The entire Bridge Crew fell silent.
'What do you mean 'it's live'?' Jim looked down at the communicator by his hand. 'I thought you said it was a dead sample?'
'I did.' came the terse reply of Leonard McCoy. 'Then it started multiplying.'
'I'm coming down there.' Jim made to stand up, ignoring the Crews curious glances.
'There's no point, Darlin'; I've triggered the Dead Seal.'
Jim felt the bottom fall out his stomach. His face drained of all colour and he saw his vision blur at the edges. 'You've done what?' he croaked before standing up and running from the room, Spock close on his heels.
He made it to Medical in record time and entered the hushed, clinical room with a cold dread in his heart.
Christine Chapel stood by the side, her eyes red, but her composure all professional. She pointed silently to the lab window, which was surrounded in an eerie red light. 'He wouldn't let me in' she whispered as they both walked closer to the screen. 'He said there was no point both of us studying a dead sample.' She sniffed, voice faltering.
Jim nodded, his attention fully on the man beyond the glass. 'Bones?' he cleared his throat. Bones looked up from the petri dish and stood away from the table. He looked fine, calm and composed, but after five years of relationship and two of marriage, Jim knew better than that.
'How long?' he whispered, not caring that Spock was witnessing this show of emotion.
'It's hard to say, Darlin'' Bones looked at his watch on his wrist. 'It started multiplying half an hour ago; depending on the strain…an hour. Give or take.'
Jim felt the world spin around him, the edges of his vision fading to black. Bones was right in front of him, against the glass in half a second.
'Hey, Darlin'. It's okay. It is. Look at me, Jim.' Jim didn't want to, didn't want to look into eyes of the man he loved and say goodbye. But the Captain looked up and met those hazel eyes with his blue ones.
'Don't stay. When it's over' the Doctor stopped and sucked in a breath, emotion overcoming him briefly. 'When it's over, just turn off the lights and walk away. And don't you look back. You promise me that, Jim Kirk; don't you look back.'
Jim nodded dumbly, tears spilling down his face. It was Starfleet Directive that when a hazardous substance or contagion was spilled in a lab, the lab was sealed for a minimum of two years or until they got back to a Starfleet Docking Station to have it Deep Cleaned.
Bones smiled nodded, wincing as a cough tore through him. Jim could only watch as Leonard bent forwards, overcome by abdominal pains. When he stood up, Bones couldn't wipe the blood off his chin quick enough.
'Spock…' Jim whispered, eyes never leaving his husbands. 'You have the conn. Indefinitely.'
'Yes, Captain.' Came the stiff reply. Spock also watched the Doctor, who caught his eyes briefly.
Bones nodded once to the Vulcan. There was nothing else to say. Spock nodded back, his throat constricting. He then turned on his heel and walked out the lab.
'Hey...' Jim grabbed Bones' office chair from next to the window where Bones must have left it earlier and sat down as close to the glass as he could.
Bones coughed and walked closer to the window, splaying his fingers wide against the cold glass. The doctor hummed and gently laid his forehead above his hand, savouring the cold sensation. He coughed again, blood hitting the window as his eyes scrunched up in pain.
'I contained it.' He said, voiced hushed, his brown eyes closed. 'It won't spread; the air- con wasn't on. I wrote up a quick initial report, I know you can't read it until-'
'Bones' Jim interrupted. He sucked in a deep breath. 'We could have had forever.' He breathed, another tear spilling down his cheek.
Bones smiled at him fondly, teeth stained red. Jim choked back a sob when he saw blood trickle from his husbands' nose. Bones wiped it away with back of his hand.
'Well, Darlin'. You had me for seven years. And they were the best damn seven years of my life. And don't you forget that.'
Jim shook his head, knocked into silence by another cough, this one much worse than the first. Bones could hardly catch his breath, his eyes open in panic, seeking Jim's desperately.
Jim pressed his hand against the glass, his face next to his husbands, wishing he could switch places, hating the universe for its cruel sense of irony.
This time it was too much; Bones slipped off the chair, hitting the floor with a thump. Only half the wall had window and now all Jim could see was his silhouette. Now he was out of sight, Jim let out a cry, his body wracked with sobs. He could see Bone's body convulse, the back of his head hitting the plastic weakly. Just when he thought he couldn't take anymore, it stopped.
Jim had stood on a planetoid in darkness with silence pressing into him; he had sat in the middle of a deserted field in Iowa with just the grass for company.
But this silence was different.
He could hear Christine sobbing quietly in front of him, but he ignored her. He stood up, eyes running, hands shaking. He had to lean into the glass, but he could just see him, his blue tunic just visible if he squinted.
His Bones was dead.