"Brother let me be your shelter

Never leave you all alone"

Bones

Jim, to put it lightly, was freaking out. He was leaning heavily on one of the sinks in the bathroom, breathing hard and rapid. Bones watched him, unsure of what to do. To be perfectly honest, Bones was on the edge of freaking out himself, but right now he was forcing himself to worry about Jim. Spock had just informed them that they would have to give their versions of what had happened alone. Totally and utterly alone. Apparently the officials didn't want them to be influenced by anything, so no one who knew anything about the mission and what had happened could be in the room. Bones and Jim couldn't be with each other, no Spock, Sulu, Chekov, Scotty… no anybody. Just whichever one of them was giving what they had to say and however many officials were present. He and Jim had been both been scared out of their minds before now, and this information had just sent them both over the edge. Jim had left immediately towards the bathroom (as quickly as he could go with two bad knees and sporting a cane that he already hated) and Bones followed. Spock had begun to, but Bones waved him off, unsure of what exactly was going on quite yet.

"Jim-"

"Bones, I can't! I can't do that alone!"

"We're going to have to, Jim."

"If I freak out in there, they're going to take the Enterprise!"

Bones sighed and rubbed his face with his hands. He couldn't deny that fact. If either of them were found to be "emotionally compromised", they could lose their positions until proven otherwise. He was well aware that losing the chair (again) was one of Jim's fears. Apparently right now, it was the biggest one. He was at a loss of how to comfort Jim. He was right, and they both knew it. Bones was afraid of the same thing. He trusted his medical team in the same way Jim trusted Spock and everyone else on the bridge, but that didn't mean that either of them wanted them to operate without them there. At least if they went in there with each other, they would have something else to focus on besides the hell they were reliving. But that comfort was being ripped away.

Jim suddenly started letting out long strings of curse words. Nothing made any sense as it left his mouth, it was simply whatever combination of curses Jim could think of. Bones wasn't caught off guard until Jim seemed to start doing the same thing in another language. "Jim, are you cussing in Vulcan?" Neither of them had heard Spock enter the bathroom, but he gave Bones his answer. "Affirmative, Doctor. The Captain's curiosity was beginning to get out of hand, so I simply taught him how." Bones turned to look at him. "I didn't know you people cursed."

"It is a rare occasion, but yes." Spock turned his attention to Jim, who had seemed to run out of curses and was standing quietly besides his heavy breathing. "Captain, they've begun asking for you. I think it would be best for you to attend as soon as possible." Jim nodded slowly, already putting more effort into collecting himself. Bones could already tell he was putting himself into his "Captain Kirk" mode. "I'll be just outside the doors the whole time, Jim," Bones said. Jim nodded again, standing up straight and grabbing his cane from where he left it against the wall. He looked to Spock, his Captain mode now fully operational. "Let's do this, then," he said. Spock walked to Jim, offering an arm for extra assistance. Jim turned him down, shaking his head. "I've got it, Spock." Bones didn't make any move to leave as he watched Jim and Spock slowly make their way from the bathroom. He wanted to be able to follow Jim, but he knew that someone would probably stop both he and Spock at the doors. For whatever reason, he didn't want to watch Jim walk in there alone. It didn't make any sense to him, but yet it was what was anchoring him to the bathroom floor.

He wasn't aware of how much time had passed when Sulu walked in. It had surely been long enough that Jim would be in the meeting, and yet Bones still couldn't force himself to move. His feet hadn't moved an inch since Spock and Jim left. He just couldn't. Sulu came and leaned on the wall next to him, picking up on it. Neither of them said anything for a long moment. Sulu broke the silence, glancing sideways at Bones. "You know, McCoy, there's a little girl out the lobby in the need of a new tic-tac-toe opponent." Sulu was offering a distraction yet again. He had brought his family here? Why wasn't he out spending time with them? Bones told him so. "You should be spending time with them, Sulu. Not waiting here for Jim and I."

"Yeah, well, here we are. Besides, my daughter's pretty excited to be spending some time with the great Captain Kirk." Sulu let a small smile onto his face. Bones allowed himself to do the same, rolling his eyes. "God, don't tell Jim that, it'll go straight to his head." Sulu laughed, nodding. "Yeah, you're probably right. I am serious about that tic-tac-toe game, though. According to her, I'm awful."

….

Kirk

The room felt bigger than it ever had before. Jim had been in this conference room probably half a dozen times, by all means he should have been used to it, but at the moment it felt terrifying. Six pairs of eyes were staring at him from across the circle the tables made. Jim could feel his pulse in his head as he did his best to maintain his Captain like composure. He wasn't afraid of these people or this room, more so what would happen and what he was speaking of. Bones was the only other person that knew exactly what had happened, and even then he didn't know everything. One of the women in the room was the one that was asking questions, her eyes never leaving Jim. Honestly, it was getting a little unnerving. More unnerving was the fact that they were approaching matters no one but Jim knew about. He wasn't positive that he wanted anyone to know, but here he was being forced to spit it out in front of six people he barely knew.

"And what happened then, Captain Kirk?"

"The Klingons came back in. Five of them. The one that spoke English wasn't with them. Three stayed by the door, the other two approached us. They grabbed Doctor McCoy. I tried to fight back, but somewhere in the struggle, one of them knocked me out."

"And when you awoke, was Doctor McCoy there?"

"No, ma'am. Just the Klingons."

Jim had to describe, in detail, what occurred thereafter. He had to constantly remind himself silently that he wasn't there anymore. Every time he spoke of something, a vivid image of his played in the back of his mind. He desperately wanted someone next to him, preferably Spock or Bones. But according to the people questioning him, he couldn't even have that much. When he spoke of trying to get the Klingons away from Bones, when they had pulled the stunt with the speakers, he thought he say a flash of pity cross the eyes of the woman questioning him. He didn't want pity, damn it. The only thing he wanted was to get out of here and to get home to his ship.

They were on when Jim and Bones were reunited now. Jim dreaded talking about this the most. If anything could make him lose his job (besides being found as emotionally compromised), it was this.

"They gave you the choice between saving Doctor McCoy and giving up information about the Federation?"

"Yes ma'am."

"What did you decide, Captain Kirk?" Jim feel all of their eyes on him. He could feel the sweat on his temples.

"I told them I was willing to give them information." All six of them glanced at each other as Jim took a deep breath. "I never intended on giving them true information, I was just hoping to buy time for myself and Doctor McCoy. There was, of course, no guarantee that they would let us go if we gave them information, so I wasn't going to risk giving them any."

"Very well. Thank you, Captain Kirk. The rest of your encounter has been documented by Commander Spock. You and your crew have been allotted two weeks of shore leave. Will that suffice?"

"Yes ma'am. Thank you."

"Can you send in Doctor McCoy behind you, Captain?"

"Yes, I can. Ma'am?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"I believe the Klingons that attacked us may have been acting of their own accord. They lost a dozen officers and they're yet to declare war. I think, if this is true, that it would be unwise of the Federation to declare war on the Klingons."

"Thank you, Captain, we'll take that into consideration."

Jim nodded and turned, leaving the room as quickly as his knees would allow him to. He wasn't surprised to see Sulu when he walked back to the lobby. He was, however, surprised to see Spock and Bones both coloring with his daughter. Spock, Bones, and Sulu's daughter, Demora, were sat in a little triangle on the floor, huddled over a coloring book. He was most surprised by Spock's participation. Honestly, he didn't even know Spock knew how to interact with kids. Sulu was the first to notice Jim's presence. He lifted his head from Ben's shoulder and looked to Jim. "Hey, Jim. You alright?" Obviously Jim looked as awful as he felt. Bones' head shot up from the coloring book, almost colliding with Spock's. He stood just as quickly, using Spock's shoulder to push himself up.

"Jim?" he asked, stepping carefully around Demora, who was now watching curiously along with Spock. Jim started towards him, and they ended up meeting halfway. Jim couldn't help but fling his arms around his friend. Bones stumbled, caught off guard, but hugged Jim back. "That bad?" he mumbled into Jim's ear. Jim nodded silently. Not that he was about to tell Bones, but how close he had come to losing the best friend he had ever had hit him like a freight train. He couldn't let it show during the meeting, but now he was here, and Captain mode was off. He had understood to an extent when they were still with the Klingons, but now it was setting in the rest of the way. And Jesus, it hurt.

"Jim… I have to go. We can talk after." Bones muttered, though not releasing his grip on Jim. Jim nodded again, releasing his hold on Bones. Bones let his arms drop and backed away from Jim, holding eye contact for a moment until he began to walk away. He glanced back to Jim once, smiling a smile Jim could tell was forced. He sighed heavily, finally looking at Sulu and his family and Spock. Demora was the first to speak. "Hello, Captain Kirk!" she beamed widely, her grin almost identical to Sulu's. Jim couldn't help but breathe a small chuckle. "Hey, Demora. What are you and Mr. Spock working on?"

"Miss Demora has found quite the coloring page with an assortment of flowers," Spock answered. Jude grinned again, nodding excitedly.

"Mind if I join?"

Demora, of course, agreed happily. Jim claimed the spot on the floor that had formerly belonged to Bones with some help from Spock. Demora offered him some crayons, which he accepted, and promptly got to work on the coloring page. Spock surprised Jim again by carrying on a conversation with Demora, on which they both seemed to enjoy. Apparently, they both had a thing for flowers. Jim glanced over his shoulder at Sulu and Ben. Sulu had leaned his head back onto Ben's shoulder, watching the trio contently. Jim could tell he was exhausted, but he knew Sulu wouldn't allow himself some sleep now. Ben gave a small wave to Jim with the hand that wasn't intertwined with Sulu's. Jim nodded in return before turning back to the coloring book, happy for the distraction in the form of a five-year-old and a Vulcan.