AUTHOR'S NOTE:
I'm a big meanie for my cliffhanger.
This chapter is sad.
But there are up points to it.
Sorry for the sadness.
I'm really putting Spock and Lily through the ringer right now, but I have some fun storylines planned for them.
I think this story might make it to 20 chapters.
We'll see how it plays out.
It'll definitely make it past 15.
****
The second that Leonard had told me that Spock had been shot, I was out of my quarters and hurrying to Sick Bay. I knew I was rushing, and I'd almost knocked over two different people, but Spock was in trouble and I had to be there, and Janet had followed since she knew she should be there too.
"Come on." I said exasperatedly, as the lift moved—why wouldn't it go faster?
I hurried out of it when it got to the right floor and ran all the way to the Med Bay. The doors slid open for me and I hurried in, the tears already coming. I felt sick. My stomach was in a jumble when I saw Spock on the hospital bed. Janet hurried over to help Doctor Mars who was working on Commander Gordon, the blood mingling with the red of his uniform, and Leonard was leaning over Spock.
"What exactly happened down there?" I asked, making it to Spock's side and grasping his hand.
"That's just it—neither of them can tell us the entire story. They split up: Spock and Commander Gordon were in one team, and Chekov and the Captain in the other. They heard gun fire and found Spock and Commander Gordon. There's a metal alloy of some kind floating around in their bloodstream I have to get out, and neither of them seem to be able to speak." Leonard explained to me.
I wiped my tears off and smiled a little, kissing Spock's hand. I ran the fingers of my other hand through his hair and it came to me—I was telepathic. I was only half Betazoid though, so I couldn't exactly read minds, but Spock was half Vulcan—couldn't he mind meld with me?
"A mind meld." I said out loud. "That way we can figure out what happened and maybe I can look up the gun that fired on him and we can figure out how to get the metallic alloy thingy out of their bloodstream."
Leonard shook his head as Spock clenched his other hand into a fist. "I do not suggest doing a mind meld in his condition, Lily. He could get worse and I need as much time to figure out a cure as—a centrifuge!"
"Doctor, we're losing Jason!" Doctor Mars told Leo.
Leonard hurried over to try and fix Commander Gordon while I kissed Spock's forehead. I hated seeing him like this. I hated feeling this helpless. This had to have been how Spock had felt when I was on that planet with the parasite inside of me.
"He's hemorrhaging!" Janet said in a panicked voice.
I kissed Spock's hand again and then I closed my eyes as I heard the flat line sound, and Leonard hurried back over to the bed where Spock lay and Janet started compressions on Commander Gordon's chest. Leonard hooked Spock up to a centrifuge in the Med Bay, and Spock looked and felt pained. Leonard seemed quite excited though that the centrifuge was working, but he was worried too. I watched as Leonard pulled the alloy out of the separating blood with a magnet type thing—I wasn't medically inclined so I didn't know what it was really called—the clean blood going through another tube back into Spock.
"Why are you worried?" I asked Leonard.
Leonard looked at me. "He's going to need a blood transfusion. Whatever kind of weapon shot him, it was made so that the alloy compound would blend into the blood stream. So even separating it all, he's lost a fair amount of blood."
I nodded. "How about his father? Would he be a candidate?"
"He very well could be." Leonard agreed. "It would be best if Jim contracted him and explained the entire situation."
"Sounds like the most logical thing to do." I agreed, watching as Leonard went to contact Kirk and I kissed Spock's cheek, looking him in the eye. "I promise we'll fix you."
Spock nodded slowly and kissed my hand, his lips slightly dry. He was a little groggy, so I stroked his hair and hummed a little, letting him drift off to sleep. I spent the next couple hours worrying, only to be sent out of the Med Bay by Leonard to eat something. I wasn't really very hungry, but it was more that my worrying was making Leonard nervous. We were all eager to hear what Spock had to say about what had happened.
"Any news?" Megan asked coming over to me when I entered the Mess Hall.
"Spock still can't talk and Jason's dead." I told her. "How is Chekov? He must have been shaken up."
"He was, but we're all mostly worried about Spock." Megan admitted. "Is the centrifuge thinger working well enough then?"
I shrugged as I nodded. "It's working as well as it can, but he needs a blood transfusion."
"I'd offer to help, but I figure he needs Vulcan blood?" Megan asked.
"That's what Leo and I are assuming at this point so Spock's father is on his way." I told her. "He actually should be here anytime now, I just had to leave Sick Bay because I was making Leo nervous."
Megan laughed a little. "Why don't you go take a nap because you look tired, and I'll get you when Spock wakes up, all right?"
I bit my lip because on the one hand I was tired and needed a nap, but on the other hand I wanted to be the one who was there when Spock opened his eyes again. When Megan gave me the stern sister look though, I sighed and nodded—I was going to go and nap. So I went straight to my quarters after she squeezed my hand reassuringly, and drifted off to sleep.
****
When I woke up, it was to the panel in my room, so I got up quickly to answer it. It was Megan, so I smiled because that meant that Spock was awake, that was what it meant right? She wasn't calling because he was dead was he? Breathe and ask, Lil—breathe and ask.
"What's the update, Meg?" I asked her.
"Well for starters, Spock has been awake for about an hour." Megan told me.
"Oh my God, seriously? I must have been way more tired than I thought!" I exclaimed with a laugh. "I'm on my way."
"Wait, Lil! One more thing." Megan said.
I started fixing my hair. "What is that?"
"Spock's father is here…so how about you try not to make your boyfriend uncomfortable in front of the only flesh and blood that he has left, okay?" Megan suggested.
I nodded. "Okay. I'm on my way."
I took a deep breath as I fixed myself up to go and see how Spock was doing, and when I walked into Sick Bay, I realized I couldn't really keep the excitement of seeing him sitting up and alert out of my face. I could keep my touching down to a minimum since his father was sitting up on a hospital bed parallel to him, IVs in their arms, but I couldn't help but grin. It really didn't help that though his face didn't show it at all, he was beyond thrilled to see me too.
"Nice to see you awake and alert, Commander." I told him, striding over to his bed and sitting next to him. "Is there any sign of getting that voice back?"
"Not yet." Leonard informed me, coming over to check out Spock's vitals. "As far as I can tell, his voice box is no longer blocked by alloy, but he hasn't been able to utter a sound."
"I see." I said, turning to look at Sarek, Spock's father. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Sarek."
Sarek looked at me in the calm, Vulcan way. "I assume that you are a close friend of my son's?"
I stood up from sitting on Spock's bed, blushing a little. "Your son and I work very closely together, but our relationship is purely platonic."
I knew I was lying, but I could tell by the look in Spock's eyes that he was trying right now to reconnect with his father. I knew from talk that Spock's father understood this whole love thing, but Spock wanted to ease him into things. It was fine with me—he was safe and alive, and I realized as I stood there thinking about logical ways to explain things, that I missed the way Spock had been when we'd first met.
Sarek nodded a little. "What position is it that you serve on this ship?"
"I am the Counselor, but I also go on Away Missions." I told him, putting my hands behind my back in military stance when I realized they were just limply hanging at my sides when I wasn't using them to speak. "I'm skilled in diplomacy, and I'm not too shabby when it comes to fighting—if I have to. I'd rather talk things out."
"Were you on the last Away Mission?" Sarek asked and Spock gave his father a look.
I didn't even see it coming either—Sarek was starting to ask me if I had been there and not saved Spock from being shot. He cared deeply for his son, he just didn't show it. He had words for everything—but the gentle care and touch of a father was lost to Vulcan's. It made me appreciate Spock even more, because his half-human part allowed him to show more emotion than full-Vulcans.
"I was not—I was serving on the ship. It was supposed to be an in and out mission, but something went wrong." I explained, wanting to stroke Spock's hair but resisting and having to bit my lip. "I just came down to check on Commander Spock because we lost Commander Gordon, and he's a crucial part of our ship. Besides—it's my job as Counselor to talk down members of the crew who have been injured on duty."
Sarek nodded again and then I glanced at Spock and bit my lip again. I wanted to stroke his hair and his cheeks, and kiss his inviting lips, but his father was right there. I was so excited that he was awake that I was barely able to contain it. Spock noticed I was paying attention to his lips and coughed just a little to make me snap back into reality.
"Are you all right, Commander?" Leonard asked him, suddenly over again to scan him.
Spock just nodded, and I sent him a pleading look, biting my lip some more. My leg was starting to twitch impatiently, and with a sigh, Spock nodded. A grin spread across my face and I sat on his hospital bed again, taking his hand. His thumb stroked my hand and I ran my fingers along his hand as well, knowing I had to at least contain the kissing. I had to wait until he was up and about, and we could be alone.
"May I talk to you, Counselor?" Leonard asked, clearing his throat.
I got up and followed him, Sarek looking over as Leonard made his obnoxiously loud noises. Leonard and I stood in the corner of Sick Bay and I looked my brother in the eye, and he gave me that look—that big brother, scolding look. I raised my shoulders up a little asking him through body language what he was scolding me for and he sighed.
"Is there something you need to tell me, Lily?" Leonard asked me.
"Oh right—I didn't get to tell you anything because you were busy making-out with a very pleased Janet in here today." I told him.
Leonard blushed. "You saw that? Wait—she was pleased?"
I rolled my eyes. "Of course she was pleased, Leo—she adores you. She was just really surprised."
Leonard smiled. "I'm glad…but hey—why are you all over him right now when his father is right there?"
"Because I love him, Leo." I told him. "I was beyond terrified today and you knew that, and I'm dying not being able to kiss him all over right now."
"He can talk." Leonard said.
"Really? Then why is he pretending that he can't?" I asked Leonard, looking over at Spock and his father, sitting in almost silence—Sarek was the only one making any conversation.
Leonard shrugged. "Maybe you should ask him."
