Authors Note:
Hello! This was supposed to be a continuation of my A-Z of Captain K's Medical File, but I just couldn't stop writing! So it's now a little too long for a one shot. I'm enjoying it far too much. I hope you enjoy it too!

I do not own Star Trek - (But still wish I owned that beautiful man Chris Pine)

Between a Rock and a Hard Place.
Chapter One

Set in the Academy Years

Jim was annoyed. Not just a little annoyed, more like majorly annoyed. His so called 'best friend' had installed some over to the top security app into his phone without him knowing. Not only was it a little freaky, as he had only known Leonard McCoy around a year, but it was something mothers did to their children to… keep an eye on them.

"It wasn't my fault. Pike recommended I kept an eye on you. I was just… following orders!" McCoy pleaded with his friend.

"Oh I'm sorry, when did you become my father?" Jim just snapped back.

"Jim, C'mon…"

"There was personal stuff on there. Real personal!" he interrupted, not allowing McCoy to explain further.

"How was I supposed to know you kept some sort of weird log on it! Jim, you can trust me. I won't tell anyone about T…"

"Stop right now." Jim paced up and down their kitchen, breathing deeply as memories of Tarsus IV flashed into his mind. It didn't take long for McCoy to notice he was on the brink of having a full blown panic attack.

"Jim, you need to calm down."

"Why? So you can go to the Admiral's about my past? Declare me unfit for future captaincy?"

"You know I would never do that unless I saw a real reason to do so…"

"Great! Just great!" Jim grabbed his leather jacket and swung it over his back.

"Where are you going?" McCoy said, noticing Jim eyeing the door up. "It's past curfew. If you get caught…"

"Who cares if I get caught? I'm practically out of here anyway." Jim answered with his back turned. He grabbed the first set of keys he saw and slammed the door behind him, stopping McCoy from saying another word to him.

oOo

The second Jim left the building he took a deep breath of the cold outside air and slowly realised it again, leaving a trail of his smoky breath as he moved forwards. He fiddled with the keys in his hand still, noticing the keyrings felt different than his. He looked down and saw that, in the heat of the moment, he had grabbed McCoy's instead of his own. He let out a groan, which echoed through the empty campus.

Jim paced backwards and forwards in front of the main entrance to the block of flats, trying to work out the quickest route away from here. If he had his own keys, he could have taken his own bike to the nearest open bar, but he wasn't going to risk looking even more like an idiot by swapping them back, so that was one option he didn't have. He could just wait outside until McCoy fell asleep, but that could be hours, and if Jim was spotted then he could be in more trouble than he was already… not to mention the cold weather and limited clothing he had on.

Jim continued to pace, breathing deeply while he fiddled with McCoy's keys in his hands. He needed to work out a plan and fast.

He stopped pacing to think.

"Right… ok, if I know campus security…" which he did thanks to a year of studying the typical movements of the night team, after all how else would he be able to sneak out after curfew? "Then the night security should be around here in the next…" he looked down and checked his watch. "10 minutes. That does not leave me much time." He said to himself, looking down at his watch again, but this time his eyes slightly wondered to McCoy's keys, still grasped in his hand.

Jim frowned as he spotted the unusual key attached to the many keyrings McCoy had collected. He inspected it further, soon realising it had to belong to some sort of vehicle after he spotted the Audi logo imprinted on the key.

Jim shrugged his shoulders. "Well who knew Bones was into his classic cars?" he said to himself again.

oOo

Jim practically ran into their blocks car parking area, squeezing the keys in his fist tightly. The last thing he needed right now was to be caught by security or even worse, McCoy. The car park was situated under their building and was easy enough to get into, after all the key to their apartment was the same to unlock the door entrance to the carpark. Jim's footsteps echoed into the empty carpark as he made his way to their shared parking space. He started to wonder why Bones had never mentioned the tiny detail of owning a car to Jim before, but soon shrugged it off when he saw it. The classic Audi was a beautiful sight. Jim stopped and admired it further before opening it up. It was a beautiful royal blue colour without a single scratch or dent in the body. The windows were tinted black and it was so clean, Jim could make out his reflection in the shine.

"Jackpot!" He whispered to himself as he opened the door. The smell of the leather seats hit his nostrils and he suddenly felt like a kid in a candy store. Jim's hands gripped around the steering wheel as he slowly slid the key into the ignition. He revved the engine a couple of times to listen to the engine purr, before wheel spinning out of the carpark. The tyres screeching echoing through the empty space.

oOo

Racing out of Starfleet campus and onto, what all Starfleet members called it, Civilian Land, felt great. The roads were empty this late at night and his head felt almost clear, until the thoughts crept back into his mind about the betrayal from his so called best friend.

"How was Gaila's?" McCoy asked, without looking up from the medical journal he was reading.

"How did you…" Jim looked confused as he chucked his apartment keys into the bowl next to the door.

McCoy dipped the book he was reading down to make eye contact with Jim, realising maybe he shouldn't have said a word. "You mentioned it before you left earlier, don't you remember?" McCoy lied.

Jim just nodded his head slowly, before his phone pinged in his hand. He flicked open the message and smiled to himself as he read the message from Gaila.

McCoy chucked quietly knowing full well it was the very person he had just seen. He found it kinda cute that although neither of them would admit it out loud that they liked one another.

Jim looked up at the smug look McCoy was flashing him and his smiled dropped. "You're acting weird."

"What?" McCoy asked, "I don't know what you mean." He said, lifting his book up to cover his face again.

He gripped the steering wheel tighter with his hands, as he became more frustrated. McCoy had clearly had this stalking device embedded into his phone for a while. Without realising it, he was pushing his foot down on the accelerator further, causing the car to move faster across the icy roads of Civilian Land.

oOo