"Jim, I want you to get off the bed."
"Bones, I need,"
"I want you to get out off that bed now, Jim."
"Please Bones,"
"I want you to get off the bed, go have something to eat, a wash, check on the ship if you want to, and come back."
"He's going to,"
"There is a very, very, very slight improvement but he is an extremely long way from my being able to do more than monitor him. He still seems totally unwilling to fight. If he were Human there are drugs and other treatments I could use but that damned hybrid system of his means it is all up to him. He has to want to live enough to fight for it. At the moment I do not know if he wants to."
"I have to,"
"Obey your doctor's orders, Jim. I do not want to make it an official order. Go talk with your crew."
Softly Kirk stroked the dark bangs into place and whispered, "I will be back, Spock. McCoy will take care of you but I will be back soon. You just rest. I will be back."
"Jim, you also have to talk with Uhura."
Slowly and carefully Kirk moved out of the bed and pulled his shirt and boots back on, all the while trying to figure out why McCoy would think he had to talk with Uhura. When he stood up he looked at McCoy, "Uhura? Why?"
"We seem to have had a slight problem with the recordings made on the bridge. Seems the higher echelon, while reviewing Collins's actions, realized they are missing a few minutes of an exchange between Collins and Spock. Oddly while Collins is admitting there was more he is only saying it was a disagreement they had about looking for you. Uhura told them she was unable to explain it but would make a thorough check of the system. When she said she would prefer to do it alone but would welcome any expert help they might want to send they said her inspection and report would suffice. I think that, saying their experts could check, must have made them think she had nothing to hide."
"She risked her career doing that."
"Dhe wold have known but she was not going to let another person see what we saw. That's why she asked me to destroy that disc. Sulu helped me turn it into dust and Scotty put in the toxic waste system. Nobody will see that or know that that happened apart from those who were there. Now go, go wash and change your clothes, go see you crew, go look at your ship, and Jim," the blue eyes looked steadily at him and Kirk saw the friendship and the understanding there, "go be the captain. I will be right here and will contact you if there is any change."
Kirk looked at the registers, memorizing their settings then looked at McCoy, "Any change at all, understood Bones?"
McCoy just nodded his reply.
Once Kirk had left McCoy looked at the registers. He knew from how Kirk had studied them that Kirk would have memorized their exact readings, knew from how Kirk had looked at Spock that he was terrified about leaving Spock. On the younger man's face he had seen a haunted look and knew that Kirk was blaming himself for all that had happened to Spock. About the eyes had been the distinct look of self-recrimination and fear. He wanted to tell Kirk that Spock would still be alive when he got back but he had never seen the Vulcan's readings so low. So many times before he had been able to keep one or the other from slipping away but, as he looked at his friend so still on the bed, this time he was not sure he could. Usually there was that blasted connection the two men had that helped keep them so invisibly connected but Jim's tirade seemed to have totally severed that. As he had watched Kirk slowly walk out of Sickbay he was sure of it as the man looked like a man alone in the world.
There was something niggling at the back of his mind as he lightly adjusted the blanket on Spock, briefly holding the long-fingered hands in his own. "I have no doubt that if you were aware of me holding your hands like this you would ask me what my reasoning for it is. Well, I'll tell you anyway. It is illogical but I feel like I can hold you here, to this life, long enough for you to want to come back, even if just to tell me it is illogical and fully explain to me why. You would give me Vulcan logic and tell me what Vulcan healers would do would not involve holding hands. You would say Vulcan healers,"
Vulcan healers. That was a part of it. Something he had read about Vulcan healers doing in such cases. Something that he had read of in other cultures, including some very old Earth ones, but with variations. He gently squeezed the hands, "I may give you a display of real human emotionalism soon.".
"Sickbay to the Bridge, Uhura, could you come to,"
"Is Spock," he heard the controlled panic in her voice.
"He is still unresponsive but I need to talk with you about,"
"Officer Stelton, relieve for me."
McCoy smiled to himself. How often had that happened among the seven of them? How many times had he seen how the others would drop whatever they were doing if one of the others needed them or was in trouble? How many times had he rushed out leaving Nurse Chapel or Doctor M'Benga in charge? So many times only one would be told and yet the others would turn up without a word being said. If what he was thinking was more than just a myth then that was the core of what he needed to talk with Uhura about.
Uhura all but charged into Sickbay, only slowing as she neared the bed Spock was on. Gently but briefly she placed her hand on his, said softly, "I'm here, Spock. Stelton is at my station; she's young but she is very good. I will come back later. You just rest." then she turned to face McCoy.
"What can I do?"