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.

[transwarp_beam]

Scotty grinned to himself, recognising the look of mild shock and outrage medical types tended to wear when he shared stories of his adventures in the less safety-conscious corners of the engineering community. He valiantly restrained himself from passing a lewd comment about his 'grip'. Possibly of the 'that's what she said' variety. "Had a lot of practice," was all he said, "Pneumatic crane still keeps beating me at arm-wrestling, though."

He carefully held still as McCoy shone the light in his eyes. Ever since that incident with the lazer saw, he'd been wary of anything vaguely pointy near his fce. "Aye, it's natural," he replied, "Born with it. My da had the same thing."

[my_god_man]

Someone had to be messing with the temperature controls. Either that or the flirting he'd been doing earlier with Sky had left the innuendo switch in his brain flipped on. But the comment about practicing his grip and the mischievous twinkle in Scott's mismatched eyes... well, Leonard almost lost control of the probe light and his expression. There was still a twisting smirk on his lips, before there was nothing but bright light

[transwarp_beam]

Well well, was that a smile he saw gracing the good doctor's lips? Apparently the man did know how - the rumour mill would have had him believe otherwise. And snarking at him no less! Maybe this physical was going to be fun after all. He cocked his head and openly grinned at McCoy.

"About the same," he replied, the words feeling at odds with the smirk he could feel struggling to escape, "No worse, but no improvement either. Been a bit below-par for years now."

[my_god_man]

Oh lord, he knew an incorrigible when he saw one. This was the downside of Sky's so-called "Charm" theory. You stop being a bastard for one second, and you get people grinning at you like a cat on a warm vent. Even worse? All that damn grinning could be infectious. Leonard was a seasoned curmudgeon, though, and kept that smile riot in check. Mostly.

"I'm a doctor, not a dentist. Pack away those teeth and gimme yer ear." He tugged on the lobe in question, just to remind Scott of his bastard status.

The study of the man's ear canal was more in depth, the probe scanning and recording much finer data. Due to the nature of his work, Scott had suffered a good amount of vibration-related damage. "Damn, how'd this all get this bad? I know Starfleet has safety regs to protect against this." Leonard pulled away from the man's ear in frustration, giving him A Look.

[transwarp_beam]

"Be happy, doc," Scotty said cheerfully, unperturbed, "You'll live longer." He checked his grin a little - wouldn't do to make the good doctor uncomfortable - and held still again.

He was surprised by McCoy's reaction to vibration damage that had to be in his files, though. Surely it wasn't that bad? He could still hear, after all.

"Aye, Starfleet does," he said with a shrug, "Independents don't, though. I skipped out on the 'Fleet for a few years after I got my PhD, worked passage with a few freighters to get some hands-on experience. Not all of them had the greatest regard for health and safety."