Back to life

[genius_level]

His dreams were disjointed and murky; just snatches of conversation or flashes of images, nothing continuous. He heard the enraged roar when the first Klingon had charged him, bitten off abruptly by the blast of phaser fire striking him squarely in the chest. Jim saw Ellison's face again, felt the shock of the blade penetrating skin and muscle, but

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[dctr_mccoy]

The hand in his hair was familiar and warm. Leonard inhaled and yawned as he blinked his eyes open, a moment passing before he realized that Jim was touching him. Jim.

Lifting his head, he smiled brightly at the face that stared back at him. "Morning, sunshine," he said in a low, growly voice, rough with sleep. There was a terrible crick in his neck but he didn't care one bit. Jim was awake. "I'm glad to see you awake," he said, straightening up and checking the readings on Jim's biobed.

[genius_level]

That bright smile went a long way toward easing Jim's mind. Still, he stared back, feeling lost and disoriented and still more than a little groggy. His lips were dry when he touched his tongue to them, his whole mouth parched as he swallowed and tried his voice for the first time. "Bones..." It sounded weak and raspy even to his own ears. He coughed, then tried again. "How long?"

His eyes followed Bones as he sat up and began checking the readings, his hand falling to rest on the covers. "Olivia... what happened?" Jim's fingers curled in the blanket as he remembered the attack, his ship under attack, and then the slow trip down to Engineering and the fight there. Had the baby been injured, too?

[dctr_mccoy]

"Two days," he told Jim honestly. "The attack was two days ago." He had Jim's padd with all the reports and particulars waiting for him, when he was ready. But right now, it was clear what was the most important thing on Jim's mind. "She's good, Jim. You were hurt bad, though, and her heartbeat, it started getting fast."

He stood, running a hand over Jim's hair. "Your dad came in and saved the day again, delivered her, saved you both." Leonard's face shone with a warm light as he talked about their daughter. "But she's a little small, since she's not quite full term yet. We've got her in an incubator, to give her warmth and more oxygen."

Stepping over to the incubator, he pulled it toward Jim's bed. "I know she wants to meet you. Ready?" he asked, reaching in and picking her up, making a little coo noise as he held her against his chest.

[genius_level]

Two days.

And... "Dad helped you?" Jim blinked as that sank in, the lingering fog of unconsciousness clearing as his mind began to race. He remembered being stabbed and then the few minutes afterward, before he'd lost consciousness. His hand rested across his stomach as he watched Bones move, bringing the incubator closer to the bed and then lifting a tiny bundle into his arms.

"Is she... she's really okay." He stared, hardly daring to breathe. She was so tiny... too tiny, but he could see her wriggling against Bones' chest and he swallowed again, his eyes riveted on the two of them. Was he ready? He wasn't sure... this hadn't happened the way they'd planned, and he still felt disoriented and sore. Vulnerable. But the soft, warm look on Bones' face made him ache, and Jim struggled to sit up, wanting to not be flat on his back for this.

"Yeah. Can I..." He reached out, words failing him as he watched Bones with their daughter.

[dctr_mccoy]

"I was working on you, darlin, when she crashed. I couldn't..." Leonard looked down for a moment, not wanting to remember that feeling, when he felt like he was going to lose them both. "Geoff was injured in the attack, so they got your dad, he's had experiencing in... this sort of thing. Loki was here too," he added, watching Jim reach out for their daughter.

One more kiss to the top of her head, and Leonard dropped her carefully in Jim's waiting arms. "It's about lunch time, well, second lunch for the princess." Pulling a small bottle out of a warming bag, he nestled it next to Jim, sitting down on the chair next to the bed. "She does love to eat, not to shy about it."

[genius_level]

Fuck. Bones had had to work on them alone at first. Jim hated knowing that, that he'd been put in that position. Damn Klingons. He opened his mouth to reply when Bones continued, explaining why Blake had been called in. And Loki... Jim looked up at him. "It was that bad?" He looked down as Bones lowered the baby into his arms and found himself staring into a tiny face with big blue eyes and a familiar, serious expression. He shifted a little, securing her in the crook of one arm so he could reach up with his free hand, his fingers careful as he stroked her cheeks and tapped gently on her nose

[dctr_mccoy]

"It was pretty bad," he said, but added, "though Loki seems to come and go from my sickbay whenever he wants. I'd say something, but he keeps doing things to put me in his debt." Leonard sighed. Also, the meds have never been stocked so orderly." It was on the tip of Leonard's tongue to mention the magic infusion into Jim, but he held off on that, seeing Jim's face as he held Olivia.

Leonard was unable to keep back the tears in his eyes as they looked at each other, Jim's eyes gazing back at him curiously. "She's more than beautiful," he told Jim. "She's a real fighter, so strong. I know where she got that." When Jim looked over at him, he reached for Jim's arm, grasping it. "Thank you, for all of this. You don't know, Jim, what you two mean to me." As if on cue, Olivia turned toward Leonard's voice, still drinking from her bottle, but looking at him as if she could understand.

[genius_level]

He nodded, suspecting that Loki's presence--and his father's--had more to do with the way he felt now than Bones was letting on. Healed, yes, though he still felt stiff and sore, his chest and abdomen still a bit tender. But the past two days were still largely a blank for him. "I don't pretend to understand how my dad keeps him in line, but... if he's helping, well." He supposed that wasn't all bad. Jim ducked his head again, watching Olivia eat as Bones' hand lay on his arm.

"C'mere," Jim murmured, trying to make room for Bones. The look on his face, those tears made his chest tighten, and he couldn't keep the needy tone out of his voice. He needed this, needed Bones and their daughter close. He looked up, his own eyes bright. "Promise to eat my lunch, do whatever I'm supposed to. Just... climb up here with us."

[dctr_mccoy]

Leonard stood, settling as much of himself as he could onto Jim's bed. This is what he needed too, to hold Jim, holding both of them in his arms.

Jim was warm, and they were both emotional right now, so he tried to keep his words light. "All I want you to do it rest, so the grumpy CMO will let you go home to your hot husband." Kissing the side of Jim's head, Leonard pulled Jim against him, wanting to feel his weight on him. Your daughter, Captain, is perhaps the most beautiful of all the patients this infirmary has seen." Laughing, he held onto one of Olivia's kicking feet. "The medical staff have a lottery to see who gets to come and take care of her."

[genius_level]

It was a tight fit, the three of them on the bed, but Jim felt something in him unwind as Bones pulled him close. He leaned against him with a sigh, his eyes on Olivia as she stared up at him, her expression so serious as she clutched the bottle. Jim grinned when she yawned, a little of the formula dribbling from her mouth. "I can see why," he murmured, reaching his hand out and wiping the trickle of milk away with his thumb. "She's a charmer already. Aren't you, sweetheart?" He laughed softly when she blinked at him, drinking slower now, the contents of the bottle almost gone

[dctr_mccoy]

His fingers threaded though Jim's hair softly, sighing. He reached down and touched Jim's heart. "She lived right under here for seven months. I thought that if she rested on top of you for a little while, listening to this, she might feel better. You both might feel better." Leonard chuckled, his hand moving from Jim to Olivia. "Silly, I guess... but I swear she knew you, as soon as I put her on your chest."

Leonard reached over for one of her little burp cloths, handing it to Jim. "You want the honors, Captain?" he asked, not sure if Jim even knew how to burp a baby.

[genius_level]

"Yeah?" Jim smiled at that, looking down at the tiny scrap of a girl in his arms. "I don't think that's silly. I mean, I think I knew, even though I wasn't awake. I knew you, too, could hear your voice now and then, felt you here." He wasn't making much sense, but Jim shook his head, giving Bones a faint smile. "I guess I just needed a little longer to recover than our girl," he finished.

He set the empty bottle aside, then blinked and looked back over at Bones. Holding Olivia had been easy, wrapped in her blanket and cradled in his arms. But this... he'd never given it much thought and suddenly felt his complete inexperience. "I guess there's no time like now to start learning," he murmured, slow and cautious as he scooped Olivia into his hands and lifted her to his shoulder. She was so small and light, he felt clumsy as he carefully rubbed her back. "Like this?"

[dctr_mccoy]

"I knew you were in there, Jim. I could feel you, and I hoped Olivia would too." The look on Jim's face was priceless, and Leonard knew if he lived to be two hundred, he'd never forget this day, their first as a real family. "She's only gonna get bigger and stronger. Soon she'll be dancing all around this ship."

He arranged the burp cloth on Jim's shoulder, guiding his hand to make small circles on her back. "There, just like that. She ate pretty fast, so she might have a nice bubble in there." No sooner did Leonard finished speaking when Olivia let out a soft gulping noise, then coughed milky spit-up all over Jim's shirt. "Oh... darn," he tried not to laugh. "Well, you did eat pretty fast, honey," as Olivia hiccuped and began to cry. "You okay, Jim? Give me a second and I'll help you get into a fresh shirt."

[genius_level]

He heard her cough but it didn't register right away, not until he felt the warm, wet results seeping into his shirt. Jim looked down at the mess and then at Olivia's unhappy face. "I'm okay," he managed at last, taking the cloth and wiping her face clean with a corner of it, then, not sure how to calm her down, he just cuddled her against his chest. "That was pretty impressive," he said, his voice low and a little amused as he stroked her soft hair.

"I'm okay for now," he told Bones. "Let's get her settled first." He shook his head, part of him still wondering at the changes he'd woken up to. "Then maybe I could eat something." His eyes cut dubiously to the damp stain on his shirt. "Just... maybe not anything with milk."

[dctr_mccoy]

The look on Jim's face was priceless, confused and laughing and slightly grossed out by the warm milk sinking into his shirt. Captain of the flagship, stunned into momentary silence by a tiny baby... but of course, he recovered in half a second, taking charge in that way only he could

[genius_level]

She was so wiggly, arms and legs kicking while they peeled off the messy little outfit and dressed her in a clean one, and he could only imagine what it would be like when she was bigger and stronger. Jim watched Bones sit down with her, expertly rocking and rubbing her back, and felt a slow grin spreading across his face when he heard those soft, teasing words. "It was a memorable introduction, that's for sure." He wriggled out of the soiled shirt and balled it up, then shrugged on the fresh one Bones had handed him. It felt good, cool and light against his skin