Scotty pulled his coat closer, tightening his scarf with his other hand. "Why does it have to be so bloody cold all the time?" He muttered under his breath.

Suddenly the sound of a large door opening and closing echoed throughout the bunker. Slowly, Scotty stood and reached for the closest heavy object, brandishing it as a weapon. Knowing that his little creature friend wouldn't be strong enough to open one of the outside doors, he had to be sure it wasn't some unwanted guest.

Scotty peeked his head around the open door of his workroom, looking out into the long cold hallway. He saw a petite figure bend down to brush snow off their clothes and stomp it off their shoes. But when they stood, Scotty about dropped the pipe he was holding. Beautiful is not a strong enough word to describe the woman who dropped her thick, fuzzy, snow-covered hood. Suddenly coming to his senses, Scotty's eyes widened and he rushed to go sit back down at his work table, acting like nothing happened.

You rubbed your gloved hands together, blowing warm air into them in hopes of gaining some kind of feeling. You were sent here to help a Starfleet engineer with whatever it was he needed help with. You pulled the short end of the stick when it came to assignments. You thought your sister's boyfriend would be able to pull some strings to get you on the Enterprise with her but Vulcan's have a hard time with family favors. So now you have been sent to the far reaches of space to babysit a Scotish loner.

Your head snapped up when you hear the sound of something moving down the hall. You take note one of the doors standing wide open. That must be where he his. But just to be careful, you whip out your phaser and set it to the lowest stun setting. Once you got closer to the open door you closed your eyes and took a deep breath. Thinking better than just walking in, guns a blazing, you held the phaser behind your back and knocked with your free hand.

"Mr. Scott? I, uh, don't mean to startle you but, uh..." You slowly made your way into the room, spying a man covered in various pieces of clothing sitting with his back to you. You jumped when he turned around, opening his arms out wide with a smile pulling at his face.

"Lassie! Welcome to my ice box of solitude! I have my wee gremlin friend around here somewhere." He mumbled the last part under his breath.

You raised an eyebrow in confusion but smiled sweetly as you disarmed your phasor with one hand behind your back. Tucking it in the back of your pants and hiding it with your coat, you stepped forward intending to shake his hand.

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Scott. My name is (Y/n). I was sent here to keep you company for a while and help you where you need it." Scotty stood and took your hand in the both of his.

"Well, I would congratulate you but it's not exactly the most ideal job off the planet. Did they happen to bring some extra supplies with you?"

You smiled for real this time. "Yes, they did. I put in a special order for something strong for you. I wasn't what you would like but..." You trailed off as you watched the Scotsman's face light up like a child on Christmas. He stood and wrapped you in his arms quite suddenly.

"Bless you, lassie! You know how to make a good first impression!" Scotty let out a whoop of excitement as he left the room, you trailing after him with a big smile on your face. Shaking your head slightly, you followed the man out the building to help him bring in the extra supplies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It had only been a couple of months, but it felt like the two of you had known each other for years. It took a while for Keenser to get used to you being around but the Scotsman took a liking to you right away. And the thing is, now you are pretty sure he likes you a bit more than a...friend. But as of late, the notion of his feelings being so intimate does not phase you. In fact, you just might welcome it. Maybe. As it turns out you had arrived when it was it's warmest on this planet, now it has fully become winter.

You huddled up on your chair, wrapping yourself in yet another blanket you found stashed away somewhere. A cup of warm...something sat untouched in your hands but warming your cold fingers. Scotty was asleep somewhere in the back of the room and Keenser was messing with one of his trinkets. You lost at a round of rock, paper, scissors on who was going to stay up and watch the machine calculate something Scotty was sure would change history and make sure it would not freeze over. Originally, Scotty lost but you convinced him to play two out of three, seeing as how he has been up most of the time anyways. You wanted to make sure he got some sleep without his pride getting hurt.

You jump at the sound of Scotty moving around in this make-shift bed. You turn to look at his sleeping form. Honestly, had you not been so "unlucky" with the position placement you would not have found that gem of a man.

The slapping sound of small feet echoed from the hallway, pulling your attention away from the peacefully sleeping engineer. Keenser walked in with a blanket around his shoulders and another clutched in his arms. He quickly made his way over to you, looking up at you with his little beady eyes. You look down at him and smile kindly, searching his expressionless face for the reason he has come searching for your attention.

"What is it, little man? You hungry?"

He shook his head.

"Well, that's a first." You move your hand to itch your nose. "Um...Are you thirsty?"

He shook his head again.

You put your cup down gently as to not wake Scotty. "Then I am at a loss." You nervously laugh, shrugging your shoulders with your hands up.

Keenser looks at you for a few seconds before he shakes his head and moved closer to you. Your eyes widened as you froze and watched the little creature who you were sure hated you, climbed up gently onto your lap, like a toddler. You take the extra blanket he had and draped it over the two of you, instantly thankful for the extra warmth.

You rest your arm around him and make things a little more comfortable for the two of you. You look at him as he looks up at you. "You comfy?"

He nods his head then leans it back onto your chest, pulling out a trinket from under his blanket and started to fiddle with it. You smile to yourself as you turn back to the screens in front of you. It didn't take long for Keenser to fall asleep in your arms. You lean back in the large chair and let your eyelids fall for only a few minutes.

Scotty rubbed his eyes and sat up in his array of blankets and pillows, yawning and stretching as he stood. Itching the back of his head, he looked around the room expecting to see you dancing around to music in your head or drawing. But what he saw almost made him question if he was still asleep.

There you were asleep in the chair, both arms wrapped protectively around Keenser as he slept soundly on your lap and against your chest. The both of you looked warm and comfortable so Scotty made sure to sneak quietly to his desk to grab his old camera. He found it here when he was first brought here and he had only used it a few times. But once you found it a couple of weeks ago he had found a reason to use it again, not wanting to pass up the opportunity to capture the fun the three of you have had. Now was as good as time as any to use it.

Getting close enough to get a clear shot, Scotty held the camera close to his face and clicked the button. He pulled away and watched as the image came out on a small square of paper. He smiled at it and went back to his desk, storing it with the rest of the pictures he wanted to save and make sure you didn't see. Spying his favorite in the corner, he put down the camera and picked up the picture. A laugh almost escaped as he remembered that day like it was yesterday.

Sitting criss-cross on the floor among loads of blankets, you had been laughing at something Scotty had said while he was embarrassingly drunk. That was when he learned that you snorted when you laughed hard, and that was when he found out that he liked it, very much. Keenser was messing with the camera then and had taken the picture, so it was a bit off center but Scotty could clearly see your laughing face, your hands on your chest. Scotty himself was leaning against you, his head thrown back in laughter as one arm draped around your shoulder the other holding a bottle of scotch.

A sound from across the room caused Scotty to jump slightly, quickly hiding the photo in the drawer. He looked up and saw Keenser move just a bit but then fall back to sleep. You moved just a bit, causing some of your hair to fall into your face. Scotty quietly walked over and moved one of the blankets to cover the both of you better, making sure to cover your feet knowing how you hated your feet cold.

He looked over at your face and a small smile pulled at his lips. You always looked like you were about to crack a joke or start planning a party. But now, you slept as if there were no cares in the world as if you weren't stuck on a cold, desolate planet with a cranky old Scotsman. Scotty reached up and stroked your cheek, not at all liking how cold it was to the touch. You subconsciously leaned into his hand. He moved it to move the hair out of your face but the sound of something hitting the outside door caused him to freeze.

Scotty snapped his eyes over to the door leading to the hallway. Nothing was there. But then the sound of the outside doors opening turned Scotty's blood cold. You shot awake to the sound of the loud creaking, Keenser almost fell to the floor but you held on to him.  You look to your side and see Scotty, quite close in fact, and frozen to the spot.

You reach one of your hands up and slowly take his hand in yours. "What is it?" You whisper, seeing your breath billow around you.

"I'm not sure. Stay here."

"NO! Don't go out there alone, are you crazy?"

Scotty turned to look at you, giving your hand a squeeze. "Not any more than usual."

You gently put Keenser down, keeping your hand in Scotty's, and moved to stand behind him, as he moved slowly to the door leading to the hallway. Suddenly voices bounced through the hallway, making you jump and clutch Scotty's arm with your other hand. Footsteps sounded and they grew closer.

Suddenly two figures appeared through the doorway, causing you to let out a yelp of surprise as you hid your face in Scotty's back. Keenser ran to your legs, hugging you tight.

"Sorry to intrude, but we are going to need your assistance, Mr. Scott."

"And who might you be?"

"My name is Spock and this is James T Kirk."

How was that, huh?! Don't think it's too bad myself! Sorry it's been so long, but I have a few on the way. Y'all know what to do. Kisses!