Sit and Watch
(Haha, so it hit me…again. Happy? The next chapter in "My Writer's Block is Breaking my Brain" series. So let's have a little fun with our favorite boys yeah?…Man I'm pretty sure this story was meant to be a oneshot.)
After last night, it surprises Leonard that he wakes to the sound of clothes jostling in the wind and the soft pattering of rain falling against the leaves, instead of waking to a certain rambunctious captain.
Speaking of which, as Leonard manages to prop himself up on his elbows, is nowhere in sight.
The clothes are strewn across the roots, drying in the wind, but the rain is still falling. The sky remains dark with heavy clouds and temperature is still chilling.
Leonard groans, clasping a hand to his injured ribs and scanning the immediate area for Jim. The idiot must've ran off while he was still sleeping. He tests the clothes, finding them quite dry, so he proceeds to pull on his pants and boots, slipping on Jim's golden uniform since the blond still has his. Leonard then realizes the moron didn't put on his pants; they're still there, flapping in the wind.
Great, now the captain is walking around in nothing but Leonard's medical shirt and a pair of boxers.
Then, as if on que, there's the idiot now, stumbling along, pale as death. Jim at the very least had the brains to tie on his boots before leaving, but his legs have to be numb. And Leonard can't help but smirk at the fact that his own shirt is so big on Jim that the kid's boxers are barely noticeable underneath.
"Where have you been?" Leonard calls out, and Jim visibly startles as he comes closer, "Bones, we're so screwed."
"What? What are ya talking about?"
Jim rubs a hand over his face, standing just outside the overhang, raining beating down onto him, "We're in a valley Bones. We're in a damn valley."
Leonard frowns, "So…?"
"The storm is caught in the stupid mountains."
"Oh." Leonard sighs, they are screwed.
The blond groans, glancing up at the sky, "By the looks of it, the storm is coming down here over the mountains to the east, and is just sitting right over us. Now we can try to wait it out, but it can rain for days and we ain't got the type of time."
"What's the second option?" Leonard prompts, already dreading the answer, "We follow the river upstream to the northern mountains and climb over that."
"Damn it. It's never easy is it?"
Jim doesn't answer, just keeps gazing up.
"Hey dummy, come over here and warm up." Leonard orders, and Jim complies with a sheepish grin.
Jim crouches down to get under the overhang, and Leonard sees his knees nearly buckle with the effort. The kid needs to rest up too.
"How long were you gone?"
"Only an hour."
The answer is too easy and innocent to be true.
"Right." Leonard grumbles and Jim doesn't bother commenting.
Jim carefully pulls on his pants, hands trembling as he's barely able to yank them onto his waist.
Leonard glares at him skeptically, "Lemme see your hands kid."
The blond obliges, and Leonard takes them into his own, unraveling the now worn bandages, "Shit kid." Leonard gasps out, examining the growing infection, "Jim, this isn't good."
"Nothing's ever good around here." Jim retorts with a huff, "No Jim, I mean, you might not feel it now, but it's gonna start hurting pretty soon." Leonard says, rewrapping the blond's swelling palms.
Jim shrugs carelessly, "It's alright, we'll be hiking over those freezing mountains, you won't feel much up there."
"Jim are you sure that we should go up there? We have no supplies."
"Exactly why we should go, we should leave while we still can." The blond insists sternly.
"We should wait it out, we should wait for the Enterprise, they'll get to us Jim, they always do."
Jim meets his eyes, his blue eyes worn but icy, "If we wait any longer we're going to freeze to death-and we can only go a couple more days without food. Maybe if head towards the mountains we'll find something edible."
"Well, how about water?"
The blond huffs, "The river water is clean enough."
"Yeah you can say that when you begin to puke your guts out." Leonard replies with a snap.
"It's better than nothing." Jim mutters dryly.
Silence befalls the two, consuming them and leaving them to their thoughts. Jim shifts away, just out of Leonard's reach. He huddles into himself, arms around legs, chin on knees. Leonard supposes Jim barely looks a day older than eighteen in that moment, with a glint of fear in his eyes, but his expression hard as he processes the information. It doesn't help when he's still bundled in Leonard's shirt, a size too big for him.
Leonard sighs, running his hands over his legs in hopes of warming them up.
He can feel the hunger in the pit of his stomach building, and he can't imagine what Jim must feel like. The blond naturally eats almost twice as much as Leonard, and lately, Jim's been the one to burn all the calories.
Just how does Jim expect to climb over those damn mountains? With no food, barely any clothes, and only a river to lead them, how are they going to make it? It's an impossible feat on its own, let alone with all the damn rain that's thundering over their head. And literally now, as lightning begins to flash and the thunder crackles overhead.
Jim startles with the first strike, eyes flying open and breath escaping him.
Leonard swallows slowly. If there were rewards for irrational fears, Leonard always assumed it'd go to himself, but after meeting Jim, he found out back in the Academy days the blond had an uncanny fear of lightning storms, so now that reward would go to him. Of course now that Jim works in space, he's gotten over the most of it, and also because one of the fleets strict rules are to break every officer of their phobias.
Though Jim doesn't consider it a phobia, rather it more of memory trigger that he claims that he's learned to block. But right now, with the blond cold, wet, and vulnerable, Leonard can see the anguish in his eyes, and the way he now squeezes his eyes shut in hopes of blocking the images out.
"Hey, talk to me Jimbo." Leonard pries gently, slowly scooting over, minding his own throbbing rib against his side.
Jim hisses with the next strike, flinching involuntarily, "I can handle it." His captain replies, pushing the heels of his hands into his temples.
Leonard sighs, grasping Jim's shoulder, "Lemme help, just one more time before we go?"
Jim glances up, blue eyes peeking through matted blond strands of hair dangling over his forehead. He smiles down, wrapping his arm about the kid's shoulders, feeling the smaller body vibrate with shivers. But Jim gives in, letting himself relax against Leonard's side.
"There you go, just think of the Enterprise kid," Leonard coos, thumb stroking Jim's bicep, "Think about when we get home, it'll be nice and warm, there'll be plenty of food. Hell, I might let you finally eat some of that damn cake those replicators serve."
Lightning flashes and the thunder booms right over them.
Jim nearly explodes off of his chest, but Leonard luckily is able to wrap his arms around the kid's chest and pin him there.
"Woah-calm down-it's just passing right now."
His captain whimpers against his chest, moving just enough to ease the pain in Leonard's ribs so he can breathe.
"Just breathe-it's just pass-"
It strikes again, surprising both the Starfleet officers. They share a look and now they hold onto each other for the sake of comforting both of them.
Leonard's not sure how long the lightning and thunder stays overhead, but by the time it stops, Jim's out like a light against his side, only upright because Leonard clings onto him. Stiffly, Leonard eases his captain onto his lap, stretching his arms out afterwards.
Once Jim wakes he's certain the kid is going to want to head out there, but he's just not sure if they're actually going to make it.
He glances down, taking Jim's hands and unraveling them once again. They're still red and puffy, the cuts themselves taking a yellowish tone with pus. Leonard concludes that he'll have to push the pus out eventually for further healing.
Jim's not going to like that.
The blond stirs in his sleep as Leonard wraps his infected hands back up, making sure to manage them with care. It can't be pleasant; it has to hurt like a bitch. Jim's just too stubborn to admit it. Damn brat.
"Bones…?" Jim drowsily murmurs, glancing up, eyes widening as he awakens.
Leonard manages a weak smile, "Hey Jim."
Jim pushes himself up with fists, yawning and rubbing his eyes. The fog in his blue eyes clear and he seems to be more awake than he has in days.
"Ready to go?" He prompts casually, standing and stretching his legs out.
"As ready as I'll ever be."
His captain smiles and helps him to his feet with a noticeable gasp at the pain in his hands.
"Jim?"
"It's fine. It'll be fine." Jim waves him off.
"Okay." Leonard agrees for the sake of agreeing.
Jim nods, "Alright, let's follow the river."
Their trek to the riverside is painfully slow. Jim's still experiencing the chills from the jump into the river and Leonard can't help but think he's probably picked up a bug from doing so. Leonard himself is actually quite warm, or it could be the fever talking and his pain numbed brain from his aching ribs.
"So, we just follow this upstream and hope that we make it over those mountains?" Leonard grumbles over the sound of pattering rain.
Jim flashes a grin his way, "Yup."
"And you don't see how any of this could go wrong? Jim we're probably gonna get eaten by some giant alien bug or catch some deadly disease that makes you rot from the inside out and you'll have maggots crawling out of your eye sockets because your eyeballs fell out."
Jim groans, "You definitely didn't fail English class. Your imagery must've been on point."
Leonard snorts, "Jim there's a reason why I'm a doctor and not an English professor."
"Truth." Jim replies, pausing slightly, raising his hand to silence Leonard.
He watches Jim scan the clearing, eyeing the riverbank, "What?" Leonard pries but Jim hushes him.
They stand there for another minute, "Jim, there's nothing out there, let's go." Leonard urges and Jim nods slowly, "Yeah, okay. Sorry…yeah you're right let's go."
Leonard eyes him suspiciously, but nonetheless follows him along to the rocky shore, underneath the beating rains, though the wind has died down since the thunderstorm passed. But that surely doesn't put him in a better mood.
Distracting his mind, Leonard focuses his attention on Jim, rather than their situation. He watches the kid eye the immediate area wearily, obviously experiencing some form of paranoia. The kid's hands dangle limply by his sides, fingers not even close to clenched-the way he usually carries them when he's tensed which he clearly is now, with his tight shoulders and board-straight back, which means he either can't feel his hands or they hurt too badly to fist. Then, his feet drag across the ground, so he's tired, more tired than he'd like to admit and the way his knees wobble means he's slightly weak-or dizzy, in both cases it's probably from the malnourishment.
But Leonard isn't too much better himself. The pain in his side is constant, flaring with each stumble. His breathing is okay and his vision only wavers if he turns his head too much. There's a slight ache in his legs from the cold, but other than that, he's still functioning and alive, thanks to Jim of course. The kid has sacrificed a lot of things to keep him healthy.
"Let's get a quick drink." Jim suddenly suggests, nearly startling Leonard, "Yeah-yeah sure."
His captain nods, walking a few feet to his right to come beside the water's edge. Leonard watches as Jim kneels slowly to scoop some water from the river, but ultimately ends up hissing as the icy river water soaks into the makeshift bandages.
"We should probably wash those anyways." Leonard smiles gently, crouching beside him, and reaching out to grab Jim's hands.
Jim allows Leonard to take his hands compliantly.
"Alright, sit still." Leonard commands, unraveling the cloth and discarding them on the ground, "This might sting a little." He announces, casually bringing the kid's hands towards the water's surface, though the closer he gets the more resistance he's met with.
"Sooner the better Jim." Leonard urges and forces his captain's hands into the water.
Leonard closes his eyes briefly (and his ears as Jim releases a string of curses), and then turns Jim's hands over, scrubbing the dirt from them, causing Jim to buck and throw Leonard off.
"Ahh, shit. Bones what the hell?" He snaps, pressing his hands to the blue medical shirt to dry them.
"Jim, I need to clean it out." He demands sharply, showing there's no room for argument on the matter.
But Jim shakes his head stubbornly, "No, it's fine. We keep moving-we don't have time for this."
"Jim-"
"Bones! Drink up. We have a long ways to travel and not enough time." Jim growls, using his 'captain's voice' on Leonard, though it never worked anyways, "Jim, I'm serious, if I don't clean your hands they're going to get a hell of a lot worse than they are now."
"Doctor McCoy! Just drink some damn water-that's an order." His captain shouts and Leonard flinches, swallowing down his pride for moment, feeling so damn small underneath the blond's nearly faltering gaze, "Yes sir." He replies dully, crouching back down and scooping up water with his hands to drink.
When he gets up and dries his hands, his captain is glancing away, off towards the tree line, "Let's go." The blond commands and leads the way once more down the rocky bank of the river.
Leonard trails slowly behind, clutching his throbbing ribs, feeling the right one in particular hurt more than the others. Probably fractured instead of bruised.
Glancing up, he catches Jim's worried face, but the expression fleets away and his captain goes back to staring ahead. Then he sees Jim testing his hands, desperately trying to grip the hems of his shirt that droops down to his mid-thigh, but failing.
Shit. Leonard never wrapped his hands back up.
"Do you think we'll be able to find any food up there?" Leonard asks and Jim doesn't even turn his head to reply, "You mean, will 'I' be able to find any food?-And the answer is, I'm hoping so or we're both screwed."
Leonard clamps his mouth shut, getting the message. Jim doesn't want to talk right now, not after pulling rank like that. Jim's never one to pull rank, especially on Leonard, but today, today is a bad day for the both of them. They're tired, cold, hungry, and scared. And who the hell knows what could possibly be going through the kid's head too. Knowing him, Jim probably has several plans and calculations swarming through right now.
So, instead of getting all flustered, Leonard lets it all out in one simple sigh, and ever so simply, carries on, following his captain, because if he were honest with himself, on a normal day he'd follow his captain to every end of the universe without doubt, but today he doubted.