Author: Caera1996
Rating: G
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Warning: This is my first kid-fic. It might suck.

Original Prompt:

There are oodles of kid!Jim fics floating around the Internet, but far too few de-aging stories involve a young Bones. I'd like to see Bones de-aged to about four or five on an away mission and immediately cling to Jim. Jim is struck by how sweet and cheerful he as, as opposed to his grumpy adult boyfriend. No complex plot is necessary; just some fluffy, adorable kid!Bones goodness. Bonus points for the following:

1. kid!Bones falls asleep on Jim's lap while Jim is sitting in the captain's chair. Cue an "awww" from the crew.
2. kid!Bones wants to be a doctor even at his tender age and he insists on playing doctor with Jim.

Leonard stirred restlessly, curling his body around a pillow and tucking his head down, as if he were hiding. Caught in a dream that was quickly becoming a nightmare, he flung out an arm, opening and clenching his hand repeatedly, reaching for someone to help him. Turning, his kicked his legs against the blankets that twisted around his body. He gasped and struggled, whimpering, but also finally waking himself up.

When his eyes did open, he lay on his back, chest heaving as he tried to breathe. Tears dampened his cheeks and were caught in his lashes. He let out a small sob as he pushed himself up. It was so dark…did mama forget to turn on the nightlight? Reaching for the edge of his bed so he could get down and go get her, he realized that he wasn't in his own bed….maybe he was already in mama's bed. But he didn't remember that. His breath hitched in his chest and renewed tears slipped down his cheeks.

"Mama?" he called softly. Blindly, he reached around the bed…no one was lying in it next to him. But mama wouldn't just leave him there if he had a bad dream, especially if daddy was still at his hospital. He looked around himself as his eyes adjusted. "M-mama?" he said again, as he realized that he wasn't in his mother's room. "Where are you?" Breathing a little faster, he gripped the sheet in his little hands, another soft sob escaping him. Scared of the dark, but more scared that his mother wasn't coming for him, he began inching towards the edge of the bed. Carefully, he slipped off it, bare feet hitting carpet. His house was all wood floors. Clutching the bed, afraid to step away from it into surroundings he wasn't familiar with, his breathing came a little faster and he shivered. "Mommy?" he sobbed.

Shifting as he strained to look around, he felt the shirt he was wearing slip down and off his shoulders. Confused, he reached to pull the garment back into place. For the first time he realized he wasn't wearing any bottoms and the top of his pajamas didn't fit him. That wasn't what he wore to bed. Trembling a little harder, he slid down to press himself into the corner between the bed and the wall. Drawing his knees to his body, he wrapped his arms around himself and hid his face in his knees, his little body shaking with the force of his crying.

"Mommy, mommy…where are you?" Leonard sat huddled like that, waiting for her to come back…for the room to lighten in the morning sun…for his world to make sense again.

Jim walked quickly to Bones' room. They were supposed to meet for breakfast this morning, but Bones hadn't showed up. Jim was fully intent on teasing him mercilessly for oversleeping, so he didn't even bother trying to comm him first.

Arriving at Bones' quarters, Jim keyed in his access code and stepped into the fully dark room. Smirking, he called for lights – and paused when he saw the bed was empty. Puzzled, he stepped all the way in to the room, allowing the door to slide shut behind him.

"Bones? You okay, man?" he called. Frowning, Jim checked the bathroom. Bones wasn't here. Was he already in Sickbay? Just as he was about to ask the computer to locate the doctor, he thought he heard something come from the bed area. It was so out of place on a starship, in the quarters of his CMO, that he his mind refused to catalogue it at first. Because what he thought he heard was impossible.

Making his way over to the bed area, his eyes scanned the messed blankets…noting the pair of sleep pants bunched in the center of the bed. The blanket was pushed to the side near the wall, the sheet hanging off the bed on the floor.

Then everything stopped.

Jim didn't think his heart even beat as he locked eyes with the small, dark-brown, green-eyed child huddled on the floor. Child. No….how could…this wasn't….was this…

"Oh, shit. Bones?" The child stared up at him with wide, frightened eyes. Familiar eyes. Jim's legs felt rubbery, and he sank down to the floor in front of the little boy. This close to him, Jim could see tear tracks on his cheeks, and the confusion and fright he was feeling in his eyes.

"I-I'm not Bones," the little boy said. "And you said a bad word."

Jim just stared, unable to make his mind connect to what he was seeing…his thoughts racing, he stared at the child…how old? Four? Five? He just couldn't even wrap his brain around this. Trembling, the child looked away from him, pulling himself into an even tighter ball.

"W-where's my m-mommy?" he asked in a very small voice, stuttering around choppy breaths. And that snapped Jim out of his shock. Whatever happened, whatever this was, his best friend (and recently something more) was helpless right now…and frightened. Jim reached out and carefully pulled the child into his arms. He was stiff with unease for a few moments, shaking against Jim, but so in need of comfort he didn't actually try to pull away.

Settling himself on the floor, back resting against the bed, Jim held the small, warm body against his chest and rocked slightly.

"Shh…it's okay buddy. Your mom's not here right now, but you're safe and I'll take care of you until…" Jim paused for a moment, but then settled with, "until…she gets back."

"Why are your ears funny?" Leonard asked. Spock raised an eyebrow and glanced at Jim who was snickering. The child continued to stare unabashedly from his perch on Jim's hip.

"There is nothing amusing about my ears," he answered levelly.

"Are you wearing a mask?" Jim laughed out loud at that as Spock stiffened.

"Okay, Leonard…let's talk to someone else…" Jim led little-Bones (4 years old, M'Benga determined) to each of the Bridge crew, letting them entertain him. As a child, Leonard was surprisingly easy-going and quick to smile. After he'd gotten over his fright at being in a strange situation, Leonard proved to be a happy, inquisitive, and talkative little boy – so much different from the adult Jim knew and loved.

There was one constant though, and the one time Leonard had pitched a fit, crying and clutching Jim tightly, legs clamped around Jim's waist, was when Jim brought him to the observation deck. As an adult, Bones had grown to love this room, and Jim didn't think that as a child he'd have the fear of space that still sometimes plagued him. He'd been wrong about that.

Now, on the Bridge, the view screen was kept blank, and Leonard poked at Jim until he put him down so that he could explore and talk to everyone. Jim settled in his chair and watched with a fond, amused smile as Bones and Chekov tried to talk to each other. Bones just couldn't understand the accent and Chekov made him giggle by trying to recreate that southern drawl that was more pronounced in the child.

After making his way around the Bridge, Bones came back over to Jim and clambered onto his lap. He sat facing him, his legs tucked between Jim's legs and the sides of the chair.

"Having fun, buddy?"

"I like the Medbay better. It looks like a room in Daddy's hospital. I'm gonna be a doctor, too, you know." Jim smiled and ran a hand over Bones' head, ruffling his hair.

"Oh, yeah? What kind of doctor do you want to be?" Bones shrugged.

"The kind Daddy is. Can we play doctor later?" Jim rolled his eyes as some sniggered in front of him. It sounded like Sulu. Chekov would be a little more discreet.

"Sure…are you going to fix me up?"

"Yup. What's wrong with you?"

"Umm…my tummy hurts," Jim said, happy to play along, for the amusement of the little guy as well as his Bridge crew.

"I can fix that," he said seriously. "Just a simple hypo…"

"Oh, jeez, kid!" Jim exclaimed, poking him in the sides to make him squirm and giggle. "You must've been born with a hypo in your hand!"

They played around for a few more minutes, and eventually Leonard turned around on Jim's lap to look at the screen. He leaned against Jim's chest and Jim gently looped his arm around the child's waist to keep him in place.

"Is that a window?" he asked.

"Nope. It's a screen…like the old-fashioned movies. Have you been to one?"

"Yeah, Mommy took me. Can you make the screen show anything?"

"Almost anything," Jim replied. "What do you want to see?"

"Can you make the screen show stars?"

"Are you sure you want to see stars? You didn't like them earlier." Leonard shrugged and plucked at Jim's sleeve with little fingers.

"It's not the same if it's not a window, and if I get scared again you can just make them go away, right?"

"Right, kiddo." Leonard settled more completely against Jim, letting his head rest against Jim's shoulder. He curled his hand around two of Jim's fingers, and Jim gently rubbed the back of that baby-soft hand with his thumb. He could feel Leonard's breathing slow and deepen, and it wasn't too long before Jim felt his body go completely limp.

Uhura was the first to notice the lack of his background chatter, and she got up from her station to come around to the front of Jim.

"He's so beautiful," she whispered. Jim smiled slightly and pressed his cheek to the dark, soft hair. She watched them for a moment, taking in the worry that Jim held at bay when Leonard was awake. "Spock and M'Benga will figure it out, Jim," she said quietly.

"I know," he whispered back. He had no doubt of that. They would find whatever Bones came into contact with yesterday, and this would be reversed.

Until then, Jim would love and comfort and care. And after, when things were back to normal, Jim was never letting go.