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The whole gang was there for Jaylah’s graduation from Starfleet Academy. The amount of people supporting her from the U.S.S. enterprise took up a couple dozen rows of seats at the ceremony. Right there, front and center, was Montgomery Scott cheering the longest and loudest when her name was called. Bones had pull on his arm to seat him back down. The other graduating cadets all snapped their heads at Jaylah, and she’d have blushed if her complexion allowed it but luckily it didn’t.
Her fanclub all greeted her after the ceremony to congratulate her. They knew she wasn’t really a hugger so they just stuck to pats on the back and words of praise. Until Scotty broke through the group, swooped her up in a hug and spun her around. “You did it, Lassie!”
Before he could say anything else, Jayla froze up and demanded to be put down. “Sorry, sorry,” he apologized, “I’m just so dang proud of you.”
She let a small smirk escape. “Thank you, Montgomery.”
“Hey now, I told you about that name. All my friends call me Scotty so that’s what you’ll call me.”
“Scotty.” They both smiled.
Scotty escorted her along with the rest of the crew to a nearby bar to celebrate. Not that Jaylah could really get drunk, but it’s the thought that counts.
“I got you a graduation present of sorts,” Scotty told her as she downed another glass of Romulan ale. He put a small box in her hand. “Open it!”
Skeptical, she ripped open the wrapping and opened the box to find a metal Starfleet insignia.
Scotty was already beaming. “It’ll look great on your new uniform!”
“Uniform?”
“You’re gonna be part of the Enterprise! Engineering. With me.”
She stared at the gift in her hands then looked back up at him. “I don’t want to wear a dress.”
“A..dress?”
“Yes, I hated the dress I had to wear at academy. I’ll go if I can wear something else.”
Scotty was taken aback but understood. “I’ll talk to Kirk. He was the one who told you to break rules anyhow.”
Satisfied, she pinned the insignia to her shirt. “Thank you, Scotty.”
Jaylah wasn’t exactly thrilled to be stuck in one place for a long amount of time again, but she was still excited to be on a ship again and wanted to learn more about everything. In the beginning she was hesitant to meet new people, always keeping to her room on time off and taking her meals in the engine room. Scotty didn’t like this at all. He wondered if this was her behavior all three years at the academy too. Probably.
One day he decided to approach her about it. He found her in her usual spot along one of the bridges with her legs dangling over. “Can I join you?”
She seemed startled but glad to see him. “Yes.”
“Why do you always eat here?”
She didn’t answer and focused on her food.
“Do you miss your friends from the academy or something?”
“I did not make any friends at the academy.”
He sighed and tilted his head. “Well you have friends here. There’s no need for you to be alone any more.”
She shrugged. “I am used to being alone.”
Scotty scooted closer to her. “Look, I get it. You’ve lost your family, so why bother getting close to people again. But that’s a part of life, isn’t it? Love…and loss. You’re not really living if you stay on your own all the time. This here could be your new family”
This speech didn’t appear to work, because Jayhal started gathering her things and getting up. “I’m sorry-“ he started before she interrupted him.
“Listen, Mont-...Scotty. It is nice of you that you worry, but it is better this way. For everyone.” Before he could argue any more she darted back to her room and locked herself in.
They next day some of the crew beamed down to a nearby planet for a day shore leave. Scotty knocked on Jaylah’s door to invite her down but she was still confining herself to her room. She was messing with an old cd player when she heard a ruckus of some sort outside. People running around and murmuring in a panic.
She stood in the doorway and grabbed a nearby yeomen in passing. “What’s going on?”
“Scotty’s been kidnapped! He went missing during leave and the captain’s just received a message about him. He’s calling a meeting to decide what to do.”
Jaylah’s eyes widened. “Where does he hold these meetings?”
The yeomen shook her head. “Oh you wouldn’t be able to go in, only the senior staff get to-”
“WHERE.”
She was led to a meeting room and burst in on Kirk, Bones, Spock, Sulu, Uhura, and a few others at a table. “Where is Scotty?” She demanded before any of the men could speak.
Security officers rushed to get her out of there but Kirk stood up held out his hand to stop them. He motioned for her to sit. Jaylah looked around suspiciously but obeyed.
Kirk sat back down with her. “He was taken by Klingons. He’d bought something from an antique shop that they must have been when he went back down after putting it in his room they snatched him.”
“So? We go get him.”
“It’s not that simple,” Spock explained. “We are not supposed to make contact with enemies of the federation. It could provoke a war.”
Jaylah was furious at this point. “But they acted first, yes?”
“Look, I agree,” Kirk interacted. “Plus it’d be a…negotiation, not attack. We just give them the artifact and they’ll give him back, right?”
Spock shook his head. “We have no idea if they’ll keep their word, or if the artifact is harmful.
“It’s an old necklace, Spock! How harmful could it be?”
“A necklace?” Jaylah interjected. They all looked at her.
Kirk nodded solemnly. “Yeah. He must have not known it was an old Klingon relic, probably just thought it looked pretty.”
Jaylah didn’t have it in her to ask what Scotty was doing buying a necklace. She didn’t want to assume it was for her, but who else? This wasn’t the time to worry about that though. “We must get him back. How can you just sit here and not do anything?”
“She’s right, Jim,” Bones agreed. “You’d never leave a crew person behind, especially not Scotty.”
Kirk looked at Bones, knowing he was right. “Ok. Uhura, contact the Klingons again. They can have what they want in exchange for Scotty. Myself and a small group will go down for the exchange.” He looked over to Jaylah. “I assume you’re coming?”
“You assume right.”
The Klingons agreed to the terms and negotiated a meeting spot. It was a field outside of town but near enough to where they could easily beam down. The enterprise crew got there first.
While they stood there waiting, Bones noticed Jaylah trying to keep it together. “Look, it’s gonna be fine,” he assured her. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to save Jim’s ass from a situation like this. But we have everything we need for this to go well.”
Jaylah was confused. “So you do not worry?”
“Oh of course I worry! I worry about him even when he isn’t in trouble. That’s just part of caring about someone.”
“Then why do you do that?”
He laughed. “What, care about him?”
“Why keep him close if you could lose him?”
Bones just smiled. “I can’t imagine my life without him. I don’t want to.”
“But what if you do?”
“Jaylah, you’ll find people in your life who are worth that risk.”
As if on cue, the Klingons arrived with Scotty then.
Kirk handled everything on their side. The rest was there in case something went wrong. Luckily the Klingons kept their word. Jaylah nearly burst into tears when she caught sight of Scotty he’d clearly been beaten by them and was wearing shackles. She succeeded at holding back tears until he looked back at her and his face lit up. Tears started escaping and she had to look away.
The whole thing happened quickly. Kirk met the Klingon leader in the middle with Scotty and handed over the necklace. Scotty couldn’t walk on his own so he had to lean on Kirk. He nearly fell half way and Jaylah rushed over to him and grabbed Scotty by his other side. He leaned into her touch immediately. “You’re here,” he murmured lightly. She gripped him tighter and held him up. “I’m here.”
Bones had to keep Scotty in sick bay for a week to heal. He had a broken arm and a few cracked ribs from his time as a Klingon hostage. Jaylah would visit to check on his condition but never actually went in to see him. Bones kept trying to convince her, that he would love to see her, but she didn’t want to risk crying in front of him or anyone else again.
The first thing Scotty did when he was released from sickbay was go straight to see Jaylah at her quarters. She was surprised, since Bones hadn’t told her about his discharge. “Hey, Lassie!” He came in for as much of a hug as his one good arm could give, and this time she hugged him back. “Oof, that’s a tight grip you’ve got there!” She didn’t respond, her face buried in his shoulder to hide the fact that she was already crying. He brought his arm up from her back to cradle the back of her head.
He let them just stand there for a minute until he finally asked about the crying. “Hey now, what’s wrong, Lassie?” He leaned back to face her and wiped tears from her face.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized.
Scotty smiled at her. “Don’t be.” She hid herself in his chest again. “Is this why you didn’t come to see me? I was hoping you would.”
She muttered something into his shoulder.
“What’s that?” he broke them away again.
Jaylah sniffled then looked up at him. “I thought I had lost you.” Realizing how vulnerable she’d made herself, she brought up a different subject. “What were you even doing there in such dangerous territory?”
He stuttered, confused by her shift. “Well, I….I was getting something for you, actually.”
“For me?”
He nodded, blushing. “I didn’t want to seem too forward at first but I wanted to get you something nice.”
“Nice?”
“Yeah well, it was a necklace. As you know, I couldn’t keep it unfortunately.”
“Why did you want to give me this?”
Scotty gulped. “In my culture, giving a woman jewelry is a gesture of…romantic attachment.”
Jaylah stepped back from him and crossed her arms, looking down at her feet awkwardly. “You wish to attach yourself to me romantically?”
“Yes! I…very much. And not to make assumptions but I saw the way you looked when the crew came to rescue me and I’m thinking you feel the same?”
Jaylah was torn. Of course she felt the same. Scott was the first friendly face she’d seen after years of being on her own. But it was more than that. He made her feel like she was a part of something, as much as she tried to fight it. He understood her and never judged her. His voice saying “we will never give up on you” helped get her through years of self-doubt at the academy.
“I do but-“
“You do!” He rushed back to her and grabbed her hands.
“I am afraid.”
“I didn’t think you could be afraid of anything.”
“You mock me, Scotty?”
“No, not at all! I only mean that you’re one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. Why are you afraid?”
She didn’t answer but he already knew the answer. He offered a reassurance. “I already know for a fact that you won’t let anything happen to me. Kirk told me you practically took over his command when I was captured.” That earned a laugh from her. “So I’m safe, see?”
He brought his hand up to brush her hair behind her ear and then let it linger to cup her face. His touch felt so warm and safe and she closed her eyes, deciding what to do next.
“You’ll find people in your life who are worth that risk.”
She smashed her lips onto his frantically, making a bold move before she could change her mind. Scotty almost fell back from the force and surprise and Jaylah grabbed his shirt to keep him steady. This helped him lean into the kiss.
He parted their lips to catch his breath. “Okay then. My sweet lassie.”
She smiled. “Sweet?”
“Yeah, that’s you alright.” He leaned in slowly for a gentler kiss.
Definitely worth the risk.