaving Agura's orbit and heading out on its new mission

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[rn_chapel]

Tina hadn't bothered to reply to Commander Spock's message. Assuming he was reporting the situation accurately (and why wouldn't he?), delay would only make things more hectic.

When she entered the transporter room to see a crowd of children speaking in nervous, quiet voices to one another while the adults in the room looked on in horror, she was glad she hadn't waited. The kids obviously didn't remember their adult selves. They must be scared.

"Hi, guys," she said, addressing herself to the children. "My name is Tina. I'm here to help you out, okay?"

She crouched down, and then knelt on the floor, trying to mitigate the height difference a little bit. "Do you want to come over here and introduce yourselves?"

[science_blues]

Spock regarded the blonde woman carefully, with keen, wide eyes. She made no move to approach. In fact, she made no motion at all. Just watched.

[headnursechapel]

Christine had stared at the message on her PADD with some disbelief.

She would have thought it was a joke, if it hadn't been from Spock. And if she hadn't seen even stranger things happen in the very recent past.

She went to the replicator and ordered children's clothes in a variety of sizes. She'd have to put in a request for more replicator credits, if this kept up. Pretty soon and she'd be clothing the whole crew.

Christine gathered up the clothes and made her way down to the transporter room, ignoring the strange looks she garnered from all sides as she walked.

She walked in just as Tina knelt on the floor and invited the children to introduce themselves. Christine set the clothing aside, smiling reassuringly at the children as she joined Tina on the floor.

"Hello, everyone," she said. "My name is Christine. I'm here to help, too."

[rn_chapel]

Tina looked at her counterpart, frowning a little with her concern. "No takers," she said, quietly. "I'm not sure how we can get them to trust us a little... I'm thinking calling them by their names would be a bad plan."

She looked at the clothes Christine had brought, and raised her voice to carry across the room when she spoke again. "Would any of you like some clothes that fit a little better? I promise you don't have to do anything that would make you uncomfortable, but if you want to change, one of us can take you to a bathroom, or you could do it here."

[science_blues]

Spock stared. Her sack-jacket was uncomfortable. It would be difficult to flee if she needed to. She moved forward, never once letting her eyes off the women.

[mr_chekov]

Pasha stepped forward also. The two ladies looked safe, they were smiling. That was good right? Smiling meant they weren’t angry and would hopefully protect them from the monster.

Moving towards Tina she tugged on her arm and parroted what Mama had told her to say in times when she was alone. “Pasha Andreyevich Chekov. I hawe lost Mama.”

[letspunchit]

Chris sat there and stared. The ladies looked kind of the same, almost, like sisters. Tina was right, he did want clothes that weren't bajillions of times too big, but he didn't want to take them from these people, either, because they might be bad guys. Kidnappers. You weren't supposed to take things from strangers.

[rn_chapel]

"Hello, Pasha. I don't know where your mother is, but maybe I can help you."

Help her what? God, this was hard. Tina didn't want to lie to a bunch of little kids, but telling them the truth would probably freak them right out.

Getting them checked out to be sure they were physically okay had to be a priority.

Tina gestured toward the clothes Christine had brought. "Do you want to change, Pasha?"

[mr_chekov]

“Change?” Pasha repeated. ‘Change’ that meant ‘Izmenit’ didn’t it? Tina wanted for her to change clothing? Giving an appreciative nod the little girl replied. “Da, please.”

Manners were important, Babushka had taught her that. She gave a small smile, this place was a bit unnerving but Pasha promised herself that she would be brave.

[rn_chapel]

Tina sorted through the clothes Christine had brought and held out a couple of options that should fit okay. "Your choice, okay?"

She looked around while Pasha examined her options. The room was full of little boys and adult men. Pasha seemed quite young, but possibly not too young for a sense of modesty. "Do you need privacy?"

[mr_chekov]

Pasha recalled what Jim had said before about the different colours meaning different things. Yellow was a 'command' colour from what she had gathered, although not completely certain what that meant she assumed that it couldn't have been bad.

Pointing at the yellow dress that Tina had pulled along with the rest she picked that one up, glancing over her shoulder. Turning back she bit her lip and nodded, she didn't want to take her clothes off with people watching, people that she did not know to boot.

[rn_chapel]

Tina turned to Christine as she set the rejected clothes down. "I'm going to take Pasha to the bathroom to change," she said, clearly. Maybe when the other kids saw that Pasha returned unharmed and happier in an outfit that fit well, they'd relax a little. "We'll be right back."

She stood up and held her hand out, waiting for Pasha to take it. She didn't want to scare her, but she was planning to keep a firm grip - the last thing they needed was for one of these little ones to run loose on the ship. Fortunately, there was a restroom right next to the transporter room, so they wouldn't have to go far.

[mr_chekov]

Pasha placed her hand in Tina's, gripping her fingers tightly, trusting her implicitly. Tina looked sort of like her Auntie Josephia and Auntie Josephia was always really nice when Pasha went to see her, so Tina must have been nice, she had decided.

The six year old’s logic wasn’t really that good. Gripping her dress in her other hand she toddled after Tina following her though the swoosh doors, giggling as they made the swoosh sound.

[rn_chapel]

Tina was heartened by Pasha's trust, and her obvious amusement as they left the transporter room. She led the little girl around the corner and into the restroom, where she opened a cubicle and ushered her in.

"Go ahead and get dressed. I'll be right here outside the cubicle if you need me."

[mr_chekov]

Pasha nodded to show she understood as she closed the door. Pulling the clothes she had been wearing off was easy enough as they swamped her small frame, out of habit she folded it and placed it on the floor as she pulled the more fitting dress over her head.

Smoothing it down slightly she picked up the discarded clothes and exited the cubicle. "Does." She informed Tina to let her know she had finnished changing.

[rn_chapel]

Tina took the discarded clothes from her - they'd want to keep them somewhere, for when the kids became their normal ages and sizes again, right? - and took Pasha's hand again, leading her back to the transporter room.

One down. And hopefully, some of the other children would feel braver now that Pasha was clothed.