2

However when it happened the fourth time, Leonard wasn't even surprised. It was the fifth and final year of the five year mission. Unlike most of the senior command crew, he still hadn't signed on for another ride.

He was still deciding whether to sign on or take that extremely tempting offer that Starfleet Medical was offering him. Jim had been conspicuously mute about the whole subject. Unlike during their academy days where Jim would announce to anyone who would listen and every semester to Leonard when it came time to choose classes that 'Bones is going to be my CMO when I become captain'. It was always 'when' never 'if'.

However the glares that the rest of the command crew were giving him, even Spock in his Vulcan way, Leonard wondered if Jim had put them up to it. But Leonard knew, even though Jim was cunning and damn good at getting what he wanted, he didn't play dirty. On the other hand, his crew was incredibly loyal.

However, it did hurt that Jim hadn't just ask him to stay. It just further established his now standing belief that Jim was replacing him. He had always known that Jim would eventually lose interest in a cantankerous doctor who was creeping up on his fortieth birthday. The little voice in the back of his head kept reminding him that if Jim did ask, he wouldn't be able to say no.

In fact, lately Jim had been conspicuously absent. They usually saw each other multiple times during the day or if their shifts didn't coincide they would at least eat their meals together. In fact, normally Jim would just wander into sick bay for no reason other than that he wanted to talk. His reasoning was 'he was the captain. It was his duty to know what each member of crew did'. However, Leonard knew with good authority that Jim didn't have long conversations with most of his crew members.

Just as he decided to wander up to the bridge, the door to his office slid open and one Jim Kirk slipped through. The look on Jim's face gave him away immediately. It always surprised him how Jim was able to bluff his way through negotiations. He could read the kid like an open book.

"Jim," Leonard narrowed his eyes and crossed his arms.

Jim beamed at him.

"Jim," he said again, slowly. He drew out Jim's name into two long syllables.

"Ready to go on an away mission?"

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Are you actually giving me a choice?"

Jim flashed a smile before slapping Leonard's shoulders. "Not really. We're taking the shuttle down in ten minutes."

"What's wrong with the transporters?"

Jim laughed. "Do my ears deceive me, or did Dr. Leonard McCoy actually just ask to use the transporter?"

"Ass." Leonard rolled his eyes. "Just seems strange is all."

"Didn't know you cared about tactics. However," Jim raised a finger. "We're taking the shuttles because the denizens of this civilization don't like transporters. And according to the Federation, they have quite a few interesting medicines, and I know you don't like using the transporters for medical supplies. So, win-win, right?"

Leonard couldn't help but light up at the mention of new medicines. They rarely went to planets that weren't stuck in the 'dark ages' when it came to medical practices. Hell, a high number of planets didn't even understand the importance of hand washing.

"Meet me in shuttle bay 2, Bones," Jim commented again before turning on the balls of his heels.

"Damn it," Leonard muttered.

Five hours later, three hours of which involved stuffy negotiations, one hour of touring the medical and research facility, which Jim had to drag him away from with promises to return the next day, and then another one spent on securing the supplies in their tiny shuttle, they were finally going to make their way back to the Enterprise.

That was had they not over stuffed the shuttle. The top brass were greedy bastards and had wanted one of everything that the aliens were willing to part with. Unfortunately, these aliens were extremely hospitable. As a result, there was absolutely no room for Leonard in the shuttle. Jim could barely squeeze into the cockpit to fly the darnn thing back.

Jim scratched the back of his neck. "I'll take the supplies up to the Enterprise then came back for you, Bones."

Leonard rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

Of course, the aliens had to be as polite as they were generous. "We can take the doctor in one of our shuttles," their guide suggested. He seemed to positively light up at the prospect of seeing the Enterprise. Leonard wondered if that had been the plan all along.

Jim beamed. He snapped Leonard on the shoulder. "Guess you're getting a ride." Leonard just rolled his eyes.

However as he strapped himself into the alien shuttle Leonard felt his stomach roll. As much as he hated transporters, he hated shuttles even more. He would never tell Jim or anyone else, but he only trusted Jim at the cockpit of a shuttle. As brilliant as Sulu was at flying, he only actually felt safe with Jim. As reckless as Jim was, it always felt better with Jim.

Leonard took a deep breath as they broke orbit. He could already make out the Enterprise orbiting in the distance. She really was a beauty. Leonard tugged on his seat belt again and settled in for the landing.

At that moment, there was a loud bang on the side of the shuttle. The shuttle lurched to the side, and a distant part of his brain identified the source of the noise as something impacting the side of the shuttle. "What the fuck!" He called out as the shuttle rocked again. He gripped his seat belt tightly.

He heard the pilot curse out. Even though his universal translator didn't translate obscenities, he could recognize it as such.

"We seem to have been struck by something," the pilot said.

Leonard recognized the urgency in his voice. Leonard watched him reach for what Leonard could only assume to be an alien equivalent of a communicator. He pulled the device closer to his mouth.

Before the pilot could speak, there was another loud bang. Leonard twisted his head around. Maybe that action saved him from been impaled. He hissed as something hard hit his shoulder blades.

Everything slowed at that moment. Even his head turned slowly back towards the pilot. His stomach rose from the pit of his stomach. His eyes widened as he saw the glassy look in the pilot's eyes.

As Leonard reached for the controls, and damn it wasn't like he even knew how to fly the thing, gravity seemed to remember its purpose. His stomach dropped with the shuttle. The shuttled shifted to vertical, and the horrifying, terrifying plunge that Leonard used to dream about took over.

It was only then that Leonard realized he had been screaming. .

The last thing he saw was darkness, and the last thing he heard was silence. This was the end. This was really the end.

The last thing he thought about was that it was ironic that he was really dying amidst darkness and silence, which had been some of the first words he had ever said to Jim on that fateful shuttle ride out of Riverside.

As his body was engulfed by pain and darkness, he wondered why the last thing he thought about was Jim.

He awoke to the feeling of a pair of soft, plush lips capturing his own. His eyes snapped open. He was greeted by a pair of unruly sapphire blue eyes belonging to none other than Jim Kirk.

Jim must have felt his movement for he immediately pulled away. Jim looked like an animal caught in a trap. "Jim?" He breathed out, too confused, too tired, and in too much pain to formulate a coherent question.

His confusion only intensified when instead of responding Jim ran his fingers over Leonard's. He creased each one of Leonard's knuckles. The only part of his body that didn't hurt, that wasn't sore. It was strange. In all the years they had known each other, Leonard wasn't sure he had ever seen Jim like this before.

It was only a week later, a week after too many hours with too many regenerators strapped to different parts of his body that Leonard learned exactly what Jim had done. Why he had acted so strange the day he woke up.

But seriously, seriously…

He scowled at the faux pumpkin carriage that he riding in. He tugged at the cuff of the snow white dress gown he was wearing. The only explanation was that the universe had to be fucking with him. He wondered what he could have possibly done in a different life to be saddled with Jim Kirk for a best friend.

Jim Kirk who was supposed to be a genius, at least his aptitude tests said so.

He still remembered the conversation he had with Jim the night before. Jim had looked spectacularly guilty as he walked into the room, and when Jim Kirk looked guilty it usually wasn't a good sign.

"Engaged, seriously, Jim, seriously," Leonard barked out the moment Jim confessed. He threw his arms up in indignation.

"They wouldn't let us see you. They claimed that because you had been hurt under their care, it was their responsibility to save you," Jim countered. "They wouldn't let us take you back to the Enterprise. They claimed if you died, it would lead to a galactic war."

Leonard raised an eyebrow. "Couldn't you have used one of the Federation laws or something?"

Jim's eyes widened. He bit the edge of his lip and twisted his fingers. "I panicked okay? You should have seen the shuttle, the pilot." Jim trailed off. He pressed the toe of his right foot against the heel of his left. He looked ready to bolt.

Leonard sighed. When Jim became like this, he really couldn't stay mad at the kid. "When's the wedding?"

But damn it, he was two years shy of forty, and even when his age had been in the single digits, he had never liked fairy tales. He definitely hadn't liked the ones involving females getting swept away by nameless princes. And he definitely, definitely didn't believe in 'love at first sight'. He was never going to live this down. He still couldn't face some of the crew after their last wedding.

Damn it, he was a doctor, not Sleeping Beauty or Cinderella or any other fairy tale these aliens had decided to smash together.

However as his 'pumpkin' carriage stopped in front of the 'castle', and the leader helped him out of the carriage, his jaw still dropped.

And when he saw Jim standing at the end of the long walkway in his princely costume, he felt his stomach drop. Even at thirty-two, Jim was still damn glorious. And even though the moment they returned to the Enterprise, they were going to file 0214. A1, at that moment, of all the entities in the universe, it was he who Jim Kirk was pledging himself to in a fairy tale wedding.

And when Jim kissed him after the extremely long ceremony that highlighted how 'true love's kiss' awoke him and even though Leonard had to work to keep his eyebrows from twitching at that statement, he couldn't help but be swept up by the 'magic' of it all. And maybe the kiss lasted a little longer than necessary, but Leonard wasn't going to say anything or complain about that.

A man could dream right? Even though he knew tomorrow, nothing would change.