Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek. T for swearing.
Bones doesn't like to linger on the past. He figures, what's happened has happened, and there's no way to change that: such is the way of the world. But more often than not, he finds himself pondering the life he would live if any number of defining events hadn't occurred, or had happened differently:
What if he had never met Jocelyn; what if they had never gotten divorced?
What if his dad had never fallen ill?
What if he had never enlisted in Starfleet? What if, after he did enlist, he had chosen a different seat on the shuttle?
What if he had never met Jim Kirk?
It's an interesting thought, thinking of a world where he doesn'tknow Jim Kirk, of a world where his entire life hadn't gone to hell in a hand basket, the set of events spinning into motion and allowing him to take a specific seat on the blasted shuttle.
He wouldn't be here, that's for sure, on a planet millions of miles away from Earth, taking part in some diplomatic bullshit, standing next to his captain sweet-talking some aliens into signing some treaty.
Jim's back is turned away; he's oblivious to the fact that one of the delegate's assistants currently has a rifle pointed right at him. Bones notices; Bones notices everything––he can tell without fail when something is wrong: when someone is hiding an illness, or injury, or other ailment, he just knows, habitually, instinctually, when something's plain not right.
He realizes that there isn't time––there's no time to call out, no time to shove Jim out of the way.
He doesn't think about it. The action is more instinctive than even breathing (he has to remind himself to do that sometimes). It's as ingrained as the progression of the seasons, as inveterate as him taking the hand of patient, as natural as his incessant banter with his insufferable captain.
He steps into the line of fire.
As the assistant raises the rifle, the trigger pulled sharply in an instant, Bones reflects on his what if scenarios.
He thinks to himself: he'd never have this any other way.
TBC . . .
A/N: Thank you for reading! Feedback is much appreciated!
