-- nobody drinks alone ( scotty )

[LT. NYOTA UHURA]

The glass bottle fit well in Lieutenant Uhura's dark hand as she slammed her palm against the button that opened the bridge door. It was dark out, the works fixing the hull had gone on home, and now it was just her and the bridge. With the bottle of scotch in her hand. Maybe getting wasted wasn't Uhura's most brilliant idea ever, but it was all she could think of. She had stolen the liquor out of one of the recreation rooms that crew had been in recently. There was liquor there for everyone, but she just yanked the bottle free and made her way into the bridge. She was dressed in a pair of shorts and tank top, clothing she typically wore to bed. She slipped onto the bridge floor and leaned her head against the command center.

"Heartless, cold, green-blooded hobgoblin." She muttered with slurred speech as she brought the bottom to her lips to took a long swig. She's been hanging out with McCoy too much, he was starting to rub off on her. She didn't mean anything harsh toward Spock, because the truth was, she was still in love with the guy. McCoy told her it was stupid, that she was wasting her time, but she couldn't help who she loved. She sighed as she pulled herself into a standing position and walked over to Spock station on the bridge. She looked at his chair with a look of disdain. She was still angry at him as she reared back and slammed her foot into the chair. She soon regretted it as she cried out in sharp pain and she hit the ground with a thud.

"Fuck!" She shouted before covering her mouth in shock. She typically didn't curse so loudly, and that word wasn't one that she used all that often. She looked at the liquor with a look of angry before she sighed. Then, she shrugged her shoulders and placed the bottom back to her lips. She was already too far gone, what did it matter anymore? She leaned her head back against Spock's chair as she held the neck of the scotch in a vice grip.

"I hate you.." She whispered in sadness as she looked down at the bottom and then closed her eyes slowly. She felt pathetic, worthless, and here she was, proving it. Was getting drunk really the answer? In honesty, it really wasn't, but who gave a damn at this point, eh?

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Scotty didn't spend all that much time on the bridge when he could avoid it. He hated muddling around with control panels when he felt that he could be much more useful just tinkering with things in the engine room. But even as that was so, he still had to run maintenance on those control panels that he and others used so dutifully, had to make sure everything was connected right, even if it was just a quick once-over. And there was no better time to do that than when the bridge was utterly abandoned. After all, people got a little antsy when you were crawling around at their feet dismantling things and dropping paneling on their toes. He wasn't officially on duty, of course, this was just one of those things he contented himself with when he didn't have anything better to do.

He checked his tool belt. Wrench, check. Pliers, check. Magnetic solder, molecular sealing putty, little various lengths of wire...check. Bottle of scotch...check indeed. Scotty patted the flask affectionately, and headed out of Engineering. The hallway outside was completely empty, and he whistled cheerily as he made his way towards the bridge. The whistling evolved into words, becoming a song that was utterly dismal and not at all matching to the exuberant tune he was using for it, but he didn't care. He continued singing as he came onto the bridge and set his rather overloaded toolbelt down on the nearest seat.

"Oh, I lost my love in the morning sun, she left me standing lonely
-oh, I lost my girl, my dearest love, I lost my one and only...Oh!"

He stopped abruptly, catching sight of Uhura, sitting in a less-than-dignified position with a bottle of what must have put her there in one hand. "Lieutenant Uhura?" he said, although obviously it was her. "What're you doin' down there?" Scotty wasn't the most socially active member of the ship's crew, and while one could hardly be on Enterprise without hearing something of Uhura and Spock's romance, he wasn't really on top of all the latest gossip - especially not anything he could think of that would land her here in this condition. "Well, let me help you up, then, lassie." he said, offering her a hand. "No sense sittin' there on the floor when there's at least five good chairs for you to park yourself in. C'mon, up you go."

Scotty realized that he might not be running diagnostics on consoles tonight after all, but this seemed to be a little more important. Uhura was popular, she wasn't the kind of girl who needed to be sitting around drinking alone on a deserted bridge, and he was slightly concerned as to what might have landed her here. It wasn't in his nature to walk off and leave someone when he just might be able to help them.

[LT. NYOTA UHURA]

Uhura could here the distant singing of a cheery Scottish man, and she knew who it belonged to straight away. There weren't very many like him on the ship, he was a pretty interesting character. She looked up from her bottle but then stopped, feeling like breaking down into tears again. Alcohol impaired your judgment, and if she felt like she shouldn't cry, odds are, she would turn into a blubbering baby in a few minutes. She hoped that it wouldn't happen as she took another swig of the alcohol before her presence was made known to the engineer. She heard his voice and she lifted her head up to look at him. Her eyeliner was smeared and she looked like a mess. She felt like a pathetic woman who had just been dumped for another woman. Truth be told, she had just been dumped, and she was a little pathetic. A small mercy, there wasn't another woman. She listened as he asked what she was doing down here. She sniffled, looking up at him, gripping the bottle tightly.

"I fell." She stated bluntly before looking back down at the floor. She then looked up to see him offering his hand, telling her to that she shouldn't be on the floor. She looked at his hand for a moment before she reached for it. Her darker hand clasped his lighter one before she was pulled to her feet. She stumbled a bit into the man before she leaned on him a bit. She knew that she would be feeling this night in the morning, but she couldn't give a damn at this point.

"Love is stupid." She stated and looked to him, sniffling. She gripped the bottle of scotch in her hand tightly before she sighed, looking away from, bringing the bottle to her lips. She took a long swig of it. Then she turned back to Scotty, giving a sad look as she stumbled a bit.

"Drink with me, I don't wanna be by myself right now. I might try and set his chair on fire...and then Kirk will....Oh hell, let him do whatever he wants, I don't care." She said and leaned against one of the command panels and looked to the Scotsman. She looked to see a flask against his hip and she found her laughter as she shrugged her shoulders and pointed at the liquor container with the hand holding her own alcohol.

"You've come prepared, yeah?" She said before she slipped and fell into a chair with a laugh. Her white teeth glistened as she heaved herself up the chair better before resting the bottom against her lap for a moment. She then turned to Scotty, her big brown eyes glassy as she searched for the right words to get out her next thought.

"I'm really pathetic." She stated matter-of-factly. She looked down at the bottle before looking over to Spock's station with a stiff jaw. She was angry, sad, so many other versions of those two main feelings that she couldn't think of other words. The alcohol could be blamed for that, but she really wasn't handling this very well.

"I let that vulcan half breed get to me." She spat, but then regretted calling him that right after saying it. She sniffled, shaking her head at herself. She didn't like calling him that but it was the truth. She ran her hand across her face before looking back to Scotty, shrugging her shoulders.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Scotty felt sorry for her; nobody should have to drink alone unless they wanted to, and she certainly didn't look like she was enjoying herself. He made up his mind to at least keep her company until she asked him to leave. "Well, I don't doubt it, looks like you've put a bit of a dent in the bottle there, eh?" he said, referring to her explanation - that she had fallen. She was light enough that it took only a little effort to pull her to her feet, and he didn't push her away even though she swayed towards him. He steadied her with both hands, one on her shoulder and the other on her arm. Love is stupid... she said, and Scotty couldn't suppress the wry grin that spread across his face.

"Aye, that it can be." he agreed, nodding shortly. "But you cannae count it out just yet, now. It's the greatest evil and the greatest good, I've been told." He released his hold on her as she found a panel to lean against, and as she tumbled into a chair, he retrieved his flask of scotch from his belt, and found the nearest chair himself, unscrewing the cap thoughtfully as she spoke. She sounded as though the alcohol was affecting her mind as well as her ability to hold herself upright, and he had a feeling that, at this point, starting an argument with her over things he didn't even understand probably wouldn't serve any purpose. He wasn't going to stick up for Spock, not now, not when that was probably the last thing she wanted to hear, but he hated to hear her talk about herself that way.

"Right, now, well, listen." he said, taking a quick swig out of the flask, and puckering his lips contentedly at the acrid bite of the liquid as he swallowed it. "You call him what you want. But there is one thing you cannae do, and that's let him make you doubt yourself." He took another sip, figuring that he had a lot of catching up to do if he was going to drink himself into anywhere near a similar state of blissful ineptitude.

"You are anything but pathetic. The only person who's pathetic," he said, thoughtfully, "is the person who makes you feel that way about yourself." He spoke the latter half of that sentence with punctuated emphasis, pausing between each word, and meeting her eyes at the last, attempting to determine whether he was getting through to her. Her insult, the one she'd chosen for Spock, caused him to raise a single eyebrow, more out of surprise than anything - he knew people said things they didn't mean, or at least things they would never say otherwise, when they were drunk or angry, and in combination, those two could rob even the most reserved individual of their manners.

Scotty could honestly say he'd never done badly in love, but he'd never done brilliantly, either. Really, the only reason he'd never been in her position was because he'd never been in love enough with someone for their leaving to affect him that strongly. He'd always had things he worried about more than the people who loved him, or tried to, and eventually, they all left him. Perhaps the saddest part, even though he didn't realize it, was that he wasn't sure he had ever really missed anyone who'd left him enough to drink himself onto the floor.

[LT. NYOTA UHURA]

Uhura knew that spouting off insults toward the man she still loved wasn't going to get her anywhere. She knew that, still, her mind wasn't really all there at this point. She was in pain, pain she wasn't used to. Uhura never really loved before, she always seemed to find a reason to not love before. But when she met Spock, things changed for her, she changed herself. She looked to Scotty as he found a seat near her and started to drink from his own container. He was nice, a kind man to drink with her. Sure, a lot of people would tell her to get over it and take the bottle away, but she really just needed to think for herself right now. She needed to make her own mistakes. She was so used to being right all the time, that she figured it was time to actually do something wrong for once. She listened as he told her to not completely give up on love just yet. Why not? She wasn't the type that fell easily, so when she did, she fell hard. Now, here she was, drunk as a skunk and wasting her heart on someone who couldn't love her back. She looked at the bottle on her lap as she rubbed her knees together. She brought the bottle to her lips and took a long swig before her attention was drawn to the Scotsman as he commanded her attention.

She listened as he spoke, saying she should doubt herself because of what happened with him. She wasn't pathetic and that she shouldn't feel that way. Despite how drunk she was, she listened carefully, taking it all in. Uhura never felt pathetic, it wasn't normally in her nature. She was used to being confident and strong, not this weak. She looked back to Scotty after staring for a moment when he said that Spock was the pathetic one. She let herself chuckle to herself as she ran her soft fingertips across the glass of the liquor bottle. The thing was, Scotty was right. Spock was pathetic. He was pathetic for holding all of his emotions up like he did. She understood that it was his heritage, but he needed to understand that it was okay to feel. That nothing bad would come of it, if he would just embrace it. He was half human as well, what was so wrong with embracing that side of yourself?

She turned her chair to look at Scotty, the bottle resting in her hands gently. She was grateful to Scotty for taking the time to help her, to listen. He was a kind soul and she would remember this night. Well, at least, she hoped she would remember this. She sighed heavily, bringing the bottle to her lips and taking a deep swig from it before wiping her mouth with two of her fingers. She looked at the bottle before looking out toward the window, the darkness from outside, but the moon shining in through the cracked glass. The workers still hadn't replaced it since their last mission. They were a bit slow she deducted before she found the urge to speak to him.

"I don't love easily, you see. I always thought that, work matter more you know?" She said, oddly unslurred as she sat up straighter in her seat. She looked to Scotty for a moment before turning back to the window, rubbing the neck of the bottle as she thought of other words to form. She just didn't want to come off as an idiot, or more of one for that matter. "But then I met him and things changed for me. I know, a vulcan? What was I thinking? But the thing is, he was so vulnerable with me at times, it felt like we were connecting...then last night...well.." She scoffed and found the bottle again. She tipped it back and swallowed a hefty mouthful of the burning liquid before exhaling harshly. She looked down at the panel in front of her, shaking her head.

"He just...walked away. Like none of it even mattered. Like everything that we shared didn't mean anything. That's what hurts the most." She said and finally turned to Scotty, her eyes glassy. The tears wouldn't fall, she knew that much. She wouldn't break down in tears in front of him, he didn't need to deal with that too. Also, she knew that she did, she didn't know if she could stop herself. "I can handle the fact of us not being together fine...As long as I knew that I mattered to him...But I don't know...and I never will.." She said and with that, she fell silent and looked back down at the bottom in her hand.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

If he'd been a responsible officer, or even probably a responsible person in general, he would have tried to take the bottle from her, as it was clear she had probably had enough. But, in spite of the fact that Scotty was usually relatively responsible, he figured that with what it seemed she'd been through, she deserved to be a little irresponsible herself tonight. He'd never been what he could really describe as heartbroken, but he had been disappointed, bored, angry, and a number of other emotions that had driven his desire to pick up a bottle and drink until he forgot what it was he was drinking for. He threw back another swig of scotch, and pressed his lips together, his throat already a little numb from the sting of it. His glance appeared distant, as he followed her line of sight to the spiderweb-like crack that traced its way across the glass, but he was listening intently to what she had to say. And surprisingly, unlike a lot of drunk people he'd known in his life, what she was saying made a lot of sense to him - mainly because he could relate to it, as well as or better than anyone else might have been able to. That bit about work being more important - oh, he knew about that all too well.

"But you've let yourself love and I can only speak for myself, but I think that many people would consider themselves lucky to have what you've found." That sounded ridiculous right now, in light of the pain that very relationship seemed to be inflicting upon her, but he knew in his heart that it was true. He laughed, took another sip of scotch, and shook his head before answering. "I used to think it was a brilliant thing, keepin' my heart out of things and my head in charge. Maybe it is, I don't know, but sometimes, y'know, I think that maybe I'm keepin' myself locked away from one of the most important things you can have in this universe." He was rambling, but what he was trying to get at was that he envied her apparent ability to balance a brilliant academic and professional career with the kind of passion a girl as fiery as she was could muster.

He'd never been much of a speaker, especially not when it came to counseling people in matters of the heart. His own experience was so limited and disgraceful that he never really tried. But he couldn't leave her here like this, and he couldn't just sit there and drink in silence, so he had to come up with something to say. "I cannae think of anything I'd say that could help you feel any better right now." he confessed. "And I cannae pretend that I know Commander Spock anywhere nearly as well as you do, but I can tell you this, he doesn't seem like the kind of man who'd just risk his reputation and all those lovely logical rules Vulcans live by, just for something he doesn't care about."

He knew he wasn't a mind reader, he couldn't really know what Spock was thinking, but what he'd just come up with sounded...well, logical. "I'm not goin' t'pretend I know what's gone on between the two of you, you know, that's well...between the two of you, but from where I stand, what you've got doesn't seem like somethin' that could be meaningless to anyone. Even someone who pretends he doesn't feel things." Two sips of scotch punctuated that sentence, and he sighed, feeling the familiar warmth of intoxication beginning to creep into his fingers and toes. "Perhaps he only needs some time to think about things, eh?"

She looked like she wanted to cry, and honestly, Scotty felt like he could have cried himself just looking at her. Love, people said, was an amazing thing, but he had seen, and was seeing right now, the opposite end of the spectrum. "I think he'll realize what a great buffoon he's being before long. That's my prediction, anyway." Another gulp of scotch brought the flask below the half-full mark, and he glanced at it, somewhat satisfied with the progress he'd made on it. Granted, this was only about a fifth of his current supply, and the rest of it was back in his quarters, but it was a decent-sized flask, and he imagined he could probably get happily tipsy with it at least.

"All you've got to do," he told her, blinking slowly, as he tended to do when he was trying to look thoughtful, "Is figure out how to remind him how much he likes havin' you around. He misses you, he just might not realize it. At least, that's my prediction." He certainly was doing a lot of predicting tonight.

[LT. NYOTA UHURA]

Uhura looked to Scotty, who had enough to say to her to keep her from totally passing out. The alcohol in her system was tugging her in many different directions and it was making her kinda sleepy. However, whatever came out of his mouth, it seemed to make sense to her, so she listened to him. She was lucky? She shifted in her seat, her hair flying around her face as she pulled her long, slender legs up to her. She set the bottle between her legs and just looked at the Scotsman, her eyes glistening as she thought about what he said. Some people didn't even find love at all, so she was lucky to have found it in the first place? Whatever her and Spock had, she couldn't really classify it as mutual love. He never said anything to her that made her think he loved her back. All he did was push her away. Now here she sat, alone, but the chief engineer and a bottle of scotch. Could be worse, she could be completely alone. She was grateful to Scotty to sitting here with her. He didn't have to and it was kind of him to do so.

Then he said something that struck her. He was just like her almost, always focusing on the job. But she could sense the hint of regret, as he said he felt like he was locking himself away from one of the most important things in the universe. Was love really that important? Then again, without it, everyone would be like mindless drones who didn't care about anything. So yeah, Love really was that important. Uhura stared at Scotty, not really sure how to respond to him, his words coming out more profound than what she could come up with right now. Her speaking skills had to be impaired by now, by far, she didn't want to trash anything he said by opening her mouth.

Then he spoke about how Spock couldn't have risked all of his values for her if she didn't mean anything to him. This caused her to stop and think about it. It wasn't like they hadn't been intimate around other people, kissing each other in front of them. Scotty included before Spock and Kirk beamed to Nero's ship. But she didn't really think he cared all that much. What Scotty was doing was making her think about her relationship with the half-vulcan. Maybe he was right and he just needed time to think about what was going on between them. She nodded her head, taking in everything Scotty had to said. Then he mentioned something about making him realize how important she was and make him realize that he missed her. How the hell was she supposed to do that? Again, Vulcans weren't big on the emotions. She would have to figure something out.

"I hope you're right." She said sadly to him as she gripped the bottle of scotch tightly in her dark hand before looking to him. She offered him a gentle smile as she brought the bottle up to her lips and took another swig. Uhura knew in her mind that she really didn't need anymore alcohol in her system at this point. She was passed the point of no return, however, the urge to continue on was still there. It was unhealthy, but then again, she wasn't really a heavy drinker to begin with. It shouldn't do that much damage to her.

"I really really really do." She spoke again, leaning head against the back her arm as she propped it up for herself. Now, she was curious about the man before her, where all this insight came from as she slowly looked toward him for a moment, her eyes darting from side to side.

"What about you? Huh? Girl troubles for you or was this all just a generous pep talk, Scotty?" She asked, rubbing her face against her arm as a tear trembled down her face. Her arm hid it as she brushed it away. She was curious about him now, and she wanted to stop thinking about her own problems and try and listen to him. This way, he would keep talking and she wouldn't have to. She sounded like a drunken moron anyway.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Scotty hoped that at least part of his words might be getting through to her. It was hard to tell sometimes with drunk people, whether they were paying attention to you or if their mind had wandered off to contemplate something else entirely. Another mouthful of scotch disappeared from the bottle as he raised it to his lips. He was catching up, or at least, he thought he was. Maybe he just hoped he was. Anyway, it was good to have someone who at least was willing to pretend to listen to him talk about something other than the latest thing he'd talked the Enterprise into doing. Not that he didn't love talking about the wonderful things his favorite ship was capable of doing, but every now and then, it was nice to talk to someone who seemed to realize that he was an interesting person aside from just being the fellow who fixed things when they broke them. She looked a little tired, but then, he himself was tired, too. Lurking around a half-abandoned ship was more tiring than people thought it was, he thought, reflecting on the less-than-enthralling events of his day.

She didn't seem like the kind of girl who went out and got trashed every weekend, in spite of the fact that she seemed popular enough that Scotty was sure she could find someone to buy her all the alcohol she could drink, if she had the desire to do so. "I hope I'm right too, lass." he murmured, only just loud enough for her to have heard him. And he honestly did. Scotty was the kind of person who didn't hold ill-will against people just because they had something he didn't, and the fact that he was romantically doomed himself didn't give him any bitterness towards Uhura and Spock, or any sort of sick desire to see their relationship fall apart.

And he didn't think it would, not really. Scotty had seen the way Spock looked at her, although he'd been manning the transporter controls and hadn't heard the exchange between them like Kirk must have during the whole Nero incident. But he'd seen enough to realize that the look on Spock's face wasn't the expression of somebody who didn't give a damn. Well, maybe it was, Vulcans made strange faces sometimes, but he really didn't think it was. He didn't comment on that, both because he couldn't think of anything sensible to say, and because she'd asked him a question that brought him back to the issue he'd been contemplating before.

"Girl troubles?" he repeated, bemused. "Oh, no, not me. I don't let them near enough to me to be a trouble, not if I can help it. At least, I've managed to avoid it so far." He said that, as he always did, with a trace of pride in his voice, but her distress had begun to make him question whether the choices he'd made in that regard were the best thing. Strangely enough, the fact that she was this upset about something had the opposite effect as might be expected. It didn't make him more certain that love was a thing to be avoided, it made him consider exactly how powerful it must be when it was good, that it could do this to a person when it was bad. Like practically everyone else who'd ever contemplated it, Scotty wished there was a way to experience the good without risking the turmoil of the downside of love and relationships.

"No," he went on, "just never has been in my nature to leave a pretty girl to drink her sorrows alone." He spoke the word "pretty" in a matter-of-fact sort of way, with a tone that made it clear that it hadn't been a come-on, just a statement of something that happened to be true. "Now, now, don't cry." he admonished, wishing he'd packed a handkerchief or something into the tool belt that sat a few feet away. "If you cry, it'll make me cry." That was, most likely, not true, but hopefully the thought of the cheery engineer crying would at least distract her briefly.

[LT. NYOTA UHURA]

Uhura knew, despite how blissfully numb she was feeling, that she wasn't going to do this again. At least not to this extent. She was going to feel this in the morning and she wasn't looking forward to that headache. Uhura never wanted to be a drunk, or drink herself into a stupor like this, but she just chose her grieving method poorly. She would pay for it, she knew that, but right now, she was going to enjoy it. She was thankful to not be alone, but she didn't want to dump anything on him. She didn't want to pass out on him, because she knew that he wouldn't leave her here. But then again, she didn't want to force him to have to get her out of here. She would be happy if he just walked out, because Uhura didn't like burdening anyone. She never wanted to be like that, but she knew that if she didn't leave now, she wouldn't get out of this chair on her own. She was still aware enough to listen to him answer her question. She wanted to know if he was involved with anyone, or if he was experiencing any issues himself. He quickly disproved this and she nodded her head, stroking the glass bottle for a moment.

"Well you're lucky. But maybe she's out there for you, Scotty. Nice guy like you, she's probably right under your nose." She said gently before she took another swig of the liquor before she felt another tear trickle down her face. Oh god, here it comes. She couldn't let herself break down in front of him, that wasn't fair. Uhura always seemed more preoccupied with helping everyone else that she never really took the time to take care of herself. She was more interested in being useful. Lately, she's been more worried about Spock's well being to worry about her own. Clearly, it was a bad idea, since she's pretty much fallen off the deep end. She looked to Scotty as he told her not to cry and it caused her to start to laugh.

"You wouldn't cry." She said with a giggle. She looked at the alcohol as she brushed her tears away and took in a deep breath. She would survive, she was a fighter. Her heart was broken and she was taking the time to grieve. That gave her two, three days tops to be upset. Any more would be considered ridiculous by her standards. She would still be upset, but she would be able to mask it better after that short amount of time. Right now, she was just going to let herself go. She lifted the bottle slowly and watched the liquid slosh around in the glass container before she let her eyes fall on the Scotsman in front of her.

"Thank you for staying with me. I appreciate it." She said, taking another large gulp and leaving the bottle almost empty as she laid her head back down on her arm. Her eyelids fluttered as she forced them to stay open. She wanted to get up and leave, but she didn't as her legs folded together. She sniffled, staring at the ground before she let her eyes goes back to Scotty for a moment. She smiled to him as she ran her hand down her face with a sigh.

"No one has ever seen me like this. I'm always so collected. Now, heh, people would get a good laugh outta this." She said and placed her palm down on the top of the bottle and just sa there, silent after that.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Scotty was well-acquainted with the consequences of indulging in choice liquors, but he wasn't going to lecture her on that right now. Obviously she'd already made her choices, and it wasn't his place to be telling her what the results would be. Anyway, he was the last person in the world to be handing out sermons on the vices of alcohol. He took another long sip from his own flask, observing that the level of liquid in it had fallen to below the one-quarter level. He wondered if he ought to help her get somewhere where she could pass out in peace, but he didn't want her to think that he was trying to get rid of her. He was willing to hang around as long as she needed him to. And nothing, not even his own increasing state of intoxication, could put Scotty off of an objective once he'd set his mind to it. He was going to make her feel better, or at least, he was going to do his damndest.

"Well, don't you worry your head about me, you've got better things to fret over than that, I'm sure." he said, tapping his flask with the fingers of the opposite hand as he held it. He had a feeling she might be close to the happy place in a drunk person's progression where they finally manage to close their eyes and block it all out with sweet unconsciousness, but he thought it important that she get all this off her chest, even if she didn't remember it in the morning.

"And you certainly don't have to thank me, I was going t'be here anyway, though I didn't picture things being quite this interesting." Interesting was a choice word to use there; interesting in contrast to what he'd been planning to do, anyway. Scotty loved to muck around with mechanics, but routine diagnostics got rather old after the first seven thousand times you performed them, so any distraction was welcome.

"You'll go right back to bein' collected in the mornin', I'm sure." he said, reaching over to pat her hand. "And no one's going to laugh, because I'll be damned if I'll ever breathe a word of it to anybody. I'm not the sort that spreads gossip out to the delta quadrant as soon as it reaches my ears, after all. But you stop those tears, now, hear? Can't be wastin' 'em on a fella like that. Either he's worth it, and you've got nothin' to cry about, or he's not and he doesn't deserve to be cried over." Where was he even coming up with all of this? Frankly, he had no idea, but as long as he could keep saying things that made a lick of sense, he figured he would.

"Why don't we take you to sick bay while you can still stand on your own two feet?" he suggested, although he wasn't sure if she actually could at this point. "I'm sure Dr. McCoy's got some sort of lovely remedy that'll get that head of yours fixed up so you don't wake up in the mornin' cursin' your mother for birthin' you."

[LT. NYOTA UHURA]

Uhura knew that she wouldn't be able to keep herself awake much longer, with the rate the alcohol was moving through her system. She was surprised that she was still conscious now. She looked to Scotty as he told her not to worry about him, which she understood, but she cared. Her friends were important to her, their well being was just as important to her as her own. Even more so, in fact. She was proving that her well being wasn't exactly on her top priority list right now, but that didn't mean she didn't care about anyone else. She scared about what Scotty was feeling because he was taking the time to stay with her. She listened as he said that he was going to be in here anyway, but she just offered a smile to him. She hoped she went back to being the collected Uhura that everyone else saw tomorrow. She didn't know what she would do if she didn't. She didn't want to be this far gone, this lost. She didn't know why she was letting herself get like this. But then again, if she didn't show her sadness, she would feel like a heartless jerk. She didn't want to feel like what Spock felt like. She didn't want to be like him. Despite her love, she wouldn't trade her feelings for the world.

She looked to Scotty with a laugh when he said he wouldn't go telling people about what happened in here tonight. She knew that he wouldn't, he didn't seem like the blabbering type, but it still made her laugh. She couldn't picture him spouting off her secrets to people, it was too unlikely. It gave her a happy, so it was worth something right? He had patted her hand, which she welcomed the friendly gesture. Scotty was a good man and she was thankful to call him friend. She then tipped the bottle back and that was when Uhura finished the rest of the alcohol. There, nothing but air in that bottle now and she looked to Scotty as he told her not to cry, two reasons why, which were valid. She sighed, brushing her face to make sure there were no remaining tears on her face before looking back to the man.

He then suggested that they go to the sick bay, so that McCoy could give her something for the morning. Oh god, McCoy was going to be so angry with her. She grunted as she forced herself into a standing position but she found herself clinging to the command panel in front of her. She looked down as she tugged down her shorts so they weren't riding up, then lookd back to Scotty with an exaggerated pout.

"You are gonna have to help me." She said as she looked around the Bridge. She shouldn't have come here, but if she would have drank herself silly in her quarters, she would have felt even more pathetic. She continued to hold onto her pout as she moved to lean on Scotty for support. He's been a real trooper this entire time and she was going to remember to thank him in the morning. She gripped him as she let her head lull on his shoulder.

"McCoy is gonna yell at me." She said in an almost child-like voice as she looked up at Scotty. As she looked to the exit of the bridge, only one other thought sat in the woman's thoughts. Don't vomit on Scotty. They were on their way to the sick bay, she could vomit there. She held onto that, forcing herself to stay clear headed enough so that she wouldn't bend over and dispel all the alcohol onto the poor man's shoes. That would have made her feel worse.

[LT. CMDR. MONTGOMERY SCOTT]

Scotty stood up himself as she started to struggle to her feet, and put out a hand to steady her as she leaned against the console. Oh, this was going to be an interesting experience. He wasn't a total weakling, but carrying the dead weight of another person, regardless of whether they were a rather slender woman, was never easy. He hoped she'd stay conscious at least until he managed to get her somewhere it was safe for her to lie down. He had no intention of leaving her unconscious in some hallway, after all. He screwed the cap back onto the flask in his hand, and put it down next to the rest of the things he'd brought with him, so that he'd have two free hands he could use if he needed them. "Oh, he won't yell at you tonight." Scotty predicted. "At least, not much. He'll wait until you're good and sober to appreciate it." Maybe that wasn't very comforting, but he figured standing there and nodding solemnly would not only be vastly uncharacteristic, it probably wouldn't be very helpful, either. He had to keep talking, had to give her something to focus on to keep her conscious until she was safely on a bed in sick bay, or in her own quarters...at least somewhere she wouldn't give herself a concussion falling down.

"I'm right here, lassie, don't you fret." he promised, offering her a shoulder, figuring she could lean on him as much or as little as she needed to. "Just take it as slow as you need to." He fervently hoped she wasn't drunk to the point of nausea yet; he had no fondness for the smell of vomit, and having it all over him just might be enough to make him throw up himself. He made a face at the mental image of the two of them standing in a puddle of vomit - not the prettiest thought. He wasn't worried about carrying his things; he doubted anyone had the guts to steal a belt that was clearly labeled "PROPERTY OF CHIEF ENGINEER SCOTT" in red-inked capital letters he'd insisted on drawing on there in his own lopsided handwriting instead of using the standard labeling equipment. It would probably be there when he came back, even if that was the next morning.

"Anyway, if he starts yellin' at you, I'll yell right back and I'll be so noisy he'll have to shut up just to keep me quiet." That was slightly less logical, or at least, so he thought, than the things he'd been saying before, but again, the goal was to keep the wheels in her mind turning fast enough to make her stay awake. "Ready, then?" He started towards the door, slowly enough that she could keep up with him and not fall on her face.

He started to hum again, forcing his own eyes to focus on the path ahead of them, realizing that he too was a little beyond sober, more than he'd initially thought. He was reasonably certain that he could keep walking straight, but he knew he'd drunk more than what had already hit him, and hoped they could get to their destination before the rest of it caught up with him.

"I remember the first time I got myself drunk." he commented, heading out the door with her. "I was fifteen - that's late, considering the tendencies of my family..well, and the rest of Scotland, too, but I remember very little of the actual drunkenness so much as my father's reaction the next mornin'. I was afraid he was goin' t'be furious with me, but as it turned out, he was quite amused, and satisfied his parental rage by clattering about the house with every loud thing he could find to inflict upon me."

[LT. NYOTA UHURA]

Uhura was very grateful to Scotty for taking such good care of her. Sure, he was intoxicated too, but he wasn't as far gone as she was. She had been drinking for a few hours now, sucking down the same bottle of liquor and she knew that she wasn't going to be able to hold onto her consciousness for much longer. She felt him hold her up and she appreciated the help he offered as the two of them began making their way out of the bridge. She felt bad for being so reckless, but she couldn't really take it back now. The damage had been done. She wished that whatever happened between her and Spock hadn't happened. She missed him so much, it was becoming physical now. She didn't want to become this lost, but the moment he walked out of her room, her heart had shattered in thousands of little pieces. She knew that it would take a lot to get over the vulcan, but a part of her didn't want to let him go. She felt too much for him, but he would deem that illogical, now wouldn't he.

Uhura had been lost in her own little world as her and Scotty stepped out of the bridge and started their slow trek to the sick bay. She knew that McCoy wouldn't be pleased with her current state, but she knew he wouldn't be rude to her. He would later, but right now, he would probably take care of her and let her sleep. That was the kind of man McCoy was, she trusted him with her life, despite the fact that they haven't known each other all that long. It didn't matter to her, he was like an older brother to Uhura, and she appreciated his bond. She just didn't want him to see her like this. She knew that McCoy wasn't a stranger to alcohol, but she wasn't supposed to be like this. She was the calm, collected one if the crew. She was the one that they turned to for support in all of this. So Commander Spock broke her heart, get over it right?

Easier said then done. She leaned her head against Scotty's shoulder as they walked, so far her legs carrying her forward rather well. She gripped the older man's back as they walked slowly, like two drunken idiots. She listened as he spoke of the first time he ever got drunk as a kid. She let a small smile curve her lips as he spoke of his father's reaction before a smooth chuckle left her lips.

"That's cruel." She said with a cute laugh before looking up at Scotty. The first time she drank was on her 21st birthday, like the good little girl she was. That hadn't been all that long ago, so it was clear that alcohol wasn't really a big deal for her. She took it too far this time. She hoped that the mental note she made stuck, for she never wanted to experience a killer hang over.

"I guess I'm just the good little girl. I didn't drink until I was legal." She scoffed and looked away from him, looking around the halls as they turned to a corner, continuing on their trek to the sick bay. She felt the tugging sensation of fatigue and she groaned, not liking where this was going. She didn't want to pass out on Scotty. Knowing the way the gentlman was, he'd end up having to heave her up, and that wasn't fair to him when he couldn't see completely straight himself.

"Oh no, sooo tired." She muttered slurred as she looked up at Scotty. She forced her eyes open and lookd around, hoping they reached the sick bay soon. It wasn't exactly right around the corner and this was one massive ship. Oh why didn't she just stay in her room? She thought to herself as she gripped Scotty's back tighter and forced her legs to carry her further.