(A/N: Originally posted in 2013 on AO3. All spoken dialogue is from the Star Trek ToS Episode "The Mark of Gideon", and does not belong to me.)
"I shall beam down at once. Mr. Scott, you have the con." Spock rose from the Captain's chair and, with a slight tug to straighten his uniform, he walked past McCoy and towards the turbolift.
"I'll pick up my medical tricorder and meet you in the transporter room." McCoy commented, following Spock who stopped half a second later to face the CMO. McCoy grasped his hands together, ready to go check up on his Captain and, more importantly, his friend.
"Negative, Doctor." Spock began, standing up straight, one hand grasping the other behind his back. "I cannot accept the responsibility for ordering a fellow officer to violate a starfleet directive." McCoy cocked his head very slightly at Spock's words. "I can make such a decision only for myself."
Immediately, McCoy retaliated Spock's statement. "I'm not asking you to make a decision for me." Jim Kirk, McCoy's best friend since starfleet academy, was down in some unknown place, possibly dead, and Spock was telling him not to go?
"The situation forces me to do so, Doctor."
McCoy could feel through the link they shared, however small it was, that Spock was not going to allow any leeway. He decided it worse to press on than to accompany Spock, no matter how badly he wanted to see Jim and make sure he was alright. "Well, in that case, it's the worst possible decision you can make, Spock." McCoy worried not only for Kirk's well-being, but Spock's all the same. What if Spock became lost, just as Kirk is? He would have to deal with the disappearance and possible death of not only his friend, but his lover as well. They had only begun their bond a mere five days ago, and McCoy wasn't sure what Spock could feel through their link, since it was still thin and new, but he sure hoped Spock could feel his anxiety. He didn't want to lose his bondmate so soon after their relationship began.
"This will not take long." A slight wave of reassurance trickled from Spock's mind to McCoy's. He could feel that Spock did not want to lose him in the same way he did not want to lose Spock. "Do not worry for me, Doctor. I shall return safely with the Captain." Spock's mind spoke to McCoy's with a calming lapse.
"I told you to call me Leonard, Spock." McCoy's thoughts chuckled slightly. " 'Doctor' is a little too formal for the kind of relationship we have."
"Very well, Leonard. I shall see you soon."
Their conversation flashed by in a moment, and it ended they way McCoy preferred it not to; with Spock running headfirst into potential danger.
"You'd better."