"Len?"
"What, Uhura?"
"I was just coming to see how Jimmy was doing. I told Spock that I was going to come here after my shift and see if there were any changes since you last checked in with the bridge during alpha shift."
Leonard glanced down at the blanket swaddled body that was laying on top of his chest. "He's not doing any better. I can barely keep him awake anymore and I'm not sure if it's a side effect of the antidote or if the constant overload of brain activity that was going on for those six hours just wore him out completely."
Uhura pulled one of the chairs up to the side of the bed and sat down in it. "Is he still getting confused or is that getting any better."
"Depends on what your definition of better is. The few times he has been awake for more than a few minutes he seems to be retaining the memory of who I am and the fact that I've been helping him but he's still gettin' confused about where he is and He was having near constant panic attacks when he's awake." Leonard exhaled slowly. "I'm not sure if he's actually regaining his memories because his mind is regaining its actual age or if they are coming back to him because he wasn't supposed to lose them in the first place or what the hell is happening."
"Hell, Uhura, I still don't even know what the hell went wrong with the antidote. It worked for me. It should have damn well worked for him."
Uhura bit her lip and looked towards the ground, an uncharacteristic look of uncertainty on her face. "Spock hasn't been able to find anything that could even begin to explain why he reacted this way to the antidote. You're sure that he didn't have an allergic reaction to it?"
"Yeah I'm sure. I scanned him at the time of giving it to him and nothing on the tri-corder indicated that it was an allergic reaction and I made sure none of the chemicals or medications he was allergic to were used in making the antidote. Besides the antidote is still showing up in his system even though It has been hours since I gave it to him and it worked its way out of my system almost immediately after the change took place, by time I got to medbay that day it was already gone out of my bloodstream."
She groaned softly and put her head in her hands. "He is still changing though right? The transformation is still ongoing."
"That's the thing, it stops and waits anywhere from ten minutes to an hour before it kicks in again. And its not necessarily making him older either, he went from being five to maybe five and three quarters back down to about four and then back up to five. It doesn't make sense, the antidote, even if it were tampered with or even if he was having an allergic reaction to it, it shouldn't be aging and deaging him." Leonard said exasperatedly as he waved his free hand, that wasn't currently cradling Jimmy to his chest, around in irritation.
"There's gotta be something we missed? May–Maybe in the days between giving you the antidote and giving it to Jimmy it went bad? I mean if it wasn't stored at the right temperature or if it got cross contaminated with something else in the labs?" She asked him.
Leonard shook his head. "Spock had a little bit of trace liquid left in the vial I gave Jimmy. He said, the last time I talked to him, that it wasn't contaminated and that it still had the exact same chemical properties that it did when he gave the original dosage to me."
"But that doesn't make sense!" Uhura yelled. "If it's exactly the same then it should work exactly the same. There has to be some logical explanation for why it didn't work. Or at the very least it should have some logical reason for why it is deaging and aging him in turns."
He looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Better watch out there Uhura, if you keep spouting off the word logical you might just turn into the green blooded hobgoblin yourself." He said softly, trying to lighten the mood.
She chuckled lightly and gave him a half hearted smile. "You keep cuddling up to Jimmy and you might just stop being a grumpy old man."
"I don't think I'll ever stop being grumpy. It's to good a look on me."
Leonard looked down at his chest as Jim started to squirm against him. "You alright there darlin'?"
"Leonard I'm hungry." Jimmy slurred softly, his head barely lifting up off Leonard's chest as he tried to talk, though it was obvious that he didn't have the energy to force his body to move much.
"Yeah? I bet you are, sugar. You haven't eaten anything since yesterday mornin and we're are coming up on dinner time."
Uhura stood up from her chair. "Why don't I go get us something from the mess and we can all eat together? Would you like that Jimmy?" She asked quietly, unsure as to whether Jimmy was lucid and coherent enough to remember exactly who she was.
"Actually I think it might do Jimmy some good to get out of medbay for a bit. How about we all go sit down in the mess and get something for dinner. Maybe a change in environment and company might help you perk up a bit, huh, sweetheart." Leonard crooned softly as he shifted Jimmy around so that he would be able to keep a solid hold on him while he moved to get up off the bio-bed. He turned to face Uhura as he settled Jimmy's head against his shoulder and motioned her towards the doors to medbay. "Lead the way Uhura."
They had chosen a fairly secluded set of seats in the back of the mess hall, so that Jimmy wasn't bombarded by the sights and sounds of the bustling crew moving in and out of the mess hall. Uhura came back to their table carrying three sets of food and she sat a bowl of plain oatmeal in front of Leonard and Jimmy along with the food Leonard had asked her to get for him.
"So has he not been eating well?" She asked quietly as she looked at Jimmy, who was propped up against Leonard's shoulder looking like he was barely able to keep his eyes open let alone eat a full bowl of oatmeal.
"I've been trying to get him to eat but he usually falls back asleep before I manage to get anything anywhere near him. Even if I get it out of the replicators it's still to slow. This is honestly the longest he has been awake since I gave him the antidote." Leonard said picking up a spoon full of oatmeal and waiting for Jimmy to try and take a bite. It was almost like watching a baby try to eat off of a spoon but the fact that it was a five year old and she knew the reason for why he was unable to be coordinated enough to even get a spoon in his mouth was heartbreaking.
"Doctor! I see you have zhe captain with you iz he feeling better?" Chekov asked quietly as he plopped down with his tray next to Uhura.
"He is awake at least. I don't know if you would say that he feels better." He said, still trying to get Jimmy to take another bite of his oatmeal. "Jimmy? You wanna say hi to Mr. Chekov?"
Jimmy turned his head slightly and let out a sleepy moan that may or may not have been some form of greeting. But even that was enough to make Chekov's face light up a bit. "How have you been Jimmy? Ve have missed you on zhe bridge."
"I'm tired." He mumbled against Leonard's collarbone
"I know, sugar. How about you eat another spoonful or two of your oatmeal and then you can go ahead back to sleep? Does that sound fair?"
Jimmy nodded and sluggishly accepted the food into his mouth and started chewing. Uhura and Chekov could see that he practically fell asleep while chewing multiple times. "Len, maybe you should go take him back to medbay? He looks like he could use the quiet to sleep better." Uhura said sympathetically, just looking at Jimmy was making her want to fall asleep as well.
"It doesn't really matter, he'll fall asleep regardless of where he is. The background noise actually might make him subconsciously feel a bit better." Leonard admitted as he moved Jim from resting against his shoulder and instead settled him in his lap so he could eat.
"Doctor? If I may have a moment of your time." Spock asked as he stepped through the doors of medbay.
Leonard looked up from where he was going over patient charts with Jimmy lying next to him in the bio-bed he was on. "Sure, what's up Spock." He said distractedly as he moved Jimmy to keep him from falling off the bed.
"I believe I may have spotted a difference in the way we administered the antidote between yourself and Jimmy, that could have possibly caused the adverse reaction to become apparent."
Leonard immediately dropped the PADD he had been working on and gave Spock his full attention. "What? What did you find, I thought we didn't do anything different?" He asked quickly.
"I had previously overlooked this bit of information as I had not realized it's importance and for that fault I take full responsibility – "
"Come on Hobgoblin, out with it! Just tell me what we did wrong so that we can go ahead and fix it!" Leonard huffed angrily, he couldn't believe that after all they had been through the last day or two, Spock was still trying to beat around the damn bush.
Spock raised an eyebrow. "I am attempting to tell you what went wrong. After I ran multiple test on the residual liquid in the vial I have sufficiently ruled out the fact that someone might have tampered with the antidote or that something was different chemically about the liquid."
Leonard looked at him exasperatedly. "Get on with it you pointy eared prick!"
"Len – Leonard?" Jimmy called confusedly, having been jostled around when Leonard was violently motioning at Spock to get on with what he was saying.
"I'm sorry baby boy, go back to sleep, Mr. Spock and I were just having a conversation." He said soothingly as he rubbed Jimmy's back and moved him slightly farther away form his body.
Jimmy shifted and stared at Spock, who in turn looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "Mr. Spock?" He called out questioningly.
"Yes Jimmy?"
"I'm sorry for throwing up on you the other day when you were trying to take my blood." He said miserably.
"It is quite alright Jimmy, you were still partially sedated at the time and had no proper knowledge of my presence." Spock said with a slight nod before turning back to Leonard as Jimmy started to drift off again. "As I was saying, after reviewing the information that we have gathered I believe the reason for the adverse reaction is not in fact with the antidote but instead with how we administered it to Jimmy."
Leonard looked at him with furrowed brows. "What do you mean with how we administered it, I made sure everything was exactly the same Spock! He drank it just like I did."
"Correct, he did indeed drink it as you did however, You did not have a sedative introduced into your bloodstream shortly before administering the antidote."
Leonard glanced down as he took in the information. "So I did this? By giving him a sedative to keep him from feeling the pain I caused this?" He asked himself softly, looking at Jimmy with something akin to horror in his eyes.
"If it is any consolation, Doctor. There is no possible way you could have foresaw that the sedative would cause such an adverse reaction."
Suddenly Leonard squinted his eyes in concentration. "But I took a sedative when I originally ate the purity fruit back on Delvia? Why didn't it cause me to have an adverse reaction? Why did it only do it to Jimmy?"
"I asked myself that same question doctor, but I have found a different possible theory that may explain why the reaction differed between the two of you."
Leonard nodded at him to go on when he paused. "Okay, lay it on me. What are your theories Spock?"
"Firstly, the reaction could be attributed to the fact that when on the planet of Delvia, you did not in fact take a sedative. You in fact took a painkiller, as did Jim during the initial transformation, the chemical reaction between the Delvian purity fruit and the painkiller is remarkably different from the reaction that occurs when you mix the antidote with the particular sedative that you had given." Spock stated.
"So what you're saying is that if we give him the antidote and either give him a painkiller or don't give him any medication at all it should work and change him back to normal?" Leonard asked him hopefully, running his hand through Jimmy's hair.
Jimmy stirred slightly at the feeling of a hand in his hair before drifting off back to sleep. "Besides I don't really think he needs a sedative anymore, he's been so lethargic that he might just sleep through the whole thing on his own without any help from the medications."
Spock nodded. "It would be best to forgo any medications as I have not completely tested how the antidote with react to the line of painkillers you would be able to give to Jimmy. The transformation may cause him physical pain but withdrawing the medication from the equation should eliminate all possibilities of another failure." Spock said, with something that Leonard could have sworn was confidence in his voice, even though Vulcan's didn't feel confidence.
"How soon will you be able to cook up more of the antidote?"
"Given that I have now been relieved of my command of the ship for this shift I should be able to fully focus on creating the antidote, I should have it ready to be administered in approximately 4.65 hours."
Leonard sighed in relief. "I'll go ahead and start getting him ready for the transformation then." He said softly.
"Alright Jimmy, I'm gonna go see if Mr. Spock has that medicine that I need to give you. You remember how I told that I need to give you a new medication to help make you feel better?"
Jimmy nodded slowly. "The stuff Mr. Spock is gonna give me will help me?" He asked softly.
"Yeah, Jimmy it'll help you. But I need you to listen to me very very carefully." He waited for Jimmy to nod before continuing on. "This medication, it is going to hurt you a bit okay? I don't want you to be scared but I want you to know beforehand so you know it's coming."
Jimmy's attention strayed over to the over side of medbay where Spock had walked in carrying a tray with several different vials of liquid. Leonard got up and walked over to him, talking to him as he sat the tray down and starting mixing the liquid, Jimmy watched as Leonard stood and asked questions, motioning to the vial of red liquid before finally nodding and accepting the vial from Spock.
Then he made his way back to Jimmy. "Alright buddy, you ready?"
"Is Mr. Spock going to stay here?" Jimmy asked quietly as he clutched Bones to his chest and hid his face in the fur on the top of Bones' head.
Leonard blinked and looked back at Spock. "Do you want him to stay, sugar?"
Jimmy nodded quickly. "Yeah I want him here to. I–I mean if he wants to a – and he doesn't have to work." He amended.
Spock stepped forward to stand at the end of the bed. " As I do not have any duties to attend for the next 8.6 hours I would be more than willing to oversee this procedure."
Jimmy smiled up at him sleepily. "Thank you Mr. Spock. And thank you for staying with me to Leonard."
"Believe me Darlin' a whole army of Klingon's couldn't keep me from stayin' here with ya." He ruffled Jimmy's hair affectionately before his face turned serious. "Now, You have to drink this all in one go, okay? It is gonna taste nasty but you have to drink it."
Jimmy nodded and accepted the vial, frowning down at it until Leonard put a hand on his back and gave him an encouraging rub. Exhaling he closed his eyes, threw his head back and gulped down the antidote immediately gagging as the flavor finally hit his tongue once it got down his throat.
Leonard chuckled at the reaction and moved to sit on the edge of the bed while Spock moved to sit down in the chair next to the bed.
Two minutes later Jimmy was squirming on the bed, a thin sheen of sweat was building up on his skin and the monitors on the bio-bed were showing obvious signs of pain. Leonard reached over and gently started rubbing Jimmy's back, knowing it wouldn't really help the pain but hoping it would keep Jimmy calm and let him know that he wasn't alone.
A a gasp and a whimper escaped Jimmy's throat and Leonard moved closer to him, pulling him over to rest against his side and pressed a kiss to his head. "It's okay Jimmy, it'll be over soon, I know it hurts but you'll feel better. Afterwards."
"Jimmy, the pain should only last approximately 4.3 minutes before stopping almost instantaneously." Spock said.
Just like before, the change in Jimmy's features was much slower than it had been in Leonard's but it was in fact faster than it had been when Leonard had administered the antidote the first time.
His features were changing but just ans suddenly as it started only three minutes after he was given the antidote, Jimmy's transformation stopped. He was obviously older but not by much. If Leonard had to hazard a guess he would say that he was at the tail end of five years old, maybe, maybe he was early six years old but he definitely wasn't the 26 year old Jim they had been expecting.
Leonard frowned down at Jimmy before glancing back up at Spock astonished. "Why didn't it work? Again?" Leonard hissed at Spock, who quite honestly was also looking somewhat astonished.
"What do you mean Leonard? I feel better. Isn't that what it was supposed to do?" Jimmy asked confused as he burrowed close to Leonard's side.
"Yeah it was buddy but according to the monitors I have on you it didn't work fully, and it also didn't work exactly like Mr. Spock and I intended it to." Leonard said reassuringly, trying desperately not to let Jimmy be clued in on the fact that he was internally panicking.
"So we'll have to do it again?"
"We might, sugar. I'm not completely sure yet. Let's get you cleaned up, cause you sweated an awful lot during the procedure. Then once you're in bed I'm gonna talk to Mr. Spock about what our next step is. Actually why don't you go ahead and get ready to get a shower and I'll be right in with ya." He said distractedly as he pointed towards the bathroom that was attached to Jimmy's private sickbay room.
Jimmy shuffled towards the end of the bed. He wobbled slightly as he went to go stand but he caught his balance fairly quickly and toddled into the adjoining bathroom, glad that he wasn't dead tired and struggling to keep his eyes open for once. "Okay, Leonard." He said softly.
"Doctor, I am not completely sure what went wrong but I believe it might have been a problem that we talked about being a possibility earlier."
"And what problem is that Spock?" Leonard huffed as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed.
Spock stood up as well. "Earlier we believed that Jimmy might need a significantly higher dose than the one you received as he has much more growing to do since he lost more of his actual formative years where as the changes in the years your lost were minimal. I believe that if I synthesize more of the antidote and we have him take another, higher dose it should put him back to his normal age." Spock stated. "It is evident that the antidote did in fact work as intended this time around, as Jimmy did in fact age up and he did not suffer any adverse effects, even though he didn't age up nearly as much."
Leoanrd was about to retort to that comment but a sharp gasp coming from the bathroom drew his attention away from the Vulcan in front of him.
"L – Leonard!" Jimmy called out with fear and pain in his voice.