Lost Bones Part 2
M’Benga released McCoy from sickbay and allowed Jim to escort the doctor to his rooms on the Enterprise. McCoy followed Jim out and down the hall with growing impatience. He didn’t believe that anything could have persuaded him into willing boarding a starship, for Christ’s sake. Leonard did notice that the personnel they passed saluted Jim. They entered a lift and Jim turned to face him. Apparently he noticed the irritated scowl on McCoy’s face because he asked, “What’s bothering you the most?”
“What in hell am I doing on a goddamned starship?” growled out of his throat.
“Easy, you’re in Starfleet,” was Jim’s quick reply. Leo looked down, and saw that he was, indeed, wearing the blue uniform that Starfleet assigned to its medical and science officers.
“And you’re captain of the Enterprise,” McCoy muttered, remember M’Benga calling Jim that.
“Yup, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, USS Enterprise, that’s me,” Kirk replied and Leo could hear huge amount pride and awe in voice. “You’re her CMO,” he added.
“Her what?” Dr. McCoy asked, genuinely confused.
“Chief Medical Officer,” Jim elaborated. McCoy was surprised at that. He’d figured that he was a passenger on the Enterprise, being taken to a Starbase or other outpost. Leonard had thought that even if he was in Starfleet he’d work to be assigned to something that didn’t fly. The lift came to a stop and the pair exited. Jim led the way to a door a short distance from the lift. McCoy watched as Jim entered a code into the panel located next to the door and it slid open. “After you,” he said, with a smile and a slight bow. McCoy just raised a brow and entered the room. Jim followed, and the door slid shut behind him. Leo studied the room around him, trying to get a feel for the man who lived there. He also reminded himself that he was that man.
The room itself was neat but lived in - while there weren’t any piles of clothes or stacks of PADDs lying around, there was a book on the nightstand and the bed wasn’t made to the strictest of standards. McCoy had never been able to live in a mess but, on the other hand, being too rigidly neat made him twitchy. There were plenty of holos and photos scattered around the room. Leo moved in to study the nearest one, and it showed him and a four-year-old girl in front of an entrance to a zoo. The girl had the same hazel eyes, brown hair, and mouth that he did. He realized with a start that the girl had to be his daughter, Joanna. Leonard knew this was more proof of the fact that he’d lost four years’ worth of memories because he couldn’t remember a single thing about the day that picture had been taken. He turned his attention back to the rest of the room. There were actual medical texts on the shelves - he’d always preferred real paper to PADDs - along with novels by his favorite authors, Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Twain, and Fitzgerald, among others. Another holo caught his eye and he crossed the room to get a better look. Leo picked it up of the shelf it was sitting on and examined it. It was a holo of himself and Jim, sitting underneath a large oak tree, sporting identical exhausted smiles, and an arm around each other’s shoulders. As he studied the holo a memory surfaced.
He was being forced out of the bathroom of the recruiting shuttle by one the crew. He was hung over, had two days’ growth of beard, and most definitely did not want to sit anywhere that offered a view. The small officer marched him out the bathroom while a litany of complaints escaped his lips. When she asked him, again, if he needed a doctor, he exploded.
“Are you people deaf?” he yelled. “I told you I don’t need a doctor, dammit! I am a doctor!”
Kindly but firmly, she led him toward some the last remaining seats. “You need to find a seat. Sir, for your safety, sit down, or I will make you sit down. Right now.”
“I had one,” he asserted vehemently. “In the bathroom, with no ports. I suffer from aviaphobia, which, in case you don’t understand big words, means ‘fear of flying.’”
Jerking him around roughly, the frowning crew member propelled him in the direction of one of the last empty seats. This seat was right next to a young, blonde man who looked like he’d gotten in the way of someone’s fist more than once and recently. He dropped into the seat, and muttering under his breath, he strapped himself in. Done, he gripped the armrests so hard his knuckles turned white. He was also aware that of fact that he was sweating heavily. Finally, he took noticed of his extremely curious neighbor and offered a highly unusual greeting.
“I may throw up on you.”
“Nice to meet you, too. Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened,” the young man replied agreeably. “I’m sure we’re completely safe. This model’s been around for a long time.”
“Don't pander to me, kid,” he snarled in reply. “One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. Hell, some of the damn passengers are blue. And wait till you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if you're so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.”
“Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space. Are you sure you didn’t apply for a job with the Chicago Transit Authority?”
He relented a little. “Yeah. Well, I got nowhere else to go; the ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones.”
Smiling, the younger man extended a hand. “Jim Kirk.”
Exasperated, he eyed Jim warily, then nodded and took the proffered hand. “Leonard McCoy.”
As McCoy came out his reverie, he realized that Jim was staring.
“Did you remember something?” Jim asked curiosity and concern mingled on his face.
“Yeah. The first time we met on the recruiting shuttle.” McCoy sat himself on one of the two chairs and gestured for Jim to do the same.
“I mentioned that I was divorced in the memory. Did I ever say why?”
“Never. All I know is that it wasn’t amicable and the only good thing that came out your marriage. You’re one of my closest friends, Bones, but you don’t like talking about it. Since I understand how aggravating it is to have people pester you to talk about something you’d rather not, I haven’t pushed.” Leo pondered this for a moment, wondering what had happened to Jim to make understand that because it was plain to him that Jim was empathizing with him not sympathizing. Whenever something life altering happened to him, he preferred to left alone to sort through his firsts before he talked to anyone. He wondered what Jim had gone through, to give him the same preference.
“What happened to you? Because most people would rather open up and talk than be alone to think, when something life changing happens.” Leonard asked. Jim was silent and McCoy worried that maybe he’d overstepped and would get some sort fluff answer or Jim would change the subject.
“A lot of shit. My dad was George Kirk - the hero of the Kelvin, so I never had chance to know him. My mom wasn’t the same after; it was like when Dad died some part of her died too. She remarried when I was five to Frank Boyle. What she sees in him I haven’t a damn clue. Frank’s an asshole who shouldn’t have been given a license to breathe, much less marry. He’s built like a bull and isn’t what you’d call a benign dictator. Once she’d remarried, she decided that she start going on long missions because Frank was to watch me and my brother Sam.
When she was gone Sam and I got turned into Frank’s personal punching bags. He didn’t do it when she home but she never home for more than a couple weeks at time and he’d let up on the beatings when her visits started getting close, so our bruises would have a chance to fade. We both ended up in the ER several times, but Frank made sure that the staff thought it was our fault we were there not because he’d beaten us. Sam was four years my senior and ran away when I was eleven. So then I Frank’s undivided attention. I was twelve when I overheard Frank talking about selling my Dad’s antique Corvette. It was of the few things of his that Mom couldn’t part with. I was pissed because I knew Mom would never part with but Frank was just thinking about the credits he’d get it. So when I saw that he’d keys I the ignition when I was washing it, I got in and took it for a joyride. I ended driving it over cliff but managed to jump out before it over. The police officer who’d been chasing took me back to Frank and, man, was Frank pissed.
That beating he gave might’ve killed me if that policeman hadn’t comeback to ask Frank some more questions. As it was I ended up in the ICU with a cracked skull, broken jaw, ruptured spleen, and several broken and cracked ribs. I got plenty of visits from social workers and doctors, who wanted to know how I was feeling and what else Frank had done to me. They tracked Mom down and when she got there she told me I’d be going to live with her brother and his family. Anything that got me away Frank was fine by me. I guess she couldn’t find the courage to divorce him, but she only lived with him for maybe six weeks a year.
So I got shipped off to my uncle Ryan O’Sullivan and his family. They lived on Tarsus. I was the only one who survived Kodos and his executions. So there’s my story.” Jim finished relating his tale and leaned back in his chair, watching McCoy’s face. McCoy was partly aghast at Jim had gone through and partly amazed that Jim had managed to survive all of that. The Tarsus IV disaster had made headlines for weeks once it had been discovered. Carefully keeping anything that could be construed as pity out of his voice. Jim would get upset and McCoy couldn’t blame - he didn’t anyone’s pity over anything he’d gone through.
“Alright, I see how you understand.” McCoy held back a yawn as realized just how tired he was. Jim must have noticed and his next comment confirmed Leo’s suspicions.
“I’m gonna let you get some sleep. M’Benga would have my hide if I keep you up too long. You’re gonna need all the rest you can get; tomorrow you’re getting a tour of the Enterprise and it’ll help you heal faster.” With that, Jim stood and left the room. Leo decided to follow Jim’s advice, since the exhaustion that had snuck up on him had him struggling to keep his eyes. He found some clothes to sleep in without any trouble, as he’d put everything away where he’d thought he would. Tomorrow would interesting and maybe he’d get some more memories back, he thought as he crawled into bed.
“What in hell am I doing on a goddamned starship?” growled out of his throat.
“Easy, you’re in Starfleet,” was Jim’s quick reply. Leo looked down, and saw that he was, indeed, wearing the blue uniform that Starfleet assigned to its medical and science officers.
“And you’re captain of the Enterprise,” McCoy muttered, remember M’Benga calling Jim that.
“Yup, Captain James Tiberius Kirk, USS Enterprise, that’s me,” Kirk replied and Leo could hear huge amount pride and awe in voice. “You’re her CMO,” he added.
“Her what?” Dr. McCoy asked, genuinely confused.
“Chief Medical Officer,” Jim elaborated. McCoy was surprised at that. He’d figured that he was a passenger on the Enterprise, being taken to a Starbase or other outpost. Leonard had thought that even if he was in Starfleet he’d work to be assigned to something that didn’t fly. The lift came to a stop and the pair exited. Jim led the way to a door a short distance from the lift. McCoy watched as Jim entered a code into the panel located next to the door and it slid open. “After you,” he said, with a smile and a slight bow. McCoy just raised a brow and entered the room. Jim followed, and the door slid shut behind him. Leo studied the room around him, trying to get a feel for the man who lived there. He also reminded himself that he was that man.
The room itself was neat but lived in - while there weren’t any piles of clothes or stacks of PADDs lying around, there was a book on the nightstand and the bed wasn’t made to the strictest of standards. McCoy had never been able to live in a mess but, on the other hand, being too rigidly neat made him twitchy. There were plenty of holos and photos scattered around the room. Leo moved in to study the nearest one, and it showed him and a four-year-old girl in front of an entrance to a zoo. The girl had the same hazel eyes, brown hair, and mouth that he did. He realized with a start that the girl had to be his daughter, Joanna. Leonard knew this was more proof of the fact that he’d lost four years’ worth of memories because he couldn’t remember a single thing about the day that picture had been taken. He turned his attention back to the rest of the room. There were actual medical texts on the shelves - he’d always preferred real paper to PADDs - along with novels by his favorite authors, Hemmingway, Steinbeck, Twain, and Fitzgerald, among others. Another holo caught his eye and he crossed the room to get a better look. Leo picked it up of the shelf it was sitting on and examined it. It was a holo of himself and Jim, sitting underneath a large oak tree, sporting identical exhausted smiles, and an arm around each other’s shoulders. As he studied the holo a memory surfaced.
He was being forced out of the bathroom of the recruiting shuttle by one the crew. He was hung over, had two days’ growth of beard, and most definitely did not want to sit anywhere that offered a view. The small officer marched him out the bathroom while a litany of complaints escaped his lips. When she asked him, again, if he needed a doctor, he exploded.
“Are you people deaf?” he yelled. “I told you I don’t need a doctor, dammit! I am a doctor!”
Kindly but firmly, she led him toward some the last remaining seats. “You need to find a seat. Sir, for your safety, sit down, or I will make you sit down. Right now.”
“I had one,” he asserted vehemently. “In the bathroom, with no ports. I suffer from aviaphobia, which, in case you don’t understand big words, means ‘fear of flying.’”
Jerking him around roughly, the frowning crew member propelled him in the direction of one of the last empty seats. This seat was right next to a young, blonde man who looked like he’d gotten in the way of someone’s fist more than once and recently. He dropped into the seat, and muttering under his breath, he strapped himself in. Done, he gripped the armrests so hard his knuckles turned white. He was also aware that of fact that he was sweating heavily. Finally, he took noticed of his extremely curious neighbor and offered a highly unusual greeting.
“I may throw up on you.”
“Nice to meet you, too. Wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened,” the young man replied agreeably. “I’m sure we’re completely safe. This model’s been around for a long time.”
“Don't pander to me, kid,” he snarled in reply. “One tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen seconds. Solar flare might crop up, cook us in our seats. Hell, some of the damn passengers are blue. And wait till you're sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles, see if you're so relaxed when your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease and danger wrapped in darkness and silence.”
“Well, I hate to break this to you, but Starfleet operates in space. Are you sure you didn’t apply for a job with the Chicago Transit Authority?”
He relented a little. “Yeah. Well, I got nowhere else to go; the ex-wife took the whole damn planet in the divorce. All I got left is my bones.”
Smiling, the younger man extended a hand. “Jim Kirk.”
Exasperated, he eyed Jim warily, then nodded and took the proffered hand. “Leonard McCoy.”
As McCoy came out his reverie, he realized that Jim was staring.
“Did you remember something?” Jim asked curiosity and concern mingled on his face.
“Yeah. The first time we met on the recruiting shuttle.” McCoy sat himself on one of the two chairs and gestured for Jim to do the same.
“I mentioned that I was divorced in the memory. Did I ever say why?”
“Never. All I know is that it wasn’t amicable and the only good thing that came out your marriage. You’re one of my closest friends, Bones, but you don’t like talking about it. Since I understand how aggravating it is to have people pester you to talk about something you’d rather not, I haven’t pushed.” Leo pondered this for a moment, wondering what had happened to Jim to make understand that because it was plain to him that Jim was empathizing with him not sympathizing. Whenever something life altering happened to him, he preferred to left alone to sort through his firsts before he talked to anyone. He wondered what Jim had gone through, to give him the same preference.
“What happened to you? Because most people would rather open up and talk than be alone to think, when something life changing happens.” Leonard asked. Jim was silent and McCoy worried that maybe he’d overstepped and would get some sort fluff answer or Jim would change the subject.
“A lot of shit. My dad was George Kirk - the hero of the Kelvin, so I never had chance to know him. My mom wasn’t the same after; it was like when Dad died some part of her died too. She remarried when I was five to Frank Boyle. What she sees in him I haven’t a damn clue. Frank’s an asshole who shouldn’t have been given a license to breathe, much less marry. He’s built like a bull and isn’t what you’d call a benign dictator. Once she’d remarried, she decided that she start going on long missions because Frank was to watch me and my brother Sam.
When she was gone Sam and I got turned into Frank’s personal punching bags. He didn’t do it when she home but she never home for more than a couple weeks at time and he’d let up on the beatings when her visits started getting close, so our bruises would have a chance to fade. We both ended up in the ER several times, but Frank made sure that the staff thought it was our fault we were there not because he’d beaten us. Sam was four years my senior and ran away when I was eleven. So then I Frank’s undivided attention. I was twelve when I overheard Frank talking about selling my Dad’s antique Corvette. It was of the few things of his that Mom couldn’t part with. I was pissed because I knew Mom would never part with but Frank was just thinking about the credits he’d get it. So when I saw that he’d keys I the ignition when I was washing it, I got in and took it for a joyride. I ended driving it over cliff but managed to jump out before it over. The police officer who’d been chasing took me back to Frank and, man, was Frank pissed.
That beating he gave might’ve killed me if that policeman hadn’t comeback to ask Frank some more questions. As it was I ended up in the ICU with a cracked skull, broken jaw, ruptured spleen, and several broken and cracked ribs. I got plenty of visits from social workers and doctors, who wanted to know how I was feeling and what else Frank had done to me. They tracked Mom down and when she got there she told me I’d be going to live with her brother and his family. Anything that got me away Frank was fine by me. I guess she couldn’t find the courage to divorce him, but she only lived with him for maybe six weeks a year.
So I got shipped off to my uncle Ryan O’Sullivan and his family. They lived on Tarsus. I was the only one who survived Kodos and his executions. So there’s my story.” Jim finished relating his tale and leaned back in his chair, watching McCoy’s face. McCoy was partly aghast at Jim had gone through and partly amazed that Jim had managed to survive all of that. The Tarsus IV disaster had made headlines for weeks once it had been discovered. Carefully keeping anything that could be construed as pity out of his voice. Jim would get upset and McCoy couldn’t blame - he didn’t anyone’s pity over anything he’d gone through.
“Alright, I see how you understand.” McCoy held back a yawn as realized just how tired he was. Jim must have noticed and his next comment confirmed Leo’s suspicions.
“I’m gonna let you get some sleep. M’Benga would have my hide if I keep you up too long. You’re gonna need all the rest you can get; tomorrow you’re getting a tour of the Enterprise and it’ll help you heal faster.” With that, Jim stood and left the room. Leo decided to follow Jim’s advice, since the exhaustion that had snuck up on him had him struggling to keep his eyes. He found some clothes to sleep in without any trouble, as he’d put everything away where he’d thought he would. Tomorrow would interesting and maybe he’d get some more memories back, he thought as he crawled into bed.