Hello everyone still reading! I love you all, seriously!

Bones' POV

'…This crew is going to be the death of me one way or another…'

Bones ran his tricorder over Chekov as the ensign kept assuring him that he was fine and just had a fever while in between scowled and grumbled at Sulu for worrying so much over nothing.

"Really doctor, it is nothing! Just fever," Chekov paused and looked like he was trying not to throw up. "I…just need rest."

"Pav, just let him check you over and give you something to help with the nausea and let you sleep," Sulu held his hands together in mock prayer with a worried face.

"Well, you were right about the fact that you're not dying," Chekov and Sulu went to open their mouths but Bones raised a hand to stop them. "But, Sulu's right. You need to rest, and with the nausea and headache you aren't getting enough, and it looks as if Sulu needs you to sleep so he can too."

Sulu ducked his head looking at the ground and rubbed the back of his neck. Chekov furrowed his brow. "Karu…you aren't sleeping?"

Sulu looked up. "I couldn't leave you last night without worrying that you'd wake up and need something, which you did."

Chekov's eyes softened. "Karu, you need sleep. You worry too much…I'm fine, right Doctor?"

Bones looked between the two. "He's fine…for having the flu. Sulu, Chekov, both of you need to sleep, and I'll come back after shift and check on you both."

Sulu walked Bones to the door. "Thanks Doc, I guess I may have freaked out a little," Sulu gave a sheepish smile.

Bones chuckled. "It does crazy things to us."

"What does? The flu?"

Bones scoffed as he walked out the door. "Love."

Bones left a slacked jaw Sulu at the door of Chekov's quarters.

As he made his way back to Sick Bay he heard Jim's ship wide announcement and sighed. 'Great. Two days on the planet of walking computers where it's hot enough to melt your skin off…just what I need. Well, maybe if I get Monty down there he'd start shedding layers…' Bones smirked to himself as he walked into Sick Bay to hear the very distinct sound of M'Benga and Chapel arguing. 'It's gonna be a long day…'

Scotty's POV

Scotty was in Engineering when he heard Jim's announcement and quickly set out to finish what he was working on so he could be in the transporter room for the stop at the Star Base. Scotty was excited to get the stuff he had sent to a buddy of his stationed on Star Base 4 and thought he'd have to wait until after Flexa 6. Along with his favorite Scotch, he managed to get Bones' favorite whiskey to surprise him. The biggest thing he managed to get though was a special ordered item he had made for Bones for his birthday. His birthday wasn't for a month, but he was just happy he was getting it anywhere close to it.

Scotty finished his walk through and made his way down to the transporter room just after Jim had beamed down and quickly had his things loaded on board before helping with the rest of the supplies. 'There sure is a lot of stuff to be transported…how big did the colony get?' After an hour of helping out Scotty secured all his things in his and Bones' quarters and headed towards the mess for lunch with a smile on his face. 'I can just picture the look on Len's face when he sees that damn whiskey he loves so much…or the look he gives Jim when he asks for some.' Scotty continued on looking down at his PADD with the Admiralties request for a full report on engine capacity. Scotty was glad that Jim was in Archer's good graces because the Admiral had never forgiven Scotty for losing his dog even when he apologized…several times. Scotty was pulled from his PADD when he couldn't help but overhear the officers in front of him. He recognized one of them as Pretige.

"So, you're saying he's sleeping with someone already?"

"Yep…"

"Well, that makes sense, I mean why else would he not take you up on your offer?"

Pretige scoffed. "Right? I wonder who he's sleeping with. He or she has to be hot if he passed me up."

"For sure."

"You think he's screwing Uhura? Or maybe even the Captain?"

"The Captain?"

"They spend tons of time together and supposedly best friends…not a giant leap. Can you imagine them together, pretty hot."

"Speak for yourself," The ensign talking to Pretige laughed. "Some of us still like chicks all the time."

Pretige laughed. "Right, my bad."

Scotty just walked behind the two towards the mess with a bit of an open mouth. 'The nerve of some people…I mean, how full of yourself do ya have to be? I just want to scream and let them know that…well.' Scotty smirked as he made it to the food line and picked up a sandwich humming to himself. He kept his smile as he walked closer to the table to hear Jim and Bones bantering back and forth. Spock sat next to Jim with one eyebrow raised and Uhura was giggling at the two. He was also aware that Pretige and the ensign from the hall were watching the scene at the table while most likely still talking about Bones.

"That is such a load of crap Jim and you know—"

Bones was cut off by Scotty sitting down next to him and swiftly taking his head in his hands a kissing him soundly. Bones gasped for a moment in shock before returning the kiss. Scotty pulled back to see a flushed and confused Bones. After the shock wore off he just smiled. Scotty smiled back and turned to the rest of the table who were all smiling widely at the two.

"Ello everyone. Trust your days are all goin fine."

Jim chuckled. "Just dandy, and I guess I win the argument unless you had a point to make Bones."

Bones finally turned away from looking at Scotty and regarded Jim with a scowl. "I forgot my point damn it, but I will remember it."

Uhura piped in. "What's got you all PDA Scotty?"

Scotty chewed his sandwich and smiled. "Nothin really. Just…felt the need."

Jim scoffed and pouted. "Why don't you ever feel the need," Jim turned to Spock who raised a single brow impossibly high.

"Public displays of affection seem to be an illogical human trait. Vulcan's do not need such things."

"And what if someone swoops in on your mate?" Uhura smirked.

"Then I would have no choice but to eliminate the perpetrator."

Scotty nearly choked on his water and Bones and Uhura laughed. Jim looked honestly worried. Spock went back to eating his salad as if he said nothing out of the ordinary. Had it been anyone else it would have been taken as an exaggeration or joke, but Scotty knew Vulcan's don't joke. 'I can understand why Jim looks worried…' As the table talk continued, Bones nudged Scotty.

Bones whispered. "I loved the hello kiss, but what was with the very public one, not that I will ever complain about it…"

Scotty coughed a bit nervously about how Bones would take why he made it so public. "Well, on my way here I was readin on my PADD til I realized I was walkin behind Pretige and one of his ensign friends. They were talkin bout you tellin Pretige to back off and that you must be sleepin with someone smokin hot to blow off Pretige. They said the possibilities were Ny or Jim and well…I really wanted to scream."

Bones scoffed and shook his head. "The ego that guy has is nearly as big as Jim's," Bones turned back to Scotty. "So instead of screaming at the idiot you decided to kiss me breathless in the mess in their line of sight," Bones casually chewed on a potato chip.

Scotty cringed. "Yeah…you aren't mad are ya?"

Bones leaned in and kissed Scotty softly and pulled back. "Let's always go for the plan where I get to kiss you over well…anything else really." Bones smiled and turned back to the conversation at the rest of the table. Scotty turned back too chuckling under his breath.

Jim's POV

Jim tried not to be worried about Spock's comment about eliminating the perpetrator, but with the bond blocked from Spock's side Jim couldn't tell if he was actually serious or being a little on the exaggerating end. He wasn't quite sure why Spock had kept the bond blocked but he really hoped it wasn't because he was freaking out about seeing his father because Jim was doing a champion job of pushing that from his mind and filling it instead with a thousand other things. 'Maybe that's why he's blocking it…my mind is going everywhere at once, it's a bit exhausting honestly. I hope he unblocks the bond when I introduce him to Danny…I want to get his honest first impression.' After lunch Spock was scheduled to be down in the labs so Jim walked him down.

Jim couldn't take it anymore. "So is my mind crazy with all the thoughts? Is that why you're blocking?"

"You're mind is always on the…crazy side of the scale."

Jim couldn't help but scoff. "Yeah, well what gives than?"

Spock let out a small sigh. "I am just blocking so that I can concentrate on work with all of my capacity. It has nothing to do with your 'craziness'."

Jim let out a relieved sigh. "Oh good…thought I did something wrong or something."

Spock raised a brow. "Why would you assume that?"

"Cause I'm kind of a screw up," Jim said casually as if it was obvious. "I'm glad it's not the case this time cause later when I introduce you to Danny I want your honest first impression of how ridiculous you think he is, which you believe. He is really…but you'll grow to like him."

"You are certain he a good addition to the crew and to bring back into your life…"

Jim felt irritation and a small amount of what he felt as jealousy seeping through the block in the bond. 'Whoa!' Jim grabbed Spock's elbow and looked at him as seriously as he could. "I totally felt that."

Spock stood straight. "Jim, perhaps we should discuss this lat—"

"No," Jim shook his head. "We are doing this now." Jim pulled Spock into an empty lab making sure it really was empty. "Unblock the bond on your end."

"Jim—"

"Unblock it so when I say what I'm about to say you'll understand the feeling behind it and that I'm telling the truth."

"Very well."

'Is this better?'

'Much'

"You may proceed."

Jim rolled his eyes. "Okay so, you know I didn't have a fantastic childhood."

"I am aware you did not stay home long, what the particulars are, I do not know."

"Right, well let's just say my mom and I aren't close because of my dad and not only the fact that I was born on the day he died, but that I look a lot like him. She was off planet whenever she could be, leaving us, me and Sam, with the piece of shit of stepfather Frank," Jim sighed and started pacing. "When I was 12 Sam was 16 and decided he had had enough, and one night he packed a bag, kissed my forehead, said he loved me to stay tough, and he left out the window. That was the last time I saw him. Mom was pissed he left, but never went looking for him. I would stay up late every night after getting into a one sided fist fight with Frank and hope he'd come back and take me with him. Never happened."

"Jim, I—"

Jim swallowed. "Let me get through all this, kay?"

Spock nodded slowly. "Continue."

"On my 14th birthday I went down to the arcade and stayed out late with a couple friends. We never celebrated my birthday cause my mom would just leave the house that day and not come back till real late, that is when she was on planet, so that year I decided to go have fun. When I got back Frank was already three sheets to the wind and mad that my mom was ignoring his calls that day. He started talking shit and what not," Jim felt it replay in his head. He heard all the things he said and suspected Spock could too. "We got into it and…well I was about a minute away from dying by the time I was able to get him off of me." Jim could feel Spock's rage. "Don't…don't feel so strongly towards him, even if it's hate. He's not worth it."

"I will attempt to contain my rage."

Jim couldn't help but smile at that. "Man, I love you," he shook his head. "Right anyway, I made it to my room after getting away and Frank passed out downstairs. I packed whatever I could carry in my bag that night, snuck downstairs and took all the cash I could find in the house and left. As you know, I'm pretty smart when I put my mind to things, so I figured out how to make fake records and whatever I needed. I lived in cheap hotels and took whatever jobs I could find, and it worked for me at the time to be alone and just be free. I thought about finding Sam, but thought it would be better to just let him live his life free of me as baggage—"

"Why would you think yourself to be baggage?"

"Well, at the time I was…anyway, when I was 16 I made it to New York, where I got a job at this restaurant called Rosie's. I was a bus boy and living in the worst hotel…ever," Jim chuckled remembering the state of the place which made Spock's eyes widen from the mental picture he shared. "Yeah, so I was working there under false records making me 21 cause I wanted to be able to buy my own booze, and although I fooled everyone else, Danny saw right through it. He was too clever for his own good, but said he wouldn't say anything. He's pretty charismatic and funny, and actually pretty brilliant so he became the one person that made it past an acquaintance of mine. Turns out we both had a lot in common and he had left home too, so we had an understanding," Jim sat down on the stool opposite Spock and looked directly into Spock's eyes. "I love him like a brother. He was more of a brother to me than Sam ever was. When he had to go back to London, I was actually crushed because I mean, he was the first real friend I'd ever had, and I really believed I would never see him again. He got me through A LOT of dark days back then, and I want you to know him, and I know I can't make you like him, but that's okay. I just need you to understand he's important to me, he's my brother," Jim took a deep breath and let it out.