Authors Note: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters or ships. If I did, I would commandeer the Enterprise and go exploring the galaxy with Chris Pine, Karl Urban and a case of Tennessee whiskey!

I wasn't going to post this yet as I wanted to have more of the story written first, but I'm a bit excited so here it is anyway :)
This is a follow-on story from my other fic "Call Me", you can read that first or skip it, these stories take place between and around scenes in the movie Into Darkness.

- Apologies for the earlier technical difficulties. Hopefully I figure out what the problem is soon so I don't have to keep re-posting my chapters.

Bones didn't believe it when he got the med call. They were able to remove kirks body when the chamber doors opened, but decon was designed for people wearing protective suits, his body was still heavily irradiated so it had to be put straight into a biohazard containment pod so he could be safely removed from engineering.

Upon seeing his friends lifeless body the reality hit him and for a moment he forgot he was Dr McCoy – CMO and medical professional; he was just Bones, and the loss of his best friend was too much. He wanted to scream, cry, break something, anything. Taking a seat to regain himself he heard a noise, then seen the previously dead Tribble move. It was alive! Khans blood revived it – but how? Scratch that, who cares, maybe he can save Jim!? It was a hail Mary and he knew it, but he had to try.

A quick scan indicated Kirk had died from his internal injuries – not the radiation, so if they could remove the radiation and repair Jim's injuries he might actually have a chance! They just needed to put him into stasis to stop the effects of the radiation progressing, while they worked out how to get enough of Kahn's blood into him to regenerate Jim's broken body. They also needed to figure out how to remove the radiation from all his cells (that was going to be the tricky bit).

Damn it kid, how am I going to fix you this time? He thought to himself as the stasis field sealed kirks body in the cryo tube. He hoped like hell that Uhura was successful in getting word to Spock that they needed Khan's blood to try and save Jim. Alive was preferable (unfortunately) but not essential, he would settle for the blood from a severed limb or ,if he knew how, he would use that damned transported to just beam his blood straight of him then watch the bastard die in agony as his whole body shut down. He didn't actually know how much he would need, but he would be happy for any amount he could get.

In the meantime he gathered everything and anything he thought he would need and requested an urgent transfer to Starfleet Medical for himself and Jim. First thing that needed to be done was get him admitted to a secure facility with better equipment, he would need the best devices he could get his hands on if he had any chance of pulling this off.

He arrived on the transporter padd of the Phlox Wing at Starfleet Medical. The wing was reserved for the ranks of captain and above, each private room had its own fully equipped biobed and plenty of space for doctors to bring in extra equipment as needed. McCoy settled Kirks pod onto the floor and started inputting information into the medical computers.

He had taken his fair share of bumps during the chaos, his head was throbbing and he was tender in more than a few places, but at least his arm had finally stopped tingling after being slammed shut into the torpedo casing a few hours ago. The staff here were the best on Earth, and every bit of their experience and professionalism showed as they efficiently helped McCoy settle in for the long ride, no one getting in anyone else's way, no annoying small talk, and someone had even bought him a coffee accompanied by an apple, a banana and a sandwich. If he wasn't so focused on checking everything he would have kissed whoever had thought to bring him food.

Once informed that Khan's blood was on its way the staff had extracted Kirks body from the pod and placed him onto the biobed, surrounded by a medical isolation field that allowed them to access his body using protective gear but contained any radiation or other biological contaminates from spreading out from the immediate area. His body will thaw quickly and begin to degrade so time was a crucial factor. Bones anxiety was increasing when Uhura came running into the room carrying 3 vials of Khan's precious blood. Taking one of the vials he loaded a hypo and injected it straight into Jim. The EDTA that was in the vial to prevent the blood clotting during transit would be the least of his worries, and could even help spread Khan's blood through Jim's stagnant system. Bones used the electrodes on Jim's chest to force his heart to beat and try and circulate Khan's blood as much as possible. After what felt like an eternity but was only about 3 minutes, the monitor detected a very weak but definitely present heart beat occurring 0.8 of a second before the electrodes pulsed, meaning Jim's heart was beginning to beat on its own! It was doing a poor job so they continued the electrode pulses until Jim's heart had had enough of Khans blood pass through and repair it, and it could take over.

Step One: Inject Khans blood and hope Jim revives – Done

Step Two: Keep his body alive while they figured out step 3
Jim's heart was beating well enough on its own to no longer need external stimulation, but his breathing had not restarted so his blood oxygen levels were still in the drain. They placed him on a ventilator forcing 98% oxygen into his lungs to sustain the tissues that were now reviving. Now his heart was beating and he was breathing, that was the least they needed, so so far their plan was working. His body was still much too damaged to bring Jim to any level of consciousness, which was a blessing as that meant they wouldn't have to sedate him. Bones really couldn't risk introducing anything that could compromise Jim's current vitals so leaving him in his self-induced coma was the best thing for him.

Step 3: Remove the radiation contamination
Khan's blood was nothing short of a miracle cure, but even it couldn't repair everything. Bones needed something that would scrub the radiation from Jim's cells, preferably a biological agent so it could be easily and safely dispersed through his body. His mind had been racing trying to think of anything that could work when he remembered a discussion he had with a local doctor during his survival training in Australia. There was something to do with Eucalypt trees and radiation….but what?

"Computer run a search on medical journals starting year 2000 that cross-reference Eucalypt trees and Radiation" Bones didn't bother looking up at the confused faces around him as he lent over the desk to read a data padd. Spock now entered and stood quietly out of the road with Uhura watching the doctor do his work. The padd chimed in sync with the rooms computer audio as it displayed results of the doctors search.
"Gotchya!" he beamed as he read the display, looking up to address everyone in the room
"Cryptococcosis! It's a disease caused by the yeast-like fungus, Cryptococcosis neoformans. The fungi contains high levels of melanin. The melanin absorbs radiation and turns it into chemical energy, similar to how plants turn carbon dioxide and chlorophyll into oxygen and glucose through photosynthesis, except this is dubbed radiosynthesis." McCoy couldn't look more excited as he explained that they could use this fungus to irradiate Jim while they worked on using Khan's blood to do a proper transfusion to heal the physical injuries

"Doctor, you said this was a disease, will it not ail the captain further?" Spock seemed to be the only one keeping up with him, so anyone not immediately needed decided to vacate the room and let the two work on their friends cure.
"Yes, it causes a type of meningitis which under normal circumstances would be bad, but easily curable with antivirals. In Jim's case I'm hoping our 'miracle blood transfusion' will take care of that without too much trouble" It was definitely a risk, but they had no other choice.
"how do we get this fungus into his system?" Spock seemed to come to the same conclusion so progressed to the question of implementation
"Says here that It is thought that the infection is spread by inhalation of the organism. The disease is not transmitted directly from person to person. So I should be able to replicate a sample in the Med Lab and add it into his ventilator" Bones hoped he sounded more confident than he felt, truth is this was a first for him
"Doctor I believe your presence is still required here so I will go to the lab and retrieve the sample." Spock turned and left leaving Bones alone with Jim.

While Spock worked on the sample McCoy continued to monitor Jim's vitals and began to spin down the other two vials of Khan's blood. He had a moment when nothing needed his direct attention and he found himself standing by the bed looking down at his motionless friend. It all felt so surreal. He couldn't let his walls down yet, he still had a lot to do before he could even consider that, but he couldn't help the deep shaky breath he took or the sudden sensation of falling into a pit. Breathing out choked breath he looked up at the roof – away from the monitors, away from his friends body – and regathered his thoughts. He wiped away a stray tear as he heard familiar steps approaching. Turning to face the door he looked all the part of 'Dr McCoy' as he took the sample from Spock and added it to Jim's ventilator.
"Now we wait" he declared as he sat down at the desk and monitored for any changes.

To be cont …

What do you think?
- Love it? Hate it?

Let me know - I love feedback :)
- Thank you to cheesegeek for letting me know I was confusing people with mentioning it was an EDTA vial that held Khans blood.
My Vet Tech brain forgot that others wouldn't know what that means - Sorry :)
I have now removed that bit.

- D.A.