"Bones! I thought I told you to stay out! I was trying to save your life!"
Jim yelled at his best friend, who'd somehow managed to follow him into the one place he didn't want him to-the radioactive Warp core.
He'd been so dead set on his mission to stop the Enterprise from plummeting to earth that he hadn't noticed Bones had followed him in until he was halfway up the core, panting for breath, and heard a noise behind him. Looking down, he stopped in horror at the sight of Bones determinedly coming up behind him.
"Why would you do this?" Jim pleaded, furious at his friend for throwing the life away he was intending to save.
"I was trying to keep you from dying, not dragging you down with me. Bones, they need you!"
"Like you're somehow Mr. Expendable, Jim?" Bones snapped back, undeterred in his ascent.
Already, he could feel the radiation burning through him. He could see Bones didn't look right, either and his heart broke at the thought of Bones suffering a miserable death alongside him. This wasn't the way it was supposed to work. Jim was going to go in, fix the reactor, and worry about the consequences later.
"Did you possibly think I would ever let you do something so stupid by yourself?" Bones panted, climbing steadily.
He was making better time than Jim, who was still feeling the effects of his fight with Khan and had to stop every few feet to keep from passing out from pain.
"Thought you could at least...obey ...a direct order..." Jim gasped, grabbing a section of tubing and hoisting himself up.
"That's rich, coming from you," retorted Bones, suddenly appearing right below him. "Mr. Rules Are For Others."
Jim would have laughed if it wasn't such a dreadful situation. They were both sweating and pale, bodies feeling the poison working through them, but they couldn't stop now. They had a ship to save.
"Well, if you're so determined to die," Jim gasped out, "might as well help me kick the housings back into place. We don't have much time before the whole ship is a goner."
There wasn't much point in staying angry at him. Bones couldn't turn back now and it would be foolish to spend their last hours (more like minutes) in a fight. Goodness knows, they'd had plenty of those recently. Guilt burned inside him at the thought of how he'd treated Bones during the hunt for Khan.
Oblivious to his inner turmoil, Bones just nodded to Jim and they helped each other the rest of the way up. At the top they could see the badly misaligned parts and that it would definitively take some strength to get them back in place. Jim wasn't sure if he could have done it himself.
"Looks like we'll have to grab that bar up there and kick for all we're worth," he pointed out. "No more time to waste."
So they teamed up, two best friends saving the day together one last time. Kick, Kick, kick went Jim. Kick, KICK, KICK went Bones and back and forth they went. Finally, after a couple minutes of hard effort, the housings sprang back in place, the resulting burst of energy knocking both of them down hard.
Jim blacked out.
When he woke up, he was back in the chamber, leaning against something warm, his whole body on fire.
He opened his eyes sluggishly to see he was propped up against Bones's chest, Bones was looking down at him with that worried look in his eyes, though he looked like a wreck himself. He must have dragged Jim out of the main chamber while he'd been out.
Outside the door, Spock's horrified face appeared staring at them.
"The hobgoblin's not too happy with you, Jim," came the doctor's raspy voice. "Dang it, this hurts like hell. I might throw up on you."
Smiling weakly at the memory of how he'd first met Bones, Jim was suddenly selfishly glad of his friend's presence. Dying this way was torture, and having someone there was comforting, even though said someone was also dying.
"Spock," he asked the first officer who was still looking on, "How's the ship?"
"Out of danger. You saved the crew." There was a decided quiver in the Vulcan's voice.
"Most of them anyway," Jim mumbled," looking back up at Bones. "But some doctors are too stubborn for their own good."
"You really thought I could live without you, Jim? You're the reason I've lasted so long on this flying tin can."
Bones was earnest with ragged emotion. They had so much to say, so little time. Jim squeezed his friend's hand in silent support before turning back to Spock.
"I want you to know why I went back for you, why I couldn't let you die."
"Because you are my friend." Spock whispered, lips quivering. Jim smiled at him to confirm his guess. He didn't have much energy left for talking.
Their moment was interrupted by Bones's violent retching as he leaned over and threw up, taking care to avoid Jim.
Jim was struggling to breathe now, but he clutched his friend until the spasms subsided, battling against the fear that gripped him.
"I'm scared, Bones," he whispered. "This would be much easier if I couldn't feel."
"I know, Jim," Bones said tightly. "Believe me, I'm scared too. But we made our decision. I don't regret it. I don't regret you, Jim."
For several more minutes, they lay there together silently, waiting for the end.
Then Jim spoke up faintly.
"Remember when we watched those Lord Of The Rings movies together, Bones?"
"Yeah. Those were actually really good, except you wouldn't shut up about the horse lord looking like me."
"He did," Jim stated. "But I was thinking... how Sam followed Frodo everywhere, even up to the top of Mt. Doom. Even after Frodo was a jerk to him as the Ring took power, Sam stayed with him. It's just like us." He paused for breath.
"Not only...did you follow me into space, but you chased me into certain death. Your friendship means a lot to me, Bones. 'I'm glad you're here with me, here at the end of all things'" he quoted.
Bones swallowed around the emotion clogging his throat.
"That's a good analogy, Jim. I'm the Sam to your Frodo. No matter how hard I swore I wouldn't put up with you any more, I couldn't leave you, no matter what. You've been the best friend I ever had."
Tears were glimmering in their eyes as they shook hands in a silent pact, Jim letting out a choked moan as the pain became too much.
"Easy, Jim, easy. It's almost over," Bones whispered, choking back his own pain. It felt like his insides were liquified and boiling over.
All too soon his words proved true as the Captain felt coldness creeping over him and knew his time was up.
Jim couldn't speak, only mouthing "G'Bye, Bones" as he looked at his best friend fondly one last time and smiled his Kirk smirk as he drifted away into the darkness.
Bones felt Jim go slack in his arms as the life left him and he buried his throbbing head in the captain's shoulder, a few tears leaking out from eyes that could barely see. Out of habit, he felt Jim's neck to confirm the lack of pulse.
He knew he couldn't last much longer either and it was a relief at this point, since he knew exactly what was going on inside him and it was extremely unpleasant.
"Jim, I'm coming after you," Bones muttered. "You can't escape me even in the afterlife, you little brat."
He couldn't stand the sight of Jim's empty blue eyes looking at him, but his hands didn't have the strength to reach up and close them.
He turned to Spock again, who was still holding silent vigil, fists clenched against the glass and wonder of wonders, tears running down his cheeks.
"Sorry 'bout this, Spock," he slurred, breathing becoming more and more labored. "You'll be a...great captain, I know it.
I've just got one...request."
"What is it, Leonard?" Spock asked.
"Make sure they bury me next to Jim. I don't need to be shipped back to Georgia. Home is where...he is."
Spock nodded solemnly. "I will see to it, Leonard."
Having been thus assured, Leonard relaxed, the sound of his own faltering breaths loud in the deadly silence of the chamber. The painful minutes seemed to crawl by interminably before he too was seized with the final torrent of agony which quickly turned to complete numbness. He closed his eyes and held on to Jim's body tightly as his own body finally gave up the fight. "I couldn't just leave you there..." was his final thought to his best friend.
Outside the door, Spock, Uhura, and Scotty wept silently as all sound from the chamber ceased with the doctor's last breath. He was still holding tightly to Jim, once again refusing to let the captain leave him behind. Death itself wouldn't separate them, mused Scotty painfully as he slowly moved to call for a medical team. Spock let out a scream of rage and tore off for the bridge, Nyota following numbly. What in the world where they going to do now?