It was an obvious setup. The old 'put them in a room together until they crack' trick, only you had no idea who could have done this. Two years you had kept your feelings quiet, worked through the awkwardness - on your part - when your yearly physical was due and you had thought you were doing pretty well.

Obviously not.

Now you were trapped with Doctor McCoy, sitting on the floor trying to show as little extra skin as possible in your regulation dress while he paced angrily by the door, mumbling to himself.

"What were you even doing in here? Medbay I can understand, but what possessed you to come into the storeroom? How did you even get access?" He stopped his pacing and turned to you, finally looking at you after 5 or so minutes of angry mumbling.

"Captain Kirk said you needed me to get something out of here for his checkup. He unlocked the door for me but said he needed to stay in the Medbay or you would think he ran off again." You nervously picked at the hem of your dress, keeping you eyes down, not wanting to chance looking at him and losing the ability to speak.

He sat down across from you, long legs stretched out and his shoes very nearly touching yours."He told me he needed bandages for a cut he refused to show me. Moron was probably the one who hid everything I had out there." He rested his head against the shelves behind him. "Jim did this, not a doubt in my mind, so we'll be here for a while. Might as well relax."

You nodded mutely, still not trusting yourself to talk unless it was absolutely necessary.

Long minutes had passed and you thought he'd been asleep when he spoke up, surprising you out of your daydreams.

"You're about due for your next physical, Y/N. If you want we could get the basics done now and sort out the paperwork later." He shifted to his knees, nearly on all fours across from you. "Your physicals are always the easiest, so it won't take long. Saves me calling you in later this week."

Easiest? Your last physical was a nightmare in your eyes. It had been the last one you had before you left on the Enterprise, so you'd had the works. It was a sweet torture feeling his hands running along your body, gently holding your neck while he checked your eyes and throat, his face up close to yours. You'd spent nearly the whole time with your eyes closed, and had come dangerously close to letting out a quiet moan when his hands had skirted along your collarbone.

Now, after having actually seen him in action during a crisis - minor, but a crisis nonetheless - you were 100% sure you wouldn't be able to hold back a moan if he touched you now the way he did then.

"Y/N? Are you alright?"

You looked up and gasped. He was close. Too close.

"Fine. Just fine." You nodded your permission and shifted, careful to keep your skirt in place as you stretched your legs out, not missing the way his eyes moved over your body, starting at your legs.

The second you felt his hands touch your ankle, you squeezed your eyes shut, trying desperately to think about anything else. Trying to block out thoughts of other places his hands could touch, how his lips would feel...

This is not what you had expected when you woke up this morning. You just wanted to start your shift and check on your plants and do your work, not sit here in the semi-dark with the man whose southern accent made you feel things you tried so hard to ignore.

His hands made their way to your knee, and as they gently moved around you tried again to distract yourself by naming as many flowers as you could.

Sunflower. Zinnia. Cosmos. Pansy.

His hands moved to your other ankle.

Dianthus. Snapdragon. Ranunculus. Violet.

You felt his touch glide up your calf to your knee.

Chrysanthemum. Daisy. Statice. Tulip. Rose. Poppy. Alyssum. Marigold. Hydrangea.

When you felt his hand leave your knee, you relaxed momentarily, only to feel his fingers skim along your jaw, coming to rest gently on your shoulders.

"Do I make you uncomfortable?"

"N-no" you stuttered, frantically trying to name a few more to no avail.

"Look at me, Y/N."

You opened your eyes and felt your cheeks grow hot at his proximity. Inches away. His lips were inches away. The look in his eyes as he worried made the thoughts in your mind even worse.

"I won't have you feeling uncomfortable. We can do this another day. Do you want me to stop?"

"No!" You blurted out, instantly regretting it as you clapped a hand over your mouth. "I-I mean...it's ok. I'm fine.

"Are you sure?"

You could hear the amusement in his tone, and cursed your reaction. Fool. He'd think you a fool.

"It's alright, you're nearly done. May as well get it over with."

His thumbs were gently rubbing circles on your skin as you spoke, doing the opposite of what you imagined he had intended. When you felt his fingers slide up your neck your eyes closed again, your head dropping back to rest on the shelf behind you as he continued.

Your lips were your undoing. Whether he brushed them accidentally or on purpose you had no idea, but the soft moan that left you was certainly an accident. Flowers long forgotten, you had given in to your imagination, completely unaware of your surroundings. You didn't even realise the moan had been out loud until his hands stilled.

Your head shot up and you tried to shift away. "Oh!" He was looking at you intently, seemingly not surprised at all by your reaction. " Doctor I-"

"You always had the most...interesting...expressions during your physicals. I don't think you even realised you were doing it." His hands made their way back up your arms, stopping at your shoulders and once again his thumbs lightly caressed you.

You shook your head vehemently. "No. No." He couldn't know. Couldn't he? You certainly thought you'd been careful over the years. No long glances - that he could see - limited contact, friendly yet professional at all times. "I just...I don't know what happened. And I certainly didn't make faces when you were-" Touching me gently. You swallowed heavily, trying desperately to regain your composure. "When you were examining me."

"There's a reason you're in here with me. Hide in the lab behind your plants all you want, but there's a reason and you know it. I see how you are when I'm near you, and I'll be damned if I'm spending five years on this godforsaken ship in space without knowing for sure if you feel the same. Tell me to stop, and I will. Tell me to leave, and I will."

His arms circled your waist and he pulled you to your knees, holding you firmly against his body. He was looking at you with absolute certainty, and you shifted closer.

"Don't stop." you whispered. "Don't leave." Your arms were around his neck, one hand absentmindedly playing with his hair, nails occasionally lightly scratching his scalp, the feeling making his eyes close and lips part.

"Jim's not coming back. Not until I call him."

"Let him wait. I've waited long enough for this. I never even thought it would happen in the first place."

He pressed gentle kisses against your shoulder, slowly making his way to your lips. "Darlin' I am more than happy to oblige..."