A "Wee" bit of a problem

Disclaimer: I do not own these characters and make no profit from their use.

Chapter one


Doctor McCoy was sitting in his office waiting for his captain to arrive. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat; he was not looking forward to this discussion. A discussion that had to take place between the Enterprise's captain and its chief medical officer. Leonard wasn't sure how this talk was going to go, but he had to try, it was his job. Morale on the Enterprise was starting to suffer; the crew had been tip-toeing around its captain the last few weeks. Jim would stalk down the corridors, and the crew would avert their eyes, trying not to draw his attention.

Last week, the captain had ripped into the security department for not getting one hundred percent on their emergency response time testing; they had achieved a mere ninety-eight percent efficiency. He made them do emergency response training the whole week until they achieved ten percent above the established standards. The week before that, the bio-labs were the object of his dissatisfaction and the week before that, the bridge crew on gamma shift.

Rumor had it, that this morning, an ensign from engineering left a spanner on the floor and the captain almost tripped on it. Luckily, Mr. Scott had grabbed the captain, averting an accident and then upbraided the ensign for his carelessness, thereby forestalling the captain's retribution.

It was only a matter of time before Jim blew his top. The question was, why?

The door to McCoy's office swished open and Jim Kirk strode in. "Ok, Bones, make it quick. The away team is waiting. I have to be planet-side in ten."

"Jim, have a seat," McCoy offered.

There were a few beats of silence.

The captain tilted his head, "What's this about?"

McCoy sighed, "I'll speak plainly. It's about you Jim, you've been on the muscle for weeks now. You've got the whole crew tied up in knots, trying to anticipate who you're going to tear into next. Your crew loves you and they have always gone out of their way to please you, they don't deserve this. Talk to me Jim, what's going on?"

Jim drew himself up stiffly, hands on hips, "I don't have time for this right now, doctor."

"Well you're goin' to make time for this, Captain!" McCoy yelled, standing abruptly. He then paused, shaking his head. "Jim, I'm asking you, as a friend, to tell me what's wrong. Don't make me demand it as your CMO, because I will. You're damn close to having a mutiny on your hands if you keep this up." He walked around the desk and stopped in front of Kirk, "Talk to me!"

Kirk's shoulders slumped and he rubbed his forehead, "That bad, huh? Ok, Bones. I promise I will talk to you about this, but I really don't have the time right now. It's kind of complicated and I need more than five minutes to explain the situation." Jim gave his best friend a chagrined look, smiling slightly, "I guess I really have been a jackass lately, I'm sorry."

McCoy laid a hand on Jim's shoulder, "Apology accepted, but I'm not the one you need to apologize to. You need to deal with whatever this is and make it up to the crew. Ease up on them Jim," he said earnestly.

"I will, I promise. I have to beam down to Sestis IV right now, but as soon as I get back aboard we'll talk."

"Alright," McCoy capitulated, giving the captain a slight shove, "go on then. I'll see you later. We'll have a talk over Saurian brandy, tonight, after dinner."

"It's a date." Jim smiled a little sadly at his friend, gave him a salute, and walked out.


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