Musings and What Else Could Possibly Go Wrong Part 4
Chapter Four
There were very few things Kirk had learned that would drive his chief medical officer to drink. Well drink hard, Bones would sometimes have a drink with him for almost no reason. Very few things would drive Bones to get drunk. That was certainly a better statement.
There was really only one event that caused his CMO to want to get drunk. And Jim, being the concerned friend he was always made sure Bones was able to have the day off now that he could. Before when they were in school Jim always went to Len’s classes for him. Mostly because the date was very sentimental for Bones. So after being on the enterprise for awhile all of the days seemed to bleed together. It was nice to know that Len was able to remind him of what day it was. He was reminded that it was a Sunday in July when Christine Chapel came onto the bridge looking flustered.
“Morning Christine what can I do for you?” He asked her smiling.
“Len’s drunk. He was scheduled for work and he did show up but he is clearly drunk.” Jim looked at her for a moment before realizing the implications of what she was saying.
“He’s not supposed to work today. Could you get M’Benga?” Jim felt bad he must have over looked something…unless Bones had thought he would work today.
She nodded her head. “That shouldn’t be a problem.” There was something that she was missing. Something no one was telling her and she would soon figure it out. Or someone would tell her, that’s normally how it went.
“Good.” The Captain looked relieved as if they had just solved a crisis and in a way Chapel figured they had. “I normally look after him.”
The sentence hung in the air and Chrissy picked up on the unasked question. “I can look after him.” It wouldn’t be hard, or she supposed it wouldn’t be hard; she had never been around a drunken doctor McCoy before. He had been very careful when they were in school together to ‘set a good example for her’ as he put it. She always felt that he was trying to be her older brother (something she didn’t have being an only child) rather then something more. Once she got over that, their friendship blossomed wonderfully, until she had ruined it somehow. Seeing him back in that class ages ago reminded her of everything they use to have and how it disappeared in an instant.
“Thank-you.” Kirk hugged her. “You can have as much time off as you need.” She gave him a confused look. “Trust me, he’s an interesting drunk. I know for experience.” He laughed, “Not that it happens often.” She must have been giving him an odd look because he continued. “Trust me. He only drinks on this day because it’s father’s day.”
“Joanna.” The name was out of her mouth before she had finished putting together the pieces.
Kirk nodded his head soberly. “He loves her and Jocelyn doesn’t let him see her very often.”
“He mentioned her a few times.” Chrissy sighed, some things in life where unfair and this was one of them.
With that the Captain dismissed her and she left but still she managed to hear Spock ask the Captain a question. “Are you sure that is wise Captain?”
“They needed a push Spock.” And then she became too out of range to hear, not to mention they were now behind doors. But the statement intrigued her. She pondered it all the way back to the medical bay. She took her CMO back to his room and prepared for whatever was going to come her way.
"So how's Roger." The words came out of Len's mouth so fast he didn't have time to take them back. From the confused look on her face he knew something wasn't right. "You're fiancé Roger." The words tasted bitter in his mouth.
She laughed. "Roger and I broke up a few years ago I moved on without him. He didn't want me in Starfleet and when he finally agreed to it I found out he was off screwing his lab assistant." She looked at him, "So it looks like we're both pretty bad at this permanent relationship situation. We should start a support group."
Len found himself smiling. "Sure a support group just for us, what exactly would we do at this group?"
"To be honest I hadn't thought that far a head yet. But I'm sure we can meet in one of rooms once a week. Sort of like, 'Hi my name is Christine Chapel and I've been out of a relationship for three years five days,'"
"Hi Christine, I'm Leonard McCoy and I've been without a relationship for Three years give or take." He looked at her before laughing. "So how drunk are you?"
"Very." Chrissy replied nodding her head. "I'm sure of it."
"For a southern women you can't hold your alcohol." He tried to say it with a frown but he was sure it wasn't coming off like that. He wasn't sure if this was one of the better ideas he had, letting Chrissy come and drink with him. He was sure he would be killing Jim before the night was over, that or Jim would end up in his bed again but that wasn't really something he doesn’t to repeat again. That and Len was certain there was a certain Vulcan that would certainly have an opinion about finding Len in Jim's bed come morning. Providing said Vulcan wasn't there when he showed up.
"Is that important at all? I know I can't hold my liquor I get drunk off of one or two glasses of wine. My body doesn't like it. Trust me I've been both made fun of and taken advantag of for fun." She giggled.
"You do realize that you had three glasses of bourbon." Len replied, suddenly feeling upset that he wasted three glasses of bourbon on the girl it didn't seem to be fair at all.
"I think I do." Chrissy stated before leaning over and kissing Len. Now Len would have to give it to the girl, it was probably suppose to not mean a thing however he had turned his head (intentionally) at the last moment so she ended up kissing him on the lips instead. And he began praying to every deity that he could think of that she didn't remember a thing in the morning. "Come on Chrissy lets get you to bed." He held out his had to her as he stood up. She took his hand but didn't move to stand up.
"You know that's the first time you've called me Chrissy in awhile. It's mostly Chapel."
"That's only because we work together and calling you Chrissy would be unprofessional." Even as he spoke the words she was already shaking her head.
"No I mean outside of work." She finally pulled her self up and stumbled just a bit. Getting her back to her room was mostly uneventful. He waited with his back turned as she got into her pajamas and then tucked her into bed and kissed her one last time, praying again that she wouldn’t remember a thing. And in his experience she shouldn’t.
“Night Chapel.” She muttered back some response and it was the happiest Len had felt in awhile as he made his way back to his room, leaving Chrissy to sleep off what she did to herself.
Chrissy snuggled up in her bed savoring the last kiss. That one had been all Len and she now understood some of what Uhura had been saying to her, that they would be cute together. It hit her quickly. Len had feelings for her too. For someone who had been drinking all day he had quite the tolerance for alcohol, as did she. In fact she felt fine a little light headed but fine. And she was sure the lightheaded feeling was coming from the kiss she just received and not the bourbon.
All through the next morning Len was avoiding her and Chrissy had a very good idea of why, she knew she couldn't bring up that fact. She had done everything right so far (even letting him inject her with a hypospray that wouldn’t affect her in any way but Len didn't need to know that). So all she had to do now was pretend she didn't know why he was avoiding her. She got her chance when he stepped out of his office to do rounds. She was immediately by his side going through everything he would need to know as they moved from patient to patient. Once they were done and he went to walk away she grabbed his hand. "Len why are you avoiding me?" She lowered her voice so that the other people around them would not think she was 'unprofessional'.
"I'm not avoiding you." It was a simple quick statement from him.
"Yes your are." She was adamant about it, looking pointedly at him. He had barely said two words to her all morning, quite the accomplishment if you ask her seeing as their communication played a vital role in saving people.
"No I'm not." He looked at her with his ‘I’m completely right and you’re wrong so don’t challenge me’ face. Normally it worked, but Chrissy knew she was right so she was willing to push him this morning.
"You sounds like a child Len, it's unfitting for you." He was about to argue with her again when she stopped him by continuing. "I don't know what I did last night with you but I'm sorry for it. If it was really that bad you can tell me but I don't want to ruin our friendship over it."
“It wasn’t bad.” An expression washed over his face and Chapel was sure it was one of longing. “You didn’t embarrass yourself.”
She faked an expression of relief. “That’s good to know.” At least all the acting she had done back in school was coming in handy now.
“I’m sorry.” Len’s voice was soft. “I did something…” He trailed off as she raised her hand.
“I don’t want to know if you don’t want to tell.” She took in a deep breath. It was now or never. “Len if you were to ask me out I wouldn’t say no.”
She was sure that he understood now, but he didn’t say anything about it. Perhaps ignorance was the best way to go about doing things. “Chrissy would you like you go out with me?”
She feigned surprise, and not well on purpose. “Oh Len how unexpected.” He did laugh at her antics. In a more serious tone she added, “I would love too. Took you long enough to ask.”
He smirked at her, oh how she loved that. “I had information for a very reliable source that you wouldn’t turn me down if I asked.”
“That was a very competent source.” She agreed smiling at him. Sometimes all he needed was a push in the right direction.
“I kissed you last night.” It was odd to hear it coming from him but at the same time it was nice to know that he was going to tell her anyway, whether she could remember of not.
She nodded her head. “I know.” It was a simple statement but one she felt right saying. If he was going to be honest with her then she was going to be honest with him.
“I figured.” He didn’t look mad, in fact he looked amused. “Normally I don’t condone that sort of behaviour but it’s nice to know two things. One my bourbon didn’t go to waste.” That made her last, of course he would have been worried about that. “And two, I suppose it was easier for both of us if we pretended that you were drunk.” At her confused face he continued. “Your acting skills are good but honestly Chrissy their not that good. You can’t play something you’ve never experienced.” That was very true, she had never been drunk in her life, tipsy yes but never drunk to the point where she couldn’t remember things in the morning.
“So for our date?” She asked looking at him; she was giving him one last opportunity to back out.
“Next shore leave. I’ll pick you up at nine in the morning.” With that he walked away leaving her smiling. Next shore leave was tomorrow. So it would seem that they were finally going to date.
The date itself was nice, they went out shopping something she loved to do and he followed her collecting her bags. They did have lunch together which was a lot of fun and if she was honest with herself it didn’t feel any different then what they use to do back in university. Everything it would seem was falling to place for the two of them and Chrissy couldn’t imagine how things could ever goo wrong. But she was wrong, very wrong.
There were very few things Kirk had learned that would drive his chief medical officer to drink. Well drink hard, Bones would sometimes have a drink with him for almost no reason. Very few things would drive Bones to get drunk. That was certainly a better statement.
There was really only one event that caused his CMO to want to get drunk. And Jim, being the concerned friend he was always made sure Bones was able to have the day off now that he could. Before when they were in school Jim always went to Len’s classes for him. Mostly because the date was very sentimental for Bones. So after being on the enterprise for awhile all of the days seemed to bleed together. It was nice to know that Len was able to remind him of what day it was. He was reminded that it was a Sunday in July when Christine Chapel came onto the bridge looking flustered.
“Morning Christine what can I do for you?” He asked her smiling.
“Len’s drunk. He was scheduled for work and he did show up but he is clearly drunk.” Jim looked at her for a moment before realizing the implications of what she was saying.
“He’s not supposed to work today. Could you get M’Benga?” Jim felt bad he must have over looked something…unless Bones had thought he would work today.
She nodded her head. “That shouldn’t be a problem.” There was something that she was missing. Something no one was telling her and she would soon figure it out. Or someone would tell her, that’s normally how it went.
“Good.” The Captain looked relieved as if they had just solved a crisis and in a way Chapel figured they had. “I normally look after him.”
The sentence hung in the air and Chrissy picked up on the unasked question. “I can look after him.” It wouldn’t be hard, or she supposed it wouldn’t be hard; she had never been around a drunken doctor McCoy before. He had been very careful when they were in school together to ‘set a good example for her’ as he put it. She always felt that he was trying to be her older brother (something she didn’t have being an only child) rather then something more. Once she got over that, their friendship blossomed wonderfully, until she had ruined it somehow. Seeing him back in that class ages ago reminded her of everything they use to have and how it disappeared in an instant.
“Thank-you.” Kirk hugged her. “You can have as much time off as you need.” She gave him a confused look. “Trust me, he’s an interesting drunk. I know for experience.” He laughed, “Not that it happens often.” She must have been giving him an odd look because he continued. “Trust me. He only drinks on this day because it’s father’s day.”
“Joanna.” The name was out of her mouth before she had finished putting together the pieces.
Kirk nodded his head soberly. “He loves her and Jocelyn doesn’t let him see her very often.”
“He mentioned her a few times.” Chrissy sighed, some things in life where unfair and this was one of them.
With that the Captain dismissed her and she left but still she managed to hear Spock ask the Captain a question. “Are you sure that is wise Captain?”
“They needed a push Spock.” And then she became too out of range to hear, not to mention they were now behind doors. But the statement intrigued her. She pondered it all the way back to the medical bay. She took her CMO back to his room and prepared for whatever was going to come her way.
"So how's Roger." The words came out of Len's mouth so fast he didn't have time to take them back. From the confused look on her face he knew something wasn't right. "You're fiancé Roger." The words tasted bitter in his mouth.
She laughed. "Roger and I broke up a few years ago I moved on without him. He didn't want me in Starfleet and when he finally agreed to it I found out he was off screwing his lab assistant." She looked at him, "So it looks like we're both pretty bad at this permanent relationship situation. We should start a support group."
Len found himself smiling. "Sure a support group just for us, what exactly would we do at this group?"
"To be honest I hadn't thought that far a head yet. But I'm sure we can meet in one of rooms once a week. Sort of like, 'Hi my name is Christine Chapel and I've been out of a relationship for three years five days,'"
"Hi Christine, I'm Leonard McCoy and I've been without a relationship for Three years give or take." He looked at her before laughing. "So how drunk are you?"
"Very." Chrissy replied nodding her head. "I'm sure of it."
"For a southern women you can't hold your alcohol." He tried to say it with a frown but he was sure it wasn't coming off like that. He wasn't sure if this was one of the better ideas he had, letting Chrissy come and drink with him. He was sure he would be killing Jim before the night was over, that or Jim would end up in his bed again but that wasn't really something he doesn’t to repeat again. That and Len was certain there was a certain Vulcan that would certainly have an opinion about finding Len in Jim's bed come morning. Providing said Vulcan wasn't there when he showed up.
"Is that important at all? I know I can't hold my liquor I get drunk off of one or two glasses of wine. My body doesn't like it. Trust me I've been both made fun of and taken advantag of for fun." She giggled.
"You do realize that you had three glasses of bourbon." Len replied, suddenly feeling upset that he wasted three glasses of bourbon on the girl it didn't seem to be fair at all.
"I think I do." Chrissy stated before leaning over and kissing Len. Now Len would have to give it to the girl, it was probably suppose to not mean a thing however he had turned his head (intentionally) at the last moment so she ended up kissing him on the lips instead. And he began praying to every deity that he could think of that she didn't remember a thing in the morning. "Come on Chrissy lets get you to bed." He held out his had to her as he stood up. She took his hand but didn't move to stand up.
"You know that's the first time you've called me Chrissy in awhile. It's mostly Chapel."
"That's only because we work together and calling you Chrissy would be unprofessional." Even as he spoke the words she was already shaking her head.
"No I mean outside of work." She finally pulled her self up and stumbled just a bit. Getting her back to her room was mostly uneventful. He waited with his back turned as she got into her pajamas and then tucked her into bed and kissed her one last time, praying again that she wouldn’t remember a thing. And in his experience she shouldn’t.
“Night Chapel.” She muttered back some response and it was the happiest Len had felt in awhile as he made his way back to his room, leaving Chrissy to sleep off what she did to herself.
Chrissy snuggled up in her bed savoring the last kiss. That one had been all Len and she now understood some of what Uhura had been saying to her, that they would be cute together. It hit her quickly. Len had feelings for her too. For someone who had been drinking all day he had quite the tolerance for alcohol, as did she. In fact she felt fine a little light headed but fine. And she was sure the lightheaded feeling was coming from the kiss she just received and not the bourbon.
All through the next morning Len was avoiding her and Chrissy had a very good idea of why, she knew she couldn't bring up that fact. She had done everything right so far (even letting him inject her with a hypospray that wouldn’t affect her in any way but Len didn't need to know that). So all she had to do now was pretend she didn't know why he was avoiding her. She got her chance when he stepped out of his office to do rounds. She was immediately by his side going through everything he would need to know as they moved from patient to patient. Once they were done and he went to walk away she grabbed his hand. "Len why are you avoiding me?" She lowered her voice so that the other people around them would not think she was 'unprofessional'.
"I'm not avoiding you." It was a simple quick statement from him.
"Yes your are." She was adamant about it, looking pointedly at him. He had barely said two words to her all morning, quite the accomplishment if you ask her seeing as their communication played a vital role in saving people.
"No I'm not." He looked at her with his ‘I’m completely right and you’re wrong so don’t challenge me’ face. Normally it worked, but Chrissy knew she was right so she was willing to push him this morning.
"You sounds like a child Len, it's unfitting for you." He was about to argue with her again when she stopped him by continuing. "I don't know what I did last night with you but I'm sorry for it. If it was really that bad you can tell me but I don't want to ruin our friendship over it."
“It wasn’t bad.” An expression washed over his face and Chapel was sure it was one of longing. “You didn’t embarrass yourself.”
She faked an expression of relief. “That’s good to know.” At least all the acting she had done back in school was coming in handy now.
“I’m sorry.” Len’s voice was soft. “I did something…” He trailed off as she raised her hand.
“I don’t want to know if you don’t want to tell.” She took in a deep breath. It was now or never. “Len if you were to ask me out I wouldn’t say no.”
She was sure that he understood now, but he didn’t say anything about it. Perhaps ignorance was the best way to go about doing things. “Chrissy would you like you go out with me?”
She feigned surprise, and not well on purpose. “Oh Len how unexpected.” He did laugh at her antics. In a more serious tone she added, “I would love too. Took you long enough to ask.”
He smirked at her, oh how she loved that. “I had information for a very reliable source that you wouldn’t turn me down if I asked.”
“That was a very competent source.” She agreed smiling at him. Sometimes all he needed was a push in the right direction.
“I kissed you last night.” It was odd to hear it coming from him but at the same time it was nice to know that he was going to tell her anyway, whether she could remember of not.
She nodded her head. “I know.” It was a simple statement but one she felt right saying. If he was going to be honest with her then she was going to be honest with him.
“I figured.” He didn’t look mad, in fact he looked amused. “Normally I don’t condone that sort of behaviour but it’s nice to know two things. One my bourbon didn’t go to waste.” That made her last, of course he would have been worried about that. “And two, I suppose it was easier for both of us if we pretended that you were drunk.” At her confused face he continued. “Your acting skills are good but honestly Chrissy their not that good. You can’t play something you’ve never experienced.” That was very true, she had never been drunk in her life, tipsy yes but never drunk to the point where she couldn’t remember things in the morning.
“So for our date?” She asked looking at him; she was giving him one last opportunity to back out.
“Next shore leave. I’ll pick you up at nine in the morning.” With that he walked away leaving her smiling. Next shore leave was tomorrow. So it would seem that they were finally going to date.
The date itself was nice, they went out shopping something she loved to do and he followed her collecting her bags. They did have lunch together which was a lot of fun and if she was honest with herself it didn’t feel any different then what they use to do back in university. Everything it would seem was falling to place for the two of them and Chrissy couldn’t imagine how things could ever goo wrong. But she was wrong, very wrong.