Wow! I was so overwhelmed by the support for the fic and this pairing :) As an eagle-eyed reviewer pointed out, McCoy seemed a little too smooth, so here is that little exchange from his point of view.

Hopefully this is all in character.

PoV: McCoy

He exhaled swiftly, both in impatience and relief.

The group that had been brought in had escaped with shallow burns despite the hazardous chemicals they had been working with. If anything, McCoy was grateful that there weren't many more casualties, what with Starfleet officers being as accident prone as they were.

He cast a cursory glance across his sickbay, taking in the individual nurses as they tended to the injuries. He made a point of observing them at random moments. A person's true work ethic tended to shine through when they thought no one was watching, the hard-working and lazy alike. Fortunately for McCoy (and for them) the Enterprise's medical team had been selected for a reason, all having been at the top end of their classes - and it showed, their demeanors calm and measured despite their youth.

He recalled a vast proportion of his current team having been thrown together whilst under fire from the Narada, scrambling around the charred medbay, trying their damn hardest to stabilise and treat the seemingly never ending onslaught of injured crewmembers. This alone planted respect in McCoy for his relatively young team - but he wouldn't hesitate in knocking them into line when necessary.

He noticed a flash of blonde amongst the patients, recognising Carol instantly. She sat ramrod straight on the biobed, arm held out awkwardly. He could feel the beginnings of a frown as he swiftly assessed her arm from afar. Now Daniel was a competent nurse, but McCoy would feel more comfortable carrying out the delicate stitching himself with a far more practised hand. He approached the younger medic, who appeared grateful to be relieved.

"That's alright, Daniel, I'll take care of the doctor here. Take a break, you look like you need it."

"Thanks, Doc."

McCoy situated himself in the space Daniel has vacated and selected his instruments.

"You look like you could use some time off yourself." She commented pleasantly.

"I could use a few weeks off, but we don't always get what we want do we?" he groused under his breath. Then again, he'd probably go stir crazy without a medbay to run and Jim no doubt running him ragged on 'relaxing excursions'.

She only grinned in response as he began to pass the dermal regenerator over her hand in steady even strokes, totally absorbed by the task at hand. He found repetitive cosmetic work rather therapeutic actually; the motions were simple enough to repeat but required a certain level of attention and dexterity that didn't leave room in his head for idle mind chatter.

Within a few short minutes the skin was resealed. He straightened up and his facial muscles relaxed. "There we go, as good as new. Don't go tearin' up my fine work, d'you hear?"

"I'll try not to but I can't make any promises." She straightened her arm, gingerly moving her fingers. "I suppose they were right." She mused.

He frowned in confusion as he filled in an incident report on her medical file: Single, shallow laceration on posterior of the hand; minor blood loss; sterilised and sutured with dermal regen-

She clarified, "About your hands being legendary; I didn't feel a thing."

His stylus paused, long fingers gently hovering it above the surface of the screen."Well. That depends entirely on what it is my hands are doing," he replied in a lower voice, irritation taking over as he thought of Jim and his blatant disregard for his own health, not to mention the majority of the bridge crew, whom he had to remind forcefully with every jab of his hypos, that they weren't expendable damn it.

He looked back up. "Take our illustrious Captain, for example." He gestured with the stylus, "If I have to give him one more damn nutrient hypo, I'll make sure that he can still feel it for days to come. Then he'll understand that I don't kid when I say man cannot survive on pizza and coffee alone."

She gave a light laugh and slid off of the bed gracefully - he had a feeling that it came with the accent - before thanking him. He threw a comment in leaving as she turned to exit; "If you need any more delicate treatment, then I'm just a comm away."

She paused almost imperceptibly but continued on out of the medbay.

Then he internally face-palmed, the somewhat ambiguous nature of his comment sinking in.

Those he spoke to more frequently would laugh it off, knowing that he didn't mean anything by it, but Carol was new on the ship and unaccustomed to his diction. And now probably thought he was a pervert, what with his smart mouth on the planetoid. He made a mental note to watch his mouth in future, especially as Chapel was a close friend of Carol's.

It would be a cold day in Hell that he would be compared to Jim, of all people, in the romance department.

Don't we all just love some awkward!McCoy.

Feedback would be appreciated :D