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1lostoneTitle: If You Can’t Be With The One You Love, Honey…
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: Erm idek. Probably longish. 3100/???
Paring: K/S (Background Uhura/Bones)
Warnings: I'm not altogether sure. Language, snark, UST and fluffy angst? Flangst... the other white meat. Anything supertriggery I'll post warnings per chapter.
Summary: Spock has a… not all together logical reaction to Captain Kirk’s constant disregard for his own safety on away missions.
Beta: The amazing![[info]](https://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=1)
jademac2442 . I mean it guys. You should see what this looks like before she gets her hands on it! ♥♥♥
A/N: Thanks tojademac2442 and jlm121 for cheerleading and letting me bounce ideas off of their heads. This process was occasionally painful.
“This is bullshit, C-c-captain.”
Jim snorted, trying not to move too much. Every time he did, a blast of icy air would worm its way under the thin nubby-looking blanket, causing them both to shiver. Even snorting seemed like too much effort. “They’ll find us, Lieut’nt.” His tongue didn’t seem to be working right.
Uhura was silent for a moment. When she spoke, the feel of her lips against neck felt strangely brittle. Her breath had frozen. Uhura’s lips were literally like ice. Even that didn’t make him panic. He knew he should be. Jim understood hypothermia, understood all the symptoms. He knew his lethargy was a bad sign. He knew that his body was already beginning to shut down. He’d known that when he’d stopped realizing how cold he was. He still shivered every once in awhile, but it wasn’t the furious, desperate shaking from before.
“I th-thought you didn’t’ believe in no-win scenarios, C-captain? Don’t you dare give up on me, damnit!”
“’M not givin’ up.” He wasn’t. Jim knew that his crew would be looking for them. Sure, they might have only been knocking about the black together for a little over six months, but he trusted them. They were brilliant and more loyal than anything Jim had ever imagined. They would find them. Well, Uhura at least. She should be safe. The thought slipped away from him and Jim didn’t much care.
Jim blinked again, shifting. He gritted his teeth against the draft of cold air and moved so more of his body was on top of Uhura. Her arms were already crossed over her chest, the movement of her body and push of her arms arranged him so that their bodies were more in alignment. Jim pressed with his legs onto hers to try and cover her more. They both avoided looking at each other, the awkwardness of their position having bled away hours ago. Jim hadn’t even said anything when she had wormed her arms into his command shirt, sharing her body heat with him.
“You sh-should have more of th-these blankets. You’re too cold.”
“No. Tha’s an order.” Fuck. His mouth wasn’t working right. It wasn’t exactly regulation, but Jim had made her take three of the four blankets they’d had, placing them under the frozen rock so that with him on top, she’d be much warmer. He’d even made a crack about finally being able to be on top of her, but all that had gotten him was a smack on the forehead and a very unamused look.
Uhura was silent for a few minutes. Maybe it was longer. Jim was having a really, really hard time concentrating. “Funny way of enforcing your orders, Captain. Squishing your subordinates must be one of the new techniques. Captain?”
Jim smiled sleepily. He wasn’t sure why he’d been complaining before. It was really much, much nicer now. He let his mind drift, feeling sleep just on the horizon.
The last few days had really been beyond shitty. Diplomatic negotiations with the High Chancellor had gone completely to shit, almost from the time they’d beamed down onto the planet. He and Uhura had been separated from the rest of the party, and forced to watch while the Klingons had systematically killed the three members of the security team that had beamed down with them. How Starfleet had had absolutely no intel on how the Klingons had been there first was just a fucking mystery. Jim had planned on letting Chris know exactly what he thought of this blatant ‘Fleet clusterfuckery, but now? Now he didn’t care so much.
He and Uhura had been taken to some kind of jail cell while the Klingons argued about how much ransom they could get for their prizes. The jail had been several feet underground, where their communicators didn’t work. Ironic, really. That was part of the reason that Starfleet had insisted that they open negotiations. The planet was rich with the minerals needed for part of some of the finer communications devices, but the mineral deposits also made it impossible for them to keep in contact with the Enterprise.
They'd been sitting in the jail cell, cooling their heels when the transporter’s effects had started. Uhura and he had both acted on blind instinct, joining hands so that where ever they were being transported, they’d be transported together. Jim had had the split second to feel triumph- he really had the best fucking crew ever- before their molecules reformed to deposit them in the middle of what felt like an ice age. The realization that they hadn’t been saved by his crew had been crushing. It had been complete and utter luck that the blankets had transported with them, otherwise they’d be dead now.
It felt like they had been there for days. Whatever personal boundaries they’d had had completely disappeared. It was too cold to really converse. Besides, there wasn’t all that much to say. Of course, Jim had tried his best to give her a half-hearted leer when her hand had slid down under his trousers to press against his ass, but Uhura had just rolled her eyes.
“Captain?”
Man, Uhura’s voice had this really naggy quality he just hadn’t had a chance to really appreciate before.
“Jim?”
“‘Mmm?”
Her hands hurt him. A slap, her arms moving briskly on his skin. It felt like she was burning him and he twitched, moaning.
“Jim, I swear to God I’ll flip you over and let your dick freeze off if you don’t stay awake!”
Well, that was uncalled for. He winced, finding the strength to rouse himself. Uhura was just mean enough to do it, too. Jim wasn’t exactly best friends with his brilliant communications officer, but she’d forgiven a lot of his past shit after he’d saved Spock’s life a few times. Outside of duty, they’d developed kind of a comfortable squabbley relationship that seemed to consist mostly of verbal volleys and sarcasm.
“So, if we get out of this, y’gonna let me call you Ny’ta?”
Jim was surprised to see the slight sheen of tears in her eyes. Alarms went off in his head, sending the apathy receding slightly. The squirming, wiggling feeling of failure rose up, choking him. If she cried, she’d freeze. Jim hissed when he felt her tear on his face and was completely astounded when he felt a delicate, burning hand on his cheek, pulling him down for a chaste kiss on the forehead. “Sure, Jim. You stay awake, and you can call me whatever you want.” Her lips touched his, briefly.
Jim was confused about the stars bursting behind his eyes until his foggy, confused brain realized that it was a transporter beam.
The heat from the room caused him to cry out in pain. It felt like he’d been dipped in lava, that it was boiling over his body, sending each nerve ending aflame.
Conversation sounded too loud and Jim felt everything envelop him. Too much sound, too much heat. He’d done it. They were safe.
Jim finally allowed himself to pass out.
___________________________________
Jim heard Bones muttering under his breath, and for a minute the sound was so familiar he had to squelch the feelings of normalcy that they brought. Hell, if Bones wasn’t fussing at him, then shit must be pretty damn dire.
“Bones.” Ow. Speaking might have been a little ambitious. His throat felt like someone had melted it with a phaser then sanded it to an even more rough finish.
“Damnit, Jim, I’m getting too old for this shit.” Bones shined something unpleasant in his eyes, causing Jim to wince. His whole body felt as though he’d been peeled and the skin put on backwards.
“Damn near all of your skin had to be regrown, kid. That’s why you’re hurting now. You were practically frozen to Uhura. Well, not to her exactly but the moisture on her skin...”
But Jim was lulled to sleep by the rough affection in the voice and fell asleep before Bones could get to his point.
____________________________
The next time he woke up it was to Nurse Chapel’s perfect, heart-shaped ass.
The perpetual twelve-year old in him couldn’t help the initial smirk, although it was beaten quickly to death by the guilt of professionalism that he’d struggled so hard to build up from his rather inauspicious beginnings as the Enterprise’s captain. Still. He wasn’t dead, and lying here on his side, watching while she picked up the equipment that must have been what woke him up, Jim couldn’t help the slight veneer of amusement he knew had to be on his face.
“Captain Kirk.” Hearing Spock’s voice sound so cold shocked Jim out of his staring. Spock stood there as he always seemed to do when Jim had landed in sickbay- managing to convey complete and total disapproval without actually showing any emotion in the stiffness of his body.
Jim jumped and winced when something in his back touched the biobed, sending the damn thing caterwauling as it registered that Jim was in pain. He couldn’t help the small, sharp sound that he made, his eyes stinging with tears as his back told him in no uncertain terms that he was a complete and total idiot.
He saw Spock stiffen even more as Bones practically pushed him out of the way in his haste to get to Jim. Jim sensed more than actually saw Nurse Chapel to his left, turning off the screeching sound. His back was agony; fire under his skin, burning it from the inside out.
“Nurse! Commander! Steady him before he starts to---damnit!”
Jim felt his nerves all jump to attention at once, and his body couldn’t seem to keep up. He began twitching, thrashing on the bed. He was aware of Spock’s dry, soft hands burning on his shoulders, of Nurse Chapel trying to hold down his legs. Jim might have imagined the way Spock’s brown eyes widened just briefly when Jim’s pain-filled gaze met his, but Bones had finally found something that slid against his neck. For once Jim welcomed the hiss of the hypospray as his conscience dimmed around the edges before he was plunged into blackness.
________________________________________
“I thought you’d never wake up. I think Chekov’s been down here at least three times. He looks kind of like you kicked his favorite puppy off the ship.” Uhura looked completely comfortable as she set aside the PADD she’d been working on, leaning forward and looking at Jim, who blinked up at her, bemusedly. “Welcome back.”
Jim licked at dry lips, and tried to smile. He could feel that there was something strapped to his chest, just to the left of his sternum, but knew better than to remove it. He felt a little uncomfortable at the way Uhura blinked rapidly, emotions shifting on her face. He hated this part. Jim was very grateful that they had both survived, but the naked emotion on her face made his guts squirm. Jim looked away for a moment, feeling awkward.
“Ya ujasiri wa simba haina kulinda ni kutoka kwa mkuki ya wawindaji wa. Asante1, Jim”
She handed him a glass of water and helped him steady his hand to drink it. “I know you don’t feel like hearing it, but since you can’t move until that thing finishes its sequence, you’re stuck. “Thank you for my life, Captain.” Uhura squeezed his hand once, then coughed, pulling away and back into her on-duty, professional self. “You scared us. What is it with you and needing to be the center of attention?”
Jim took another drink of water, slowly. “You said that I could call you ‘Nyota’.”
“Yes, I did.” Jim’s heart gave a funny sort of quiver when he saw the slight half-smile that was on her lips. She reminded him of his mom for a second; the grin he got when she knew he was up to no good.
“Awesome, Nyota. Do you know where Bones is, Nyota? I kind of want to play with my ship again, Nyota, if you think that he’ll clear me for duty.” Jim had the pleasure of seeing her check her instinctive eye-roll, knowing that she recognized his somewhat lame attempt at diffusing his awkwardness with humor. He was so intent on his annoying teasing that he didn’t hear Bones until he was practically on top of him.
“Not a chance, kid. You’re off duty for another day or two-at least.”
“Bo-ones!” Now that his face didn’t feel like it was about to flake off, Jim felt perfectly justified in throwing an exaggerated pout towards his friend. Nyota plucked the water out of Jim’s hands and sat back, watching with a smirk of amusement as Bones descended, tricorder in hand.
“I swear to God, if your damnfool actions don’t get your killed, then your delicate damn immune system will jump in to kick your scrawny ass.”
“My ass is not scrawny.” Jim blushed a little under the matching withering looks that both Nyota and Bones shot him at hearing his mutter, then grinned, delighted at the way they both rolled their eyes the exact same way. “Wow, you two totally look like you’ve been practicing that.”
“I’m not kidding. You had an allergic reaction to the nerve-regenerator. I didn’t even know that was medically possible, Jim. You had a seizure, then a few smaller ones before we could get you calmed down. Then Spock---”
Spock? “Wait, what? What happened to Spock, Bones?” Jim watched the two of them look at each other briefly out of the corner of their eyes and frowned.
“Ah- nothing bad, exactly Jim. You know that Vulcan’s are touch-telepaths, right? Well, I think Spock just picked up a little more from touching your bare shoulder than he had counted on. It rattled him a little. Didn’t even know that Vulcans could freak out. Damnedest thing I ever saw. Next it will be Cardiassians doing the two-step.”
Jim frowned up at the ceiling. He couldn’t remember anything really. Just Spock’s eyes over him. The feel of his skin against his own, slight as the touch had been. Jim looked at Nyota. “But he’s okay, right? I didn’t freak him out too badly or anything did I?”
“No, Jim. Spock’s fine.” She shot Bones a look and Jim was amused to see the way Bones’ lips twitched in response. Hmmm. He’d never seen Bones just take a scold like that before. Interesting. Maybe they had been practicing mutual eye-rolling. Well, among other things.
“Okay so... any word on why we were taken to that planet? How about the Klingons? What about...”
“Jim. You’re off-duty. Act like it, before I knock your ass out again.”
Jim frowned. “Look, Bones. It’s not like this is just some random intel. I need to know what happened and I need to know it now. If you’re keeping me off duty, then fine. Whatever. But you’re not going to keep me here where I can’t find out what happened.” Jim’s voice had hardened, and he noticed that both Nyota and Bones’ posture had changed when they heard the commanding tone implicit in his words.
Bones’ eyebrow winged into his bangs. “Right, Jim. Now just calm down. You’re not going to overdo it. It’s kind of cute that you think you have any authority here, but if you don’t get that dose of stubborn outta your ass, you’re gonna do yourself injury and will be confined to sickbay. Now you just cool your heels til I am good and ready to release ya. CMO outranks the Captain on medical issues, Jimmy.” Bones smirked. “But I’m sure you know that.”
“Alright, gentlemen. I think that’s my cue to leave.”
“Deserter,” Jim muttered under his breath, shooting her a dark look under his eyelashes. He did watch with great interest the way she brushed against Bones on her way out, sending Bones flushing a bright red.
“Baby.” Nyota sing-songed back, leaving his medbay with a little wave of her fingers.
Bones did an admirable job completely avoiding Jim’s gaze for the next four minutes that he finished examining Jim, unhooking the small regenerator from his chest and scanning him with his tricorder.
“You know I’m going to give you a metric fuckton of shit for this, right Bones?”
“I was kind of hoping that you wouldn’t.” Bones met his gaze for the first time since Nyota left them alone, his face still ruddy with embarrassment.
“Yeah, do you know me at all?”
Bones sighed, a long and drawn out breath of air that reminded Jim of when he’d stumble into the clinic at the academy, knuckles and face a mess. He opened his mouth, Jim forestalled him, raising his hand.
“I’m not going to trade on keeping quiet so that I can get out of here a little early.”
Bones blinked for a moment. When he smiled it was slow building, like his lips had to remember how to stretch that way. “Just for that, you’re gonna wear one of these little whirlygigs that tell me if your heart rate goes up. You can putter around the ship, but if you step foot on that Bridge your ass’ll be back here before you can blink twice. We clear?”
“Crystal.” Jim couldn’t keep the grin off of his face and didn’t even bother trying. He checked the chronometer and saw that Alpha was just ending. He wanted a shower and some new clothes. The scrubs Bones’d popped him in reeked of disinfectant. Knowing when to push his luck, and when to keep quiet, Jim simply held out his arm for the little heart monitor. It went right under the skin of his arm, much like the universal translator.
“Okay so, everything okay then?”
“Yeah. You’ll tire easily. Try not to push it, kid.”
Jim slid off the bed, wincing when the cold floor hit his bare toes. Bones jerked his head towards the uniform that was folded on a counter. He knew Jim hated to be seen looking anything other than professional. Hell. At least it wasn’t the medical gown that let his ass hang out the back. The one time he’d worn that back to his quarters he’d nearly caused a riot.
Well, his ass was definitely worth a stare or two. He just hadn’t expected Scotty to trip over his own feet that way. Jim hobbled over to the clothes and tried not to wince when he pulled off the shirt he was wearing.
Bones, no fool, snorted and collected his instruments. “Jim?”
Jim paused in his struggle with pulling down the black undershirt. He looked over at Bones and raised his eyebrows.
“Thank you for saving her.” Bones left, the doors quietly swooping shut behind him.
Jim sighed. He had to find Spock and figure out what the fuck had been going on.
CHAPTER TWO
_______________________
[1] The bravery of a lion doesn't protect it from the spear of a hunter. Thank you, Jim.
Rating: NC-17
Word Count: Erm idek. Probably longish. 3100/???
Paring: K/S (Background Uhura/Bones)
Warnings: I'm not altogether sure. Language, snark, UST and fluffy angst? Flangst... the other white meat. Anything supertriggery I'll post warnings per chapter.
Summary: Spock has a… not all together logical reaction to Captain Kirk’s constant disregard for his own safety on away missions.
Beta: The amazing
jademac2442 . I mean it guys. You should see what this looks like before she gets her hands on it! ♥♥♥A/N: Thanks to
jademac2442 and jlm121 for cheerleading and letting me bounce ideas off of their heads. This process was occasionally painful. “This is bullshit, C-c-captain.”
Jim snorted, trying not to move too much. Every time he did, a blast of icy air would worm its way under the thin nubby-looking blanket, causing them both to shiver. Even snorting seemed like too much effort. “They’ll find us, Lieut’nt.” His tongue didn’t seem to be working right.
Uhura was silent for a moment. When she spoke, the feel of her lips against neck felt strangely brittle. Her breath had frozen. Uhura’s lips were literally like ice. Even that didn’t make him panic. He knew he should be. Jim understood hypothermia, understood all the symptoms. He knew his lethargy was a bad sign. He knew that his body was already beginning to shut down. He’d known that when he’d stopped realizing how cold he was. He still shivered every once in awhile, but it wasn’t the furious, desperate shaking from before.
“I th-thought you didn’t’ believe in no-win scenarios, C-captain? Don’t you dare give up on me, damnit!”
“’M not givin’ up.” He wasn’t. Jim knew that his crew would be looking for them. Sure, they might have only been knocking about the black together for a little over six months, but he trusted them. They were brilliant and more loyal than anything Jim had ever imagined. They would find them. Well, Uhura at least. She should be safe. The thought slipped away from him and Jim didn’t much care.
Jim blinked again, shifting. He gritted his teeth against the draft of cold air and moved so more of his body was on top of Uhura. Her arms were already crossed over her chest, the movement of her body and push of her arms arranged him so that their bodies were more in alignment. Jim pressed with his legs onto hers to try and cover her more. They both avoided looking at each other, the awkwardness of their position having bled away hours ago. Jim hadn’t even said anything when she had wormed her arms into his command shirt, sharing her body heat with him.
“You sh-should have more of th-these blankets. You’re too cold.”
“No. Tha’s an order.” Fuck. His mouth wasn’t working right. It wasn’t exactly regulation, but Jim had made her take three of the four blankets they’d had, placing them under the frozen rock so that with him on top, she’d be much warmer. He’d even made a crack about finally being able to be on top of her, but all that had gotten him was a smack on the forehead and a very unamused look.
Uhura was silent for a few minutes. Maybe it was longer. Jim was having a really, really hard time concentrating. “Funny way of enforcing your orders, Captain. Squishing your subordinates must be one of the new techniques. Captain?”
Jim smiled sleepily. He wasn’t sure why he’d been complaining before. It was really much, much nicer now. He let his mind drift, feeling sleep just on the horizon.
The last few days had really been beyond shitty. Diplomatic negotiations with the High Chancellor had gone completely to shit, almost from the time they’d beamed down onto the planet. He and Uhura had been separated from the rest of the party, and forced to watch while the Klingons had systematically killed the three members of the security team that had beamed down with them. How Starfleet had had absolutely no intel on how the Klingons had been there first was just a fucking mystery. Jim had planned on letting Chris know exactly what he thought of this blatant ‘Fleet clusterfuckery, but now? Now he didn’t care so much.
He and Uhura had been taken to some kind of jail cell while the Klingons argued about how much ransom they could get for their prizes. The jail had been several feet underground, where their communicators didn’t work. Ironic, really. That was part of the reason that Starfleet had insisted that they open negotiations. The planet was rich with the minerals needed for part of some of the finer communications devices, but the mineral deposits also made it impossible for them to keep in contact with the Enterprise.
They'd been sitting in the jail cell, cooling their heels when the transporter’s effects had started. Uhura and he had both acted on blind instinct, joining hands so that where ever they were being transported, they’d be transported together. Jim had had the split second to feel triumph- he really had the best fucking crew ever- before their molecules reformed to deposit them in the middle of what felt like an ice age. The realization that they hadn’t been saved by his crew had been crushing. It had been complete and utter luck that the blankets had transported with them, otherwise they’d be dead now.
It felt like they had been there for days. Whatever personal boundaries they’d had had completely disappeared. It was too cold to really converse. Besides, there wasn’t all that much to say. Of course, Jim had tried his best to give her a half-hearted leer when her hand had slid down under his trousers to press against his ass, but Uhura had just rolled her eyes.
“Captain?”
Man, Uhura’s voice had this really naggy quality he just hadn’t had a chance to really appreciate before.
“Jim?”
“‘Mmm?”
Her hands hurt him. A slap, her arms moving briskly on his skin. It felt like she was burning him and he twitched, moaning.
“Jim, I swear to God I’ll flip you over and let your dick freeze off if you don’t stay awake!”
Well, that was uncalled for. He winced, finding the strength to rouse himself. Uhura was just mean enough to do it, too. Jim wasn’t exactly best friends with his brilliant communications officer, but she’d forgiven a lot of his past shit after he’d saved Spock’s life a few times. Outside of duty, they’d developed kind of a comfortable squabbley relationship that seemed to consist mostly of verbal volleys and sarcasm.
“So, if we get out of this, y’gonna let me call you Ny’ta?”
Jim was surprised to see the slight sheen of tears in her eyes. Alarms went off in his head, sending the apathy receding slightly. The squirming, wiggling feeling of failure rose up, choking him. If she cried, she’d freeze. Jim hissed when he felt her tear on his face and was completely astounded when he felt a delicate, burning hand on his cheek, pulling him down for a chaste kiss on the forehead. “Sure, Jim. You stay awake, and you can call me whatever you want.” Her lips touched his, briefly.
Jim was confused about the stars bursting behind his eyes until his foggy, confused brain realized that it was a transporter beam.
The heat from the room caused him to cry out in pain. It felt like he’d been dipped in lava, that it was boiling over his body, sending each nerve ending aflame.
Conversation sounded too loud and Jim felt everything envelop him. Too much sound, too much heat. He’d done it. They were safe.
Jim finally allowed himself to pass out.
___________________________________
Jim heard Bones muttering under his breath, and for a minute the sound was so familiar he had to squelch the feelings of normalcy that they brought. Hell, if Bones wasn’t fussing at him, then shit must be pretty damn dire.
“Bones.” Ow. Speaking might have been a little ambitious. His throat felt like someone had melted it with a phaser then sanded it to an even more rough finish.
“Damnit, Jim, I’m getting too old for this shit.” Bones shined something unpleasant in his eyes, causing Jim to wince. His whole body felt as though he’d been peeled and the skin put on backwards.
“Damn near all of your skin had to be regrown, kid. That’s why you’re hurting now. You were practically frozen to Uhura. Well, not to her exactly but the moisture on her skin...”
But Jim was lulled to sleep by the rough affection in the voice and fell asleep before Bones could get to his point.
____________________________
The next time he woke up it was to Nurse Chapel’s perfect, heart-shaped ass.
The perpetual twelve-year old in him couldn’t help the initial smirk, although it was beaten quickly to death by the guilt of professionalism that he’d struggled so hard to build up from his rather inauspicious beginnings as the Enterprise’s captain. Still. He wasn’t dead, and lying here on his side, watching while she picked up the equipment that must have been what woke him up, Jim couldn’t help the slight veneer of amusement he knew had to be on his face.
“Captain Kirk.” Hearing Spock’s voice sound so cold shocked Jim out of his staring. Spock stood there as he always seemed to do when Jim had landed in sickbay- managing to convey complete and total disapproval without actually showing any emotion in the stiffness of his body.
Jim jumped and winced when something in his back touched the biobed, sending the damn thing caterwauling as it registered that Jim was in pain. He couldn’t help the small, sharp sound that he made, his eyes stinging with tears as his back told him in no uncertain terms that he was a complete and total idiot.
He saw Spock stiffen even more as Bones practically pushed him out of the way in his haste to get to Jim. Jim sensed more than actually saw Nurse Chapel to his left, turning off the screeching sound. His back was agony; fire under his skin, burning it from the inside out.
“Nurse! Commander! Steady him before he starts to---damnit!”
Jim felt his nerves all jump to attention at once, and his body couldn’t seem to keep up. He began twitching, thrashing on the bed. He was aware of Spock’s dry, soft hands burning on his shoulders, of Nurse Chapel trying to hold down his legs. Jim might have imagined the way Spock’s brown eyes widened just briefly when Jim’s pain-filled gaze met his, but Bones had finally found something that slid against his neck. For once Jim welcomed the hiss of the hypospray as his conscience dimmed around the edges before he was plunged into blackness.
________________________________________
“I thought you’d never wake up. I think Chekov’s been down here at least three times. He looks kind of like you kicked his favorite puppy off the ship.” Uhura looked completely comfortable as she set aside the PADD she’d been working on, leaning forward and looking at Jim, who blinked up at her, bemusedly. “Welcome back.”
Jim licked at dry lips, and tried to smile. He could feel that there was something strapped to his chest, just to the left of his sternum, but knew better than to remove it. He felt a little uncomfortable at the way Uhura blinked rapidly, emotions shifting on her face. He hated this part. Jim was very grateful that they had both survived, but the naked emotion on her face made his guts squirm. Jim looked away for a moment, feeling awkward.
“Ya ujasiri wa simba haina kulinda ni kutoka kwa mkuki ya wawindaji wa. Asante1, Jim”
She handed him a glass of water and helped him steady his hand to drink it. “I know you don’t feel like hearing it, but since you can’t move until that thing finishes its sequence, you’re stuck. “Thank you for my life, Captain.” Uhura squeezed his hand once, then coughed, pulling away and back into her on-duty, professional self. “You scared us. What is it with you and needing to be the center of attention?”
Jim took another drink of water, slowly. “You said that I could call you ‘Nyota’.”
“Yes, I did.” Jim’s heart gave a funny sort of quiver when he saw the slight half-smile that was on her lips. She reminded him of his mom for a second; the grin he got when she knew he was up to no good.
“Awesome, Nyota. Do you know where Bones is, Nyota? I kind of want to play with my ship again, Nyota, if you think that he’ll clear me for duty.” Jim had the pleasure of seeing her check her instinctive eye-roll, knowing that she recognized his somewhat lame attempt at diffusing his awkwardness with humor. He was so intent on his annoying teasing that he didn’t hear Bones until he was practically on top of him.
“Not a chance, kid. You’re off duty for another day or two-at least.”
“Bo-ones!” Now that his face didn’t feel like it was about to flake off, Jim felt perfectly justified in throwing an exaggerated pout towards his friend. Nyota plucked the water out of Jim’s hands and sat back, watching with a smirk of amusement as Bones descended, tricorder in hand.
“I swear to God, if your damnfool actions don’t get your killed, then your delicate damn immune system will jump in to kick your scrawny ass.”
“My ass is not scrawny.” Jim blushed a little under the matching withering looks that both Nyota and Bones shot him at hearing his mutter, then grinned, delighted at the way they both rolled their eyes the exact same way. “Wow, you two totally look like you’ve been practicing that.”
“I’m not kidding. You had an allergic reaction to the nerve-regenerator. I didn’t even know that was medically possible, Jim. You had a seizure, then a few smaller ones before we could get you calmed down. Then Spock---”
Spock? “Wait, what? What happened to Spock, Bones?” Jim watched the two of them look at each other briefly out of the corner of their eyes and frowned.
“Ah- nothing bad, exactly Jim. You know that Vulcan’s are touch-telepaths, right? Well, I think Spock just picked up a little more from touching your bare shoulder than he had counted on. It rattled him a little. Didn’t even know that Vulcans could freak out. Damnedest thing I ever saw. Next it will be Cardiassians doing the two-step.”
Jim frowned up at the ceiling. He couldn’t remember anything really. Just Spock’s eyes over him. The feel of his skin against his own, slight as the touch had been. Jim looked at Nyota. “But he’s okay, right? I didn’t freak him out too badly or anything did I?”
“No, Jim. Spock’s fine.” She shot Bones a look and Jim was amused to see the way Bones’ lips twitched in response. Hmmm. He’d never seen Bones just take a scold like that before. Interesting. Maybe they had been practicing mutual eye-rolling. Well, among other things.
“Okay so... any word on why we were taken to that planet? How about the Klingons? What about...”
“Jim. You’re off-duty. Act like it, before I knock your ass out again.”
Jim frowned. “Look, Bones. It’s not like this is just some random intel. I need to know what happened and I need to know it now. If you’re keeping me off duty, then fine. Whatever. But you’re not going to keep me here where I can’t find out what happened.” Jim’s voice had hardened, and he noticed that both Nyota and Bones’ posture had changed when they heard the commanding tone implicit in his words.
Bones’ eyebrow winged into his bangs. “Right, Jim. Now just calm down. You’re not going to overdo it. It’s kind of cute that you think you have any authority here, but if you don’t get that dose of stubborn outta your ass, you’re gonna do yourself injury and will be confined to sickbay. Now you just cool your heels til I am good and ready to release ya. CMO outranks the Captain on medical issues, Jimmy.” Bones smirked. “But I’m sure you know that.”
“Alright, gentlemen. I think that’s my cue to leave.”
“Deserter,” Jim muttered under his breath, shooting her a dark look under his eyelashes. He did watch with great interest the way she brushed against Bones on her way out, sending Bones flushing a bright red.
“Baby.” Nyota sing-songed back, leaving his medbay with a little wave of her fingers.
Bones did an admirable job completely avoiding Jim’s gaze for the next four minutes that he finished examining Jim, unhooking the small regenerator from his chest and scanning him with his tricorder.
“You know I’m going to give you a metric fuckton of shit for this, right Bones?”
“I was kind of hoping that you wouldn’t.” Bones met his gaze for the first time since Nyota left them alone, his face still ruddy with embarrassment.
“Yeah, do you know me at all?”
Bones sighed, a long and drawn out breath of air that reminded Jim of when he’d stumble into the clinic at the academy, knuckles and face a mess. He opened his mouth, Jim forestalled him, raising his hand.
“I’m not going to trade on keeping quiet so that I can get out of here a little early.”
Bones blinked for a moment. When he smiled it was slow building, like his lips had to remember how to stretch that way. “Just for that, you’re gonna wear one of these little whirlygigs that tell me if your heart rate goes up. You can putter around the ship, but if you step foot on that Bridge your ass’ll be back here before you can blink twice. We clear?”
“Crystal.” Jim couldn’t keep the grin off of his face and didn’t even bother trying. He checked the chronometer and saw that Alpha was just ending. He wanted a shower and some new clothes. The scrubs Bones’d popped him in reeked of disinfectant. Knowing when to push his luck, and when to keep quiet, Jim simply held out his arm for the little heart monitor. It went right under the skin of his arm, much like the universal translator.
“Okay so, everything okay then?”
“Yeah. You’ll tire easily. Try not to push it, kid.”
Jim slid off the bed, wincing when the cold floor hit his bare toes. Bones jerked his head towards the uniform that was folded on a counter. He knew Jim hated to be seen looking anything other than professional. Hell. At least it wasn’t the medical gown that let his ass hang out the back. The one time he’d worn that back to his quarters he’d nearly caused a riot.
Well, his ass was definitely worth a stare or two. He just hadn’t expected Scotty to trip over his own feet that way. Jim hobbled over to the clothes and tried not to wince when he pulled off the shirt he was wearing.
Bones, no fool, snorted and collected his instruments. “Jim?”
Jim paused in his struggle with pulling down the black undershirt. He looked over at Bones and raised his eyebrows.
“Thank you for saving her.” Bones left, the doors quietly swooping shut behind him.
Jim sighed. He had to find Spock and figure out what the fuck had been going on.
CHAPTER TWO
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[1] The bravery of a lion doesn't protect it from the spear of a hunter. Thank you, Jim.
