-- what's that do? ( scotty )

[LT. ADALYN McCORD]

Adalyn McCord loved all living things. No matter what it was, she knew how it worked. Whenever she discovered something new, she would be right on the ball to figure out everything there was to know about it. Starfleet had admired her commitment to her work, they gave her the title of Lieutenant after she got off the trek after graduation. She was still a junior officer, but she was the only exobiologist on the Enterprise. Oh, the Enterprise, she was so excited when they had assigned her here. She felt proud of herself, knowing that she had been good enough to join the crew of the Enterprise. However, Adalyn wasn't the most sociable of people. She was a bit afraid of human contact, or just interaction in general. She had a nervous demeanor, so she typically tried to stay away from people.

Then again, that wasn't to say that she didn't get to know some people on the ship. She's met pretty much all of the senior officers, since she's had to. She even got to know a few people. She was even able to develop crushes on one of the male crew members, but every time she thought about it, she felt stupid. She felt like a little girl next to the man, so she always seemed to steer clear of him. She remembered one incident where she had been walking down the halls and he had been coming in the opposite way in front of her. In true Adalyn fashion, she shrieked and turned to go the other way and slammed right into something. She had been so embarrassed after that, she had locked herself up in her quarters with her books. Like was this very moment, only she was in the Arboretum instead of her rooms.

Adalyn sifted through book as she walked around the plants, staring at them, reading about them. She thought about their feeding habits, especially the carnivorous variety like the plant Gertrude. She remembered Mr. Sulu mentioning it once to her. The helmsman was in here often, like she was, so they conversed together now again. Well, when she wasn't too nervous to actually speak to him. However, after a long time of reading and touching, Adalyn decided it was time to venture on to new things. She may be an exobiologist, but she did find that she was curious about the other things on the ship. Like the engines. But then she remembered, that was Montgomery Scott's expertise.

She had been half way to the main engineering room when she remembered this. A squeak left her lips as she looked toward the door that was just down the way she was heading. Was she brave enough to come face to face with the man? She toyed with her bottle lip as she adjusted the glasses that were on her rather beautiful face. She never really paid much mind her to her physical appearance. She had always been teased as a child for being so intelligent, so she never really noticed that there was a beautiful girl hidden behind those thick rimmed glasses and the books. She ran her hand across her face as her white teeth yanked on her bottle lip. She then pushed herself forward, walking toward the door.

"You can do this, you can do this, Addy, you can do this." She whispered to herself as her small hand reached for the door. She then yanked it back with a yelp, which caused her to look around the hall. No one was there, thankfully so she stood there, staring at the door with wide, brilliantly green eyes. Then, she nodded her head, gulping as she yanked open the door and started down into the engine room. She looked around in awe at all the equipment in the spacious room. She gasped as she gripped the railing, staring at all the working machinery in awe. She loved learning, so this was just another thing for her to pick up. It was truly fascinating to her as she licked her lips and a smile formed on her lips.

"Fascinating.." She whispered to herself as she gripped the railing tightly in her pale hands before she started walking slowly, just looking at everything. She wasn't really paying all that much attention, since she didn't really know where Scotty was in this giant room. Still, a look of wonder was plastered on her face as she walked, her heels clicking against the metal as she walked slowly on.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Scotty, unlike Adalyn, had little interest in things that he couldn't control the function of. Plants, for example. Utterly confusing little beasts; he couldn't program them, couldn't apply equations to them in any reasonable sense, and so he did his best to steer clear of them unless he was relaxing or giving them to someone else in sympathy, congratulations, or some other flower-meriting situation. But he did love things he could tinker with, improve, or simply admire the perfection of. He wasn't relaxing right now, so the thing currently holding his fascination was a tool he'd been trying to improve for a while now. He grunted, wedging a screwdriver-like tool under the edge of the casing, and popped off the outer covering, revealing the innards of the tool.

He hadn't had the opportunity to get out and play social bunny with his crewmates much yet - he was pretty well acquainted with some of the command crew, but the others were mostly nameless familiar faces he saw wandering about when he ventured out of Engineering. He figured that he'd have plenty of time to get to know them once the ship was deployed again; no sense in wasting all of the entertainment now when he didn't have to. Of course, it wasn't as if he'd been taking advantage of shore leave, not much anyhow. He'd taken the opportunity to indulge in one of his favorite vices - drinking - here and there, but he wasn't drinking now, he was working. Some people might have chosen the word "workaholic" to describe Scotty, but that wasn't really it. It wasn't that he was addicted to his job, it was just that it was honestly one of his favorite things in the universe.

He was lucky enough to be employed doing something he genuinely enjoyed, and felt sorry for people who got stuck in land-based office jobs. That must be the most awful thing, he imagined. He removed the power pack from the tool in his hand and examined it. "Oh, that's not right atall." he said, shaking his head and clicking his tongue scoldingly. He dug through his tools, and found another power pack, one of a different sort. It obviously didn't have the connections to power the tool in his hand, which had been designed to hold the other one he'd just removed. But he could fix that, and he did, after a few moments. He replaced the external casing, which fortunately still fit even with the new power pack, and put the tool back with his things, satisfied.

Straightening, he dusted off his hands more symbolically than from an actual need to clean them, and looked around. The reformatting of the consoles was running a process that would probably take another three hours or so, so he couldn't mess with that currently. What to do? For the first time in days, Scotty found himself unable to immediately think of something that could occupy him without having to head off to the planet like everyone else.

And then, as if on cue, the sound of footsteps above him offered him the distraction he was looking for. He didn't hear her speak, but he could tell that someone had come in, and he glanced upwards, raising an eyebrow as he tried to determine who'd be coming in the engine room from above. Almost anyone who'd actually be working in here would have already been here, but maybe they'd had a late night. "Hallo?" he called, moving out from under the machinery he'd been standing under. "Oh, hello there." he said, lowering his voice as he caught sight of her. "Lookin' for someone, are you?" He made that assumption since she certainly wasn't an engineer, so she must be looking for someone who was, and as he couldn't remember her being a close acquaintance of his, he figured it must be someone else. "Well, I'm afraid whoever it is probably isn't here at the moment, 'less they're hidin' under the engines somewhere. It's just me and the circuits right now."

[LT. ADALYN McCORD]

Adalyn hadn't noticed Scotty down below working. She had been too fascinated by the engines and other machinery to actually seek out the reason she came in here. She thought that maybe she could just look at things, but she knew that she wouldn't really learn anything unless someone actually showed her own things worked. She walked down the walk way, her hair clinging to her throat as she turned, her boots clicking more against the grated floor. She wasn't sure what she was really looking for. Sure, the little girl inside of her just wanted to see Scotty, but she knew that if things ever got to that point, she would just turn into a big ball of nerves and he would think she was awkward. She closed her eyes, fearing that very thing, not wanting it to come to that. It was just a silly little girl crush, and she was an adult now. She was twenty two years old, she was old enough to know the difference between romantic feelings. Besides, her luck, he wasn't even interested and she would just be a waste of space.

Then, she hard the Scottish accent and she shrieked and moved against the railing far away from the edge in which she heard. She dipped her head down to see the object of her thoughts speaking to her. She stared down at him as he asked if she was looking for someone. She looked away, feeling a big idiotic. Oh right, the two of you haven't really interacted that much. She felt so dumb as she looked down at him, her green eyes wide as she licked her lips. She pushed her glasses up more as she walked a bit more so that she could at least attempt to get closer to him. She could have attempted to be a bit more assertive with the man, so he at least knew who she was, or remember her.

"Uh, I uh.." She fought with herself to actually get the words out. She felt like a silly high school girl trying to talk to the popular boy at school. Only difference was they were both adults, and he wasn't the star quarterback, but she was still the bookworm. She moved down a set of stairs, her hand fidgeting with her glasses as she wondered if she should take them off or not. She wasn't reading anything as she finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Now they weren't that far apart anymore, and they were only a few feet away from each other. She took in a deep breath and looked back to Scotty.

"I was looking for you actually." She said sweetly, and reached up and took her glasses off, revealing her face and her eyes as she shrugged her shoulders. She cling to her glasses tightly in her nervous hands as she tried to find her voice. She was so close, she had to continue. He didn't think she was a complete idiot yet, she still had a chance. She laughed nervously, like she normally did and that frightened her. Laughing was her defense mechanism. She laughed when her nerves wouldn't calm down. She let her fingertips rest against her lips before she looked from the floor and back to Scotty.

"I'm Adalyn McCord, and I..erm, heh, I was wondering if you were terribly bothered....I wanted to know if you would be willing to um.." She almost had it and she stepped closer, her boots clicking against the hard floor before pausing before him, her hair sliding across her face as she brushed it away. She exhaled harshly, trying to force the words out of her mouth. He was so close to her and it was impairing her horribly.

"If you would be willing to show me how things work...I'm terribly fascinated, I guess you could say. If I'm bothering you, please, just tell me so. I will leave, I guess I just..." She bit down on her bottle lip and her eyelids fluttered a bit as she looked down at her feet. She was losing herself already and she needed to get herself back. This was ridiculous. She smiled brightly and lifted her head back up to him as she shrugged again. Then another sweet laugh left her lips as she ran her hand down her neck.

"I want to know what you do...You fasc--I mean, your work fascinates me." She stopped there, a blush creeping across her cheeks as she looked down at her hands as she clutched her glasses tightly in her palm. Way to go, waaay to go. She thought to herself as she waited for Scotty's reaction to that giant mess she just spilled at him.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Oh, he'd scared her, Scotty realized with a twinge of remorse. That made sense; who would actually expect him to be in here instead of having fun on the planet with everyone else? Of course she'd be surprised. Maybe she wasn't looking for someone after all. Maybe she was just trying to be alone. His eyes followed her as she came down the stairs, and he glanced away as she got closer, not wanting to make her uncomfortable. He shined one of the consoles with his sleeve, and looked back at her as she spoke. "Lookin' for me?" he repeated, a little baffled. What in the world could she want with him? Probably bringing a message from Kirk, or some such thing. But why wouldn't the captain just talk to him himself? Maybe she really wanted to talk to him. Odd thought, but possible. Just because it was uncommon for people to come looking for him, didn't mean it never happened, just that it was rare.

That suspicion was confirmed as she went on. She was fascinated, eh? Well, that was a new one. There weren't too many people who came down here with nothing in particular to do but satiate their sense of curiosity. Certainly, he got a few questions. When she spoke her name, though, his memory gave him a little kick, and he remembered that she was one of the ones he'd actually met, not just one of the nameless faces.

"Oh, I remember you!" he said, a little excited that he actually did. "You're the biologist, aren't you? I forget what it is you study...my apologies." He was even more dreadful at remembering people's specialties than he was at remembering names, and that was saying a lot considering the number of people he met every day.

She seemed a little jumpy, and Scotty couldn't imagine why. Maybe the engines were a little loud for her, or she was one of those paranoid sorts who thought they might explode at any moment. Why would she come looking for more information on the engines, though, if she was scared of them? None of this was making any sense. But if she was interested in the engines, well, that was the one thing Scotty knew more about than anything, and he could at least talk until she got bored and walked away. Not that he wanted her to, it was simply that most people couldn't take too much dry engineering talk in one sitting.

"Well, I don't blame you." he said, "Engines are fascinatin' by their very nature." That was undeniable, or at least, it was in his mind. "What sort of things are you wantin' to know? And you're not botherin' me in the slightest. Nice to have a bit of company once in a while." He wasn't making that up just to set her at ease, either; Scotty enjoyed a little companionship as long as it wasn't in the form of hundreds of giggling cadets shuffling through, or pesky people who didn't understand that engineering was an art that could not be rushed most of the time.

He tapped a few buttons on the nearest console, the one he'd been polishing with his sleeve, bringing up the diagnostic panel, which informed him that he still had two hours and thirty-three minutes left before he'd be able to change anything more. The console beside it reported that he'd be waiting a half hour more for it to finish, so he turned his full attention to Adalyn, crossing his arms and leaning back against the console, which, luckily, did not respond to commands entered by people's rear ends. "Well, y'might as well make yourself comfortable; this'n here's got about twenty-seven minutes before I can show you anything there. I can answer any questions you might have in the meantime, though."

[LT. ADALYN McCORD]

Adalyn looked at Scotty as his eyes lit up and he mentioned that he remembered her. This caused Adalyn's smile to intensify, as well as her blush. So he did remember her, that made her feel a heck of a lot better about herself. She turned her body a bit, brushing her hair out of her face before he went on, saying she was the biologist. She nodded her head, taking another step toward him, she loved her line of work so she didn't mind refreshing his mind. She smiled with a genuine giggle that wasn't sparked from her nerves.

"I'm the exobiologist. I study the inner workings of extraterrestrial beings. Be it beings, plants, anything with a body really. I do know the inner workings of humans, but there's really nothing interesting there. We know all of that." She said and looked up at him. Her eyes her sparkling as she slowly started to feel more at ease. She couldn't help but be attracted to the man. He was passionate about his work, just like she was about hers, and he just had a vibe that was drawing to her. Sure, most people wouldn't understand, but she couldn't help herself. She looked to him as he went on to say that engines were fascinating and then asked what did she wanna know. She looked around at the engines before looking back to him, her eyes darting from side to side as he said she wasn't bothering him. She smiled lightly, looking away as she looked at something else. Well, it was good to know that her presence wasn't a bad thing for him.

"I'm not really sure, I don't really have anything specific." She said and watched as he tapped away and watched the diagnostic panel come up. She then turned back to Scotty as he leaned against it, saying that they had almost a half hour before he could really ticker away at anything. Oh lord, a half an hour of standing here and conversing. The nerves returned as Adalyn looked around before looking back to him when he said he could answer any questions she had now. Questions, questions, oh god, she couldn't think of anything. She looked around, biting down on her lower lip before she leaned against something. Then she shrieked, nervous as she jumped away from it. She was paranoid that she would break something if she leaned on it and she turned to Scotty, her face red with embarrassment.

"Sorry, I guess I'm just being a tad...jumpy. I've never been in here before, I'm afraid of breaking something." She said and moved away from where she was and stood in front of Scotty, her eyes moving to the panel before back to the taller man before her. This was what she wanted, to be alone with him, to talk to him, and here she stood, speechless. Why hadn't she thought of things to say before? She was being ridiculous and she tried to think of something to say.

"Engines are a complete mystery to me. I grew up in Nebraska, so cars and things like that were all my father worked with. I wanted to try, but he never really let me near them. I guess you could say this sort of thing has been the one mystery that still alludes me." She said and ran her hand down her slender neck. She didn't understand why she was giving him her life story, since it wasn't in any way a question that he could answer, let alone a question at all. She licked her lips and shrugged her shoulders.

"I don't know, trying to think of a question. Hmm." She said, looking up at the ceiling as she wrapped her free arm around her waist and the other hand rested on her chin. She turned back to Scotty with a laugh as she shrugged her shoulders again. "Okay, to be honest, I don't have any specific questions. I'm just curious. You know how scientist rip things open to see everything inside? Well, thats what I was planning on here. You open something and tell me what everything is, what it does. That kind of thing. So I guess...we have...twenty four minutes until that can happen." She said and laughed, her eyebrows raising upward as she felt like an idiot. Maybe she should have prepared questions. She scratched her head and went back to wrap her arms around herself, silent now. She looked to him, her green eyes watching him for a moment. She waited for him to speak, but she wondered if she should look away. She felt like she was staring at the man, and she didn't want to make him feel uncomfortable. Her eyes flashed to his lips for a moment but she let her eyes bug out slightly and she looked away, her hair wrapping around her neck, looking around the engine room with a squeak.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Well, exobiology sounded fascinating for an exobiologist, but Scotty couldn't imagine working with things that bled or oozed when you opened them up. He preferred much more straightforward things, things with wires that connected other things and definite circuits that he could usually understand without having to go and pick up a textbook to figure them out. That being so, he had nothing but the utmost admiration for people who were good at the bleeding, oozing things, especially someone who had mastered those things at as young as she was. He didn't really know exactly how old she was, not in years anyhow, but he knew it was younger than he was, and knew that she'd probably accomplished as much as he had even though he'd had longer to do it.

"Well, my subjects aren't as messy as yours, then," he told her, "but sometimes I think the ship's as finicky as any person, woman or man, that I've ever met anyhow." Scotty was a firm believer in the idea that the ship, like any person, had quirks of its own that no other ship in the fleet would have. It sounded silly, but he respected the vessel, and she, in turn, for the most part rewarded him for the amount of work he put into keeping her running. It was something he was highly passionate about, so passionate, in fact, that he was normally completely oblivious to the fact that anyone could be passionate about him. As he was now, in fact; he still had it in his head that the reason she was nervous was because she was dealing with unfamiliar information. That made sense more than anything; Scotty couldn't imagine how nervous he'd be if he were suddenly dropped into sick bay in the middle of some kind of surgery.

"Well, if that's what you're after, then, let's see..." Scotty briefly contemplated a number of things he could take apart and show her, things that wouldn't be related to the ongoing process of the consoles he'd been tinkering with. She was incredibly jumpy, he thought, as she yelped and jumped away from a bulkhead. "Easy, lass," he told her, grinning. "It won't bite you." At least, that particular bulkhead wouldn't. "If you're about to break somethin', you can be sure I'll warn you first."

He rummaged through his various tools, and pulled out one that was roughly the size of his hand, equipped with what almost looked like a phaser grip. The upper point was perfectly round, and had a shiny metal extension, thin and delicately filed at the end, protruding from the end of it. "D'you have any idea what this is?" he asked her, although he doubted she would. Very few of his tools had any equivalent in the medical field; some of the more basic ones, like cutting devices and diagnostic tools, might have a little in common with something she'd use, but not this particular one as far as he knew.

The way she was looking at him made him feel a little funny, not exactly uncomfortable, just as if maybe she were thinking something other than what she was saying to him. Maybe this was a test to see how well he'd gotten acquainted with the ship's systems. Scotty, ever the conspiracy theorist, decided that he'd better do his best to explain whatever he could, just in case. Maybe he should just tell her what the instrument was.

"It's a circuit probe." he told her, a little triumphantly. "If you've got a circuit that's got a fault in it somewhere, you can use this little gadget to find the short. It's verrry sensitive, verrrry accurate. Has to be. Sometimes, a short's just as simple as a speck of debris in one of these new liquid circuit panels they're puttin' together these days." He held it out to her. "Go on, you can hold it, you won't break it unless you go and throw it on the floor."

[LT. ADALYN McCORD]

She felt like she should tone it down a little. The two of them were still acquaintances, and staring at his lips like that was a stupid idea. She chastised herself internally for being so stupid before she waited for him to speak. The one thing that was stuck in her head was Lass. Sure, he called all the girls lass, but for some reason, it made her feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Sure, she came down here to get a few lessons on engines, that was important to her, but what was equally or even more so important was spending time with Scotty. She decided that she needed to keep her cool longer now as she looked to the engine master with a small smile. Finally, he pulled out a tool of some kind and she looked at it with curiosity in her beautiful green eyes. She had no idea what it was, but she wanted to know as she looked up at Scotty.

"No idea." She said with a small laugh as she waited for him to tell her what it was for. She understood that to some people, this stuff wouldn't be of interest to them. However, Adalyn had a curiosity that was hard to satisfy, let alone ignore. She wanted to know so many different things, it was hard to keep track of what she did or did not know. When she was younger, her family wasn't sure how to handle her. She was always getting into things, tickering away with them. They often had to take things away, in fear that she would break them. They didn't understand how one child could be so curious about the world. So when she went into Starfleet, they weren't the least bit surprised. They were pretty happy to be rid of her. She wasn't like them, so why have her around. Most families would be proud, but they just resented her intelligence. They were the stereotypical prairie folk from Omaha. She was just the odd one out. However, she was okay without them, especially if they would just resent her for her success. The Enterprise was her home, so she was curious as to how it was being run.

She nodded, moving in closer to Scotty as he explained to her what it was and what is use was for. Adalyn was very good at listening to what someone was telling her. She was a very good auditory and visual learner, so she took things in rather easily. She lookd to Scotty as he presented the tool to her and said she could hold onto it. She laughed at his light humor as she took the took from him gently. Her fingers touched the palm of his hand as she scooped the tool and she looked it over. Her eyes scanned over it, her slender fingers gripping it tightly as she turned it over. She then looked up to Scotty with a smile on her face.

"That's interesting." She made a note of the tool in her mind, she would potentially write it down later, because that's how much of a geek she really was. She then turned the tool back over to the man as she let her eyes scan over the panel again, but then awaited something else for him to explain. She was letting him lead her along, it was better that way. She didn't really know anything about this sort of thing, so she couldn't really think of a question to ask him. She knew that eventually something would catch her attention and she would have to ask him to elaborate more, but right now, they weren't there yet. She had managed to get closer to him, but not so close that she was invading his personal space. She wasn't really aware that she had moved this close, which was probably a good thing. She she acknowledged it, she might just spaz and jump away from him. She wanted to be closer to him, but she knew that was a silly thought in her mind.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Scotty, still endearingly oblivious to the real reason she was watching him, took it as the fascination she claimed to have for his craft. He decided that he liked her already; not many people were willing to listen to him. She wasn't hard on the eyes, either, although he was by now used to the fact that pretty girls, especially ones her age, weren't interested in fellows like him, who were more interested in engines than dating, and spent more of their time rummaging around in greasy machinery than they did seeking out romantic conquests. He decided he was going to do his best to explain to her everything she could possibly want to know about what he did, and maybe then some. He took the tool as she handed it back to him, and turned it over, revealing the anterior casing.

"Well, see here, now this is the casing, and it comes off because you've got to power the thing." he pointed out. "The way this one works, you know, detecting the circuit and all, is it has to generate a field of its own, which is disrupted by the current in the circuit. That way you know where the flow is or isn't in the circuit, see?" He began to dismantle the tool, taking the back off of it and pointing out the power pack.

"This is like a battery of sorts, and it runs the thing. This one runs on an Iridium power pack, which is a lot more efficient than the previous line, which was based on thallium because the molecular weight of thallium, quite honestly is not suited to be put in a battery atall, much less one that's supposed to power something portable. If you wanted a really efficient thallium battery it'd have to be at least as big as your fist, and well, that's just not practical." Scotty stopped, and looked at her brightly to see if she was following all of this, hoping he hadn't lost her. He figured she had a little bit of knowledge of chemistry, at least biochemistry if not the physical chemistry he'd studied.

"Have I lost you yet?" he asked, almost tentatively. He didn't want her to think he was implying that she was incapable of understanding, but he didn't want her to run out of the room in boredom, either. Now that she was here, he decided that he rather liked having her there; it was much more enjoyable than lurking around by himself with nothing to do, so he thought he ought to say something interesting before she got fed up with his technobabble. "If you're still curious, go ahead and hand me the magnetic clamp - that's the one with the green paint on the handle - out of my tool box over there. If you want." he added, quickly, hoping she didn't think he was trying to order her around.

He noticed that she'd stepped closer to him, and he wondered if it had been deliberate, or whether she was just fidgeting because she was still a little nervous. He found himself wondering about her - not her motives for coming to engineering or her mission - just about her, why she'd chosen to stay on board the Enterprise when so many other people had taken the first shuttles out. "Well, all right, then, that's that. Any questions yet?"

[LT. ADALYN McCORD]

As Scotty took the tool back from her, she watched as he turned it over and started to explain the casing and what was going on in the inside of the tool. She looked from him to the tool as he spoke, following along well. She listened intently as the man spoke about the tool, his passion apparent for his work. She liked that about him, to love something so much and he was willing to share that with her. She thought of this, thinking of how she wished she could show him her work, but she had a feeling it wouldn't be as interesting to him. They were opposite sciences, one about the living beings of the universe, while the other was the machinery. Both valuable, but meant different things to the two people in the giant room. All the words flowing out of his mouth would be lost on a normal human being, but she was keeping up rather well. She understood what he was saying, which had originally shocked her, but she didn't show it as she looked at the tool then back to him. As he looked at the tool, explaining it, she found herself staring at him. She quickly looked to the tool as he made a movement that made her think he was looking toward her.

"You haven't lost me." She said with a bright smile as she looked into his eyes before he told her to get yet another tool. She nodded her head and moved over to his tool box. She found the tool with the green paint on the handle before she wrapped her fingers around it carefully. She then made her way back toward Scotty and handed the magnetic clamp over to him with ease before he finished up with the circuit probe. She looked toward him as he asked if she had any questions.

"Um, no not yet. Been pretty straight forward so far." She said with a smile as she wrapped her arms around herself and looked away. She was beginning to become more comfortable around the man, but that didn't mean that her normally shy demeanor was gone. Oh no, she was still dreadfully shy. She was scared that she was going to do something wrong as well, so she was being slightly paranoid. It took a lot from her to get actually walk down here, but now she had to stay focused. It was hard when you had feelings for someone. Sure, they weren't close, they didn't know every detail about each other's lives, but that didn't really matter right? Affection was almost like a living entity on it's own, it chose for you. Despite all this analytic thought, there was softie in little Adalyn McCord. She believed that true love existed, and she hoped that she found it some day. She didn't like the idea of being alone, and she was pretty sure that no one liked the idea of being alone in the universe. Even those types who didn't love easily, it was just as important to them as well.

So when Adalyn looked at Scotty, she felt that all too familiar fluttering in the pit of her stomach. She felt a connection there, that they had a lot in common, and they just didn't know it yet. Most men were oblivious to romantic signals, they didn't really pick up on them very well. Wasn't to say that Adalyn was throwing signals at the man, quite the contrary. She was afraid to throw signals at him, in fear that he would pick up on them and just turn her away. She knew that she wasn't entirely interesting, or the most beautiful girl on the planet, but she'd like to think that she was good enough for someone out there.

Adalyn brushed her hair out of her face as she leaned against something sturdy, she didn't really know what it was. All she knew was it wasn't shifting under her light weight and it wasn't making any protesting noises.

"What else would you like to show me?" She asked, looking up at him, trying to conjure up a bit more confidence as she bit down on her bottom lip again. Adalyn held onto the hope that this would come of something, that maybe the relationship budding between them could end up going well for her. Maybe he was interested and just hiding like she was? After this thought, she moved even closer, as if she was looking at something more closely and in doing so, her shoulder brushed his arm, but she pretended not to notice. However, she felt her cheeks flush and on the inside, her mind was screaming at the top of it's metaphorical lungs.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

He was pleasantly surprised by the fact that she seemed to be doing a reasonably good job of keeping up with all the things he was telling her. Not everybody would even bother to have listened, much less attempt to actually comprehend it all. But she still looked interested, and he gave her a smile as she returned with the tool he'd asked her to bring him. "All right, now, this is a magnetic clamp. Actually, it's a magnetic clamp applicator and remover, but it's just quicker to call it that. It'll remove this fastening here..." he said, using the tool to pop out two small magnetic fastenings that kept the inner casing intact. "So's we can open this beauty up." He pulled the inner casing free of the tool, along with the battery it held, revealing the actual circuits. "All right, well, from here, it's pretty much a walk in the proverbial park, if you know what I mean." He stepped next to her, about as close as the two of them could get without touching, and pointed out a smaller portion of the tool. "That's the heart of the whole thing, that little bitty chip there. Sends all the information to the display, on the front, and that's what makes it so useful." He realized that she'd come down here to learn about engineering, and all he'd shown her was one tool, but he glanced at the time display on the console, and noted that it was still twelve minutes until the diagnostic had completed.

There was something slightly disconcerting about the way she looked at him, and he felt a twinge of nervousness in his gut that surprised him. This was his territory, this was what he did, there wasn't any reason he ought to be nervous sharing it with someone else, even if she was very pretty. Oh. That was what it was. He sighed, dismissing the sudden urge to start up a little flirtation with her. She'd come down here to learn, not to be come onto by an engineer over a decade her senior who couldn't even decide whether he was lonely or not.

She brushed against his arm just slightly, and he sighed inwardly. His conversation with a rather drunken Lieutenant had left him contemplating his own romantic options even more of late, but he knew when he was being unreasonable, and this was one of those times, surely. He had to ask, though, had to take advantage of the company while he had it, and he looked up from the tool momentarily.

"What in the world's got a pretty lass like you so curious about the engine room, anyhow?" he inquired, making sure he didn't touch the live end of the power pack to his skin. The last thing he wanted was to electrocute himself in front of her; that would probably be the most embarrassing thing he'd ever done, and he was sure he wouldn't live it down. "Didn't anybody ask you to go down to the surface with them?" She must have friends, someone she wanted to spend time with. Or at the very least, some fellow must be after her. All the pretty ones were taken, that was one truth that was very rarely disproved.

What else did he want to show her? For a moment, Scotty met her eyes, and became completely unaware of everything else he'd been thinking of. For a single awkward moment, he was silent, then the beeping of the console marking the ten minute point brought him out of it. He looked away quickly, hoping that little slip-up hadn't thoroughly freaked her out. "Er, well...that's basically all there is to this little fellow." he said, reaching for the inner casing he'd taken out. "The chip is the complicated part, and as for that, well, it was designed by people with a lot better eyesight than me. I cannae hardly see the wee thing, much less mess around with the workin' of it. What I do is take these things apart and see if I can't make them more efficient by replacin' the power source or some such thing."

[LT. ADALYN McCORD]

Everything had been going just fine, he was explaining things and she was listening intently. But then, he asked her a question that made her chest tighten up. She gulped and looked to him as he asked why a pretty lass so curious about the engine room. She was very curious about how it worked, that was true. But that didn't mean anything compared to her teacher here. She knew that he was older than she was, but age was just a number to Adalyn. When she felt something, it didn't matter how old he was, it was there. She fumbled, looking for the right words to say to him, she wasn't really ready to say that she was into him yet. Sure, that would be the straight forward truth, but she wasn't sure if she should just say it just yet. Some people were blunt about everything, so blatantly honest, they weren't afraid if their feelings would be hurt. Where as Adalyn was concerned, she was always afraid of getting her feelings hurt. Rejection was a part of life, but when it came to Lieutenant Commander Montgomery Scott, she didn't know if she could handle it. She would probably run away, like the lost little girl she felt she was, and disappear into her quarters.

"I-It's one of the f-few things I haven't l-learned yet." She said, her stuttering giving away her now nervous attitude. Here she went, all over again. She had been doin well so far, but here she went, slipping. She felt stupid for letting herself drop back down here, but what could she do really? Then he asked if anyone asked her to the surface and she looked down at the floor, sighing.

"I don't really have friends, Mr. Scott. I don't really socialize all that much." She admitted then looked up toward him, her eyes darting from side to side. It was miserable, really. She wished she had more friends, but she couldn't just have them. She had to make the effort to befriend someone. It was difficult, especially when she was conditioned as a child to be a freak. Her parents didn't really give her much hope when it came to a social life. They made her feel like a freak for being so intelligent. It sort of stuck with her, and she went through Starfleet like it was first grade science. Graduated and bumped to Lieutenant in a few years. She was star pupil, but a lonely one. She knew that eventually she could just step out of her shell and talk to others, but she still hasn't really made the effort. This encounter with Scotty was a huge step for her. It gave her double the points, since he was, well, the object of her affection. Little did he know, to be honest. She didn't go around boosting her feelings, so she was a little nervous at this point.

Suddenly, their eyes met and she stared into them for a moment. He was holding her eye contact, he was right there. Her body moved slightly, moving closer to him. What was she doing? She thought to herself as she stared into his eyes. As she was about to move closer to him, the sound of the panel went off and it shocked them both back to reality. Adalyn shuddered, looking away as her eyes darted from side to side. What was she about to do? She noticed that he had changed a bit two after the stare down and she found herself toying with her bottom lip again. She spoke, saying that was pretty much it for that tool, saying that the chip was the most important piece to it. She heard it, but right now, her mind was elsewhere as she moved closer to him. Then, in a moment of sheer adrenaline and mock confidence, Adalyn leaned up and planted her lips against the chief engineer's cheek. She lingered there for a moment before her eyes widened and she turned away, her body becoming rigid. She flung her fingers to her lips and felt like a complete fool. She shuddered and looked up at Scotty, her eyes wide and glassy.

"I...um..." Then her vocal cords just turned off and she looked down at the floor before she forced herself to look at Scotty. She felt like a fool, she didn't know what was going to happen next, but she forced herself to look at him. She could at least do that.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

She looked like she was suffocating, Scotty thought. Was she all right? It was a little warm, it was always a little warmer in engineering than it was anywhere else in the ship (unless people were rather finicky about those things and kept their quarters at thirty degrees). Scotty understood where she was coming from when it came to a lack of social life - he himself hadn't had a steady relationship in going on ten years, and the last one had ended as a result of his unwillingness to put any effort into it. Well, it wasn't that he didn't care about the girl; he'd liked her well enough, it was only that he couldn't seem to pull himself away from work long enough to assure her that he cared about her to the extent that she apparently needed to be reassured. And that had been the end of it. No tears, no long, lonely nights, just "goodbye" and then he went back to the way he'd been before she'd ever come along. Certainly he supposed he missed her sometimes, but he'd long since gotten over that. It wasn't a broken heart or lasting affection for some long-lost love that had kept Scotty single for so long, it was lack of will power.

"Well, we've all got a few of those." he said, after taking care of the pheeping panel, making a note to silence the thing before it interrupted any further, but there was something entirely new in his voice that hadn't been there before. She was nervous again, too, and it was starting to rub off on him. He, of course, couldn't have known her honest reason for coming here, not without her having told him. He didn't really contemplate things like that when there wasn't clear evidence of it staring him right in the face, and so far, he hadn't seen any aside from all of the obvious signs he managed to remain oblivious to.

"I'm goin' t'have to ask you to call me Scotty." he said, giving her a broad smile, the one that seemed to light up his whole face with the effort of it. "Anybody who's put up with this much talk of circuits without flinchin's earned at least that much." He opened his mouth to say something else, then changed his mind and shut it again, and it was at that moment that she leaned over and and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Scotty froze, the smile still plastered across his face, and glanced sideways at her, eyes shifting to watch her without turning his head. What the devil was that? Well, it was obvious what that was, but what the devil had she done it for? "What the devil was that for?" he asked, aloud this time. Was she really that enthusiastic about circuit probes that she was that grateful to him for teaching her about one? Surely not. Well, there was really only one other explanation for that, and Scotty still thought it was a little far-fetched.

She looked so thoroughly shocked, nearly as shocked as he felt, and for an awkward moment, he couldn't think of anything at all that he could say to put her at ease. Think, think, think, Scotty, he told himself. Something reassuring but not presumptuous, something that would make her think he wasn't as nervous as he felt...

Silence.

More silence.

"Er, well..." he began, but fell silent again. He reached up and scratched his head absent-mindedly as he tried to think of a way to resolve the tension that suddenly clouded the air. And in a single moment, it came to him, the awkwardness melted, and he found his easy-going self again. "Well, then, d'you think you might like to talk about this all over dinner sometime instead, then?" he asked, his smile renewed as he looked back to her again. "I mean, seeing as you just - holy bloody HELL!" In his distraction, he'd forgotten about the power pack in his hand, and he'd brought it up along with the hand he'd used to scratch his head, where it had made contact with the side of his neck. His reflexes were, fortunately, quick enough that it hadn't been a dangerous jolt, but the live end of the power pack had left a perfect square about a centimeter across burned into a pink mark on the side of his neck.

[LT. ADALYN McCORD]

What had she been thinking when she had kissed his cheek like that? Was she insane or something? She instantly regretted it now as she stood there. She look on Scotty's face made her want to run right out of the engineering room, but she knew that if she did, he wouldn't know what to say to her. She already knew that she had just made their young relationship complicated, but for some reason, she had enjoyed it. She couldn't lie about her attraction anymore, since she displayed it quite obviously to him. She fought in her mind to try and find something to say to him. She could say it was moment of ridiculous gratitude. It didn't mean anything, that's just how she thanked people. Ugh, that didn't make any sense whatsoever, and Scotty wasn't an idiot. He was quite intelligent, so he would see right through her crappy rouse.

Then she was shocked when finally spoke to her, basically asking her out. She turned back to him, her fingers sliding down her lips, causing them to be tugged down then back up. She looked at him with her eyes glistening in shock. Then a smile formed on her lips as she felt her chest loosen and a giggle left her lips. Then it was replaced with shock when he shouted and she looked to the power pack in his hand and then to his neck where there was a new red mark.

"Oh god." She said and stepped back over to him, her hand going up to his neck. Her gentle fingers touching around the small mark before she looked back up at him. She felt more confident now as she looked up into his eyes with a beautiful smile. She had no reason to squeak and shrink back, for he seemed to be returning the attraction. She looked around before looking back up at him.

"It's just a little second degree degree burn, nothing to fret about, honey." She said, a normal expression for the folk in Nebraska. She ran her hand down over his shoulder before she looked back up into his eyes. She offered her sweet smile again as her teeth tugged on her bottom lip. This day turned out rather well as she looked from the power pack in his hand then back up to him. She he asked her to dinner, and that meant something very important to her. Was he willing to court her then? She hoped so, because she finally felt less nervous around him, knowing he was just as interested as she was.

"And as for dinner, I would be more than happy to accept your invitation, Scotty." She said softly, her wrapping her arms around herself. She just looked up at him as she thought of something to say. She wasn't really one to go out in public, which was rather obvious. She looked around them then down to the floor before looking back up at him. She had a thought, but she really wasn't sure he would go for it. But she wasn't afraid to toss it toward him, to see what he thought of it.

"As long as we eat in here. Because I'm not one for being out in public. What do you say? We can talk, eat in here, you can teach me some more." She said, bitting her lower lip with a smirk on her soft pink lips. Was she flirting now? Genuinely flirting and not just kissing his cheek out of no where? She felt like she was getting better at this, and it pleased her mentally. She hoped that this would turn out well for her. She wasn't the type to just fall for people randomly. She was putting her heart on the line for the Scotsman before her, and she hoped that he didn't turn her away after realizing just how odd she really was.

"I am still curious about an engine." She said with a small giggle that slipped out of her lips. She ran her hand down her neck as she looked up at him expectantly. She didn't notice at that moment, but she holding her breath. That wasn't the wisest idea she's ever had, but for someone who got as nervous as she did, it was rather common. She never passed out because of it, but she did happen to exhale harshly, causing people to stare at her oddly. She toyed with her bottom lip, which was something she did so often, it was surprising she had any lip left.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Scotty didn't know what she had been thinking either. Quite honestly, all he knew was what he'd been thinking himself. That had gone something like - "Is she watching me? Unlikely. Possible. If she was.....what the...?!" It wasn't deep, it was just honestly what he'd been thinking at that moment, and it had dissolved into a state of curious surprise. He knew she was probably trying to figure out what to say, just as much as he was; she didn't seem to be a shameless seductress or anything of the sort, so chances were she was nervous, too. But she'd done something pretty gutsy, something he wasn't sure he would have had the nerve to do had he been in the same situation. She seemed to be pleased when he asked her if she wanted to have dinner with him, and that relieved him slightly. At least she hadn't shut him down completely, although that wouldn't have made much sense given her prior action.

That train of thought had passed through his mind immediately before he'd gone and attacked himself with the power pack, which he dropped immediately, disregarding it in its new location on the floor once it was away from his body. The burn wasn't too bad, as she said, but it certainly smarted. Honey? She called him honey? Well, that was something new. Nobody'd called him that in recent memory.

"Aye, I'll be all right." he agreed, touching the wound gingerly where her fingers had brushed against his skin. Somehow, it seemed to hurt less when she'd done it, and he winced. "And I'd be more than willin' to picnic with you here, if that's what you've got your heart set on, only don't be tellin' the younger engineers. If they hear there's been eatin' in here, I'll be up to my ears in crumbs and puddles before we even leave spacedock."

But he didn't really mind. Truth be told, he wasn't overly keen on the idea of starting some sort of tryst out in public where anyone who might be on board could see him and start making trashy comments to other crewmembers. He wasn't interested in being the subject of gossip; he'd heard the kinds of things people said about each other in the chain of transmission that kind of information usually took, and having it focused on himself, much less this girl, who was unreasonably intriguing considering the brevity of their conversation so far.

Scotty himself had never been tremendously successful at the whole flirting game, primarily because he'd never given himself time to perfect it. It wasn't that he had no desire to spend long, passionate nights with beautiful women, it was just that he had a feeling he wouldn't be too successful in that venture even if he tried, so he preferred to spend his time doing something more practical, something he was more likely to succeed at, like breaking warp ten or inventing a uniform that was actually comfortable.

He grinned at the ludicrous thought of him sewing anything of any kind, much less a uniform that would be accepted by Starfleet officials, and shook his head. "Oh, don't you worry, lassie, you'll see the engines, I promise you that." He winked, and consulted the computer again. "Are you hungry right now, or shall we talk about the warp core? I could really go with either, honestly." He was mildly hungry, but he'd deferred that particular instinct in order to continue working on engineering matters before, and it wouldn't bother him particularly to do it again if that was what she wanted.

[LT. ADALYN McCORD]

Despite her prior feelings of fear for coming down here, she was happy that she did now. She felt closer now to the Scottish engineer than she was before. Of course, they had only been just acquainted before, but now here they stood, showing intriguing interest in each other. Dinner, with him would be a little nerve wrecking for her, but it was welcomed. It would be delicious nervousness, since they would be on the same page this time around. He wouldn't be confused by her closeness and her nerves. It would make sense to him and they wouldn't be in the dark when it came to each other. Adalyn was rather pleased that this turned out and she hoped that things continued on this pleasant path. She cared for Scotty, and she wanted to be close to him. She was tired of being a shut in, tired of being alone, and she hoped that he felt the same way.

She looked to him as he said that his fresh new burn would be fine, nothing to fuss about. She smiled to him as she looked him over for a moment before situating herself before him. She was pleased when he said they could have a little picnic here in the engine room and she giggled looking around as she was already plotting out a place for them to have it. She then looked up at him with a brightness in her beautiful eyes. She has eased now and she was happy to be more comfortable in his presence. She thought of what she would bring back here, depending on the preparation time that she had. She had the mind to make the food herself. She knew that chef here on the Enterprise, Riley was one of the few people she actually knew. She would just run to the kitchen, speak to Riley, and just get things ready.

Then he mentioned that she would get to see the engines and then tossed a wink her way. That caused an involuntary giggle to leave her lips, which caused her fingertips to rest against her lips. She stepped closer to him as he asked if she was hungry now and that made her light up. She was a bit peckish, and it made her feel better, knowing that he was willing to do this right away. She toyed with her bottle lip as he continued on, saying that he could show her the warp core. She really was curious about the warp core, but she wanted to eat first.

"Why don't we eat. You find a suitable place for us to settle and I will bring the meal. You sit tight, I'll be right back." She said, touching his arm before she moved to leave. Then she stopped for a moment, her eyes scanning back up to the tall engineer. Then, with a sweet giggle, she placed her hand on his right cheek and planted yet another kiss against his left cheek. She let her nose touch his skin before she stepped away from him. Her fingertips caressed his cheek before her hand left his face all together. She turned toward him as she walked away before she ran up the stairs the way she came. She scurried across the platform before she opened the door to exit the engine room. She looked down at him for a moment, a smile on her face before she slipped out of the room. She closed the door behind her and leaned her back against it with a gasp. It was a pleased gasp and it caused a sweet laughter to leave her lips. She closed her eyes before she leaned off the door right when someone was passing her.

"Oh! Sorry!" She said with a laugh before she made her way down to the kitchen to see Riley. She seemed to have a nice little bounce in her step as she made her way down the corridor, a gentle hum flowing out from her lips.

OOC: did you wanna end it there, or just start right into their little spread in the engine room? this is too adorable lol!