I hope you enjoy my new story "Two Alone." It's a Jim and Bones centered story with very few additional characters, so a little bit different from my usual multi character fics. A big thank you goes out to all my faithful readers and please let me know what you think of this new story.

Two Alone

Chapter 1

"Things never go wrong at the moment you expect them to.

When you're completely relaxed, oblivious to any potential dangers,

that's when bad things happen."

C.K. Kelly Martin

Jim shifted the heavy back pack on his shoulders. Next time they stopped, he'd have to look at the straps; they were really chafing him on one side. He cast a worried glance at Bones walking silently at his side.

"How are you doing there, Bones?"

"'M fine, Jim. Don't you worry 'bout me. I can keep up with you, so don't concern yourself none. I may not be quite as young as you are, but I'm in good shape, and I took the same survival courses as you did, you know."

"I know, Bones. You're in great shape...for a man of your advanced age," he teased, hoping to bring a smile to the tired, worn face by his side. The two of them had been walking for hours, trying to find a place where they weren't out in the open, or at least a place where they could take shelter for the night. Jim sighed. This was supposed to have been a little fun break away from the ship, from the cares of command, from the never ending paperwork. Early yesterday, this newly discovered planet had been very carefully scanned and was found to be a small class M planet. The Science Departments, geology, botany, geography, and anthropology, had studied the scans carefully, meticulously, and found its atmosphere capable of supporting life. They'd also found that although most of the planet was uninhabitable, barren, bleak and devoid of any living thing, the sensor scans showed that one area was lush and green, teeming with life. Why only one area of the planet had this lush ecosystem was one of the questions to be further explored. While there was no humanoid or alien indigenous life at all, no towns, primitive dwellings or cities, that particular area was a paradise of sorts; there was water and therefore a wealth of plants and trees to be checked out for possible medicinal properties. There were even signs of small wildlife, some types of flying creatures, analogs to Terran birds, and some indigenous insect life. As of yet, all of these had proved to be elusive and very shy; Jim and Bones hadn't seen a single living thing.

It had been Spock's suggestion that Jim and his CMO go down to the planet and have a three day camping trip. Spock wanted Bones to scan and gather any plants that he thought could be of future medicinal and scientific benefit and also to try to find some answers to the evolutionary anomaly. He readily acknowledged the superiority of McCoy's expertise in those areas and, at the same time, he could accompany Jim, who loved camping. Three days should be sufficient for the Captain to relax and enjoy the natural peaceful beauty of the area while Leonard looked for medicinal plants and for answers to their questions. Bones had quickly concurred; he thought it was one of Spock's better ideas. They had both agreed that Jim had been looking careworn and very tired; a little break would be good for him. After hurriedly and enthusiastically packing every piece of camping equipment that Jim owned, the two had happily signed off duty, and, on Jim's orders, instead of hanging around for three days after beaming them down, the ship had gone on to do a little star mapping of the planet's solar system. Uhura would check in on them every four hours and the ship would pick them up again in three days time.

So the two had beamed down very early this morning and set up camp close to a good sized lake. Jim had communicated with the ship that all was well and the location very beautiful. The area was open and lush with grassy fields. Trees were scattered across the plain, gradually melting into a forest on the horizon. A soft, cool breeze came up from behind them, flowing across the grass and making it wave, just like it had on the long ago prairies of Earth; only instead of amber, this grass was dark green, light green, lime green, every green imaginable. It looked like something out of a fantasy novel, whole area rife with natural beauty. McCoy had happily wandered around scanning the indigenous rocks and plants inputting data in his padd. Jim had voiced his desire for a swim in the large pristine lake by their camp. Bones had tested the water carefully, several times in fact, and finally satisfied, had declared it safe. Jim had gone for a swim, skinny dipping just like when he'd been a child back in Iowa, when he and Sam would strip off all their clothes and fling themselves into the cool pond behind the farmhouse on a blistering hot day. The water here was just as cool and refreshing. Jim had swum laps for a while, then floated on his back, totally relaxed, content to do absolutely nothing. Just what the doctor ordered, he thought lazily. Eventually, he had gotten out of the water and dried out on the sweet grassy area where they had pitched their tents. He was dozing on his stomach, his golden head on his crossed arms, when Bones, coming back from his plant hunting, looked down at the prone, nude, relaxed body, and said mischievously, "I hope there aren't any chigger-like insects on that grass." Jim had leapt up like a scalded cat, and Bones had killed himself laughing.

Three hours later, Spock had suddenly come on the comm to report that during their star mapping, their very sensitive long range sensors had identified a Romulan War Bird heading toward the solar system. Jim had ordered them to leave the area immediately, not to take the time to come back to pick them up until ship's sensors showed the Romulans had left this area of space. Under no circumstances were they to get close to, or engage with the Warbird. Jim had also ordered them not only to leave the solar system, but to go comm silent as well, so as not to give away their location to possibly listening ears. He and Bones would be fine for three days or four days. They had brought down plenty of supplies, so even if the ship had to stay away for more days, they'd be fine.

Spock had vehemtly protested, calculating that Enterprise could return ahead of the War Bird by at least an hour, but Jim had said no. That was cutting it too close. Spock had reluctantly agreed with Jim's logic and so, despite the loud and vocal protests from the command crew, Enterprise had departed. Jim and Bones had looked at each other and silently agreed that they had to move themselves to a more secure and secluded location, just in case the Romulans sent down a scouting party. Where they'd set up camp was out in the open, far too easy to spot by any kind of sensor scan or by a scouting party. Romulans were notoriously curious; if they spotted the planet, they'd come looking to see what they could find.

So they ate lunch, replenished their water supply from the lake, repacked their small two man tent, sleeping bags, waterproof floor tarp, and thermal blankets in their back pack, put the rest of their gear in their field pack, cleared away any signs that anyone had ever been there, and started walking. Jim hoped to find some kind of sheltered area, preferably some large rock formations, a cave, or at least a hidden sheltered spot within a two or three hour hike from their water source. So far after hiking for two hours, they'd had no luck. Jim glanced at Bones again.

"Let's sit down for a minute, Bones."

"Jim! I'm fine, we can keep walking," Leonard protested.

"Maybe you can, but my shoulder is killing me, the strap on my pack is cutting into me even over my thick shirt," Jim groaned, lifting the pack off his shoulders.

"Hell! Why didn't you say so? Let me see. Lift up you shirt, Jim. Or better yet take it off so I can see better."

Jim obediently stripped off his thick denim shirt as well as his black undershirt. Bones saw that the tender skin of his right shoulder was red and angry looking from the chafing of the strap. "Jim," Leonard grumbled at him. "You should've said somethin' right away. You've really irritated your right shoulder, you've got blisters." He pulled out a salve from his field med kit and with gentle fingers, rubbed it on the tender skin of Jim's sore shoulder. The cool salve made Jim shiver, but the chafing and blisters instantly felt better. He sighed in relief. "Thanks, Bones. That feels better already."

Leonard inspected the pack. "Here's the problem, there's an extra rough seam in the wrong spot. When we stop, I'll wrap a piece of gauze around it so the seam is covered. Meanwhile, I'll carry the back pack and the field pack for a while; you carry the med kit and canteens. They're cross body, so you can put them over the other shoulder." He picked up Jim's large pack and the field pack and flung them over his back and shoulders. "Are you thirsty, Jim? Don't be stintin' on water now, we've got plenty."

"No, I'm good, Bones. Let's keep going," Jim used the field binoculars hanging around his neck to scan the area again. "I don't know how fast that Romulan War Bird is traveling, and we don't know when it'll starts to get dark around here, so I'd like for us to find some shelter soon."

They walked on for another hour, Jim scanning the horizon constantly, to look for shelter. He glanced at the sky to see how quickly the local sun was setting and estimated they had another 2 or 3 hours of daylight left.

"Jim, look!" Leonard pointed to an outcrop of imposing, large stones in the distance. "That looks like a possibility."

"Yeah, it does. Good eyes, Bones." Through the binoculars, he looked the area over carefully. "It looks like it might be a good place. Let's get ourselves over there and see if it will do at least for tonight."

They picked up their pace, and soon the tall, formidable rock formations came into view. Jim pulled out his phaser and checked that it was on stun. "Stay here for a minute, Bones. I want to be sure there aren't any of those indigenous wild animals or creepy crawly things on the rocks before we climb up there."

"Creepy crawly? That's very scientific of you, Jim," Leonard grinned. "We'll have to do better than that for our newly discovered planet report to Starfleet."

"I'll leave that in your very capable scientific hands, Doctor." Jim, nimble as a goat, began to climb the boulders and was out of sight almost instantly. Leonard tried his best not to worry at having Jim out of his sight. He hated to admit it, but being alone here gave him the heebie geebies. Soon Jim's sandy head peeked down from behind a large boulder, a sunny smile on his face. "It's fine, Bones. Come on up. There's a cave up here, not quite as deep as I'd like, but it will do fine for shelter and it'll keep us well hidden. These large boulders will also obscure any sensor scans, the cave is hidden behind them; you can't really see it unless you're practically on top of it." He grinned. "We'll be protected, out of sight, and snug as bugs in a rug."

Leonard scrambled his way up the stones and handed Jim the two packs. Jim clasped his wrist with strong fingers and pulled him up over the last few boulders.

"Thanks, Jimmy. Must admit I'm tired now and the temperature is starting to drop fast."

It was true. With the sun beginning to set, it was getting much cooler, well on the way to being cold.

"Sit down and rest, Bones. I'll get us organized." It was still light enough to see and Jim looked around. "I think we're definitely going to need a fire," he said. "I'll find us some dry wood, the drier the better, much less smoke, although at night the smoke won't be seen and if we make the fire behind these big rocks it'll be harder to spot. You sit here, I'll be back in a minute."

"Just make it fast. I don't want you climbing over those boulders in the dark looking for firewood. Use your flashlight if you can't see...those Romulans are still pretty far away." Leonard pulled off the packs from his shoulders. "I'll get things organized here while you get the wood." They both felt a sense of urgency to get settled in before dark.

Jim hurried away. Leonard shivered; his shirt was not as thick as Jim's and it was definitely getting colder. He opened up both the back pack and the field pack, got out his extra shirt, a couple of ration bars, the instant coffee, their tea bags, sugar packets, their two collapsible cooking pots, their two mugs, the extra flashlight, the floor tarp, the two thermal blankets, and their sleeping bags. The small collapsible tent, their instant food, ration bars, their tools, their small lantern, and a few other things, he left packed. He looked around. True, the cave was not very deep, but it was roomy enough for the two of them and all their stuff. The floor was smooth and clean, with no animal droppings or bones on the floor which was a good sign. He was a little concerned about the large, wide mouth of the cave so before spreading out the tarp and sleeping bags, he walked outside until he found some large rocks. One by one he carried the heavy stones to the cave entrance and stacked them around haphazardly, obscuring the mouth of the cave even more. He looked up when he heard Jim coming back and hurried to meet him. Jim's arms were laden with good dry wood. He looked approvingly at what Leonard had done with the large rocks. "Good work, Bones. It's even harder to spot now. Let me get the fire started, you're cold. There's not much fat on those bones of yours." Jim laughed softly at his own bad joke, and Leonard elbowed him. Still grinning, Jim continued. "I scanned the area with the field binoculars, everything is quiet as far as I could see."

"Good. Let's hope it stays that way. I have no desire to get up close and personal with any Romulans." Leonard shivered. He was cold; his exertions had warmed him up temporarily, but now in the cooling dusk even with a second shirt on his thin frame he felt cold.

Darkness was descending quickly and Jim hurried to start the fire behind two of the large boulders just outside the cave. He grunted in satisfaction when the small fire blazed merrily. "Sit by the fire, Bones, so you can warm up a little," he said, looking worriedly at him. "I'm going back the way I came to see if the fire is visible." He walked a good distance away from the fire and soon came back. "No glow and no smoke," he said in satisfaction, sitting down close to the fire next to Leonard.

Leonard had set some water to boil in their water pot, "Tea or coffee?" He asked Jim.

"Tea," Jim said. "Some sugared hot tea sounds good right now. Let's save our coffee for the mornings. Good thing we thought of bringing extra water," he said. "We've got a lot of instant meals and Fleet emergency ration bars," he said. "We've also got coffee, tea, and instant soup. We're fine with the water we brought for right now, but tomorrow I'll scout around for another water source. The lake is too far to walk back to safely and also too exposed. When I was gathering fire wood, I noticed there's a lot of green stuff growing just outside the perimeter of this rocky area, so there has to be another source of water somewhere close. We can always boil what we find if need be."

Leonard dug into the field pack. "Hmm. We have a second emergency flashlight, the lantern, and the light from our comm units, although tonight is probably the last time we should use them unless we know for sure the Romulans aren't around."

"Tomorrow I'll make a fire pit, Bones, so we can stay warm and heat water for tea, coffee and instant soup. I'll also scout away from the cave with the long range binoculars." He frowned. "I'm glad big rock and mineral formations like these mess with life signs because our first priority is to find water. I think it'll be fine to look around in the morning, but I don't want to chance going too far outside this rocky ridge in the afternoon."

"Jim, I'm sorry I've done so little to help you. I took the same survival classes you did, it's just that I never thought I'd ever have to use any of that information. Somehow, I thought I'd always be in a Sick Bay or in a hospital on a planet somewhere. To tell you the truth, I've forgotten a lot of it; most of it really," Leonard admitted, looking a little shame faced.

Jim just smiled at him, his eyes reflecting the gold of the fire. "You don't ever have to worry about stuff like that, Bones," Jim told him. "I just figured you'd be with me on any away missions and so you are."

Leonard swallowed the sudden lump in his throat. To think that Jim had thought about his welfare like that, touched him deeply.

He cleared his throat and scooted up to the fire to make tea for both of them. The wind had picked up and it was definitely colder. The hot tea would be good; warm them both up. There were sugar packets along with the tea in the field pack, so he added the sugar and carried the collapsible mugs back to Jim. He walked inside the cave to find Jim unpacking the rest of their stuff, their sleeping bags and the thermal floor tarp were now spread out on the cave floor.

"It's definitely getting colder," Jim said absently. "We'll be nice and warm with the sleeping bags and the thermal blankets though, so no problem." He looked up at Leonard's troubled face. "You look worried, Bones. Don't be. We'll be fine, I promise."

"I'm not worried, Jim. I'm just mad at myself...seems like you're doing all the work around here."

Jim smiled up at him. "We all have our individual skills; this just happens to be one of mine. Just remember this, Bones, I couldn't do even a quarter of the stuff that the brilliant Dr. Bones McCoy does in Sick Bay."

Leonard could feel a faint flush in his cheeks at Jim's praise. "Well, just so you know, there ain't anyone I'd rather be stranded with on a God forsaken planet than you, Captain James T. Kirk."

"Thanks, Bones."

They didn't talk much after that, sharing a warm comfortable silence as they drank their hot tea and munched on their ration bars. They sat at the mouth of the cave, shoulder to shoulder and watched the water boil. Bones tossed in the same two teabags into the pot again. His mama always said the second cup of tea from the same tea bag was the better one. He counted the time in his head for the second steeping so it wouldn't get bitter. He stirred in the sugar and handed the mug to Jim. He felt rather than heard Jim sigh.

"What are you thinkin' about, Jim. Are you worried about the ship? 'Cause if that's it, stop worrying. Spock will take good care of her and they're far, far away by now."

"I know, Bones. I'm not really worried about the ship. I'm just wondering if we're going to have visitors or not, and if we are, how long will they stay around. I'm also wondering if we should try to gather more provisions just in case. I doubt that the War Bird would get here before tomorrow evening. The thing I'm not sure about is their long range sensors, should we take a chance on heading out too far from the cave and these rocks to look for water."

"Well, if we're gonna' do it, let's do it early in the morning. They'll still be far away even at warp speed, and I'm pretty sure their captain is like any other captain of any ship. He'll wanna' see results and long range sensors that far out don't give you much information at all, do they?"

Jim grinned. "You're absolutely right, Dr. McCoy. I've been stewing about it off and on since we got here, and I should have just talked it over with you. We'll scout around tomorrow morning, very early; hopefully we'll find some water and maybe even some edible fruit or something. You can check what we find with the medical tricorder right?"

"Sure can. Don't worry about that, Jim. I'll make sure it's safe, and like you said, we can always boil the water if it's not pure like the pond water was."

"I was thinking about another alternative, Bones. The pond is about two hours away, less, if I jog part or all of the way there. I could go by myself while you stay here and guard our stuff. I could get the water and probably be back in three hours."

"No, Jim. I'm sure you could get there and back in that time, but I don't like the idea of us being separated like that. We gotta' stick together. If you're determined to go, we'll go together. I can jog as good as you; I always keep up with you fine during our runs on the deck and I never skip my conditioning training."

"Yeah, you keep up fine, Bones. And I have to admit I don't really like the idea of leaving you here alone."

"I don't like it either, Jimbo." He shivered. "Let's go inside the cave. It's getting a lot colder."

"Let me put out the fire first. Tomorrow after I build the fire pit, maybe it can stay lit and it won't be seen, that's if the Romulans do show up." Jim doused the fire with the dregs of their tea and pulled out the infrared binoculars. He jumped up on one of the taller boulders and scanned the area again; nothing stirred, it was eerily quiet and pitch dark. There was a moon; two actually, one very small, more like a large asteroid, and one much bigger. However the larger moon must be in its waned cycle right now since it was not visible.

They stripped off their outer shirts, spreading them out to air, then put the thermal blankets over the sleeping bags too and got in them. They were very well insulated and warm. Starfleet issued survival and camping gear was the top of the line, the best that credits could buy. Leonard sighed happily as warmth seeped all through his body chasing away the chill. "Good night, Bones," Jim murmured, already close to sleep.

"Night, Jimmy."

Leonard didn't go to sleep right away; he lay there thinking, listening to Jim's regular soft breathing. Things could be a hell of a lot worse, he thought. He was very lucky that he was stuck in this place with Jim, because Jim could turn his hand to anything, not just stuff he learned in Starfleet, but stuff he'd learned growing up on the farm in Iowa. He could build a fire pit, blaze a trail through unfamiliar terrain, shoot wild critters if he had to, scavenge with the best of them, and outwit and outfight Romulans when called upon to do so. This, this was a walk in the park for Jim, especially compared to some of the things he's been through on missions and personally, too. So, Leonard, he thought to himself, you'll just have to put on your big boy britches and be a lot more helpful; braver, more intrepid, and most of all more supportive of your Captain and best friend. With that thought, he finally fell asleep.