1. Chapter 1

"Damn that stupid green blooded hobgoblin." McCoy cursed under his breath. The Vulcan had not shown for his scheduled physical this morning. This was the second time that Spock had skipped out on McCoy and he could not figure out why such a _logical_ being could not follow simple orders. McCoy was the chief medical officer of this hunk of space junk and he was not going to be ignored. McCoy fumed as he made his way to his office. How hard was it to just show up on time? And further more what kind of example was a commander setting if he himself did not follow orders.

McCoy sighed as the door to his office slid open. It had been a long day for the doctor, as people flew in and out of med bay with one ailment of another and here it was 30 minutes after his shift was suppose to have ended waiting for Commander Spock to get off his ass. This simple physical was suppose to be the doctors last appointment for the night, but here he was again working over when he could be doing something more important. Not that he could think of anything at this moment but he was sure there was something. Throwing down the PADD in his hands, McCoy plopped down into the only chair in the closet they called an office. "I need a drink"

Staring down at his desk McCoy could see Spock's medical files. He could not help but look at the emotionless picture that stared out of the PADD. The picture was a perfect replica of Spock. If McCoy did not know any better he would say Spock was about to quirk his eyebrow in that condescending manner that only Spock could pull off.

McCoy did not know when it had happened. He did not know when his feelings of irritation and contempt for the callous humanoid had changed. Maybe it was after Spock had saved them from Khan. Maybe it was after McCoy watched Spock visit Jim every day in the hospital. Maybe it was after McCoy had witnessed Spock explaining complex problems to Chekov during his free time. He did not know but at some point during this first year of their five year mission Spock had turned into someone that McCoy cared about. At some point those feelings of irritation and contempt had turned to excitement and admiration.

McCoy sighed leaning back in his chair closing his eyes against the headache that was starting to form. Jim had always said that he had the worst taste in the people he liked and here was the perfect example. McCoy was no stranger to crushes and had always tending to fall fast and to fall hard. But after his wife had left him he had decided that it was best to just stop those feeling in there tacks. He had learned his lesson; he was just not relationship material.

Leonard could not help the anger that seemed to bubble up inside of him. It had been a routine physical and here he was moping because the patient had not showed. When had his life turned into a teenage melodrama? No, there was no point in him feeling this way and he was going to put a stop to this here and now. If only it was really that simple.

Sitting up straighter McCoy grabbed his PADD quickly opening up his email. It was Leonard's responsibility to make sure that every member of this ship had an up to date physical and if Spock insisted to avoid his McCoy was going to have take action. Opening up a new message McCoy quickly composed an E-mail to Commander Spock before he could change his mind. Before hitting send McCoy reading over his writing to make sure that his point about being taken off active duty was made loud and clear. Spock should not have messed with him. Quickly hitting send McCoy could not help the smile that came over his face or the small hum that escaped his mouth as he leaned back to glance at the rest of his emails.

The majority of them were ship memos letting people know little things that might affect their work, and McCoy was not sure why it was important to inform everyone aboard that the mess hall was out of zucchini so they would just have to start replicating it but there was a memo for it. The rest of the E-mails were from Jim and McCoy could not help but snort at the quantity. He shook his head at his best friend's habit of sending him short messages when he was bored on the job. McCoy ignored most of these only sending back one reply informing Jim that if he was bored McCoy was sure he could find some new hypos to test on Jim.

Feeling marginally better McCoy opened his last e-mail only to recognized the name at the top. "Larry Brenner" realizing that he was getting an e-mail from his ex-wife's lawyer McCoy quickly shut the PADD down. Vowing to deal with that message later, much later, maybe after he had had a few drinks would be the best time. Leaving the PADD on the desk McCoy stood up and stretched his hands above his head. It was late and almost an hour after his shift had technically ended. Heading to his room McCoy's mind continued to race with what ifs and how's but there was no point contemplating those things now.

McCoy decided to call it a night refusing to think anymore about a certain pointy eared bastard. He had given up on the one thing he wanted before he even tried to go after it but it was best this way he did not get hurt this way and with that McCoy went to sleep not thinking about smooth green skin or the feeling of taking the tips of pointy ears between his teeth and he certainly was not thinking about how it would feel to be held by ever cool arms as he drifted into deep slumber.


	2. Chapter 2

Leonard rubbed his eyes as he made his way toward the bridge. He had been kept awake all night with fitful dreams of horrors past. Leonard could still hear screams echoing in his ears, could still smell the blood that had coated his hand that day oh so long ago. Could still hear the sobs of children as he tried to explain that there was no one left to hold them. Sighing Leonard shook his head trying to get rid of the haunting images.

Quickly trying to turn his thoughts to something else Leonard pondered the strange message that he had got this morning. Jim had requested that he meet him on the bridge as soon as his shift started. Stepping into the lift Leonard tried to think of a reason the chief medical officer would be needed on the bridge, but knowing Jim it could be anything. McCoy hated to admit that he had been avoiding his friend and the bridge entirely. Well not Jim per say but more Jim's shadow. It never failed where the captain was he always seemed to have a glaring Vulcan by his side. After the incidents with Khan, Spock and Jim had been inseparable.

McCoy's eyes widened, maybe that was the reason Jim had wanted to talk to him. Maybe he had noticed that McCoy was absent. Sighing again Leonard picked imaginary lint of the bottom of his shirt and said a little prayer that Jim was just being Jim.

The door to the lift swooshed open startling Leonard from his thoughts. Looking around he noticed that everyone seemed to be rushing trying to get who knows what done. Quickly stepping over to the side of the Captains chair, Leonard waited for Jim to finished signing a report for engineering.

"Bones" Jim exclaimed loudly while he turned to give Leonard his devilish smile. "Good just the man I was waiting for." Leonard just gave Jim a skeptical look.

" What the hell is going on Jim, I don't think it has been this busy in here since launch day" Looking around McCoy tried to keep his eyes from lingering on a certain pointy eared bastard. "We going to war or something?" Leonard looked back at Jim, his mouth quirking into a half smile, as he waited for an answer. Jim just smiled shaking his head.

"No, No, Nothing like that we just got orders from Starfleet. It is time to pack up and leave. They say they have all the data that they need about this planet for now." Jim smiled, his eyes shifted so that he was not looking directly at McCoy " So any way we get to go on shore leave isn't that great" McCoy frowned as he looked at Jim, something wasn't right and Jim was hiding it. Jim was terrible at lying it just wasn't in his personality to be dishonest, more the type to shout the truth to the world whether they wanted to hear it or not. Leonard opened his mouth to ask what the hell was going on but was interrupted.

"Captain, sorry to interrupt your socializing." Leonard quickly snapped his mouth shut as Spock glared at the two of them. Something was defiantly going on. Spock was mad at Jim, this was odd, and after they had got over their initial arguments they had both seemed to be glued at the hip. "But could you sign this?" Spock handed a pad to Jim, locking his hands behind his back as he waited. McCoy looked quickly between the two trying to decipher what it was that was going on and decided that he needed to get to the bottom of this. Jim quickly signed the pad and handed it back to Spock. "Thank you captain, I believe that we would all get more done if we got back to work." Spock quickly turned walking back toward his station as McCoy watched dumbfounded. Turning back to Jim, McCoy decided it was time to act.

"You know Jim that reminds me I have some reports that I need you to sign in my office." McCoy gave Jim a pointed look conveying that Jim did not have the choice in the matter but to get off his ass and follow Leonard. "If you have time now would you mind walking down to Medical." Jim looked around before sighing and pushing himself out of his chair.

" Yeah no problem Bones" Jims started to make his way toward the lift with Leonard following. "Oh Spock you have the con Okay" Jim called over his shoulder as he enter the lift not waiting for the Vulcan to answer. Leonard entered quickly after hitting the button to get to medical. The lift had just started to move when Jim leaned forward hitting the emergency stop button. Leonard had really planned to have this conversation in his office but would not deny the Captain his favorite meeting place.

"Alright Jim what the hell is going on?" Leonard asked getting straight to the point to keep Jim from wiggling out of answering his questions. "Everyone is buzzing around like bees at the start of spring and Spock is acting like you just kicked his newborn puppy"

"Ignore Spock he is just mad because we are leaving before every cell on that planet has been studied and neatly cataloged" Jim sighed leaning back against the side of the elevator. "Starfleet sent orders telling the enterprise to pack up and leave" Jim started not looking at McCoy "at least that was the official orders" McCoy looked at Jim as he felt anxiety start to build within him. McCoy knew the only time Starfleet gave unofficial orders was when they knew something bad was going to happen. It was there way of leaving it off the record that they had messed up somewhere along the way.

"What else did they tell you? I thought this was just a data gathering mission? What could have gone wrong?" McCoy looked at his best friend wishing that he could bear some of the burden that was put on this young man. McCoy wasn't old by any means but it was moments like this that he remembered that Jim still seemed to have this sense of innocents around him. It was that innocence and his inability to give up that made him such a good captain. Jim sighed staring at a place that seemed to be over McCoy's head.

"A Klingon ship is heading toward us. We are close enough to the neutral zone that apparently they feel threatened. It seems that they were able to make it through a Starfleet checkpoint disguised as a merchant ship. By the time Starfleet realized what was going on to let us know, it was too late. The ship should be upon us within the hour. We will have to fight." Jim paused taking a deep breath. "that is why I called you to the bridge, you need to ready medical for an attack. I do not know how we are going to get out of this. Starfleet says that they believe that the ship is an altered Bird of Prey so they could be cloaked." McCoy felt annoyance swell up within him Starfleet was kicking them to the curb with not so much as an umbrella to keep them dry.

"Those fucking bastards are they sending anyone to help or are they just going to let their prize ship take a beating." McCoy refused to believe that Jim would not get them out of this situation Jim always had a plan; maybe not a well developed one but a plan. "So what the hell are we going to do?" McCoy looked at Jim waiting to see what his Captain had in store.

"I have not told the crew yet." Jim held up is hand when McCoy opened his mouth to protest. " I am waiting for the away crew to get back I did not want anyone panicking and making irrational decisions at least not until everyone is safely back on board" Jim's face hardened and he looked McCoy directly in the eye "I will not leave anyone on that stupid planet." McCoy got the idea that someone had already made that request. After that we are going to try and get out of here with as little damage as possible but I wanted to warn you that it could get messy." McCoy looked at his friend knowing that this could be the last conversation he ever had with him.

"Well fuck we better get ready for the fight then" McCoy turn hitting the button to restart the elevator before placing a hand on Jims shoulder. "And when we get out of this you owe me a drink got that" McCoy smiled as the elevator opened. Jim would get them out of this there was no doubt in McCoy's mind. Walking out of the elevator McCoy turned "Oi I better get that shore leave you where talking about too and tell Spock to pull that stick out of his hobgoblin ass" McCoy grinned as Jim laughed at him as the elevator door started to close. "I fucking hate space" Leonard grumbled as he turned to enter the medbay.

As the door opened McCoy looked around. The majority of the nurses turned and smiled as a way of greeting "Alright everyone we are officially code yellow so get your asses ready?" McCoy watched as everyone's face fell and they all started rushing to put in place the emergency procedures. Today was going to be a long day.


	3. Chapter 3

"FUCK, hand me that hypo". McCoy wiped sweet from his brow as he held together the gaping wound on the body in front of him. " No, no not that one" McCoy waved his hands quickly reaching across the body to grab the hypo that he needed. "Go help the head nurse; you are no use to me if you can't tell the difference between dermal regeneration and small pox." The nurse quickly scurried away but McCoy could only fill the slightest bit of guilt for being mean this was a time of war and the smallest mistakes lead to the worst of problems. Finished sealing the wound McCoy gave the body a sedative and moved on to the next bed; to the next bleeding mass. God when had the members of his crew turned into just bodies; just bloody masses laying on beds for McCoy to knit back together. Grabbing the next set of dermal regenerators McCoy turned, only for the ship to pitch violently forcing McCoy to grab hold to the medical table behind him to keep from falling to the floor.

" Fuck" McCoy exclaimed as he looked down at the bloody mess that was now his hand. There on the table was an opened laser scalpel, which he had apparently placed his hand on top of.

"Damn it people we are the medbay of the USS Enterprise not a back woods hospital. Remember to properly take care of your tools. For fucks sake!" Turning from his rant McCoy grabbed the closest bandage he could find quickly wrapping his hand wincing as the pressure making the wound throb in protest. He would deal with it later for now there was a man in front of him that seemed to be dying from blood loss.

"I swear to god that when this hell is over I am going to retire to an abandon hut in the middle of nowhere.' Leonard continues to mumble to himself as he worked. Never looking at the face of the people he treated. He did not want to know, did not want to see who it was that he was pronouncing dead. He had already lost count of the number of letters that he was going to have to right explaining how someone's son or daughter had died an honorable death defending there ship. It was all bullshit there was not honor in this, they had all been left to die by the very organization that they served and when this was all over McCoy was going to have a few words to say to the higher up no matter if it cost him his job or not. There were some things that you just didn't do.

McCoy sat down at his desk chair quickly setting an alarm to go off in exactly 30 minutes. Closing his eyes he learn his head back and let the muscles in his neck relax he had been working nonstop for the past 36 hours and it was only at the insistence of Nurse Chapel that he took a break. The only reason that he agreed was because there seemed to be a lull in the fighting. McCoy quickly tried to think about what Jim had said over the comms. Something about negotiations for a cease fire. God McCoy hoped that they would be able to reason with the Klingons. A chuckle slipped past McCoy's lips at the thought of Klingons being reasonable, when had they ever been reasonable. McCoy could feel his mind start to shift to unpleasant reminders of the last time the enterprise had fought a battle that had lasted this long. It had been khan that had ultimately tried to destroy the enterprise. McCoy could not help but snort in truth that fight had been caused by Star Fleets mishaps too. McCoy sighed they seemed to be developing a pattern. As McCoy's head started to become fuzzy with exhaustion he could not help but wonder where his friends were. He knew that Jim was at least safe there would have been an enouncement of change in command it something had happened. But McCoy still wondered about the rest of the bridge crew had he patched them up and just not recognized them in the mass of bodies or were they part of the ones deemed dead on arrival. God he wanted to know so bad that everything was going to be okay but he was too scared and tired to move to grab his comm. McCoy felt as his brain seem to shut down as he sank lower down in his chair the world around him going black.

McCoy shifted as he felt cool arms wrap around him holding in a tight embrace. He shuddered as he felt delicate lips sliding along his jaw. He felt so safe nestled against this man. Defiantly man McCoy thought as he ran his hand down a muscular chest. McCoy sighed as he was pulled tighter against the body in front of him. McCoy breathed deeply his mind filled with the scent of sandal wood and strong incenses that he could not place. Smiling to himself Leonard shifted so that the man was now lying on top of him. He was not sure how he had not notices the bed before but he could not bring himself to care as he felt the weight of olive skin slide against him. The body he clung to so desperately start to hum softly in his ear and Leonard could not help but moan at the vibrations. Leonard shifted to look up at the man's face, the humming persistently growing louder. A hand quickly caress the back of his head forcing it in to the bend of the man's neck

"No don't look, it will be over if you look." The words were whispers as a wish in Leonard's ear but the humming continued to grow louder and Leonard had to know what was causing it. Quickly jerking back Leonard feeling himself begin to fall as the safety of the mystery mans arms fade away.

McCoy sat straight up in his chair his eyes wide open as the ship gave a hellish lurch to the left. Grabbing onto his desk McCoy barely saved himself from being pitched into the floor. McCoy winced as pressure was put on his injured hand. He really should get that fixed. Being distinctly thankful that he had not ate in a while McCoy reached for the alarm he had set turning off the annoying humming that was suppose to gently bring a person out of sleep. "Gently my ass" McCoy thought as he remember the strong hands that held him in his sleep. Groaning McCoy got up to stretch out the kinks in his back.

It was distinctly clear that the negotiations had not went well as the ship gave another tumbling motion making McCoy clutch the wall as he made his way back into the fray of blood and torn skin. McCoy had barely stepped out of his office when he was confronted by the worn face of Nurse Chapel.

" There has been and acid spill on level 2 and a fire broke out in sector 6" Nurse chapel handed McCoy a clip board as she pulled her hear into a bun. "Guess its back to work then" With that she turned heading toward the closest biobed getting to work on a shrieking burn victim. Quickly getting his bearings McCoy turned to do the same. Grabbing restraints McCoy made his way to what looked like the worst of the victim. He had to get him under the lasers there was no way that the skin was going to be salvageable. McCoy could not help but complain as he tightened the straps around the victims limbs. They were already running out of sedatives and what was left was only part of the emergency kits scattered around the ship there was no way of knowing what was left. McCoy started to wheel the bed in front of the laser system when he felt his comm cut on.

"Bones, come in Bones" McCoy felt a since of relief run through him, Jim was alive, that relief was quickly followed by dread about what his captain could possibly want.

"What is it Jim I don't exactly have time for a chat right now." McCoy busied his hand pulling a hypo our and trying to find a place to stick the poor boy in front of him.

"Bones you are needed in the POD room now." The line cam through statically like the person was a distance a way for the device.

"Jim I can't just drop what I am doing and head that way if you haven't notice but we seem to be in the middle of a war." Deciding that there was no safe place to inject the hypo McCoy gave the burn victim the highest dose of pain med he could before turning and waving a nurse over. McCoy started to make his way to his office to grab his emergency bag. "What the hell happened I swear to god if you found another allergy I will personally confine you to a bubble?" McCoy tried to lighten the mood for the bad news he knew he was about to get.

"Bones it's Spock he..." That was all McCoy heard before dropping his comm. No this could not be happening, anyone but Spock. Grabbing his bag McCoy raced out of medbay giving vague orders to Nurse Chapel. He did not know what was wrong with Spock but McCoy was going to fix it. McCoy refused to add Spock's name to the list of letters that would need to be sent after this war. Turning a corner McCoy enters the lift that would take him to the POD room. He was going to save him. He just had to get there in time.


	4. Chapter 4

McCoy tapped his foot as he waited for the lift to reach his destination. There was so much that could have gone wrong there was no way of preparing himself for what he was about to see. McCoy started as the lift dinged signaling that it had reached the correct floor. Squeezing through the still opening doors McCoy dashed down a corridor that seemed to go on for miles. Only after taking a sharp right did Leonard realized that he had not waited for Jim to tell him which hanger they were in. Panic rose up inside of Leonard at the thought that he was going to be too late all because he was stupid enough to drop his comm.

'Shit' Leonard swore under his breath as he turned in place trying to look for some sign of where the captain was. "JIM!' McCoy called out trying not to let his fear over run him. "JIM, where in gosh darn it are you?" McCoy threw up his hands in exasperation before heading toward the first hanger deciding that he was going to find his friends if he had to search through every hanger one by one.

"Bones!" Leonard had just got to the opening of the first hanger when he heard the sound of his best friend calling him. "We're over here, come quick." McCoy quickly turned around heading for the hanger that Jim had popped out of. The relief that Leonard felt at finding his friends was quickly shot to the ground at the sight in front of him. There lying at the mouth of an escape pod was Spock surrounded by smears of vibrant green. Quickly scanning the Vulcan in front of him, McCoy looked for the wound that could cause so much blood to be spilled. He found it at the top of Spock's leg, a gaping wound that had been hap-hazardly wrapped in rags.

"What the hell happened!?" Leonard quickly knelt down beside the wounded Vulcan already starting to scan his vitals and crossing his fingers that the hours he had spent studying Vulcan Physiology paid off. The Vulcan temperature was too high and his heart was beating to fast. McCoy looked up at Jim waiting for an answer, only to have the captain snort crumple to the ground as exhaustion caught up with him.

"The negotiations failed; is what happened." Jim ran a hand through his hair making it stand up in all different directions.

" I do believe that that would be an over simplification of what happened Captain." Spock chipped in as he tried to shift into a more comfortable position. Only to winces as more pressure was put on his leg.

"Stop moving you pointy ear bastard. Who knows what you have done to the mess that you are calling your leg." McCoy quickly reached into his bag finding a mild pain hypo to give to the Vulcan. "So how the hell does simple negotiations lead to the attempted amputation of a leg?" McCoy asked as he slowly started to pull back the rag that was between him and the carnage that was Spock's thigh muscle. Spock seemed to open his mouth to speak but Jim cut him off before he had a chance.

"Yeah negotiations my ass, apparently since we did not surrender they decided to just kill us, Spock and me barely made it off their ship. Isn't that right Spock?" McCoy didn't bother to look up to see the expression of complete calm that was on the Vulcan's face. McCoy knew it was fake and that the Vulcan had to be in a lot of pain

" Yes there was only a 3.42% chance that we would make it off of the ship and then only another 2.36% of making it back to the ship alive." Jim snorted at the figures Spock seemed to be able to pull out his ass even under the most extreme conditions. McCoy was not amused though and he could not help but clench his jaw as he continued to knit the skin of Spock's leg back together. It would not do to make Spock mad now, McCoy would just have to wait till they were out of this useless battle and then Spock was going to get a strongly worded lecture from McCoy about the appropriate time to do math and when he was suppose to be panicked.

"Bloody horse shoe up your ass kid." McCoy grumbled under his breath. "So why in tarnations am I performing major surgery in the POD hanger and not in medical?" McCoy griped as he got to a particularly deep part in the gash. It was then that the ship gave a sharp jerk forcing McCoy to curse as he found himself grabbing a hold of the Vulcan to stop him from jostling his leg too much. "Stupid Klingons I swear if I get my hands on them I'm gonna…." McCoy was cut off as the ship pitched again.

"Fuck" Jim cursed as he grabbed onto the side of ship as he tried to stand. "Look we are out of time to explain, I need Spock in that POD now" Jim propped himself up against the wall as the ship's lights flickered. "Fuck, this is the captain to Sulu, do you hear me Sulu" Jim shouted into his comm.. "McCoy is his leg stable we do not have time for this, Spock has to get off this ship." McCoy turned toward Jim not realizing that he was sill gripping the Vulcan, as he opened his mouth to respond.

"Of course captain, if you will only give me a moment to stand." Spock cut in before McCoy was able to say anything, brushing Leonard's hands away as if they were nothing.

"The hell you are" Leonard jumped to his feet trying to push Spock back down to a sitting position. His indignation growing at the way Spock just seemed to write him off. "At the rate you are going you are going to bleed to death before we even get out of this war, not to mention you are going to tear open the work I already have done." Leonard continued to huff and try and push Spock back to the ground. He would not let the man in front of him sacrifice himself for some unknown reason. Spock turned toward Leonard easily pushing his insistent hands away only to have to lean against the wall for support

"Doctor I am hardly going to bleed to death as you say, and I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself." McCoy quickly raised his hands to try and catch Spock as he seemed to sway. McCoy opened his mouth to continue to argue the finer points of what Spock was going and not going to do but he found that he was again cut off for the second time tonight.

"Enough, Enough, we do not have time for you two to start one of you bickering matches. We are in the middle of a battle and I need Spock in that POD, and Bones do not look at me that way, both of you get in the POD now." Taking a deep breath Jim grabbed a hold of Spock to help support him as they made their way into the POD. " Spock you are to bring Bones up to date on what is going on, Bones you are to save Spock's leg, Nurse chapel will handle the sick bay, Sulu will become second in command, and I am going to kick some Klingon ass. That is an order." Before either Spock or McCoy could argue they found themselves seated in the escape POD watching as Jim sealed the door behind him.

"I hate when he does that" McCoy sighed as pulled the safety harness around him and listened to the launch countdown begin. McCoy now saw why Jim had chosen this escape POD. It was nothing more than a three person POD used for medical drop offs between ships when teleportation was too dangerous. Using this POD allowed for the rest of the ship to still have a means of escape in an emergency. McCoy refused to think about what would cause a need for those PODs to be used. McCoy gripped the bench he was sitting on and stared at the Vulcan who was strapped in across from him. There was not much else in the POD just some minor navigation systems toward the front and a bed and the facilities in the back. Their benches were against the wall between the pilots chair and the bed allowing for quick access to a patient if needed. McCoy clenched his teeth as the countdown started to get to the end.

"6"

McCoy hated the voice they chose to record this with; it was so emotionless, so monotone.

"5"

Leonard closed his eyes. His head started to spin; this was the worst part about spaceships.

"4"

Leonard could feel it; he was going to throw up, God why did he ever come to space

"3"

Leonard started to feel the POD move and pushed his head against the back of the wall to avoid moving too much. That was when he noticed it; the POD was tipping sideways, Leonard's eyes shot opened to find himself looking up at Spock.

"2"

Just then the ship pitched back and forth like a bucking bronco. Causing Leonard's head to jerk forward only to slam back against the wall.

"1"

Leonard could not help the half terrified yell that came out of him as the POD was launched at the same time the ship gave a violent jerk banging against the sides of the POD in rat tat tat pattern that started in the front and made it way to the back. The lights went out all but for an ominous blinking red that seemed to permeate from the control panel. There was no sound but their own breathing as they finally found themselves floating in space. McCoy opened his eyes to look out at the space around them only to see the enterprise shoot off in the opposite direction taking with it their last chance to change their minds. Their last chance to change the plan, a plan McCoy had yet to be brought up to speed on.

With that McCoy turned to Spock and watched as he tried to make his way toward the controls. Struggling with his own harness McCoy huffed.

"Get off that leg, damn it, I just got it stabilized" Finally freeing himself McCoy helped Spock to the pilot's chair. "and you had better have one hell of a reason for shooting us out into the fucking abyss you and Jim like to call home."


	5. Chapter 5

McCoy slumped down into the copilots chair letting the weight of what Spock had just told him sink in. The Klingons had a secret base on their side of the neutral zone. Leonard listened to the silence around him, the silence of space, only interrupted by the precise movements of Spock hands on the controls. Klingons on this side of the neutral zone, it was unbelievable, a whole colony of them that had apparently sent out a distress signal when the enterprise had showed up. That was why the bird of prey was chasing the enterprise. Leonard pinched the bridge of his nose trying to figure out how this was not going to end up in a Federation-Klingon war. Leonard sighed for what felt like the hundredth time before looking up at Spock's unreadable face.

"So let me get this straight the Klingons passed over the neutral zone and set up a colony right under our noses." Leonard paused taking a deep breath before throwing his hands up. "What the hell for?" Spock continued to work at the controls never once looking up at McCoy.

"Before the Enterprise landing party had to leave they found trace elements of dilithium. If the planet houses dilithium crystals and the Klingons could get to them first they would hold a great bargaining chip for the upcoming treaty renewal."

"Fuck" Leonard leaned back into his chair "and we're stuck floating through space with this vital information, that is just lovely" Leonard said scowling.

"Do not be so melodramatic doctor, navigation and thrusters are down communications is working just fine I have sent out a distress signal to the nearest Starfleet base, they should contact us shortly."

McCoy blinked at the perfect picture of calm in front of him still not sure whether to thank Spock for the update or smack him over the head. It was only when he really looked at Spock that McCoy realized that there was something wrong. Spock wasn't calm; there was a slight tremor in his hands only visible now that they were not moving. McCoy's eyes widened as he watched a drop of sweet slide down the side of Spock's face, which was slightly more green than normal. Without thought to the action, McCoy grabbed the back of Spock's head placing his other hand on his forehead. Spock was to warm, bordering on feverish.

"Doctor, I will ask you to remove your hands from my person" Spock said but did not try and pull away.

McCoy ignored him instead placing a hand on his check to tilt his head up while his other hand retrieve the flashlight that was always in his pocket. McCoy checked Spock's eyes only to see that they were glassy and dilated."You seem to be running a fever, up now; I am going to have to check your leg for infection." McCoy felt his heart drop at the thought of Spock being in trouble, but he didn't have time to think about that he was a doctor and a damn good one; he would fix this. Pulling Spock to his feet he herded him over to the bed in the back of the Pod. "Lay down" Spock didn't protest just stared at him while McCoy started looking for Medical supplies in the mess on the floor around him.

"Doctor I merely need to rest, I am fine." Spock said while laying back on the bed.

"The hell you are and don't fucking make me call rank on this"

McCoy looked down at Spock's leg and started to cut away what was left of the pants leg around the wound, swearing as it became clear that his hard work earlier had been mostly ripped open causing the wound to ooze fresh green blood. "Fuck" McCoy grabbed the clean bandages to keep pressure on the wound while opening the sterilizer. "Why the fuck did you not tell me you were bleeding again" McCoy berated Spock but could not help but feel guilt at not checking on the wound earlier. "Fuck" McCoy swore again as he removed his hand from the wound only to watch as it seemed to be bleeding more.

"I do not see the reason for such language doctor" Spock said as if they were having tea not trying to save his leg.

"Shut the Fuck up" McCoy didn't have time to fight with Spock and if he wasn't grateful that was his own damn problem, Leonard had lost too many people to care what Spock wanted at the moment. McCoy grabbed the dermal regenerator and started to knit Spock's veins back together before working his way up through muscle. There was no way around it Spock was going to have a nasty scar and Leonard could only hope that there was minimal nerve damage. It was only after McCoy finished knitting the skin back together did he realized that Spock was talking.

"…. Swearing is nothing but an emotional hindrance to the work you are doing, and is 48% likely to cause you to make a mistake." McCoy looked down at Spock raising his eyebrows as he noticed Spock seemed to be staring at the ceiling instead of him.

"Well you're fucking welcome Spock" McCoy said before stabbing him with a Hypo to fight off any infection.

"If you are quite done Doctor I believe I will now enter a healing trance" Spock said again not looking at him.

"Sure what ever Spock" McCoy waved his hand in the air before making his way into the bathroom to wash the green off him his skin.

McCoy stared at his face in the small mirror in front of him. The water was still running but had long since washed the blood away. McCoy was tired, it had been a long day, night, he wasn't even sure and now the quiet around him seemed to want to pull him under. Turning the water off McCoy dried his hands. He had to find something to do or he was going to drive himself crazy. This wasn't over yet but the waiting was probable going to kill him. Making his way back up to the front of the pod McCoy gave Spock a once over but there didn't seem to be any change in his condition.

Sitting down in front of the computer McCoy started to mess with the interface trying to get to his emails. Just because he was stuck in space didn't mean he could stop doing his job. McCoy gave a little smile at finally getting the machine to open the network so he could access all of his files. Pulling up his messages McCoy started to make his way through the drival starting at the bottom. Most turned out to be from Starfleet grad students asking for his opinion on this or that, as if he didn't have better things to do then to makeup quotes for their papers. McCoy sighed at the third research paper topic and reminded himself that it wasn't their fault. All active members of Starfleet were signed up for a program to help students understand active duty better. But there was only so many ways to say no that is a horrible idea you are going to get someone killed before he got tired of it. Quickly skipping the next three messages McCoy answered one from an old college buddy he still kept in contact with. It was only when Leonard made it back to the top of the list did he stop and stare at the message from the Lawyer he had all but forgot about. hastily scanning through it McCoy swore under his breath.

"Fucking bitch, you're not getting my daughter" McCoy quickly wrote up a message and forwarded everything to his own lawyer, before leaning back in his chair staring at the ceiling. This was not the first time that Lizzy had tried to take their daughter away from him, God it wasn't even the first time this year. He didn't get to see Johanna enough as is and Lizzy wanted to cut all ties and move to one of the outer planets. McCoy would be damned if he let that happen. McCoy was startled from his own thoughts as static started to come through the pods speakers.

"Starfleet to Enterprise pod 582, Starfleet to Enterprise Pod 582, do you copy?" McCoy jumped forward grabbing the headset.

"yes this is Enterprise pod 582 we copy" McCoy could not help the smile that split his face

"Enterprise pod 582 your location had been determined a team will be there in the next 24 hours for pick up, do you copy."

"yes we copy' McCoy sat back as the comm went dead. There weren't very chatty people.

"I was un aware that you had a daughter, Doctor" McCoy jumped again spinning around in his chair to see that Spock was staring at him. McCoy got up making his way over to check Spock's vitals

"ah yes, Johanna, she with be 10 this year" McCoy informed Spock not sure what else to say. Spock was not normally one to comment on peoples personal live. McCoy's eyebrows knit together as he read over Spock's vital again before quickly checking on his leg. Spock's temperature had only gone up, but his leg seemed to be doing fine no signs of infection. McCoy grabbed another Hypo. "Spock your temperature is still rising I am going to have to give you something to bring it down." But before McCoy could inject the medicine Spock's hand wrapped around his wrist in a death grip.

"The fever is not caused by an infection, the medicine will be of no use doctor" Spock was again staring at the ceiling of the pod. "It will also be best if you would restrain from touching me" McCoy pulled his arm back placing the hypo back in the case. He had to bite his tongue as he felt his temper flare.

"Well then as you seem to know everything, why don't you inform me as to what is going on?" McCoy could not help to spit out the words.

"Doctor you would not understand, now if you will leave me I need to meditate." McCoy felt his hands ball into fist, how was he suppose to treat Spock if he refused to tell him what was going on.

"The hell I will, Spock I am your doctor and you are going to tell me what the Fuck is going on right now or so help me I will find away to drag it out of you." McCoy's breathing was heavy when Spock finally turned to look at McCoy. He seemed to stare at him forever before Spock finally broke eye contact seeming to stare over Leonard's head instead

"Doctor I am going through something known to Vulcan's as Pon Far, now if you would please leave me be." Spock said no more before closing his eyes making it look like he had slipped back into his trance, but McCoy could see the tension in his face, the way his eyebrows pinched together making him look to be in pain. McCoy sat down on one of the benches on the wall of the pod.

"Fuck"


	6. Chapter 6

McCoy stared at the opposite side of the pod; the silence around them suffocating, as time seemed to slow to a crawl. Leonard knew that this would eventually happen, Pon Far was something that McCoy had planned on. He just didn't think it would happen like this. No, McCoy had set up a whole secret protocol just for this situation. Spock's room had been set up so that Spock could be locked in with the mate of his choice, the computer was set up to read there vitals from a PADD McCoy kept locked up in Medbay. How had this gone so wrong? It had been a week before the enterprise had set back out into space after Khan. McCoy had done everything he could to make sure every member of the starship enterprise was safe, all allergies in check, all weird physiologies recorded. God he had spent a whole day speaking to Ambassador Spock about the finer details of Vulcan mating habits and it was all for not. They were not on the Enterprise, they were not on any kind of shore leave, they were in an escape pod drifting in space and Leonard was so very tired of losing people.

There was no way around it. Leonard was going to have to bond with Spock. Leonard balled his hand into fist at his side trying to push down the feeling of hope that started to grow in him. This was not something that Spock wanted and just because Leonard had a stupid crush did not make this right. He would not let himself be hurt like that again, but he had to save Spock and that was what mattered right now. Leave it to the Vulcan to go into his mating cycle at the worst possible time.

"Spock let me help you" Leonard leaned forward placing his hands on his knees, trying to figure out how he was going to convince the green bastard not to get himself killed. Leonard watched as Spock's fingers twitched on the bed he was laying on. That small uncontrolled movement speaking louder than anything Spock could say.

"Doctor, you do not know what you are asking, now if you would please cease talking this requires a great deal of concentration," Spock went back to laying completely still as if this was just a routine meditation, but Leonard knew better. Leonard leaned back against the wall as he felt his blood start to boil. Not only was Spock trying to kill himself, Spock did not believe that Leonard was a competent enough doctor to know what the hell was going on. Leonard took a deep breath trying to calm him temper, now was not the time to fight with Spock. With how visible his symptoms are Spock must have been hiding them for days. Leonard swore softly; that was the reason Spock had been avoiding his physical. There would have been no way to hide his irregular levels. Leonard stood up and started to pace in front of the bed

"Look" Leonard said his hands swinging wildly trying to make his point. "If you think for one second that I let you board the Enterprise without knowing every facet of your green blooded physiology then you think less of me as a Doctor then I thought," McCoy could not keep the anger out of his voice as he continued. "and another thing, do you have any idea how hard it is to get in touch with ambassador Spock these days. I had to tell them you were dying before the Vulcan high council would ever consider setting up a conference call. So yes Spock I know exactly what you are going though and I also know for a fact that the chances of you meditating through this are slim to none. Your counterpart wasn't able to, so why the hell would you be able to." McCoy was breathing hard by the time he finished his rant and it was only then did he realize that Spock had sat up and was watching him pace.

"Who?" Spock said as McCoy stared at him like he had lost his mind.

"Who what?" was the only response that Leonard could come up with as he sat back down on the bench.

"Who did my counterpart bond with?" Spock continued to stare at Leonard, he sounded normal but Leonard could see that the shaking had spread to the rest off Spock's body as if he was vibrating.

"Jim" Leonard sighed "his Jim from the other time line. He said that, well, it is kind of personal so maybe you should ask him." Leonard stared at the ground in front of his feet before running his hand through his hair. "He did say that you would not be able to meditate through it. That he had tried and failed." Looking back up into the eyes of the person he was trying to save "Spock he almost died, if his Jim hadn't have gotten there in time he would have."

"Doctor I will not force you to do this"

"You are not forcing I am offering."

"Doctor, what you are offering will not be easy, it will not be equal, I will be rough, I will not be kind." Spock took a breath, his face turning into a snarl. "You will have to live with this, and every seven years you will have to live through it again. There is no way to break the bond, I will own you." McCoy bit his lip as he felt the hope he did not know was growing inside him die and Leonard berated himself for thinking even for a second that Spock and himself would have some semblance of the bond ambassador Spock had talked about having with his Jim. What had the ambassador call his Jim, his T'hy'la. Leonard had known this though; it was part of his contingency plan. McCoy had learned that Spock's betrothed had lived through the destruction of Vulcan and with the help of Sarek and Ambassador Spock was willing to be sent to the Enterprise at the drop of a dime if it came to that. Ambassador Spock had then informed Leonard all about Vulcan law, Spock would be the owner of his mate. That the mate had no rights and that they were only there to help carry on the blood line. Ambassador Spock mentioned that this was how the law was written but it was rarely practice this way, but if this was what Spock needed Leonard would give him this. Leonard had offered and he wasn't going to let Spock die, not like this.

"Are you done telling horror stories?" Leonard smiled as Spock drew his lip back into a snarl "I knew what I was offering the first time, now are you going to die on that bed or…"

That was all Leonard got through saying before he was being dragged on the bed by strong arms. His mouth attacked with lips and teeth as hand ripped bottoms off clothes. As a too hot body pushed him hard into the bed, Leonard could not help but reach his hands up twining his fingers in pitch black hair. Leonard held Spock tight trying to convey that he wasn't going anywhere but Spock was already too deep inside his heat to understand.

Leonard bucked up against Spock pushing him away to take in a large gulp of air before sinking his teeth in to the soft skin of Spock's shoulder just hard enough to get his attention. Spock grunted pulling Leonard closer to him, seeking contact.

"Spock we have to get our clothes off" Leonard said gently running his finger Spock's hair. Spock grunted again as he pushed himself just far enough away for Leonard to run his hand up Spock's sides, feeling every rib, every breath as he pulled Spock's shirt over his head. Leonard ran his hand down the middle of Spock's chest admiring the way the flesh rippled under every touch. Spock's hand came up to wrap around Leonard's wrist just as his fingers had started to undo the button of Spock's pants.

"Doctor" Leonard looked up into unsure eyes as Spock seemed to struggle with himself. The fight for control verses taking what he wanted was so visible Leonard could do nothing but smile. Leonard slowly raised his hand placing it on Spock's cheek.

"shh, I've got you," Gently Leonard rubbed his thumb across a green flushed cheek "and it's Leonard, I'm not your doctor right now." Leonard watched the battle in Spock's eyes before he was swept away into another biting kiss. Spock pulled back a hair from Leonard's lips.

"Leonard" Spock whispered before taking Leonard's bottom lip between his teeth. This time there was no stopping. Spock ground down into Leonard before pulling off the rest of their clothing. From then on Leonard could do nothing but hold on as Spock pushed and pulled him into position, taking everything that he want, everything that he needed.

It was hours later before Spock finally collapsed half sprawled on top of Leonard. Running his hand gently across his chest as he dosed off, the Pon Far fever has started receding from Spock's eyes that he looked up at Leonard opening his mouth slightly as if he was trying to say something. Spock gently cupped Leonard's cheek.

"How are you feeling?" Spock looked nervous as if he didn't want to know the answer. Leonard just smiled.

"Sore, but fine, you weren't as rough as you claimed you were going to be," Spock nodded biting his lip as he lay his head back down on Leonard's shoulder. Leonard sighed running his hands along Spock's back. "Sleep Spock It will all look better in the morning." The next sound Leonard heard was the even breaths of the Vulcan in his arms.

McCoy was running his fingers through Spock's hair when he heard the comm ding. It had only been about an hour since Spock had dosed off. Leonard hadn't been able to sleep, his mind to wired and he body to exhausted. Quickly extracting himself from the sleeping Vulcan, McCoy swore slightly as his muscles protested, he was getting to old for this. Making his way to the front of the pod McCoy put the headset on while he turned off the pods speaker so as to not wake up Spock.

"Enterprise Pod 582 this is the Starfleet ship Nebula do you copy?"

"Yes we copy"

"Enterprise Pod 582, it seems that your pod has external damage we will have to beam you out, do you copy?" McCoy looked down at his own state of undress while taking a deep breath before answering.

"Negative Starfleet ship Nebula, my name is Leonard McCoy Starfleet ID 544M152MD. As the Chief Medical officer of the starship Enterprise I am demanding that you beam your Chief Medical Officer down. Do you Copy?" Leonard held his breath as there was a long pause from the other end.

"Enterprise Pod 582, this is Captain William Young of the Starship Nebula, on what authority do you have to make this demand." Leonard took a deep breath before crossing his fingers that this worked.

"Starfleet ship Nebula, as Chief medical officer of the starship Enterprise I am issuing the Starfleet Code 22w86a143r641 and medical code 832, this now means that I out rank you Captain Young of the starship Nebula. Kindly beam your Chief medical officer down to discuss terms."

McCoy cut the transmission feed trying not to let his hands shake as he removed his head set. Spinning his chair around Leonard turned to face Spock and could not stop the small tug at his lip. Spock was sprawled across the small bed he hair sticking up in all directions. Leonard sat and watched as Spock's face pinched together as he reached for the spot that Leonard had been moments before. Who would have guessed the stuck up Vulcan liked to cuddle? Leonard felt his heart swell at the sight before quickly pushing the feeling down. It wouldn't last, Spock would soon be back to normal and the bond would not make him reach for Leonard any more. Pon Far would be over. Leonard had saved Spock and that was all that mattered. Leonard stood making his way back over to the bed to gently placing a hand on Spock's shoulder to shake him awake.

"Spock wake up, the rescue ship is here." Spock slowly opened his eyes blinking up at Leonard. Those eyes that had showed every emotion only hours before where now closed off and guarded and it made Leonard's heart break that this person in front of him had changed. Pulling away from Leonard Spock sat up in bed.

"I..well I guess we better be dressed" Leonard said before starting to pull together what was left of his clothes. He must have been making a strange face as he starred at his ruined shirt and thanked whatever deity out there that he still had his pants because Spock cleared his throat making Leonard look up at him.

"Doctor, are you alright?" Spock raised his eyebrow as if he was questioning Leonard's sanity. McCoy stared at the man in front of him as he came to the realization that that it would be seven years before Spock would call him Leonard again. That they were now just Doctor and Commander Spock, Leonard sighed.

"I'm fine Spock" Leonard finished putting on what clothes he could before making his way back to the co-pilot chair. He had just sat down when he heard the distinct sound of someone being beamed into their escape Pod and Leonard took one last look around taking in all the details that he could before plastering on a smile and introducing himself to the Doctor in front of him.

It was hours later when the starship Nebula returned them to the Enterprise. They had both been poked and prodded by medical and only after they had been cleared were they thrown into a conference call with Starfleet command. The pompous bastards had taken forever going over every detail three times as if they didn't already know what had happened. That they didn't know for a fact that they had thrown the Enterprise to the wolves.

McCoy was on docked pay for the next two weeks but it had been worth it to see those bastards shift in their seats. It had also been nice that Captain Young had accidental hit the ship wide Comm during the process. McCoy couldn't even stop smiling when Spock glared at him for making a scene. It also helped McCoy's good mood that he had pulled every string he could think of to protect Spock. Nobody would know that Spock was bonded and all records of it were sealed so tight that not even command could look at them without calling forth a full Starfleet hearing. McCoy didn't know if Spock wanted to tell anybody or not but now it was his choice. There really hadn't been a lot of time to talk about what would happen after. Spock didn't seem to need the contact anymore and McCoy wasn't going to push.

This was what McCoy was thinking about as Spock and Leonard beamed back aboard the Enterprise. McCoy felt some disappointment at Jim not being there to greet them but knew that he was tied up with his own conference call at the moment.

"Commander Spock you are needed at the Helm" Speaking of Jim, McCoy smiled at being home, even if it was a hunk of metal in space. McCoy turned to face Spock.

"Well it seems that there is still some work to be done, don't let Jim keep you too long you are on doctor's orders to rest is that understood" Leonard could feel the exhaustion creeping up at him as he stared bleary eyed up at Spock, the corners of him mouth pulling up into a small smile. "oh and your physical has been reschedule for two day from now I will send you the time, and I expect you to be there." McCoy said a little punch drunk

"Doctor" Spock bowed his head placing his hands behind his back.

"Spock" McCoy returned with the same head nod while Spock turned to walk away. Spock suddenly stopped turning back to face Leonard.

"Doctor," Spock paused seeming to gather his thoughts " Thank you" Spock again turned and made his way down the hall way. Making his way back to his own room Leonard rubbed at his chest for he could not shake the feeling that this was goodbye.


End file.
