Title: Taming the Lion
By: Dragonfire100
A/N A rewrite of Encounters for those of you who knew what that was, for those of you who don't, just ignore this note and enjoy :)
Chapter 2
Six Months Later….
McCoy breathed deep the rich aroma of his 'real' coffee. Nurse Pletchet was a saint. He took a satisfying sip. Yeah good coffee could improve any day.
"I swear if your hand 'accidentally' touches my ass again I will drop you!" A female voice rang out suddenly.
"It 'is' an accident lighten up would ya?"
McCoy closed his eyes. He knew that voice, it practically having been burned into his memory the first time he'd heard it on that shuttle.
On second thought, where Jim was involved coffee would never cut it. Reluctantly setting the steaming mug down, he went out to meet his friend.
Leonard cocked an eyebrow at the scene playing out before him. Jim was being supported by a disheveled female cadet who looked like she really did want to drop him. They were both covered in mud, uniforms torn in places; blood marred the left side of Jim's face. She quickly deposited him onto a biobed before facing McCoy and he was met with a familiar hazel green gaze.
Cadet Allison Young. He wasn't sure if he should be surprised that he remembered her name or not, deciding to keep that tidbit of info from Jim. The idiot would no doubt tease him about it endlessly.
Her hair was in a braid that had seen better days, strands of it hanging in her face. She looked tired and straight up done with Jim.
She gave him a sort of half smile pulling at the hem of her uniform. It seemed to be an almost nervous gesture.
"Bones!" The blonde said all to excitedly, giving him that cocky ass grin and grabbing his attention.
"What the hell'd you do to yourself this time Jim?" He demanded grabbing a tricorder on his way over.
Young stood back arms folded face pinched with obvious irritation and maybe pain, though she had no visible injuries. Her previous unease seemed to have gone. "He fell during our Away Team SIM, hit his head on a rock."
"I did not fall." Jim groused and Young snorted.
"That's what people usually call it when they make uncoordinated contact with the ground."
"I'm fine, I had something soft to land on." He said with a smirk at her to which she responded with a glare. Though McCoy thought he saw a slight flush rise to her cheeks under the mud smudged on her face.
"You've got a concussion, which is far from fine." He snapped, obviously not everything he'd landed on had been soft, figures. "And that laceration needs to be cleaned and sealed." He frowned when the tricorder revealed something else. "You've got a fever."
Jim looked suddenly uncomfortable. "It's nothing."
McCoy glared at him. "It sure as hell isn't nothing, damn it Jim why didn't you tell me?" He demanded.
"Because it's nothing, just a cold or something." Jim insisted.
"It damn well is not 'just a cold'." His body was definitely trying to deal with some sort of infection. He intensified his exploration trying to find it's source. Something on his upper right arm.
"Take your shirt off."
Jim practically spluttered. Really he was gonna get bashful now? Though McCoy knew it wasn't because of embarrassment, well maybe on some level. Kirk hated showing any kind of weakness. He glanced pointedly at Young then one of the biobeds. She took one further back, looking somewhat amused. A nurse approached her tricorder in hand.
He returned his gaze to Jim expectantly, knowing that it really wasn't because of her presence that caused his reluctance. Having her out of the picture could still help though. Jim gave him a look and with a roll of his eyes Leonard pulled the privacy curtain, then folded his arms giving him a much sterner look.
"Jim-"
"All right, all right jeez." He grumbled starting to ease the shirt over his head.
McCoy sighed when he seemed to be having trouble, helping the rest of the way. Jim looked suddenly paler, hair even more mussed upon reappearing, and he knew that look.
"Crap!" He growled lunging for a nearby basin, shoving it under him as Kirk vomited.
McCoy took the moment to examine his arm. There was a nasty looking cut just below his shoulder, the skin around it red and inflamed practically screaming infection.
"That sucked." Jim grumbled, head still hanging over the basin.
The cut was long and deep though it had already closed over. He'd have to reopen it to clean out the infection. Leonard noted it looked suspiciously like a knife wound, and it was then that he realised why Jim may have kept this to himself. Pike had warned the kid about fighting.
"Jim." He said carefully.
"Leave it Bones." There was something in his tone that had McCoy clenching his jaw worry settling in his gut. It told him there was something more to the story.
"You dizzy?" He asked instead.
"Um, maybe a little."
McCoy blinked in slight surprise at the admission. He must really feel like crap, then again who wouldn't, with a concussion and a fever of a hundred degrees, and rising.
He grabbed a hypo and Jim eyed it as if it were a weapon of mass destruction.
"Relax princess it's just a little something to lower your fever." He said and Kirk gave him a look before-with obvious reluctance-letting him inject him. It was the first of many hypos he was going to have to administer, but he opted to keep that to himself for the moment.
"I'm gonna have to reopen that to clean it out." He said gesturing at the cut. Jim grimaced. "And you need antibiotics." Moment over. He grabbed another hypo.
This time Jim physically flinched away from it and Bones sighed. He was about to chastise him when he saw the fever burning in Kirk's eyes, blue orbs a little glazed over.
Part of McCoy still wanted to snap at him, lecture him, but instead he rained in a little lowering his voice.
"Jim." He caught his eye and the younger man sighed, blinking away some of the confusion.
"Yeah Bones, I'm with ya." He mumbled.
Leonard eyed him a moment longer before holding up the hypo and gesturing at the others. "Antibiotics, analgesics, and something for the nausea."
Jim opened his mouth as if to protest but McCoy interrupted. "It'll help Jim quit being an infant."
He grimaced but Leonard knew that he appreciated him explaining what he was going to give him.
McCoy shook his head getting to work.
"So, Cadet Young." Jim said after a moment and he nearly rolled his eyes. Of course Kirk would focus in on the pretty girl. He glanced up briefly at the curtain that separated them from the rest of the med bay, as if he could see her through it. He wondered if she'd been injured, Dr. Sanders would've been called over.
"I landed on her you know." Of course he did. "You think she'll still go out with me if I ask?"
If McCoy hadn't been known for his steady hands as a doctor, he would've flinched and his work on Jim's head wound would've, not been pretty.
"Not likely." He grumbled an odd feeling suddenly swirling in his gut.
"Couldn't hurt to try right?"
An image of Cadet Taggert popped into the physician's head, he had an inkling on what Young might do if Jim were to try hitting on her.
"Might, you know Taggert?"
"Who Thomas? Yeah why?" Jim asked curiosity clearly peaked.
"You ever wonder who gave him that broken nose couple months back?" Why was he telling him this? Since when did Leonard McCoy ever give a shit about these things? And he was most definitely not jealous, he barely knew the woman.
Jim's eyes widened a fraction. "Her?"
McCoy cocked an eyebrow at him.
"Seriously? Thought it was Walsh."
Made sense, Young had said she'd been in the line of fire.
"Guy did have it coming." Jim muttered as Bones finished up with his head.
"All right, I'm gonna get started on your arm." He said gathering his needed tools hoping to deviate the conversation away from Young.
"How long's this gonna take?" Jim asked and Bones gave him yet another look as he replied.
"As long as it needs to Jim, if you'd come in sooner I wouldn't even have to be doing this." He glanced at the biobeds readouts. Jim's temp was at a solid one hundred degrees. It was falling, if a bit slowly.
He wasn't exactly happy about having to reopen a wound that was clearly bothering his friend, so distraction.
"You gonna tell me exactly what happened?" He asked and could see Jim tence at the question.
"Told ya it was nothing Bones." Jim grumbled not looking at him, which he only did when he was trying to hide something.
"Jim-"
"I asked you to leave it then." Kirk practically snapped and Bones paused in his work eyeing him. Jim's hackles were up, he was on the defensive and that usually meant getting information out of him would be like pulling a tooth, without anesthesia.
McCoy however wasn't one to back down, and Jim was his friend, his best friend if he allowed himself the thought and someone had hurt him. He wanted names.
But...he nearly sighed, it would be easier with a bottle of whisky between them. When Jim got like this it usually meant whatever had happened was due to something from his past. Jim was never inclined to discuss that sober. He didn't like it but decided for now, he would leave it. For now.
Silence followed as Leonard worked to clean out the infection.
"Bones." Jim said suddenly softly, and he glanced up sharply quickly setting down his tools to grab the basin once more.
The dry heaves left Jim shaky and clutching the basin like a lifeline. Bones waited a few more moments before speaking.
"Lay down Jim." He took the basin away. Figures the anti-nausea meds didn't really work, he couldn't use the really good stuff because he was allergic. To his surprise Jim didn't protest which spoke volumes about how he felt.
He hesitated before continuing on the cut. It needed to be done before the infection could get any worse, which he prayed it didn't, Jim always had a crappy immune system.
When he finally finished clearing out the infected tissue and giving it a good cleaning Jim was dozing. McCoy glanced once more at the biobed readings. Temp was at ninety nine but holding steady, his concussion was mild and he didn't foresee any complications on that end. He'd have to leave the cut open incase the infection resurfaced, not wanting to use the dermal regenerator until he knew it was gone.
He started cleaning up standing.
"Bones," Again Jim's voice was soft, a look at his face told Leonard that it wasn't because he was going to be sick again. "Sorry."
A smirk tugged at McCoy's mouth knowing that had Jim been in his right mind, he'd be red in the face with embarrassment. Obviously he felt bad for snapping at him, and for everything else, he would've apologized eventually, but the fever and concussion left his tongue a little looser now.
"Just go to sleep Jim." Leonard said, and there was 'not' any fondness in his tone. He knew for a fact that in a few hours Jim would be more alert and begging him to be released. Maybe he would, he could really use a shower.
He set the bed to alert him if he woke and stepped out from behind the curtain. To his surprise Young was still there. She hadn't noticed him yet, staring down at her hands held loosely in her lap.
Frowning, he hesitated before approaching.
"Still here?" He asked wondering if Sanders had looked her over yet. She looked up sharply a grimace crossing her features briefly.
"Oh, um yeah, how is he?" She asked and Leonard blinked. That odd feeling returned to his gut.
"He'll be fine." He said voice clipped tone sharp, and her features seemed to fall a little.
"I was just curious, he looked like crap before the whole SIM started." She muttered softly. All at once Leonard felt a little guilty; whether the concern was for a friend or not, it was genuine concern.
He made an effort to change his tone.
"He said he landed on top of you." A statement, Jim didn't 'usually' lie.
She chuffed. "Yeah, he fell from about six feet up I, unfortunately, broke his fall." She said with another grimace, rubbing the back of her neck.
McCoy cocked an eyebrow at her. Why was she still here? "Sanders look you over?" He asked.
Young looked suddenly uncomfortable. "Uh, no actually, I was kinda hoping you would."
The surprise must've shown on his face because she quickly spoke again.
"I'm not really fond of hospitals and you just-"
McCoy turned grabbing a tricorder and she quited. A little voice told him that her reasons could be different but he firmly squashed it. Some patients just liked consistency that's all.
"You hit your head?" He asked and she shrugged wincing.
"I don't know, no? There was a bush…" She trailed off and he focused on her head for a moment. No concussion, but she'd definitely strained some muscles in her neck and back and- Some of the bruising lower down was fairly deep and he was a little concerned about her right kidney. Her ribs were definitely bruised.
"I'm gonna need to take a look at your back." He said it absently though he was anything but.
"Ok." She said, voice softening, and he walked around the biobed.
He hesitated before carefully lifting her shirt up, revealing the marred skin. McCoy had always been more of a hand's on kind of doctor, relying on only his equipment just wasn't in his nature. There was something to be said about physical contact too, a proven gesture of comfort.
Reaching out he gently ran his fingers over the bruises. Heat radiated from the inflamed skin and she flinched at the touch.
"Sorry, looks like you bruised a kidney." He said holding the tricorder closer to get a better reading. "It ain't bad but it'll be painful for a while."
Young huffed a laugh. "Kirk's not exactly a lightweight." She mumbled. Bones let the shirt fall back into place coming around to face her once more.
"Your ribs are bruised, muscles wrenched pretty good."
"So what you're saying is I won't be running the marathon I signed on for tomorrow." Young stated. Bones gave her a look that faltered when he saw the spark of amusement in her eyes. He nearly rolled his feeling an odd jolt of, something, and couldn't help the amusement that tugged at his lips. Normally he would've-like with most cadets-scowled at the joke but for some reason he couldn't bring himself to do it with her.
"I'll give you some muscle relaxers and something for the pain, beyond that ain't nothing but rest gonna do you any good." He said gathering the needed hypos. There wasn't really enough damage to her kidney to warrant any repairs.
She accepted each without complaint, shoulders relaxing as the analgesic kicked in.
For someone who claimed to not like hospitals, she was pretty compliant.
"You see any blood in your urine come right in don't wait." He said gruffly. "Same with any dizziness."
She nodded an unidentifiable expression on her face, though she seemed more relaxed now.
"Get some rest, I'll put a note out to your professors that you won't be in the rest of the day, and tomorrow." He readied himself for a protest-fifty percent of cadets would-but she just nodded again looking tired.
Even with the muscle relaxers she moved stiffly getting off the bed. "Thanks."
"Yeah yeah, you're welcome." Bones grumbled focusing on her file.
"I was right you know," She said. "you should smile more."
McCoy looked up at her, surprise making him slightly slack jawed. She herself had a small smile tugging at her lip a sort of shyness to her features. Before he could say anything-and for the life of him he didn't know what that would even be-she spoke again.
"Feel better Kirk." She directed the words past him and he found himself glancing back to see that he'd left the privacy curtain slightly open. Jim was watching with half lidded eyes.
Seriously why hadn't the bed-oh that's what that soft beeping was.
He turned back but found Young was once again leaving before he could react properly. He watched her go before wandering over to Jim.
"Bones?" The idiot had a smirk on his face. "Were you just, checking out her ass?"
Leonard huffed, rolled his eyes, and pulled the privacy curtain back into place.
Jim's soft chuckles permeated the silence.
