Chapter Text
Phil Boyce bounced into the ready room, unannounced, energetic, asking before the door closed. “Well?”
“Well what?” Christopher Pike answered with his own question, eyes and attention focused on the PADD in his hand.
“Last night,” the other man prompted as he sat in the nearest chair.
“Still analyzing,”
“Analyzing? An odd word to use. You do know it is possible to overthink your actions and subsequently lose the pleasure of the moment.”
“Highly unlikely.” Chris continued speed reading through yesterday’s reports.
The doctor creased his brow and narrowed his eyes. Thoroughly scrutinizing his friend with an experienced professional eye. “You don’t appear rested. Or relaxed.”
“I was up most of the night,” was the absentminded reply as the captain typed and routed a message to tactical approving their request for additional phaser drills. A rant from Phil in the morning over a random, inconsequential thing was not unusual and seldom required his full attention.
“Exactly.” A meaningful look accompanied the reply, tone of voice emphasizing its point.
Knowing his chief medical officer would keep needling until presented with a full explanation, Chris said while continuing perusal of the overnight reports, “There was a situation … the timing was bad … I had a problem …”
Phil interrupted with a sputtered, “What? But … but … you both seemed ready … no … enthusiastic … actually very, very eager …” Understanding dawned. “Oh … OH … I see.” He paused and then added, sounding sympathetic, “This explains your bad mood.”
A shrug proceeded, “I guess.”
“And I know this is cliché, but it happens to all of us at some point,” the doctor soothed in his bedside manner tone of voice.
“I realize.”
“And I am confident any …” Phil paused and cleared his throat, “performance issue is temporary and likely a one-time problem due to stress, lack of sleep, or a combination of physical and environmental factors.”
Chris tilted his head and glanced up at his CMO. “Undoubtedly. My conclusion as well. A few simple precautions will prevent a recurrence.”
The doctor considered if Chris was truly keeping this incident in perspective or downplaying it with a nonchalant act. He suspected the latter. After Talos IV he expected his friend would initially push away personal affection and its physical expression, maybe even find it awkward at times. But impotence was a much stronger reaction than anticipated. And like it or not, Chris needs to deal with this right now. “At the very least, we ought to talk about what happened.”
New orders were relayed to the bridge. “I’m busy this morning, can this wait? And there’s still a stack of overnight transmissions from headquarters to get through.”
“No, it can’t. You need to come with me.”
That caught Chris’ attention. He stopped reading and looked up. “What? I wasn’t informed the problem extended to Sickbay. Was anything damaged?”
Phil, his attention focused on helping his friend through this delicate matter, missed the reference to Sickbay but heard the word damaged and the concerned tone. The doctor slowed his speech, keeping his voice calm and quiet. “Permanent damage is unlikely. And can be ruled out with a few simple tests.”
Satisfied, the other man went back to reading the message traffic. “Good. Let me know if you find any.”
“If the problem is organic, if it is ongoing, there are safe drugs which will stimulate the desired response …”
Chris looked up again. “What are you talking about?” he asked louder and more forcefully than intended.
“The same as you … what happened last night. I saw you and Aalin go into your quarters hand in hand. What are you talking about?”
“The cascading power failure which began after a photon torpedo armed itself.”
“Oh … OH …” Phil grinned. “That’s good, I mean not it’s good a torpedo almost exploded on board the ship, but that it wasn’t a … a more personal failure. You know, these misunderstandings could be avoided if you gave me your undivided attention.”
“I don’t have that kind of time,” Chris muttered. Intending to dispel any of the doctor’s lingering assumptions once and for all, he added, punching out each word and placing additional emphasis on the key phrase, “And. For. The. Record. Such a personal failure has never happened to me.” In the end, Instead of bold and brash, his response edged closer to a squeak.
Placing the PADD on the desk, he continued, “You have my full attention now, why are you here and not plaguing someone else?
“A gentleman doesn’t ask outright.”
Chris snorted and shook his head. “Evidently, they do if the definition of a gentleman is expanded to include you. And a gentleman doesn’t kiss and tell.”
“So, there was kissing. Did you snog?
This elicited a chuckle. “Snog? Are you sixteen?”
“You protest too much. And sixteen is a fine age,” Phil said.
“How could you possibly know … do you monitor the corridors?” Chris’ slight squirm did not go unnoticed.
Were you a little overeager in the hallway? Phil thought before he said, “Only outside your quarters. Otherwise I’d never be up to date on anything important. Actually, I was leaving my rooms just as you entered yours, but your attention, shall we say, was elsewhere.” Phil held up an accusing finger. “Stop changing the subject.”
Lost in his own thoughts Chris mumbled, mostly to himself, “Did anyone else see us?”
“Ah, yes. Ensign D’bville’s teammate’s friend’s roommate saw her this morning in a turbolift leaving the deck housing your quarters. Unsubstantiated rumors solidified, multiplied, and ran a marathon from there.”
“I knew it was a bad idea.”
“No, it wasn’t,” Phil said softly.
“Yes, it was. For multiple reasons. If there are next steps in our relationship, they should be confined to off ship.”
“We are in the middle of deep space, were you two going to keep dancing around each other for next twelve months?”
“Maybe. No. I … I wouldn’t expect her to wait for me.” Chris stopped and redirected the conversation before he shared too much and regretted it. “We’ve strayed from the point. Which was, the scrutiny, the assumptions are unfair to her.”
“Do you truly believe conducting a romance out of sight would stop scuttlebutt? You are the captain of the flagship; people notice what you do.” Phil shook his head. “For a man who has seen and experienced so much, you are naïve at times. And the rumors aren’t gossip. Well okay, yes, they are gossip but not malicious, we are alone in the vastness of space and need entertainment, this far from home we crave connection. The crew is pleased. They want you to be happy. To enjoy the same privileges they do. To have someone special in your life who cares for you.”
Focused on the thoughts in his head rather than hearing his friend Chris said, “I meant … she deserves more than I can give her … never mind.” He stood, preparing to leave. “Nothing happened. I was called to torpedo stores, then engineering and the bridge. By the time the situation stabilized and I returned to quarters, it was 4:00am. She was asleep. I chose not to wake her.” And nothing is going to happen, I’m stopping it now, I realized last night I’m not ready, he added to himself.
“Fair enough.”
Yet Phil excelled in reading between the lines.
Now alone, the doctor remained in the ready room, sorting through their conversation and his own thoughts. Having lost his beloved high school sweetheart ten years into their marriage, he knew life was unpredictable, precarious; and wanted to act before Chris let something precious slip through his fingers.
And suspected his friend was not fully healed from the wrenching engineered by the Talosians. Even before that incident, Chris was cautious about love affairs. Being a long-time romantic, the doctor freely and, according to the captain, often, gave advice on the subject. To which Chris responded with just enough detail to be polite and satisfy the inquiry but never revealed much substance.
Then a wonderfully mischievous idea occurred, and Phil smiled – no grinned – ear to ear. I am Enterprise’s CMO, it is my responsibility to ensure its commander is not only sound physically, but emotionally as well. Starfleet is practically ordering me to play matchmaker! For Chris’ own welfare of course.
He needed help and chose Una. Also Louvier, whose reputation as a ‘ladies’ man’ was legendary. Perhaps Pippa, Captain Georgiou to most, can fill in past details. I’ll write to her. Yes, we will be Team … Una can pick a name, she’s good at that. We’ll need hats. I’ll assign that task to Spock … after explaining to the young Vulcan the significance of team spirit and how it is symbolized with matching clothing which can only be worn in secret during team meetings.
And Matt. His abilities may prove invaluable when dealing with matters of the heart for a patient navigating trauma.
Satisfied with his plan and pleased with himself, Phil left to find Una and tick off the first order of business – determining if Chris was truly needed on the bridge all night or if the incident was an excuse to avoid finishing what he had started with Aalin.