He couldn't believe how cold it was on this damn planet. Honestly. Why the hell did they stop here anyway? There were no life signs detected on the initial or secondary scans. No animals. No plants. No bugs. No nothing. Well, that last part wasn't true, Bones chuckled to himself. The planet did have an abundance of ice. And snow. And rock.
How exciting. He planned to wrap his hands around the fool Captains neck next time he got the chance. Because this was getting ridiculous. There weren't many away missions that the Captain was involved in that didn't include life or death circumstances.
Although it was usually the Captain directly involved in this life and death happenings. The Captain who bled all over his sick bay, and almost didn't make it back from the brink.
Not that it was always the Captain, Bones thought. To be fair, sometimes the dubious honour was given to other members of the crew. And Bones worked just as hard to save them as the Captain
Sadly his number was up and it was his turn this time. All he could hope was that they were working hard to get him out of this bloody cave. Because it was fucking cold in here, and the Starfleet issue parka only did so much to help with that. True, the cave in blocked the biting wind. Also true, part of the rocks caving in landed on his shoulder and then his legs as he fell. Maybe rocks were a bad way to describe them. Boulders were a more apt description. But who was he to judge? He was only a doctor as he had just been reminded of before the ceiling came crashing down around him.
"Uh, Jim, where the hell did you bring us? And why for the love of God did I have to come along for the trip?" Bones glared harder at his idiot friend when he slapped an arm around his shoulders.
"You have no sense of adventure. Can't you see how pretty this all is? Look at the pure white of it. It's awesome.
He shrugged his best friends arm off. "You could have just taken a holovid for me. Would have meant a hell of a lot more to me."
"Awwww, Bones don't be like that. It's nice to get some fresh air sometimes."
"This isn't fresh air. This is frozen air. Which is not healthy for anyone's lungs, especially yours Jim. You will catch your death out here, and don't blame me if I can't do anything about it this time. If you get pneumonia again so help me, I'm not holding your hand this time."
Jim rolled his eyes. "It's not that bad. It's only a little colder than Iowa."
"What's your point?"
"I've been colder.
"Yeah well. I'm from Georgia."
"These parkas are really warm. How the hell can you be cold?"
"I just am. Now leave me alone and don't talk to me until we are back to tolerable temperatures."
The light dimmed from the Captains eyes, and Bones felt like a clod. He would give anything to keep those eyes shining bright. 'I guess', Bones thought, 'I could give a little this time. Long as no one sees.'
"Fine. You're worse than Joanna. Moping until you get your way. I draw the line at snowball fights and snow angels though. Let's just do what we came here to do and get back to the human temperatures back on that tin can of yours."
A peck on the cheek, and off Jim trotted, with that damn spring in his step happy to explore. Bones was just glad the planet had no life forms. It limited the amount of trouble the damn catastrophe magnet could find.
It was when they ducked into a small cave that the mission started to go to hell in a hand basket. Bones walked to the back of the cave to get as far away from the wind chill as possible. He could barely stand the cold anymore but Jim looked so happy to be exploring he didn't have the heart to request to beam back to the Enterprise.
Bones had no idea how Spock was surviving this. Georgia was nowhere near as warm as Vulcan.
Jim reached up and ran his fingers along the cave ceiling, then brought them down to his face. "Huh. Spock, do you have a coring device so we can get a sample of this? I've never seen anything like it before."
Bones was glad they couldn't see him roll his eyes at Spock's "Of course I brought a coring device Captain." Logical green blooded hobgoblin. The only positive aspect of those two science geeks getting a rock sample would be that exploration time was coming to a close, giving a nice lead into heading back to the ship. So, he couldn't really complain.
However, Bones objected to how deeply they planned to drill to get the sample they wanted. The two idiots wanted to go a foot up into the cave ceiling. Bones did not think this a particularly wise maneuver, and made his opinion known. His protest fell on a pair of deaf ears, an excited pair of eyes and a calm pair. The young Captain really needed to stop looking like a little kid in a candy store. His input, as Jim put it, was unnecessary. Because Bones was a doctor, not an engineer and his plan subsequently vetoed and put to pasture.
They attached the device to the ceiling and were so busy talking animatedly that they didn't notice the fine fissures and cracks begin to form. They spread quickly like a spider's web from the drill all the way to where Bones was standing at the far back of the cave. Bones didn't even have a chance to yell. He barely had a chance to duck as the ceiling collapsed and the world went dark.
'And back to the present. A rather sucky present', Bones thought. The dust was finally settling, but that didn't stop his lungs from trying to violently expel the several lung fulls he already got. He would kill for some water right now actually. Or a bourbon. He wasn't really that picky.
What he wasn't too keen on was the silence pressing in on him. The darkness. That damn tin can never went dark or stopped humming. Sometime in the past couple years, he must have gotten used to it. Bones made a pact with himself to never again complain about Jim's ship. Or even grumble.
'Guess it's true. You never know what you've got 'til it's gone.' Bones thought and then shuddered. Yes the rocks were blocking all sound, light, and wind. But they were also blocking his only means of escape. He spit some of the dust lining his lungs, and tried to get rid of the taste of copper and blood as he thought.
Could transporters beam through rock like this? They must be able to. There was that one planet seven months ago where the away team took shelter from a hurricane in some caves, and they were beamed out just fine. That rock was thick too.
Bones tried to shift his body into a more comfortable position. But couldn't move more than his left arm. He turned his head to look at the right side of his body, but couldn't see much in the dark. Slowly he became aware of how wet and cold his body felt. Like he had been dunked into a lake before being trapped.
He tried to shift again. That wasn't right. There were no lakes on this damn ice planet. So how the hell did he get covered in water? Bones tried again to roll onto his back, but yelped in pain, then held his breath. He could hear rocks shifting above him. It had been a long time since he prayed, but damn he didn't want to die trapped here like this by a mountain of stone.
Bones let his body relax, and closed his eyes. Couldn't pull himself out of this mess. Had to wait for help.
Jim would get to him. They always found each other, no reason to think this would be any different. At least, he hoped Jim would find him.
Jim thought he swallowed his heart when the ceiling came crashing down. His first instinct was to bolt to his friend, try to pull him out of harms way. But solid arms with much more strength than he could ever muster pulled him away from the cave.
"No! Spock let me go. I have to help him." He yelled. Over and over.
But Spock never let him go. Not until the dust settled. And then it was too late for Jim to get to his friend. The entire ceiling had fallen, opening up to a strange room above it. All Jim could see was the pile of rock separating him from Bones.
"Bones!" Jim started to scramble up to the top of the new rock wall to shift some of the rock. "Bones!"
Jim felt Spock grab him and pull him back to the cave floor. He struggled but was no match for the hands on his shoulders. So he glared defiantly instead.
"Captain, given the recent events, I believe it to be unwise to attempt to shift the rock. Any further shift could increase the instability, jeopardizing the Doctors' situation still further."
The angry sparkle left Jim's eyes, and he blew out a harsh breath. "Right." Jim stared at where he had last seen his best friend and swallowed hard. "Enterprise this is the Captain, come in."
"Enterprise here Captain."
"Uhura, we ran into some trouble here. There was a cave in. Can the scanners pick up Bones' signal?"
There was a short pause, which grated on Jim's nerves. "I can't pick him up Captain. The last tracing I can get on him is from 22 minutes ago. Then his signal just … winked out."
"Damnit. That's when the ceiling collapsed. Scotty?"
"Aye Cap'n."
"Can you boost the signal? See if you can get a lock on him?"
"I'll do what I can."
"Right. Send down a section of engineers. I want a full deployment down here. And don't forget tents. It's bloody cold down here."
Jim turned away as his first officer finished settling the details of the new mission. His heart was stuck in his throat, and he could barely swallow around it. All he could do was hope that Bones made it far enough to the back of the cave to escape the crush of stone. 'Hang on Bonsey. I'm coming for you.'
Another coughing fit woke him up, and spat out another mouthful of copper. Damn this was getting old. Everything was started to hurt. Even the hair on his head hurt. What he wouldn't give to be able to shift his position just a little bit. It was dark and silent still. H was cold. He felt his lungs heaving, and his head wouldn't stop spinning.
He could hear more shifting of rocks. A few of which came tumbling down to hit him and land somewhere in the dark. "Jim…"
The flurry of activity didn't really make him feel any better. Parka covered bodies scurried around the incident command tent, bringing in readings of the stability of the cave. In sum, the entire cave was a death trap. Any small shift in the wrong direction would bring disaster.
"Captain, might I suggest retiring to the cot behind you for rest?"
Jim sighed. "I'm fine. I only put my head down a second ago. And I'm trying to think of a plan to get to him."
"Jim."
He blinked blurry eyes at his first officer. How did the Vulcan make his given name sound just as patronizing as the way he said Captain when he thought he was being dumb? Not fair.
"There is nothing to be done by yourself at the present time. You have worked through the last three work rotations. You need to rest."
Jim stumbled over to the cot directly behind where he had been sitting at the mock desk. He tumbled down and was already half asleep when he felt Spock cover him with a blanket.
"I will awaken you should anything arise."
He barely registered the soothing reassurance, before Jim fell asleep completely. In his minds eye, they were back on the enterprise hours before departing for this mission. He had been running his fingers over Bones' skin gently. Watching the muscles shift and pull as his lover rolled over. Bones' eyes were sleepy and warm, just like his skin. He remembered trying to gather his courage to ask a little question he had been meaning to ask. But couldn't get up the nerve. Hadn't been able to ask since he bought the rings two years ago. The dream shifted.
Barely two hours later, Jim sat bolt upright in the cot. "Spock!" He shouted, and he scrambled to get his outer gear on.
"Jim you have not yet reached your allotted time of rest."
"I just thought of something. Follow me." Jim dragged Spock over to the cave. The engineers were still attempting to stabilize the cave, and had shifted some rock away from the ceiling.
"Spock, boost me up."
"Boost Captain?"
"Yes. Get over here." Jim pointed to a hole in the cave ceiling he had noticed just after the cave in, but hadn't spared it another thought since.
Jim felt his brows knit together. Scans had shown no life signs. They had shown nothing but ice, snow and rock. But through this hole in the ceiling were obvious signs of life. On the far end was what Jim thought to be a bunk carved out of the stone in the wall.
Someone had been here. Or something. Whatever. Point is, they were able to carve into this rock without destabilizing the cave structure. They could help him get Bones out!
Jim hoisted himself up onto the edge of the opening and took a better look at his surroundings. Holes dotted the walls and ceiling like a honeycomb. It would be a waste of time trying to search each one individually. Who knows where they all led?
"Captain." Spock called up to him. "Mr. Scott has as of yet been unable to boost the signal to ascertain Doctor McCoy's position."
Cave exploration it was.
Bones felt his body shift and groaned half in appreciation and half in pain. Or was it two-thirds pain, one-third appreciation? He had no idea. The air still felt thick. All he could taste was blood. His head spun faster and it felt like his body was being moved deeper into the cold.
He thought of Jim. Heaven knows why he loved the overgrown kid. Bones wanted to feel his touch. It would help settle the fire burning along his nerves. Then he had another thought. What if Jim was trapped just like he was? What if he was hurt and dying, Bones couldn't get to him? He was aware of throwing up, and then nothing.
Jim could kiss the engineers. He was just setting up some rope to explore the caves, when he heard a shout saying they had stabilized the collapse. What felt like a heartbeat later, they had shifted enough rock to stick their head into the other side of the cave. Spock looked, and his face became even more grim than usual.
Heart in overdrive, Jim pushed everyone out of the way. He ignored the calm hand Spock placed on his shoulder, grabbed the light and looked into the cave.
All he could see was blood on the cave floor. No sign of Bones' body though. 'That was a good thing, wasn't it?' Jim thought.
Heart beating erratically, Jim yelled a bunch of orders that he hoped made sense, and walked back to the hole in the cave ceiling. If Bones had lost that much blood time was running out. Maybe the being that had carved this cave knew what happened to Bones. And come hell or high water he would find them.
Easier said than done, but the fourth tunnel Jim went through looked promising. So far he had only found empty caves like the one above the cave in. All had the same design. A bed carved into the wall, table carved into the floor. Scraps of debris recently disturbed.
Light flickered ahead of him, and Jim had to shield his eyes. The light in the cave ahead was blinding. He quickened his pace hoping it led to someone who could help him.
He wasn't disappointed either. Five beings stood against the opposite wall. They were small, only reaching about mid chest on him. Their shape was humanoid, but their skin was translucent beneath the thick woolen hair, and a film covered their nose and eyes.
Their eyes widened, and what Jim assumed was the leader started speaking in the weirdest language he had ever heard. Uhura would probably know what it was. But she couldn't help him now. Sign language was all he had.
"My friend," Jim pointed to himself, "Is hurt." He had no idea how to sign hurt, so he mimed an injured leg and dragged it behind him for a few steps. "Please, I need him back. Where is he? Can you find him?"
When they continued to stare at him, Jim felt the exhaustion of the last four days catch up with him and fell to his knees. He felt the first tear track down his face. Then a second, and a third. He couldn't hold the sobs back after that. His right hand man was missing, and it wasn't looking like he was going to find him before it was too late.
Jim felt hands pull him up to his feet, then out to an adjoining cave. Pointing fingers drew his focus to the back of this cave, up to the carved bed, and straight to his lover.
Tears of relief turned to horror and dread, and Jim saw his friends' condition. The right side of his body was crushed, his uniform and parka were covered with blood, and he couldn't wake Bones up. Jim's hands were shaking so bad as he tried to lift the broken shell that was once his best friend.
Bones wasn't breathing. He couldn't find a pulse. Jim felt what was remaining of his heart after four days of stress break. Jim dropped back to his knees and rested his head against Bones' left arm. What he wouldn't give to have gotten here sooner. 'Bones would have found a way to him sooner,' Jim thought. 'He was brilliant like that.'
More of that weird speech, and a nudge made Jim haul himself to his feet, and pick up his friend. After all, you never leave a man behind.
Jim wandered around the camp as it was being dismantled. He didn't want to go back to the ship yet. He didn't even want to think about what awaited him up there. The shared quarters, the two wedding rings under his pillow that he had meant to propose with.
'Oh Jesus, what am I going to say to Joanna?' Jim felt his heart lurch. 'I promised her I would keep him safe.'
Spock was waiting for him when he turned around, brows knit together. It wasn't often Jim got to see that expression. 'Bones would have made a joke about the hobgoblin being confused,' Jim thought as the knife twisted deeper.
"I am curious as to why you are not in sick bay Captain."
Jim sighed. "I'm not hurt."
Spock's eyes narrowed. "I would have assumed you would like to have overseen the Doctor's care at the hands of Doctor M'Benga."
"No care to be given, except an autopsy as per protocol. And like fuck I'm going to watch that. Jesus Spock."
"Why would an autopsy be performed…" Spock's eyes widened with shock. "Spock to Enterprise, beam up the Captain immediately."
"Acknowledged. One to beam up."
"Damnit, I said I'm fine asshole." Jim growled as he was beamed up.
Sick bay looked like a disaster when he got there. He could see M'Benga and all the nurses inside the surgical suite, and felt his stomach lurch. He did not want to see this, but couldn't stop his body from drifting over to the glass window.
There was his Bones, on the table. As still as death. But with a heartbeat? A slow heart beat, but a beat nonetheless. Wait, what?
Jim slammed his hand on the communicator on the wall. "Doctor, report!"
M'Benga barely spared him a glance, before ordering Nurse Chapel out to give a full report.
"We're warming him up slowly Captain." She explained. "He lost a lot of blood, but luckily the cold temperatures kept his body temperature low, so he should come out of this with minimal permanent damage. Although recovery will be slow. He won't be on active duty for months probably."
"He's not dead."
Chapel smiled sadly and handed over a box of tissues. "No, he's very much alive."
Jim stared at the flurry of activity after Chapel went back in. He dragged a chair over to the window, and resting his head against the glass, continued to watch the many surgeries. Calmer now as he watched his lover's heartbeat on the monitor. Watched as it got stronger.
Damn but waking up on a biobed was not the best way to wake up. Suddenly remembering why he was in sick bay in the first place, he jumped off the bed and made it half way to the surgical suite before he noticed it was empty. He was about to search out M'Benga, when a soft "Jim" stopped him.
Jim raced over to his partner and gave him a quick once over. Everything looked like it was where it should be. And those soft hazel eyes were looking right at him.
Bones lifted his left arm, and used his thumb to wipe away a tear. "I knew you'd come for me."
Jim pulled that hand flush against his cheek. "I thought you were dead. God I've never been so scared in my life. You didn't have a pulse, you weren't breathing. When I carried you out you were dead." This reminder brought a fresh wave of tears.
He smiled sadly. "Hypothermia Jim. Slowed everything down. You probably didn't feel long enough to actually get a pulse. Infant. Did you forget everything I taught you about first aide?"
A watery smile, and then Jim chuckled softly. "Probably."
"I'm never complaining about the cold again."
"I'll remind you of that when you are in Iowa with me next shore leave." Jim kissed Bones' palm, then nuzzled his cheek into his partner's touch.
When he felt tears drip onto his skin, Bones pulled Jim's face towards his so their foreheads touched. "I'm ok. I'm here."
Jim nodded then touched their lips together gently. "I love you, you know."
"Yeah I know kid. I love you too."
With some careful maneuvering, Jim managed to climb onto the biobed and nestled his head on Bones' left shoulder. Bones' fingers were carding gently through the hair at the nape of his neck. "Marry me Bones."
"Did you really even have to ask?"
Their eyes met, and Jim was relieved to see the light in them. He would never take this man's touch for granted ever again. He had his Bones back. That's what mattered. As he fell asleep listening to Bones' heartbeat, and feeling his chest rise, Jim thought about how he would have to thank those people down on the planet for helping get Bones back to him.