Twinkle Toes Disclaimer: The usual. Paramount owns these folks; they just let me play with them. Rating: MF (Major Fluff) Given the title, you were expecting what? Actually, let's call this MUF--Major unoriginal fluff. But it's something to read. Summary: Leonard gets a little loopy; Spock tends to him. Special notes: Return of an OFC. Can take anyplace in the timeline after STI, but probably after STIV. A tribute to "Len is cute when he's drunk" stories. Many thanks to our Beta Queen, Janet. Her patience and kindness know no bounds (well, except when I'm telling Vulcan jokes) Feedback: Yes, please. I really appreciate it JB p.s. I actually went to high school with a girl named Tracy Tracey. Twinkle Toes "My apologies," Spock put out his hands to halt the nurse about to bump into him, saving her a spill on the infirmary floor. "Are you well, Nurse?" "I'm fine. Thank you, Capt. Spock." Lt. Tracy Tracey looked away quickly. "Nurse Tracey?" "Dr. Watson is with Dr. McCoy, Captain. You can go back." She smiled up at him briefly before scurrying off. Spock stood motionless a moment, watching Tracey hurry into the corridor. He could not help but notice there had been the start of tears in her eyes. Tracey was one of McCoy's favorite nurses, and from all the times Spock had spent in sickbays and infirmaries himself he had come to respect her abilities and bedside manner. After his emergency gall bladder removal, she'd been there as he came out from the anesthesia talking to him calmly, keeping him grounded until he could initiate a healing trance. She was invariably...soothing. Spock furrowed his brow and went down the hall to the small private cubicle where McCoy was recovering. The sound of Dr. PhilAnn Watson's raised voice gave him an idea of just why Tracey might be emotional. "And furthermore, Dr. McCoy, if you ever, I repeat, ever, insult or yell at any of *MY* staff again, I will personally oversee your transfer to the Academy's Pediatrics Unit. It is not Lt. Tracey's fault that the steel pummeled you. It is not Lt. Tracey's fault that you feel like shit. It is Lt. Tracey's job to administer your medication whether or not you like it, and she will do so. Despite your comments to the contrary, Lt. Tracey is a good nurse, an excellent nurse, in fact. For you to intimate that I would accept less than adequate staff is not only an insult to her but to me as well. Do I make myself clear?" Spock cautiously peered in the doorway, seeing a very miserable McCoy, looking directly at Dr. Watson, still challenging her wordlessly. As quickly as her temper had flared, her voice softened. "Come on, Blue Eyes, I know you don't want to be here. As much as I enjoy your company, I don't want you to have to be here either, but you will be remaining here for the next few days. Please work with me here, and let our staff do their job." She reached out and brushed hair from McCoy's forehead in a gesture Spock found a little too familiar. Spock heard McCoy's harrumph from his vantage point. "Refusing pain medication is not the way to get well, and you are well aware of that. You wouldn't let me get away with pulling this crap on you, and you've taught me too well for me to let you get away with it now," Watson said quietly. "So, I'm going to give you the hypo you wouldn't let Lt. Tracey give you and then you're going to get some rest. Cappice?" McCoy nodded and studied the thin blanket covering his legs. A tightening of his lips was the only sign that Watson had administered the medication. Spock moved away from the doorway, hoping McCoy had not seen him. He heard Watson's good night to McCoy and caught her attention as she turned into the hall. "Capt. Spock?" Watson stopped and looked at him in concern. "Is something wrong?" He gestured towards McCoy's door, keeping his voice low, "I...encountered Lt. Tracey and then I fear I overheard your conversation with Dr. McCoy." Watson nodded and looked at him as if he were a small child, "Come with me, Captain. Let me get a cup of tea and I'll fill you in on Dr. Grumpy in there." Spock hesitated, minutely, but he hesitated nonetheless. He cast a glance back the cubicle door. "Should I not let him know I have arrived?" "Give him a little time, Captain." Watson gently tugged on his arm and he followed obediently. After all, a cup of tea was a cup of tea. Spock sat back in one of the doctor's office chairs and accepted the mug she proffered. "I have since heard about the accident in the structural engineering wing; I did not realize Leonard had been called in the emergency, or that he had been injured until I was already on my return to Earth. That appears to have been fortunate, or it would be another three days before I returned." "Long story short?" When Spock inclined his head, she continued. "Somebody issued an all clear, and Len went into to start triage. He had to climb up some scaffolding to get to an archy student, and the scaffolding collapsed. From what I could gather, they think the initial explosion weekend the field supporting the scaffold. It was a delayed reaction. And whoever gave the all-clear signal clearly screwed up. Len's injuries were never life threatening, but well, let's just say that falling twenty feet and ending up on top of and under scaffolding and another body isn't conducive to his making his hospital rounds anytime soon. Punctured spleen, couple of cracked ribs, bruised pelvis, a range of medium to large bruises in glorious multicolor. Nevertheless, if he behaves himself, I'll release Len tomorrow evening." Watson smiled and raised a finger. "As long as he keeps showing improvement, and I and my nurses don't kill him first, and provided you will be available." "Available?" "As in able to watch him closely for a solid week. I know your work is important Captain, but there is no way that I'm sending Leonard McCoy home without someone to watch over him. No telling what he'd try to do," Watson explained. "He's going to be quite stiff and sore for the next week at least, but mild or even moderate exercise won't hurt him." Her green eyes drilled into Spock's. "Do you understand me, sir?" Spock's outward expression never changed, but he permitted himself a smile on the inside, the worry he'd felt when he heard Leonard had been hospitalized lightening. "I understand you perfectly, Doctor Watson." He finished his tea in two more swallows. "I should probably go to Dr. McCoy." "I'll walk with you." Watson put her own mug down and picked up a chart. "He will not take kindly to having to miss his graduate class. Would you object to him meeting it?" "Are you going to be able to get him to go home immediately afterward? Are you going to be able to keep him from stopping in on 'just one patient' or 'just one experiment'?" "Point taken, Doctor. I will invite his class out to our home. He can conduct the seminar, which will please him, and I avoid forcefully removing him from the hospital." "That's why you earn the big credits," she smiled knowingly. "If you can't stay away from your duties, let me know and I can arrange for someone to stay with him for you. Someone large and strong and not susceptible to tirades or charm," she added with a chuckle. "I can work from home with no difficulties for a time, but I thank you for your offer." "Well, if your sanity needs a break then, let me know. I have never met a worse patient. He really will be okay, though. I'm only keeping him here to make sure he takes the painkillers on a regular basis for a few days at least. Dr. McCoy has a strange notion that taking something for pain means he's less of a man. He wouldn't have gotten decent rest otherwise. I'll let you battle it out with him when you take him home, but at least he's gotten two days quality sleep by being here." Spock nodded at Watson's words. He'd once taken Leonard to their quarters after a less than stellar mission and insisted Leonard take the painkillers that they both had been given. Leonard had taken a tumble down a steep hill trying to outrun a mudslide with Spock following closely on his heels and had wrenched his knee. Spock wasn't in much better shape with some rather spectacular bruises on his back from when he'd stopped by tripping over Leonard and crashing into a tree. All Spock wanted, especially since the ACMO hadn't made either of them stay in sickbay after being checked out, was to go to their quarters, take the pain medications, and collapse into bed. He had not expected Leonard's reaction. Leonard had fought him adamantly insisting he did not need any medication, that he could handle it. Spock suspected Leonard handled pain in one of two wayseither very loudly or in quiet denial radiating his frustration. Either way, Spock knew he was not in any condition to deal with Leonard's pain in his own pained state. "Just take the pill, Leonard." Spock had finally exploded, feeling somewhat guilty the moment the words left his mouth, and shocking Leonard as well. "Please," he had added softly. Leonard had looked at him with hurt in his eyes and downed the medication with a grimace. "You're going to be sorry, Spock," he had mumbled. Spock had gotten very little rest that night. The muscle relaxant relaxed far more than the muscles in Leonard's leg. Leonard had talked and talked. He had talked about Joanna; he talked about past missions; he talked about eating hotdogs and drinking beer at an opening day baseball game between the Braves and Cubs, and he talked about how much he loved Spock and woke him up repeatedly to tell him something else he'd thought of. Spock remembered that McCoy had even spent twenty minutes on the joys of fried mozzarella sticks. At the entrance to the cubicle holding McCoy, Dr. Watson stopped. "You can tell him I'm springing him tomorrow," she smiled. "And don't stay all night, please. You need to get some rest too. I'm sure you'll need it once the doctor is released." Spock nodded, "Thank you." "You're welcome, and I mean it, don't hesitate to call me if you need anything." She waved as she hurried down the hall as an alarm sounded summoning medical personnel to the emergency room. "Spock?" Leonard sounded pitiful and turned soulful blue eyes towards him as he approached the bed. "You finally come to visit me?" "Yes, Leonard." Spock grabbed a side chair and pulled it closer so he could sit, if not comfortably, at least by Leonard's bed. "I was on my way back from the colony when I heard about the accident. My field experiment went very well; however, I am sorry I could not get here sooner." "Drayooninta?" Leonard rubbed a hand over his forehead. "The place we had to go barefoot most everywhere?" "Yes, that is the one, Leonard." Spock rubbed the back of Leonard's other hand with his fingers. "How are you feeling?" Spock was only getting a mix of sensations from touching Leonard. "Not too bad. I could go home now if Dr. Attila the Hun would let me." Leonard turned on his side to face Spock, and let out a grunt of pain as he moved his much abused muscles. "Dr. Watson implied you could be released to go home tomorrow evening," Spock indicated comfortingly. "I suggest you relax and let the painkillers begin to take effect." "I didn't want to take them, Spock." Leonard rubbed at his eyes, sleepily. "I hate to." "I know, Leonard," Spock soothed. "But it is for the best. You and the others are all safe now." He moved closer and brushed his fingers lightly through Leonard's hair, massaging his scalp and sending comforting thoughts through his touch. "Let go, T'hy'la. I am here now, and you have no duties to attend to for awhile." "Uh huh." Leonard murmured, then he looked up at Spock again. "Spock?" "I will stay until you fall asleep, Leonard. Longer if you wish." Spock kept his voice low, trying to lull Leonard into a more relaxed state. "You know what, Spock?" Leonard was grinning. "I like your bare feet." "Thank you, Leonard," Spock noted with faint dismay. "I do not find your feet to be objectionable." "No, no. I really, really mean it. I like your bare feet. Really I do," he drawled. "They're so... so...cute." Spock closed his eyes in resignation. Fearing it could be a long evening; he fervently hoped no one would come in until Leonard was well and truly asleep. "Take your boots off," Leonard ordered and struggled to sit up. He fell back in the bed with a groan. "Take `em off," he insisted. "Take 'em off slooooooowly." "I am *not* taking my boots off in the middle of the infirmary." "Please?" Leonard nearly whined. "I've been stuck in here for two days and you hardly even visited." "I was not even on the planet, Leonard. You know that. And I am still not removing my boots." "You don't love me, anymore." Leonard turned away from Spock with a groan. Spock permitted himself a very un-Vulcan like sigh before placing his hand on Leonard's shoulder. "Leonard, you realize this is just the medication affecting your ability to think clearly." "I miss your toes, Spock." Leonard actually pouted up at Spock. "Will you take your shoes off tomorrow?" Spock shook his head in exasperation. Dealing with a pain-medicated Leonard was possibly worse than dealing with a drunken Leonard. You never knew where the pain medication was going to take his thoughts. "Yes, I will take them off tomorrow." He raised his hand as Leonard opened his mouth to speak. "When we get home." Leonard continued watching him. "And I will wear sandals the whole week if it will keep you taking your medication as ordered." "Nope. Want you to go barefooted the whole week," Leonard said smugly. "May want you to go without other clothes, too." "I will go barefoot the whole week if you will do as your physician instructs. The rest will depend on your recovery." Leonard gave him a sweet smile. "I love you, Spock. I love your toes, too. But not just your toes. All of you, you know. Some parts an awful lot, but all of you." "I know, Leonard." Spock cleared his throat to hide his amusement. "Now will you endeavor to sleep? Before you know it, it will be tomorrow and you may come home with me...and my toes." "That'll be nice, Spock." Leonard closed his eyes obediently. Spock relaxed a fraction, sitting back and closing his own eyes and popping them open seconds later at a plaintive, "Spock?" "Yes, Leonard." Spock leaned forward, his forehead almost touching Leonard's hoping a stern look and voice would quiet his mate. "My feet hurt." Leonard looked up at him hopefully. "All this talk about toes and feet reminded me. Would you rub them?" Spock moved to the end of the bed. "I will massage them for you if you promise to try to go to sleep." "Will you suck them?" "No. I will massage them if you attempt to sleep." "You're too good for me, Spock." Leonard whispered. "You have sweet knees too." Knowing they were alone, Spock permitted himself to smile and began rubbing Leonard's feet keeping up a slow rhythm that he hoped would lull the other man to sleep. "And the sweetest ass." "We have the week off," Spock attempted to change the subject. "Perhaps we could travel up the coast for a day or two. Or we could go to Minnesota and spend some time at the lake. We have not been there in over four quarters. I think we need to get away from here for a rest. Would that please you, do you think?" Spock kept his voice low as he finished his slow massage. He kept his hands still, but didn't move from his position at the end of the bed for several minutes before he began to move back towards his chair. "I think that my feet still hurt. And anyways, how are we going to go all those places if you promised to be barefoot?" Leonard grumbled, and then he brightened. "Hey I know; you can wear your sandals. A little less talk and a little more action, Spock." Leonard wiggled his toes to catch Spock's attention. Spock arched one eyebrow in surprise and sat on the end of the bed, pulling Leonard's feet into his lap. "I think I can provide plenty when we get home. Spock looked softly up at his lover. "Leonard?" Spock caressed Leonard's toes. Leonard never even stirred. "Do you know what I think, Leonard?" Spock whispered to his sleeping lover. "I think your toes are quite 'cute,' too."