Not Prepared
by Starsinger
Spock is prepared for anything, except seeing his Captain in a cryotube waiting to live. Don't own them.
"Spock! Stop! He's our only chance to save Kirk!" Uhura's pain filled voice penetrated his conscious. Spock stopped, her words not making sense. Jim was dead. He looked up at her and found himself hoping she was right, right before the final hit that sent Khan into unconsciousness. "Uhura to Enterprise, three to beam up. Have McCoy meet us in the transporter room, his prize is alive."
Sulu's tight voice answered, "Yes, Lieutenant."
Spock referred to look at Khan, even as he felt the transporter surrounded him. He looked up to see McCoy waiting for them. He hauled Khan up and onto the waiting gurney. Not even bothering to be careful of the broken arm. He deserved no special considerations. Not after everything that he'd done: Chris and Jim were just two in a long list of names that died in the past few days. He heard McCoy's soft voice penetrate his own consciousness, "Come on, Spock, I need to check you out too. It won't do for the Acting Captain to collapse too." Spock just nodded his assent, McCoy's logic was sound.
McCoy gave orders to knock Khan so far into a coma he couldn't see the other side while drawing more blood. "Doctor, how is it you feel you can save the Captain?" he asked.
"Remember Chekov's tribble?"
"The dead one you injected with Khan's blood?" Spock asked, even more confused.
"Yeah, that one, here, catch," Bones tossed the little ball of fluff at Spock. Spock caught it and was about to ask what he was to do with a dead Tribble when it purred at him contentedly. Tribbles really liked Vulcans as much as they hated Klingons. Uhura came over and petted the little animal, fussing over it in Spock's hands. One of the nurses made him lie down as M'benga checked over his injuries. Fortunately, they were minor injuries that the computer could handle under M'benga's expert hands.
"Yes, Admiral, I understand. They'll be able to handle us in the Zurich hospital, thank you," Bones closed the link. "Spock, I'm going to be leaving the ship soon. At this point the majority of the injuries can be handled by my staff. The Fleet hospital in San Francisco didn't take a direct hit, but it was heavily damaged and Headquarters feel that a hospital in another area of the Earth would best accommodate us." McCoy's left hand rested proprietarily on a cryotube.
Spock got up and looked inside. Jim rested inside. Spock heard Uhura's ragged gasp as they saw what McCoy had done. The odds of the Captain returning to them were, Spock stopped his mind there. The odds didn't apply to the Captain. McCoy was right, his presence wasn't completely necessary. Spock longed to reach out and touch the Captain's face, wanting nothing more illogical to see that his friend was still there so he could be retrieved.
Uhura stood beside him, reaching out with another hand to the Captain. They accompanied Bones and Jim to the shuttle that would take them down to the hospital on Earth. Khan's precious blood in a cooler. McCoy wanted to be in a stable environment before giving the Captain anything that might make him worse. Uhura wondered what could be worse than dead.
Spock turned away from the shuttle and headed for the bridge. He had no doubt that Starfleet wanted to talk to him. He had work to do, Sulu called him and informed him that tugs were in place to tow the Enterprise into drydock. Medical and engineering personnel would soon be coming on board to take care of the ship, inside and out. He and Uhura got in a turbolift headed for the bridge when he stopped it. He took her in his arms and hugged her. That was all, nothing more. He needed the comfort and solace she so willingly gave, and suddenly, the universe didn't seem so terrible anymore.
