Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.

Author's Note:

The story has been revamped but the focus (Jim and Carol) has remained the same. Like before, this correlates with my first fic, Escape Artist. As far as timeline, Encompass begins about two weeks after Escape Artist ends-Jim is recuperating from his run-in with Kodos. Thus, expect a lot of hurt/comfort. Updates will be slower than they've been with my other fics- about once a week. It *might* be a good idea to read Escape Artist before this one but its not completely necessary. Thanks for reading!

A MILLION THANKS to DLB48, Amazing Beta Reader A.K.A. Miracle Worker!

"Bones, what was I thinking?"

Captain James T. Kirk had saved Earth- twice- and probably the universe as he knew it. He had died, only then to be resurrected. He'd fearlessly faced Klingons, Romulans, and countless other alien species. Despite those heroics, as he sprawled lazily on the couch in his quarters, he mulled over the fact that he was absolutely terrified. Terrified that for the first time ever he was interested in a woman who was interested in him in a way that he had never experienced before. Not only interested, but they were dating, and dating exclusively.

He never dated exclusively. No one ever approached him about dating in that sense. He never wished to date only one woman. It was a foreign concept to him until Carol Marcus found her way into his heart. It began slowly enough during the year after Khan had threatened and picked up pace the past five months, until it completely overcame him a mere two weeks ago.

Carol wasn't a random woman he'd picked up at a bar this time. She was, in Jim's opinion, one of the most intelligent crew members on the Enterprise. Strangely, that fact alone scared him at the moment. He was still recuperating from a day of concentrated torture at the hands of Section 31 agents and Kodos. To Jim's chagrin, his mental capacity was presently fair at best. He attempted to play Spock at chess only yesterday and lost miserably. It was still an enjoyable game but the fact he could not keep up as he normally could now irritated him.

"Jimmy, you're thinking with your heart for once." Bones was a flurry of activity around him, prepping hypos, getting a drink of water to set on Jim's coffee table, and another pillow.

"I don't believe that I was thinking at all," Jim sighed.

"Still struggling with that?"

Jim shrugged his answer and leaned back into the pillow Bones had brought over.

"Here, kid," Bones handed him pills and water. "You know those therapy sessions will help."

Jim barely tolerated the medically prescribed psychology sessions. They were necessary but utterly painful and depressing.

Bones frowned at him.

Jim had not meant to speak the last sentence aloud.

"Jimmy." Bones sat beside him. "It'll get better."

"How many more do I have to have?"

"A few."

"How many?" Jim peered at Bones suspiciously.

"At least two more months per the admiral's orders. Maybe more now that I know they not getting you anywhere yet."

"No way." Jim winced at the thought of sitting through two more months with a shrink. Deep down he knew he should also share with the doctor that the nightmares plagued him. Still, he reasoned, Bones already knew, so why bother? He'd stepped inside Jim's quarters enough times in the morning and late hours of the night to understand the reason behind his bleary, dark-circled eyes.

Jim thought of sharing that with Carol, too, but quickly determined it was too personal for their recent, fledging relationship.

Or, maybe it was one more distasteful thing about himself that he refused to share with the woman for whom he had wonderful, but frightening, feelings.

"It doesn't mean that you won't be approved for duty before you're finished with the sessions. Your feet are healing, your pain is diminishing, and you're only limping. You've regained your strength," Bones hesitated. Jim recognized that look and steeled himself. "What are they about, Jim?"

"Tarsus." Jim barely whispered, squeezing his eyes shut at the very word.

"Anything else?"

Jim hated when Bones dug for more information. It wasn't that often he did that but when he did, he almost never backed down.

"Jimmy."

"Carol," Jim forced himself to reply. After hearing Bones' sigh, Jim opened his eyes and looked at him warily. "I know what you're thinking. Don't even think about suggesting it."

"It may help."

"No."

"If you want this to work with Dr. Marcus, you need to be more open with her. She won't take your crap."

"I really don't care to tell the woman I've barely started dating that I've been having nightmares about her, Bones." Jim said, disgusted with himself. "In every single one, she's either taken prisoner by Kodos, starving, or she dies."

"I'm sorry, Jim." Bones placed a hand on his knee and squeezed it. "I can give you a sedative to help you sleep tonight if you want. I can also talk to your therapist specifically about this and see how she wishes to proceed.

"You're giving me the option?" Jim was shocked. He expected Bones to want to move in and watch his every move like usual.

"You're a big boy and I think you know you that you need to include Carol into your life more than you have."

"I see." Jim narrowed his eyes as he followed Bones' reasoning.

"Do you?" Bones shrugged.

"It's a win-win for you."

"You bet, Jimmy," Bones smirked but then softened his face. Jim swallowed back his panic as Bones continued with his own assessment of his behavior. "Listen, it's been a little over two weeks since you were tortured and drugged, yet you've avoided spending any good length of time with her. You're lucky you've been in either physical therapy or psychotherapy so often and she doesn't realize what you're doing. Are you purposely trying to get her to not like you anymore?"

Was he? Maybe.

His face revealed as much and Bones scowled at him.

"Don't you dare mess this up, Jim."

"I'm trying not to."

"Try harder. Maybe you two should finally go on that date you proposed."

"I'm limping," he frowned at Bones. "I'd rather not limp to her door and limp escorting her to the dining hall."

"That's what's holding you back? You're doing so well, it'll disappear this week most likely."

"I feel stupid."

"You're hardly sleeping, so I understand that your mind's fatigued, Jimmy," Bones stood up. "Listen, think it over tonight. Challenge Spock to another chess game, first. It may help."

"Doubt it," Jim scowled at his meddling friend.

"Losing one chess game doesn't reduce your I.Q." Bones went to the door and looked back. "I'm sending Spock in here at 1800 hours, Jim. Like it or not."

"I lost by a mile."

"That's still pretty damn good. Who else could only lose by a mile when up against Spock?"

"Dr. Marcus could possibly beat him," Jim said dryly. "I guarantee she'd give him a good match."

"Jimmy, I think you're feeling insecure."

"So what if I am?"

"She'll sense that about you if she hasn't already." Bones shook his head. "At any rate, I will keep reminding you that you need to-"

"Talk to her," Jim rolled his eyes. "I get it. I do. I just don't know how I'm supposed to do that."

"She's not your mom."

Jim winced as Bones crept into his thoughts.

"She's also not like the women you've dated briefly or slept with Jim."

"I know," he said quietly. "Don't think I don't know that, Bones."

"Then act like you want to have her in your life, Jim."

"How do I do that? I don't know how!"

"Invite her over for dinner?"

"That's a lame first date, Bones. Lame." Actually, it wasn't that awful of an idea but Jim would be too comfortable. It would allow Carol to see him with his guard down.

"Share your secrets?"

Jim glared at him. "I've done enough sharing lately, don't you think?"

Because he had opened up about his traumatic past, his crew knew that he survived the Tarsus IV massacre. That bothered Jim a little.

Spock now knew the rest of his history almost as much as Bones did because of the mind melds they had shared. That only bothered Jim a little more. Jim knew the melds had been necessary to save his sanity and very life when he was under the influence of the psychotropic drug but he still resented the imparted knowledge of his violent and dreary past.

What was most worrisome was the thought of yet another, especially Carol, holding the same depth of knowledge.

"I know you've opened up with her but not deeply, yet. Jim, you don't have to solve this right now. Think it over. Maybe the chess game with Spock will help."

Bones was right but as his friend turned to leave, Jim's thoughts tumbled out.

"Bones, if I do that, if I talk with her about, well, anything, I may scare her off. She may already be scared off for all I know. I don't want to screw this up with her. I like her. A lot. More than any other woman I've ever known." Jim rambled, running his hands through his hair and averting his eyes. "How could I not? She's smart, she's beautiful, she even snuck on this ship. We have that in common you know, sneaking on this ship. Go figure, right?"

Jim fidgeted with the blanket, laid it aside, and awkwardly arose from the couch.

"I mean, my sneaking on this ship was a lot less admirably done. A lot less. At least her credentials allowed her to word aboard the starship while I was a lowly cadet and didn't even have a bed to my name on the Enterprise and I was thrown off for mutiny and then I snuck on again and she was never thrown off, thank God for that, and never accused of mutiny because, as you know, we needed her with the torpedoes and all."

Jim limped from one end of the couch to the other, unable to keep his body still and his mouth shut. What he was saying hardly made sense to him. It wouldn't surprise Jim if Bones' quietness meant he'd left. Jim didn't dare look up yet to find out.

"So, maybe I was just a stowaway and she...well...that's not the point. As I was saying, I like Carol, even more than I thought I liked her two weeks ago. I can't stop thinking about her. I want to spend time with her. I want to pursue her like a...a...normal guy would, Bones, but I don't know how to pursue her and I want to do this right. Bones, I don't want to mess this up like I do everything else. She could leave. She could leave me, and Bones..."

Jim breathed deeply, practically smelling the strawberry lotion Carol wore as he talked about her. It was comforting but he wanted more than just the memory of the scent of her lotion.

"I don't want her to leave," Jim confessed. "Ever."

It was so quiet he thought Bones had left. He glanced up cautiously and saw Bones staring at him as if he were a stranger. Jim felt like one. He didn't know where all that came from. His heart pounded as he realized he'd just spilled his guts. Again.

He had to stop doing that.

He started pacing again.

"Jimmy, sit down for a minute."

"I can't." He was too nervous. How could he have blurted out that he never wanted Carol to leave? It sounded like he was interested in a longterm relationship with her. He was, but he didn't want the entire world to know. Bones wasn't the entire world but-

"Jim, relax."

Jim shook his head and kept walking, ignoring the tremendous ache which spread through his feet up to his ankles. It was only early afternoon but he'd pushed himself in therapy and should be resting. Instead, he kept limping and walking. If he sat, he'd think even harder about her.

He couldn't do that.

Carol was driving him crazy.

"You're muttering your thoughts, you know."

Jim jerked his head up. "What?"

"You don't want the world to know? Your feet hurt? Carol is driving you crazy?"

"How'd you know that?"

"Jim, will you just sit down?"

Jim looked across the room, where his couch was. He sighed. Limping painfully, he dragged himself over. Bones reached out a steady hand as he sunk down into the cushion.

Bones dropped Jim's comm on his lap.

"I'm not leaving until you ask her to come over for dinner tonight," Bones said firmly.

"But you just said that Spock is-"

"So, plan for a double date."

"Here? In my quarters? Are you nuts?"

"It'll be easier on you, kid," Bones said. "Look at the bright side, you could possibly hang out on the couch the entire time like your supposed to do tonight anyways."

Bones's voice rose and Jim took the hint.

"Fine."

"Don't be so excited about seeing your girlfriend," Bones rolled his eyes.

"I am excited," Jim muttered.

"If this is excitement then I'm definitely not sticking around for when you're unhappy."

"So leave."

"I can't, not until you talk to her," Bones sat down and shrugged. "I won't leave you alone like this."

"Fine." Jim opened his comm but stared at Bones. "Do you mind?"

"Not until I hear her say hello."

"I can't say hello if you're breathing down my neck, Bones."

Bones relaxed, arms resting behind his head and closed his eyes, something akin to a smile on his face.

"You never used to have problems before like this, calling a girl in front of me."

"Carol's not a girl," Jim said exasperatedly. Bones smirked more. "I mean...she is but...a woman...whatever. Can I have some privacy?"

"Sure thing, Jimmy," Bones jumped off the couch and headed towards the door once again. "I understand."

"Thank you."

"I understand you've fallen for her. Completely."

"Bones, stop." Jim knew where this was headed.

"Just stating the obvious. And I don't think you'll mess this up. You may appear flustered in her presence but that's normal for a man who is in lo-"

"Shut up," Jim growled. "We've not even gone on an official date yet."

"That's what makes this so perfectly normal for you. You never do things the way anyone else does things. Especially when it comes with women. Your feeling for Dr. Marcus are strong, Jim, and it doesn't matter at all if you even have a single date. Your feelings are here to stay. It's obvious and makes complete sense to me," Bones drawled. "Have fun playing chess."

Before Jim could form a coherent reply, the doctor sauntered out the door.