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Please refer to the Author's notes in Chapter 1.

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The Ripple Effect

Chapter 14

Jim Kirk came in quickly to Medical. He was going to have to scold Bones later for not getting him up as soon as Spock woke up, but that would have to wait. Right now, he needed to see for himself that Spock was okay. He found the Vulcan sitting up in the bed surrounded by PADDs, each displaying different information on their screens. "I take it you're feeling better, Mr. Spock?"

The Vulcan looked up, "Yes, Captain."

Jim nodded and sat down on the stool by the bed, "You watched the discussion with the Admirals?"

"I did. I have been working on scheduling resources and personnel for each task that we have been given. How long until we reach the Petenkin?" Spock inquired.

"We will meet up with them at 1000 tomorrow morning." Jim looked up as Kaitlyn came over to them wrapped up in a blanket. "Good morning." he smiled.

She nodded to the both of them, "Good morning, gentlemen." She looked around Medical curiously, then back to Spock. "Where's Lieutenant Uhura?"

Spock raised an eyebrow, "I assume she went to her quarters."

She looked at him in total disbelief, "You just let her leave? After she helped you heal? Spock, the human nervous system is not built to deal with that kind of transference." she pointed out. She shook her head and quickly headed for Leonard's office. She threw off the blanket and grabbed his always supplied Medical bag. She almost ran into Jim as she came out of the office.

"What's wrong?" he questioned her.

She looked past him as Nurse Chapel came in, "Keep Spock here and call for Doctor McCoy to meet us at Lieutenant Uhura's quarters." she directed.

Chapel nodded and headed straight for Commander Spock - who was already trying to get out of his bed.

Jim followed her down the corridors, "You haven't answered me." he reminded her as they got on the lift.

"The amount of pain that is transferred can be very overwhelming." She clenched her fist as she shook her head, "I should have told Leonard to keep her in Medical under observation - I wasn't thinking." She exited the lift before the doors completely opened and headed for Uhura's door. She punched in her security code and went in. She saw the young woman laying, sprawled out on her bed, still in her uniform. She went over to her and gently rolled her over and checked her eyes. She was unconscious.

"What the hell is wrong?" McCoy demanded as he rushed in and quickly scanned the woman.

Kaitlyn glanced at him as she touched the woman's face gently. "I should have warned you about the side effects of a healing trance. This is my fault. If you will give me a few minutes to access her condition, please." she requested. She placed her fingers on Uhura's katra points and closed her eyes gently. She was immediately bombarded with intense pain. She sifted through the pain and found the problem. Uhura's mind had been overwhelmed with the pain that Spock had transferred to her, but her mind was falsely thinking the pain was hers and had shut down.

Jim and Leonard watched as Kaitlyn proceeded to Mindmeld with Uhura. Jim looked at his friend, "Did you know she could do that?" he questioned quietly.

Leonard shook his head and raised an eyebrow as Kaitlyn opened her eyes slowly. "Well?"

"Her mind does not know how to deal with the transference of pain. I will take it from her. It will take me about thirty minutes, then you can move her to Medical." Kaitlyn explained.

"Can't Spock do this?" Leonard questioned as she stood up.

Kaitlyn frowned, "You can't give your pain to someone else, then take it back yourself - that's not how it works. I should have just. . ." she stopped and took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She looked up at Jim, "Could you please tell Commander Spock that Lieutenant Uhura will be fine and that she will be in Medical in about thirty minutes - I'm sure he's giving Nurse Chapel a hard time."

Jim nodded, "You'll be okay after?"

Kaitlyn gave him a small smile, "I'll need to mediate for a few hours, then I'll be just fine." she assured him.

Leonard shook his head as he walked over to them, "What if you're not 'just fine' after - then what do we do?"

"This isn't my first time doing this, I'll be okay. But, you could always give me a dose of that drug that wipes my memories and I won't remember anything from the past twelve hours." she shrugged.

"That's not funny." Leonard frowned.

"I didn't say it to be funny." She raised an eyebrow at Kirk.

Jim nodded, "After you've finished and meditated, I need to speak with you." He left and headed back to Medical.

Kaitlyn glanced at Leonard, he still had that frown on his face. She clasped her hands behind her back. She looked down and sighed, "I'm sorry that I forgot about the pain transference." she apologized. "It's been a long time since I've worked that closely with Vulcans and I guess I just wasn't thinking right."

Leonard gently pulled her to him and cupped her face and made her look up at him, "You had just been knocked out by an explosion and were on some serious pain killers." He kissed her forehead, then stepped back. "Do you need anything?"

She shook her head, "No."

XXXXX

Commander Spock was sitting on a chair near his bed and trying to meditate. He should have realized that he'd transferred his pain to Nyota and that she was not prepared to deal with it. Where had his logic been? Why had he not been concerned? The only reason he could come up with is that he was so focused on preparing the Enterprise for their tasks, that he hadn't thought about anything else. There was no excuse for his oversight. His eyes snapped open and he quickly stood up as Nyota was brought on a stretcher by the medics.

Doctor McCoy watched as the medics transferred her onto a biobed. He quickly scanned her, then nodded. "She's just sleeping, Commander. She should wake up in just a little while."

Commander Spock looked back at the door, "Where is Commander Donovan?"

"She's meditating in her quarters." McCoy stated as he input some information on the PADD. "She is feeling particularly responsible for Lieutenant Uhura's condition."

Commander Spock raised an eyebrow, "I also feel responsible. I should have been aware of the problems Lieutenant Uhura would experience."

"Well, ya'll can debate about who feels more responsible later." Leonard McCoy watched the Vulcan as he studied Uhura. "Spock, how is it she can Mindmeld?" he questioned quietly.

Spock glanced at the doctor, "Her Mother's species is very adaptable." He was intrigued the more he found out about Donovan, but he would have to wait to speak to her about the abilities she had. "Am I released for duty?" he questioned.

McCoy nodded, "Just don't go getting yourself thrown against any more walls." He headed back to his office to type up his report quickly. He sat down at his desk and frowned as he picked up his PADD. He'd offered to stay with Kaitlyn while she meditated, but she said he'd distract her. Then she'd made him promise he'd come in exactly two hours to check on her.

XXXXX

Kaitlyn blinked slowly as she felt herself coming out of her meditative trance. She smiled as she saw Leonard sitting on the floor across from her. "It's been two hours?"

Leonard nodded. He'd come in and just sat down across from her and watched her for a few minutes. She'd looked so peaceful. Then, she'd come out of her meditative trance without him having to say anything. "Feeling better?"

Kaitlyn blew out the candle sitting on the small table between them, "Yes, I feel much better. Is Lieutenant Uhura awake?" she asked as she stood up.

Leonard got up and scanned her quickly, "She's fine - been released for duty." He looked over the readings and nodded.

"I'm able to return to duty?" she raised an eyebrow.

He grinned, "I think you should change out of those scrubs first." How could she make scrubs look so good?

Kaitlyn stepped closer and looked up at him with a small smile on her lips, "I should probably shower too."

Leonard pulled her close to him and held her for a few moments. He didn't want to lose her, didn't want anything bad to happen to her. Yet, he'd been powerless to help her when that bomb had exploded. He had to wait until they got her back, and even then, he could only treat her wounds. He realized last night when he heard her speaking with the Admirals that she'd been dealt a heavy burden by being Ambassador Spock's Debriefing Officer. She had to walk a fine line between interfering with events, or letting them play out. And now they were tasked with finding Khan - a man who obviously had a grudge against Jim, even though the alleged events hadn't even occurred. Damn Nero for stirring up a hornets' nest!

Kaitlyn leaned against him and sighed softly, realizing that he was feeling a bit overwhelmed. She pulled back and kissed him gently, "We're all okay." she reminded him.

"For now - but how long will that last?" he took a deep breath and decided to make the best of the situation. He crinkled his nose, "Yeah, you should probably take a shower."

She raised an eyebrow slowly.

Leonard grinned, "I should help you and make sure you don't hit your head again."

"Are you attempting to make a pass at me? I think you're out of practice - you . . ." he stopped her sentence by kissing her hard on the lips. She wrapped her legs around him as he picked her up and headed for the shower.

XXXXX

Jim Kirk entered the Dining Hall and nodded to the crew around him as he selected his meal and quickly brought it over to the table and sat down in his usual spot. Bones had obviously just sat down because he was putting his napkin in his lap and situating his silverware. Jim grinned and leaned closer to his best friend, "Heard you were still wet when you went back to Medical earlier."

Leonard stopped his fork mid air and narrowed his eyes. Yeoman Rand. She'd been the only one that had seen him in Medical before he'd gone to use the blow dryer in the bathroom to dry his hair. He'd have to have a little talk with the Yeoman.

"Come on, Bones - don't get upset. Unfortunately, now some of the crewmen are curious as to who you're seeing." Jim's grin widened.

Leonard set his fork down, "Don't they have anything better to do?" He didn't care if people knew, but Kaitlyn was a private person and she didn't need any rumors going around. "Jim . . ." he shook his head slowly.

"I know, she's a private person." Jim nodded. "Just be discrete."

Leonard looked up as Kaitlyn came in with Spock. It looked like they were deep in conversation as they went through the line and selected their food.

The two stopped talking as they approached the table and took their seats.

Kaitlyn frowned slightly as she glanced at Spock, then quickly busied herself with her napkin. She looked between Jim and Leonard and smiled, "So, how have your afternoons been?" she asked them.

Jim nodded, "I spoke with Commander Benson and he agreed that you should give the Security Team Members a debriefing on the Augments in the morning."

Kaitlyn looked at Leonard and raised an eyebrow in question.

Leonard shrugged, "Pretty quiet this afternoon, for a change." He noted that she was still avoiding eye contact with Spock. He wondered what was wrong.

They started to eat and the conversation stopped.

Jim frowned as he looked between Spock and Kaitlyn - there was a distinct air of tension surrounding them. "What's wrong?" he asked them when he couldn't take it anymore.

Spock raised an eyebrow slowly, then took a deep breath. "Commander Donovan and I disagree on how to deal with Khan, should we encounter him." he stated.

Kirk leaned closer, "What did you suggest?" he asked Spock.

"I suggested that we proceed with caution, but that we don't expect this Khan to behave the same way the other Khan did." Spock stated as he looked pointedly at Kaitlyn.

She tilted her head slightly, "Did you see what he did to that ship? He rigged it to explode - he didn't care who it was, but he hoped it was Jim that he'd kill. Scotty said they'd left the ship ten months ago. If anything, this Khan is going to be far more maniacal than the other one because he's already angry at Jim before he's even met him!" She realized her voice had grown louder. She leaned back and took a calming breath to lower her blood pressure. "Commander, I specifically asked you to drop the subject until we could discuss this again - privately, tomorrow morning." she pointed out to Spock.

Jim Kirk watched Kaitlyn. It wasn't often that she got angry - or at least she didn't usually show it, but it was obvious to him that she was furious at Spock. "What approach did you suggest?" he asked her quietly.

She looked at Jim, "Blow his ship up as soon as we find him." she stated evenly.

Jim looked at her in disbelief.

Leonard's brows were furrowed, "You mean, just blow it up - without talking to him first?" he didn't understand why she would suggest such a thing - it went completely against her training as a First Contact Officer.

"I've run through countless scenarios this afternoon - no matter what we do, it will have a devastating outcome. The only logical solution is to take Khan and his crew out of the equation." Kaitlyn pointed out.

XXXXX

TBC.

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