Looking for Yesterday - Chapter 4
Title: Looking for Yesterday (AO3)
Series: Star Trek AOS
Author: neko-fish
Beta: siluria
Pairings: Jim/Bones, Spock/Uhura
Rating: NC-17
Summary: He never meant to survive the war. For three years, Jim Kirk drifted from place to place, plagued by nightmares and unwanted memories. But after a fateful accident, suddenly, he finds himself face to face with the ghost of the one he lost.
Warnings: Post-WW2 AU, PTSD, hurt/comfort.
Prologue// Chapter 1// Chapter 2// Chapter 3
Chapter 4:
After taking several wrong turns and detours, Jim finally found the hospital. Parking the car, he made his way into the hospital. Asking the receptionist for the location of Leonard’s office, he quickly thanked her and scurried off. Within minutes, he found himself standing in front of Leonard McCoy’s office, he found the door locked and shut.
Curling up on a chair nearby, he waited, legs twitching, agitated and impatient.
Suddenly, a voice called out, “Jim Kirk? Is that you? What on earth are you doing here this early in the morning? Is everything alright?”
Giving a jolt of surprise, he looked up, muscles tense, adrenaline pumping through his veins. But when he saw who it was, he immediately reined his instinct to stand at attention back. His voice came out weaker than he had intended when he replied, “Nurse Chapel? I’m fine. What are you doing out here?”
Chapel studied him for a moment before answering, “I was just about to take off for a smoke break. Doctor McCoy’s real strict about us not smoking around the patients. He insists it’s bad for your health. Now, I’m not about to doubt him on anything that’s health-related, but I’m still waiting to see some research to back up his word on the matter. Care to join me?”
Jim shook his head and declined the offer. “I got scared out of smoking after an experiment a friend did years ago.” Too restless and twitchy, he didn’t have it in him to flirt around, to be the Jim Kirk he had spent so much time perfecting. Looking down the hall, he wished Leonard would show up soon. “Do you know when Doctor McCoy will get in?”
“Well, his shift starts in less than an hour and he always comes in early, so it should be soon.” She looked at him with worry evident on her face. “Are you alright, Jim?”
He wasn’t-hadn’t been for years.
“I’m fine,” he replied without smiling. He wished she would just leave him alone already. “Don’t mind me. My injuries aren’t acting up or anything. I just need to talk to him about something. I’ll holler if something’s wrong. Promise.”
Sensing the gravity in his tone of voice, Chapel nodded. “Alright, as long as you promise. I’ll be outside if you need me.”
He acknowledged her concern with a silent nod.
Listening to her footsteps disappear down the hall, he curled back up. He kept his hand on his tags and his eyes trained on the ground. If he closed them, he knew he’d see that cold and silent Leonard McCoy again. So busy concentrating on keeping his mind blank, he didn’t notice a heavier set of footsteps approaching him until a baffled voice spoke up, “What the…? Kirk?”
Head snapping up, Jim stared at the man with widened eyes.
Alive.
Leonard McCoy was still alive.
Jim took a deep breath, feeling the tension drain from his muscles. “Bones….”
Still standing there with a cup of coffee in one hand and his briefcase in the other, Leonard furrowed his brows in confusion. “What the hell are you doing here, kid? I was just on the phone with your friends and they said you disappeared somewhere. They sounded worried sick about you! Why didn’t you tell them where you were going? And why are you here?”
In his panic, the only time Jim spared his friends any thought was when he was trying to get the car out of the garage without them noticing. He knew he was going to regret his actions later. But for now, Leonard was standing in front of him, scowling and reprimanding him in such a familiar way that it set Jim’s heart at ease.
“Hey, are you listening to me at all?”
Blue eyes blinked. “What? Yeah. Of course I was listening.”
“Bullshit.” Clearly worried, Leonard put his coffee and briefcase down and began examining him on the spot. “Are you hurting anywhere? Is your vision blurring at all?”
Leonard’s hands felt so warm that it left him speechless.
When he didn’t receive an answer, Leonard frowned. “Kirk?”
“Jim,” he managed to get out. “Call me Jim…. Please.”
Leonard paused for a moment, then he said softly, “Jim, I need you to tell me if anything’s hurting, or if you feel like there’s anything wrong with you.”
There were so many things wrong with him.
He shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“Funny, the last I checked ‘fine’ didn’t mean sneaking out of your friends’ house at god knows what hour in the morning. And it sure as hell didn’t mean sitting on a chair and staring at me like the sky just fell and crushed your dog.”
Jim found those crotchety, well meaning words reassuring. “I’m fine,” he repeated.
Scowling, Leonard barked, “Cut the bullshit, Jim, and tell me what happened-and nothing’s not an option.”
“That’s cheating, isn’t it-taking away perfectly good answers?” he asked quietly, avoiding the question.
“Jim. Stop being so stubborn and answer me. Are you alright?”
He looked away. He’d never been able to go against Leonard when he sounded so serious and concerned. With no small amount of reluctance, he admitted, “I…I just have bad days sometimes, and I guess I just wanted to see you.”
“Why? What happened?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” Jim muttered.
“…alright.” Leonard continued examining him in silence. Once he was satisfied with what he found-or in this case, didn’t find-he unlocked his door and stepped inside. Then he poked his head back out and asked, “Are you going to sit in the hallway all day? Get your ass in here, kid. My shift starts in fifteen.”
Doing as he was told without complaint, Jim uncurled himself and shuffled into the office and plopped down on the nearest chair.
Hazel eyes spared him a glance. “Do you always run around without socks?”
“They got wet,” Jim explained with a shrug. “I don’t like wet socks. So why were you trying to get a hold of me? Did you remember something?”
Leonard rolled his eyes and sat down in his own chair. “No, I just rolled out of bed this morning and thought to myself, ‘Well, goodness me, today seems like the perfect day to call Jim Kirk!’”
He almost managed to smile at that. “It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened to me.”
“I’m sure.” As though sensing that Jim wasn’t going to contribute any further to the conversation, Leonard wrung his hands for a moment before blurting out, “It was a little girl. She couldn’t have been older than three.”
Jim’s eyes widened as he turned his full attention to Leonard who returned his stare with wide, hesitant eyes.
“She called me ‘Daddy’, Jim. That’s why I called,” Leonard whispered, his voice laced with guilt and disbelief. He took out the photograph Jim had given him and frowned. “I forgot about my own daughter. I forgot about Joanna. She’s already grown so much since then. And I still only remember that tiny fragment of our time together….”
He could feel the frustration behind the last statement and shook his head, his own troubles momentarily forgotten. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Bones. You just started. The fact that you remembered anything at all is a really good sign, isn’t it?”
Nodding forlornly, Leonard took a shuddery breath and in a quiet voice, he pleaded, “Tell me this is going to work, Jim.”
“Come on, it’s going to be fine.” He stood up, spread his arms as wide as he could with his stitches and offered, “Do you need a hug? Come on, Bones, I’ll give you a hug. I think it’ll do us both a world of good.” Walking around the desk, Jim pulled Leonard up and wrapped his arms around him.
Leonard was so warm.
He didn’t want to let go.
“I want to see her,” Leonard muttered into his shoulder. “I need to know that she’s okay.”
“And you will,” Jim told him, “because she’ll be coming here for her summer break. It’s already been arranged.”
Hazel eyes widened with excitement and anxiousness. “What? She’s coming here? Really? What if she doesn’t remember me? What if I still don’t remember everything by then?”
“Then I’ll fill you in,” Jim quickly reassured him. “It’ll work out, Bones. Just trust me on this,” he told the man with a pat on the back. “If you were a patient, what would you tell yourself?”
Huffing, Leonard didn’t answer.
From experience, Jim knew that he’d won the argument. “Bones….”
“I’d tell myself to take it easy. Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Leonard admitted with no small amount of reluctance. “I can’t believe you just made me give advice to myself when I should be the one telling you what to do.”
“What can I say? Jim and Bones.”
And he finally managed a smile.
Leonard snorted. “Jim and Bones indeed. I still can’t believe I forgot her.”
“It was beyond your control. There’s no point in beating yourself up over it.”
“But I don’t remember anything about her! I don’t know what she enjoys doing. I don’t know if she gets along with other kids. I don’t know what she likes and doesn’t like to eat. I don’t know any of her habits. I don’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. I don’t know anything about my own daughter!”
Jim paused. “Well, like I said before, she’s living with her grandma, and she’s in grade school right now. She gets along with everyone, but she finds school boring. Her grandma thinks that’s probably because she’s smarter than the other kids-just like her dad was. She wants to go to college to become a doctor. At dinner, she sorts her food by colour and eats the most colourful ones last. She loves peaches and hates Brussels sprouts. You’ll remember more about her, just give it time.”
Hazel eyes blinked, instantly calming down in order to process all the information that’d just been thrown at him. “I…you’re right. Shit, my shift’s about to begin.” Shaking his head, he took a deep breath. “Thanks for telling me all that. I needed it.”
“Are you going to be alright, Bones?” he asked.
Leonard nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s nothing I can’t deal with. Wait, shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
“Role-reversal, hmm?” He chuckled. “I’ll be fine. We’re just the most messed up pair around here, aren’t we?”
“I won’t even try to deny it. By the way, I should advise you to call your friends before they come looking for you.”
Spock and Uhura had completely slipped his mind-again. “What day is it?”
“Tuesday, why?”
Jim paused, his lips curling into a sheepish grin. “…whoops. I sure hope they found a way to work.”
Hazel eyes narrowed. “You didn’t….”
“I did, and I’ll definitely pay for it later. Don’t even bother lecturing me, Bones, they’ve got you covered. I’ll probably get an earful for not wearing socks too.” He could already see Uhura shaking her head in frustration and Spock’s disapproving eyebrow raise.
Shaking his head, Leonard grabbed his doctor’s coat and made his way to the door. “Do you know how to get back to your friends’ place?” And when Jim averted his eyes and answered with silence, he heaved a sigh. “Give the front desk the address and they should be able to give you directions. I’ll see you in two days. Try to stay out of trouble until then.”
He nodded. “I’ll try my best. You make sure you call me if you remember anything else, okay?”
“I will,” Leonard promised. “Oh, and Jim?”
Blinking, he watched as Leonard turned around and returned to his desk and scribbled something onto a piece of paper. Curious, he asked, “Yeah?”
“Here’s my number, instead of stealing people’s cars like a criminal, just call me if you need me, got it? If I’m not at home, then I’m probably at work. When you’re ready to talk about it, I’ll listen, okay?”
Jim nodded, a soft smile on his lips. “Okay, Bones.”
--
He was both right and wrong about his speculations about his friends’ reactions. He was napping on the couch when they returned home, storming through the doors like he expected them to. Opening his eyes groggily but feeling immensely better, Jim sat up and waited for the inevitable. But instead of yelling at him, Spock and Uhura merely stood by the doorway and watched him with stern expressions on their faces.
Uncomfortable with the silence, Jim looked from one person to the next. Desperate to get some sort of reaction from the two, he asked, “Did you guys manage to get to work alright?”
Uhura crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, but she remained silent.
Jim began fidgeting with his tags. Loud noises might startle him, but silence scared him. His first instinct was anger, but he managed to swallow it down. “Guys? Can you say something, please?”
When he still didn’t receive a reply, he began wishing he’d stolen another pie to use as a peace offering, but he was pretty sure that the lady next door wouldn’t be leaving her pies unattended again anytime soon.
“I’m sorry about taking your car without permission, okay? I’ll try not to do it again, but I really needed to go somewhere. It’s still safe and sound, no scratches or dents or anything! That’s got to count for something!” he tried.
The silence was driving him crazy.
“Fine! It was the hospital, okay?” he blurted out. “I had to see someone at the hospital. Are you going to kick me out? Please don’t kick me out. I know you have a lot to deal with already and I’m probably not helping, but please don’t kick me out, I’ve got something I have to do here. Guys? Please say something.”
Spock raised a brow and turned to Uhura. “It would appear that your hospital hypothesis was correct.”
Uhura smiled. “And Scotty was right about the silence tactic. I feel better now that I’ve seen him squirm a little.”
He felt both relieved and betrayed by their words. Waiting for the anger to simmer away, he shot them a disapproving frown. “That’s an underhanded move. Wait, you got a ride from Scotty? Where is he? How come he didn’t come in to say hi?”
“He’s currently in the middle of a project and couldn’t bear to part with it any longer than absolutely necessary,” Spock informed him. “He sent his regards.” Folding his arms behind his back, he continued, “Jim, I believe we need to discuss your habit of sneaking out in the middle of the night-with my car.” Spock’s tone might’ve remained even, but Jim could hear the underlying annoyance in it.
In a weak voice, Jim said, “In my defence, it was early morning. And I returned it perfectly intact.”
Spock was unmoved by his words. “Jim, if you ever take my car without explicit permission from either Nyota or myself again, I will, as you like to say, ‘kick your ass.’ And that is all I will say on the matter. I believe I conveyed my sentiments and warned you of future consequences in the most concise and efficient manner possible. Do you have any questions?”
Jim shook his head, not wanting to further evoke the wrath of his friends. Spock could be terrifying when he wanted to be, and he didn’t even have to raise his voice. “None whatsoever.”
“Now that we’ve got that part out of the way,” Uhura began, “tell us about this Doctor McCoy that called and asked for you this morning. I assume this is why you were at the hospital?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He felt like he should be standing at attention, but he couldn’t be bothered to.
“Without socks.”
Jim nodded and repeated, “Without socks.” Then he couldn’t help but add, “I know it’s a huge fashion faux pas, but they got wet and you know I can’t stand wet socks.”
Ignoring his excuses, she continued, “Who is Doctor McCoy?” As always, she never danced around the topic and got straight to the point. It was a trait he appreciated about her.
“He’s Bones,” Jim answered, causing both Spock and Uhura to arch their eyebrows. They spent too much time together, he thought, even their eyebrow arches have synced up.
“He’s the Leonard McCoy we knew?” she asked, unconvinced.
Tempted as he was to correct her on her usage of past tense, he refrained and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. One and the same.”
She studied him for a moment to make sure he was being serious. “How?”
“I’m not too sure, he hasn’t told me everything yet. But it’s definitely him,” Jim insisted.
Uhura frowned, growing more skeptical with every question. “He’s a doctor now?”
“Yes, ma’am. He’s sat his exams and everything.”
“Why didn’t he try to contact any of us?”
“Because he didn’t remember-still doesn’t,” he told her.
She furrowed her brows. “Doesn’t remember what?”
“Anything. Any of us.”
“Not even you?”
Jim swallowed hard and shook his head. “No. Not even me.”
“Or Joanna?”
“Or Joanna.” Then he corrected himself, “Well, I gave him things to work with so he sort of remembers her now. That’s why he called this morning.” Studying her expression, he sighed. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I’m having a hard time believing you,” she admitted.
“Can’t really blame you. I had a hard time believing it myself.”
Uhura massaged her temples and sighed. “Let me see if I understood you correctly. So you’re saying Leonard McCoy-our Leonard McCoy is alive and working as a doctor at the hospital, and he’s suffering from memory loss.”
He nodded. “You summed it up perfectly. It’s hard to believe, I get that, but it’s really him. Does this make my actions a little more acceptable?” he tried, hopeful.
She shot him a glare that made him shut his mouth immediately. “No. Why didn’t you tell us any of this?”
“Would you have believed me?” Jim asked.
Opening and closing her mouth for a moment, Uhura shook her head and conceded, “No, probably not.” She sounded apologetic but still not entirely convinced.
“I don’t blame you.” He shrugged. “If I hadn’t seen him and talked to him-and got lectured by him, I wouldn’t have believed me either.”
She studied him for a moment before making up her mind. “We’ll come with you.”
Jim blinked. “What?”
“When you go get your stitches removed, we’ll come with you. We’ll have to drive you there anyways. I need to see Leonard with my own eyes.”
He glanced over at the two. “Spock? Will you be coming too?”
Spock, who’d been watching their conversation in silence, replied with a nod.
“You need the adult supervision,” Uhura muttered.
Jim chuckled. “Aww, you make us sound like a real family. You two make the best makeshift parents ever.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. We are family-it’s just too bad we can’t ground you. You’re nothing but trouble, Jim Kirk.”
Touched by her words, he shot them a crooked smile and shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s what makes me so lovable.”
Back to Chapter 3
Onwards to Chapter 5
Series: Star Trek AOS
Author: neko-fish
Beta: siluria
Pairings: Jim/Bones, Spock/Uhura
Rating: NC-17
Summary: He never meant to survive the war. For three years, Jim Kirk drifted from place to place, plagued by nightmares and unwanted memories. But after a fateful accident, suddenly, he finds himself face to face with the ghost of the one he lost.
Warnings: Post-WW2 AU, PTSD, hurt/comfort.
Prologue// Chapter 1// Chapter 2// Chapter 3
Chapter 4:
After taking several wrong turns and detours, Jim finally found the hospital. Parking the car, he made his way into the hospital. Asking the receptionist for the location of Leonard’s office, he quickly thanked her and scurried off. Within minutes, he found himself standing in front of Leonard McCoy’s office, he found the door locked and shut.
Curling up on a chair nearby, he waited, legs twitching, agitated and impatient.
Suddenly, a voice called out, “Jim Kirk? Is that you? What on earth are you doing here this early in the morning? Is everything alright?”
Giving a jolt of surprise, he looked up, muscles tense, adrenaline pumping through his veins. But when he saw who it was, he immediately reined his instinct to stand at attention back. His voice came out weaker than he had intended when he replied, “Nurse Chapel? I’m fine. What are you doing out here?”
Chapel studied him for a moment before answering, “I was just about to take off for a smoke break. Doctor McCoy’s real strict about us not smoking around the patients. He insists it’s bad for your health. Now, I’m not about to doubt him on anything that’s health-related, but I’m still waiting to see some research to back up his word on the matter. Care to join me?”
Jim shook his head and declined the offer. “I got scared out of smoking after an experiment a friend did years ago.” Too restless and twitchy, he didn’t have it in him to flirt around, to be the Jim Kirk he had spent so much time perfecting. Looking down the hall, he wished Leonard would show up soon. “Do you know when Doctor McCoy will get in?”
“Well, his shift starts in less than an hour and he always comes in early, so it should be soon.” She looked at him with worry evident on her face. “Are you alright, Jim?”
He wasn’t-hadn’t been for years.
“I’m fine,” he replied without smiling. He wished she would just leave him alone already. “Don’t mind me. My injuries aren’t acting up or anything. I just need to talk to him about something. I’ll holler if something’s wrong. Promise.”
Sensing the gravity in his tone of voice, Chapel nodded. “Alright, as long as you promise. I’ll be outside if you need me.”
He acknowledged her concern with a silent nod.
Listening to her footsteps disappear down the hall, he curled back up. He kept his hand on his tags and his eyes trained on the ground. If he closed them, he knew he’d see that cold and silent Leonard McCoy again. So busy concentrating on keeping his mind blank, he didn’t notice a heavier set of footsteps approaching him until a baffled voice spoke up, “What the…? Kirk?”
Head snapping up, Jim stared at the man with widened eyes.
Alive.
Leonard McCoy was still alive.
Jim took a deep breath, feeling the tension drain from his muscles. “Bones….”
Still standing there with a cup of coffee in one hand and his briefcase in the other, Leonard furrowed his brows in confusion. “What the hell are you doing here, kid? I was just on the phone with your friends and they said you disappeared somewhere. They sounded worried sick about you! Why didn’t you tell them where you were going? And why are you here?”
In his panic, the only time Jim spared his friends any thought was when he was trying to get the car out of the garage without them noticing. He knew he was going to regret his actions later. But for now, Leonard was standing in front of him, scowling and reprimanding him in such a familiar way that it set Jim’s heart at ease.
“Hey, are you listening to me at all?”
Blue eyes blinked. “What? Yeah. Of course I was listening.”
“Bullshit.” Clearly worried, Leonard put his coffee and briefcase down and began examining him on the spot. “Are you hurting anywhere? Is your vision blurring at all?”
Leonard’s hands felt so warm that it left him speechless.
When he didn’t receive an answer, Leonard frowned. “Kirk?”
“Jim,” he managed to get out. “Call me Jim…. Please.”
Leonard paused for a moment, then he said softly, “Jim, I need you to tell me if anything’s hurting, or if you feel like there’s anything wrong with you.”
There were so many things wrong with him.
He shook his head. “I’m fine.”
“Funny, the last I checked ‘fine’ didn’t mean sneaking out of your friends’ house at god knows what hour in the morning. And it sure as hell didn’t mean sitting on a chair and staring at me like the sky just fell and crushed your dog.”
Jim found those crotchety, well meaning words reassuring. “I’m fine,” he repeated.
Scowling, Leonard barked, “Cut the bullshit, Jim, and tell me what happened-and nothing’s not an option.”
“That’s cheating, isn’t it-taking away perfectly good answers?” he asked quietly, avoiding the question.
“Jim. Stop being so stubborn and answer me. Are you alright?”
He looked away. He’d never been able to go against Leonard when he sounded so serious and concerned. With no small amount of reluctance, he admitted, “I…I just have bad days sometimes, and I guess I just wanted to see you.”
“Why? What happened?”
“I don’t really want to talk about it right now,” Jim muttered.
“…alright.” Leonard continued examining him in silence. Once he was satisfied with what he found-or in this case, didn’t find-he unlocked his door and stepped inside. Then he poked his head back out and asked, “Are you going to sit in the hallway all day? Get your ass in here, kid. My shift starts in fifteen.”
Doing as he was told without complaint, Jim uncurled himself and shuffled into the office and plopped down on the nearest chair.
Hazel eyes spared him a glance. “Do you always run around without socks?”
“They got wet,” Jim explained with a shrug. “I don’t like wet socks. So why were you trying to get a hold of me? Did you remember something?”
Leonard rolled his eyes and sat down in his own chair. “No, I just rolled out of bed this morning and thought to myself, ‘Well, goodness me, today seems like the perfect day to call Jim Kirk!’”
He almost managed to smile at that. “It wouldn’t be the first time that’s happened to me.”
“I’m sure.” As though sensing that Jim wasn’t going to contribute any further to the conversation, Leonard wrung his hands for a moment before blurting out, “It was a little girl. She couldn’t have been older than three.”
Jim’s eyes widened as he turned his full attention to Leonard who returned his stare with wide, hesitant eyes.
“She called me ‘Daddy’, Jim. That’s why I called,” Leonard whispered, his voice laced with guilt and disbelief. He took out the photograph Jim had given him and frowned. “I forgot about my own daughter. I forgot about Joanna. She’s already grown so much since then. And I still only remember that tiny fragment of our time together….”
He could feel the frustration behind the last statement and shook his head, his own troubles momentarily forgotten. “Don’t be so hard on yourself, Bones. You just started. The fact that you remembered anything at all is a really good sign, isn’t it?”
Nodding forlornly, Leonard took a shuddery breath and in a quiet voice, he pleaded, “Tell me this is going to work, Jim.”
“Come on, it’s going to be fine.” He stood up, spread his arms as wide as he could with his stitches and offered, “Do you need a hug? Come on, Bones, I’ll give you a hug. I think it’ll do us both a world of good.” Walking around the desk, Jim pulled Leonard up and wrapped his arms around him.
Leonard was so warm.
He didn’t want to let go.
“I want to see her,” Leonard muttered into his shoulder. “I need to know that she’s okay.”
“And you will,” Jim told him, “because she’ll be coming here for her summer break. It’s already been arranged.”
Hazel eyes widened with excitement and anxiousness. “What? She’s coming here? Really? What if she doesn’t remember me? What if I still don’t remember everything by then?”
“Then I’ll fill you in,” Jim quickly reassured him. “It’ll work out, Bones. Just trust me on this,” he told the man with a pat on the back. “If you were a patient, what would you tell yourself?”
Huffing, Leonard didn’t answer.
From experience, Jim knew that he’d won the argument. “Bones….”
“I’d tell myself to take it easy. Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Leonard admitted with no small amount of reluctance. “I can’t believe you just made me give advice to myself when I should be the one telling you what to do.”
“What can I say? Jim and Bones.”
And he finally managed a smile.
Leonard snorted. “Jim and Bones indeed. I still can’t believe I forgot her.”
“It was beyond your control. There’s no point in beating yourself up over it.”
“But I don’t remember anything about her! I don’t know what she enjoys doing. I don’t know if she gets along with other kids. I don’t know what she likes and doesn’t like to eat. I don’t know any of her habits. I don’t know what she wants to be when she grows up. I don’t know anything about my own daughter!”
Jim paused. “Well, like I said before, she’s living with her grandma, and she’s in grade school right now. She gets along with everyone, but she finds school boring. Her grandma thinks that’s probably because she’s smarter than the other kids-just like her dad was. She wants to go to college to become a doctor. At dinner, she sorts her food by colour and eats the most colourful ones last. She loves peaches and hates Brussels sprouts. You’ll remember more about her, just give it time.”
Hazel eyes blinked, instantly calming down in order to process all the information that’d just been thrown at him. “I…you’re right. Shit, my shift’s about to begin.” Shaking his head, he took a deep breath. “Thanks for telling me all that. I needed it.”
“Are you going to be alright, Bones?” he asked.
Leonard nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. It’s nothing I can’t deal with. Wait, shouldn’t I be asking you that?”
“Role-reversal, hmm?” He chuckled. “I’ll be fine. We’re just the most messed up pair around here, aren’t we?”
“I won’t even try to deny it. By the way, I should advise you to call your friends before they come looking for you.”
Spock and Uhura had completely slipped his mind-again. “What day is it?”
“Tuesday, why?”
Jim paused, his lips curling into a sheepish grin. “…whoops. I sure hope they found a way to work.”
Hazel eyes narrowed. “You didn’t….”
“I did, and I’ll definitely pay for it later. Don’t even bother lecturing me, Bones, they’ve got you covered. I’ll probably get an earful for not wearing socks too.” He could already see Uhura shaking her head in frustration and Spock’s disapproving eyebrow raise.
Shaking his head, Leonard grabbed his doctor’s coat and made his way to the door. “Do you know how to get back to your friends’ place?” And when Jim averted his eyes and answered with silence, he heaved a sigh. “Give the front desk the address and they should be able to give you directions. I’ll see you in two days. Try to stay out of trouble until then.”
He nodded. “I’ll try my best. You make sure you call me if you remember anything else, okay?”
“I will,” Leonard promised. “Oh, and Jim?”
Blinking, he watched as Leonard turned around and returned to his desk and scribbled something onto a piece of paper. Curious, he asked, “Yeah?”
“Here’s my number, instead of stealing people’s cars like a criminal, just call me if you need me, got it? If I’m not at home, then I’m probably at work. When you’re ready to talk about it, I’ll listen, okay?”
Jim nodded, a soft smile on his lips. “Okay, Bones.”
--
He was both right and wrong about his speculations about his friends’ reactions. He was napping on the couch when they returned home, storming through the doors like he expected them to. Opening his eyes groggily but feeling immensely better, Jim sat up and waited for the inevitable. But instead of yelling at him, Spock and Uhura merely stood by the doorway and watched him with stern expressions on their faces.
Uncomfortable with the silence, Jim looked from one person to the next. Desperate to get some sort of reaction from the two, he asked, “Did you guys manage to get to work alright?”
Uhura crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes, but she remained silent.
Jim began fidgeting with his tags. Loud noises might startle him, but silence scared him. His first instinct was anger, but he managed to swallow it down. “Guys? Can you say something, please?”
When he still didn’t receive a reply, he began wishing he’d stolen another pie to use as a peace offering, but he was pretty sure that the lady next door wouldn’t be leaving her pies unattended again anytime soon.
“I’m sorry about taking your car without permission, okay? I’ll try not to do it again, but I really needed to go somewhere. It’s still safe and sound, no scratches or dents or anything! That’s got to count for something!” he tried.
The silence was driving him crazy.
“Fine! It was the hospital, okay?” he blurted out. “I had to see someone at the hospital. Are you going to kick me out? Please don’t kick me out. I know you have a lot to deal with already and I’m probably not helping, but please don’t kick me out, I’ve got something I have to do here. Guys? Please say something.”
Spock raised a brow and turned to Uhura. “It would appear that your hospital hypothesis was correct.”
Uhura smiled. “And Scotty was right about the silence tactic. I feel better now that I’ve seen him squirm a little.”
He felt both relieved and betrayed by their words. Waiting for the anger to simmer away, he shot them a disapproving frown. “That’s an underhanded move. Wait, you got a ride from Scotty? Where is he? How come he didn’t come in to say hi?”
“He’s currently in the middle of a project and couldn’t bear to part with it any longer than absolutely necessary,” Spock informed him. “He sent his regards.” Folding his arms behind his back, he continued, “Jim, I believe we need to discuss your habit of sneaking out in the middle of the night-with my car.” Spock’s tone might’ve remained even, but Jim could hear the underlying annoyance in it.
In a weak voice, Jim said, “In my defence, it was early morning. And I returned it perfectly intact.”
Spock was unmoved by his words. “Jim, if you ever take my car without explicit permission from either Nyota or myself again, I will, as you like to say, ‘kick your ass.’ And that is all I will say on the matter. I believe I conveyed my sentiments and warned you of future consequences in the most concise and efficient manner possible. Do you have any questions?”
Jim shook his head, not wanting to further evoke the wrath of his friends. Spock could be terrifying when he wanted to be, and he didn’t even have to raise his voice. “None whatsoever.”
“Now that we’ve got that part out of the way,” Uhura began, “tell us about this Doctor McCoy that called and asked for you this morning. I assume this is why you were at the hospital?”
“Yes, ma’am.” He felt like he should be standing at attention, but he couldn’t be bothered to.
“Without socks.”
Jim nodded and repeated, “Without socks.” Then he couldn’t help but add, “I know it’s a huge fashion faux pas, but they got wet and you know I can’t stand wet socks.”
Ignoring his excuses, she continued, “Who is Doctor McCoy?” As always, she never danced around the topic and got straight to the point. It was a trait he appreciated about her.
“He’s Bones,” Jim answered, causing both Spock and Uhura to arch their eyebrows. They spent too much time together, he thought, even their eyebrow arches have synced up.
“He’s the Leonard McCoy we knew?” she asked, unconvinced.
Tempted as he was to correct her on her usage of past tense, he refrained and nodded. “Yes, ma’am. One and the same.”
She studied him for a moment to make sure he was being serious. “How?”
“I’m not too sure, he hasn’t told me everything yet. But it’s definitely him,” Jim insisted.
Uhura frowned, growing more skeptical with every question. “He’s a doctor now?”
“Yes, ma’am. He’s sat his exams and everything.”
“Why didn’t he try to contact any of us?”
“Because he didn’t remember-still doesn’t,” he told her.
She furrowed her brows. “Doesn’t remember what?”
“Anything. Any of us.”
“Not even you?”
Jim swallowed hard and shook his head. “No. Not even me.”
“Or Joanna?”
“Or Joanna.” Then he corrected himself, “Well, I gave him things to work with so he sort of remembers her now. That’s why he called this morning.” Studying her expression, he sighed. “You don’t believe me, do you?”
“I’m having a hard time believing you,” she admitted.
“Can’t really blame you. I had a hard time believing it myself.”
Uhura massaged her temples and sighed. “Let me see if I understood you correctly. So you’re saying Leonard McCoy-our Leonard McCoy is alive and working as a doctor at the hospital, and he’s suffering from memory loss.”
He nodded. “You summed it up perfectly. It’s hard to believe, I get that, but it’s really him. Does this make my actions a little more acceptable?” he tried, hopeful.
She shot him a glare that made him shut his mouth immediately. “No. Why didn’t you tell us any of this?”
“Would you have believed me?” Jim asked.
Opening and closing her mouth for a moment, Uhura shook her head and conceded, “No, probably not.” She sounded apologetic but still not entirely convinced.
“I don’t blame you.” He shrugged. “If I hadn’t seen him and talked to him-and got lectured by him, I wouldn’t have believed me either.”
She studied him for a moment before making up her mind. “We’ll come with you.”
Jim blinked. “What?”
“When you go get your stitches removed, we’ll come with you. We’ll have to drive you there anyways. I need to see Leonard with my own eyes.”
He glanced over at the two. “Spock? Will you be coming too?”
Spock, who’d been watching their conversation in silence, replied with a nod.
“You need the adult supervision,” Uhura muttered.
Jim chuckled. “Aww, you make us sound like a real family. You two make the best makeshift parents ever.”
She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous. We are family-it’s just too bad we can’t ground you. You’re nothing but trouble, Jim Kirk.”
Touched by her words, he shot them a crooked smile and shrugged. “Yeah, but that’s what makes me so lovable.”
Back to Chapter 3
Onwards to Chapter 5