Author's Note: An update on Jim's status while Spock and Bones (a little antagonistically) bond over their worry for him. So I might have maybe possibly started a little Uhura/Kirk thing. Because I feel like it. Don't worry. I'll finish this before I let myself get too far into that. And it's THE BIG ONE OH! It's the tenth chapter of this story! YEAH! Thank you guys! Imma try something a lil dif at the end of the chapter, so stay tuned. gkell, I missed you last chapter.
Spock awoke to the door to Jim's quarters opening. Seconds later, McCoy was at the edge of the partition, portable medkit in hand and one disapproving eyebrow raised.
"I guess I should just be glad that you took my advice," he said quietly as he stepped up to the bed and set the kit down next to Spock's leg. From it, he removed a pair of medical gloves and pulled them on.
"Indeed," Spock said, equally as quiet. "The logic behind it was sound."
Doctor McCoy's only response was a head tilt and an eye roll while he eased Jim's blanket down said man's shoulders to better expose his face. He carefully lifted one eyelid and Jim flinched away, turning his head into Spock's chest with a grunt and mumble.
"How'd he sleep? Any more puking?" the doctor asked, pulling out his medical tricorder next. He began the process of taking readings from Jim while Spock spoke.
"Well. Better than he had been before. He woke only once to vomit. It was much less violent than previous instances and while there was the presence of blood, it was mostly coagulated. I am hopeful that his stomach lining is beginning to heal."
"Your hope's not misplaced," Doctor McCoy muttered, examining the readings from his tricorder. "The bleeding's slowed and there're signs of healing but infection's worsened. The tears in his stomach and esophagus have become infected with bacteria, on top of the viral infection. His fever's climbing towards severe. I'm surprised you didn't notice."
"Before sleeping I noted that his fever spiked but it was still within parameters considered 'mild,'" Spock said, wondering if the doctor was accusing him of being remiss with Jim's care. Doctor McCoy gave a scoffing harrumph. Spock allowed himself a small frown.
"Well, it has passed 'mild' and is rapidly heading into 'high.' This is exactly what I was hoping to prevent last night."
McCoy removed hyposprays from his medkit, reading labels and sorting them into two, neat piles on the bed. He administered five in succession. Jim, for his part, did not seem satisfied with his treatment and tried to curl and squirm away. Spock had to hold him in place and gently tip his head away from his shoulder where he was pressing his ear to protect his neck. Once this task was completed the doctor began monitoring Jim with his tricorder's handheld sensor hovering near Jim's face.
"Damn," he muttered after five minutes and fifty-three seconds. He hastily administered two hyposprays from the separated pile and continued monitoring Jim for the next ten minutes in silence, face pinched frustration. He stared intently at the screen of his tricorder in his opposite hand the entire time.
"His fever dropped almost a whole degree and doesn't seem to be headin' back up," Doctor McCoy finally said, and slid the sensor back into its holding slot. "With his allergies, it can be hit-and-miss when I synthesize alternatives and sometimes a paradoxical reaction can occur. Or no reaction at all. In this case, it exacerbated another problem. The anti-inflammatory I just gave him caused his fever to shoot up."
McCoy hovered the tricorder over Jim's stomach so the sensor could take a cursory reading of the organ's state.
"And some of the tears have started bleedin' again from the sudden decrease in swollen tissue."
McCoy sighed heavily and eyed the way Spock held Jim, gaze lingering on the hand that had not left Jim's face.
"He's gonna puke again soon, and he probably won't even wake up for it. Just letting you know. It's gonna be a mess."
"I am perfectly capable of both holding Jim in such a way to prevent that from happening, and if it were to cause a mess, cleaning it up."
"Just thought I'd give you fair warning," Doctor McCoy said. He reached out and placed the backs of his fingers to Jim's exposed cheek. "If the next round of hypos don't have an effect in the next few hours, we might have to resort to more drastic measures."
"Such as what, Doctor?"
McCoy sighed.
"I can't let the infection get any worse. It'll only cause more problems for Jim and prolong this. Beyond the next week, if I'm bein' honest here. If I don't see a marked change when I come back later to check in, I'm gonna have to do a round of endoscopic regeneration. Better to nip this in the bud before it gets worse, even though the procedure is bit invasive. I've been hopin' he'd be better from the meds last night but that doesn't seem to be the case."
McCoy rubbed one eye with the knuckles of one hand.
"Just can't make this easy, can ya, Jim," he muttered. Then proceeded with, "Alright, next round of meds. I'm giving him a couple hypos chock full of vitamins to boost his antibody production and more of pretty much everything I gave him last night. Still got that hypospray for anaphylaxis?"
"Affirmative. It is right there on the edge of the edge of the tray by the electrolyte solution you prescribed."
McCoy was injecting Jim in a specific order but he took a minute to glance over.
"Good. Good. You've been able to get him to drink it then?"
"Not as much as he should be consuming but combined with the other suggestions for liquid intake, I have been able to keep him adequately hydrated."
"I noticed, Spock," McCoy grumped, the hiss of his last hypospray punctuating his sentence. "I'm just glad I haven't had to hook him up intravenously. If you think Jim's reaction to hypos is bad, you should see him when he's hooked up to a needle."
The doctor then packed up his medkit and rolled off his gloves, tossing them into the waste receptacle. He frowned and placed his hands on his hips, staring down at the bucket.
"You been using biohazard protocols for that thing?" he asked and Spock was actually mildly offended.
"Of course, Doctor," he said. "It is standard procedure and would be negligent to do otherwise."
"So everything is being kept sanitized, then. Good. Great."
"If I may inquire, Doctor. Why does your tone imply there is something wrong?"
McCoy sighed again.
"As long as I've known him, Jim doesn't just get a little sick. Shit starts to snowball, until everyone involved is up shit-creek without a single paddle to spare. The kid almost died from a cold in our first year at the Academy, for Christ's sake! And I'm not sayin' Jim's a sickly guy but everything just compounds with him. We're all just lucky he gets injured more than he ever gets sick. And we all know how hard it is to treat him when he's hurtin'. What I'm sayin', Spock, is that I don't actually see him gettin' any better without first gettin' a whole helluva lot worse. I want this to be easy. I was hopin' it was goin'a be, what with you stickin' round here to care for him-"
"Doctor." Spock cut him off and McCoy seemed to come back to himself from whatever it was fueling his frustrated ranting over Jim's state. "Your accent is becoming more prominent. I suggest taking a deep breath and gaining a better grasp of your emotions."
"Why you- you damned hobgoblin! I-"
The doctor cut himself short and turned away, taking a deep breath even as his hands curled into fists.
"You're- You're right. Sorry. I'm going to head to back to sickbay since I only had time to stop and report before coming up here. If his condition changes even slightly you're going to hail me there and tell me exactly what is going on with your obsessively Vulcan precision of language, because, while I'm hopeful that he gets better, I am fully expecting shit to hit the fan very quickly."
McCoy gathered up his medkit and turned on his boot heel, making purposeful strides from Jim's quarters.
AN: To people reading through all the way for the first time, does this flow well? I feel like it does, but oftentimes these things only make sense to me.
To those who are still here from previous chapters, how are you enjoying the relationship between Bones and Spock?