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McCoy opened his eyes and looked around. He was confused. He had been asleep, in bed, in his quarters, on the Enterprise. Now he was surrounded by brightness.
“Wha… where am I?” he asked aloud.
“Where are we Doc?” a voice behind him said.
McCoy spun around.
“Scotty what’s going on?”
“I don’t know Doc. I thought I was asleep.”
“Am I dreaming?” McCoy asked. “Is this your dream? Am I real?”
Scotty heard panic rising in McCoy’s voice. He reached out for the good doctor’s shoulder.
“You feel real.”
“Where are we though?”
“Somewhere safe,” a pair of voices answered.
“And who are you?” Scotty asked back.
McCoy turned to look behind them.
“And where are you?” he added.
Two figures began to appear in front of the men. Their features were indistinguishable with the halo of light surrounding them.
“We are here,” said the first figure.
“Who are you?” McCoy demanded.
“That isn’t important,” said the second figure.
“Uh, yes it is,” McCoy said with rising anger. “What is this place? How did we get here?”
Scotty reached a hand out to the doctor again.
“They said it was safe.” He shrugged when McCoy turned to look at him.
“Anger isn’t going to help Doc.”
McCoy sighed.
“Ok. How did we get here?” he asked more calmly.
“We brought you here,” said the first figure.
“But why?” asked Scotty.
“That will become clear,” said the second.
Scotty exchanged a glance with McCoy. McCoy gave him an exasperated expression.
“Do ye have names? What do we call you?”
The figures in their light appeared to look at each other.
“You may call us the father…” said the first.
“…and the goddess,” finished the second.
“Can we see you?” asked Scotty.
“This is sufficient,” said the goddess.
“Oh for crying…,” McCoy muttered under his breath.
Scotty glanced at the doctor again. He smiled to himself. He looked up as the glow around the two figures seemed to brighten.
“So, why did you bring us here?” Scotty waved his hand to indicate where they were. “And what is this place? Are we dreaming?”
“You are not dreaming,” said the father. “This is our realm, our creation.”
“It is safe,” continued the goddess. “We mean no harm to you, nor do we mean to frighten you.”
“We intend good,” finished the father.
“What do you mean?” asked McCoy.
“We mean to show you what should be,” the father said.
“What should be?” Scotty’s brow furrowed in confusion.
“What should be,” said the goddess.
McCoy threw his hands in the air.
“This is a bunch of nonsense!” he exclaimed in frustration. “Just send me home already. I’m done with this.”
“No,” said the father, “we are not done.”
McCoy made an angry noise. Scotty moved closer to the figures. He could make out some vague features. They appeared humanoid.
“Look, ye’ve got to be giving us better answers than this. Ye can’t just pull people from their beds and then spout off a bunch of vagaries at them!”
Scotty had moved closer again, and in doing so had positioned himself in front of McCoy defensively. McCoy reached out his hand to Scotty’s arm and squeezed a thank you.
The halo of light around the figures definitely brightened. McCoy and Scotty felt more than saw the smiles that were passed between the two figures.
“Let’s just go Doc,” Scotty said turning around. “They want to play vague then I’m done too.”
“Where are we going to go?” McCoy asked barely audible to Scotty.
The Scotsman shrugged and began to walk the opposite direction.
“I’m so confused,” McCoy said under his breath as he moved to follow Scotty.
“You aren’t the only one Doc,” Scotty muttered back.
The area brightened even more.
“You may not go yet,” said the goddess.
“Watch us,” McCoy called as he and Scotty kept walking away.
They stopped in surprise as the two figures manifested in front of them again.
“It’s two against two Doc,” Scotty whispered. “Could be a fair fight.”
McCoy sighed in defeat. “It’ll never be fair if they can just keep getting in front of us.”
He turned back to the figures.
“Alright, what do you want with us? If you’re going to kill us just do it already.”
“Doc!” Scotty exclaimed in surprise.
The figures appeared taken aback.
“We aren’t going to kill you,” said the father.
“We mean no harm, only good,” said the goddess.
“We’ve become tired of the dance,” said the father.
“Dance?”
“What dance?”
McCoy and Scotty spoke at the same time. They looked at each other confused.
“Your dance,” said the goddess.
“Around each other,” finished the father.
McCoy’s mouth dropped open in surprise and confusion. Scotty began to blush.
“What d’ye mean?” Scotty found his voice first, cheeks aflame.
McCoy looked at Scotty. He finally found his jaw and closed his mouth. McCoy felt his neck warming as he noticed the engineer’s pinked face.
The figures exchanged knowing, happy smiles.
“You know,” said the father to Scotty.
“You are beginning to realize,” said the goddess to McCoy.
“What does he know?” McCoy asked, pointing at Scotty.
Scotty ducked his head. He didn’t know how much more red his face could get.
No one answered.
“What does Scotty know?” McCoy asked again.
“Mr. Scott,” the father prompted him.
“I…, I…,”
“Speak Montgomery,” said the goddess.
“Scotty?” McCoy asked.
“I like ye Doc.” Scotty kept his face turned away.
“Ok,” McCoy said, still slightly confused. “I like you too Scotty. We’re friends.”
“Montgomery,” said the father.
Scotty slowly looked up.
“No Doc. Leonard. I like you, I’ve been interested for a while.”
“Hear Leonard,” said the goddess. “Listen inside.”
McCoy’s face quirked from his confusion. His eyes slowly widened and pink crept up his cheeks as well.
“Sc…, Scotty,” he said suddenly breathless.
The figures glowed brighter again. The men again felt the smiles radiating from the pair.
“Now you know,” said the father.
“You belong together,” said the goddess.
“Our work is done,” said the father.
“Be returned,” said the goddess.
In a flash the bright light went out and McCoy sat upright in his bed.
“What the hell?” he said out loud.
His heart was pounding in his chest. He made a mental note to check with Jim what they had been drinking and never have it again.
McCoy took a deep breath to center himself and laid back down.
The next morning he walked into the mess. Jim was sitting at their usual table and waved. McCoy waved a hand back and went to get himself some breakfast.
“You alright Bones?” Jim asked as McCoy sat. “You look half alive.”
McCoy scowled. “I had the weirdest dream last night.”
“‘Bout what?” Jim asked. McCoy never shared like this. Jim became very curious.
“I don’t know,” McCoy admitted. “I just remember flashes, feelings.”
He shook his head.
“Here comes Scotty and Sulu,” Jim said into the silence McCoy left.
McCoy dropped his fork on his plate with a clatter.
“Bones?!” Jim asked.
McCoy whipped around. His eyes found Scotty and locked on the engineer’s.
Scotty’s eyes went wide as he stared back. McCoy got up and began to move across the mess. Scotty’s feet moved him to McCoy. They met halfway.
“It wasn’t a dream,” Scotty whispered in awe.
“No,” McCoy replied in the same tone before he grabbed the front of Scotty’s tunic and pulled him in for a kiss. Scotty widened his eyes in surprise before melting into McCoy and deepening the embrace.