So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colours
True colours are beautiful

True Colours - Cyndi Lauper


The rain stopped an hour ago, but the crashing wind, thunder and lightening echoes dully through the cave. We've managed to push ourselves as far back as we can go, where the waning light from the planet just reaches us, and only a light harsh breeze brushes against our cheeks. McCoy and I sit opposite each other, now. The cave is so low that he can't stand, but just high enough that I can.

He hasn't spoken for the last five minutes.

I answered every questions he shot my way. I told him everything I knew - everything that I had suspected up until today when, finally, I had my own questions answered. I tell him I'm sorry I good ten times, but insist I was fucking terrified to even admit that there was something different with me. When I had answered his final question, he had nodded, rested his elbows on his knees, and stared at the ground.

'Does the Ion Storm mean we can't get in contact with the Enterprise?' I ask, pushing my drying hair back from my face. I was desperate to fill the silence. Plus, I was freezing - God knows how cold this planet would get. For the first time, I wanted nothing more than to be in my plain, near suffocating room back on the Enterprise.

McCoy breathes in sharply through his nose, knocking himself from his thoughts. He looks up to me, his shoulders sagging. 'Yeah. Not that we could anyway - damn bastards took my Comm. God knows how long this thing will last'. He shoots a look out to the dim light at the end of the cave, almost as if he was glaring at the storm itself. 'Temperatures on this planet are much the same as Earth - seasons and all'.

I nod, watching him carefully. With the quickly waning adrenaline, I was starting to get cold. The heavy wetness of my clothes felt heavy against my skin. 'So it shouldn't get too cold?'

He shakes his head, still staring out of the cave. 'No. Doesn't mean it won't be damn freezing'.

'McCoy-'

He looks at me, then. 'Leonard,' he reminds me. His gaze lingers, before he clambers to his feet, uneasy and still coloured with whosoever blood stains his shirt. He brushes himself, before clearing his throat. 'Enterprise usually drops supplies around this time when crew is stranded...Need t' see if Jim and the others made it back okay. You're gonna stay here-'

'What? No!' I begin to scramble to my feet. He was leaving me. After what I had done to those men...he couldn't bare to be near me. What would the others think, when they eventually found us? Monster. Murderer. 'I can help you-'

He shakes his head, shadowed in the dim cave light and looking far more rugged than usual. 'Jim'll be in Starfleet's bad books far more than he already is if you get hurt, darlin'. Plus...you're not exactly well versed in alien territories'. I swallow, knowing that he was right, but hating it. 'I'll be back - I won't stray too far. You gotta stay here, alright?'

I glower at him. 'I really wish everyone would stop treating me like a damn damsel in distress'.

For the first time since I had told him my truth, something like a smile tugs at the face of the tired looking Doctor. Pushing his mess of brunette hair back, he replies, 'Trust me, sweetheart. Not one part of me things of you as a damsel. Not after what you just did'. He must have seen something flicker across my face, because he steps forward, rough hand landing on my wet shoulder. With hazel eyes peering to my own, McCoy nods at me. 'Ya did what you had to do. I can vouch for that. You...Hell, seems to me like you understand all of this far less than I do, but you...you did what you had to do'.

He leaves with one last look my way, as I tuck myself into the corner of the cold and dark cave and try to squash the fear of being left out. The wind howls in his wake, and I hope to fuck that he isn't caught by whatever angry natives Uhura had been talking about earlier. He's done stuff like this before. You're the one out of your depth, not him. You've read up on the mad shit the Enterprise has endured. This is nothing.

I keep telling myself that as I tug my over-shirt off, leaving me in my white undershirt and t-shirt bra. Don't get me wrong - it was fucking freezing, but getting most of the moisture out of my Starfleet issued black shirt would be far more beneficial than sitting in it. So, I wring the water out onto the uneven, rocky floor of the cave, watching as it travels like oil along the rivets in the floor. With that done, I lay it flat on the ground, flinching when a particularly low thumb of thunder and a flash of lightening lights up the cave.

Get this done. One thing at a time.

Next come my boots. I discard them to the side, yanking off my socks and flexing my pruning toes against the cold. They are laid out beside the dark shirt, too. I kneel before my clothes, my fists clenched against my thighs and my jaw shaking.

When I blink, I see the faces of those awful men; their eyes red and their Adam's Apples jumping as they choked on their own blood.

Something in me had known exactly how to use it - whatever it was. In that moment, I hadn't shied away from it, or ignored my turmoil of emotions. The power I felt nagging at the back of my mind became an extension of myself - and, like Bates had wanted me so desperately to do, I had wielded it. Turns out, it had benefited me far more than him.

The cave grows darker, until only a dim, dark blue seems to set the cave alight. It feels like hours that I sit there, flexing my fingers to keep them warm and huddling my back against the sharp ridges of the cave walls. If I ever returned to the Enterprise, Jommin would sure as shit be having an earful from me.

I am yanking my fingers through my knotted curls when he comes back, a blundering mess of a man who splutters against the wind and practically dives to the sanctuary of the cave. I yell and jump to my feet, terrified that Bates had found me (I feel it nagging at the back of my mind, a protective tug that I move away from when I see who it is), but sag when I see the grumpy and rumpled Leonard McCoy.

The first thing I note is the minuscule torch in his right hand, which seems to blare an odd amount of light for its size. Honestly, why do they feel the need to shrink everything down in this future? I am about to ask him where he had found that, but then my eyes catch the cylinder, solid bag hanging from his left shoulder, the dark Starfleet insignia telling me all I need to know.

'A care package,' I mumble. 'Thank fucking God'. He drops the package to the floor, eyeing me up and down with a curious look. 'I was wet,' I defend, dropping to my knees to drag the case toward me. The Doctor scoffs. 'What did you find?'

He kneels the other side of the case and slots the torch against the wall, illuminating both of our faces with heavy shadows. 'Damn weather held me back - it's why I took so long'. He glances up at me, an apology in his gaze, but I shake my head. 'I managed to find the site where we found the pod. Ground was shaken - looks like the bombs were more a distraction than with the intent to harm. No sign of injury'. I see the relief in his own face, and feel guilty for not even considering how worried he must be. These were his close friends. 'Found this thing locked into the soil. Neat little note tellin' us to get in contact as soon as we can, and that all the landing party minus us made it back to the ship before the Ion Storm hit-'

'Oh, thank you Jesus,' I sigh, holding a hand to my chest. 'They're all okay?' He nods. 'But how are we supposed to get into contact with the Enterprise?'

He shows me. Inside the pack were dried biscuits and fruits, a water purifying bottle (filled), a med-kit, some fancy looking lighter, neatly folded non-Starfleet uniforms ('In case we run into any unfriendly sorts who ain't exactly fond of the Federation,' Leonard explains), two blankets and, thank God, a Communicator. I grin when I see it, but it wavers somewhat when I put two and two together. 'They think we're going to be here overnight?'

Leonard shrugs. 'Lord knows how long these damn things can last. C'mon - we need to get out of these clothes and get a fire started before we freeze to death'.


We change with our backs to each other and my cheeks hot from the close proximity of the older, far more intimidating man than anyone else I had ever met. The clothes sent to us were a matching pair of dark pants and shirt, thicker than the ones I had worn before, with thick white socks that slip onto my feet nicely. When I turn to McCoy, I all but swallow my tongue at the sight of him in the dark clothing.

And then I remember the dire situation, and instead mutter something about finding firewood.

We do, as it turns out, but it is damp and not worth even attempting to light. McCoy instead insists that we leave it to dry at the back of the cave with us, until it is worth lighting. I agree, cold and stiff and wishing more than anything else for the warmth of my bed and the safety of the ship we had left behind.

McCoy tries the Comm a few more times, swearing when nothing answers back. He informs me of the interference that can be caused by these Storms and I frown in understanding. 'Fucking typical,' I mutter, tucking myself under the blanket that has a crinkly material beneath the softness. Probably to keep us warm against the cold. Two discarded packets of dried fruit sit between us.

McCoy grunts in agreement, still standing in front of me, illuminated by the harsh light of the torch that is propped up between us by the drying firewood.

'McCoy...' I mumble, knees tucked to my chest and nose cold and probably red. He turns to me, his demure that of someone who was in work mode, desperate to get us out of here. He wad distracted, focused. 'I just...I'm really-'

Even in the sparse light we have, I manage to catch a glimpse of him rolling his eyes sky high. 'Dammit, woman. If you're about to say sorry to me one more time, I'm going to kick you out into that damn storm, you hear me?'

I swallow my words. 'Um, this is my cave. I'll be kicking you out'.

There's a short pause. 'And where in the hell did you get that idea?' he asks, exasperation clear in his tone.

I sniff, shuffle further into the blanket, and reply, 'Finders keepers'. Shooting a smile up at him to show him I'm joking, I groan into the low rumbling of the sky above. 'Will you sit down? We need rest, you said so yourself. Safe to say today probably took it out of us'. At the mention of past events, I bite my lip and throw him the side eye as he does as told, and slides down opposite me. 'Are you sure you, uh, are you sure you're okay with everything that happened?' Even to my ears, the question sounds fucking stupid.

His eyes glint across the light, expression leaking bemusement. 'I can sure as hell tell you that I am not okay with anything that happened today, June'. I scoff at that, pleased to see that someone else was trying to make light of the situation, however inappropriate the humour. He shifts, and I kick the blanket that is his across to him, to which he grunts in thanks, dragging it onto his lap. 'Are you okay?' he inquires, sliding the Comm into the pocket of his fresh trousers. Our clothes lay discarded at the back of the cave, sopping.

I tilt my head back and forth, a wry smile forming. The words feel rehearsed when I say them. 'I had to do it, right? Couldn't exactly let them bloody kill you. Feel like that would have been a little harsh'.

'Only slightly'.

A small smile tugs at my face, tired but welcome. '...But then no one would stab me with vaccines every time I pissed them off. I mean, Jim might have even thanked me-' I laugh at the look he throws me, the sound echoing around us. Sobering, I wipe the smile from my face with a cold hand. 'Still...It's not...It's not the easiest thing to come to terms with; that I can do that to people'. Monster.

'I've seen people do far worse with what science has given them, darlin'. Trust me on that'.

The words, somehow, do give me some form of comfort. 'The blood,' I yelp, remembering the state he had been in. 'Did they have you preform surgery on someone, like we guessed?'

He nods. 'A man. No use, apparently. His blood loss was far too much. He died'.

'I'm sorry,' I mumble, clenching my hands between my knees to gain some warmth. 'It can't be easy losing a patient, no matter who they are'. Silence lapses, but all I think is that's one less person to worry about. I wonder, my stomach turning, when I started to think like that. Lightening flashes again, and McCoy and I both look toward the cave entrance with tired eyes and drawn faces. The sky was dark now, and the only light was from the torch.

I think of the Enterprise, high above us, and swallow the guilt in my throat. They're all alive.

'You're from Georgia?' I ask, desperate to keep my mind from wondering to the darkest of places, where men with blood in their eyes stare back at me. 'Why did you join Starfleet?'

The Doctor grunts, and I'm not sure if its a laugh or a sigh. 'Small talk? Really, Adams?'

'Humour me, asshole. I'm cold and tired and stranded with a grumpy ass Doctor on an alien planet'.

This time, I know it's a laugh. His rugged skin stretches up into a smile, his cheeks rounding as he tucks himself further against the blanket, his eyes downcast to the floor. After a moments pause, he leans back and meets my expectant gaze, a what the hell? look in his eyes. 'Georgia. Born and raised. Took after my Pa and became a surgeon. Wife took everythin' I had in the damn divorce, so I figured Starfleet would be the best way for me to go'. He shrugs, a lingering darkness that tells me the tale still bugs him. 'Still figurin' out of I was right or wrong'.

I nod at the information, understanding this man just a little more. 'That's...' Nice? '...Well, that's a fucking terrible reason to join. I'm sorry about...that. Still, I would be royally fucked right now if you hadn't'.

Another laugh, low and barely there. 'What about you, huh? Bio-Engineerin'?'

I nod. 'My cousin, she uh...well, we're not really close. She has a prosthetic leg. Lost it to some insane infection that came out of nowhere. I was going to go the Mechanics route, but some other girl on my course was a fucking...well, annoyingly skilled at that. I looked into Biomedical Engineering then...thought of my cousin, spoke to her about how she wished there was something that could make her brain think this leg, that didn't feel like part of her, was real'. I shrug, mimicking McCoy's stance and leaning my head against the damp cave wall. 'Got me thinking about other people, I guess. Went out on a limb and took it for my Masters, and ended up being pretty alright at it'.

He takes in the information, his hands wringing slowly in front of him above the blanket. 'You know, they have somethin' for that now. Prosthetic limbs and such, it's come in leaps and bounds-'

I snort. 'I know, Doc, don't worry. My field is pretty out of my depth here - useless, even. Looking around Engineering with Scotty...I guess it's the first time I got excited about Mechanical Engineering for a while'.

Silence stretches again, and I pray to God that the Doctor will fill it. I don't want to come across like I'm nagging him with useless questions to make time go faster, until I finally feel as if I can sleep. Although...I had all but told him that time in his Office that he was easy to talk to and, however, grumpily, he had welcomed my incessant chatter.

'So...I take it you like that classical music that Jim used to play in our dorm and deafen me with?'

I frown, truly bemused by the question. Blinking across the harsh light of the small torch to McCoy's blank face, I try very hard not to look offended. 'What like...like fucking Beethoven? Is that the kind of vibe that I'm giving off?' I also can't imagine James Kirk bopping his head to a fast paced remix of Für Elise.

'What? No,' McCoy splutters, drawing his brow together and looking at me as if I am the thickest being on this terrible planet. 'Lord have Mercy...I mean...Jesus. Music of your time, you damn moron-'

'Don't call me a moron!' I crack up, holding my hand to my mouth to silence the sound. Apparently, shock, horror, sleep deprivation and cold were making me rather loopy. 'Classical means something very different to me, Doctor! And, yeah, I like music of my time. I kind of always liked 80's music, courtesy of my mum. Cure, Blondie, ABBA. 1980's, that is. Not the 1880's'.

'You're damn hilarious'.

'I'm aware, thank you'.

After a pause, he asks, 'ABBA?'

With a horrified expression, I reply, 'When we get back to the Enterprise, I am going to gift your ears with the most beautiful sounds'.

'Jesus'.

I snort, to which the Doctor bows his head and lets out a huff of laughter of his own. Silence lapses once again then, and it seems we're both listening to the sound of the thunder rumbling, and the lightening locked in the clouds lighting up the sky. It's hard to believe I'm not on Earth, right now. The feeling is something odd, and I'm almost annoyed that it had been so brutally ruined. I think of Bates and where he is, and if that log had managed to keep him locked away.

I am woken what feels like seconds later, but the crick in my neck tells me it must have been well over an hour. I realise, with a start and one eye half open, that my own shivering had woken me. 'Fucking hell...' I mutter, casting a look to the sleeping Doctor opposing me. His head had fallen back onto the wall, and his mouth was slightly agape.

It was freezing. The cold seemed to have multiplied with my tiredness and, in a fit of indecisiveness, I look over to McCoy with cold cheeks and a dry mouth. 'Bugger it,' I mutter, after noting after a while of squinting through the dark (the Doctor had, apparently, turned off the flashlight), that McCoy's shoulders were shaking from the cold, too.

I don't have time to feel embarrassed, or stupid. This is about survival, and right now the Doctor was looking mighty appealing - and not in the usual way.

I crawl over to him, knees bumping against the uneven ground, and whisper as lowly as I can to get his attention, but not startle him. The phaser lay in his blanket, I knew, and I wasn't keen on having that thing pointing at me because I'd startled him. I shiver once more, poke at his boot, and whisper, 'Doc. Leonard. I'm freezing my arse off here - please wake up'.

He does, eyes catching the light of the lightening that flashes outside as he tilts his head upright, his hair far more rumpled than usual. He blinks at me for a mere moment, before nodding in a way that tells me he was still half asleep and as numb with cold as I was. I follow his movements as he pulls away from the wall, dragging the blanket with him, and beckons me forward without a word.

'Wood still wet?' He asks, voice raspy. I nod, still on my hands and knees with my blanket draped over my like a damn hood. I must, in all honesty, look mighty ridiculous. He grumbles something, before kicking his legs out and dragging his blanket to the ground with him, before muttering, 'Get the hell down here, then. We're not gonna be much use to the Enterprise if we've frozen to death'.

I waste no time in ducking to the cold ground with him, desperate for some aspect of body warmth. It seems he has the same idea. This is nothing but desperation of basic human survival; to move to the thing that is the warmest. We face each other, both our cold faces darkened by the lack of light, and move so close that our knees are touching. I breath heavily, hands cupped near my face and let out a violent shudder.

'Thought you'd be used to the cold,' he mutters, clasping my wrists and dragging them to his warm chest. I slip close, doing my best to give him any warmth that I have to offer.

Teeth chattering, I reply, 'I grew up in England, Leonard. Not the North fucking Pole'.

And, with that, we fall into fitful sleeps, wrapped tightly to each other, barely knowing each other, but trusting each other all the same.


Blood. Blood. Blood. They choke. They cry. Did they have families? Did they have parents? How could I look at the faces of my family again, knowing that I had murdered? They stare at me, blood soaked cheeks and teeth coated red, and tell me that I am a Monster. That I am his. That I stopped being June Adams the moment I set foot in this future.

Two. You're Two.


I gasp awake, terrified for a moment that the wetness I feel on my face is blood (no, no, what if I did something in my sleep?), but am both mortified and relieved to find that the wetness has a taste, and that taste is salt. I was crying. It was still dark, still cold, still quiet, still thundering.

And I was still a monster.

Jesus, I wanted my mum.

The body next to mine lurches, grumbling and grunting and swearing into consciousness. The legs are locked with mine, heat seeping between us, and I bury my face in my hands, half hoping that he will think I'm still asleep. Instead, the chest that is so close to my own that I can feel the warmth shifts, and rough fingers come to linger against my wet fingers, where unbidden tears seep.

'June...c'mon-'

'I'm fine,' I mumble wetly. Red eyes. Red teeth. Red insides.. 'We need to sleep, I'm-'

'If you say you're sorry one more damn time'. He does something that I don't expect, then, and tugs my hands roughly away from my face, leaving the dampness displayed to the dark cold. I am almost thankful. At least he can't see how weak I look. Hazel eyes glint in the dark, and I can only just see the outline of his form lying next to me, both our bodies facing each other. 'You had to do it. June. You're not gonna go blamin' your damn self. I won't let you, ya hear me?'

'You've been through far worse,' I babble, sleep clouding me and the nightmare still lingering. 'All of you on the Enterprise, I-'

'And you don't think we mourned for the shit we had to do?' He tugs my hands to him, sighs, and mutters, 'Jesus. C'mere'. He moves closer, if possible, and discards my hands to wrap an arm around my back and tug me to him, until my forehead is pressed tightly to his chest. I realise, for the first time, that I have not been held so intimately in a very, very long time. The thought has me near blubbering again. 'Sleep. Doctors orders'.

I nod, face crumpled and chest heavy. 'I won't be Two,' I tell him. 'I won't be that'.

'I know, kid'.

Shaking the shuddering breaths from my body and wishing I could repay the Doctor somehow, I squeeze my eyes shut and wrap my own arm around his broader waist, hoping in some way that the shared heat would be thanks enough.

The nightmares, for the rest of the night, stay far away.


I've been wanting to get to those point, where the two characters can come to understand each other and spend time together in a situation that calls for their true selves. I hope it didn't disappoint. I only say this because I received a review that stated they felt the revealing of June's powers was kind of anti-climactic, and that they didn't feel as if the June/Bones romance was really anything to shout about. I get this! I am so, so open to feedback. I just want you guys to know what I replied to this person, just in case anyone else feels this way!

Hi! I try to respond to reviews such as this (and I will take your views into account, because I get where they're coming from!). Honestly, I almost wanted it to be anti-climactic. I wanted June's first time experiencing her power like that to be something positive - her saving someone she cared about. I want her to stop viewing it as something so inherently negative. I also wanted it to be forced out of her - because it shows just how unfair Bates is to her, and how she needs to grow from these experiences. Also, I try to keep any writing I make as realistic as I can - well, within the confines of a Star Trek fanfiction inspired by Stranger Things, haha. Concerning the romance of Bones and June - well, it's not really a romance yet. I'm all about slow burners and the characters knowing each other before any kind of love can come into the mix. For June, she has far more worrying things than a man she's attracted to. I want the romance to be an accidental, but overall good thing.

I hope you understand where I am coming from, and I understand where you're coming from. Thanks so much for the feedback and taking the time to review, have a good day/night! x

I hope people get this now! Thank you so, so much to this person and others who have taken the time to review, I appreciate it so, so much!