Day eight

by Starsinger

I'm backpedalling here a little to tell this from Jim's POV. We'll start back at Day Zero and wind up with McCoy on Day Eight. Oh, our favorite five year old is making another appearance. Don't own them, darn it.

The force of the blast blew Kirk backwards. His right hand somehow extended behind him to bear the brunt of his crashing to the floor below. He heard bones crack as he hit the floor. His hand throbbed, but so did the rest of his body, so it really made no difference as he blacked out. He never expected to come to, but he did. He tried desperately to see where he was, his eyesight fading in and out, he managed to make the outer door a few feet away. He started to crawl to it, pausing frequently to catch his breath. When he finally made it he was in so much agony he could hear his breathing loudly in his own ears. He reached up and pulled the lever to close the outer door. There, he thought, they won't have to go so far in to get me.

Kirk opened his eyes, hoping to see someone there. He didn't want to be alone when he died. Clinically, he knew what was happening. He could feel his lungs filling with fluid. If the radiation didn't kill him first, he'd drown. His eyes barely focused on the blue shirt in front of him. Oh, God, please not Bones, he didn't deserve to watch his best friend die. He looked up, it was Spock. His words were simple, what his concern had been up to this point, "How's the ship?"

Even with his fading eyesight, Kirk could see the agony Spock felt. Unable to help, all he could do was stand by and watch Kirk die. "Out of danger, you saved the ship, you saved us all."

Kirk nodded, "You used…what he wanted…against him…nice move." He was gasping for air, but Spock needed this moment more than he did.

"It is what you would have done."

"And this…this is what…you'd have done. It's only (cough) logical," Kirk paused trying to get enough air to say what he needed to say next. Spock shocked him when he replied that he was failing when it came to suppressing emotion. Kirk felt a sudden spike of fear over what Spock would do when he died. "I..I wanted…you to know…why I went back for you. Why I couldn't let you die."

"Because you are my friend," came the tortured reply. Kirk nodded and barely managed to get his left hand onto the glass separating them. Spock put his own on the other side of the door in the Vulcan salute. Jim barely managed to reciprocate that before the darkness claimed him. Do this for me, my friend, were his last thoughts he died. The last thing he heard was Spock's tortured scream, "KHAAAAAAN!"

Jim felt a presence behind him and turned, Christopher Pike stood there. He motioned his head to follow. "They won't let you stay dead, you know."

"I'm pretty sure there's not much choice in the matter now," Kirk said. He watched as Scotty worked to lower the radiation levels in the room. McCoy arrived with a medical team in tow. He looked devastated.

"There are always choices, Jim. Yours is simple, do you want to rejoin your friends? They're going to make a concerted effort to bring you back from death. Do you want to live?"

"Yes," Jim whispered. They watched as the door slid open and Spock gently picked Jim's body up off the floor and maneuver it into the body bag. They followed the solemn procession to sickbay where McCoy was expected to perform an autopsy. Not that he needed one, this was a formality after all. Spock had disappeared and McCoy couldn't bring himself to examine the body. He sat down, and Jim noticed the dead Tribble move.

"That's how they're doing it," Pike said. Time really meant nothing in the place in which Jim sat. His body was put into a cryotube. Spock came into Sickbay behind a stretcher bearing Khan who was alive. McCoy drew several vials of blood before calling Starfleet Command and commandeering a shuttle to the ground. Kirk and Pike followed. Hours after being put into the bed, Jim felt a definite pull back to his body, "Good luck Jim. Remember, Starfleet needs you more than you need it."

"Thank you, Chris, for being the father I never had," he whispered. Pike reached out and patted Jim's face before he dissolved into nothing. The pain was back with a vengeance. All he could manage was curl up into a tight ball and try to hold it at bay. He could hear McCoy's voice frantically giving orders as he felt his body try to give up.

No, he told his body, I won't give up.

He didn't know how long he drifted there until, suddenly, he felt a light presence. Sarek? he thought.

Stay, my friend, all will be well. The thoughts did not so much as intrude into his thoughts try to reassure him.

Hurts so much, he thought back, but Sarek was gone. Soon afterwards, he felt a hypospray against his neck and the pain dissipated somewhat. Over and over again he felt his body try to quit. Again and again he convinced it to stop that. He heard Uhura reading a "Tale of Two Cities." It gave his mind something to latch onto. He read Chekov reading "War and Peace". That gave him something active to do with his mind, he had to mentally translate it as Chekov was reading it in Russian.

Kirk felt another presence, even older than that of Sarek's, Spock?

Hello, old friend, came the response. He felt some of the fear vanish and the pain go away.

I'm scared, Spock, he confessed.

I know. Dr. McCoy is working on it. Don't worry, you'll be with them soon.

He wasn't sure how much time had passed, he cried as they pushed a tube down his throat to help him breathe. The pain of the needle really wasn't that much compared to the gasping breaths he'd been taking. He realized that with the machine doing the breathing, he relaxed. Soon, that was taken away. He heard his mother's voice, but it sounded like she was begging him to forgive her. That didn't sound like Winona.

Then, Kirk's body stopped rebelling. He heard M'benga tell McCoy to go spend some time with his daughter. Good, Kirk thought, he needs the rest. I'm in good hands with M'benga. Sure enough, when the time came, M'benga removed the tube from his throat, and he knew everything would be alright. The next few days consisted of being poked and prodded, but the pain was almost gone. One of the last things he remembered before the first surgery was a tiny weight sitting beside him who appeared to be watching cartoons. At least it sounded like Buggs Bunny.

Nurse Crachett walked in, they were looking for Joanna, kind of. It had become a daily ritual, Jocelyn dropped the little girl off before she went to her meetings. The nurses never minded, she was a good girl and never went into other people's rooms without permission. She also never left the ICU, except with a nurse to get something to eat. If they couldn't find her immediately, they would go into the Doctor's lounge or Jim's room and find her there. Often, she'd be coloring in her coloring book or watching cartoons on the television. The Captain appeared to be her favorite pillow. She was quite the climber. Today, Jim was in surgery, and they went to see if she was in Jim's room. Sure enough, she had climbed up into the bedside chair and was waiting for "Mister Captain Jim" to return. She obviously didn't want to occupy the bed without him.

That day, Crachett heard an interesting conversation, "Mr. Pike, why can't anyone else see you?" There was a pause, "Oh, I see. So, Mr. Captain Jim knows you're here?" Pause, "Why do you have to leave when he gets better?" The next pause was even longer, "Okay, I'll miss you." It was strange as there was nobody else in the room, but the little girl seemed content with whatever was going on and didn't speak to "Mr. Pike" again.

"Doctor," Crachett asked Bones as he was writing in Jim's chart after the surgery. Jim's hand was in a splint that would come off tomorrow and the sutures for the ribs should come off in a couple of days. McCoy looked at the nurse, "Do you know a 'Mr. Pike'?" They watched as Joanna quietly crawled back into bed with Jim and fell asleep.

"Christopher Pike? He died back when this whole thing began," he told her. She explained the conversation she'd overheard earlier. McCoy stared at his daughter. "I can't say I'm surprised. Crachett, Joanna never met Chris, but if he is here, he's watching over Jim."

Joanna was the only one who heard the whisper, "Take care of my boy."

Ack, this one was tough to write. Christopher Pike is a hard act to follow.