All Wrapped Up In Mystery

Boundaries

So I'm not sure how this turned out. I originally intended it to go a different direction but the narrative took me here. The lack of Scotty and Jaylah on this site is a problem and I aim to do my part. Kirk get's all the ladies already so it's Scotty's time to shine. I hope I got the voices right on Scotty and Jaylah seeing as how they both have pretty complicated dictions to get down. Anyways I hope you like it. The title of the fic comes from the song Photograph by Def Leppard.

Scotty was currently concentrating very hard where he was underneath of one of the bridge consoles, tongue between his teeth. He needed to get the wiring just right or the next time someone activated this particular work station the whole thing would blow up in their face. If he was being honest with himself this was probably more of a job for one of the junior engineers, but this was his ship and he could damn well do what he pleased, if for no other reason than to make sure it got done exactly the way he wanted it to. Everyone else was still off enjoying their shore leave anyways so it wasn't like people were lining up to take his place. He firmly gripped the small tool in his hand between his thumb and index finger and was about to move on to the next stage of his work when something, or more specifically someone, distracted him and caused his head to shoot up and bang off the underside of the console; it hurt a lot.

Before the crew's most recent adventure out to the far reaches of known space Keenser had really been the only one he ever had to worry about barging in on him while he was in the middle of something. Now though, it seemed that Jaylah and her calls of "Montgomery Scotty" were destined to become a daily inevitability. At first he didn't like her mispronunciation of his name, but now it had become their thing and he couldn't help the small smile that appeared on his face every time it tumbled out of her mouth, though in his current state of pain it was hard to smile at all.

"Montgomery Scotty," there it was again.

"Aye I heard ya the first time lassie," he said standing and rubbing his head. "Might just want to give me a wee bit of warning next time."

"Oh," she said dejected. "It was not my wish to disturb you."

"Nay, it's fine," he said. "What do ya want?"

"Shouldn't ya be out enjoying the sights and sounds before ya get shipped off to the academy," he added after she didn't answer.

"James T. said much the same thing," was all she offered.

"Ya talked to the captain," he said surprised; he hadn't seen the captain himself in almost a week.

"Not really talked," she said. "He had been drinking alcohol."

"Aye," he said in understanding. "Well not everyone can be as unaffected as the two of us now can they."

"What exactly did he say," he asked curiously.

"I looked like I needed a distraction and that if I wanted someone to show me around he would make himself available," she recounted.

"Aye," he said. "I was afraid of that."

"He was odd after that," she said. "And he kept putting his arm around me."

"I told him that it was behavior not fitting a commander of stature such as himself," she continued. "He just smiled."

"I think I'll have a talk with him," he said suddenly feeling like he needed to.

"I hope he get's back to himself soon," was all she said as he bolted off of the bridge with newfound purpose.

He found Kirk easily enough in one of the main concourse areas near where the ship was docked and quietly wondered to himself why he hadn't sought out the captain or any of the rest of the crew since the captain's own birthday party. It wasn't that he didn't want to see them, but he couldn't allow himself too much free time while his ship was in such disarray. That was the problem with being transferred to a new ship, especially one fresh off the assembly line so to speak; the brass never put much of an effort into actually making the ship functional under actual conditions and just built it to baseline specs. Baseline specs just wouldn't do on his ship.

"Hey Scotty," the captain greeted him with a smile. "Long time no see."

"Captain," was all he offered in reply.

"Something wrong," Kirk said upon seeing the strange expression on Scotty's face.

"I know ya can hardly help yourself while sober and what alcohol can do to one's self control," Scotty started slowly. "But I would consider it a close personal favor if ya refrained from hitting on Jaylah in the future."

"What," Kirk said stunned.

"Now I came here to talk through this man to man," Scotty said. "If you're just going to laugh in me face then I'll leave."

"What," Kirk said again still confused.

"She said ya were practically all over her," Scotty said.

"Wait," Kirk said. "Are you jealous?"

"Nay," Scotty said quickly. "Just think she deserves better than a drunken night with the captain."

"Something that you could offer," Kirk said smugly.

"Nay," Scotty said again. "All I'm saying is."

"That you're jealous," Kirk cut him off. "It's ok."

"I'll stay away from her if it'll make you happy," Kirk continued patting him on the back.

"Thank ya sir," Scotty said.

"Now, you better go get her before someone else does," Kirk said with a wink. "I'm not the only one around that would like to show our new alien friend a good time."

"Right," Scotty said clearing his throat. "Sir."

With that settled he turned to leave a still smiling Captain Kirk to go about his business. He made his way back onboard the new Enterprise hoping that Jaylah would still be where he had left her. When he arrived back on the bridge he was surprised to see the panel he had removed underneath of the console earlier put back in place and a smug looking Jaylah leaning against the now lit up console holding the same small tool he had been using earlier.

"Montgomery Scotty," there was that name again. "You're back."

"Aye I am lass," he said. "Kirk's fine now."

"Good," she said. "Your machine's fine now too."

"I see," he said. "This your work."

"Taking credit for someone else's work," she said scandalously. "Is that how low you think of me?

"No," he said quickly. "It's just an expression."

"I don't think lowly of ya at all," he quickly added.

"An expression," she said questioningly. " I see I still have much to learn."

"I'd be happy to teach ya sometime," he said.

"I would like that," she said.

When Kirk returned to the ship to find Scotty and Jaylah shouting random things across the room at each other, Scotty sitting in the captain's chair with a book in his lap and Jaylah leaned up against a far wall with a concentrated look on her face, he couldn't help the smile that spread across his face. He may be an admitted ladies man who often didn't take his relationships as serious as people thought he should but he couldn't deny a good love story when he saw one, and this right in front of him was definitely one for the ages.