"Bones, can I ask you something?" Kirk asked as he swung his legs over the side of his hospital bed, a cold chill ran up his legs. "Sure Jim, ask away." McCoy replied as he folded one of Kirk's shirts up neatly and then placed it into a carry bag. "Is Scotty alright? I haven't seen him since I woke up." McCoy sighed loudly, "That dam bloody Scotsman!" "Bones?" Kirk said concernedly. McCoy turned to face the young Captain, his face lightly flushed with anger. "He told me, no he promised me that he was going to come and see you, I can't believe he lied to me." Kirk just stared blankly at the Doctor. He was already a little concerned about the Scotsman, but he was even more now, Scotty never broke a promise, ever. "Where is Scotty?" "Most likely on the bloody Enterprise, he ain't been off the blasted thing in weeks and even when he has been off it, he's been training with Sulu." McCoy replied angrily.
"Training with Sulu? What type of training?" "Hand to hand combat." Now Kirk was even more concerned, why would Scotty be doing combat training? Did Star Fleet order him to? Kirk then stood up slowly and walked over to McCoy. "I'm gonna go and see him, it's not that I don't believe you Bones but I want to see he's OK for myself." Kirk said, McCoy wanted to argue. The man had only been awake for a few days after coming back from the dead, but he knew he wouldn't be able to talk Kirk out of this, he was just as stubborn as ever. "Fine but stay out of the warp core, I'm a Doctor not a magician I can't bring you back a second time." McCoy replied as he picked up the Captain's bag, "I will Bones, see you later." Before McCoy could say anything else Kirk had left the room. "Bloody gigantic child." He muttered to himself.
Kirk was soon back on the Enterprise and it was the most wonderful feeling, even if the ship was still undergoing major repair work. The poor ship had taken a right beating and was almost completely destroyed, thankfully that didn't happen but it was going to be a while before she would be ready to go back into space. Despite the mass amount of work which still needed to be done to the ship, the halls of the Enterprise were basically empty. Kirk kinda understood this, it was late evening after all and even Engineers needed sleep. But he knew that his CEO wouldn't be doing nothing of the sort, Scotty rarely slept while they were in space. Soon Kirk had made his way into Engineering and everything seem quiet, he couldn't see a single Engineer anywhere.
He was just about to call out when he heard something above him, Kirk glanced up to see a familiar face staring down at him. It was Keenser, Scotty's fellow Engineer. Kirk gave the Engineer a friendly wave, Keenser didn't waste any time in quickly scrambling down to the ground and ran over to Kirk and did something which shocked the young Captain, the Engineer hugged him. Kirk was slightly taken back by the little guys action, but he kind of understood why he had done it (sort of). Gently Kirk returned the Engineers hug before kneeling down to be at eye level with him, "Hello Keenser, it's good to see you too." Kirk said softly. Keenser then grunted at him which sadly Kirk didn't really understand, but he had a feeling what it meant.
"Keenser, where's Scotty? I need to talk to him." Kirk asked, Keenser just pointed off into the distance. Kirk thanked him and the Engineer quickly headed back off to work, while Kirk began walking in the direction the Engineer had pointed in. Despite having directions from Keenser, there was still the issue of how he was going to find the Scotsman, Engineering was huge. Thankfully Kirk didn't have to look for very long as he heard someone cry out in a different language, it was clearly Gaelic even if Kirk couldn't understand the words he knew what it sounded like, since his Chief used it a lot. It wasn't long till he found the source of the yelling, up a ladder was Scotty, tools in both his hands while he fiddled around with some wiring.
"Blasted bloody Star Fleet wiring, a Klingon could have done bloody better. This is why I should be allowed to do this dam refit myself!" The Scotsman yelled, "How's it going up there Scotty?" Kirk cried. Suddenly Scotty fell from the ladder and landed flat on his back, the ladder clanged on the ground next to him. "Scotty!" Kirk yelled as he hurried over to him. "Are you alright?" Kirk asked, "I'm fine, next time try not to scare me to death." Scotty yelled angrily. Kirk apologized quickly as he watched the CEO pick up his tools, Scotty then rubbed the back of his head. "Are you sure you're alright Scotty? You did fall a good distance?" Kirk asked softly, "I told you I'm fine." Scotty replied as he picked up the ladder.
"Why did you break your promise to Bones?" The Captain asked, he wasn't going to waste any time. "I don't know what you mean." The Scotsman replied slowly, "Yes you do. Bones told me that you promised him that you would come see me, but you never did. Why?" Scotty stopped dead, he felt tears swelling in his eyes and his hands begin to shake. Kirk could tell that he wasn't going to get an answer, so he simply asked another question. "And why have you been training in hand to hand combat with Sulu?" But still Scotty did not answer, Kirk took a step closer to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Scotty, please talk to me. I've been so worried about you ever since I woke up, when you didn't come to visit I assumed you had gotten seriously hurt, please answer my questions." Kirk pleaded. Suddenly Scotty shoved Kirk's hand off his shoulder, "And do you know how worried I've been about you?! Not knowing if you would ever bloody wake up?"
Scotty yelled which scared Kirk a little. "I carried your lifeless body in my own arms, I watched you die right before my bloody eyes! Can you even comprehend how scared I must have been?! How broken I must have felt?!" Kirk was in shock, he had never seen Scotty so upset before. "You 'died' because of me! I should have known you were going to knock me out, you're too bloody heroic for your own good sometimes. Not to bloody mention I should never have left the ship, I turned my back on you…" Scotty clenched his fists, "That's why I didn't come to see you, I couldn't bare to face you again, not when I knew I was the person who put you in that dam bed. I was too weak and helpless to do anything, that's why I've been training with Sulu, to make me a better fighter so at least I may be able to hold my own in a dam fight." Kirk understood now, he could now see why Scotty had broken his promise, not to mention the reason why he had been doing training with Sulu.
"I made a promise to you that I would always be there for you, not just as my Captain but as my friend. But I broke that promise the day I walked away from you, I should have stayed. I'm sorry Jim. I'm so…" Scotty suddenly stopped talking when he felt Kirk pull him closer to him, hugging him tightly. "No I'm the one who should be sorry Scotty, you were right about everything from the very start. I should have listened to you. You're not the reason I died, Khan is. And don't you ever blame yourself for that." Kirk whimpered, Scotty could hear Kirk crying quietly in his ear. "And you didn't break your promise to me, you came when I needed you, when I called you, that's what true friends do. I'm just glad you weren't hurt, otherwise I would never forgive myself."
Scotty felt tears stream from his eyes as he hugged Kirk back, "Thank you Jim, I'm just glad you're alive. I don't know what I would do without you." "And I don't know what I would do without my miracle worker to keep this ship together." The two friends released each other before Kirk wiped Scotty's eyes with his sleeve. "What do you say we get ourselves a drink? Just like old times?" Kirk suggested, Scotty nodded quickly. "Aye, that sounds like a great idea Jimbo. Can Keenser join us? I know the wee mans been worried about ya." "Of course he can." Scotty quickly called Keenser over and the three officers headed off for a drink. Things were going to be alright now and Scotty couldn't wait for their five year mission to begin, but