Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. I own nothing interesting. All I've got is my bones, must be why I like McCoy so much.

AN: Some morning after TLC and the legal documents.

Through A Mirror Darkly

Captain's Quarters 0400

Kirk woke to find McCoy nestled into his chest. The man was still sleeping heavily, not really all that surprising as he'd had one hell of a day yesterday. Kirk took a moment to study his consort's face, peaceful in sleep, and was grateful that the breach between them had been repaired. He'd been unprepared for how badly McCoy's disdain had upset him. It had been years since he'd left himself open for an attack like that, since anyone had mattered enough for their thoughts about him to hurt.

He'd saved Gaila from a raping bastard who would pimp her out to pay off his gambling debts. After that, nothing he did was going to make her speak or think ill of him. He'd saved Spock from certain death after his actions in the Nero incident, and he'd signed off on his relationship with Uhura when he could have had her reassigned to a different ship just to fuck with him. That tended to inspire loyalty, even in a species that professed not to see the logic in it. Chekov worshiped the ground he walked on, and if Sulu wanted to keep his balls intact, he knew to leave the captain alone. Just one of the hazards of bedding down with a kid who had a serious case of hero worship and a knife fetish, Kirk supposed.

Scotty, well he'd pulled Scotty off of a frozen hunk of nothing, and placed him on an engineer's wet dream. He turned a blind eye to his still, and the more extreme nature of Scotty's affections for the mechanical. This earned him the promise that no man would ever desecrate the woman that both of them loved. Scotty would tear the ship apart before allowing another engineer to touch his beloved, and likewise anyone else who was foolish enough to try to captain the ship would likely find the CO2 levels rising in his quarters one night as he slept. That was assuming of course that Scotty didn't vaporize him in the warp coil first.

Uhura, now winning her over had been a very sweet victory. It had been a pain in the ass after their first meeting, but it had been worth it. Oddly enough it hadn't been saving Spock's life of the apology for treating her with less than the courtesy that she deserved that had earned him a spot in her good graces. And truth be told Kirk was still kind of annoyed about that as he only apologized when it would gain him something, so as it hadn't yielded the desired outcome he'd considered it a waste.

He preferred actions to apologies, and apparently so did Uhura. She had finally warmed to him when the head of an enemy that had been targeting her little sister arrived on her doorstep before they left space dock for their first five year mission. The fact that the incident was one that he never should have known about in the first place was never mentioned, after all Uhura was nothing if not pragmatic. And allowing Gaila to insinuate her way into Spock and Uhura's relationship, hadn't hurt either, as it had given both women the protection of a sometimes homicidal Vulcan. Not to mention it provided Uhura with the emotional support that Spock just didn't understand her need for.

Kirk thought over the other people who interacted with him on a frequent basis, and he had similar holds on them to the very last. Of the people in his life, only McCoy wasn't completely within his orbit. The man had begun to fall into sway when he'd saved his daughter from a fate worse than death, but that alone wasn't enough to bring him in completely, because McCoy knew that Kirk wouldn't hurt his little girl. He wanted McCoy, and if he harmed so much as a hair on that child's head it would put a breach between the two of them that an eternity in an agony booth wouldn't fix.

Killing Ethan had brought McCoy closer to him, but it also reminded him of the levels of cruelty in Kirk that the good doctor found unacceptable and frightening. He understood that the past had made him wary, and that only time would soften the distrust that McCoy had for him. Thing is, Kirk had never been a fan of trusting something besides his own machinations. To leave something this vital to him to something fickle as time chafed in ways he didn't even want to consider.

Kirk was pulled out of his thoughts as McCoy began to stir. He saw that Kirk was awake, and squinted to make out the chronometer. "Why are you awake, and apparently thinking of something very unpleasant at 4' o clock in the fucking morning?" McCoy's raspy voice brought an unconscious smile to Kirk's face. "You have a nightmare where you got attacked by giant fluffy bunnies or something?"

"Oh no, not the bunnies!" Kirk chuckled, and pressed a kiss on his consort's forehead, before snuggling in allowing himself to breathe in the smell that was uniquely McCoy. "Nothing as dire as that I promise. Now back to sleep with you."

"Can't sleep, my pillow's all growly and tense." McCoy pinned him with a glance that would have been far more intimidating if his eyes weren't still heavy with sleep and his hair hadn't been sticking straight up. Kirk laughed at the sight, and stretched out pulling McCoy back into his arms.

"Alright, no more growling while I'm on pillow duty. Now go back to sleep. You need your rest."

"Pot, kettle, black. You too, don't want you cluttering up my Med Bay." Kirk sighed, and muttered something to the affirmative, to placate McCoy. He'd intended to rise once McCoy had fallen back to sleep, having numerous things that he could do to give himself that edge that made him one of the most feared men in the galaxy. He'd never been one to linger in a lover's bed once the deed was done, unless they were clingy and reassuring them had some benefit to him. McCoy seemed an exception to that long standing rule, however, and as much as Kirk knew he should head for his desk and study the intel that his spies had gathered he couldn't seem to find the desire to move. Instead the soft breathing and the warmth of the slumbering man in his arms lulled him back into a contented slumber.

Captain's Quarters 0800

As Kirk lay slumbering in his quarters that morning he had no way of knowing that when he and McCoy were both far older, and had seen far more of the galaxy, that he'd have no singular moment to point to and say 'that's where our relationship changed, that's when he started to trust me'. Instead the change was subtle, with dozens of small seemingly insignificant decisions that added up to what he'd desired and schemed to achieve. One such moment occurred now, when McCoy woke as he had before, and instead of sneaking from Kirk's arms, chose to settle back down and enjoy the feeling while he waited for Kirk to wake.

McCoy had no way of knowing that Kirk had been awake since the moment McCoy's body had stiffened in awareness, and the soft rhythmic breathing of slumber had shifted. Kirk lie there feigning sleep as he had other mornings, waiting for McCoy to enjoy his hidden and guilty pleasure before rising. He was surprised when instead of reluctantly rising after a few moments McCoy snuggled back down, and was still. The frame beneath Kirk's hands was relaxed, but the mind was active, and it wasn't a simple desire for more sleep that had motivated McCoy to linger.

After a few moments, so as not to arouse McCoy's suspicions, Kirk allowed his breathing to change, and shifted a bit, jostling McCoy slightly. Kirk's arms tightened slightly around McCoy, and he traced one hand up McCoy's back before allowing his fingers to play with the soft hair that he found at the base of McCoy's neck. "Do I even want to ask what time it is?"

"You've got a few hours before your shift this afternoon."

Kirk smiled and took a glance at the chronometer. "Well, in that case. I think I'll enjoy this very lovely way to wake up. Kirk brushed McCoy's lip gently with his thumb, and reached out for the cup of tea that lay on the bedside. He took a large sip, and tilting McCoy's head back shared it with him. He stroked the tender skin at the nape of McCoy's neck earning him a shiver, and he smiled. He kissed the solid jaw and enjoyed the stirring of his consort against him. "Let's see if I kept that promise I made last night."

Kirk scooted down the bed until his head was level with McCoy's cock, and blew a slow stream of air over it. McCoy bit back a curse, and sure enough his cock twitched in response to the breeze. Kirk's fingers ran up McCoy's stomach and over his chest, and brushed lightly over his nipples eliciting a groan. "A little tender this morning, aren't you?" Kirk took in McCoy's answering nod, and stroked a gentle finger down the length of McCoy's cock. "Feel good or too much?"

"Feels good…" Kirk smiled up at him, and replaced his finger with his tongue. McCoy's hips bucked and he let out a strangled curse, causing Kirk to chuckle and hold his hips down with one strong arm. The residual mint from the tea made the already sensitive flesh tingle, and added a cool contrast to the warmth of Kirk's mouth.

"If this stops feeling good tell me. Until then I want to see you come apart for me." Kirk sunk down onto McCoy's cock, and just the feel of his tongue almost had McCoy incoherent. A few gentle sucks, and he shattered just as Kirk had wanted, before lying back against the sheets struggling for his breath. Kirk allowed him to lay prone for a moment, before rising and extending a hand for him to take. He pulled McCoy up onto shaking legs, and held him steady as they walked to the bathroom.

Gentle hands washed the nights' exertions from McCoy while he shivered from borderline sensory overload in the shower, and Kirk toweled him off noting how McCoy's breath caught as the soft towel brushed anywhere near his nipples or cock. He steered McCoy over to the sink, and this time McCoy bent over without the embarrassed blush he'd sported the last time Kirk had done this. Kirk's fingers slick with Gaila's ointment stroked his inner walls and ghosted over the nodule that was so oversensitive that McCoy could feel his heartbeat in it he shuddered as the cooling effect of the ointment heightened his sensitivity before soothing the ache.

Equally gentle hands smoothed the ointment onto his cock, and he fell against Kirk for support as the sensations robbed him of even basic speech. Finally when the potent tingling subsided into something comfortably numb Kirk's arms surrounded him and held him close. "There we go sweetheart that should help." He wiped his hands on a towel and then trailed his fingers over the still rigid nipples, noting the movement of McCoy's hips as he stroked them. "Think I'll leave these though. Do you have any idea how hot it is, knowing that even as you're sitting in your office in Med Bay you're gasping every time your uniform catches on these."

McCoy groaned at both the image and the sensation and Kirk smiled. "Maybe we'll get lucky and our shift will be uneventful enough for me to pay you a visit. Would you like that? Me bending you over the desk in Med Bay, only a thin wall and privacy screen separating all the filthy things I plan to do to you from that nice sterile fiefdom of yours. Would you enjoy those knowing looks from Chapel when she sees you later, looking well and truly fucked?"

McCoy's hips jumped, and Kirk grinned again. "You do like that don't you?" He stroked his fingers along McCoy's chin. "Maybe I'll even let you come if you ask me nicely, otherwise you'll be walking around Med Bay trying not to let everyone see you so damn hard that breathing hurts." Kirk noticed the barely veiled need in McCoy's eyes, and figured that if he wanted to have any reasonable conversation with the man before his shift, he really should stop teasing him. But the idea of bending McCoy over his desk and making him howl like a cat in heat for all to hear, well let's just say it took a prime spot on his list of places to fuck McCoy senseless list.

He grabbed a seldomly used robe, and wrapped it around McCoy's shoulders. While Kirk greatly enjoyed observing McCoy's delectable body, he decided it would be best to shield the object of his desire in an attempt to give McCoy's over stimulated body a break. There could be too much of a good thing after all. So despite wanting to see McCoy's face contorted in ecstasy again, he contented himself with looking over the bruises that made his claim to the man readily apparent to anyone with eyes. "Come on, I could do with some of your mom's pancakes, and we need to have a chat."

He felt McCoy's shoulders tense at that statement. "We've discussed this McCoy, if you've fucked up you'll know, it won't be a question. It's not anything unpleasant, I promise." Kirk placed a hand on McCoy's shoulders and rubbed soothing circles there, pleased when he felt McCoy relax again under his touch. "Besides, I wouldn't ruin something you enjoy so much with unpleasant conversation." He steered them towards the dining room, and gave McCoy a nudge towards the replicator. "Go ahead and order breakfast, I'll get the information we need to go over, and meet you back here."

McCoy nodded, and in short order was sipping a cup of steaming coffee. He handed one to Kirk as he walked back in carrying what looked to be the paperwork from Kirk's lawyers. "I got a polite reminder message from my lawyers yesterday, wanting to make sure that the contract was satisfactory. I realized that I couldn't actually answer that, as I sort of just dumped it on you and didn't follow up on it. Have you had a chance to read it yet?"

McCoy grimaced. "I got my will updated, and changed all of the things that Joanna needed, and I'd started reading it, but then things happened and I hadn't finished it yet."

"Well, Alan did have a point. The sooner we get this done the better, so how about we go over it together, if you think anything needs to be changed we'll let Alan know. Or if you need to run anything by your lawyer you can call them this afternoon?"

"That sounds like a good idea." McCoy placed a plate of pancakes, bacon, and fruit in front of Kirk and sat down with his own. "And I know damn well you like pineapple, so I'm expecting you to eat all of it, you understand?" Kirk smirked and gave him a mock salute, before drowning his pancakes in butter and syrup. This made McCoy sigh, and he reminded himself sullenly that at least Kirk had a metabolism that most people would kill for. He'd never once been over suggested weight at his physicals, never had abnormal blood work, but still it didn't do to tempt fate but so much.

The meal was consumed fairly quickly, with only light conversation between the two of them until the food was gone. Once they were satiated Kirk put their dishes in the recycler, and brought them a refill of coffee, before pulling the data file closer to him. "Alright let's look this thing over, shall we? How far did you get into it?"

"Well, I'm fairly certain that the first part of it defines the expectations for me, pretty much the same way that you have, just in a lot more flowery terms. Somehow I can't see you ever using the term long-term cohabitation."

"Fancy legal bullshit for I expect us to live under the same roof, and in the same room unless health demands otherwise. I don't think that was exactly a surprise."

McCoy shook his head. "No, I'd pretty much figured that out." McCoy thumbed through the document, and found one of the passages he'd marked. "I was surprised to see the infidelity clause cuts both ways. I do appreciate that."

Kirk smiled faintly at that. "I thought you might. After your reaction to the thought that Spock and I were sleeping together, I figured out that infidelity was a sensitive subject for you."

"I'd like to point out that I was drugged at the time."

"Doesn't mean that what you said can't be held against you. Please tell me you don't always massacre Hank Williams songs when you're plastered?"

McCoy groaned and buried his face in his hands. "Please tell me I didn't?"

"Oh yeah, five choruses of Your Cheating Heart."

"Again, I was drugged." This was more a squeak, and Kirk could see a blush high on McCoy's cheekbones where his fingers didn't quite extend.

"Yeah I know, but it did give me the idea that fidelity was something very important to you, hence the clause. So what's next?"

"Truthfully that's about as far as I'd gotten."

Kirk nodded, and pulled his chair up beside McCoy's so they could look at the document. "Well then, that brings us to the fun bits. This section here stipulated that the plans I've made for you if you survive me, only go into effect if you didn't have a role to play in killing me."

McCoy shot him a look that was somewhere between 'do I really look that stupid', and offense at the thought that he would ever have thought that wouldn't be part of the deal. "Well that makes sense."

Kirk held up his hands in protest. "No shooting the messenger. Lawyer insisted on it, for both our sakes. That way if I should happen to keel over, it lessens the scrutiny on you, because you're not stupid. You wouldn't throw everything away to take me out, not when there are so many other people who'd be more than willing to do it for you."

"Well, if you'd kindly refrain from getting yourself killed in the near future, I'd appreciate it."

Kirk smirked at that, it wasn't a declaration of love or anything else as extreme, but he'd take I'd rather you not die. It was after all a good start. "Duely noted, like I said I plan on living a very, very long time, if for no other reason than to annoy my enemies." McCoy rolled his eyes at the flippant answer, and Kirk continued looking over the contract. Now the important part, he ran his finger over the paragraph in question. "And this part starts talking about your dower, the arrangements for your family, and the more financial aspects of the arrangement."

McCoy's eyes widened as he took in the very large numbers listed under the property that was to be transferred into his name when he officially became Kirk's consort, the obscenely generous trust fund for Joanna, and the 'bride price' he intended to pay his mother. He felt his heart start to race, this was not going as he'd expected. Not that he'd known what something like this would look like. He stammered. "I-I can't accept this."

"What's the matter?" Kirk raised his eyebrow. "Something missing? Shore's normally very thorough, but he could have left something out."

McCoy shook his head. "I can't accept this. It's too much."

Kirk shook his head and chuckled softly. "I should have known. I'm the only man in the Empire who has a consort who complains of his patron being too generous."

"You've already given me what I wanted. I don't need all this."

"You wanted your daughter's safety. I know you want Joanna's safety more than anything in the world." He reached over and clasped McCoy's hand in his own. "And I respect that she is fundamentally important to you, but as important as she is to you, you are more than just her father. Perhaps I felt that you were selling yourself far too cheaply."

Pushing aside the reference to selling himself, which while it did prick his pride was true, McCoy focused on the numbers. "This is too much. I don't deserve this."

"So the only thing wrong with this is that it's too much money?" Kirk looked at him confused. "You don't have problems with the consequences of infidelity, or the role I plan to play in Joanna's upbringing?"

McCoy shook his head. "No, I don't plan on cheating. And you've already proven I can trust you with Jo."

"Well, doc, if the only problem you've got is that I'm giving you too much, you might as well save us some trouble and sign the papers, because I'm not going to give you one credit less than what's listed on there."

"We've talked about this. I bring you nothing but problems. What you've already done is plenty."

Kirk felt a dawning understanding. It seemed his consort still didn't know and couldn't accept his own worth. "Yes, McCoy, you do deserve this. Take what I'm offering you, it is by my estimation far less than you deserve. It is all things considered, less than customary, but I knew that you wouldn't accept more."

"Why are you so insistent about this?" McCoy looked over disbelief in his eyes, and Kirk found himself again wanting to strangle the people who'd left this man's self worth so precarious. He reached over, keeping his touch light and stroked McCoy's back.

"Because you deserve this and more. One day I'll make you believe that. In the meantime, let's see if we can't resolve this. This is about you being worried about taking things that you haven't earned, and taking advantage of me right?" McCoy nodded wondering if he'd always been this transparent to Kirk.

He noticed Kirk reaching for the comm. station. "What are you doing?"

"Calling my mother and Pike, I'm guessing your mother wouldn't let you sign a contract that was detrimental to you right?"

"Well no…but"

"So if they look it over and tell you the contract is sound, obviously you couldn't possibly be taking advantage of me right?"

"You want to invite, Pike, the killer of Tuesday sneezers, over for breakfast, while I'm sitting here in a bathrobe, so that he can tell me I should take ridiculously large sums of money from you?"

Kirk chuckled. "Ok, we need to adjust your scope if you think that those are ridiculously large numbers. I'm actually taking horrific advantage of your naivety, which mom will be pissed at, and Pike is going to find this absolutely hilarious when he finds out the numbers we're talking about. If I were to reassure you that yes, I can completely afford to give you ten times that amount without it being a problem, will you sign the damn papers? Hell, I'll even show you most of my bank records if it'll help."

At his continued silence and withdrawal, Kirk sighed heavily. "This was supposed to be something that would make you happy. I want you to feel safe and secure, and I want you to know that you don't have to worry about money, ever again. How is that a bad thing?" McCoy's eyes were conflicted, and he felt a stirring of hope. "Money's not a big deal to me, McCoy. I've always had it, and have the knowledge and tools to make more of it should I need to. But I'm not so far removed from reality that I don't know that money matters a great deal when you've a lack of it. That's what this is supposed to protect you from."

Kirk forced McCoy to meet his eyes by tilting his chin up with one finger. "I want you to have good things. I want you to feel like you can buy things you want without asking me. I want you to know that Joanna and your mother are well cared for. Now what part of that do you object to?"

"Kind of hard to object when you put it that way, isn't it?" Kirk gave him a faint smile, and stroked his fingers over the back of his neck gently.

"Well, I was hoping you'd see it that way, yes. So if there are no more objections about these clauses, shall we continue?"

McCoy nodded, and lent his attention towards the more minute details that remained in the document, divisions of property in the future, delineation of who was responsible for what as far as the Empire was concerned, and the like were agreed upon without qualm. In the remainder of the document, McCoy found only one thing that he could not abide.

"This clause, that's for Cassie's benefit isn't it?"

"The exclusive transport of items manufactured in my holdings would be a substantial boost to her husband's failing business, yes."

"Strike that clause. She doesn't get to benefit from this. If she wants my help she can by god ask for it."

Kirk observed his consorts dark visage, and the tension that was coming off of him in thick waves. "You know, at some point, you're going to have to tell me what she did that pissed you off so badly. Judging from the reaction, it must have been a pretty big deal."

"She tried to get my medical license taken away after our father died, and when that didn't work she sided with Jocelyn during the divorce telling everyone who'd listen what a horrible father I was. It was the major reason I lost the custody case. If it wasn't for her I'd be tending to snot nosed kids who needed appendectomies and driving Jo to her dance lessons."

Kirk nodded. Then held both hand out seemingly weighing two options. "Let's see, send her flowers, kill her, send her flowers, kill her." McCoy looked at him in alarm. "Relax McCoy, I'm not really going to kill her. Well, unless you want me to. But as much as what you had to go through sucked, I do owe your sister some gratitude. After all if you'd been tending to snot nosed kids in Bumfuck, then I would have had to have come and conscripted you, and then you'd be a hell of a lot less happy with me than you are at the moment."

"Conscripted me?"

"Do you really think that a man of your skills had been unnoticed by the Empire? Really? You published those ground breaking theoretical papers right before your father died remember? If you hadn't signed up with Pike, he'd have had conscriptors at your door within hours. He was your illusion of choice, much like he was mine. Both of us were going to end up in Starfleet, one way or another. And I'm willing to bet that he have sent me to come get you, from whatever little hidey hole you'd found for yourself."

"Now that's just a depressing thought."

"Mh, I like the story much better as it played out." He pressed a soft kiss to McCoy's lips and cupped his cheek. "So it looks like I'll be going with the flowers for little sis, then. But we'll take out this clause, if you'd like. Let me know if you change your mind about wanting to help her, otherwise I'll leave her and her husband to rot. Sound good?"

McCoy nodded, and picked up a pen. He scratched through the offending clause and then signed his name. Kirk smiled broadly, and then taking the stylus from McCoy signed his own name. Kirk threw the pen over his shoulder and grabbed McCoy by the front of the bathrobe hauling him in for a very passionate kiss. "Welcome to the family, McCoy." Any response that McCoy would have made was smothered by further heated kisses, and Kirk regretted the over exuberance of the previous night, just a bit, because there was nothing that he would like more at the moment than to take McCoy to his bed.

That would have to wait however, if the response that he'd gotten this morning was any indication. So he settled for a kiss, and stroking his thumb over the rapidly coloring bite mark on McCoy's neck. He could afford to be patient. It wasn't as if the doctor was going anywhere in the near future. "We should celebrate, you up for dinner with people tonight?"

"Sure I guess. How many people are we talking?" McCoy suppressed a momentary surge of panic at the thought of Kirk turning this into a huge ship wide thing.

"Not a lot, Mom and Pike obviously, maybe Gaila, Spock and Uhura if they aren't busy."

"That sounds fine."

"Awesome, I'll let mom handle that. She loves planning those kinds of things for some reason." He indulged himself in another kiss, and pulled away with a smile. "Come on, I've got something for you." Kirk pulled McCoy along, and seated him on the sofa. "Wait here, I'll be right back." Kirk reemerged rapidly carrying a gift wrapped box. He deposited it on McCoy's lap, and then sat across from him, observing expectantly. "Well, go on, open it."

McCoy slid one finger under the ribbon at the bottom of the package, and after slowly removing it went after the tape carefully pulling it away. Gifts in the McCoy household had been rare, after McCoy's mother had left her husband due to what he'd planned for Leonard. He'd paid the bare minimum of Empire mandated support for each of his children, and a pittance of alimony. His mother had suffered for her love of him, and McCoy had vowed to work as hard as he could to replace that which his mother's affection for him had cost her. So on the rare occasions when he received gifts, McCoy treated the opening of a present as something to be savored.

Kirk reached over and placed his hand over McCoy's. "There will be a lot more presents in your future McCoy, provided of course that you actually open this one sometime before we're old and grey."

"And I'll probably open every one of them just as slowly. Not really something I see changing anytime soon." Kirk merely shrugged and sat back to watch McCoy methodically open his gift. He was going to look forward to accustoming McCoy to gifts and presents, as well as all the finer things that he'd always denied himself.

His musings were cut off by McCoy's finally opening the box to reveal his gift, a finely honed and crafted dagger. It was about the length of McCoy's hand, the blade a gleaming silver, though McCoy was certain that it was made of a metal far more solid than that. Smooth edged and wickedly sharp, he observed, before carefully removing it from the box. The hilt was of a dark leather, soft and smooth, with a heavy metal seal embedded in the hilt. Upon examination, McCoy recognized the dagger. It was the mate to the one that hung at Kirk's side.

"While your hypos might work against some threats, McCoy, I thought it was time to give you something a bit more substantial. This seemed close enough to your scalpels for you to wield it effectively."

"And has the added bonus of having your crest so that only the most suicidal of fools would attack me in the first place, right?"

"True enough. I've spent a lifetime building a reputation that makes even hardened men pause. When you need it, I expect you to use it, are we clear?"

"Crystal, not like that's anything new anyway." Kirk's mouth quirked up in a satisfied smirk at the remembrance of how McCoy had used his fondness for him as a shield while the two of them were at the academy.

"No, I don't suppose it is. But I expect you to use either this," He tapped the seal at the end of the hilt lightly. "Or this-" His fingers tapped the blade now. "To keep yourself safe if need be. You understand that don't you?"

"I understand, but I seriously doubt I'll have the occasion to use it anytime soon. People are still looking at me like I'm the boogie man after what you did to Ethan, and what Pike did to Janice."

Kirk smiled, reminding himself to spend some time with Janice sometime this week. It had been far too long since she'd been reminded of the stakes should she cross him, and the Enterprise should still be within range for the chip to be effective. "Be that as it may, I expect you to carry this with you anytime that you're not in our quarters."

"Alright, I can do that." Kirk smiled and took the dagger from McCoy's hand setting it safely aside before pulling him close. He kissed him tenderly, and brought his hands up to manipulate his still tender nipples, bringing McCoy to the point of gasping in short order. By the time Kirk pulled away McCoy was flushed, and he groaned when Kirk pulled away from him.

"Mh, I know, I know, but duty calls. I'll think of you while I'm on shift." He let his fingers trail down McCoy's chest, over his stomach to the hardened flesh of McCoy's cock. He brushed his fingers over the enflamed flesh, and chuckled as McCoy's hips bucked up into the light caress. "And I'm certain you'll think of me." He pressed another fiercer kiss on McCoy's lips, before pulling away. He rose, and giving McCoy a saucy wink headed for the bathroom, tossing off handedly over his shoulder a parting comment that made McCoy tremble.

"Don't worry McCoy, it's only a few hours before we can finish what we started." McCoy cursed to himself as he realized that the sight that Kirk made as he walked out of the room with his 'I'm the baddest of bad asses' grin on ensured that he would be very much aware of every single minute of those hours.

AN: Ok…so I'd planned on lots of touchy feely how do I really feel about all this goodness this chapter. Kirk high jacked the chapter once again, however, so it looks like McCoy's emotional processing will come in later. But we did get some nice background bits on McCoy. As always I hope you enjoyed it, and if so do humbly request that you tell me so.

Next up: McCoy ponders the course his life has taken him, and the Kirk family welcomes McCoy.