Bones split his time between Jim and Ellie over the next following days, though he spent much of it with Jim as he gave his friend a complete transfusion of Khan's blood. On the second day after they had returned to Earth Bones had gone running to Ellie's room when Scotty called to tell him she was awake, and he found her sitting up in the bed smiling at something Scotty was telling her.
"Hey," he said when she noticed him, walking to stand on the other side of her.
She looked up at him with bleary eyes. "Hey," she said softly.
He didn't know what to say to her, not with Scotty there. He didn't know what all she remembered, didn't know what all had happened to her. "How's your head?" he asked leaning over her to check under her bandage. There was a stitched line along the side of her head from where she'd had surgery, and Dr. Wyatt had made sure to insist they leave her hair.
"It's fine," she told him in a hoarse whisper, her throat raw and sore from where Khan's hand had squeezed her windpipe.
"Good," he said before stepping back.
Scotty sat in the chair beside Ellie's bed watching as the two stared at one another without speaking. "Well, I'll go sit with the captain," Scotty said awkwardly as he stood.
"Where's Jim?" Ellie asked looking to Scotty.
"You haven't told her yet?" Bones mouthed angrily to Scotty who could do more than shrug guiltily.
Scotty bent down and kissed Ellie's cheek before leaving for Jim's room, and Bones was left with Ellie looking at him expectantly and alarmed.
"Bones?" she asked softly, not caring her head hurt or her throat was sore; she had thought Jim was fine, there was no reason she knew of for why he wouldn't be. Bones sat on the bed beside her, placing his hand on the other side of her hip to hold himself up.
"He's fine," he told her, his voice sounding false to even his own ears.
"You're lying," she whispered, seeing it in his eyes. "Where is he?"
Bones sighed knowing from the sound of her heart monitor that she was growing agitated. "You can see him after I clear you."
"So clear me," she demanded hearing her heart rate increase as well, feeling it pounding in her head.
"No," he told her simply.
"What?" she asked outraged, wanting to shove him away from her but wasn't strong enough.
"I'm not clearing you until you're ready," he said even simpler.
"Why the hell not?" she demanded angrily; in the back of her mind she knew he was right, she wasn't ready to leave her bed, but it was Jim.
"You're not ready yet," he said raising his voice to match hers. "Lie down."
"No," Ellie said pushing him away and trying to stand. "Get me Dr. Wyatt."
Bones grabbed her arms and kept her from getting out of the bed. "You are not scaring him into clearing you," he said crossly nearly throwing her back down. "Lay down."
"Get off me," she growled trying to tear his hand from her arm, the room beginning to spin from her exertions.
"Goddammit Ellie!" he yelled holding her down on the bed. "You're supposed to be dead!"
She stilled at his words, staring up at him shocked. It was glaringly obvious that she wasn't ready when she stared up at Bones and saw two of him, her heart marching a beat in her ears and her breathing was heavy and labored.
Bones released her when he saw she wouldn't try to move again, and he sat back on the bed. "I won't argue about this," he told her quieter. "You will wait until I clear you."
Ellie looked at his serious face, seeing that he had been afraid she was dead and all resolve left her. "Fine," she agreed though still unhappy. "Will you at least tell me what happened?"
"No," he told her firmly, allowing no room for argument. "All you need to know is he's fine. I should get back to him," he said wanting to check on Jim and how the transfusion was going – it would take hours and it was nowhere near being finished.
"Alright," Ellie said softly without looking at him.
He sighed at seeing that she was sad and worried. "Look," he said cupping the back of her head and stroking her cheek, "give it another few days and you can see him."
She nodded without saying anything, knowing the next few days would be torture as she waited for Bones to clear her. "Fine," she mumbled before scooting lower on the bed and lying down turned toward him.
Bones looked down at her, pulling the covers up to her shoulders. He moved so he was laying beside her and they were face to face. "Will you tell me what happened?" he asked placing his arm over her waist.
Ellie shrugged, taking comfort in his arms; feeling horridly guilty for thinking of Bones instead of Scotty. "He beamed me on his ship and the torpedoes exploded, then we crashed," she answered without going into detail.
"Okay," he said seeing she didn't want to talk about it, something she was incredibly thankful for.
Khan had saved her, as much as he may have hated her for thinking she had been apart of killing his crew he still saved her; she didn't think she would ever share that with anyone, not even she understood it.
"You should go see Jim," she said softly not wanting him leave, and that was exactly why he should go.
He brought his hand up to cup her cheek, seeing her eyes were haunted. "I'll go when you're asleep," he told her, seeing the relief in her eyes before she closed them.
He stayed a few minutes after she'd fallen asleep, stroking her cheek as she slept. "I love you," he whispered, realizing how stupid he'd been to not have seen he was in love with her. He kissed her forehead before he stood, noticing Spock standing in the doorway.
"How is she, Doctor?" Spock asked choosing not to speak of what he'd heard.
"Her vitals are stable," Bones answered as they walked back to Jim's room. "She'll need a few days to recuperate before she can get out of bed."
Spock nodded as he listened having already heard that from Scotty. "It is surprising that she is alive," he mused and stopped when Bones did.
"Why do you think that she is?" Bones asked looking to the vulcan. "Did he strangle her before or after they crashed? And either way, why did he stop?"
"It would make more sense if he did before," Spock said logically. "And he either changed his mind or no longer cared."
"Which still begs the question of why she's alive," Bones said gruffly as he thought, remembering completely the way Khan had looked at her.
"The answer is obvious, Doctor," Spock told him. "He saved her."
Bones looked after Spock as he started walking again completely baffled. "The hell he'd do that for?"
"Basic male instinct," Spock answered and looked to Bones to see he was expecting more. "Think of a woman you hate."
"Well that's easy," Bones grumbled as he thought of his ex wife.
"Now imagine yourself in a ship that was about to crash. Would you let her die?" Spock asked him.
Bones looked up at him unhappily. "I'm not a murderer," he told Spock.
"Either way, Ellie is alive. For some reason Khan felt the need to keep her so; he protected his woman," Spock said calling on his previous statement of male instinct.
"Ellie isn't his woman," Bones said, quick to remind Spock of that.
"She is not yours either, Doctor," Spock told him with a raised brow, making Bones nearly stop in his tracks. "You may ask him if you like."
Bones looked into Jim's room to see the tubes connecting from Jim's veins to Khan's, the only way Bones had figured to save his friend. Khan's arms and legs were restrained with four armed guards surrounding him.
"How is Dr. Davis?" Khan asked when Bones entered the room.
"You don't talk about her," he growled looking at Khan with scorching eyes.
Khan smiled maliciously at Bones. "Have I struck a nerve?" he asked innocently. "And here I thought she was romantically attached to him," Khan said turning dark eyes to Scotty.
"How do you know that?" Scotty asked shocked, his skin crawling from Khan's menacing gaze.
Khan rolled his eyes sighing. She would have understood him,he thought, honestly ordinary humans are stupid. He missed Ellie in the midst of people who could not think for themselves. "Because when he's here you're not, and when he's gone you're here. Isn't it obvious?" he asked blandly, superiority laced in his voice.
They were all quite unsettled by how easily he figured things out, Bones seeing why he liked Ellie so much; she thought things through more than most.
"So how is she?" he asked again looking toward Bones. "How's her head?"
Bones felt his blood boil at the sick smile on Khan's face, realizing he had been the one to hurt her. His hands curled into fists, and in that moment Bones was thinking of murder.
"Did she hit her head or did you?" Spock asked calmly, though rage swam in his blood as well.
Khan smiled once more, a rumble of laughter deep in the back of his throat. "I'm surprised the navigation system didn't crack from how hard I slammed her head into it," he said viciously.
Red flashed behind Bones' eyes at the sneer in Khan's voice as he admitted what he'd done, and that was all it took for Bones to throw himself at the man. Hitting him over and over relentlessly, Khan's nose cracking under one of the blows.
"Dr. McCoy," Spock yelled trying to get him under control, though Bones didn't stop. Jim had already been weak when he had started punching Khan on Qo'nos, Bones didn't show any signs of stopping. "Dr. McCoy," he yelled again grabbing Bones' arm before he could bring it down on Khan's face again.
Bones turned to Spock almost punching him too, but instead he pushed Spock off of him and moved away from Khan. There was no doubt in anyone's mind – not Khan's, not Spock's, not the guard's, and not Scotty's – that the doctor loved her.
Spock turned from Bones and looked down at Khan, who was staring up at Spock almost gleefully. One solid punch to Khan's temple and he was left unconscious. "Thank you," Bones said to Spock sounding out of breath.
Spock turned to Bones almost smiling. "Most certainly."
Bones went about fixing the IVs in Khan's arms so the transfusion could finish and the man be put back in a cryogenic sleep. There was no doubt in his mind he loved Ellie; he couldn't say he was staring to love her, or that at the time he only loved her a little. If Khan hadn't been genetically enhanced he would be dead, Bones had hit him that hard that many times. It was something that shocked him to learn; he loved Ellie. He loved her enough to kill for her.
I wasn't sure how Bones did Jim's transfusion, but I do know that there needs to be a source for Jim's blood to go into and then a way to get the blood to Jim so I just figured that source would be Khan cause it made the most sense medically. There will be one more scene between Khan and Ellie before he's frozen again, and I'm kind of excited for it cause I hope it shows that she is actually a caring person at heart - even though Khan is a horrible person and she owes him nothing.
I don't know if anyone has noticed the chapters titles, or knows the song, but that was the end of it. So now I am gonna do the lyrics to my favorite song; Give me Love by Ed Sheeran.