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Chapter Fifty-three:

T'Pol hurried through the halls of the ship searching for JT. She was not alone in her search as Dr Phlox walked besides her, cursing under his breath in his native tongue. After JT had fled from the medical bay, Kev had disappeared too. It hadn't taken them long to find him though. He had returned to the room the survivors had been using and barricaded himself and the others in their room.

All of them were refusing to come out or let anyone in. But at the moment they weren't the priority. The room had a replicator and bathroom, so food, water and hygiene weren't going to be an issue and they were safe on the ship, but it was an issue they would have to deal with soon.

But right now they had to find JT.

Once JT they had found, they'd have to find a way to coax Eleanor out of her hiding place in the medical bay. She still needed medical attention and the longer she went without treatment the more likely it would be she'd fall ill again. None of the doctors were sure if she would be able to survive a second time.

But at that moment they were having trouble tracking JT down. It seemed he was constantly moving around the ship, using the Jeffries tubes as he means of getting around. He didn't appear to be moving that fast, if anything he was slowing down. But the tubes twisted and tunnelled their way through the ship in a different pattern to the hallways and corridors.

So one moment T'Pol and Dr Phlox could be in the same hallway as the Jeffries tube JT was crawling along, only for him to take a turn and suddenly be above a completely different hallway, which couldn't be accessed from the hallway Dr Phlox and T'Pol were searching in.

It would have been logical to send someone into the Jeffries tubes in order to catch up with JT, but Dr Phlox had forbidden anyone from doing so. Whatever had been going through JT's head when he had fled the medical bay couldn't have been good, or why would he have fled from someone he was being to trust?

It was Dr Phlox's belief that something had triggered one of JT's memories from his time on Tarsus, so sending people after him would only make him more desperate and willing to take risks in order to escape them. Which could lead to JT being harmed and that was the last thing Dr Phlox wanted to happen.

And so that was how Dr Phlox and T'Pol found themselves walking through the seemingly endless hallways and corridors of the ship, as they tried to find JT. Inwardly T'Pol was beginning to get nervous, it had been hours since Dr Phlox had come to her, asking for help in order to find JT.

She knew what could happen to him in his current metal state.

She knew what his own abilities could do.

Suddenly T'Pol communicator beeped and she quickly pulled it from her belt and flipped it open.

"T'Pol," A voice greeted her before she could say anything. "I found him. I've found JT."

T'Pol shared a glance with Dr Phlox, before turning her attention back to her communicator.

"Where are you currently, Chief Engineer Tucker?" T'Pol asked.

"Near the senior officers' mess hall," The voice of Chief Engineer Tucker answered through the communicator.

"Myself and Dr Phlox are on our way," T'Pol replied, before snapping her communicator shut and re-placing it on her belt.

Neither of them had to be told twice as they turned and made their way to the closest turbo lift. T'Pol knew it was pointless to ask questions she would soon know the answer to as it would waste time, but there had been a hint of something in Tucker's voice.

It had sounded almost like… Panic. Which was unusual, as T'Pol knew Tucker could keep a level in almost any situation when he needed to.

XxX

Jim quickly left the room and headed up to the bridge where Jon was currently piloting the ship on his own. Martha and Kev had both headed off to bed an hour or two ago. Jon ship was a cargo ship, so the majority of the space aboard was for cargo storage, but there were five sets of crew quarters. But as tired as he was, Jim knew he wouldn't be able to sleep.

McCoy swirled the liquid in the glass in his hand. The dark coloured bourbon was one of the best McCoy had ever tasted and it had been a birthday gift from Jim. McCoy didn't even want to begin to think about how much it must have cost Jim to buy it, hence why McCoy had been saving it. But at that moment McCoy needed something strong to take the edge off and the bourbon was the only thing strong enough.

Slipping the liquid, McCoy savoured the burn of it and its rich taste. Jim knew a great many things and one of them was exactly how McCoy liked his alcohol. Not that was a surprise, Jim was his best friend and they had been best friends long enough to know each other's tastes. Just like how McCoy knew Jim liked his apples tangy rather than sweet, or how Jim liked coffee in the mornings and he liked his coffee strong, but would drink a strange smelling tea in the afternoons and evening or whenever he was stressed… McCoy was sure it was a Vulcan blend.

McCoy sighs as he sips the bourbon again, wishing Jim was there with him to share it with him. It had been a while since the two of them had sat down together and enjoyed a nice alcoholic beverage. Placing the glass down on his desk beside the hypo McCoy had ready, just in case their was an emergency and he was needed, as he'd be no use to anyone drunk, he run a hand over his face.

He knew he should really try and get some sleep. He had ordered Nurse Chapel to deliver mild sedatives to the crew members who had been present when they had gone through the files Archer had sent them, knowing none of them would be able to sleep easily without help. But he hadn't prescribed anything for himself. He wouldn't be able to rest properly until Jim was back, regardless of a sedative or not.

He just couldn't stop thinking about all the horrors Jim could be going through at that moment.

What if Ensign Brown had passed Jim and Kevin over to Kodos?

McCoy had seen Jim's medical reports from Tarsus and they proved Kodos was one sick bastard. And that in itself raised questions McCoy didn't want to think about. And then there was the matter of how Jim would react when he learnt one of his best kept secrets had been told to his entire senior crew.

The people dearest to him.

McCoy knew Jim liked to keep his past as well hidden as he could. He liked to sit back with a smile and watch as the rumours about his past spread from person to person and laughing when no one ever questioned them. Because the truth was, Jim's past was nothing like what people believed and most of the time McCoy wished he could believe the rumours over the truth.

The rumour was far more pleasant than the truth was.

Picking up his glass once more, McCoy downed the last of the bourbon in the glass. Picking up the bottle, McCoy moves to pour himself another glass but the sight of a note book sticking out from under a pile of PADD's and medical journals catches his attention.

Placing the bottle down, McCoy quickly pulls the note book from it where had been its hiding place and begins to flick through the pages. McCoy knew what it was as soon as he saw the first picture. It was a scrapbook of pictures Jim had drawn, painted and sketched.

And it only took McCoy a second to realise that every single picture and sketch in the book were from their first year of the five year mission they were on. Landscapes from planets they had visited covered entire pages, while pictures of plants were dotted across the pages with labels beside them. Buildings along with alien technology and pretty much everything Jim had laid eyes on were drawn with such detail they almost looked a pictures which had been taken with a holo recorder.

Flicking to the back of the book, McCoy found a hand written note and the hand writing was without a doubt was Jim's. 'Space is disease and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence' Wellcongratulations, Bones, yousurvivedthefirstyear. McCoy could almost hear the laugh Jim must have laughed as he wrote it. Buckleup, 'causethisis far fromover. After all one tiny crack in the hull and our blood boils in thirteen secondsNot to mention those solar flares which might crop up. And despite himself, McCoy smiles.

XxX

Charles Tucker or 'Trip' as he was more commonly referred to by his friends, hadn't been having the greatest of days. A fire in the depths of engineering had forced him to pull a double shift to cover for those sent up to medical bay to receive treatment. The fire had damaged quite a lot of circuits and melted a lot of wiring, but Tucker was just glad nobody had been seriously hurt.

As a result of the fire and the damaged circuit boards and melted wires, Tucker had found himself crawling through the Jeffries tubes, ripping out wiring as he went and making notes on his PADD of where new wring would need to be fitted. He had just turned and crawled into the main Jeffries tube by the officers' mess hall, when he had stumbled upon an unconscious JT.

When Tucker had first spotted JT, he had almost had a heart attack. JT was so pale, at first Tucker had thought he was dead. It hadn't been until he had noticed the weak rise and fall of JT's chest that he had realised JT was in fact alive. He had quickly crawled over to JT and as he drew closer he noticed the thin layer of sweat which covered his forehead and the small tremors which run through his body.

Tucker hadn't hesitated as he pulled his communicator from his belt and flipped it open and commed T'Pol. With T'Pol and Dr Phlox on their way, Tucker snapped his communicator shut and rested a hand gently on one of JT's shoulders. Even though he was unconscious, JT flinched back away from the contact with a moan of pain and his hands came up and clawed at his head, pulling at his hair and tearing his skin.

Wrapping his hands around JT's wrists, Tucker slowly and gently pulled JT's hands away from his head in order to stop himself from causing himself further harm. JT whimpered and tried to pull himself free of Tuckers grasp, but his movements were weak and slow. From what Tucker could tell, JT had no physical injuries but Tucker had heard it mentioned that JT suffered from migraines.

So as a panel further down the Jeffries tube began sparking, Tucker picked up JT and quickly backed out of the Jeffries tube and into one of the ships many hallways. He had just set JT down on the floor, when Dr Phlox appeared beside him and began running a medical scanner over JT. Stepping back Tucker glanced sideways as a hand brushed against his.

T'Pol stood at his side, her gaze fixed on JT as Dr Phlox read the results from his medical scanner. Tucker knew she was worried, even if she showed no outward sign of it. At first Tucker had found it strange that T'Pol had taken such an interest in JT, but then he had meet the kid. Tucker could openly admit, if he ever had a son like JT, he'd be the proudest father in the world.

There was just something about him.

Maybe it was his passion for engineering or his loyalty to the other eight he'd survived Tarsus with. Or maybe it was because in some ways, JT reminded him of his daughter Elizabeth. The both had a curiosity about them which Tucker had never seen before. So Tucker could understand why T'Pol felt the way she did about him. And it made Tucker smile every time he thought about it, because it showed T'Pol cared.

XxX

Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Until next time,

Blessed be,

TreeOfLife1997.