warning: Mentions abuse. Do not read if this bothers you.

"Y/N!"

You groaned as you heard the familiar voice calling your name. At present, you were jammed into an extremely tight and uncomfortable position trying to fix some wiring that had randomly decided to quit working. Yes, you should have been off shift an hour ago but that didn't mean your boyfriend had to come looking for you. You weren't twelve years old.

He yelled your name again and you rolled your eyes but otherwise ignored him. You had a job to do.

"Excuse me, Lieutenant Klein, Lieutenant (y/l/n) is working at the moment. Is there something I can help ye with?" You'd never been happier to hear your boss Chief Engineer Montgomery Scott's thick Scottish accent.

"She was supposed to be off an hour ago, Scotty," Daniel snapped.

"That's Chief Engineer Scott to you, lad." You could almost picture the anger on Scotty's face. "The lass will be along when she's finished. Now kindly leave my engine room before I have ye escorted out."

You continued to work on the wiring problem as you heard your boss muttering to himself. "Stupid kid. He doesn't treat her right. What does she see in him anyway?"

Your lips twitched as you tried not to smile and you poked your head out of your hole. "I can hear you, you know."

Scotty's cheeks flushed red and he rubbed the back of his neck with his hand. "I'm sorry, lassie. I just worry about ye is all."

"It's fine, Scotty." You started to wiggle your way out of the tight space. He rushed forward and grasped your wrists in his hands to help you out. "It should be fixed. Give it a shot."

He pressed a few buttons on a nearby control panel then turned back to you with a smile. "I knew if anyone could do it, it would be you, lassie."

You arched a brow. "Pretty sure you could have fixed it, too."

He scoffed. "I wasn't squeezing in there."

After narrowing your eyes at him and earning a chuckle in response, you held out your hand. "Come on, boss man. Even you have to eat, and I'm starving."

***

You had lingered over your meal, enjoying Scotty's company. Eventually, you'd made your excuses and headed for the quarters you shared with Daniel. If you were honest, this was the only reason you hadn't broken up with him. You were dating before the mission and had been given joint quarters. There were no empty rooms for you to move to if you left him. Served you right for letting him talk you into it in the first place. Dating someone was entirely different than living with them.

The door to your quarters opened and you stepped inside. "Daniel?" you called but got no response. You breathed out a sigh of relief and rubbed a hand across your forehead. He worked in security so he'd probably been called in for something. You really needed to talk to Jim about different quarters. Maybe you could bunk with one of the other engineers. Sleeping on the couch never bothered you.

"I see you found your way home finally."

The voice made you jump and you turned to see Daniel leaning against the doorway of your bedroom. You pressed your hand against your chest and willed your heartbeat to slow down. "You scared me. Why didn't you answer when I called?"

He shrugged one shoulder and moved toward you. "Why didn't you come home when your shift ended?"

You rolled your eyes and tried to step past him but he grabbed your upper arm. When you tried to remove yourself from his grip, it tightened. "That hurts, Daniel. Let go."

His grip tightened further and it was obvious you'd be bruised in the morning. He pulled you against him and sneered down at you. "Imagine my surprise when I went back to engineering an hour ago and you were nowhere to be found."

"I went to eat. I was hungry." You clenched your teeth and the muscle in your jaw twitched.

Without warning, Daniel backhanded you with his free hand. Your head snapped to the side and you tasted blood as your lip split. "Liar!" Fear slammed through you. He might be an asshole, but he'd never hit you before.

"What are you doing? What's wrong with you?"

His angry face was inches from yours as he stared you down with pure hatred in his eyes. Had this been coming all along but you had been so busy ignoring him, you just didn't see it? "You are only on this ship because of me, but you don't seem to remember that."

He shook you before punching you and throwing you to the floor. His foot drove into your side as he stormed past you to the door. "I want you out, (y/n). I don't care where you go as long as it isn't here."

You laid on the floor for several minutes and tears streamed down your face as you tried to make sense of what had just happened. Your cheek throbbed where he'd punched you and your sore ribs made it hard to breathe. Briefly you thought about calling security but he worked with them, was friends with most of them. What if they didn't believe you?

Finally, you pushed yourself to your feet. After stumbling into the kitchen, you pulled the small med kit from under the sink. Breaking the seal on the cold pack, you pressed it against your cheek. Stepping out of your room, you kept your head down as you headed down the hallway to the lift. You just kept moving, trying not to think too much about what had just happened. Hot tears continued to run down your cheeks and drip onto the floor but you ignored them and pushed yourself forward.

After arriving on the floor with the med bay you headed down the hall past it. A trip in there and everyone on the ship would know what had happened by the end of the next day. No, your destination was your favorite grumpy doctor's private quarters. Thank God you were friends with Scotty and by default had become friends with Jim, Bones and Spock.

It was late so you weren't surprised when there was no response to your initial knock. You tried again hoping he wasn't somewhere else, though it was doubtful this time of night. Finally, you heard muttering on the other side of the door.

"This better be important, damn it." His eyes were half-closed and his hair stuck up telling you he was sleeping before you interrupted. He frowned when he saw you. "(y/n)?" His eyes widened as he absorbed that you were injured. He grabbed your arm to pull you into his room and you grimaced as he found the spot Daniel had hold of earlier.

"Sorry. Sorry," he muttered and instead put a hand on your shoulder to steer you inside and over to the sofa. He pointed at you. "Stay there."

You rolled your eyes. Where did he think you were going to go? You tossed the cold pack on the table in front of you and leaned back to relieve the pressure on your ribs. Your eyelids drifted shut of their own accord. Yes, you hurt, but you were also exhausted, mentally and physically.

You jumped when Bones lightly ran his fingers over the side of your face. "Sorry," he grumbled again.

You cracked open your eyes to glare at him. He'd managed to flatten down his hair at some point. He scowled as he looked over your injuries. "Take off your top."

"Bones," you said in a faux shocked voice, "I had no idea you thought of me that way."

His face burned red even as he rolled his eyes at you. "Damn it, (y/n). I'm a doctor not some pervert."

You chuckled then winced at the pain that lanced your ribs. "Easy, Bones. It was a joke." With his help you managed to peel the uniform top off, leaving you in the sports bra you wore underneath. He froze and you turned your head to the side. "What's wrong, Doc?"

He swallowed and pursed his lips as he pointed at your arm. "Those bruises are in the shape of fingers."

Both of your brows arched. "What did you think happened to me?"

"Well, not that." He pulled out a scanner and ran it over your arm, side and face. "No broken bones. Your ribs are bruised, though. Just stay put and let me patch you up."

Instead of getting back in his med kit, he walked over to the comm unit on the wall. "McCoy to Kirk. Meet me in my quarters asap."

You groaned. "Really?" He walked back over to you still wearing that familiar scowl.

"You think I'm not going to tell the captain when one of his crew shows up in my quarters after getting in a fight with someone?"

A brief thought of correcting him flashed through your mind, but you'd rather only explain once. So instead you said, "I think you'd most likely report it to him in the morning instead of waking him in the middle of the night."

He nodded once in agreement as he finished sealing the skin on your lip together. "Fair enough. You think I'm not going to tell Jim when one of his friends shows up at my quarters bleeding and bruised?"

There was knock at his door. "Open up, Bones." Jim's voice was impatient and worried.

"Just a minute," Bones called. He jogged into his room and came back with a t-shirt. He helped you slide it on as Jim knocked on the door again before opening it with his override.

You were fully covered by the time he stepped into the room.

"What's going on, Bones?" His eyes fell on you and widened. "(y/n)? What the hell happened to you?"

You sighed. "I think I need a drink for this."

Bones disappeared for a minute then came back with a bottle and three glasses. He poured a drink for all of you than they sat facing you.

Taking a deep breath, you dropped your head and twisted the glass around in your hands. After a moment, you looked back up at your two friends. "Daniel."

It was all you said but the looks on their faces told you it was enough.

"Why?" Jim asked after a long moment of silence.

You shrugged, still not really understanding it yourself.

"I'll kill him," Bones spat out.

Jim just looked at him before pulling out his communicator. "Kirk to security."

"Security here, Captain."

"Find Lieutenant Klein and put him in the brig."

"May I ask why, Captain?"

Jim frowned. "Was my order in some way unclear?"

"N-no, sir."

Suddenly feeling extremely tired, you wiped a hand down your face and yawned. You glanced at Bones. "Mind if I crash on your couch?"

His scowl deepened. "You are not sleeping on the couch with those ribs. Go get in the bed."

"Why, Doctor, I thought you were a gentleman," you said with a faux southern accent.

He rolled his eyes. "Get going, princess."

You finished your drink and put your glass on the table. Jim hopped up to help you get to your feet. You gave them both a little wave as you shuffled to the bedroom.

"What the hell is wrong with her ribs?" you heard Jim hiss as you slid under the covers.

"I think the better question would be which one of us is going to tell Scotty," Bones responded, making you frown.

"Shit," Jim muttered. And that was the last thing you heard before you drifted into oblivion.