Authors Note:
I think I need to start making more effort to update this more often. I think I'm loosing followers. I hope you are all enjoying this still. I think this is more of a friendship one shot. But I quite liked writing it. My first ever Academy Years attempt too.
So here is I, it was kinda hard, as it is one of those trickier letters. So the story is, without giving too much away, if Jim hadn't stepped in and interfered/intervened then he wouldn't end up in this mess!
Written over a number of nights. I hope it makes sense. I apologise for mistakes.
Let me know what you think, reviews spur me on and inspire me to continue. Thank you.
Chapter Nine
I is for Intervention
Set in the Academy Years
Intervene: To take part in something so as to prevent or alter a result or course of events.
It had been a long and crappy day for Jim Kirk. Somehow he had managed to oversleep, despite his roommates best efforts to wake him up this morning. Jim dragged his tired feet across the floor walking up to the dorm room he shared with his best friend. He couldn't even remember McCoy attempting to wake him up in his half asleep state this morning.
"GodDamnit, Jim! Wake up! You're stinking up the place!"
"Just 5 more minutes, Bonesey." Jim mumbled back into his pillow.
"You're going to be late and what have I told you about calling me that? It's McCoy. Leonard McCoy." McCoy replied back, his patience growing thinner by the second.
"But I don't wanna." Jim said, turning his head the opposite way from the doctor's judgemental looks.
"Fine, be late. See what I care." McCoy said, waving his hand in the air. "I'm going to class now. I'm working late tonight. Starfleet General have requested all placement students to take a night shift. You'll have to fend for yourself." And with that he walked out the door.
As he was late for most of his classes, not only did have to listen to the same lecture about how Star ship Captains can never afford to be late for a single thing, he was also expected to make up the time he had missed by staying late and on top of that complete an extra assignment for every class, by tomorrow.
Swinging the door open he just about managed to throw his black messenger bag on the floor and tumble into their small open plan kitchen. It was already dark out but the blind on the one large window they had, was left open, swamping the room with darkness.
"Lights, 90%." Jim ordered, stopping before he fell over in the dark.
The room suddenly lit following the orders Jim had requested. Jim half expected to see McCoy asleep on the sofa but was confused when he saw nobody there.
He shrugged off his missing friend, assuming he had already gone to bed, and sulked over to the fridge. Usually McCoy made the pair dinner and if Jim wasn't around after McCoy had prepared it, then he would stash a plate full in the fridge for Jim to eat later. McCoy knew that Jim wouldn't eat or attempt to survive off take out if he didn't prepare something. Although Jim saw no such meal when he opened the fridge door. All that remained in their was a half empty carton of pure orange juice and some soya yoghurt thing McCoy liked on his breakfast in the morning.
Jim frowned to himself, before shrugging off the missing food as well. "I'm not that hungry anyway." He spoke to himself before scooping his bag off the floor and empting the contents of it onto their small counter table. He had 3 assignments to write in one night, but was really lacking the motivation to do so.
He sat down at the table and opened one of his books, noticing the small note left propped up against the empty fruit bowl.
Jim,
Hope you weren't too late this morning. I did attempt to wake you with no luck.
Working a shift in SFG tonight.
You'll have to feed yourself.
Try not to wake me in the morning.
Leonard
Jim tapped the note on the table, tutting to himself. Working out he now had the place to himself all night. He slammed his book closed and ran into his small sleeping area of the room. He wasted no time changing into a pair of light blue jeans and a causal black t shirt. He threw a pair of black boots on and grabbed his leather jacket hanging over the end of his bed on his way out. There was no way he was staying in doing some assignments that would probably end up in the trash when he could be out relaxing.
On his way out the dorm room he just about remembered his communicator and keys. He flicked his comm open and slammed the door behind him.
"Sulu – its Jim. Grab the guys, we are going out… Meet me at O'Neil's in 10."
oOo
Jim was actually at the bar in 5 minutes. That was the best thing about where their student quarters were located. The best bar was literally a 5 minute, fast paced, walk away.
The bar was pretty full, but that didn't stop Jim from pushing his way in and getting straight to the barman. "A shot of jack, straight up." He ordered. He looked around for his friends but failed to spot them. He assumed they were still on their way. He turned back around to spot his drink waiting for him and grabbed it. "I'll start a tab." He told the barman. He spotted a small empty table in the corner, away from the crowds of younger students. "Better keep 'em coming. I'll be over there."
"No problem, Jim. Here, just take the bottle." The barman replied. They knew Jim pretty well, seeing as he was there most nights. "It would just be easier on me seeing as I'm a staff member down tonight."
Jim took the bottle and laughed. "You're the boss." He winked, moving over to the empty table.
He took a mouthful of his shot, gritting his teeth as the burning liquid slid down his throat. Jim took a seat at the table, making himself comfortable by sticking his feet on the opposite empty chair. He watched the groups of people around him, pouring himself another glass full before swallowing it straight down again.
Jim had completely lost track of time as he sat drinking his Jack Daniels, watching the people socialise around them. Most of them clearly out however a couple remained, mostly couples that had no intentions of moving out to the bigger clubs and bars. It had completely left his mind that he was waiting for Sulu and some of their other friends from their classes.
He continued to people watch, wondering what they could be discussing, maybe how their day went, what classes they had tomorrow, what they had planned for the future. To be honest, Jim didn't care. He just found his mind drifting from thought to thought as he continued to drink.
He wondered how McCoy's night was going. Probably completely uneventful. It could never be fun being stuck at a hospital during the night, where mostly normal people would be sleeping.
"I told you. No. Move away."
A female panicked voice soon snapped him out of his thought trail, He didn't recognise the woman, but luckily the bar was reasonably empty now so it didn't take much to work out who the voice belonged to.
A short, blonde woman, dressed in her red cadet uniform, was slowly backing up towards the wall of the bar.
A drunken male, who was also dressed in his cadet uniform followed her as she continued to back up. He was physically fit. Jim actually raised his eyebrows in surprise when he noticed the size of his biceps.
"Steven. I said no." The blonde girl stopped as her back hit the wall. She raised her hands to push him away however his brute strength was too much for her to manage.
"C'mon Lisa, let's go outside. Just us two." Steven continued, grabbing a fistful of her hair, forcing the young cadet to let out a gasp in pain.
Jim pushed himself up, slamming his hands on the table. He staggered up to the pair, noticing the girl's eyes watering the closer he moved. If he hadn't drank so much, he would have been thinking a lot straighter, maybe he would have used his common sense and called for help, but he was running out of time.
"I suggest you let go of the cadet." Jim managed to speak clearly, surprising himself as he hiccupped.
Steven turned to Jim and looked him up and down.
"You've got to be kidding. This is nothing to do with you. I suggest you back away now." He sniggered. Although he did let go of Lisa's hair.
"Sure, I'll leave. But the young lady is coming with me." Jim continued, grabbing hold of her hand gently. He pulled her closer as they walked out the bar together. The cold night's air was a welcoming feeling on his face as they stepped outside. Just opposite the bar was a large, well lit, open grass area with a bench. Jim kept hold of Lisa's hand, not looking behind them as he made his way over to the bench.
"Are you ok?" he asked the girl, gesturing for her to take a seat on the bench once they reached it.
"Th-th-thank you. But you don't know Steven, you shouldn't have interfered." She said, wrapping her hands around herself to keep her warn.
Jim noticed the young girl beginning to shiver. He took his leather jacket off and wrapped it around her. "I'm not scared of bullies like him. I'm Jim by the way."
"I'm Lisa." She said, sliding her arms in the oversized jacket. "Steven is no bully. He and his gang… they are on their last warnings for being violent towards other cadets here. If it wasn't for his stupidly high test scores, they probably would have kicked him out already."
Jim sat down next to Lisa. The air was cold, so cold that their breath was beginning to show in the air, leaving a smoking trail from their noses and mouths. "People like that – they don't scare me. I've seen worse. Trust me."
Lisa looked down at her fidgeting hands. "Thank you for saving me. Who knows what he would have done if you hadn't helped."
"You're welcome." Jim said. "Where's your quarters? I'll walk you back."
She looked up at him, her big blue eyes glistened in the moonlight. She quickly moved in, planting a light kiss on his lips, before moving away again.
"It's on the Eastside."
Jim, who was now trying hard not to blush, cleared his throat and smiled. "Let's go. It's getting late." He said, standing back up to his feet. He offered her his hand to hold as together they walked back to her quarters.
oOo
Lisa's student quarters were a little further away than Jim's and also in the complete opposite direction to his own, but they soon made it back. She stood outside the main entrance. Jim was ready to follow her in but she stopped him.
"I'd invite you up, but my roommate… she will be sleeping. She has an important test tomorrow and I really don't want to disturb her." She explained.
"That's fine, as long as you'll be ok walking up there yourself. Anyway, my roomie Bones will probably be waiting for me to get back, he can get real grumpy if I'm late." Jim lied, attempting to hide his disappointment.
"I'll be fine." She smiled. Anyway, Steven can't access this building.
Lisa went to take Jim's jacket off to hand it back, but he stopped her.
"Keep it for now." He said, placing his hand on hers. "It's a good excuse to see you again." He winked.
Lisa laughed a little. She planted another small light kiss on Jim's blushed cheek. "Deal. I'll see you around, Jim."
Jim watched her enter the main entrance of her dorm. She gave him a small wave as the door closed behind her and she walked off to her own room.
Jim sighed, before turning around to make his way back to the bar. He secretly hoped that Sulu was now there and waiting for him, but it was late. Who knew where they were.
It didn't take Jim long to stumble back to the bar, although he didn't feel like going back in by the time he made it back. The alcohol in his system was wearing thin. Although he did need to pay his tab… He supposed one more for the road wouldn't hurt.
He attempted to walk into the bar, but two large men stopped him. Jim practically walked into them before they each grabbed a hand and dragged him outside again. They pushed him down onto the hard paved ground outside as the first man threw a hard fist straight into Jim's cheek.
"Back so soon?" he asked
Jim had no time to reply when another fist was pounded into his gut.
"Just can't keep your hands off other people's girlfriends can you?"
Jim didn't even need to look up to work out who was punching him.
"Steven, I presume." Jim coughed, attempting to get back to his feet before another fist to the face knocked him back down.
"We've heard a lot about you, Jim Kirk." Steven explained. Rubbing his knuckles in his other hand before swinging for Jim again. "But never had you down for a girlfriend thief."
Jim coughed again, struggling to catch his breath as the punch landed straight into his gut again. "I have… no idea… what you're talking about." He said, spitting blood from his mouth onto the floor.
"Lisa. You need to keep your hands off her." The other man said, waving his fist ready to punch Jim again, although Steven stopped him.
"No – I'll finish him off, you keep watch." Steven ordered the other man.
He grabbed hold of Jim's body and dragged him down the alley behind the bar. Jim had absolutely no strength left in him to defend himself as Steven pushed him against the wall, punching him over and over again.
Jim's knees soon gave way as his body struggled to stay conscious.
"Steven, finish up, I can hear people coming." The man called down the alley. It was music to Jim's muffled hearing.
"I won't forget your face." Steven growled, picking up an empty beer bottle from the trash can by the bar door and smashing it around Jim's head, sending him straight into unconsciousness as the glass shattered around him.
oOo
Doctor Leonard McCoy had a bad feeling. Like, a really bad feeling.
He had always put a lot of faith into bad feeling. He had them a lot, about all sorts of things and most of the time those things turned out to be bad. Meaning he had soon learnt to trust his gut. Call it intuition? Or maybe a sixth sense? Whatever it was, it was going off right now, sending alarm bells ringing in his head and he didn't like it. Not one damned bit.
He'd made it back to their shared quarters shortly after 3am and had practically fallen straight onto the sofa, nothing out of the ordinary there. Although, Jim was nowhere to be seen and that was the weird thing, as he would have normally waited up for him to come back before he had gone to bed. He had a theory about that, which was that Jim was afraid of being alone and didn't want to fall asleep with nobody else in the apartment. Although he kept his theory to himself.
Leonard had just about dragged himself back into a sitting positon on the sofa as he called out Jim's name, but there was no answer. Turning his head back towards the door he had just come in, he had noticed Jim's communicator missing from the side, meaning he must be out. Jim never left the apartment without it. He knew Jim liked to go out and get drunk, pick up girls or get into the occasional bar scrap, but never anything serious.
The kid had been a blessing in disguise really, after being vomited on, Leonard couldn't see any reason why the kid would want to keep hanging out with him, but within a week they were sharing a cadets quarters and eating lunch together. It was like they had always been friends. He soon learnt that Jim was easy to talk to, a great listener. He never judged him for any of his mistakes and would more than often allow him to rant and rave about the idiot's that made their way into the hospital on his shift. Despite his growing reputation as playboy and the fact the kid wouldn't eat unless he placed food under his nose, Jim never brought girls back to the apartment and always came back before curfew.
Overall he was an awesome roommate and was fast becoming a good friend to him.
In any case, he should have been back by now and the fact Jim's communicator was missing, gave Leonard a bad feeling.
He pulled out his comm and quickly punched in Jim's code, hoping the kid wouldn't be too pissed off about being checked up on. Normally he would let Jim have his privacy, but he had never known Jim to not try and contact him, just to let him know where he is or that he was staying over at Sulu's or something.
The comm remained silent for a few heart achingly long minutes before finally a reply.
"H-Hello? Who is this?" a young girl spoke back.
Leonard instantly rolled his eyes. He had met a girl. Of course he had met a girl.
"I'm sorry, Miss. I'm just looking for Jim. I assume he's with you?"
The girl yawned down the comm, her breath whistling in the speaker. "Who? Oh! Jim! My saviour. He's not here." She replied, giggling at the 'saviour' reference.
Leonard suddenly raised an eyebrow and gripped the comm a little tighter. "Well, do you know where he is? And do you mind explaining why you have his communicator?" he found himself raising his voice slightly.
The girl yawned again. "Sorry. I'm Lisa. The one he lent his jacket to. He walked me home after my boyfriend… well ex-boyfriend, wouldn't leave me alone. I guess he left the communicator in the jacket pocket. I don't know where he could be now, he told me he was going home, apparently his roommate, Bones, gets real grumpy if he's late home." She explained.
Leonard rolled his eyes again and gripped his free hand into a tight fist. "It's past curfew. What time was it when he left yours?"
"Oh, I'm not sure. About 2300 hours?" Lisa said.
"So, 4 hours ago?!" McCoy found himself raising his voice even louder. He practically slammed his fist on the coffee table in front of him.
"Oh, is that the time? I guess so then…well, I would go and look for him but I just don't feel safe with Steven outside. I hope you find him." Lisa replied as the line went dead.
McCoy threw his comm across the room in frustration, sending it flying into the books Jim had left dumped on their small table. "Son of a…" McCoy growled. He paced around the small apartment. He had two choices, Attempt to sleep and hope that Jim comes home eventually, or, stick with his gut feeling and go and find Jim. He knew he wasn't going to sleep knowing Jim, the one person that had never stayed out past curfew, was still out in the middle of the night. So he grabbed his jacket and picked up his comm again. After checking it still worked, he almost ran straight out the door.
oOo
The late night air was bitter. McCoy could see his breath each time he exhaled and after picking up some pace, seeing it was turning more frequent. He wrapped his arms around his body protectively to keep himself warmer. He had start to regret not wearing a warmer one. "Jim!" he called out as he made his way over to their usual drinking spot. If Jim had met the girl there, it could be possible that's where Jim walked back to. Although who knows what's going through that kids thick skull half the time.
The bar was completely shut up but that didn't stop him from pressing his hands and face up against the glass window to check for his friend. Although his hopes of finding Jim passed out on the bar chairs soon fizzled out when he saw the bar empty.
"Jim!" he called out again, looking around with what street light was remaining. McCoy fell silent, hoping to hear the slightest hint of sound but it was useless, until the sound of glass rustling down the alley next to him caught his attention. He turned to the pitch black alley and squinted, attempting to see through the darkness.
"Bones…" a small weak voice whispered, it was hardly audible but McCoy's ears pricked up. His gut feeling was right once again.
"Jim… is that you? What the hell are you doing in the damn alley? Trying to scare the life out of me?" McCoy asked, moving closer to the darkness.
"H-Help…" Jim's voice was weak and McCoy suddenly realised he wasn't joking around anymore.
"Jim?" McCoy said again, his walking pace speeding up. "Hang on, I have a torch." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his small pen torch, it was supposed to be used for checking the reaction of pupils in his patients, but he started carrying it around with him anyway. He shone the small light down the alley as he creeped closer towards Jim, until finally the light caught Jim's swollen and bruised face.
McCoy almost dropped his torch when he saw Jim in the light. "God damnit, kid." He said, kneeling down to his friend and inspected the wounds closer. "You're covered in glass."
Jim kept his arm wrapped tightly around his waist, wanting to protect his battered body. He flinched and took a deep breath as McCoy placed a hand on his face.
McCoy noticed the flinch, not that Jim had tried hard to hide it. "Hey, it's okay. It's me, Leonard."
"L…Leonard?" Jim looked up showing his confused expression. He squinted his eyes as the light shone bright into his face.
"Bones. It's Bones, remember me?" McCoy said, noticing the confused look on Jim's face.
Jim lent into his touch slightly, he did know Bones. "Bones." He whispered.
McCoy watched as Jim's whole body suddenly relaxed as he worked out he was there. It was quite a comforting thing. "Look at the state you're in. Who did this?"
Jim swallowed the building saliva in his mouth. "Nobody." He lied.
"I'm sure as hell you didn't smash a bottle over your head yourself. We need to get you up on your feet so I can take a look at those wounds." McCoy replied, rolling his eyes at the obvious lie Jim had just told him.
He grabbed Jim's free arm and wrapped it around his shoulders. Pulling Jim up was a lot easier than he thought but he wasn't expecting to hear the small yelp of pain Jim attempted to hold in.
"It's okay, once we are out of this damn alley I'll know what I'm working with." McCoy said, practically dragging all of Jim's weight onto his own.
"You sound like you're enjoying this." Jim huffed, the air escaping his lungs caused him to wheeze with every small step they took.
McCoy attempted to hide his concerned looks, the last thing he needed was Jim freaking out on him. But that damn wheeze… and the fact Jim hadn't let go of his side… could easily be an indicator of a breathing issue.
Together they made it to the small bench outside the bar. Jim smirked as he slowly lowered into a sitting positon on the bench.
"What are you giving me that look for?" McCoy asked, noticing the goofy look.
Jim quickly dropped his smirk. "Oh the things I could tell you about this bench."
McCoy tutted. He could easily guess that a girl was involved, but was just pleased Jim could remember it. Seeing Jim in the light almost took his breath away. He had been beaten worse than he first assumed and was silently cursing at the fact he hadn't brought a tricorder with him.
"Jim, I need to get you to Starfleet General." He said, breaking the small slience that had formed between them.
"Can't you treat me here? Or even better, back at home?" Jim pleaded. He hated the thought of hospital. Where he would be quizzed further on what exactly happened. Jim was a lot of things, but a grass wasn't one of them, and anyway, he knew if he hadn't drank half a bottle of Jack, he could have easily taken the pair on himself and won.
McCoy turned his back and reached into his pocket again, pulling out his communicator. He punched in some of the buttons without hesitation.
"Hello, yeah… I need a cab as soon as possible…Destination? Yeah that's Star Fleet General Hospital…Outside O'Neil's."
Jim attempted to focus further on the conversation McCoy was attempting to have without him noticing but his attention was falling short. The rush of alcohol, flirting and fighting had practically disappeared and the fatigue he was fighting was beginning to win.
McCoy closed his comm, "I've called us a cab. I can sneak you in that way." There was no way he could hustle most of Jim's body weight half way across campus anyway. McCoy tucked the comm back in his pocket and turned around to check on Jim… who was being suspiciously quiet.
His heart almost skipped a beat when he saw Jim laying on his unwounded side on the bench with his eyes closed.
"Damn it, Jim!" he instantly reached for Jim's neck and checked a pulse. He breathed a sigh of relief after counting the strong steady beats. "Jim, you can't sleep. Not yet, you're probably concussed."
"Just… 5 more minutes…Bonesy." Jim wheezed, keeping his eyes closed.
oOo
It wasn't the sound of steady beats that came to his attention first, more the faint mumbling of a couple of familiar tones.
"He sent us to the wrong bar! We just assumed he had got caught up."
"Well it's a good job I found him then."
"Don't be like that, Leonard. How were we supposed to know he was going to end up in the alley way?"
"Just next time… call him when he's not where he should be. I need to plant a tracker on the damn kid."
"Don't you dare." Jim whispered, his voice dry and weak.
"I've got to go Sulu. He's finally awake." McCoy said, shutting his comm down to end the call. "How do you feel?"
Jim blinked his eyes to clear his vision slightly. He felt a pinching sensation in his hand and it didn't take him long to notice where he was. The white walls, the smell of antiseptic and beds all around him… "You brought me to work with you?" he quizzed, noticing McCoy in his civvies clothing still.
"No, Jim. You were in a pretty nasty bar fight. Turns out you've got a couple of cracked rips, on top of the multiple cuts covering your face and hands. What the hell happened to you?"
Jim kept his mouth shut tight, before realising that his friend wasn't going to give up until he got an answer. "I… don't remember." He lied.
McCoy placed his hands on his hips. "Yeah, sure. Look, kid. You don't have to tell me now but the campus security will probably have it on tape. They are going to want to investigate."
"They won't bother if they don't know I'm here." Jim said, attempting to sit up.
McCoy let out a small sigh at Jim's feeble attempt to sit up right. He moved over to the hospital bed controls and lifted the bed to make Jim more comfortable. "Try not to move too much. The pain medication isn't the strongest seeing as you were out cold. How do you feel now?" he asked again, after not getting an answer before.
"Like I've got an army marching on my head." Jim answered honestly, for a change.
"That'll probably be the hangover. Serves you right. Your tox screen was off the charts, did you even eat after class?" McCoy asked, waving a tricorder over Jim again.
"There wasn't anything in the fridge." Jim shrugged although the motion made him gasp with pain.
"You've got to start taking better care of yourself, kid. What would you do if you were stationed without me somewhere?" McCoy felt a prang of guilt at the thought. The pair had grown pretty close since they were first housed together.
"Trust me Bonesy, I won't let that happen. When I become captain one day, you'll be on my ship." Jim said, grabbing hold of McCoy's hovering arm.
"It won't happen if you continue to call me Bones." He said rolling his eyes.