Fic: Tiny Spark (4/5)
Jun. 28th, 2009 07:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cloudydaiseTitle: Tiny Spark
Characters: Scotty/Gaila
Rating: Teen
Chapter Summary: Scotty will never drink again.
Author's note: You guys are awesome. :)
Chapter Five
Characters: Scotty/Gaila
Rating: Teen
Chapter Summary: Scotty will never drink again.
Author's note: You guys are awesome. :)
The following morning, Scotty woke late, taking quite a while to fumble towards consciousness. He was reluctant to open his eyes for two reasons - one, he once again felt an enormous hangover coming on, and two, he knew that he'd just been dreaming about something truly fantastic, and while he'd already forgotten the particulars, the lingering warm glow would disappear as soon as he succumbed to the morning.
Unfortunately, daylight was unrelenting, and the window coverings weren't doing a damn thing to keep it out. So it was with a sigh that Scotty opened his eyes and realized all at once that someone's hand was resting lightly on his chest. His bare chest. Which initially struck him as the odder of the two things, since he typically slept in as many pieces of clothing as possible. But if he wasn't wearing any shirts, and someone else's hand was there... hold on. Someone was in bed with him. And...
"Holy - " He sat bolt upright, ignoring the pain in his head, and jumped out of bed, searching frantically for any scrap of clothing he could use to cover himself from Gaila, because there she was, in all her green glory, in his bed, blinking sleepily up at him. Apparently, his outburst had startled her awake, and apparently, she did not see anything out of the ordinary about this situation.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Oh my god. Oh my god."
"What?"
Scotty had located his trousers and pulled them on as expediently as possible. "Oh my god. Did we...? Did we? Last night - "
"Yes. We did." Once again she looked more amused than anything else.
"Oh my god."
"Relax. It's never a good idea to start the day with a panic attack."
Scotty raked his hands through his hair. What had happened last night? He couldn't remember a thing... it was all just a fog... damn it.
Gaila swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, quite naked, her curly red hair practically floating around her shoulders, extra frizzy from sleep. Scotty was staring, he knew it. He tried to avert his eyes while she pulled her dress on over her shoulders - how did she manage to look so sexy doing something so damned ordinary - but he just kept stealing glances, because he couldn't help himself. Had they really? Really?
She sauntered over to him, smirking. She was only slightly shorter than him, so when standing right in front of him she was almost at eye level with him. "Don't worry about it," she said, straightening her dress. Then she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, whispering in his ear, "See you soon, Scotty."
Gaila left, the automatic door hissing behind her, and Scotty remained rooted to the spot, swearing over and over inside his head that he would never drink again.
That evening, he ran into Dr. McCoy. "Scotty," he said. "I need a drink. Come with me."
"I'm not sure - I don't really think... um, well, all right."
He followed McCoy into the third bar in as many nights, feeling sheepish, but at least thankful that he would hopefully have someone to keep him from making any idiotic decisions.
"Two gin and tonics," McCoy told the waitress, and there went Scotty's resolution, because it would be impolite not to drink something someone else bought for him. Really, it was just a matter of etiquette.
For the next hour, Scotty drank while he listened to McCoy complain about everything. And he literally meant everything. Risa was too crowded. Risa was too hot. Risa's gravity was too light. Shore leave was too long and he had too much paperwork to fill out. The paperwork was the captain's fault. The captain got them all into too much trouble. The captain was generally a reckless idiot. It seemed that everything the captain did annoyed McCoy, and he went on endlessly about it, but Scotty stopped paying attention when Gaila showed up. Did she have some kind of a radar? Or a homing beacon? She could have planted one on him last night. In his pocket maybe. Scotty searched his jacket pockets. Nothing. It had to be somewhere, because she kept finding him, and even though he kept his head down she still walked right over to their table. It was McCoy's fault that time, Scotty decided, because he had a loud voice anyway, and the volume only increased with his intoxication.
"Hello, boys," she greeted them as she walked up, grinning. She was wearing a form fitting little black dress with those off-shoulder sleeves and her legs were up to here and her hair was pulled back and braided and he should probably stop staring but it wasn't like he was the only one. Gaila had the attention of nearly everyone in the bar, which meant everyone was now staring at them.
Scotty ducked his head down. "Gaila," he said, his voice threatening to squeak slightly. He cleared his throat. "You know Dr. McCoy, I'm sure..." What was that? Of course she did. He was the bloody ship's doctor, everyone knew him.
"Care to join us?" McCoy asked, before Scotty could do anything to prevent it.
"Always," she said. As she sat down, their waitress came over. "I'll have what they're having," Gaila told her.
McCoy raised his eyebrows. "You sure you can handle one of these? Doesn't really seem like it's your thing."
"That's cute, Doctor." Gaila leaned back in her chair, completely at ease, which was the complete opposite of how Scotty felt at the current time. "You so don't know what my thing is."
Her drink arrived. She downed it in three gulps. McCoy was aghast. Scotty, for some reason, was not surprised.
Gaila turned to Scotty. "You think you could get me a Samarian Sunset from the bar? I think our waitress is busy." She gestured towards a table on the other side of the bar, where their waitress was getting friendly with Captain Kirk. Actually, it could have been the other way around.
"Know what he'll be doing later," muttered McCoy, as he took another swig on his drink.
"Ah, yes," Scotty told Gaila finally, feeling distracted because of the way she was smiling at him, like she knew something he didn't. Which, he thought bitterly, she did. She knew a whole night of things he didn't. "Be right back."
Scotty worked his way through the crowd to the bar. "One Samarian sunset," he told the bartender wearily. "Actually... and a scotch, as well. On the rocks."
The bartender, a short Ferengi, set about making the drinks. "You here with the rest of the Starfleeters?"
"That I am," said Scotty, drumming his fingers on the counter.
"You might want to watch out for her," the bartender said, nodding towards their table.
Scotty's brow furrowed. "What d'you mean?"
"I'm just saying. You know what Orion girls are like. They'll sleep with anyone to get what they want." He leaned forward, to give the illusion of some kind of trust, some kind of intimate secret being shared. "They love to hang around pleasure planets like Risa. Big vacation spot, you know. Lots of rich men to prey on."
"She's actually a technician on the Enterprise," Scotty retorted, his face feeling hot.
"I'm just saying. She'll have you wrapped around her finger before you know it." He shrugged.
"Yeah. All right. Can I just get those drinks, please?" Scotty was annoyed.
The Ferengi gave him a knowing look. "Ahh, I see. She must've already gotten to you."
Scotty let out a sigh of exasperation. "Look, can you just -"
"Don't look now, but I think you've got some competition."
"What?"
Scotty turned around. Gaila and McCoy had been joined by several other men, none of whom Scotty recognized, all of whom seemed enraptured by her. McCoy didn't even look annoyed, which Scotty took as a bad sign. Gaila seemed to have just finished telling a hilarious story, judging from burst of raucous laughter that erupted as soon as he'd turned around.
Forgetting about the drinks completely, Scotty marched right back over to the table before he realized what he was doing. "Gaila, so sorry to interrupt, but it's getting late, isn't it?"
She looked up at him, looking slightly confused. "What?"
"Weren't you just asking me if I could walk you back to your room?" Scotty invented wildly. He was not sure where this was coming from, but he felt very strongly that it was the right thing to do.
"Uh, yes, all right." Gaila scooted her chair out and waved goodbye to the rest of the guys at the table. "See you boys around."
Scotty followed Gaila outside.
"That was interesting," she said conversationally.
"What, the fact that a bunch of perverts swarmed you as soon as I left the table?"
Gaila laughed. "I like you when you're jealous."
"I'm not jealous." He wasn't. He was just protective. "I'm just protective. Because... you're in Engineering, and ah, we look out for our own down there." Scotty was impressed with himself for coming up with that. New department rule.
"Oh, I see." Her eyes twinkled. "That's very admirable of you."
"I agree. I mean, who knows what could have happened back there?"
"Probably nothing. I'm very capable of defending myself, you know."
“Well, I never said you weren’t.”
“Gotcha.” They were nearing the hotel. “So are you going to come in with me?”
Scotty was taken aback. “Uh… I hadn’t planned on it.” I’m not drunk! I’d remember it this time!
“Hmm… so you don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to want me either?”
“No, no,” Scotty protested. “That’s not what I… meant, at all.” He was blushing. He didn’t think she could tell in the dark, but he still got defensive. “Look, I’m not the one who wants anyone, you’re stalking me.”
Gaila looked at him skeptically. “Really.”
“Well… yes!”
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, you found me at every bar I’ve been in on this holiday! And you’ve got to admit, that’s pretty strange, isn’t it? There are loads of bars here. This is Risa.”
“Well you seem interested in experiencing as many as possible.”
“Maybe I’m a connoisseur! You don’t know, do you? Or, maybe you do, since you’re such a stalker.”
“Are you a connoisseur? Which was your favorite of the three?” Gaila asked curiously.
Scotty crossed his arms. “I was partial to The Thirsty Gettle.”
“Really? I thought the Torga Rose had a better atmosphere.”
“Oh yeah? Hmm.”
Gaila rolled her eyes. “But please. You don’t think I could find anything better to do than stalk you on my vacation?” They walked through the automatic doors into the bustling hotel lobby.
Scotty held his hands up. “Why do you think I’m so confused?”
“Well. If you don’t want to come up, you don’t have to.” She smiled sardonically. “Wouldn’t want you to be any more traumatized by me.”
“I’m not traumatized! I was never traumatized!”
“Well, it seems like if you came up this time, it would only exacerbate things.”
“What’s that mean?”
Gaila sighed. “It would make things worse.”
“Well, if you don’t want me to come up, I won’t,” Scotty said hotly.
“Okay, don’t.”
“I won’t!”
“Okay, good!” She turned on her heels and headed for the elevator. As she got in, she turned around and grinned at him. “Good night!”
Unfortunately, daylight was unrelenting, and the window coverings weren't doing a damn thing to keep it out. So it was with a sigh that Scotty opened his eyes and realized all at once that someone's hand was resting lightly on his chest. His bare chest. Which initially struck him as the odder of the two things, since he typically slept in as many pieces of clothing as possible. But if he wasn't wearing any shirts, and someone else's hand was there... hold on. Someone was in bed with him. And...
"Holy - " He sat bolt upright, ignoring the pain in his head, and jumped out of bed, searching frantically for any scrap of clothing he could use to cover himself from Gaila, because there she was, in all her green glory, in his bed, blinking sleepily up at him. Apparently, his outburst had startled her awake, and apparently, she did not see anything out of the ordinary about this situation.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Oh my god. Oh my god."
"What?"
Scotty had located his trousers and pulled them on as expediently as possible. "Oh my god. Did we...? Did we? Last night - "
"Yes. We did." Once again she looked more amused than anything else.
"Oh my god."
"Relax. It's never a good idea to start the day with a panic attack."
Scotty raked his hands through his hair. What had happened last night? He couldn't remember a thing... it was all just a fog... damn it.
Gaila swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up, quite naked, her curly red hair practically floating around her shoulders, extra frizzy from sleep. Scotty was staring, he knew it. He tried to avert his eyes while she pulled her dress on over her shoulders - how did she manage to look so sexy doing something so damned ordinary - but he just kept stealing glances, because he couldn't help himself. Had they really? Really?
She sauntered over to him, smirking. She was only slightly shorter than him, so when standing right in front of him she was almost at eye level with him. "Don't worry about it," she said, straightening her dress. Then she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek, whispering in his ear, "See you soon, Scotty."
Gaila left, the automatic door hissing behind her, and Scotty remained rooted to the spot, swearing over and over inside his head that he would never drink again.
That evening, he ran into Dr. McCoy. "Scotty," he said. "I need a drink. Come with me."
"I'm not sure - I don't really think... um, well, all right."
He followed McCoy into the third bar in as many nights, feeling sheepish, but at least thankful that he would hopefully have someone to keep him from making any idiotic decisions.
"Two gin and tonics," McCoy told the waitress, and there went Scotty's resolution, because it would be impolite not to drink something someone else bought for him. Really, it was just a matter of etiquette.
For the next hour, Scotty drank while he listened to McCoy complain about everything. And he literally meant everything. Risa was too crowded. Risa was too hot. Risa's gravity was too light. Shore leave was too long and he had too much paperwork to fill out. The paperwork was the captain's fault. The captain got them all into too much trouble. The captain was generally a reckless idiot. It seemed that everything the captain did annoyed McCoy, and he went on endlessly about it, but Scotty stopped paying attention when Gaila showed up. Did she have some kind of a radar? Or a homing beacon? She could have planted one on him last night. In his pocket maybe. Scotty searched his jacket pockets. Nothing. It had to be somewhere, because she kept finding him, and even though he kept his head down she still walked right over to their table. It was McCoy's fault that time, Scotty decided, because he had a loud voice anyway, and the volume only increased with his intoxication.
"Hello, boys," she greeted them as she walked up, grinning. She was wearing a form fitting little black dress with those off-shoulder sleeves and her legs were up to here and her hair was pulled back and braided and he should probably stop staring but it wasn't like he was the only one. Gaila had the attention of nearly everyone in the bar, which meant everyone was now staring at them.
Scotty ducked his head down. "Gaila," he said, his voice threatening to squeak slightly. He cleared his throat. "You know Dr. McCoy, I'm sure..." What was that? Of course she did. He was the bloody ship's doctor, everyone knew him.
"Care to join us?" McCoy asked, before Scotty could do anything to prevent it.
"Always," she said. As she sat down, their waitress came over. "I'll have what they're having," Gaila told her.
McCoy raised his eyebrows. "You sure you can handle one of these? Doesn't really seem like it's your thing."
"That's cute, Doctor." Gaila leaned back in her chair, completely at ease, which was the complete opposite of how Scotty felt at the current time. "You so don't know what my thing is."
Her drink arrived. She downed it in three gulps. McCoy was aghast. Scotty, for some reason, was not surprised.
Gaila turned to Scotty. "You think you could get me a Samarian Sunset from the bar? I think our waitress is busy." She gestured towards a table on the other side of the bar, where their waitress was getting friendly with Captain Kirk. Actually, it could have been the other way around.
"Know what he'll be doing later," muttered McCoy, as he took another swig on his drink.
"Ah, yes," Scotty told Gaila finally, feeling distracted because of the way she was smiling at him, like she knew something he didn't. Which, he thought bitterly, she did. She knew a whole night of things he didn't. "Be right back."
Scotty worked his way through the crowd to the bar. "One Samarian sunset," he told the bartender wearily. "Actually... and a scotch, as well. On the rocks."
The bartender, a short Ferengi, set about making the drinks. "You here with the rest of the Starfleeters?"
"That I am," said Scotty, drumming his fingers on the counter.
"You might want to watch out for her," the bartender said, nodding towards their table.
Scotty's brow furrowed. "What d'you mean?"
"I'm just saying. You know what Orion girls are like. They'll sleep with anyone to get what they want." He leaned forward, to give the illusion of some kind of trust, some kind of intimate secret being shared. "They love to hang around pleasure planets like Risa. Big vacation spot, you know. Lots of rich men to prey on."
"She's actually a technician on the Enterprise," Scotty retorted, his face feeling hot.
"I'm just saying. She'll have you wrapped around her finger before you know it." He shrugged.
"Yeah. All right. Can I just get those drinks, please?" Scotty was annoyed.
The Ferengi gave him a knowing look. "Ahh, I see. She must've already gotten to you."
Scotty let out a sigh of exasperation. "Look, can you just -"
"Don't look now, but I think you've got some competition."
"What?"
Scotty turned around. Gaila and McCoy had been joined by several other men, none of whom Scotty recognized, all of whom seemed enraptured by her. McCoy didn't even look annoyed, which Scotty took as a bad sign. Gaila seemed to have just finished telling a hilarious story, judging from burst of raucous laughter that erupted as soon as he'd turned around.
Forgetting about the drinks completely, Scotty marched right back over to the table before he realized what he was doing. "Gaila, so sorry to interrupt, but it's getting late, isn't it?"
She looked up at him, looking slightly confused. "What?"
"Weren't you just asking me if I could walk you back to your room?" Scotty invented wildly. He was not sure where this was coming from, but he felt very strongly that it was the right thing to do.
"Uh, yes, all right." Gaila scooted her chair out and waved goodbye to the rest of the guys at the table. "See you boys around."
Scotty followed Gaila outside.
"That was interesting," she said conversationally.
"What, the fact that a bunch of perverts swarmed you as soon as I left the table?"
Gaila laughed. "I like you when you're jealous."
"I'm not jealous." He wasn't. He was just protective. "I'm just protective. Because... you're in Engineering, and ah, we look out for our own down there." Scotty was impressed with himself for coming up with that. New department rule.
"Oh, I see." Her eyes twinkled. "That's very admirable of you."
"I agree. I mean, who knows what could have happened back there?"
"Probably nothing. I'm very capable of defending myself, you know."
“Well, I never said you weren’t.”
“Gotcha.” They were nearing the hotel. “So are you going to come in with me?”
Scotty was taken aback. “Uh… I hadn’t planned on it.” I’m not drunk! I’d remember it this time!
“Hmm… so you don’t want me, but you don’t want anyone else to want me either?”
“No, no,” Scotty protested. “That’s not what I… meant, at all.” He was blushing. He didn’t think she could tell in the dark, but he still got defensive. “Look, I’m not the one who wants anyone, you’re stalking me.”
Gaila looked at him skeptically. “Really.”
“Well… yes!”
“How do you figure that?”
“Well, you found me at every bar I’ve been in on this holiday! And you’ve got to admit, that’s pretty strange, isn’t it? There are loads of bars here. This is Risa.”
“Well you seem interested in experiencing as many as possible.”
“Maybe I’m a connoisseur! You don’t know, do you? Or, maybe you do, since you’re such a stalker.”
“Are you a connoisseur? Which was your favorite of the three?” Gaila asked curiously.
Scotty crossed his arms. “I was partial to The Thirsty Gettle.”
“Really? I thought the Torga Rose had a better atmosphere.”
“Oh yeah? Hmm.”
Gaila rolled her eyes. “But please. You don’t think I could find anything better to do than stalk you on my vacation?” They walked through the automatic doors into the bustling hotel lobby.
Scotty held his hands up. “Why do you think I’m so confused?”
“Well. If you don’t want to come up, you don’t have to.” She smiled sardonically. “Wouldn’t want you to be any more traumatized by me.”
“I’m not traumatized! I was never traumatized!”
“Well, it seems like if you came up this time, it would only exacerbate things.”
“What’s that mean?”
Gaila sighed. “It would make things worse.”
“Well, if you don’t want me to come up, I won’t,” Scotty said hotly.
“Okay, don’t.”
“I won’t!”
“Okay, good!” She turned on her heels and headed for the elevator. As she got in, she turned around and grinned at him. “Good night!”
“Wha – okay, good night…?” Was she mad?
Scotty realized he was waving, even though the door had already closed. As he attempted to cover it up by inconspicuously scratching the back of his neck, he noticed the receptionist was staring at him, having witnessed the entire confusing conversation. “Oh, piss off,” he snapped, then turned and stomped back to the bar.
Chapter Five
