Title: While You Were Sleeping
Fandom: Star Trek
Characters/Pairings: Kirk/Bones, Spock
Genre: Fluff
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2,012
Author’s Note: Written as a birthday present/incredibly-late-because-I-am-an-asshole reward for
lackadaisy. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KAY!! I hope this is everything you hoped it would be! Congratulations on being legal, I hope this year brings you a whole new exciting start! ILU, BB. Thank you to
scorpiod1 for betaing and reading as a Kay expert :). Title stolen from the movie because this prompt made me think of it, the story doesn’t actually have anything to do with the movie. Oh, and just because I want to get back to writing regularly, let’s make this count for
tamingthemuse prompt #182 - Emerge.
Summary: On a mission to Zeon, Bones is injured and taken to a hospital on the planet’s surface. In order to gain entry to see him, Jim has to lie and say he is his husband. Cuddling ensues.
This is exactly what he’d said was going to happen.
Jim keeps meaning to make a mental note about that. One that he will actually remember to listen to, instead of just saying “I’ll remember that next time!” and then forgetting. Note to self: Bones is always right. No exceptions.
In Jim’s defense, they’d been successful. Technically. They’d blocked the enemy ships and sent them packing back to Ekos with minimum casualties. Right about now, Jim would usually be having a nice celebratory glass of Romulan ale in Bone’s office while Bones lectured him for stealing his liquor and patched up the injured. Jim just secured peace between Ekos and Zeon, for at least a few years. Jim is a hero today.
None of that seems to matter because even though only three members of Jim’s crew are hurt and only one of the injuries is serious, that one injury is Leonard McCoy. Without Bones, the Enterprise is short its best doctor and Jim is short his best friend. So, okay, what McCoy had termed “the stupidest idea he’d ever heard” hadn’t been such a mistake and Bones had admitted it about halfway through the battle. But Jim couldn’t help disagreeing with his friend’s conclusion, it definitely had been the stupidest thing he’d ever done. He could have gotten Bones killed. If they didn’t get him to Zeon fast, it would be over-none of the medics on the ship seem to be able to handle anything without Bones grumbling instructions at them.
Jim, who is usually a pretty competent guy, can do nothing but hover, get in their way, stare at his motionless friend in the sick bed, and feel sick himself. Zeon is thirty seconds away. Jim counts the seconds off in his head and each one is twice as long as the one before it.
_______________________________________________________________
The rush to the emergency room goes by in a blur, mercifully short and hectic enough that Jim is too busy issuing orders to really get a chance to stress. That is, until they’re standing at the door to the operating room. Jim watches a group of doctors and nurses usher Bones through the door and when he tries to follow, he’s stopped by a tall intimating humanoid of indeterminate gender who informs him that only close relations can enter the ward.
“I’m his captain,” Jim says, puffed up, and he begins to tread forward, confident that he’s made his point.
He hasn’t. The creature reaches a long tentacle out and plucks Jim up as if he were a toy, sets him back down in front of him.
“I’m afraid that won’t do, Mr. Kirk. We have very serious rules here on Zeon, we do not like our patients disturbed. Your doctor is very hurt right now, and the last thing he needs is his captain in there giving orders. I’m sorry. Work will have to wait until a few weeks from now. That is, if Dr. McCoy awakens capable of serving.”
“But you see, I’m not just his captain. I’m his…uhh.”
“His uhh what?”
Jim’s brain has been overloading since it heard the suggestion that Bones might not wake up capable of serving and, before he can really give any thought to his action, he goes with his impulse.
“I’m his husband! We’re married. We like to keep it fairly under wraps on the ship. But we have been married for seven years. Since our mission on Tavela Minor.”
“Is that so?”
“You can check if you’re questioning me, doctor.” Jim regrets saying it as soon as it’s out of his mouth. He’s going to have a really fun time convincing Spock to help him forge those documents tonight, but he can’t help being a little proud of himself when the purple alien softens and ushers him towards Bones’ room with a “I’m sorry, captain, this must be very difficult for you.”
_______________________________________________________________
Jim spends two days sitting next to Bones’ bed and dodging any crew members who are likely to say something and blow his cover. In other words, Jim is talking to nobody but Spock, who is loyal and guarded enough to be trusted but who has also been raising his eyebrows in what could be categorized as a suspicious manner-Spock denies even understanding the concept of the emotion, but Jim has his doubts.
When Bones finally emerges from his sleep-or coma, whatever, Jim isn’t the doctor and he likes the sound of sleep better anyway-he looks so confused that Jim actually has to savor the moment at first. Bones always knows what’s going on and he’s amused when he thinks it’s just the hospital room that is throwing him off. Not to mention that he’s so relieved to see Bones awake he’d be amused by almost anything. But then he looks at Jim for a long time before asking who he is, and Jim wants to believe it’s a joke, but he knows better.
_______________________________________________________________
“What part are you finding difficult to believe, doctor McCoy?” The attendant asks patiently, even though they’ve been trying to talk Bones into remembering something for an hour and a half and so far there has been no success whatsoever.
“The whole thing, mostly,” he drawls in his usual annoyed tone of voice and Jim can’t really believe that he could sound and act so much like his Bones without remembering anything about himself.
“Perhaps if you reminded him of something private, something a little more intimate, it will jog his memory?”
Jim’s never been one to blush but he has to duck his head a little at the suggestion. He’s got plenty of intimate scenarios stored in his head from years of silently pining, but he has a feeling that if he voiced any of them, he would only confuse Bones further.
“Doubt it. Hardest part to believe about any of this is that I married this idiot.”
There’s a playful edge to Bones’ words and his eyes look fond. Jim smiles for a second, it feels like old times. The attendant smiles indulgently and winks at Jim.
“I’ll just leave you two alone to talk.”
The door shuts behind her and if it was awkward before, it’s at least a thousand times worse now. Bones coughs uncomfortably and Jim stares at the floor.
“So, are you going to tell me about our honeymoon or what?”
“Umm. That’s. It’s funny you should ask, because. Well, we didn’t have one.”
“That so?”
“It is!” Jim slides easily into the lie and begins to weave a narrative about the mission they were on, how busy they’d been, how they hadn’t gotten a chance to celebrate.
“So we were just too in love to resist and had a shot gun wedding like pregnant teenagers back on Earth?”
“Something like that.”
“Damn shame. Not much of a point in getting married without a honeymoon.”
Jim briefly considers offering to have a honeymoon right then and there, but he reminds himself that Bones doesn’t really want him like that, never did, and if he ever regains his memories, Jim is going to have enough to talk his way out of as it was.
_______________________________________________________________
Jim comes back and spends the entire day with Bones for two weeks on end. Bones’ body is almost perfectly recovered but his memory is as bad as it was the first day he woke up. Bones doesn’t remember anything about his life-not his wife or daughter, the lives he’s saved on the enterprise, the years he’s spent doing his best to keep Jim out of trouble. On the one hand, it’s awful, one of the worst things Jim has ever had to put up with. On the other hand, Bones genuinely believes he’s in love with Jim, he lights up every time Jim arrives in the morning and picks on him the entire day-it’s exactly like it’s always been only sometimes he kisses Jim and Jim can’t really help himself, he lets him.
One night, Jim has been napping in the chair next to his bed and he awakens to hear Bones grumbling about something.
“What’s wrong now?”
“It’s too damn cold in this place.”
“Want me to get you another blanket?”
“No, this one is scratchy enough as is. Besides. Won’t fix the fact that this bed is unbalanced. I’m not big enough to put weight on both sides.”
“Want me to ask if they have smaller beds?”
“Dammit, Jim, will you just get in here already?”
“Oh. Right. That. Yeah, I think I can do that.”
Jim crawls into the hospital bed as carefully as he can, rests his head on Bones’ chest and wraps an arm around him. Bones lets him, pulls him in closer. Jim falls asleep to the sound of a steady heart beat. He doesn’t really feel guilty about the lie anymore.
_______________________________________________________________
It’s well past noon the next day when Jim wakes up. The room is full of noise and light and he startles up when he realizes that not only did the nurses let him stay in the room all night, not only did Bones let him spend an entire night cuddling, but they were now in a room with at least one other person.
“Good morning, captain,” Spock said, as soon as Jim sat up. He was showcasing a more smug incarnation of the suspicious face he’d been wearing for the last two weeks. “I trust your rest was satisfactory.”
“Because mine wasn’t. Pain in my ass just wouldn’t wake up.”
Jim felt betrayed. Spock and Bones were looking at each other in what was almost a friendly manner. And that just was. not. right.
“What the hell is going on?”
“We have been assigned a mission in an adjacent star system, captain. We are expected to report to Starfleet within three days. The doctor will be discharged shortly.”
“No, not. You. You two were talking. You two don’t talk. I demand to know what was being talked about.”
“The doctor and I were merely sharing a laugh at your expense, captain.”
“What?”
“He means we duped you, idiot.”
“Forgive my meddling, captain. I was merely being logical.”
“Logical like how?”
“Permission to speak freely?”
“Yeah, Bones, just talk.”
“Aside from the fact that I really did get knocked out, this was a trick to get you to admit how you felt so you could stop inundating the crew with your giant gay crush.”
Jim’s eyes went wide.
“What? It’s true. Even the Vulcun was getting annoyed.”
“I felt no such thing. I simply found the captain’s stress to be counterproductive.”
“Oh, will you just shut up and admit you felt annoy-“
“Guys, not really the time to be yourselves.”
Bones scowled and Spock attempted to look unruffled.
“Let me get this straight, you faked amnesia to get me to lie about being married to you because everyone on the ship has known about this even though I was pretty sure I’d been hiding it for years?”
“Correct.”
“And how’d he talk you into going along with this?”
“It was his idea. I woke up while you were sleeping. Spock came and told me you had to lie about the husband thing to get in and talk to me. So he figured I should just go with it.”
“Like I said, captain, I was merely doing what I felt would best promote efficiency aboard the Enterprise.”
“Did you ever think someone could just tell me he felt the same?”
Spock looks speculative and then annoyed. “That would have been incredibly logical.”
“You’re really upset that you didn’t think of it first, huh?”
“Considerably so, yes.”
“Good, go prepare the crew then. I have to talk to my husband.”
By the end of the day, the Enterprise is back in space and on the way its next mission. With the exception of one detour. After all, if anyone does ask for marriage records, it would be safer to have the real thing than forgeries. That was just good logic.
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