I think this bunny sounds confusing but it's stuck in my head and wanted to get out.
After the victory against the Narada and taking care of the most important issues on the ship, Kirk (off-duty for the next 2 shifts) disappears into one of the lesser used ship's sectors, shutting of all communication to be alone. He leaves his wounds unattended not wanting to confront Bones and doesn't mention anything to his officers.
Kirk alone with his thoughts and in the wake of the desaster, delirious, exhausted and hurt, is devastated by Bones doing nothing to stop Spock from marooning him on Delta Vega and the (imagined) lack of understanding from the crew concerning his actions in becoming captain. So he does what always helped in the past when he didn't want to confront anyone...he hides and tries to lick his wounds alone.
I want extreme Bones/Kirk h/c (+ crew/Kirk h/c) after they find Jim, including Bones sweet-talking him (sweetheart, darlin' etc.)
Bonus points if Spock also apologises for his ill-chosen words at the Academy concerning his father.
Double points for Jim sleeping on Bones' chest after getting treated and a sleepy 'luv' you'.
I'm working on it, but I got three bunnies in the works right now, so it might take a little while - just in case someone wants to toss out another fill in the meantime.
FILLED! Insomnia (1/?)laughter_nowJune 20 2010, 20:28:27 UTC
So I gave this a shot. It's not done yet since I have another kink-meme story in the works simultaneously, but I'll do my best.
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It was a free fall.
Like a space jump without the comfortable knowledge that there was a chute ready to break his fall once he needed it.
It had all happened so fast - Nero, Vulcan, Delta Vega, the Narada, looking back it all felt like a single blur that had happened with nary a pause in between. And it hadn't stopped once the Narada had been sucked into the black hole, either. Their warp cores were gone, the impulse engines severely damaged, their communications array fried and working at minimal range only. The damage to the ship was extensive, they had a large number of deeply affected Vulcan refugees to account for and accommodate, and Medical was still working to treat the backlog of patients with non life-threatening injuries whose treatment had been delayed over the past day or two.
Jim had barely been aware how much time had passed after the destruction of the Narada. He had been needed. The crew had needed someone to look up to for guidance, someone who took charge and told them what to do, and Jim had done that. He knew they weren't his crew, that they had expected to serve under Pike's command, or maybe Spock's, but not under that of a cadet who hadn't even graduated yet, and who had gotten command by provoking his First Officer into resigning.
All that didn't matter. Jim was needed, and he did what he had to, with no thought process involved. But now the biggest fires had been put out: they were limping back to Earth, even if it was at a snail's pace, crews all over the ship were working hard on fixing the most urgent problems, the injured were being treated, and the crew was on emergency shift rotation to avoid that anyone was going to drop from exhaustion.
He should have known that the moment would come when he was going to be relieved of duty, and truthfully he was only surprised that it took a little more than thirty hours after the Narada got sucked into the black hole until it happened. And, if he was as painfully honest with himself as he hardly ever dared to be, that it was Spock who eventually told him to go get some rest, and not Bones.
Bones…well, he was probably still in Medical. Jim knew he was being expected there for an examination, but in all honesty, he didn't know if he could stand that right now. He was hurting too much, and not in a way that Bones could fix with a tricorder and a hypospray. Not entirely, anyway.
It was part of the fall. With the initial rush of adrenaline gone and his mind no longer busy with crew rosters and emergency damage control, he felt like he was falling into a bottomless pit. Exhaustion did the rest. It had been over two days since he had slept or eaten a proper meal, and he knew his body was about to crash after all the abuse he had put it through.
Jim was drained, physically and mentally, and he knew that Spock was right. He needed rest. The moment he stepped off the Bridge and the turbolift doors closed behind him tough, Jim felt lost. He had no place on this ship. Lieutenant James T. Kirk wasn't supposed to be on the Enterprise at all, much less acting as her Captain. It also meant that he didn't have any quarters. He had no assigned bunk, and with all the Vulcan refugees and those crewmembers whose quarters had been damaged during the initial attack reassigned quarters all over the ship, wherever there was space to be had, chances were slim that he was going to find empty quarters, or even a bed to crash in.
There were Pike's quarters, of course, and as Acting Captain Jim figured that theoretically he had a right to use them, but the thought alone felt wrong. Pike was still alive, even if he'd be in Sickbay for the remainder of the journey back to Earth. Still. It were his quarters, not Jim's.
FILLED! Insomnia (2/?)laughter_nowJune 20 2010, 20:29:21 UTC
The crew was working in shifts, of course, so Jim guessed he could find a bunk somewhere while someone was on shift if he only looked hard enough, but right now he didn't want to be amongst other people. He hadn't been alone for more than a few minutes ever since Bones had dragged him aboard. Having some time on his own was almost a physical need by now, something he hadn't felt this strongly in a long time. He needed a place where he could just drop all pretence. Somewhere where people didn't look at him with that expectation in their eyes.
His legs were moving automatically, and Jim was unable to tell where exactly he was going. He knew where he was, of course. He always knew. He had committed Enterprise's construction plans to memory a long time ago, and not because of a Captain's need to know his ship. Back at the Academy, that had still been a pipe dream, something he had thought wouldn't happen for a long time, if ever. Out of reach, though never completely out of his thoughts.
No, the reason why Jim knew all of Enterprise's construction plans by heart was another one entirely. The ship was a thing of beauty, designed for functionality and efficiency of course, and yet so damn gorgeous at the same time that he had been unable to stop staring at the plans until he could recall every small detail with his eyes closed.
Right now those plans seemed so present on his mind that his feet were moving along without involving his consciousness in the process at all. He was moving without conscious thought, turning down corridors and taking turbolifts. He barely encountered anyone on his way, and those few crewmembers he met barely paid attention to him besides a court nod of acknowledgement, or a short salute in case they recognized him. Jim didn't hold a grudge against those who didn't. They weren't his crew after all, and he couldn't allow himself to even start thinking about them as such.
But even those crewmembers who obviously didn't recognize their Acting Captain by sight made no move to stop him, or ask him about his reasons for being down here in the bowels of the ship. Everyone who was still awake at this hour had a purpose to what they were doing, and no time to question his motives.
It was no coincidence that Jim ended up one the Engineering decks. While Engineering probably was one of the busiest stations aboard the entire ship right now, it was also the one place that held plenty of nooks and crannies where nobody was going to disturb him. And wasn't that just what he needed, now that Spock had officially put him off duty for the next two shifts? Solitude. He should be able to find that here.
When he reached one of the service rooms for the warp engine, he opened the hatch and climbed inside. Those rooms provided access whenever Engineering needed to work on the cooling system of the warp engines. Since they had jettisoned the warp cores, it was highly unlikely that anybody was going to come in here in the foreseeable future.
Jim closed the hatch behind him and looked around the small room. Smooth wall panels provided access to the maintenance systems, and aside from an access panel to the coolant line running through the small room at head-height, it was empty. It was perfect.
Normally, Jim would have just leaned against the wall and allowed his body to slide to the ground, but now he thought better of it. His ribs were still aching fiercely if he only took so much as a deep breath, and his whole body was an assortment of aches and pains, so he wasn't going to make it worse by moving carelessly.
He suppressed a groan ad he shifted into a sitting position in the corner farthest from the access hatch, arm curling protectively around his lower ribs as he sat down. Now that the adrenaline had all but ebbed away, the pain was increasing. Jumping against that walkway aboard the Narada had been a jarring impact, and now the pain was making itself known. Jim didn't think anything was broken; he knew from experience that broken ribs hurt differently.
FILLED! Insomnia (3/?)laughter_nowJune 20 2010, 20:29:51 UTC
Bones could probably fix the pain up with a quick hypospray, but…no. Jim couldn't do that now. Not after Bones had just stood there and watched how Spock marooned him on Delta Vega. Of course, if he hadn't met the older Spock, and Scotty, the whole engagement with the Narada would have gone differently. They might not have been able to save Earth, like they hadn't been able to save Vulcan. So Jim guessed that in the greater scheme of things it was good that he had been marooned there.
Didn't change the fact that outside the greater scheme of things, it stung. It more than just stung. Bones was his best friend, the one person Jim trusted above all others. Hell, just hours before he had smuggled Jim aboard Enterprise in the first place, and then he had just stood by while Spock jettisoned him off the ship.
That hurt. Even more so because Jim didn't understand how Bones could have done that. And even after his return…well, it wasn't as if the crew had welcomed him back with open arms. Bones for sure hadn't been too thrilled when Jim had taken command, and neither had the rest of the Bridge Crew. He wasn't the leader they had been ready to follow, and they had let him feel it. Oh, they had followed his orders all right, but there was more to being in command than having your orders followed. And a CO couldn't afford that his subordinates regarded him with disdain.
Of course, they all had seen how Jim had gained command. His entire senior crew had witnessed the provocation on the Bridge, and while they had followed Jim's orders once he had gained command, it had been painfully obvious every step along the way that they didn't understand why he had done it. Probably by now they thought he wanted command and didn't care how he was going to get it, because they simply didn't understand that Jim's actions had been a necessity, not something he had done gladly, or purely out of spite.
A commanding officer needed his crew's respect, and it was painfully obvious that he wasn't going to have that. Not from this crew, not anytime soon. They didn't understand that each and every of Jim's actions had been a necessity, not a grab for power.
Of all the people aboard, though, Jim had thought Bones would understand him. Bones knew him better than that.
But Bones had let Spock maroon him on that deserted frozen wasteland, where he had nearly ended up becoming that huge critter's dinner instead of saving the world.
As he rested his head against the smooth wall paneling in the corner, Jim wondered for a fleeting second if the other Jim, the one from old Spock's reality, ever had to face such a distrust and doubt from his crew. Since the mind-meld, all those emotions and memories that weren't his own but somehow still felt as if they were kept swirling through him, always close to the surface, threatening to break through.
And he had the distinct impression that no, that other Jim Kirk never had that particular problem. His crew had followed him blindly, loyal and trusting and never questioning. Old Spock had seemed so convinced that it was Jim's destiny to become that man, but Jim himself was painfully aware that he wasn't and could never be him.
Not if not even his best friend believed in him.
The position on the floor wasn't comfortable, but solitude outranked comfort right now. He just needed some rest, a little time for his body to catch up and regain some strength. Then he could go back to being the Captain for as long as he still had the chance.
Jim sighed. His ribs were aching even worse now that he sat down, and slowly but surely every part of his body registered different hurts. His hands were pounding from climbing that icy rock face and all those fights aboard the Narada. His throat felt hot and inflamed from Spock chocking him. Not only Spock, he remembered, that Romulan had tried to strangle him, too. His head was pounding, the muscles in his legs and back were burning from the constant strain of standing and running around, and by now his entire body had probably turned into one giant bruise.
He needed some sleep, that was all. Everything was going to look better once he had some rest.
Seriously?! You are probably my favorite person at the moment!!! I need to finish my thesis until thursday and am running high on stress...and look what I found. You started working on this prompt!!! ♥
What a beautiful start! I really like how Jim's doubts and aches in his body finally make themselves known, not that he is alone. This is exactly what I was hoping for. I'm really excited about the next parts.
Thank you very much for writing this. You've just made my whole week!
I'm working on this, I promise. But in my youthful exuberance (haha) I took on two prompts on this meme simultaneously. I'll try to treat them equally, but I have to see where inspiration strikes next.
Filled! Insomnia (4/?)laughter_nowJuly 1 2010, 17:41:41 UTC
Sorry that this took so long, I really was thinking too much about POVs and from which perspective to continue this. In short, I was thinking instead of writing, but I think I got it under control now. I haven't given up on this, definitely not.
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The Bridge was calm as Leonard stepped out of the turbolift and took a moment to survey the scene before him. Hardly any of the damage done during the engagement with the Narada was still visible here, more than two years later. Two members of the Engineering crew were working on the cracks in the frontal view screen, but everything else seemed to be working just as efficiently as everywhere else on the ship. Only the crucial stations were manned, and Leonard was glad to see that Jim had taken his advice seriously and had put the Bridge crew on emergency sleep rotations.
He'd be even happier if Jim had taken all his advice and had shown up in Medical for an examination before going to get some rest himself. He really should have known better, though. This was Jim, after all.
His friend was nowhere to be seen on the Bridge, but Spock was standing beside the navigation console, talking in low tones to the young Lieutenant manning the station. The Vulcan seemed engrossed in the conversation, but he looked up immediately as Leonard approached them. Straightening up, he rested his arms at the small of his back and looked Leonard straight in the eyes, and Leonard had to admit that he had to reign in a sudden irrational flash of anger at the look in the Vulcan's eyes. It was the same attentive yet indifferent expression Spock always wore, if those few days of mayhem and chaos were anything to judge by. More importantly, it was the same expression he had worn when he had calmly ordered for Jim to be marooned on that damn rock of ice.
Leonard still didn't understand how he could have let that happen. Granted, any intervention on his part would have probably ended with him joining Jim in that marooned escape pod, but at least then his conscience would be clear. Leonard had read Jim's report on what had happened on Delta Vega, and just the thought was sending shivers down his spine. If Jim had just been a little slower, or if that beast had been a slight bit faster…
Leonard was glad when Spock's voice tore him out of that particular line of thought.
"Doctor McCoy. Are there any circumstances in Medical that require personal notification of the Bridge crew?"
"You'd have to comm them and ask," Leonard replied, more gruffly than he probably would have had someone else asked the same question. "I'm on the tail end of my sleep shift and haven't been back yet."
One finely arched eyebrow rose towards the straight line of Spock's fringe. "Then to what do we owe your visit, Doctor McCoy?"
Leonard guessed that this was the Vulcan equivalent of what the hell are you doing here?, but he couldn't have cared less.
"I was looking for Jim. Medical was supposed to comm me once he showed up for his post-mission examination, but apparently he never did. Where is he?"
"Acting Captain Kirk is on sleep rotation. He left he Bridge approximately fifty-six minutes ago. He refused to leave the Bridge for a sleep shift earlier, so now he's off shift until the beginning of the next alpha shift."
Two shifts, Leonard thought. Jim must have been dead on his feet if he agreed to two shifts off duty in a row.
"Did he say where he was going to spend these two shifts?"
Spock was silent for a second, and Leonard could nearly see how the Vulcan quickly realized one of the biggest problems of Jim going off shift - the fact that he had nowhere to go once he did. And if it weren't for the fact that Jim was somewhere aboard this ship, in desperate need of some rest and probably even medical treatment, Leonard would find watching Spock during that moment of realization amusing.
In the end, Spock shook his head.
"He did not. However, it is safe to assume that he found a place to sleep. As far as I'm aware, Captain Pike will be confined to Medical for the remainder of our journey to Earth. As Acting Captain of the Enterprise, Captain Kirk would have every right to use his assigned quarters."
After the victory against the Narada and taking care of the most important issues on the ship, Kirk (off-duty for the next 2 shifts) disappears into one of the lesser used ship's sectors, shutting of all communication to be alone. He leaves his wounds unattended not wanting to confront Bones and doesn't mention anything to his officers.
Kirk alone with his thoughts and in the wake of the desaster, delirious, exhausted and hurt, is devastated by Bones doing nothing to stop Spock from marooning him on Delta Vega and the (imagined) lack of understanding from the crew concerning his actions in becoming captain. So he does what always helped in the past when he didn't want to confront anyone...he hides and tries to lick his wounds alone.
I want extreme Bones/Kirk h/c (+ crew/Kirk h/c) after they find Jim, including Bones sweet-talking him (sweetheart, darlin' etc.)
Bonus points if Spock also apologises for his ill-chosen words at the Academy concerning his father.
Double points for Jim sleeping on Bones' chest after getting treated and a sleepy 'luv' you'.
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I'm just saying...
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Just saying! :D
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But then I stopped. *cough, cough* Yeah, so good luck getting this filled!
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It was a free fall.
Like a space jump without the comfortable knowledge that there was a chute ready to break his fall once he needed it.
It had all happened so fast - Nero, Vulcan, Delta Vega, the Narada, looking back it all felt like a single blur that had happened with nary a pause in between. And it hadn't stopped once the Narada had been sucked into the black hole, either. Their warp cores were gone, the impulse engines severely damaged, their communications array fried and working at minimal range only. The damage to the ship was extensive, they had a large number of deeply affected Vulcan refugees to account for and accommodate, and Medical was still working to treat the backlog of patients with non life-threatening injuries whose treatment had been delayed over the past day or two.
Jim had barely been aware how much time had passed after the destruction of the Narada. He had been needed. The crew had needed someone to look up to for guidance, someone who took charge and told them what to do, and Jim had done that. He knew they weren't his crew, that they had expected to serve under Pike's command, or maybe Spock's, but not under that of a cadet who hadn't even graduated yet, and who had gotten command by provoking his First Officer into resigning.
All that didn't matter. Jim was needed, and he did what he had to, with no thought process involved. But now the biggest fires had been put out: they were limping back to Earth, even if it was at a snail's pace, crews all over the ship were working hard on fixing the most urgent problems, the injured were being treated, and the crew was on emergency shift rotation to avoid that anyone was going to drop from exhaustion.
He should have known that the moment would come when he was going to be relieved of duty, and truthfully he was only surprised that it took a little more than thirty hours after the Narada got sucked into the black hole until it happened. And, if he was as painfully honest with himself as he hardly ever dared to be, that it was Spock who eventually told him to go get some rest, and not Bones.
Bones…well, he was probably still in Medical. Jim knew he was being expected there for an examination, but in all honesty, he didn't know if he could stand that right now. He was hurting too much, and not in a way that Bones could fix with a tricorder and a hypospray. Not entirely, anyway.
It was part of the fall. With the initial rush of adrenaline gone and his mind no longer busy with crew rosters and emergency damage control, he felt like he was falling into a bottomless pit. Exhaustion did the rest. It had been over two days since he had slept or eaten a proper meal, and he knew his body was about to crash after all the abuse he had put it through.
Jim was drained, physically and mentally, and he knew that Spock was right. He needed rest. The moment he stepped off the Bridge and the turbolift doors closed behind him tough, Jim felt lost. He had no place on this ship. Lieutenant James T. Kirk wasn't supposed to be on the Enterprise at all, much less acting as her Captain. It also meant that he didn't have any quarters. He had no assigned bunk, and with all the Vulcan refugees and those crewmembers whose quarters had been damaged during the initial attack reassigned quarters all over the ship, wherever there was space to be had, chances were slim that he was going to find empty quarters, or even a bed to crash in.
There were Pike's quarters, of course, and as Acting Captain Jim figured that theoretically he had a right to use them, but the thought alone felt wrong. Pike was still alive, even if he'd be in Sickbay for the remainder of the journey back to Earth. Still. It were his quarters, not Jim's.
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His legs were moving automatically, and Jim was unable to tell where exactly he was going. He knew where he was, of course. He always knew. He had committed Enterprise's construction plans to memory a long time ago, and not because of a Captain's need to know his ship. Back at the Academy, that had still been a pipe dream, something he had thought wouldn't happen for a long time, if ever. Out of reach, though never completely out of his thoughts.
No, the reason why Jim knew all of Enterprise's construction plans by heart was another one entirely. The ship was a thing of beauty, designed for functionality and efficiency of course, and yet so damn gorgeous at the same time that he had been unable to stop staring at the plans until he could recall every small detail with his eyes closed.
Right now those plans seemed so present on his mind that his feet were moving along without involving his consciousness in the process at all. He was moving without conscious thought, turning down corridors and taking turbolifts. He barely encountered anyone on his way, and those few crewmembers he met barely paid attention to him besides a court nod of acknowledgement, or a short salute in case they recognized him. Jim didn't hold a grudge against those who didn't. They weren't his crew after all, and he couldn't allow himself to even start thinking about them as such.
But even those crewmembers who obviously didn't recognize their Acting Captain by sight made no move to stop him, or ask him about his reasons for being down here in the bowels of the ship. Everyone who was still awake at this hour had a purpose to what they were doing, and no time to question his motives.
It was no coincidence that Jim ended up one the Engineering decks. While Engineering probably was one of the busiest stations aboard the entire ship right now, it was also the one place that held plenty of nooks and crannies where nobody was going to disturb him. And wasn't that just what he needed, now that Spock had officially put him off duty for the next two shifts? Solitude. He should be able to find that here.
When he reached one of the service rooms for the warp engine, he opened the hatch and climbed inside. Those rooms provided access whenever Engineering needed to work on the cooling system of the warp engines. Since they had jettisoned the warp cores, it was highly unlikely that anybody was going to come in here in the foreseeable future.
Jim closed the hatch behind him and looked around the small room. Smooth wall panels provided access to the maintenance systems, and aside from an access panel to the coolant line running through the small room at head-height, it was empty. It was perfect.
Normally, Jim would have just leaned against the wall and allowed his body to slide to the ground, but now he thought better of it. His ribs were still aching fiercely if he only took so much as a deep breath, and his whole body was an assortment of aches and pains, so he wasn't going to make it worse by moving carelessly.
He suppressed a groan ad he shifted into a sitting position in the corner farthest from the access hatch, arm curling protectively around his lower ribs as he sat down. Now that the adrenaline had all but ebbed away, the pain was increasing. Jumping against that walkway aboard the Narada had been a jarring impact, and now the pain was making itself known. Jim didn't think anything was broken; he knew from experience that broken ribs hurt differently.
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Didn't change the fact that outside the greater scheme of things, it stung. It more than just stung. Bones was his best friend, the one person Jim trusted above all others. Hell, just hours before he had smuggled Jim aboard Enterprise in the first place, and then he had just stood by while Spock jettisoned him off the ship.
That hurt. Even more so because Jim didn't understand how Bones could have done that. And even after his return…well, it wasn't as if the crew had welcomed him back with open arms. Bones for sure hadn't been too thrilled when Jim had taken command, and neither had the rest of the Bridge Crew. He wasn't the leader they had been ready to follow, and they had let him feel it. Oh, they had followed his orders all right, but there was more to being in command than having your orders followed. And a CO couldn't afford that his subordinates regarded him with disdain.
Of course, they all had seen how Jim had gained command. His entire senior crew had witnessed the provocation on the Bridge, and while they had followed Jim's orders once he had gained command, it had been painfully obvious every step along the way that they didn't understand why he had done it. Probably by now they thought he wanted command and didn't care how he was going to get it, because they simply didn't understand that Jim's actions had been a necessity, not something he had done gladly, or purely out of spite.
A commanding officer needed his crew's respect, and it was painfully obvious that he wasn't going to have that. Not from this crew, not anytime soon. They didn't understand that each and every of Jim's actions had been a necessity, not a grab for power.
Of all the people aboard, though, Jim had thought Bones would understand him. Bones knew him better than that.
But Bones had let Spock maroon him on that deserted frozen wasteland, where he had nearly ended up becoming that huge critter's dinner instead of saving the world.
As he rested his head against the smooth wall paneling in the corner, Jim wondered for a fleeting second if the other Jim, the one from old Spock's reality, ever had to face such a distrust and doubt from his crew. Since the mind-meld, all those emotions and memories that weren't his own but somehow still felt as if they were kept swirling through him, always close to the surface, threatening to break through.
And he had the distinct impression that no, that other Jim Kirk never had that particular problem. His crew had followed him blindly, loyal and trusting and never questioning. Old Spock had seemed so convinced that it was Jim's destiny to become that man, but Jim himself was painfully aware that he wasn't and could never be him.
Not if not even his best friend believed in him.
The position on the floor wasn't comfortable, but solitude outranked comfort right now. He just needed some rest, a little time for his body to catch up and regain some strength. Then he could go back to being the Captain for as long as he still had the chance.
Jim sighed. His ribs were aching even worse now that he sat down, and slowly but surely every part of his body registered different hurts. His hands were pounding from climbing that icy rock face and all those fights aboard the Narada. His throat felt hot and inflamed from Spock chocking him. Not only Spock, he remembered, that Romulan had tried to strangle him, too. His head was pounding, the muscles in his legs and back were burning from the constant strain of standing and running around, and by now his entire body had probably turned into one giant bruise.
He needed some sleep, that was all. Everything was going to look better once he had some rest.
Jim closed his eyes.
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What a beautiful start! I really like how Jim's doubts and aches in his body finally make themselves known, not that he is alone. This is exactly what I was hoping for. I'm really excited about the next parts.
Thank you very much for writing this. You've just made my whole week!
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I'm working on this, I promise. But in my youthful exuberance (haha) I took on two prompts on this meme simultaneously. I'll try to treat them equally, but I have to see where inspiration strikes next.
Glad you like the start. :D
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The Bridge was calm as Leonard stepped out of the turbolift and took a moment to survey the scene before him. Hardly any of the damage done during the engagement with the Narada was still visible here, more than two years later. Two members of the Engineering crew were working on the cracks in the frontal view screen, but everything else seemed to be working just as efficiently as everywhere else on the ship. Only the crucial stations were manned, and Leonard was glad to see that Jim had taken his advice seriously and had put the Bridge crew on emergency sleep rotations.
He'd be even happier if Jim had taken all his advice and had shown up in Medical for an examination before going to get some rest himself. He really should have known better, though. This was Jim, after all.
His friend was nowhere to be seen on the Bridge, but Spock was standing beside the navigation console, talking in low tones to the young Lieutenant manning the station. The Vulcan seemed engrossed in the conversation, but he looked up immediately as Leonard approached them. Straightening up, he rested his arms at the small of his back and looked Leonard straight in the eyes, and Leonard had to admit that he had to reign in a sudden irrational flash of anger at the look in the Vulcan's eyes. It was the same attentive yet indifferent expression Spock always wore, if those few days of mayhem and chaos were anything to judge by. More importantly, it was the same expression he had worn when he had calmly ordered for Jim to be marooned on that damn rock of ice.
Leonard still didn't understand how he could have let that happen. Granted, any intervention on his part would have probably ended with him joining Jim in that marooned escape pod, but at least then his conscience would be clear. Leonard had read Jim's report on what had happened on Delta Vega, and just the thought was sending shivers down his spine. If Jim had just been a little slower, or if that beast had been a slight bit faster…
Leonard was glad when Spock's voice tore him out of that particular line of thought.
"Doctor McCoy. Are there any circumstances in Medical that require personal notification of the Bridge crew?"
"You'd have to comm them and ask," Leonard replied, more gruffly than he probably would have had someone else asked the same question. "I'm on the tail end of my sleep shift and haven't been back yet."
One finely arched eyebrow rose towards the straight line of Spock's fringe. "Then to what do we owe your visit, Doctor McCoy?"
Leonard guessed that this was the Vulcan equivalent of what the hell are you doing here?, but he couldn't have cared less.
"I was looking for Jim. Medical was supposed to comm me once he showed up for his post-mission examination, but apparently he never did. Where is he?"
"Acting Captain Kirk is on sleep rotation. He left he Bridge approximately fifty-six minutes ago. He refused to leave the Bridge for a sleep shift earlier, so now he's off shift until the beginning of the next alpha shift."
Two shifts, Leonard thought. Jim must have been dead on his feet if he agreed to two shifts off duty in a row.
"Did he say where he was going to spend these two shifts?"
Spock was silent for a second, and Leonard could nearly see how the Vulcan quickly realized one of the biggest problems of Jim going off shift - the fact that he had nowhere to go once he did. And if it weren't for the fact that Jim was somewhere aboard this ship, in desperate need of some rest and probably even medical treatment, Leonard would find watching Spock during that moment of realization amusing.
In the end, Spock shook his head.
"He did not. However, it is safe to assume that he found a place to sleep. As far as I'm aware, Captain Pike will be confined to Medical for the remainder of our journey to Earth. As Acting Captain of the Enterprise, Captain Kirk would have every right to use his assigned quarters."
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