Jenna's eyes blinked open in the bright light of the hospital room. Confused, she looked around and wondered why she felt so heavy. She thought she'd died and left her body behind, after all.
"Don't be so melodramatic, you were barely dead."
Bones! Her heart jumped at the sound of his voice and she turned her head to look at him. There he was, by her side with a tricorder, looking only slightly less stressed than she'd last seen him, but without the pain she remembered as she'd lain in his arms dying.
"Wh-what happened?" She asked. "Are you sure I'm not still dead? Because you look like an angel to me, Bones."
She smirked at him shamelessly. Those white scrubs looked really good on him and she looked her fill, bringing a blush to her CMO's face.
"Dammit, Jenna! You're such an infant! You are very much alive. We synthesized a serum from Khan's blood and it regenerated your cells. You've been out cold for two weeks."
"You caught Khan?" She asked.
"I didn't." He replied and motioned to Spock, who was waiting in the background, as cool and collected as ever.
Once she'd got the story of Khan's capture and other details she'd missed, she was filled with pride at her crew and she told Spock so.
"You saved my life!" She said gratefully. "Thank you.
"You are welcome, Jenna," he said. Jenna was too excited over Spock using her first name to notice Bones's glower at first, but after he'd shooed Spock out, she saw a definite disgruntled Bones look.
"What?" She asked cluelessly.
"Uhura and I had something to do with it, too, you know," Leonard grumbled.
"Yes, you did, and I'm very grateful for it. But I was really selfishly glad that you were there at the end-well, what I thought was the end."
His jaw clenched suddenly and he turned away again, clearly fighting back the emotions those memories caused.
She'd crawled out of the warp core and slumped against the door of the chamber, the feeling of giddy triumph quickly giving way to the pain of the poison spreading through her body.
Scotty had pulled out his communicator and she tried to tell him not to call Bones, but the next thing she knew, her best friend was kneeling in front of the door, face whiter than a sheet.
"Open the door!" He yelled.
"I can't until the decontamination sequence is up!" Scotty protested. "It will only be another two minutes."
"She might not have that long!"
"Jen, can you hear me? Hold on just a little longer, darlin'. We're going to get you out of there."
"Bones," she whispered, a smile crossing her lips at the sight of him. "I'll try, but it hurts."
"I know it does, but I can help with that a little, once you're out of there. What in the world were you thinking?"
His voice was desperate and she winced at the pain in it. She'd done what she had to do to keep him and everyone else alive and hopefully he'd forgive her for it.
Bones sighed as he gave her the scheduled hypo, from which she squirmed and wrinkled her nose in protest.
He shook his head, but the tenseness eased on his face.
"I never thought I'd say this, but I've almost missed you bein' a baby about your hypos. The eerie silence the last two weeks was just... unpleasant."
His confession drew a laugh from her.
"Oh, Bones. Did I ever tell you how amazing you are?"
His eyebrow rose. "Not recently. But I'm all ears if you decide to change that."
Jenna's heart squeezed. This was more like the Bones she knew and loved.
"How about I repeat what I told you when I was dying? That I love you more than anything on earth?"
He stilled.
"You meant it?"
"Every word, Leonard Horatio McCoy."
The two minutes seemed like an interminable amount of time, but finally the light flashed green and Scotty typed in the command to open the door. By this time, Jenna had almost no control of her own body and tilted sideways for a second before Bones caught her and drew her out of the chamber into his arms. Sweaty and hurting, she stared up at him with affection as a hypo hissed against her neck.
"Thanks, Bones," she managed. "It was getting stuffy in there."
His face was an emotional storm as he gazed at his tricorder readings and shook his head.
"There's nothing else I can do, Jen. I'm sorry."
"I know. You have nothing to be sorry about Bones," she told him softly. "I chose to do this, I needed to do this. I couldn't let you die. I love you, Bones."
His eyes filled with tears and he drew her head to rest on his shoulder, kissing the top of it as he held her tightly, as if trying to keep her out of death's reach.
"I love you too, Jen. With all my bumbling Southern heart, I do. Should have told you sooner."
"Hmmm..." she murmured, finding it harder to draw breath.
"I'm so glad...I knew you, Bones, grumpiness and all."
"Takes a pretty rare and special person to put up with my orneriness," he said huskily, then seemed to sense her fading out on him and the sorrow increased in his hazel eyes.
Her own eyelids fluttered shut as her strength left her.
"Gotta go now," she mouthed. "Take care of yourself, Bones."
"I'll try, darlin'" he choked out. She died with a smile on her face, missing Spock's anguished yell and the doctor's tears.
Bones sat down beside her bed and gently placed his hand on hers.
"And I meant every word I said too, Jen. When you passed, I thought the whole world stopped turning. Thank heavens for that tribble."
"That's for sure," Jenna said thankfully, putting her other hand on top of Bones's.
"We're a pair of dunderheads, aren't we? I think I've loved you ever since you started rambling about bleeding eyeballs that day on the shuttle."
He grimaced and smiled ruefully.
"And I think I fell for you when you came running at me after you passed that Ethics class that gave you fits. We almost missed out because of our thick-headedness. Now to decide how to make the most of this second chance."
An impish grin lit up Jenna's face.
"Oh, it will start with lots of dates and snuggling, then you showing me how southern gentlemen kiss, then more dates, and I begin to make a plot to persuade you of the benefits of being married to a starship captain. What do you say, Bones dear, that sounds like a plan?"
Bones kissed her hand and grinned so his dimples showed.
"Great plan, sweetheart. If anyone's going to manage to persuade me to try marriage again, it's you. Dammit, woman, you ran off with my heart before I knew I still had one."
Jenna was filled with happiness at this response and smiled sleepily at him.
"I've never believed in no-win scenarios, Bones. That includes you."
