“Good afternoon, Doctor Collins.”

Dom Shepard, the ship’s senior nurse, fell into step with Alec as he walked through the front doors of main sickbay. Alec didn’t question it, somehow Shep knew exactly when Alec was going to walk through the doors and leapt out from behind them or something as soon as he did.

“Afternoon, Shep.” Alec winked and smiled at Maggie on the booking-in desk as he passed by, deftly swiping an apple from the fruit bowl on the edge of the desk as he passed by. He insisted it was there and well stocked. You’d think that by now, in this enlightened age, people would realise the importance of getting enough fruit and vegetables in their diet but no… unless they thought they were getting something over on someone. So, forbidden fruit, there to be swiped, and maybe the buggars would actually eat it.

“How are our guests today?” He asked, taking a large bite of the apple. It was crisp and tart, with a hint of sweetness. Just the way he liked them.

“Our patients are perfectly fine, sir.” Shep didn’t roll his eyes as he handed a padd over with the patient lists, but Alec knew he wanted to. “Although Lieutenant Harrison is in again with back pain.”

Alec nodded, waving his apple as he looked down the list. “Check his kidneys. He’s always chronically dehydrated and he has a history of kidney stones. Chances are, he’s developing one again.”

Shep nodded, not bothering to make a note. He didn’t have to, Alec had never met a nurse with a better memory. He checked down the list of walk-ins and annual medicals.

“Has the captain made an appearance yet?” He queried lightly, only for Shep to snort.

“I don’t know… Has hell frozen over yet?”

Alec looked up to catch amusement in the nurse’s eyes. The lengths the captain would go to in order to avoid her medical were legendary among the medical crew aboard. As far as he knew there was a book going on whether he would actually manage to get her in before next Christmas.

“Yeah, yeah… good point. Okay, send her a reminder. Again.”

“Actually, sir…” Shep blinked, his eyes widening as he looked over Alec’s shoulder. “You might want to get cold weather gear ready.”

“What?” He turned to see what had caught Shep’s attention only to see Buck standing in the main doorway. Her back was ramrod straight and her expression unruffled, as always, but he could see the tension in her shoulders and the way she held her left arm, like she was ready to block a blow… or run for the hills.

“Break right,” he ordered Shep in a low voice. “I’ll go left. She’s in here, whatever you do, do not let her escape.”

“Aye, sir.” Shep murmured, moving off immediately as Alec strode forward, a smile on his face.

“Captain, what a welcome surprise!” He announced. “I didn’t realise we were due an inspection today. Come right in! Maggie, can you put my other cases back please while I attend to the captain?”

“Of course, doctor. My pleasure.”

Before Buck could say a word, he was already hustling her further into medical, nodding to Shep who was loitering near the main doorway. But, as it turned out, strong-arm tactics weren’t needed and the captain allowed herself to be herded.

“I hope I’m not disrupting things,” she said, looking up at him. “I can always come back later.”

“Uh-uh.” He shook his head, noting the tenseness around her eyes. There wasn’t a chance in hell he was letting her out now she was actually in here. “Not at all. I always have time for you, you know that.”

“Okay, if you’re sure. I’m not sick,” she added as he swept her into one of the smaller examination suites. She was an intensely private person, so he knew she’d be more comfortable if he conducted the annual medical in private.

Her gaze darted around the room, like she was looking for an escape. He didn’t need any medical equipment to spot the fear and panic in her movements. She was always like this in sickbay, probably due to the amount of time she’d spent in them after her accident and during the reconstructive surgery. He’d been a medical student at the time, and a celebrity being brought in was the highlight of their ter—

He frowned and shook his head. What was he thinking? He’d read her file, nothing else. They’d only met six months ago.

Focusing on her, he realised her breathing was short.

“Here,” he handed her the apple. “Fruit, will do you good. It’s crisp, the way you like them. Up on the bed with you,” he ordered as she took the apple, looked at the bite he’d already had out of it, then took a bite distractedly.

Good, that was good. If she was eating then it would calm her autonomic nervous system and bring her out of the fight or flight response.

He smiled at her as he started the biobed’s routine, checking through all the basic scans before focusing in on her implants and replacements. Most of her right arm had been replaced, some natural muscle mass remaining and woven through the synthetic, as well as her shoulder blade and three ribs.

“Doing good here,” he murmured, pleased to see she was still working on that apple. Tiny dot of a woman, but he’d noticed her appetite was good. As was her muscle mass and physical conditioning. She worked out, and often, but he’d never been able to catch her in the gym in the six months he’d been aboard the Reverent.

She nodded. “The arm feels good. It’s the leg that’s the problem,” she admitted, nodding down to her left knee.

“Oh? Describe what’s happening?” He asked as he recalibrated the bed and focused in on her lower body. His brows snapped together and he stopped the scan, checking her torso again.

“Why do you have extensive bruising on your ribcage?”

She shrugged. “Didn’t move fast enough, got tagged. That’s the leg’s fault.”

He blinked at her. Dead pan. Her words didn’t make a lick of sense. “Okay, I’m having a blond moment here obviously. Explain how your leg is responsible for the deep pattern bruising across your ribs?”

He checked the scans again. “These look almost like someone’s knuckle imprint—“ His gaze snapped up to hers to find her watching him. “Has someone hit you?”

“Several times, yes.”

Anger rolled through him in a red wave at the admission and he gripped the edge of the biobed hard enough to make his knuckles creak. He wasn’t a violent man… correction, he hadn’t been a violent man… but right now he wanted to track down whoever had hurt her and tear them limb from limb.

“Who the hell would dare—“

“No one.” She put her hand on his arm. “I was using a holodeck training program, Alec, and I was too slow. That’s all.”

He looked down at her hand blankly. “What?”

She shook her head and slid off the bed. “Hit me.”

“What?” He recoiled. “No!”

Her expression hardened. “Trust me. Hit me.”

“No, I can’t.” He shook his head, the idea rejected by every cell in his body. He couldn’t hit her.

“Why not? Because I’m a woman? Because I’m the captain?”

“Because I’m a bloody doctor!” He hissed, but it wasn’t that. Not entirely. It was because she was a woman, but more because she was her.

“Oh for gods sake, hold on.” She shook her head and strode to the door, looking out of it.

“Commander Tarras!” She called out. “A moment of your time, please?”

Alec was at the door in a heartbeat as the huge chief security officer turned toward them from one of the biobeds in the main section, another security officer receiving treatment.

“Don’t worry about it, Commander,” he called out, all but shoving Buck back into the room and shuttling the door this time.

“Are you crazy!” He demanded. “There is no way I’m letting you get him to hit you either! What the hell is wrong with you, Isabella?”

She glared up at him, eyes flashing and a mutinous expression on her face. He’d expected to get hauled over the coals for using her name, which had just slipped out but she barely seemed to notice.

“I am trying to prove a point!” She hissed, poking him in the chest. “Now damn well hit me!”

He wasn’t a fighter, not by any stretch of the imagination, but the schools he’d been sent to as a child had carried a robust program of the more traditional sports, so he’d learned to box at a young age. And he was good at it. Certainly good enough that he knew he could pull the punch well before it landed. She would be in no danger whatsoever.

He moved, telegraphing the jab, but he didn’t get chance to pull it. Instead, Buck snapped up a block and moved… just moved. He blinked as her knuckles stopped, just kissing the underside of his chin. Holy hell. The way she’d moved and twisted… If that uppercut had connected she’d have knocked him clean out.

His reality reset. In two seconds flat she’d proven that not only was he not as good a boxer as he thought he was, but also that she was significantly better.

“Training,” she repeated, sliding back onto the bed while he was still standing there, blinking in shock. “I was too slow. You need to fix the leg so I’m not too slow anymore.”

He nodded as he returned to her side. “Are you going to let me fix the bruises as well?”

She slid him a sideways glance, assessing. Then nodded. “Are you going to be sore at me about that demonstration?”

He shook his head as he made adjustments on the bed to deal with the alignment issues in her leg. His hair was a little long, so curls fell forward over his forehead in a way that normally irritated him. Not now though, not when she reached out to brush them back.

“Pass me your padd,” she ordered, glancing up at him through her lashes as he reached into the jacket of his white coat. Flicking through it, she pressed her thumb to the screen and handed it back. “There, my full medical record.”

“Thank you,” he murmured, his attention on her leg. But he couldn’t help flicking little glances up at her as he worked. She was a mystery, wrapped in an enigma… one that could throw a punch like a professional-level boxer.

“I’m actually not sure if you would have wiped the floor with Tarras, if you had gotten him in here,” he admitted with a small, hesitant laugh.

She winked at him. “I would. We’re on seven to two, to me.”

At that he openly gawked at her. “But Tarras is almost seven foot and like… solid muscle.”

Her lips quirked at the corners. “He’s also llanarian and they move a specific way. Work that out, and you can work around it. A fights a fight, no matter where you find it. The trick is to make sure you know your opponent before you step into the ring with them.”