A/N: Happy Thanksgiving! Here's a chapter before I take the week off. This one was inspired by the lovely PSW, who has brilliant ideas quite often.

He knew that Scotty could fix anything.

"AUGH!"

"Sorry…"

He knew that Scotty could fix anything mechanical.

"It's fine. It's fine, Scotty! Just… try and be more careful this time…"

"Aye, Doctor. Ah'll do what Ah can…"

They had known that the terrain had been unstable when they'd beamed down. What they hadn't known was just how unstable. Not until the Enterprise's Chief Engineer slipped on some loose gravel. Things had, literally, gone downhill from there.

When McCoy had regained consciousness, he'd found Scott hovering over him and shaking his shoulder. Apparently, they'd ended up at the bottom of a hill neither of them recognized. Also, neither had seen any of the rest of the landing party. McCoy didn't know whether that was good news or bad.

As soon as he'd tried to get up and search the area, McCoy had fallen right back down, struggling to stay conscious. He'd soon discovered the problem. As bad as his luck had been with the concussion, his legs had collectively fared worse. His left ankle throbbed, likely twisted in the initial landslide, and his right knee was swollen beyond comfortable mobility. Scotty hadn't gotten off completely, either. His hands were nearly torn to shreds. McCoy had ripped off one of his sleeves and created some makeshift bandages. Duly swaddled, Scotty had done a quick search of the area.

They'd found no sign of either phasers or tricorders, and Scotty's communicator had been smashed to unrecognizable bits. McCoy hadn't even thought to bring his. Their predicament now involved getting back to familiar territory. Experimentation told them that McCoy couldn't walk. Scotty assured the doctor that he could carry him.

"Easy, Scotty, easy!" McCoy gritted his teeth as the engineer hoisted him again. He pulled himself up as far as he could on Scotty's back to take some pressure off of his knee. They'd quickly discovered that a fireman's carry was not an option, so McCoy had suggested piggyback. It was better than nothing.

"Ah'm tryin', Leonard! This isn't as easy as it looks!" Scotty shifted his grip again, sending another jolt up McCoy's leg. The doctor bit back a curse. He knew Scott was doing his best. It was only so easy to carry a person when your hands looked like they'd got caught in an old-fashioned paper shredder.

To make matters worse, McCoy felt a drop on the back of his neck. Another. Another.

"Scotty…"

"What is- Oh. Oh no. Hang on, Leonard!"

McCoy tightened his grip as Scotty ran for all he was worth. They were both fairly soaked by the time they reached the edge of the woods. Scotty searched the area for any kind of shelter. After a moment, he spotted a space between two close growing trees. He jogged over and shoved McCoy into the hollow before scooting in himself.

The rain was really coming down now. A steady stream dropped and bounced off their boots. McCoy pulled his left leg up closer. He didn't want the wet fabric irritating his ankle any more than it already was.

"You alright, Leonard?" Scotty shifted so he could, to some extent, survey the doctor.

"I'm fine, Scotty, really. How're those hands doin'?"

Scott chuckled. "A bit better, thought they still sting like the Dickens."

"What do you reckon we should do? Wait around for a search party?"

The engineer stared off into the rain, deep in thought. After a moment, he spoke. "Ah suppose we should head out if the rain lightens up. It should be about as good as waiting here, if not better. If we can find our way back to the observation site, then we can have the study team contact the ship. After all, it's only a matter of-"

A clap of thunder sounded directly overhead, shaking the entire forest. Both men reacted with a jolt, the doctor pulling Scott's head down, and the engineer throwing an arm in front of McCoy. After the trees stopped quaking, they sat back up.

"That just about scared the livin' daylights outta me. You alright, Scotty?"

"Aye, aye… Leonard, you don't suppose that lightning…"

"Naw, surely not… The chances would be…"

"Astronomical, Ah agree. So you don't smell…"

"Smoke? No of course n- Well… It might just be my imagination, but now that you mention it…"

Scotty was dragging him away from the tree as fast as his feet would carry them. McCoy grabbed at his friend's sleeve, trying to hold himself up. He twisted back to look at their abandoned shelter.

Sure enough, the tree was on fire.

After a few more frantic steps, Scotty brought them to a stop. McCoy fell backwards into the mud, resigned to the wet and the cold. Scotty followed suit, sitting more so than falling.

"Great. Fantastic. I'm thrilled." McCoy closed his eyes. "Wake me up when we're dead, or whenever Spock finds our bodies. I wanna haunt Jim for not coming down and rescuing us."

"Hang on a second, Doc, Ah don't think we're ready to give up just yet!"

McCoy looked up to find that Scotty was no longer at his side, but instead, seemed to be poking around a large pile of moss.

"Scotty, what's a stack of lichen gonna do to get us rescued?" McCoy asked, just before the engineer ripped back a whole section of the plant blanket to reveal a big metal plate.

"It's not just a hunk o' moss, Leonard!" Scotty exclaimed excitedly, "It's our ticket out o' here! We've just stumbled across a transponder node, and by mah best guess, it'll put out a lovely little distress signal!"

"Scotty! That's amazing! What are you gonna do?" McCoy sat up to get a better look at the rusted marvel.

"Well… That's the tricky part. Ah can't do a blasted thing with mah hands bundled up like this. You're gonna have to do it."

"What? Are you out of your mind? I'm a doctor, not a mechanic."

"Ah know, Ah know. Ah'll walk ye through the whole thing. Now, come 'ere."

McCoy put up marginal resistance as Scotty dragged him over to the node. The engineer tried to pry off the protective paneling, only to find it was nigh on impossible in his condition.

"Aw, let me!" McCoy scooted closer to the node and set his fingers in the proper slot. The metal plate was fixed pretty securely, but after the application of some elbow grease and a little cooperation from Scotty's kicking foot, they got it open.

"Alright, we're in." Scotty declared. "Ye just have t' take the green wire there and cross it over around to the main terminal. That's it, just rip it right out. OK. Now, pull those two pieces apart. It's alright, I've got my stump hand on the connector switch."

McCoy followed Scotty's instructions to the letter. Every wire was spliced to the best of his ability. Every connection secured as tightly as he could make them. He'd never thought he be so relieved to hear the Chief Engineer comment, "Aye. That's just about it." McCoy sighed, bringing his forehead to rest on the side of the node.

"Now what?"

"Now, we wait."

Waiting turned out to be more trouble than they'd expected. Their little drizzle turned back into a deluge, so Scotty had to run around and find another suitable shelter while McCoy shivered in the mud. Once a dry enough spot had been found, there was the matter of getting the immobilized doctor there. Scotty crouched down as far as he could, allowing McCoy to get a firm grip around his neck. The Scotsman heaved, and soon the two of them were slowly approaching shelter.

"Thanks for all that, Scotty." McCoy commented over his friend's shoulder.

"Thanks for what? For slippin' on that blasted stone in the first place? For scrapin' up mah hands so bad, Ah couldn't even rewire a simple connection?"

"No. Thanks for carrying me out of the rain, dragging me out from under a burning tree, and doin' what you do best. I'm pretty sure I'd be dead by now if you hadn't gotten me up from that landslide, or told me how to send out that signal. Who knows? I might not have woken up on my own. There could've been a wild animal searchin' around and-"

"Ah think we've had about enough of that." Scott cut him off, voice tight.

"Alright." McCoy knew when he'd said his piece. Scotty'd probably been beating himself up about the fall all day. Heck, he probably blamed himself for McCoy's injuries and their sorry state of affairs. It wasn't his fault. Anybody could've slipped on that trail. I almost bit it myself a couple of times. And nobody's seriously hurt. I mean, my legs are killing me, but that's nothing we can't get patched up on the ship. McCoy decided his efforts at conversation would be best focused on a lighter topic. "How far is this supposed 'shelter' you found? Not a fallen log, I hope."

"Only a bit farther." Scotty replied quietly.

"Good. Because I'm cold and wet and just want a nap."

"You and me both, Leonard."

In the end, they never made it to the shelter. As they came across a small clearing, the air had filled with that familiar high-pitched whine. Lights danced around the woods, and suddenly they were on the transporter pad.

"Bones! Scotty! What happened to you two? You look awful!"

"Oh yeah, and you're such a spring chicken yourself. Hadn't had the chance for coffee yet, Jim?"

As much of a relief as it was to be back on the ship, the transporter room was occupied by only the Captain, Spock, and an ensign operating the controls.

"Ahem… Uh, Captain? Could we get a medical team down here? Doctor McCoy has sustained quite a few injures that Ah take full-"

"Aw, can it, Scotty! Jim, give 'im a hand. He's been carrying me for the better part of the day and his hands are bleedin' for goodness sakes. Scotty needs a full scan back in Sickbay. Put me down, would ya? They can get a stretcher here in two shakes, 'specially if the Captain sounds mighty pissed about it."

Scotty set him down on the edge of the pad. Jim and Spock advanced, the Captain crouching down next to McCoy.

"What happened down there, Bones? One minute, everything's clear, and the next the landing party's reporting two lost in an avalanche? How did you get that signal to practically hail the ship on it's own?"

McCoy looked at his Captain. "Scotty did it, Jim. The man's a miracle worker." The doctor caught Scotty's eye as the engineer surrendered to Spock's preliminary examination.

"He can fix anything."

A/N: Yay Scotty! Feel free to shoot me an idea!