Country roads, take me home

[dr_blake]

When he woke that morning, Loki was already up, sitting on the couch with a book, and dressed in his Asgardian day clothes: his coat, his light armor, his vanguard, and for a moment Thor admired it from the bed, until Loki looked at him and asked, "Do you intend to do something else besides stare

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[cso_spock]

For the first time since he'd gotten there, Spock felt comfortable in his own skin, even in these borrowed clothes and a house that wasn't his. His green shirt was light and comfortable, though adorned with rather useless leather straps. It was still nice, and he had thanked Darcy for it.

He lounged across a chaise by the window, an old book open across his lap. On the table beside him was the pieces of an old staff, each section lying side by side across an old fur, and in his hand Spock held a glowing blue gem, pulsing gently at half his heart rate. The technology here was bewildering, so advanced he could barely manage to connect it to his own - and if he had a thousand years to study it, so he would.

Then Darcy stepped in, announced their visitors, and Spock saw who she was leading in. His breath caught, his eyes widened, and he pushed the book aside before standing (gem still in hand).

Spock didn't say anything; he couldn't.

[dctr_mccoy]

For a long moment, Leonard stood there, staring. It had been weeks since they'd seen Spock, this Spock, their Spock. He looked good, healthier than Leonard had feared, almost comfortable as he lounged in this amazing room.

But he looked happy to see them, and that more than anything brought a wide smile to his face. He nudged at Jim's shoulder comfortably, giving him a quick grin before he spoke. "Hey," he said nervously, taking two steps closer to Spock. Leonard's voice betrayed some of the anxiety and stress of all this stuff going on, leaving one realm and heading to another to fetch their waylaid First Officer. "We found you."

[genius_level]

He moved forward too, unable to resist smiling when he saw Spock this time, not an illusion or a trick, but real. Alive. Jim's grin grew broader as he took in the sight of him, that look on Spock's face making it clear how glad he was to see them. So much had happened since they had seen him, Jim wasn't sure where to begin. "It took a while to figure out what had happened. You're well?"

Jim felt some of that anxiety that had been twisting him in knots over the past weeks slip away, relief that Spock was here and appeared unhurt taking hold. He grinned at Bones, sharing that moment of relief and happiness, but Jim knew there were still more questions than answers, and was very aware of their audience as they greeted Spock.

[cso_spock]

"...quite," Spock answered in a soft voice, stepping closer to them but reluctant to do anything while the rest of their company was watching. "Did you

[dctr_mccoy]

One hand on Jim's shoulder, he followed Spock out of the first room, through a door that led into another spacious room, a large bed on one side, endless bookshelves on another. An armchair next to the window looked inviting, and Leonard could imagine Spock being comfortable here. Perhaps he had not been treated harshly here in Asgard, awful as the cave had been.

Leonard had his medical kit with him, and instinctively he pulled out his scanner. But lifting a hand to Spock's shoulder, he hesitated, just letting himself feel this, having these two men near him. So much to talk with Spock about, so much had happened without him there. A missing piece to their lives. "Are you okay?" he murmured, a worried glance at Jim before looking back at Spock, turning on his scanner and running it over his side and head.

[genius_level]

Jim remained quiet as they left the room, but he cast a look back at the gods as he followed Spock through the door. There were things he needed to know, but for now all that mattered was that they had found Spock and he was safe. He looked around the bedroom as they entered, the room exuding that same lavish comfort as the rest of the palace, at least what they had seen so far.

He drew close to Bones and Spock, his own hand reaching out as if to make sure this was real, and not another of Loki's tricks. "You really are here." Jim watched as Bones began scanning Spock, some of that anxiety returning as he watched him work. "How did you escape?"

[cso_spock]

Some of the tension eased out of his shoulders as Leonard touched him. There was also something comforting about watching and hearing the scanner work - one piece of technology that he could actually understand amongst all this 'magic.' Spock watched it move for a long moment, before looking to Leonard, then Jim. "...I have recovered well enough since I came here." Though he wondered if the scanner would pick up the injuries on his chest.

His hand met Jim's, twining their fingers without hesitation (it was so forward - and yet he didn't care, not here). The feeling was electric, finally truly indulging in something he wanted, missed, never thought he would see again. Familiar.

"I did not," he said to Jim's question. "Darcy released me."

[dctr_mccoy]

The scanner told Leonard that Spock was physically healthy. Normal heart rates, normal blood pressure, his temperature was good. Higher than normal iron levels in his blood, a few pounds heavier than his last health exam but all pure muscle mass. Leonard put the last two down to his time here on Asgard.

The scanner detected lacerations on Spock's torso. "Do you have some sort of wound on your chest?" he asked, finding it easier to stay focused on being the doctor; better that right now than pulling both of them into that big bed on the far side of the room. But seeing Spock's tension release at Jim's touch, added to Jim's obvious pleasure at having Spock near them again made Leonard's stomach do a pleasant flip. This felt right.

[genius_level]

It felt unbelievably good, the three of them here together after so long. Jim's mouth curved up as Spock took his hand, their fingers lacing together and bringing to mind that last evening the three of them had shared. Seeing the warmth in Bones' eyes Jim's smile grew, the uncertainty that had plagued him during Loki's impersonation melting away.

His brow furrowed at Bones' question and Jim abruptly changed track, abandoning the question he had been going to ask about Spock's release. "You're hurt. What..."

[cso_spock]

"Wound?" Spock blinked, then remembered the burns still vivid against his skin. "It is of little concern..." Reluctantly, he pulled his hand back from Jim's so he could pull the front of his shirt open, loosening some strings and buttons. When he pulled the collar aside towards his right, he revealed the raw, green-flushed rash that stretched down his chest from his shoulder.

"I did not expect to leave that place unscathed," he murmured.

[dctr_mccoy]

"...little concern," he repeated, a doubtful look on his face that changed to outrage when he saw the wound. Not infected, it appeared from the surface, but clearly not anywhere near healed.

"Oh, Spock," he murmured, looking at Jim's face, knowing what was going on in that head as he pulled out a regen unit. One hand rested on Spock's chest, his thumb rubbing lightly as he bent his head to get a closer look. "Couldn't they have treated you at least?" he murmured, before turning on the medical device.

[genius_level]

His jaw clenched when he saw the raw, irritated skin, and for a moment Jim felt sick as he recalled the cave and the stone table with that enormous snake coiled above it. Not just a deterrent against escape, then, but a slow torture as well. His eyes were dark with anger when he looked up, but Jim caught a hint of something in Spock's face and sighed.

He caught Spock's hand in his again as Bones got to work with the regen unit. "You refused treatment." A guess; but that expression on Spock's face told him that it wasn't far off the mark. "Why?"

[cso_spock]

Tensing a little as the regen unit hummed away, Spock looked down at where his and Jim's hands joined again, rubbing his thumb against one of Jim's knuckles. "It serves another purpose: the persistent discomfort reminds me that I must return to the Enterprise, or else I might stay here indefinitely."

His other hand came up, catching a handful of Leonard's shirt as he stood so close.

[dctr_mccoy]

Leonard shook his head as Spock spoke. "No one should hurt if they don't have to..." he said quietly. He could see Spock's finger making small circles against Jim and he knew how good that must feel to the Vulcan, that small touch after so long without Jim.

It didn't take long to fix Spock's laceration. When Leonard had completed this task, he dropped the regen unit into his kit and stood up to his full height, looking both men in the eye. One hand wound its way up and around the back of Spock's neck, resting possessively, while the other found Jim's hand, holding on for dear life. "Now Commander," he murmured, a little smile curling at his lips as he pulled the three of them closer together, "you remember what happened the last time you threatened to stay away from us." A little chuckle. "We could never let you stay away from us for that long."

[genius_level]

Shaking his head, Jim kept hold of Spock's hand as the treatment wrapped up, relieved to see the new, unblemished skin, still tinged a little green. His own thumb started tracing slow, gentle circles on Spock's hand, and he clasped Bones' tightly in his other hand. Wanting a reminder... he could understand that, had his own scars that he'd stubbornly refused to have healed, and others that simply had healed on their own because he hadn't had the resources to do otherwise. But he didn't like the idea of Spock hurting any more than Bones did.

"You're late," he teased, his eyes showing a hint of that guilt and uncertainty he'd felt in the past weeks. "We were beginning to think you'd changed your mind..."

[cso_spock]

Leonard's hand felt nice, right there - he had forgotten how nice until just that moment.

"That was never an option," he said quietly, looking at Jim's gaze, but he could see something there, something that didn't belong there, and the sharp, cold guilt of his own jabbed right in his side. "But...neither of you understand this."

Spock pulled them closer towards the bed by the little grips he had on them, and sat down, let go. "The technology here is beyond conception, and it would be foolish not to study it...but there is so much to learn."