Spock sat in the Captain's chair. He had just signed off on a security report from Commander Giotto. The report was without incident; a simple extraction of John Gill's body from the planet Ekos. Now the body had been placed in stasis until it could be delivered to the nearest star base for eventual transport back to Earth.
"Thank you, Ensign," Spock said matter-of-factly as he handed the report back to the young woman who had delivered it.
A comm hail pierced the air as the ensign left Spock's side.
"McCoy to Spock."
"Spock here, Doctor."
"Spock, can you please come to Sickbay?" McCoy sounded tired.
"On my way," Spock cut the comm and quickly strode off the bridge handing over the con to Sulu.
Spock stood in the door frame of the doctor's office to see McCoy at his desk – head down over a steaming cup of coffee, with both hands pressing down on the back of his head stretching his neck.
"Doctor," Spock said flatly.
McCoy looked up with hooded blue eyes, "Oh, Spock, come in."
Just as Spock took a few strides, he was met with a rush of air as Nurse Chapel quickly walked past him.
"Doctor, here are the latest bios on the Captain," Chapel said as she handed the PADD over to McCoy. "Also, lab was able to complete synthesizing much sooner than projected and is ready with the Captain's skin graph."
"Thank you, Christine," McCoy said as he started looking over the bios. "Go ahead and tell the lab we'll be ready to transfer in one hour."
"Yes, Doctor."
Chapel turned and nodded to Spock on her way out.
McCoy was scanning over the bios and mumbling to himself, "Good… Good... Dammit, his fever is still not responding to the meds."
McCoy set the PADD down on his desk and took a large gulp of coffee.
"Doctor, I do not have much time before my call with Starfleet," Spock said as he stood at the corner of McCoy's desk. "What is the status of the Captain?"
"His condition is stable, but he's in for a long recovery."
"Can you be more precise, Doctor?" asked Spock. "What were the complications you spoke of that caused his condition to deteriorate?"
"I'm getting to it, you…you green-blo…" McCoy bit his tongue and sighed.
He was mad, mad at himself for what happened to Jim and now he was taking his frustrations out on Spock.
"Sorry, Spock," McCoy said dolefully. "I'm just tired and concerned for Jim."
McCoy squeezed his thumb and index finger in between his closed eyes and began, "If all things had gone smoothly, he'd be sitting up and raring to get out of here, but things did not go too smoothly."
Spock listened to McCoy's retelling of the events that transpired, from the time the Captain was brought to Sickbay till just a couple hours ago when McCoy turned on the blue light therapy to ward off any new bacteria while they waited for the skin graph to be synthesized.
"It would seem Doctor, that the majority of the Captain's worst injuries were accidental."
"Spock, you don't understand," McCoy looked up at the ceiling letting out an audible sigh. "I was the one that caused the worst of his injuries. If I had put the laser scalpel down before we went about restraining him, he wouldn't be in the condition he is now. It's my fault."
"Doctor, it is illogical to place blame fully on yourself," Spock said with almost a soothing demeanor. "Many factors went into the events leading up to the Captain's current condition—a medical supply shortage being the root cause, which is no fault of yours."
"Spock, I wish I could see it the way you do. It's just that I keep replaying the moment it all went downhill and how it could've been prevented."
"Doctor, analyzing past events to change the present outcome is an exercise in futility."
McCoy put his head in his hands. "Yeah, well I guess it's my own version of self-punishment. I know I can't forgive myself, but I hope Jim can, in time."
"I believe Jim would say, 'forget it, Bones.'"
McCoy looked up into Spock's face with watery eyes and, just for a second, saw understanding and compassion.
McCoy's corner of his mouth pulled into a sad half grin, "Thanks, Spock."
McCoy's intercom buzzed and cut through the air between him and Spock. With one hand, he hit the comm unit while the other wiped at his eyes.
"Yes, Chapel."
"Doctor we are ready whenever you are, to begin grafting."
"I'm on my way," said McCoy. "Is he still unconscious?"
"Yes, but I also have his next round of alprazaline ready, but wanted to wait till we were ready to begin the graft."
"Perfect. Thank you, Nurse. I'll be there in just a moment."
"Spock, was there anything else you needed for your report to Starfleet?"
"Yes, can you give me an estimation on the Captain's recovery time?"
"We'll begin regen as soon as the graft is completed today. After that, he'll be completely down and out for a solid week. If all goes well with the graft, then I'd say he'll need another week before resuming light duty, but he won't be able to resume full duty or go offshore till he regains full use of his mobility. I'd say three weeks total for recovery."
"Thank you, Doctor," Spock said. "Please update me on his condition post-surgery."
"Of course, Spock."
McCoy saw Spock leave and with that he went and stood by the operating room entryway. He saw that Jim was finally stripped of his Nazi uniform pants and boots and was now donning a pair of medical scrub pants. Jim's marred back, fully on display under the blue antimicrobial light, looked eerily like a cadaver. If not for Jim's shallow breaths and pained expression…'No, don't' he thought. He quickly put those morbid thoughts aside and started to scrub in. He had to get to work. There was only so much time before Spock's nerve pinch would wear off. And the soon to be administered low-dose pain med could only do so much. He didn't want to imagine Jim waking up in the middle of a skin graft.
As McCoy walked up to the side of the bed he noticed that Chapel had already fastened all the restraints for safe measure.
"Ok, Christine, let's make swift work of this and get Jim on the road to recovery."
As the Nurse administered the alprazaline, McCoy gently laid a hand on Jim's shoulder in a loving gesture and mumbled, "no more harm, my friend."