bridge2sickbay drabbles from 8/8/10

[bluegeek]

Late posting these to my own journal. Ah well. The week's theme was submissions to the My Life Is Average website. Once again I wound up having my own little mini-theme within the prompts I snagged and it was apparently academy fic.

Prompt: Uhura, Gaila - Today I realized that Build-A-Bear's slogan is "Where best friends are made." I found that quite sad.

The Start of a Beautiful Friendship

″What's this?″ Gaila sounded puzzled as she stared at the object that now resided on her bed.

″It's a present for you.″ Nyota smiled at her roommate. Gaila kept shifting her gaze from Nyota's face to the item on the bed and back.

″For me?″ Surprise was evident in Gaila's voice.

″Yes. I remember the other day that you'd like to begin decorating our dorm, but that between all the introductory seminars on top of our class loads, it would be tough. I had a few moments today and figured I'd pick up something to make the place a bit more cheerful until we could gather some proper decorations.″

Gaila slowly reached out a hand and picked the bear up carefully, as though afraid it would disappear before her eyes. ″I've never had a– teddy bear, I think it is called?″

″That's it. My mother made me take mine,″ Uhura pointed to the worn bear on her nightstand. ″When I left for the Academy. She said Akiki would bring me luck here as well as anywhere.″ Nyota smiled at the memory. ″What will you name yours?″

Gaila was silent for a long time. Then she hugged the bear more closely to herself and said, ″Doroban. His name is Doroban. Our bears can be friends, just as we are.″ Her smile was brilliant.

~~~

When Nyota finished the endless debriefings, medical exams, and reports, at least for that day, she was finally able to return to the dorms. She leaned her forehead against the door for what she thought was only several moments but had perhaps stretched longer because that was where Spock found her when he entered the deserted hallway. He pressed a hand to her back and Nyota took a deep breath. She keyed in her code and entered the room with Spock's warm presence close behind her and stopped dead when she passed the room divider.

There, on Gaila's habitually rumpled bed, lay Doroban and Akiki, snuggled together under the covers where Gaila usually slept. Where she used to sleep.

Nyota didn't realize she'd started to cry until Spock stepped around her and touched his hand to her cheek, spreading the wetness further along her skin. Then he gathered her into his arms, and pulled her face against his neck. He rubbed her back as she cried silently against him.


****

Prompt: McCoy, Joanna - Today my 2yr old daughter said her first knock knock joke. She said "knock knock" I said "who's there?" she said "me"

Knock, Knock

″What are you doing now, sweetheart?″ Leonard called as he began rinsing the soap bubbles from his hair. He'd been desperate for a shower after his long shift but had no one to keep an eye on Joanna while he washed so he'd set her up outside the door with a pile of picture books and left the door open a crack so they could talk while he showered.

He'd questioned her about her day, asked her to ″read″ the books out loud to him, and sang songs with her to both maintain her attention and keep tabs on her whereabouts in his small on-campus apartment. He'd gone on a childproofing spree when Jocelyn had finally agreed to let Joanna visit him for a few days but wasn't completely confidant in his ability to keep ahead of his inquisitive daughter. And Lord knows Jocelyn would never allow him to see Joanna ever again if something went wrong on this visit.

″I'm picking out a new book, Daddy!″ Joanna's high voice was filled with happiness as she answered him.

″Which one is next?″ Leonard soaped up quickly, determined to finish the task as soon as possible so he could spend the rest of his evening cuddling and reading with Joanna.

″The one with the doggie.″

″Oh, okay. Why don't you tell me about it.″ Leonard didn't remember buying her a book with a dog in it, but she sounded excited about it, so what did it matter? He began rinsing off, listening for her reply. For a moment he thought he heard a swishing sound over the rush of water pouring around him, but he knew he'd locked the door when they'd arrived home that evening after picking Joanna up at the shuttle station and Joanna was right outside the door, right? ″Joanna?″

For several seconds there was only silence, then, just as he began to get nervous, he finally heard, ″Daddy?″ Her voice came from right outside the door and Leonard breathed a sigh of relief as he shut off the water and grabbed his towel, drying off quickly and generally ineffectively before slinging the towel around his hips.

″Be right out, darlin'.″

″Hey, Daddy! I learned a new joke today, wanna hear it?″

″Sure sweetie, tell me.″ Leonard had no idea what kinds of jokes a two-and-a-half year old might come up with, but he'd go along with it. He grabbed up a comb and ran it through his hair and decided to pass on shaving again – he wasn't all that bristly.

″Knock, knock.″ She punctuated her question by knocking on the bathroom door.

″Who's there?″ Leonard reached for the door, waiting for her punchline.

″Me!″ Joanna shrieked the answer with delight in her voice and broke down giggling madly. Leonard pushed open the door swiftly and snatched his waiting daughter up, and tickled her, causing her shrieks to escalate. She tried to say something but she couldn't hear her over her giggles.

″What was that, sweetpea?″

Joanna took a deep breath, still shaking with laughter. ″And Jim!″

Leonard froze. ″What?″

″Me and Jim. Are there.″

Leonard heard a snort from the corner of the room near the door and turned to find his best friend red-faced with laughter. This was also about the time that he realized he was still clad only in a towel, slung low around his hips, and that both his arms busy holding up a squirmy Joanna, leaving no free hands to secure the towel's precarious perch. Well, shit.

He never should have given Jim the code to his apartment.


****

Prompt: Kirk, Uhura - Today, I was driving through the canyon when I passed a sign that said, "Falling rocks". In between the two words, someone had written "in love", so it now read "Falling in love rocks."

Expressing Oneself

Uhura leaned her hip against the guardrail and crossed her arms over her chest. ″You are such a dork, you know that?″

Jim turned to meet her eyes and flashed her a bright smile. Maybe, but I'm your dork, which makes all the difference.″ He turned back to his work on the sign.

Uhura smiled at the back of his head, making sure that he couldn't see her of course. She really ought to stop his defacement of the safety sign, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to say the words, and she was not often at a loss for them, so this was significant. There was something about James Kirk. His devil-may-care attitude was wrapped up in a nearly unbearably flirtatious nature that he projected for all to see, but it was the streak of thoughtfulness and surprising moments of genius kept her guessing and waiting for the next hint of something more that everyone expected of him.

She wasn't sure if his current stunt was an example of his defiance of authority or of his genius recognizing that it would take something more than the usual flowers to maintain her attention, but when he'd rode up on his bike, extra helmet strapped to the back, with an invitation to take a ride up the Coast, she couldn't resist. He'd interrupted her planned staycation with an actual vacation, but it was shaping up to be a nice diversion from the rigors of the Academy.

″You might need an extra coat on the 'love' to make sure it stands out.″ She told him, idly.

She saw the corner of his mouth curve into a wider grin, but he dutifully retraced the letters as directed.

As they remounted the bike and prepared to drive off, Uhura snapped a quick photo of his handiwork. He'd turned the simple ″Falling Rocks″ warning sign into an expression that both thrilled her and filled her with nerves – the good kind. It now read: ″Falling (in love) Rocks.″

Yeah. It really did.