Author's note: This is set during Star Trek: The Final Frontier, although it contains references from other episodes. This is a story of friendship between everybody's favorite trio. It is what I consider a missing scene from the movie, the scene when they are in the forward observation deck after Sybok storms off. There is no slash intended, in this version of the story. It is separated into three separate chapters, one each for Spock, Kirk, and Jim. Not in that order but they are all happening at the same time. A POV fic I suppose. Perhaps a fourth chapter tying it all in together, we'll see. Ah well, please read and review. Oh and I don't own Star Trek.
Earth
It was often said that I was an important part of the Enterprise, a part of the core, the heart. I don't know how true this is, as I have never been able to look from the outside into the workings of the ship. I know that I have been Jim Kirk's friend for longer than anyone else on this ship, although the quality of my friendship with Jim has always been as high as the quantity of years. Lately I've been slinking onto the bridge more and more, intent on seeking the presence and friendship of the two people, 'although that pointy-eared devil is hardly human', that mattered more to me than anyone. Well, anyone other than Johanna. She was first, always first. After everything that the three of us had been through, the mere presence of my other two thirds, as I've come to regard them, has served as a balm.
I know that my friendship with Spock started out rocky and only close association and repeatedly exciting away missions formed a bond between us. And honestly? I enjoyed the verbal banter as much as he seemed to, although the Vulcan thought he was inscrutable. His eyes told a different story. And although I always bantered with him, and called him an unfeeling computer, I knew the depth of Spock's emotions were beyond even human comprehension. Whatever I felt for the green-blooded hobgoblin was platonic, no hint of anything beyond the love of a 'warrior brother I think is the term he used,'. It didn't mean I wasn't aware of Spock, much like I was aware of Jim.
Even now thinking of Spock, memories swarm up of the Vulcan. I shake my head and laugh through a sense of pain. Of course that one memory would swarm up. The day I made the mistake of accusing Spock of not feeling; the day I questioned his loyalty and friendship for Jim in a fit of rage at the situation. How I could have ever questioned him, I still to this day don't know. Jim and Spock look at me funny, not knowing what I was thinking about. We had escaped, with Scotty's help, from the Brig and were currently huddled in the Forward Observation room attempting to contact Starfleet command.
"I know why you're not afraid to die. You're more afraid of living." I grabbed Spock's shoulder and stopped him from fiddling with the jail cell. "Why, you wouldn't know what to do with a genuine, warm, and decent feeling!" At this point I am pressing Spock into the wall with my arm, my elbow going into the hollow of his throat, and glaring into his eyes. I am so tired of all his pretense and pretending that he doesn't feel. I want an answer. I can feel him swallow tensely against my arm.
Spock arched one eyebrow incredulously, and pressed slightly against my hold. "Really, Doctor?" His voice dripped with both sarcasm and pain that I could ever question his loyalty. The one thing he was able and willing to give to his friend. I lower my arm and feel a healthy dose of shame and misery fill me. "I know Spock, I'm worried about Jim too." In that moment, our tenuous friendship sank into my bones and I knew it would never be the same between us. I could never question Spock's loyalty, to Jim or myself, again.
After that incident I started hearing the crew talk about how tensions between us had cooled. I will never be sure, because nobody will approach me and talk to me, but I get the feeling that people have grouped the three of us together. We are rarely talked about without somebody mentioning the others. I have overheard myself being described as the earth to Jim's fire. I ground him in ways that Spock is not able to. Jim's fire burns brightly, and occasionally he runs over me. Thinking of Jim, in fact, brings back what happened in the brig not too long ago. A clear example of my grounding Jim back to reality, in fact.
Jim stood on Spock's shoulders and was yanking on the bar in the ceiling. Having already removed the panel, Jim was fiddling with the wires and the electrical current, trying to figure out how to get out. "Unwise." Spock was staring up along Jim's body to watch what Jim was doing. Even as Jim jerked on the bar carrying the electrical charge and went falling onto the floor I could only shake my head. "You could have warned me." Jim growled from the ground. I was not about to let him jump on Spock just because he was annoyed. "He did." My voice came out gruffer than I intended, but then I was more than a little stressed out.
I shook my head at Jim as he reaches out towards me now. "I don't want to talk about it Jim." I had been forced to relive what Sybok had called my 'Secret Pain' and was still feeling raw from it. I had been going to follow Sybok, intent on making the next step as he called it. I was weak, not strong enough on my own. It was Spock and his courage that gave me the strength I needed to shake off the remaining dregs of Sybok's influence. Even now, settled into a chair and watching Jim pace violently, I knew that he needed my earth to drag his ass back to reality. He needed Spock, who I personally describe as the ice to Jim's fire, to cool him down. Between my earth and Spock's ice, we should be able to calm them both down.
I stood at the bottom of El Capitan, staring through my binoculars at Jim free climbing up the mountain. My heart was pounding in my chest, and I could tell that the air wasn't getting to my brain. "You'll have a great times, Bones. You'll enjoy your shore leave. You'll be able to relax. You call this relaxing?! I'm a nervous wreck!" Aware I was talking to myself, I lowered the binoculars for a minute then shook my head and stared up at Jim, wondering where the Vulcan was. I got my answer a few minutes later as I saw Jim hurtling towards his death, and Spock chasing after him. I tore off towards where Jim would collide with the earth, certain that I would now be spending my shore leave burying Jim. I reached the spot and, gasping for breath, saw that Spock had one hand wrapped firmly around Jim's ankle and was holding him about three feet off the ground. 'DAMMIT JIM.' I thought furiously.
"Jim." I said his name softly, knowing that it would draw his attention more than yelling would. I struggled to my feet, feeling my age, and noticed Spock from the corner of my eye snapping to an attention that was analytical in nature. He was watching me very closely, and that was when I noticed that his face was not as closed down as it usually was. "Jim, what are we going to do." I moved until I was in my customary place at Jim's side, on his right. Jim turned his head slightly to look at me and I stared into those hazel eyes, wondering what he was thinking and feeling. Spock swung around to flank him on the left, completing the triangle of power. I stared at Spock from behind Jim, and as our eyes met, I felt calmer and steadier. There was nothing that the three of us could not handle together, I was sure of it.
"I also request…McCoy accompany me." Spock's voice was hesitant as he glanced at me. I felt a flush of friendship and warmth shoot through me. "I shall be honored, sir." And I was. To be counted among Spock's closest friends was something that I had never thought likely or indeed something I had thought I would ever want. But standing by his side, and Jim's of course, felt right in my bones. Just as I was Jim's right hand man, I stood on Spock's right side. Of course the idea of witnessing my normally stoic friend go as crazy as I always accused him of being would not be fun. But I knew we would make it out. We always had, and we always would. "They are not outworlders, they are my friends."
"It is said, thy Vulcan blood is thin. Are thee Vulcan, or are thee human." T'Pau was bitingly callous with the way she tossed those words at Spock. I was oddly insulted by the way she was taunting him. I bit my tongue hard and swallowed any and all comments I might have made. It wasn't my place to stand up for Spock, especially here on Vulcan. Lord knew I had things I could say to this woman. She didn't see the way he fought for that Vulcan calm, never saw the battles he fought daily against his strong emotions.
I dropped my gaze away Spock's, unable to control the flood of emotions that filled me. We had to get out of here, and alive. Even if our bodies survived, our spirits would never be the same if they couldn't stop Sybok. I jerked, startled slightly, as Spock suddenly shifted to stand in front of Jim and I. Not sure what he was doing, I almost missed his words. "You want to do what?! Dammit Spock I'm a doctor, not a Vulcan." There was no way I was participating in this three way mind meld that Spock had just suggested. I had only melded with the green-blooded hobgoblin a handful of times, and the instance that bothered me most was when I had my mind invaded by the Mirror Spock.
"Our minds are merging Doctor. Our minds are one .I feel what you feel, I know what you know." This Spock was not my friend, and his fingers and mind were violating me. He was practically raping my mind, and a snarky thought came floating through my mind to combat this Spock. 'You aren't even going to buy me dinner first?'
Luckily I didn't have to look him in the eye. Jim commanded his attention, which was fine by me, because I sure as hell didn't know what else to say. With the memory of the Mirror Spock swirling through my head my already shaky emotional control was weakening fast. But Jim would put a stop to this madness. Surely. He never had let that hobgoblin lead us astray before.
"Alright Spock, if you think it will help. I wasn't aware that a three way meld was possible though." I started at this, then fixed my best 'you-are-insane' look at the back of Jim's head. How could Jim even agree to this madness? I opened my mouth to ask him, when his next words stopped me cold. "If this is our last time to spend quiet together." Jim wasn't sure that we would make it out of this alive. "I'm glad that it's the three of us." Jim had a way of expressing himself in ways that could drive a man to tears. Or whiskey.
Tears sprang to my eyes and I moved to stand beside Spock so I could see Jim's eyes. There was nothing in them that I liked. Jim was convinced we would die stopping Sybok. How was I supposed to help him keep faith with everyone else if he didn't have faith in himself. "Jim." His name was all I could manage. I knew he understood me when he squeezed one shoulder and smiled at me. "Alright Spock, should we sit down?" Jim turned around and sat down in one of the chairs, gesturing for Spock to drag another one closer. I plopped down in one and watched Spock drag another one closer.
Spock reached for me with one hand and Jim with the other. His hand felt hot as he found my pulse points. "Are you ready?" He asked us both softly. I nod my head, not trusting in my words. "Then close your eyes. My thoughts to your thoughts…"