Chapter Text
All The Single Ladies!
Hours after the reception began, it was still in full swing. Not all the crew could fit into the rec room at once. There was another room that housed the overflow crowd and there was a big monitor setup so those crew members could see and enjoy the main party. But as the hours waned, people started drifting from one room to the other so that everyone got a chance to see the guests of honor and make their well wishes in person.
Also, some of the first guests in the main ballroom had called it a night after imbibing too much champagne and alien alcohol. But the main alpha bridge crew were made of sterner stuff and were still going strong until late into the night, or rather, the early morning.
Uhura and Spock had just departed moments earlier and were now on their way to Vulcan via a private shuttle craft arranged, courtesy of Captain Kirk.
With Spock and Uhura's exit from the rec room, the atmosphere changed. Crewmembers were more relaxed and feeling the effects of all the alcohol that had been allowed to flow freely all evening. Almost everyone was in a joyous mood, but there were a few people onboard nursing sore feelings and trying to chase away heartache.
One of the latecomers to the main rec room was Nurse Christine Chapel. She hadn't wanted to draw attention away from the happy couple earlier but now that they were gone she felt it safe to put in an appearance. She didn't know how long she could handle the pitying looks and barely disguised whispers whenever she walked past a group of her colleagues, though. There was nary a friendly face to been seen until she spotted Charlene standing by one of the observation windows.
"I suppose you're not speaking to me?" Christine asked as she stood beside Charlene who was watching the shuttle carrying Spock and Uhura speed away from the ship.
Charlene grunted but kept her eyes on the starfield outside.
"For what it's worth," Christine pressed on as she turned to face Charlene, "I'm sorry."
Charlene turned to Chris at last and met her eyes. "Sorry for what?"
"For everything. For how I treated Nyota and how I behaved with Spock."
"Well then, for what it's worth you don't owe me any apologies. Save it for Nyota and Spock," Charlene replied.
"I've already apologized to Nyota. I'm trying to make amends and maybe salvage our friendship."
"Well, good for you," Charlene turned back to the window.
"You and I used to be friends too, Charlene."
Charlene sighed and faced Chris again. "Yes, but we were never as close as you and Nyota were."
"Or you and Ny?" Chris asked.
"Yes. Ny is someone special to me and I don't want to see her hurt. I've got her back. Always."
"And I didn't? Is that it?"
"Yes, Christine!" Charlene stood toe to toe with Chris and poked a finger in her chest. "OUR friend was going through something and you chose to be against her."
"Well, I was going through something too!" Christine said sharply, which caused some partygoers to turn towards them. Not wanting to cause a scene and ruin a party she probably shouldn't even be attending, she sighed and turned to leave.
"Wait Christine," Charlene grabbed Chris's wrist before she could flee. "I'm sorry. I'm... I can see you're trying and this can't be easy for you."
"No, it's not," Chris said barely holding in tears.
"Look, I may be the last person you want to take advice from, but take it from me. It will get better."
"What will get better, my broken heart or my humiliation?"
"Yes. Both. It will be hard, especially with Spock and Ny being the "it" couple around here, but just being around them will dull the pain. It will get better. One day you'll be able to be around the two of them and it won't hurt so bad. And believe it or not, you're not the only one on the ship who's behaved foolishly because of heartbreak."
"Who else, you Charlene? You're always so cool and aloof with men I can't imagine anyone getting the better of your heart."
"Oh no? Why not? I'm a woman too you know. I've fallen in love a time or two and I'm still single, so what does that tell you?"
"It tells me that you're very picky?"
Charlene laughed. "Picky? Yeah right. If by picky you mean I can pick out a loser from a bunch of good guys then yes. I'm picky."
"What losers? Weren't you just dating Desalle? He's one of the most eligible guys on the ship."
"Was dating. Still single, remember? DeSalle was more into DeSalle than me," Charlene laughed. "And then there was Lazarus."
"Lazarus? Do you mean that alien that almost destroyed our galaxy?"
"I mean those aliens. There were two of them. Dodged a phaser that time, didn't I?"
"I suppose," Christine said. She didn't really know what to say to that. It was true she and Charlene hadn't been the closest of friends. They mostly got together when Nyota was with them. Nyota was the center of gravity on the Enterprise and they just orbited around her like so many others on the ship.
"Christine, I'm not angry with you, okay?" Charlene said cutting into her thoughts.
Now Christine raised a skeptical brow.
"Okay fine," Charlene said. "I was angry, but not anymore. Ny is happy, so I'm happy. However, if you'd done to me what you did to her, it would be a different story. Unlike Nyota, I hold grudges."
"Fair enough," Christine conceded. She turned back to the observation window. There wasn't a trace of the shuttlecraft in the viewer anymore. Nyota and Spock were far away and out of reach. Suddenly she felt cold and alone and she hugged her arms around herself.
"Hey, Chris. Wanna dance?"
She turned back to Charlene. "With you?" she asked.
"Sure, why not with me?"
"Well, I mean... is that okay? I'm not the most popular person on the ship at present. And what about Ny?"
"What about her? She's not here, and I thought y'all made up?"
"We have. I mean I hope we have. There's a truce at any rate."
"Well then, why not? Do you think I care a flying fig what anybody on this ship thinks? I told you, I've been foolish and one thing I know is that when you fall on your face you get back up, dust yourself off, and stand tall. Always get back up Christine, no matter how many times you get knocked down, get back up and stand tall."
Christine couldn't hold back the tears anymore and she broke down.
"Oh, shush," Charlene said and took Christine into a tight hug. "Don't do this now, Chris. You're gonna make me cry too." But it was too late. Charlene was already tearing up.
"I'm so sorry Charlene, so sorry," Christine cried.
"No. I'm sorry. I know you were hurting. I know. It's just that Ny is my best friend and I let my loyalty blind me."
"No! you had every right to defend her. I was out of line."
"No!"
"Yes!"
"No-"
"Hey ladies! Ladies. Don't cry. Spock wasn't the only eligible bachelor on the ship you know?" Sulu's deep voice broke through their tearful protesting.
The two women pulled apart to look at Sulu, who was accompanied by Chekov.
"Yes," Chekhov said, "There are plenty more fish in the ocean as they say."
Charlene wiped the tears from her cheeks. "We weren't crying over Mr. Spock for your information."
"Oh no? Why else would you two be crying at Nyota's wedding reception after they flew off together?"
"We were just making up," Charlene explained.
"Making up?" Chekov looked confused. "I didn't even know you two were together."
Charlene rolled her eyes. "Pavel, sometimes I worry about you."
"Why is that?"
"Because of that wild imagination of yours."
"If you and Nurse Chapel were not together then why are you making up?"
"Explain it to him, will you Sulu?"
"Oh no," Sulu waved them off. "You got this Charlene, he's all yours."
Charlene huffed in frustration and looked at her friend. "Pavel, Christine and I are just friends, understand? We had a falling out and now we're apologizing."
"And you're sure you weren't pining over Mr. Spock? He is a good man, after all. Many women admired him and-."
"Pavel, drop it," Charlene cut him off and turned back to Christine to see how she was holding up. "C'mon Chris, let's go dance and show these two that we don't need a man to be happy." She turned back to Chekov and Sulu one last time. Besides, we're on our way to Vulcan, a planet full of Spocks made in every shape, shade, and size. We'll be just fine."
With that, Charlene took Chris's hand and led her to the dancefloor leaving Sulu and Chekov to their own devices.