"Scott. What kin I do for ya, Commander?" Scotty answered.
"The captain is missing. I have found his communicator on the ground, with no sign of the captain. Can you do a life sign search starting from my signal?"
"Ach, sir, don' you worry. We'll find the lad. Scott out."
The crew arrived and fanned out from the stream. Spock walked straight ahead, his hand holding the only sign they had that the captain had been there. He had gone half a mile when he smelled something in the air. He paused, scenting the wind as if he were an animal. He knew that smell, but from where? He walked forward, the smell getting stronger all the time.
As he stepped into a clearing, he saw dark spots on the ground, and his stomach rolled. That scent he had smelled before – it was human blood.
"JIM!" he yelled hoarsely, starting to follow the trail on the ground. In a grove of trees Spock spotted a bundle of black and gold and sprinted for it.
"Jim? Do not move, Jim. You will be alright," Spock assured the still form. It looked like something had beaten the living daylights out of the captain. He was broken and bloodied from head to toe. "Spock to Enterprise, come in!"
"Enterprise, didja find tha cap'n?"
"Mr. Scott, two to beam aboard, medical emergency." Spock hovered near the captain's body. He waited impatiently until the familiar lights began to whirl around them and they dissolved. When they reappeared, McCoy was standing at the controls to the transporter.
"It's the captain, I win," he announced to the medical crew. They usually had a running bet on who had been hurt when they called for emergency beam up. He helped Spock get the battered body onto a stretcher. "It's okay, I've got him now, Spock," he assured the Vulcan.
Spock turned to Scotty and took a breath. "Recall the crew. Beam everyone aboard. We are leaving. You have the conn." He walked out of the transporter room toward Sickbay.
"Hi, how are you, Mr. Scott? Oh, I'm fine, Spock, thank you for asking. How was your trip? Oh, we had a great time, thank you. Please assist me in doing what is honestly my job. Thank you so much for your hard work, Mr. Scott." Keenser poked his head out from the console area. "You know, it wouldn't kill him to say it once in a while, Vulcan or not."
"Laddie, he tells me ev'ry day just by keepin' us safe. He donna have to use words." Scotty began calling the crew and beaming them aboard. When everyone was safe, he locked the console and headed to the bridge. He hadn't heard anything about someone needed specialized medical care, so he figured they would head to the next mission in the books.
In Sickbay, Jim had required surgery to stop some intense internal bleeding. They had regenerated as many of his broken bones as they could, but they couldn't do anything about the toes on his left foot. He would just have to let them heal naturally. When he was brought out of surgery, Spock was waiting patiently.
"How is he, Doctor?"
McCoy looked at the still form and sighed. "You know, I would pay good money to know what it is about this boy that pisses off so many alien races. Is it his looks? Does he say something? Is it the color gold and Starfleet has inadvertently sent him out with a bulls-eye painted on his chest?"
"Doctor," Spock repeated patiently, "how is the captain?"
"Oh, he's fine, Mr. Spock. One of these days I'm going to have to remove his spleen if he keeps this up. So, let's take the tally. One ruptured spleen, one bruised and battered kidney – he's going to be passing blood for a long while, Spock – three broken ribs, a broken arm, a broken hand, a broken leg, a smashed foot, and a concussion the size of Atlanta. What in the holy hell got a hold of him, Spock?"
"I am not aware, Doctor," Spock replied woodenly. "I was not with him."
McCoy held up a hand. "Now hold it just a cotton-picking minute, Spock. Don't you start blaming yourself. The kid's a trouble magnet, and even if you'd been in his back pocket you might not have been able to stop it. I was on the bridge when they did the life scan and it came back clear in the vicinity you were beaming to. This isn't the first time we've been wrong and God knows it won't be the last."
"Do you require assistance in placing the captain on the biobed?" Spock broke in.
"Yeah, if you can. Just -" McCoy broke off as Spock cradled the captain in his arms and carried him to the biobed, placing him down ever so gently and covering him with the blanket. "Yeah, that's good. Thanks Spock. You want a chair?"
"Yes, please," Spock replied, eyes never leaving Jim. When McCoy returned Spock took the chair and sat by the biobed. He gave a small sigh and took his own inventory of the injuries. The bruises were just beginning to show on Jim's skin. The left hand was in a splint. The right one hadn't been damaged, luckily, because Jim was right-handed. But the whole right arm was in a sling, having been regenerated during the surgery. The left leg was in an air cast as well. At the bottom of the air cast, the damaged left foot lay swollen and angry. The damage was too widespread for the mender to heal it.
Spock wasn't sure how serious the damage was to Jim's spleen, and he had heard of humans having their spleens removed and surviving, but he didn't want that for Jim. He regretted the damage to the kidney. Spock had had a bruised kidney in an earlier mission and knew precisely how painful that was. He would probably hear Jim in the bathroom for the next week every time he tried to pass urine. Spock made a mental note to leave his connecting door unlocked in case Jim needed him during the night.
"Spock?"
Spock turned to find Lieutenant Uhura standing beside him. "Yes, Nyota?"
"Is he okay?"
"The captain has sustained several difficult injuries, but I believe he will survive. I will tell him you asked after him." Spock stood respectfully.
"Well, uh, Scotty says he's got the conn and I got worried that you had been hurt too. But I guess you're just going to sit here with him, so …."
"Nyota, we have an agreement," he reminded her. "I would not wish to disappoint him." Spock's eyes searched her face.
"Fine, go on, be with your boyfriend," she joked lamely. "I'll see you whenever you get the chance."
"Thank you, Nyota." Neither mentioned the fact that he hadn't corrected her label for the captain. "When they transfer the captain to his quarters I will come to you immediately."
Uhura turned, then paused. She looked over her shoulder. "You know what? Take your time. I'm fine, Spock. I'd rather you stayed with Kirk until he's better. That is the job of the First Officer, after all, right?"
Spock nodded. "I appreciate your understanding."
Uhura walked out of Sickbay and back to her room. Lying on her bed, she pulled out her personal padd and called up her diary.
June 22
He won't say it yet, but it's crystal clear in everything he does and everything he doesn't say. After two years, I've gotten pretty fluent in Spock's body language and he could no more deny this than he could change the course of the universe by sheer willpower alone. Why won't he admit it? Why won't he even tell me the truth?
Come to think of it, I haven't said it either. I've pussyfooted around the subject but I haven't actually said the words. My boyfriend is in love with another man. Spock loves Kirk. There, I said it. I can't remember precisely when I realized I had lost Spock to another person. It kind of crept up on me, and one day it was all around me like the brightness of the dawn that surrounds you in the morning.
It wouldn't bother me so bad if I wasn't sure Kirk felt the same way, and that really hurts. It's like I'm standing in the way of true love. Kirk was such a skirt-chaser at the Academy, but then he went on the straight and narrow when they gave him the Enterprise. I didn't think he would ever fall for anyone again, out of respect for his new position. I never expected that the one being charged with protecting the captain from himself would fall for his charm. I also never expected Kirk to fall just as hard in return.
Spock obviously isn't ready to admit this to himself, much less anyone else. Perhaps he is ashamed? I hope not. All I ever wanted was for him to be happy. If Kirk makes him happy, then that's what I want for him. I'm going to give this until the winter break, and if he hasn't said anything to me, then I'll take matters into my own hands.
Oh, Ny, what a crazy world you live in. You weren't the wrong species, you were the wrong gender. Couldn't have seen that coming. When the New Year rings in next year, maybe you'll be able to start over, and get it right this time.
Back in Sickbay, a pair of cerulean eyes opened slowly.
"O-o-o-w-w-w," Jim groaned.
Spock was on his feet instantly. "Jim, are you in pain?"
Jim tried to laugh and found it too torturous. He licked his lips. "Kinda, Spock, nothing major," he lied.
Spock pushed a button on the biobed and Jim was slowly raised to a half-sitting position. "You must not move too rapidly, Jim. You had severe internal trauma and several broken limbs. Is there anything I can retrieve for you?"
"Yeah, you can find the asshole who did this to me and lock me in a room alone with him for fifteen minutes."
Spock frowned. "Jim, the being who did this to you most likely is substantially larger than you, and has no qualms in leaving you near death. You wish to fight this individual again?" Spock ended incredulously.
"I'm fucking with you," Jim replied lightly. Then he coughed and grabbed his midsection. "Shit!" he exclaimed. An alarm sounded on the biobed and within a minute McCoy was at the end of the bed.
"Okay, dumbass, what did you do?" Dumbass was McCoy's favorite private nickname for the captain.
Jim blinked tears away and caught his breath. "I coughed."
McCoy snorted and drew the curtain. Then, without regard to Spock's presence, he pulled down the blanket and pulled up Jim's gown. He scanned the abdomen. "You're not bleeding," he told his friend, covering him again. He noticed Spock was staring at the ceiling. "He's covered," he told the Vulcan.
Jim watched his First Officer look down again and smiled. "I had my boxers on, Spock. Sorry, I forgot about that one time Bones stripped me in front of you and I had nothing on."
"I seem to recall you were not modest about the occasion," Spock replied, raising an eyebrow.
"Who, me?" Jim asked innocently.
"I believe your exact quote was 'Yeah, I'm hung like a horse.' Why you wish to have the physique of a beast of burden is beyond me, however you seemed certain this was a trait to be admired." Spock put his hands behind his back.
"We'll compare if you want," Jim commented, and tried to scoot up the bed. Another alarm went off and McCoy raised a hand to Jim as if to hit him.
"Yo, dumbass, stop moving. You're undoing a lot of hard work and I really don't relish the idea of sewing you back together again." He gestured to the sling. "If you're really nice I'll take the sling off."
"What exactly happened, anyway? I was trying to catch something that looked like a minnow in the creek when the lights went out."
Spock tilted his head. "What is a minnow?"
"Little fishy. Cute as a bug, or a fish in this instance. I used to catch them at my grandma's house all the time." Jim noticed Spock had paled. "Uh, what?"
Spock inhaled and tried to formulate a response that wouldn't make the captain look like a complete idiot. "Were you aware that the life cycle of the indigenous life form on that planet starts in water?"
"I didn't see that in the reports," Jim replied, confused. "What are you suggesting?"
"I believe the creature you were chasing in the water was actually the young of the individual that accosted you. It was most likely attempting to protect its offspring."
"Oh, my God. I was chasing its young? No wonder it kicked my ass! Spock, tell me why that wasn't in the briefing?" Jim tried to run his left hand through his hair and succeeded only in tangling the brace in the hair.
"The report formulated for the captain of the vessel does not go into any great detail on the life cycle of the life forms present. It only reports the form the landing party will most likely encounter. You did read about this life form, only in its adult stage. That was the only form by which the landing party could have been endangered." Spock frowned. "I have spoken with Science Command fourteen times about this oversight. Apparently they do not consider it to be significant enough to change the formula of the report."
"Spock of Vulcan raised the alarm with Science Command fourteen times and they didn't listen?" McCoy exclaimed. "Good Lord, even Medical Sciences listens when I open my crusty old mouth. I would have smacked somebody by now, Spock."
"Seeing as my commanding officer has been assaulted and damaged severely because of the oversight, I intend to make complaint number fifteen."