A/N: Why am I posting another chapter right now?... Your guess is as good as mine. Anyway enjoy.


Dr. McCoy's glanced around the mess hall, his eyes searching for the ensign in the rush of crew eager to eat breakfast before their shifts started. He spotted him at a table tucked in the corner of the room alone, a mug of something in one hand while the other held a fork that picked half-heartedly at a plate of food. Dr. McCoy grabbed his own tray of food and wound his way through the early-morning crowd towards the ensign's table. He placed his own heavily laden tray down on the table with a jolt, startling Chekov. "Mind if I sit here?"

Before the ensign could give his consent doctor McCoy had pulled out the chair and sat. Chekov eyed him warily, watching to see what the Doctor was planning. Dr. McCoy innocently sprinkled salt on his eggs and took a sip of coffee before speaking, "So, Chekov how is everything going?" Chekov who had obviously suspected something more intrusive was startled. "Um-fine" he mumbled, before taking a large gulp of whatever was in his mug, Dr. McCoy saw him make a face before swallowing and smelled the sharp pleasant aroma of coffee. What was the ensign doing drinking coffee? He hated the stuff. McCoy thought.

McCoy watched as Chekov took a bite of food and slowly chewed. The kid looked even worse than yesterday, his face was more tired than ever. Chekov stifled a yawn, and then scrubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. McCoy wondered what would be the best way to broach the subject of the ensign coming in for a check-up; he was saved from figuring out the answer, when Chekov looked up from his plate and said "vhat do you really vant vith me?"

The doctor was about to falsely claim that he had simply wanted to talk to the ensign when Chekov cut him off, "You didn't come sit here chust to talk to me".

McCoy rather than insult both their intelligence decided to go with the truth, "I think you have something wrong with you and I think you know what that is."

McCoy watched as the boy's face turned pale. The fork he was holding in his hand dropped to the table with a clatter. Dr. McCoy pressed on, sure that he was on the right track, "I'd like you to come to sickbay so we can talk about it, you have about an hour before you have to report to the bridge".

Chekov opened his mouth to protest and Dr. McCoy leaned forward and softly said "Chekov, It's going to come out anyway, please don't make me have to order you". Chekov looked at McCoy and nodded a look of dread present on his face.

XXXX XXXX

Chekov sat on the diagnostic bed watching as Dr. McCoy set the dials and recalibrated the monitors, and thought about what Dr. McCoy had said a few minutes earlier after they had arrived in sickbay. The Doctor was firmly convinced the Chekov had some sort of illness. Chekov had thought that the doctor knew about his past, they each were wrong, Chekov was tempted to laugh from the sheer absurdity of the whole situation, but resisted as the Doctor would probably have taken that for a sign of hysteria related to his impending "diagnosis". The doctor would probably not even realize the reason for all the numerous injuries he had, no doctor ever had. They didn't bother to ask the right questions, not that he would have answered them anyway. The doctor finished setting the dials and said "I'm going to start the scan as soon as this is finished recalibrating, then I'll run a few more tests and hopefully we should have an answer before the end of –." The rest of the doctor's words were cut off as a voice rang out.

"Dr. McCoy, it's engineering somebody managed to nearly amputate their leg, with a torch, they're sending them up, and the captain wants to speak to you ".

"Damn it, Christine tell him I'm with a patient" McCoy said irritated.

"I already did sir, he still wants to talk to you" Christine said

Dr. McCoy looked at the monitors which were still cycling through figures and glanced at Chekov who was perched on the side of the bed "I'll be right back" he said before walking off.

5-minutes later Dr. McCoy came back, grumbling about kid captains. The doctor told Chekov to lie back then commenced the scan and physical.

55 minutes later Dr. McCoy watched Chekov leave sickbay, he couldn't understand what had just happened, the ensign had checked out perfectly healthy. The scan had came back negative for all of the injuries that McCoy had noted the previous day, a second scan that McCoy had run refusing to believe the machine's results had come back the same way. Blood tests, chem panels, it all had come back fairly normal, the only abnormality was that the ensign had high levels of stress hormones, and several of his vitamin levels were near the low end, but altogether he was fairly healthy. McCoy couldn't understand how this could be. He had been so convinced that he was on the right track. Chekov had given the same excuses for his numerous old injuries as was listed in his medical records, various farm accidents, and childhood injuries, but McCoy still believed that something was wrong with the ensign, and he would damn well find out what it was.

Coming up next: The action begans, spatial anomalies, a colony tettering on the edge of destruction, a revelation about Spock and Uhura, and more Dr. McCoy being ...himself.