The Things We Do For The Fleet

Chapter 6: Clumsy Greetings

💙eventual Leonard McCoy x fem!reader💙

⚠️: minor injury, slight language

word count: 2,907

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There was an incessant pinging sound coming from the living room, Why in god’s name would anyone be here before my alarm even goes off?!?. Leonard grumbled and rolled over when a yelp came from beneath him. “Oh! I’m sorry, darlin!” He nearly fell out of bed, and took the blanket with him trying to roll back to his own side of the bed. “Don’t worry about it, I’ll get the door. You should get more sleep if you can,” Y/N encouraged as she walked out of the room to see what was happening out there. That’s nice of her, I coulda gotten it though, Leonard thought as he went back to sleep, seeing as he hadn’t been particularly awake to begin with.

Y/N opened the door to be met with Captain Kirk, she stepped outside the door and let it close behind her. “Good morning Captain, what can I do for you?” She greeted, voice still laden with sleep. “Have you seen Bones?!? I called him, but no one picked up, went to his quarters and no one was there! I’ve been checking rooms between his quarters and here looking for him!” Kirk rushed to explain in a single breath. “Why do you ask?” Y/N followed, fully aware of where the Doctor was, but not willing to give him away to the captain unless it was actually necessary. “For one thing his shift started fifteen minutes ago, and for another we have an injury on the bridge,” He explained to her in a voice that told her she probably should have answered the question instead of asking her own. “Aren’t there other doctors?” Y/N asked, fiddling with the cuff of her nightgown. “Yes, but-” Kirk was cut off by the sound of Y/N’s alarm sounding from inside her quarters. “Y/N what do you want me to do about this damned thing?!?!” Leonard asked, muffled by the door. The captain smirked, “I see, you’re keeping him to yourself. Just tell him I told him it wouldn’t be so bad and that he’s late,” Kirk pressed, continuing to walk away with a devious grin plastered to his face. She wasn’t sure what he meant by ‘it wouldn’t be so bad’, but she went back into her now shared quarters anyway. She took a stop in the kitchen and put the kettle on again before she walked back to the bedroom. As she stepped into the doorway of the bedroom she stopped to see Leonard up now and toying with the alarm to get it to stop. Y/N took him in, now seeing him for the first time this morning in all his early morning radiance: hair mussed and nightgown rumpled. “I guess you’re late,” Y/N announced, now making her presence behind him known. “Shit, am I really?!” Leonard asked looking back to the clock in his hands, he looked back up to her, “How did you know that?” He asked. “That was the Captain, he came to say you were late and that he couldn’t find you,” she relayed, “Gah, dammit Jim!” Leonard exclaimed as he ran to the closet for a uniform. Y/N giggled in his wake and grabbed a uniform for herself as well, opting to change in the bedroom since Leonard was already in the bathroom. “Bye, have a good day doing whatever you do!” Leonard shouted, followed by the sound of the door opening and closing. Y/N was still tying her shoes when she heard this and giggled at the thought of him running down the hall. Maybe having a roommate will be fun. She walked out of their quarters with a pair of gardening gloves half tucked into the waistband of her pants. Y/N turned down the hall just in time to see the turbo lift doors close with Leonard behind them. Y/N decided on skipping breakfast that morning, something she knew she would regret later, but wasn’t worried about at the moment. She took the stairs down to the botany lab, a time consuming route she could afford to take because she was already early. She had a lot of reports to fill out on that Cotton Candy Flower, including giving it an actual scientific name instead of continuing to call it cotton candy. When Y/N arrived in the botany department she found it empty, something that wasn’t surprising as most botany personnel tended to be at breakfast right now. She sat down at the bench with her cotton candy flowers, tapped on her padd to turn it on and hit the audio recording button. She always preferred recording her notes as she went because the gardening gloves didn’t allow her to use the touch screen.

Leonard caught a glimpse of Y/N down the hall just as the turbo lift closed, he would have caught the door for her, but it was mostly closed by the time he caught her eyes and he wasn’t about to catch his fingers in the door just to be polite. Of course you overslept, you didn’t set alarm, He felt like an idiot, Leonard would have to do his best to avoid the bridge today. He walked into his office and fell gracelessly into his chair. Just what I always wanted, more paperwork, Leonard grumbled as he sat up to take a look through all of his newly acquired papers. If I just strap everyone on this death trap to their bed, then no one can get hurt, job done, Leonard thought to himself as he rifled through to find some of the most terrifyingly ridiculous injuries he’d seen. Nurse Chapel walked into his office, “The captain’s here to see you,” She informed and walked away without leaving room for him to argue with her. Today must be my lucky day, Leonard straightened in anticipation of Jim’s entrance. “So,” Jim started as he walked in and took a seat without being asked, “Enjoy yourself in Y/N’s bed?” He asked with a devious smirk. “My doings are none of your concern, and I’ll have you know she slept so far to the other side of the bed, I’m surprised she didn’t fall off,” McCoy retorted sternly. “Alright, alright, I get it. Grumpy cause you didn’t get any,” he joked with his hands up in mock surrender, earning himself an even stronger brand of glare from Leonard. “Did you come here for something other than to harass me?” McCoy asked venomously, “Just saying hi,” Jim defended, standing up, “Well you’ve done that now,” Leonard was absolutely not in the mood, not that he usually was, but today he already seemed worse than usual. Jim walked out of McCoy’s office, requesting that the rest of the medical staff leave Leonard alone unless it was an emergency. Clearly something was eating at him and Jim would hate for unsuspecting patients and staff to be caught in the crossfire. Leonard sank further into his chair with a hand over his face before standing up and leaving his office to check in on his patients. As he walked through the medbay the whole medical staff did their best to stay as far out of his way as possible.

Y/N stood from her station to get some petri dishes for soil samples, she put on her headphones before leaving the room, a habit she had developed in order to avoid awkward conversations. With her headphones on and her music playing as loud as was reasonably possible, Y/N headed to the supply closet. Opening the door and walking in she tripped over a plant pot, she let out a squeal as she fell forward. Y/N gritted her teeth in pain as she felt that her ankle had twisted in a way that it definitely shouldn’t be able to under normal circumstances. “Sulu!” Y/N called, knowing that in his spare time he liked to hang out in the botany labs. Nothing, he wasn’t there, Guess I have to do this myself. She gripped the door frame for support as she pulled herself up, Y/N stood leaning against the door for a moment more. Breathe in, breathe out, now walk She swung on the doorframe trying to keep weight off of her ankle and began to limp towards the turbo lift as she dragged against the wall. Of all the times to get hurt, I picked a time when somehow no one’s around Y/N heaved as she got to the turbo lift, she would have to step away from the wall to get in, and she really didn’t want to. Here goes nothing she braced herself as she stepped away from the wall, pain shot through her leg, she was starting to wish she had just waited for someone to find her in the supply closet. When the door opened she slowly moved in and fell against the wall, taking a breath of relief as her ankle was relieved of pressure, “Medbay,” Y/N groaned and tried not to think about her ankle or about the looks she would get when she got off the lift. The door opened again to reveal medical personnel in a sea of blue shirts, one looked over to see Y/N pulling herself out of the lift and rushed to help. “Here,” the girl said, taking Y/N’s arm to put it over herself. “How’d it happen?” the nurse asked, “Tripped over a planting pot,” Y/N answered, trying her best not to sound too pathetic. “Botany personnel or just stealing their supplies?” The nurse joked in an attempt to distract Y/N as she sat down on a chair in the waiting area, “Don’t worry, someone will get to you in a moment,” The nurse reassured before leaving to do whatever it was she needed to do. Leonard was walking back into his office, “Oh, hi Len,” Y/N waved with a smile. “Oh, hi Y/N,” Leonard greeted without looking up from his padd as he continued. He stopped abruptly, looking back at Y/N, “What are you doing here?” McCoy asked with a raised eyebrow. “Just thought I’d sprain my ankle for funsies!” Y/N joked downtroddenly with a quick look at her ankle. “Oh for the love of god,” Leonard murmured, “Come on,” He said as he picked you up. Leonard took Y/N into his office and sat her down, he left her in the chair and searched his desk drawers for a tricorder. “Well,” He said, reading the tricorder, “At least you didn’t break it, the best we can really do is wrap it and keep you off of it,” He told Y/N with a smile that disappeared in an instant. "You can stay there if you want," Leonard offered as he sat back down in his own chair behind his desk.

Looking up to see the clock, Leonard sees the time, “you hungry?” He asks, seeing as it’s almost noon. “Starving, honestly,” Y/N replies, remembering that she had yet to eat today. “Alright, what do you want?” Leonard asked, ready to bring back whatever she requested. "Whatever you bring back, I'm not picky and it's all replicator food," Y/N answered, trying to find a way to settle her ankle. "Alright then, but don't complain if I bring back something you don't like," Leonard warned. He tended only to do what he absolutely had to, but for some reason he found himself jumping at the chance to do something for Y/N. it was just that they had to live together indefinitely, he told himself this repeatedly as he left his office and went down to the officers mess for food. Leonard couldn’t actually decide what to pick as far as food, he tended to air on the bland side, that way he couldn’t be disappointed by the fact that the replicators very rarely got flavours right, they were always just a bit off. Y/N probably favoured sweeter flavours, Leonard thought as he found himself sifting through the dessert cartridges. Leonard didn’t think he’d ever felt so much anxiety over what food to pick. Is Y/N really a sweets person or is that just a silly assumption?, as he asked himself this footsteps came up behind him.

“Oh, hey, Bones! Fancy seeing you here,” Jim greeted as he gave Leonard a clap on the back. “Could you not?” He grumbled as he continued to pretend considering what he was gonna pick for lunch. “You don’t usually eat lunch. What’s up?” Jim lightly questioned, “Well maybe if you didn’t get so many people injured on away missions, I wouldn’t be too busy to eat!” Leonard shot back without regard for anyone nearby who might be listening, or really just within earshot. He opened his mouth to continue having it out with Jim when his ears closed in on the sound of uneven and inconsistent footsteps, accompanied by a more stable set of footsteps. Leonard looked away from Kirk and focused on where the steps were coming from. Dammit, why won’t anyone listen to me, he began to fume as he saw Y/N walking up behind Jim, supported by Christine. “What are you doing?” Leonard asked, a strange combination of anger and concern boiling inside of him. Y/N Looked up to him with a pained smile as she let go of Christine to wave at him. Jim looked behind him to see who McCoy was talking to and turned back to Leonard with a raised eyebrow.

“You said you would bring back lunch, but I didn’t think I would have to wait three to five business days for you to come back with it!” Y/N smiled, some of her sass, which Leonard hadn’t seen before, peaking through. Jim looked at Leonard with a pressing glance and a smirk, he shot back a ‘not now’ glare. “I couldn’t decide what I thought you might want,” He admitted, briefly looking down at the floor and stealing Y/N’s signature move. Y/N smiled deeper and attempted to move closer, only to lose balance of her weight and fell into Leonard’s arms. He readjusted her so that she was more comfortably resting her weight off of her bad ankle and leaning into his side. “I told you I’m not picky,” Y/N reasoned in a near whine, pressing even further into Leonard’s side to punctuate her point. Leonard briefly considered the idea of wrapping his arm around Y/N’s waist, in the name of keeping her stable of course. In the end he decided he had better not do it in case she didn’t like it or it made her uncomfortable. “Well you should have just told me what you wanted to eat instead, then I’d already have brought you food and you wouldn’t be here walking on your ankle,” Leonard added the last part rather sternly. “Well just grab me a Y/F/F smoothie,” Y/N said, turning around and nearly falling over trying to reach for the cartridge. Leonard quickly caught her with both arms caged around her waist, “Maybe just let me get that for you,” Leonard kindly offered as he put back the cartridges Y/N had knocked out of place and grabbed one for a Y/F/F smoothie. All the while keeping a hand firmly pressed into her side. “Alright, walk with me here,” Leonard said as he began to guide Y/N towards a table where she could sit down. He carefully lowered her onto the bench, making sure not to bother her ankle. “I’ll be right back with your smoothie, don’t move this time,” Leonard ordered as he walked back to the replicators, cartridge in hand. “Getting a little handsy over there,” Jim remarked while wiggling his eyebrows, “I can’t help that she’s too clumsy for her own good. Now get out of the way,” He said, shouldering Jim. McCoy stood in front of the replicator and waited a moment for the little door to slide up again to reveal Y/N’s smoothie. So I wasn’t entirely wrong with the sweets thing, he told himself rather proudly as he popped in the cartridge for his sandwich and waited again. Leonard walked back to the table where Y/N sat across from Christine, Sandwich and smoothie in hand. “Do you wanna try eating here or head back to medbay?” He asked, glancing at Y/N’s ankle as he placed the food on the table. She looked down at her ankle and then to the bench, “Back to the medbay?” She asked, seeming to have decided that it wasn’t worth the work to get her legs over the bench. “Whatever you like,” He said as he sat down next to you and put an arm around your waist. “Ready?” Leonard asked, Y/N gave a nod and prepared herself. “And up,” He guided her up in one swift motion. They stood still together for a moment, being sure of their balance, “Ready to try walking?” Leonard asked, looking down at her. “I think so, yeah,” Y/N replied. “Nurse Chapel,” He turned his head to look back at Christine, “Would you grab our food and follow us back to the medbay?” Leonard asked her as politely as he could manage. “Of course,” Christine answered, picking up the food and following behind them. The walk was slow, but not too uncomfortable for Leonard, although he was becoming tired of leaning so far to the side so that Y/N wouldn’t be too uncomfortable.

I hit a brick wall like halfway through writing this chapter and dead stopped writing it for three days. 💀☠️

The Things We Do For The Fleet

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