Jim leaned back against the tree. With one hand he reached up and wiped away the sweat rolling down his forehead. He didn't really like jungles. It was hot in Iowa in the summer but it was a heat that he could deal with. But the humidity here had drenched his shirt within minutes of beaming down. And of course this jungle was tropical, so while they were waiting for the locals they were here to make contact with, it started raining. HARD! He had stared straight at Spock, knowing that Bones wouldn't appreciate the smirk that would appear at his grumbling.

Then there was the animals. This particular jungle had something that looked, in the few seconds he saw it, like a saber-tooth tiger. It had charged into the clearing he, Spock and Bones had beamed down to almost as soon as they materialized. He was pushed out of the way just as it's claws were about to cut through him. As he took a face full of dirt, he heard a grunt and a phaser go off.

He rolled to his feet, intending to ask Spock if he was alright, but froze when he saw his First Office leaning over Bones.

He rushed over to them, trying not to think about the amount of red already soaking into the ground. He ripped off his outer shirt and pressed it down hard on the shredded remains of Bones'. Spock moved away and retrieved the med kit that Bones had dropped. Jim stopped paying attention as Bones moaned.

"Bones?" he asked, keeping pressure with one hand and lifting the other to his lover's cheek. "Come on, Bones. Wake up."

"'im?" Bones groaned out.

"Yeah, it's me. You need to wake up and tell us how to help you."

"Help?" he murmurer, trying to sit up, before falling back with a scream, his hand coming up to cover Jim's.

"Don't move! I said tell us!"

"What happened?"

"As soon as we materialized," Spock said, slowly taking items out of the med kit. "a member of the local wildlife attacked up. As it was heading straight for the Captain, you pushed him out of the way, there by putting yourself into harms way. It also appears that, in you haste to save the Captain, you threw the Med kit at the creature. Most of the vials have been broken and the tricorder wand as well. I would suggest immediate medical beam up, except..."

"Except that the beam down was time to get through atmospheric disturbance and we won't able to beam back up for hours. Damn it, Spock! Bones is hurt!"

"I realized that, Captain. There is nothing we can do currently. Also, the locals have arrived." he pointed behind Jim. Looking up, Jim saw a group of locals. The natives of this planet looked like giant stick bugs, blending in well with the jungle foliage. One detached from the group and approached the creature. It chittered motioning to the creature, then the three of them.

"A Falcor." the universal translator supplied. "This is unfortunate. Has your subordinate been badly hurt? And was it by the Falcor's claws?"

"Yes," Jim told it. "Is that important?"

It's long body tipped forward. "The Falcor's claws are often coated in a bacteria found in the soil. We have a supply of the drug to combat it in the village."

"Bones?" The doctor pushed at Jim's hands. He pulled up the sodden shirt and poked at the wound. He grimaced in pain and replaced it.

"It should be okay, Jim." he grunted. "It looks bad, but it's not life threatening. Bandages in the kit should stop the bleeding, but if there is a foreign bacteria in there..."

"How far is your village?"

It was determined that the village was too far to transport Bones, so Spock went with them to retrieve the medication. That was an hour and a half ago. Jim wiped at the sweat on his forehead again, before running his hand through Bones' hair. Bones' eyes were closed. Jim reached for his communicator.

"Kirk to Enterprise."

"Enterprise here." Sulu said.

"How long until we can be beamed up?"

"There is still half an hour until we will be able to punch through the interference."

"We've got a medical emergency, so beam us straight to sickbay when you can!"

"Yes, Sir." Jim closed his communicator and continued running his hand through Bones' hair.

"Jim." Bones gasped out. Jim looked down, frowning when Bones' eyes looked worried. "I'm cold."

"Cold?" It was then that Jim noticed that Bones was shivering a little. Jim took his undershirt off and tried to wrap it around Bones, while pulling the med kit closer. "Is there anything in here to help? I mean, not everything is made for hypos, right? Some people still use tablets?"

At the bottom of the kit he found a vacuum sealed packet with two tablet in it. Holding it up he read the tiny print. It was a bunch of medical sounding words but he did understand the one ingredient: acetaminophen. He rip open the packet.

"Here, take this." he slipped one on the pill into Bones' mouth, then braced his head to take a sip from the survival pouch of water in the kit. Once Bones swallowed, he repeated it with the second. And it was just in time as Bones started violently trembling in his lap. "Bones!"

"Uhhhhh"

"Bones?" the doctor's eyes fluttered. "Bones, stay awake. Please, stay awake!"

"Jim...it's-I'm co-co-cold."

"I know, Sweetheart." he said helplessly, running his hands up and down Bones' arms. "But I'm sure Spock will be back soon with the medication, and that will at least hold off the infection until we can beam back up. Just stay with me."

The doctor nodded. Or, at least Jim thought he did, he was still shaking badly.

"Te-tell me-me the again?" he brought his hand up in a week caress of Jim's cheek. Jim caught the hand as it fell, brought it up to his lips and pressed kisses into the palm.

"The first thing I knew about you was this gruff angry voice coming from the rear of the shuttle. Like the rest, I was watching as you were pulled out of the bathroom. When you plopped down next to me, I wasn't sure what to think, especial after you said you were going to heave on me."

Jim stared carding his hand through Bones' hair. Trailing the pads of his fingers along his lover's scalp.

"Listening to you rant and rave the whole way to San Francisco definitively intrigued me. And I...might...have hacked into the Academy's computer system to find out you class schedule. I arranged for us to run into each other during the first week, but well..." he grind. Jim thought it was a good sign when Bones rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, I wasn't planning on getting into another fight so soon. I was surprised to see you at StarFleet Medical. I knew they put you to work, but most Doctor cadets still only get put in the Academy's clinic. As you worked on me, I could tell there was something there, that we would be good friends. So, I waited until your shift ended and ambushed you, asked if you had found any good bars yet."

He let the hand not in Bones' hair, rest on the doctor's chest. The trembling had stopped but heartbeat against his palm was much too fast. He swallowed and looked to the path Spock and the natives had taken. It was still empty.

"I knew a few months into our friendship that you were going to be the best friend I every had. There was so much I was willing to do for you that, if anybody else asked, I would have told them to piss off. I knew I felt more then just friendship for you by the end of first year, but I thought is was just because I considered you family. A category I have a VERY limited number of people in.

"It wasn't until the middle of our second year that I realized that I was in love with you. And let me tell you, if you ever shout someone else's name out during sex, Gaila is the one you want to be with. She was very understanding, let me talk about my feelings for you for the next year and a half. Kept urging me to tell you. I told her I would if I passed the Kobayashi Maru. Remember, as we left the simulator, that I asked if you wanted to go celebrate? I was going to tell you.

"But of course the Narada happened. Fuck, Bones! I still have nightmares about you not following me out of sickbay. That you were there during the initial attack. That you were killed just like Dr. Puri. When everything was over and we were making our way back home on impulse, we were both dead on our feet and crashed in your quarters. When I woke up, you were holding me tightly to you. You didn't know I was awake and you were talking to me.

"You said that you were glad that I was okay, that you couldn't describe how happy you were that you didn't lose me. Your voice, Bones. I couldn't help looking up and kissing you. I was terrified that I was wrong and you would push me away, but you didn't. You rolled me under you and we made love.

"I love you, Bones. So much. I don't know what I would do with out you." The hand on the Doctor's forehead felt cooler, so he hoped that the fever was receding. Jim looked down, expecting to see that Bones had fallen asleep. The hope was in vain as Bones' eyes had rolled back into his head and he started to convulse. "BONES!"

Jim slid out from under Bones and wrapped his arms around him so he didn't made the wound on his stomach worse. In desperation, Jim grabbed his communicator.

"Where's that beam up, Sulu!"

"Scotty's working on it. He says any minute."

"Bones might not have another minute!" Even as he shouted, he felt the tingle of de-materialization. The sickbay formed around them and he moved away to let M'Benga and Chapel get to Bones. As he was moved onto a biobed, Jim took out his communicator again and called Spock. When he was done, he walked into Bones' office, sat in his usual chair, placed his elbows on his knees, and his head in his hands.

"He's seizing again!" M'Benga's voice echoed in Bones' office and Jim hit the button to close the door.

It was still some time before Spock beamed up with the drug to neutralized the bacteria and make sure it wouldn't make Bones worse. But once M'Benga fixed the wound and purged the bacteria from Bones' system. But that didn't matter now as he held Bones' hand. M'Benga said that as soon a Bones woke up, he was being released to quarters.

It was only two hours later that they were in their quarters. Bones ensconced in the bed, Jim curled up against him. Bones hand in is hair. It was now that Jim felt like he could finally relax.

"So," he said, as his eyes fluttered sleepily. "Tell me again?"

Bones smiled and pressed a kiss into his hair. "When I fell into the seat next to you on the shuttle..."