Archive of Our Own

"I'm still not happy about this."

As if Christine hadn't heard that already. It was a wonder she didn't roll her eyes at him. "Are you saying you don't trust M'Benga's abilities or judgement?"

"Of course not." Leonard sounded insulted.

"That's not what it sounds like." She raised an eyebrow and adjusted the strap of her bag as they carried on towards the transporter bay.

"You're twisting my words again. I'm pretty sure that's how you got me going to this conference in the first place."

"I am not, and there is still time for you to back out, Doctor." She smiled sweetly at Leonard despite the venom in her voice as they neared the door.

Leonard sighed in response. "You know damn well I want to talk to the Mallaxians about their lecture on grafting. And M'Benga is a fine doctor; I just don't like the both of us leaving Enterprise at the same time, especially when they are exploring the next system over."

"As gratified as I am by the compliment, I think your self importance is getting inflated again. The Enterprise will not fall apart without you."

"What about without you?"

"I have actually been known to make full use of my shore leave and leave ships duties behind for more than a couple of hours at a time."

Leonard grunted and strode forward, the door sliding open as he approached, so thankfully he missed the grin on Christine's face.

Scotty was manning the transporter, and he gave a grin at Leonard's raised eyebrow.

"Giving you a proper send off."

"We're only away for three days." She knew that tone, and if she hadn't been going along with Leonard it would have amused her much more.

"Well, you never know what those historians are going to get us in to. Have you been to one of their parties?" Scotty grinned.

She had to admit the look on Leonard's face was hilarious. Still, Christine bit back a laugh as Leonard opened his mouth to speak, his whole body tense. She shot Scotty an annoyed look as she dragged Leonard onto the transporter pad. No matter how amusing it was, she could tell that Scotty's comment was going to set off another round of grumbling.

Scotty shrugged his shoulders with an innocent grin on his face, but they dematerialised before she could say anything.

-

The transporter area they arrived in looked like every other one Christine had ever seen before, but there was a spring in her step as they headed towards the reception. The Arnu Institute was well known for the impressive research they regularly performed, and she was eager to see all the facilities as well as talk to the researchers themselves.

All around them the crowd was buzzing, and she could see a mixture of races and organisations present. It was good to see such a turn out, and that the institute staff were in amongst the crowd, clearly more excited about the chance of debate than annoyed at being invaded for a couple of days. The only annoyance was Leonard; he grumbled under his breath about Scotty, and the trouble the rest of the crew could get in on a simple survey mission, all the way to the reception desk.

"I am going to make Scotty pay for this." Christine hissed at Leonard as they stood in line to sign in. Leonard looked questioningly at her. "And you as well if you don't stop grumbling about leaving the crew. You signed up for this conference willingly, and you have been talking about it for the last month, so start acting like it."

Leonard sighed then looked contrite. "I am, I just know what those idiots are capable of getting up to."

"Do we need to have the discussion about the abilities of our staff again?" There was a dangerous edge to her voice, the one that usually boded more paperwork and less patience with his demeanour. "Or the fact that the only reason we got to come to this conference was because Enterprise was in the area for that survey mission?" She added for good measure.

Leonard chose not to answer, and she was saved from making any more threats as they reached the head of the queue.

It only took a few minutes to register, and get their updates to the program and the associated data. Finding their assigned berth took a little longer, mainly because of the crowds milling about, but she didn't mind as it added to the excitement of the whole adventure.

That feeling lasting as long as it took for them to arrive at their shared cabin. Christine paused at the doorway and looked in.

The room was tiny.

And she was sharing it with Leonard.

On one hand, at least it was Leonard she was sharing with, and not a complete stranger. She was grateful to have given that particular joy up after she became Head Nurse and warranted a single cabin. On the other, at least every time she had shared it had been with another woman. She searched around the room. There wasn't going to be any privacy at all. She hoped her face wasn't as flushed as it felt.

Leonard sighed at her expression. "It's only for two nights." He tilted his head slightly. "And we’ll only be sleeping here."

She knew he was being reasonable, and that they were adults perfectly capable of turning away when they were changing, but she didn’t particularly care. "I'm beginning to see why they rotate their researchers so much."

"It's not that bad."

She looked sceptically at Leonard, but truth be told she was relieved that he picked up on that aspect rather than her embarrassment. "I can touch both walls at the same time."

"Well, what else do you want other than a bed?"

"Not to knock myself unconscious as I get out of bed?"

"I've slept in worse."

"Coming from the person who ends up sleeping in his office chair half the time, that's really not saying much." She knew there really wasn’t any other option so Christine let out a sigh of resignation and tossed her small duffel onto the lower bunk.

"Just don't expect me to be talkative first thing in the morning." She was aware she was glowering, and she tried to ease it. It was ridiculous really, but spending time in this small a space with Leonard was like sticking your nose against the window of a gorgeous candy shop and not being allowed in.

"You'll be fine once we're actually out and talking with everyone."

"I could say the same about you."

Leonard just rolled his eyes as he tossed his duffel on the top bunk. "I take it you're heading to the mixer?" He asked, though he had an amused look that indicated he already knew the answer.

"Of course. There's no chance of being called on duty, an open bar, and at least some of the delegates have a sense of humour."

Leonard snorted. "Well, that is a benefit I suppose."

Christine sorted out the change of uniform she had brought with her, and stuffed her pyjamas under the cover before Leonard could see them. Her padd for recording notes she could sort out tomorrow, and that didn’t leave anything she particularly wanted to Leonard to see.

She could curl up with the novel she had brought with her for the very slim chance she had a free five minutes or she needed to decompress her brain, but a look at the time suggested even if the mixer hadn't officially started yet, there would be plenty of people heading in that direction.

Leonard rolled his eyes at her enthusiasm, but she knew it was just him acting up to his image so she ignored it.

Just as she had thought, they came out of their room to find everyone heading in the direction of the station dining hall, with only a few struggling against the tide, and they had bags in their possession showing they had not long arrived.

They arrived in the dining hall, and it looked like the hosts had made an effort to make it look a little less bland. Leonard took advantage of not being on call and headed straight for the bar set up in the corner. Christine rolled her eyes but didn't say anything.

-

The night passed in a blur of drunken conversations, for Leonard at least, though she was heading for tipsy herself, and dancing and laughter. She'd seen a few familiar faces, and it was good to catch up with them, as well as put faces to names she had recognised from various article and research papers.

-

She was somewhat used to Leonard's early morning demeanour from breakfasts in the mess hall, usually with the Captain in tow, so she left him alone as they dressed for the day and headed to the dining hall for breakfast. She didn't feel like any conversation until she had had her first cup of coffee and something to eat anyway.

The staff had put on a massive buffet, and some of it looked freshly cooked rather than synthesised. She tried not to sigh happily as she picked out what she wanted and carried it over to one of the tables.

Between the food and the conversation, Christine was smiling as they walked out the dining hall, carrying one last Delerian slice out with her as they were shooed out to make way for the lecture taking place there shortly.

"You're heading to the bacterial lecture?" Leonard asked.

She nodded and swallowed a mouthful of pastry. "We'll meet up here and compare notes in the break?"

He nodded his acceptance, and they made their way to their separate rooms.

-

As she knew she would, she found Leonard had managed to put worrying about the ship behind him when they met up, and he was fully engrossed with discussing Mallexian techniques for grafting with a group of delegates. He quickly pulled her into the conversation, and she slid into it effortlessly and became engrossed enough that she never had a chance to wax lyrical on the lecture on bacterial healing aids before an announcement indicated it was time for the next session.

-

The rest of the day passed in a similar manner, and her padd rapidly filled up with notes and things to look up when she got back to the ship. She felt rather enthusiastic as she made her way to the dining hall with the group she had been in her last lecture with and that only heightened when the atmosphere changed. There was a buzz in the murmur of voices that hadn't been there before, and Christine drifted off to the group she knew would be fully informed.

The set of doctors from the Relular system had quickly made themselves known as those who knew everything quickly. Something to do with their link most likely she thought.

"Christine!" Rexis gesticulated as she approached, and she smiled in return. "I remember you saying you served on the Enterprise, is that right?"

"I don’t know why you bother making that a question." The group tittered, but they looked fit to burst to ask her more. It wasn't a good look on them, and she would have been concerned if they hadn't already explained the facial reaction as a harmless one when excited.

"We heard from one of the control staff that an alert beacon was just detected." Christine could fell her mood plummet. "Something escaped from ruins on a nearby planet and made it into space. It is unknown where it was heading, but they were warning all vessels in the area to be careful."

"No one was injured?"

"The beacon didn't say, and there has been no further communication."

Leonard chose that minute to join them.

"What the hell have they gotten themselves into this time?" He asked before he headed off in the direction of the control room.

She recognised the worry underneath the grumpy tone, and it was for that alone she didn't immediately follow him and give him a piece of her mind. She turned back to the group.

"Can you remember which member of staff?"

"Tall with feathers on his head."

Christine nodded. She had seen them about. "Thank you, I had better go and catch him up."

They gave their understanding expressions, and she nodded good bye.

She had to push through the crowd heading towards the dining hall for dinner, but fortunately he had to do the same, and being rather less bull-like, she had an easier time of it.

She caught up with him just as he buzzed for entrance to the corridor for the control room.

"We're looking for the tall one with feathers."

He gave her the usual grateful look he gave her when she saved him from doing utterly stupid when grumpy, only this time she was too concerned about the ship herself to be amused or annoyed by it.

They were admitted, and the officer who greeted them took one look at their Starfleet uniforms and called across the room.

Tall with feathers started speaking before they asked any questions. She forced herself to stand still; they must have been telegraphing their anxiety loud and clear for everyone to see. Either that or they were used to working with humans.

"I see you have heard about the beacon. No reports of injuries or damages, the alert beacon is just to warn nearby ships that something is having a strange effect on ships systems. Nothing to worry about."

As long as she had served on the Enterprise, and in Starfleet, those words weren't reassuring. Leonard cleared his throat beside her, and she could tell he was having the same reaction.

"We will update you when we have further details but there is no sign of any problems so please go back and enjoy the rest of the conference."

Tall with feathers clearly had plenty of experience with stubborn doctors as they found themselves herded back out to the main through despite their protests.

They received a rather false looking smile as they door shut behind them, and she sighed when Leonard grunted. She was relieved when he refrained from saying anything else.

"Have you got your communicator on you?"

"It's too far out of range for it to work."

"They might have moved if something on the planet was affecting systems."

Leonard gave her a look. "We are talking about the same crew?"

She sighed and conceded the point. "Let's go get something to eat, and then we can see if we can access one of the computer terminals while everyone is preoccupied."

"You know how to hack a console?"

She had had enough of his grumpiness. "You are not the only one who is worried." She headed off to the dining hall, her strides longer than normal with annoyance but she didn't care.

Leonard cupped her elbow just as she reached the door. "Sorry."

She turned to look at him and sighed again. He was doing the puppy dog eyes again. "I know."

"There's couple of seats over there. We'll see what else anybody knows in a bit."

They grabbed a couple of plates and picked at the buffet, but it turned out they weren't in the mood for eating much after all, and she ended up pushing more of the rather lovely stew around her plate than she ate. She tried to join the conversation that was going on around her; they had both been looking forward to this. And honestly, as often as the Enterprise managed to get into scrapes, they usually got out of them just fine.

It was just the not knowing that was causing the problem, especially when she didn't have a sickbay full of patients to keep her occupied.

It was no use. Everyone was preoccupied with the conference lectures, either confident in the fact the station's defences would keep them same, or too wrapped in work to even think about it.

Leonard looked concerned at her when she sighed again, and the small reassuring smile she gave him was easy. He could be such a sweetheart at times, and the thought loosened the knot of worry ever so slightly.

They both looked up at the scraping of tables being moved, and the general movement of people into the centre. Clearly it was time for the party segment of the evening.

She and Leonard exchanged a look, and at her nod they both rose. It would be the ideal time to find a comm. console and find out what was going on. She wouldn't be able to settle properly anyway until she knew for sure what was happening, and Leonard would be the same which would only make things worse.

The party had started spilling out into clusters in the main thoroughfare, and it took them longer than she would have liked to make their way past everyone and find a free console as they kept getting stopped to ask opinions.

Leonard sat down before she did, and she rolled her eyes as she dragged another stool over. He was tapping away rapidly on the console, but the frown on his face wasn't getting any smaller.

"What does it say?"

"The only thing unrestricted is the news feed for the area, and it only mentions what we already know."

"Budge over," She started tapping at the screen.

"What are you doing?" Leonard's breath on the side of her face was rather distracting, and she had to clear her throat before she answered. There was a reason they usually stood further apart.

"I'm seeing if I can access the comm. protocols without having to log in."

She turned to him when the quiet sounded odd. "What?" The look on his face would have been amusing in another situation.

"You weren't just talking when you mentioned hacking in?"

She smiled a half smile. "Between Nyota and Scotty, I've picked up a few things." The smile dropped. "I don't know if I can break through these encryptions though, I've only done it once or twice before,"

"And?" He asked after she trailed off.

"I don’t recognise the language this is written in."

"Use the translator."

"Now why didn't I think of that." She jabbed the screen a little harder as she glared at him. "Use the translator he says," she muttered under her breath, and she knew he heard her as he shifted backwards away from her slightly.

"Sorry." He did sound sorry. He sighed. "I know you would have used it if was there."

"It's access locked as well."

Leonard snorted, and she couldn't help but let out a chuckle as well. She kept tapping away at the console though, trying to break through.

After a couple of minutes, she slumped her head into her hands and leaned on the edge of the console.

"I can't even figure out how to patch our comms into the station."

"C'mon, we'll just have to see if feathers is any more forthcoming."

Christine didn't even bother rolling her eyes at the name he had given the station officer. She followed him back out the lab, turning the lights off as they went.

Feathers was just heading off duty. Great she thought, she was either turning into Leonard or she was spending far too much time with him. Neither thought was as worrisome as it had once been, but she didn't want to think about that at the moment.

No more information. Tall with feathers tried to reassure them that this was good news, but the pair of them new better. Tall with feather made what sounded like a sigh.

"We can't get in touch with them, but then communications were affected by the object, and our sensors have picked up nothing outside the readings that were warned about."

"Are they heading closer?" Leonard asked at the same time as she did.

"Nothing to worry about. The readings are already decreasing, and we are fully protected by top of the line shields."

That wasn't reassuring in the least.

"Now, you must excuse me, I am scheduled for my meal break." Tall with feathers brushed past them, leaving them speechless.

She recovered first. "You can tell he's used to working with doctors."

Leonard looked at her, one eyebrow raised.

"He talked right over us. Not even the Captain can manage that."

Leonard's lips twitched at that, and she considered it a victory.

"We'll see what other vessels are docked. The institute ones will more than likely have the same encryption, but one of the other vessels might be willing to scan or let us use their comms."

She thought about asking one of the control room operators but decided against it. The group of Relulars were more likely to help and would certainly be faster.

They found them in the centre of a group, and as she expected they were more than willing to help. She half suspected they thought of it as entertainment, but she wasn't going to let that stop her.

-

An hour later, and her hopes were dashed. None of the four vessels still in dock could reach Enterprise, and none of them were willing to leave the protection of the stations stronger shields to go further. She could feel her frustration levels rising, but she couldn't really blame them, giving they were small medical vessels and the situation was unknown.

She really wasn't in the mood to stay in the party atmosphere and watch her colleagues get drunk or argue or both at the same time. She dragged Leonard out when she could feel both their tension levels rise to breaking point. "Explain the last lecture to me." It came out more of a demand than she meant, but she felt like she was at stretching point. This was supposed to be an enjoyable time to argue and learn, especially after the non-stop of their last couple of missions, and the tension she had felt since her last attempt at dating had taken a wrong turn three months ago.

"Chris, I'm not in the mood."

"I need distracting as well." She knew she was growling, but she didn't really care.

Leonard looked at her, one of those looks that felt like he was looking right through her. Normally it warmed her, but now it was just annoying.

He sighed. "C'mon, I stashed my notes in the bunk."

She nodded and started striding to their small rooms.

-

The room seemed even smaller when they were both wound up and struggling to put themselves somewhere that the other wasn't. She settled for sitting down on the bottom bunk, elbows on her knees and head in her hands to avoid hitting the top bunk.

Leonard grabbed his notes and began to go through the lecture, but she could barely make out a word. He was talking too quietly and pacing too fast for her to follow.

"Leonard!" She couldn't help the sharpness; he was getting on her already thin nerves.

He stood still and shook his head. He sat down heavily beside her, though he wasn't so lucky to avoid hitting his head.

His curses hit the cabin, and oddly enough she found them a little calming. A bubble of laughter tried to form but long experience helped her damp it down.

"So the Mallexian graft uses a low powered sonic scalpel?"

Leonard stopped cursing, and she saw the focused expression fall over his face that was his normal reaction to stress in a medical situation. It wouldn't last long as a distraction, but it would do for now.

-

She startled awake at the sound of the alarm, and she cursed as she hit her head off the bottom of the bunk above her.

She heard Leonard make the same mistake, and she hissed as she rolled out of the bunk and her back protested at the angle she had fallen asleep at. She pushed through it and ran to the door.

"It sounds like standard biohazard alarms." Leonard said, and she could feel his warmth as he stood behind her.

Given that, she wasn't really surprised when the door didn't open at her command. Leonard was one step closer to the comm. panel and reached it first.

"Control room."

There was only a silence then a beep to let them know no connection had been made. "Everyone else must have the same idea." She squeezed past him to grab her padd.

"Either that or no one is there to answer."

She didn't grace him with a response and instead tried to get into one of the station feeds from her padd.

He wasn't so unsettled as to hover over her again, and as much as she liked feeling the warmth of him, she was glad as it let her focus more clearly.

"Damn, same encryptions as before. But comms are definitely still up, I'm picking up traffic between rooms."

They looked at each other as the alarms stopped sounding but the lights carried on flashing.

"This is Station commander Xon. Do not be alarmed, the biohazard lockdown has initiated but there is no biohazard. It seems the effects encountered by the Starfleet vessel Enterprise have reached us and are affecting some of our own systems. We are busy working to overcome the problems, but it may be a while before the effects fade and we can override them. Please stay calm, and do not try to move areas as this might engage further lockdown. We apologise for this inconvenience, and we will keep everyone updated."

They exchanged another look. By his expression Christine could tell Leonard was just as reassured as she was by the announcement.

If they were being affected like this and this was the reduced effects, then. She didn’t finish the thought, but the lingering worry over the Enterprise that she had managed to suppress for a short while still came rushing back.

She took a calming breath and adjusted her posture to try and shake up off the lingering effects of the unexpected nap and the new tension. It made her feel marginally better, which she was all she could really hope for at the moment. She turned back to her padd to see if she could get any information, and nothing she was going to say to Leonard would get him to focus properly.

She almost thought about creating a medical situation for him to deal with, and she snorted at the thought.

"What's so funny?"

She looked up to find him trying to pry to door control open.

"Nothing. What are you doing?" She could feel her eyes narrow. "Nothing stupid?"

"Jim and Scotty always make this look so easy."

He swore as she heard a spark, and he jerked his fingers back. She assumed he gave himself a burn as he immediately started sucking on two fingers.

She ignored the thought that ran through her head at the sight.

"What good is overriding the lockdown going to do?" Her voice was a little lower than she would have liked so she turned her face back down to her padd. "I'm pretty sure the control staff will be too busy getting the station back to rights to put up with you pestering them."

"Pestering?"

"Pestering." She emphasised it with a sharp nod of her head. "And what would you do? Everyone else is in lockdown, or drunk, and we can't access the systems anyway yet."

"If one of the residents is drunk, we could get them to log on to a terminal."

"Well, if you want to try and break open countless doors, as well as try and avoid the countermeasures in place for escaping contaminants, and quite possibly kill yourself in the process, then be my guest." Her tone was acidic, and she emphasised it with a raise of her right eyebrow.

"Damn it, Chris, I can't just sit and do nothing." He hit the wall with the palm of his hand in frustration.

She softened and sighed. "I know." She looked up at him. "But these are level four containment facilities, and as you're always saying, you're a doctor, not a miracle worker." She smiled at using his own words against him, and he grunted in frustration again.

He sat down heavily on the bed, ducking his head so he didn't hit it again. She made sure to hide her smile at the awkward movement.

"I take it asking about the presentation on the Xydronian technique for synthesising antibodies isn't going to make you any calmer?" She asked as he fidgeted on the bed.

He sighed. "No, but I'll tell you about it anyway since we're stuck."

"Now there's an offer I can't refuse."

"Very funny." He reached across and grabbed the padd out of her hand.

She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm copying my notes for you." He looked a little bewildered at her annoyance.

"You could have asked first. I could have been on the verge of getting into one of the feeds."

He sighed, and she was well aware that last sounded more than a little grumpy. She sighed and rubbed her face.

"Sorry." She felt ridiculous; her emotions were all over the place. Whether it was from worry, stress or the fact Leonard was so damn near she wasn't sure, but the sooner they found out what was happening and got out of here, the better.

Thankfully, Leonard shrugged the moment off and handed her padd back once he had finished transferring a copy.

He turned towards her and stated talking, the interest in the subject clear to see on his face. As interesting as the subject was, it wasn't quite enough to distract her from his sitting close to her, his voice low and rumbling and full of enthusiasm, and his body still slightly tense, especially since her thoughts had started heading in that direction already.

She tried to pay attention as best she could, but all the flirting, heavy moments and looks over the last year were playing on her mind.

Probably because her traitor of a brain knew they didn't have any chance of avoiding each other for the next while, with nothing to distract them or let them avoid the conversation they really should have.

She could still keep up with him as he discussed the procedure and the reasoning behind it, she had enough control and professional pride to manage that, but something in her voice must have given her away as he stopped talking and looked at her.

He glanced down, and she could tell he was suddenly aware of just how close together they had become on the bed.

She knew she could jump up and search for a padd, take the easy way out like they usually did, but she had her doubts that would work this time. They were in too enclosed a space for that to work unless he ignored it as well, and given the way he was looking at her she didn't think that would happen.

Hell, she felt like he was devouring her with her eyes and didn't that just feel good?

Neither of them said anything, and the air seemed to get thicker with the tension. She felt hotter and hotter as the moment dragged on, and she wasn't quite sure which of them was going to move first.

She licked her lips, her mouth suddenly feeling dry, and she had to take a deep breath as Leonard's eyes widened slightly and she heard his breath catch.

Damn it, she was fed up of wondering, and she couldn't stand the slow tease they had been dancing around. She leaned forward and kissed him softly, more a test to see if he would respond than a proper kiss.

He did. His lips touched hers again and softly moved. Perhaps it had been too long since her last kiss but it felt amazing, especially as they passed the testing of the waters stage, and his hands came up to cup her head and the kiss became urgent.

She twisted the rest of her body so she was almost completely facing him, and her own arms wound around his neck to keep him close.

His pinkie fingers brushed against the side of her neck as the kiss intensified and sent sparks down her body. She probably made some sort of noise judging by his pleased rumble of laughter, but she didn't really care.

He was an excellent kisser, and he felt warm and muscular against her. She pressed against him, her own fingers exploring the back of his neck as his tongue entered her mouth. She felt him shiver, and she smiled into the kiss.

They were past the testing of the waters stage, but she wanted to be sure this wasn't just a side effect of being stuck together. She pulled away from the kiss, but she stayed pressed against him.

Leonard raised an eyebrow, and really he looked adorable with his confused look and his hair a little mussed.

"I'm just checking if we're doing this because we're stuck and about to crawl up the wall, or,"

"Or because it's been building for the last year?" He had relaxed as soon as he saw where she was headed. "In my case it's the latter."

She grinned and leaned her forehead against his. "Me too." She let out a quick giggle as relief flooded through her, and Leonard chuckled as well.

She knew they were often on the same page so to speak, but it felt good to know they were with this as well.

She bit her lip and twisted so she was kneeling on the bed instead, her arms still wrapped around Leonard's neck. He looked appreciative of the new position and both of their laughter stopped as the kiss resumed. She pushed him backwards, tension leaching out of her as she laughed at his reaction, and she lost herself in the kiss.

-

The doors beeped, and as she looked up at Leonard she noticed that at some point the alarm lights had stopped flashing. She knew she looked hopeful so untangled her legs from Leonards and he sat up. He rummaged on the floor for his pants, and pulled them on as he stood. She pulled the sheet up to cover herself as he took a couple of strides and hit the door panel.

It slid open, and she felt a grin form across her face. She rummaged for her own uniform, and started dressing as Leonard pulled his communicator from his pocket.

"McCoy to Enterprise."

"Enterprise here," The reply was faint, indicating they were just within range, but she didn't care at all.

"Everyone all right?"

"Fine, Doctor, just some ships system problems from an artefact the historians uncovered." Nyota's voice was a relief to hear, and she could feel herself relax a little.

"No one's hurt?"

"No," She could hear the smile in Nyota's voice. "Are you and Christine all right?"

"We're fine and it looks like the systems are returning to normal, but the comms are too overloaded to check."

"Good. Our ETA is fifty-nine minutes, and the Captain is on a channel with station control." Nyota paused. "No reported problems so far, but let us know if any develop. We'll be in touch if anything further happens on Enterprise and when we reach orbit."

"Will do."

"Enterprise out."

She looked at Leonard, who was looking a little unsure now that they knew nothing disastrous had happened.

She felt the same way. She cleared her throat, but it was Leonard who broke the silence.

"We'd better go and check no one has managed anything stupid while drunk."

She couldn't help the snort of laughter that escaped, but it eased the atmosphere and they both finished getting dressed, albeit a little self consciously.

They didn't really talk as they walked through the station, and to her relief no one was suffering anything more than a hangover or an ill-advised attempt to break open the compartments doors. She had to hide her smile from Leonard as they walked by those getting treatment for that.

Leonard pointed avoiding her gaze and a she didn't bother to hide the fact her smile widened.

All around them there were heated conversations about rearranging the remaining lectures and seminars given the short amount of time left, but she ignored them as her appetite for learning had been overwhelmed by the urge to return to the Enterprise. They'd been to most of the lectures they had wanted to attend anyway, and Leonard showed no inclination to join either. She supposed if it hadn't been the Enterprise in the middle of events, she would feel differently.

By the time they had checked up on everyone, and said everything they wanted to say to the other delegates, they finally received another comm. message from the Enterprise.

"Bones, that's us in orbit."

"What the hell kind of mess did you get into this time?"

"I thought Uhura told you."

She knew well enough that the Captain was winding Leonard up

"Something to do with the historians uncovering an artefact?" She thought she had better step in before this devolved into one of their bickering matches.

"Well apparently it was some sort of ancient defence system that we accidently activated." She heard Leonard snort but the Captain was well used to it and ignored it. "It had decayed so its programming was a little off and it took off on a random course."

"It would appear that it was part of a defence strategy to paralyse enemy ships that approached the planet." Spock broke in.

"Just ships?" Leonard asked, and she could he was deep in thought.

"We were unable to determine so far it if was designed merely to incapacitate ships or if the technology malfunctioned during its burial."

"Everyone is fine, Bones." Kirk answered what Leonard was really asking.

"All right. When can we get back to Enterprise?"

"Scotty needs to make sure the station shields are back to normal, then we'll beam you back."

"And how long's that going to take?"

She elbowed Leonard in the ribs at his grumpy tone, and she was sure she heard someone laughing in the background somewhere.

"He says twenty minutes so we'll have you back in ten."

"All right. We'll be ready."

"Good. Scotty will contact you when he's ready. Kirk out."

She burst out laughing at Leonard's eye roll and just grabbed his arm as he started to scowl at her. "Come on, we better get our things. M'Benga will never let us hear the end of it if we don't bring our notes back."

-

Leonard headed straight for sickbay the second they stepped off the transporter pad, and she was only seconds behind him. Although Nyota and Kirk had both said it was only hardware that had suffered adverse affects from the capsule, not the crew, she still had to check that out for herself.

And possibly stop Leonard from chewing out any of her nurses due to frustration.

-

They stretched in their respective seats an hour later after they finally finished going through all the sensor data and equipment checks. She was satisfied that everything and everyone were back to normal, and Christine felt like she could sleep for a solid twenty hours at this point, and Leonard didn't look much better.

"Come on, the shift is about to change, and we could both do with a shower and some sleep."

Leonard raised an eyebrow at her and smiled slowly.

"That's not what I'm thinking."

His looked disappointed, and she found it rather adorable. Heaven help her, she was lost.

"I need a good sleep, and then we can go have dinner and talk about what we're going to do in less stressful situations." She raised an eyebrow and smiled knowingly.

His slow smile returned as he got her implications. "In that case, I'll walk you to your quarters. Wouldn't want you getting distracted from your sleep."

She slipped her arm through his, and really it was nice to lean into him, especially as the adrenaline and worry of the last two days had started to leave her feeling exhausted.

"I'd like that." She smiled at him, and she didn't care about the speculative looks thrown their way. No doubt tomorrow would bring all sorts of gossip and questions, but she was rather looking forward to it.