Echo

Chapter 27: History is Made at Night

Author's Notes: Ahhh so sorry this is late again! I completely forgot to update last night. Anywho, enjoy!

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Leonard

"Somebody's got a crush on youuuu," the captain sang as he sidled up next to the doctor while he strode down the hallway.

"Oh good, you're here," McCoy replied sarcastically, "I was beginning to worry I wouldn't get my daily dose of annoying."

Laughing and elbowing him, Kirk asked, "Come on, don't you even want to know who it is?"

"Please bestow on me your wisdom," he answered with disinterest as they rounded a corner.

Leaning in closer, he stated, "It's Echo."

Leonard felt a flare of intrigue tickle his stomach, but kept his expression dubious as he glanced over at his friend and inquired, "Where did you get that idea?"

"The other day, in the med bay after our trip to Methias," Kirk answered, grinning at a couple of female ensigns as they passed by, "you honestly didn't notice the way she was looking at you?"

Shrugging and bridling his excitement at the thought of it, he replied, "I was too busy patching her up, and to be honest, I think you're just saying this so that you can watch her deliver a roundhouse kick to my face for suggesting the idea that she likes me."

"Come on, Bones," Jim stated, clapping him on the shoulder, "you can't say you wouldn't go for it, if you had the chance. When is the last time you got laid?"

When they reached the medical facility, and therefore the end of the captain's harassment domain, the doctor snapped, "Whether or not I'm getting laid is none of your concern."

"It is when you have a perpetual stick up your ass," Kirk replied with an arched eyebrow, "seriously man, sometimes I'm afraid you're going to squirt blood out of your eyeballs soon because you've got so much pent up tension."

Grinning at him before ducking through the doors, Leonard retorted, "I thought that was what you loved about me."

Snorting, before the automatic entrance shut at his back, the captain called after him, "Think about it!"

Kirk loved to make comments and suggestions to rile Leonard up, seeming to take pleasure in how much he could agitate the doctor on any given basis. Most of the time it was unintentional, he did not deny that he was extremely high strung, and the truth of the matter was, he had not gotten laid since a one night stand the last time he was on-planet, and he hadn't really enjoyed it very much. In that sense his friend was right, but whether or not he was being honest about his impression of you was unclear.

Even though it felt very high school to do so, he decided that maybe he ought to pay you a visit later on, just to take a closer look and figure it out for himself. What was the harm in doing it? Jim didn't know that Leonard was nursing a crush of his own on you, so it couldn't hurt to fabricate a reason to pop by your workplace and test the theory himself. The thought of it was exciting, and after pondering it for a little while he decided to go through with it.

Prior to your employment upon the Enterprise, whenever Leonard walked into the veterinary facility, the staff and veterinarians had passed him around like a hot potato. Whoever was at reception would get a tech, who would fetch a vet, who would retrieve the head of the department, who would defer back to another staff member. The process was endless, frustrating, and usually caused him to be more irritable after it was all over than he had been at the start, which earned him a reputation of being "difficult".

Evidently though, the staff had deduced that you were the best and most capable person when it came specifically to dealing with him. So, when he stalked into the lobby of the veterinary sector, the receptionist looked up at him, picked up her phone, and dialed an extension before he even arrived at her desk.