I have no idea what's up with the Doom Trek fest in my brain, but here's the start of yet another fic. Once again, I own nothing, not even the plot really, as this is yet another fill for another LJ kink meme prompt. Enjoy!

Chapter 1: Bad Body Double

"What the hell's the meaning of this, Jim?" The Captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise turns the command chair so he can see his irate CMO.

"The meaning of what Bones?" He flashes the man his brightest grin, which earns him a snarl and a PADD shoved in his face.

"Well then, Captain, mind telling me why the hell you've gone and hires a goddamn Head Nurse without telling me?" The young captain shrugged off his friend's tirade like water over stone.

"You work too hard Bones, thought you'd appreciate the help." The doctor all but threw his hands up in the air with frustration.

"Dammit Jim, I'm the CMO here. It's my job, my responsibility to staff my department as I see fit. All I ask is that you let me do my job!"

"Bones," Jim's voice took on what the Bridge Crew had come to call his 'Captain Voice'. "You've had those personnel files on your desk for months now, and you haven't made any leeway. As Captain, it's my job to make sure all departments are adequately staffed, including your Sick Bay."

The two locked eyes, glaring heatedly at each other, their debate continuing non-verbally as the bridge fell silent. Everyone was eyeing the two, some such as Spock and Uhura more discretely than others. Finaly, McCoy relented, rolling his eyes and sighing mightily. Jim's face cracked into a shit-eating grin even as Bones rumbled at him.

"Fine, but only if I get to hire that M'Benga fellow as well." Quicker than Jim thought possible, there was a hypo in his neck.

"Ack! Dammit Bones, what the hell was that for?"

"Oh don't be such an infant. It's just some extra vitamins. You don't eat enough vegetables." Jim frowned playfully as he rubbed his neck, purposefully over exaggerating how much it hurt. "Make sure they're ready at the next Starbase, Jim. For once you're right, I could use the help."

\-\

"Good call with that M'Benga guy," Jim ribbed his CMO. "Looks like he's got a decent head on his shoulders." McCoy took a discrete sip from his hip flask. They had had to take a shuttle to the Starbase, as the transporter had malfunctioned. Jim thought it couldn't hurt to overlook the slight breach in protocol. Then again, he was never one to really play by the books.

"Yeah, well I hope this Chapel lady's half as good as you seem to think she is," he drawled, the Southern accent creeping back into his speech a bit more with every sip.

"Just relax Bones, I'm sure you'll love her." He clapped the doctor on the arm in a brotherly fashion. "Speaking of which, there she is over there. The blonde one next to door twelve."

Whatever reaction he expected out of McCoy, it certainly wasn't anything close to what actually happened. The doctor's eyes lock onto the new Head Nurse only to have his usually scowling eyebrows rocket up to his hairline, eyes wide and mouth falling open. He even dropped the flask for Christ's sake!

"Hey Bones, everything alright?" McCoy's jaw snaps back shut and his eyebrows lower back onto his face, but his eyes are still wide with surprise and never leave the nurse for a second. It's starting to make Kirk feel jealous, actually.

"Yeah, 'm fine Jim." Chapel finally sees them and starts to walk over. She eyes Jim and smiles softly (they had spoken over a vid conference soon after he had received her application) before her eyes landed on Bones.

Her walk stuttered, almost stopping altogether as a brief look of surprise flitted across her pretty face. Then she smiled at the doctor, coming to a halt in front of the two senior officers.

"Nurse Christine Chapel reporting for duty, Captain." She gave him a very proper military salute and Jim couldn't help but smile at her.

"At ease, Chapel. We're glad to have you aboard." He offered her his hand which she took gracefully, giving it a slight squeeze. "And this here is your new boss and pain in the ass, Dr. Leonard McCoy, our CMO."

"Ma'am," McCoy managed to choke out, eyes riveted to her even as he held out his hand for her to shake. Chapel's eyes never left his friend's face as she accepted the hand, causing Bones's shoulders to relax. Kirk thought both of their eyes looked a bit watery as they shook hands, holding on for far longer than was necessary, both letting go of one another reluctantly.

Kirk was more than a little weirded out by the change in Bones's demeanour, and couldn't help but find it more than a bit funny as well, even if his humour tasted a bit like jealousy. Honestly, looking at these two you'd think they were millimetres away from a bone-crushing hug.

"Let's get you settled in then, shall we?" The two head medical staff finally broke eye contact (a bit sheepishly he thought) and McCoy, ever the Southern gentleman, grabbed Chapel's bag for her, slinging it over his shoulder as they headed back to the shuttle. They sat side by side on one side of the shuttle, while M'Benga and Jim sat more towards the front, Sulu in the pilot's seat.

"Buckle up, Bones." The man nodded, tight lipped. The shuttle climbed into the air, fly off smoothly back to the Enterprise. It didn't escape Jim's notice that Chapel's hand had somehow found its way into McCoy's squeezing comfortingly, or that Bones looked decidedly less green than he had, say, on the shuttle from Riverside when he had first met the man.

Kirk mentally railed on the green-eyed monster, focusing instead on the sight of his ship up ahead, gleaming beautifully in the starlight. "Home sweet home."