A/N Sorry for the delay, my muse is flighty and she comes and goes as she pleases, rude of her but what can ya do, anyways hope you enjoy :)

Also this has not been proofread, apologies.

Chapter 5

Jim went back to avoiding him, again, and Leonard had reached a level of annoyance that was probably detrimental to his health.

He still couldn't figure out how he hadn't run into him yet, it was a little disturbing how good Jim was at disappearing. At one point he had actually feared that he'd gone missing, but figured he'd be the first person any of the instructors would ask if Kirk didn't show up for class.

Young had been released four days ago and he found it a little odd that he hadn't seen her either. Not that he'd been expecting to, it was just, odd.

Today he was contemplating just summoning Jim to medbay for a random exam, but figured even if he'd gotten another doctor or nurse to do it for him, Kirk would still know it was him and weasel his way out of it.

Seriously the whole thing was just utterly childish.

He walked briskly across campus the autumn air crisp and biting. Honestly he wanted to throttle the younger man out of shear concern, as contradicting as that was.

Funny, that actually looked like him sitting with Young. Leonard did a double take.

That was in fact them, sitting at a table.

Young had a padd resting on her knees brow pinched as if in confusion, Jim was sitting particularly close pointing at something on it.

She seemed to brighten at what he said, features becoming more animated. There was no trace of the illness she'd fought, her cheeks rosy from the cold air, eyes sparkling.

His feet were moving before he could rethink the action, his approach catching their attention. It may have just been him but she seemed to brighten further at the sight of him.

Jim however grew more reserved.

"Hey, long time no see." She said with a smile that shown sincerely in her eyes.

"A little cold to be sitting outside isn't it?" Damn if that didn't come across more grumpy than he'd meant it to.

"It's not bad out here, and Jim was just helping me with some problems." Her brow furrowed a little and Jim sat back, eyes narrowing slightly as a small smirk tugged at his lips.

Why had he been concerned about him?

"Bones is just a little paranoid we'll catch cold and die." Jim said and Leonard gave him a look.

"If anyone could it would be you." Now, normally, this would all be just friendly banter, but coupled with his previous irritation with Jim's childish stubbornness and the blonds close proximity to Young, Leonard felt a little more than cantankerous.

She huffed looking amused despite the obvious tension. "Well, I don't know about that." She stowed away the padd and stood. "But to ease your concern, we can head inside." A teasing smile tugged at her lips.

Jim's presence tampered any charm he may have felt from it...Not that he would have to begin with.

Kirk stood as Young started to walk away and it was then that he realised she expected them to follow. Glowering at Jim, he trailed after.

Ok maybe this childish thing went both ways, but still.

"Thank you for the help on those problems," Young said to Jim, as if trying to break the tension. "Physics just really isn't my thing."

"Physics?" And here Leonard thought she was a xenozoologist.

She shrugged smirking. "Requirement, it's just the basics but hell if it isn't my forte."

"Nah, you're smarter than you think, you'll pass with flying colors." Jim commented as they reached the south building.

Kid could not turn it off could he?

They stopped just inside the commons, the air warmer and regulated. A few cadets milled about, steady streams of conversations filling the air.

"I could tutor you," Jim offered facing them. "I mean you helped me out so, guess I can return the favor."

Young smiled and Leonard's stomach did a weird little flip.

"That'd be great, thank you." She glanced up at the chronamintor. "Well I've gotta get to class, it was nice seeing you again doctor. " Her hand briefly touched his arm, a soft smile, and then she was gone.

Leonard was momentarily at a loss for words. That was a bit, unexpected.

"You gonna pick your jaw up off the floor there Bones?"

He blinked looking over at Jim. A little of the irritation he'd been harboring returned, and he glared at him.

"What?"

He actually hadn't expected the kid to stick around.

"How's the ankle?" Because he was feeling particularly ornery for some reason, poking old wounds seemed appropriate.

Jim's expression immediately hardened. "Fine," An awkward shift. "I'll see you around." With that he slipped away and Leonard felt his irritation simmer, guilt replacing it like an old friend.

Leonard McCoy you can be a real ass sometimes.

Leonard needed a drink.

It had been a long exhausting day, that had left him dog tired and grumpier than when it had started.

He hadn't seen Jim for two days since his encounter with him and Young.

But really he didn't blame the younger man, and he knew he should apologize. Jim just had to appear again so he could. Leonard doubted he'd see him for some time yet though. Kid was pissed that was for sure, or, maybe just upset.

So that's why he was surprised to find him at their dorm when he arrived. Well, he was in the shower but there.

Not tonight, he was too tired to wrangle with Jim's stubbornness, or his own guilt. Kicking off his shoes he made a point to ignore the fact that the shower had suddenly stopped and approached his dresser for a change of clothes. Shower then bed. Sadly he would forgo the drink tonight, he didn't have any here and going out sounded like too much work.

The door to the bathroom opened letting steam billow out.

There was a moment of silence where he actually pretended to fiddle with his socks before Jim spoke.

"Hey Bones."

The words were soft tinged with something that had Leonard turning to look at his friend. He cursed at the sight of Jim's face.

His lip was split right eye swollen and bruised. He leaned in the bathroom doorway hair still a bit damp dressed in sweats and a black shirt.

"The hell happened to you?" He growled in surprise whipping around to dig out the stashed med kit he kept in the bottom drawer.

" 'm all right." He said as Leonard approached though he didn't move away when the tricorder passed over him.

"I'll be the judge of that." The fact that Jim didn't object was cause for concern.

Bruised ribs, sprained wrist, scraped and swollen knuckles. "If I didn't know any better Jim, I'd say you were in a fight." Bones commented cocking an eyebrow at him.

Jim just smirked tiredly and Leonard rolled his eyes. Grabbing his arm he lead him over to a bed.

Now sitting the younger man looked tired, even more so than he did standing in the doorway. He started with the wrist carefully taking the limb and eyeing his friend as he did so.

"So," He said after a moment. "You wanna tell me what's going on."

A slight shift in Jim's posture.

"Nothing Bones, just a bar fight." He muttered.

Bar fight his foot. Jim hadn't been in a 'bar fight' since the one he'd had during his first six weeks as a cadet. Pike had chewed him out, or at least Leonard assumed he had, because after that incident Jim did what he could to avoid any brawls. The kid could charm his way out of anything if he put his mind to it.

"Bar fight my ass Jim, you wanna tell me what's really going on?" He demanded and finally seemed to get a reaction out of him.

"It's nothing I can't handle Bones." He said words tight as he tried to pull his wrist away from him.

"Bruised ribs, sprained wrist, black eye, yeah you seem to be handling it well." He growled snatching the limb back.

"Young told me some guys were giving you shit before that SIM, they do this to you?" He asked deciding to go for the blunt route. Sometimes with Jim you had to, but it was a gamble for sure and would either backfire, or get him answers.

"Young needs to mind her own business." He all but snapped and McCoy felt his shoulders stiffen glancing sharply up at him.

"She tried to help you Jim, you got to retake the test didn't you?" He growled back. To his surprise Kirk seemed to deflate a little looking away towards the ground.

"Just let it go Bones, you guys can't do anything that would help." He mumbled.

He clenched his jaw as he wrapped Jim's wrist.

"Like hell we couldn't, campus security-"

"It would only make it worse trust me, I have to deal with this on my own."

McCoy stilled looking up at him. "Why?"

"Bones-"

"No Jim honestly why? Why do you think you have to do everything on your own?" He demanded frustration rising, and sometimes when Leonard got frustrated he might just say things he shouldn't. It wasn't like he was proud of it or anything. "You know for someone wanting to be the captain of a starship you sure don't act like one."

Leonard immediately knew it was the wrong thing to say. A flash of hurt appeared in Jim's eyes before it was shuttered away, replaced with anger and irritation.

He jerked his hand back.

"Jim-" McCoy started trying to take it blond cut him off by standing quickly and shoving past him. Leonard stumbled foot catching on something sending him to the floor.

"Shouldn't have let you help me with this." He growled.

He was gone before Leonard could scramble to his feet.

Cursing under his breath he ran towards the door looking up and down the hallway.

Gone.

He swore again going back in to retrieve his shoes, jacket and a tricorder.

Jim had a knack for disappearing when he wanted to and Leonard feared he wouldn't be able to find him.

That didn't mean he couldn't try.

An hour later and Leonard was at a loss. He'd checked, well not everywhere but, Jim didn't have many places he frequented on campus.

A thought occurred to him then, that maybe he was with someone. A specific someone. It seemed a logical conclusion at the time after all whenever he found her, Jim seemed to be there. Later he would blame this course of thinking on exhaustion, but if he hadn't followed through with it he wouldn't have found Jim.

Using his medical emergency code, he obtained her room number and headed over.

Now, standing outside her room after having chimed, he felt, well, stupid.

Hell, if Jim was there, it would confirm what he already knew...and he really didn't want to.

He couldn't just walk away though, that would be-

The door opened with a soft whoosh revealing a sleepy eyed Young. She was dressed in an old starfleet shirt and grey sweats, hair in a messy bun.

Under normal circumstances he would've found the look endearing.

"Dr. McCoy, w-what are- is everything ok?" Her words were heavy with sleep.

"I was looking for Jim, thought, maybe he might be here." As the words left his mouth he knew Jim wasn't there.

"Um, no he's not here, is something wrong?"

Leonard wanted to tell her no, to go back to bed, instead the complete opposite came out.

"He's missing," Yeah definitely should stop talking. "And he's hurt." Okay then.

She blinked at him, straightening. "Hang on." The door closed and it was his turn to blink, except in confusion.

He shifted where he stood, a small part of him wondering if she'd been lying, that Jim was there.

A moment later the door reopened and she stepped out, shoes on her feet and slipping on a sweater.

"I'll help you look." She stated, zipping up the grey hoodie.

Leonard stood there in some surprise. This was, not what he'd expected.

She should go back to bed, he shouldn't have thought Jim would be here.

"You don't have to-"

"A second pair of eyes can't hurt." She interrupted gently though there was a glint of determination in her eyes, one that told him arguing would be futile.

"So where haven't you looked?" She asked, hands in her sweater pockets.

Leonard bit back a sigh. "Practically everywhere, but knowing Jim he wouldn't be in any of the obvious places, at least not on campus."

"So, off campus then." She said with a nod looking down the hallway. "Liiike?" An eyebrow cocked at him.

McCoy didn't know why, but it was hard to say that Jim may be drinking his problems away in a bar. Like he didn't want to tarnish the younger man's reputation.

"Bars, anywhere close by." He muttered, just knowing that she would be the last person to judge Jim for that.

"OK, I know a few." She said with a nod, brow furrowed in thought.

"Yeah, he's got a few old haunts, we can check there first." He started down the hall and she followed.

Silence rained for all of five minutes and Leonard told himself that no, it was not awkward.

"So, what happened?"

Hell, it would have to be 'that' question she would ask. He held back a sigh.

Leonard found though that he wanted to tell her, like confiding his mistakes in her would help ease his conscience. Didn't make it easy though.

So, he spilled the beans and she said nothing as he spoke, eyes focused ahead. It was a brief telling and when he was done, there was a pause.

"And what made you think he'd be at my place?"

The question caught him a little off guard. He'd expected her to be upset over his and Jim's argument, to question why he'd been so harsh on the younger man.

"Uh, well I-" He stumbled over the words feeling like a deer caught in the headlights. "I mean, you and him seem to get along so well, I just thought maybe you and him-"

She stopped looking over at him, brow furrowed as if in confusion. "We're just friends Leonard."

He blinked at the sound of his first name, an unexpected occurrence as she'd never used it before.

"Oh." Was his eloquent reply.

She looked towards the ground, and for a moment he thought he saw a slight blush on her cheeks. But that could've been from the cold, he hadn't realized they'd made it outside.

"Which bar are we going to first?" Her breath misted in the air as she spoke.

McCoy looked out across the campus. Right, bar, he quickly went through the small list in his head.

"We'll start at the closest."

They continued in relative silence with Leonard leading the way his thoughts feeling a bit jumbled. The urgency to find Jim ruled out most everything though and he pretty much put the incident on the back burner of his mind.

At this time of night the bar was a bustle of activity and he couldn't be more grateful for Youngs second pair of eyes. She shrugged at him after a few minutes of checking around and short of checking the bathroom, McCoy doubted he was here.

"We could ask the bartender!" Young said over the music and he nodded in agreement. It couldn't hurt.

The bartender was an andorian with sharp eyes that Leonard hoped missed nothing. He caught his gaze they stepped over.

"What can I get you?" He asked with a glance at Young who looked out of place in her sweatpants and sweater, hair still mussed from sleep.

"Actually I was hoping you might've seen a friend of mine." He started and the andorian immediately looked annoyed.

"I serve drinks, I'm not the bouncer." He grumbled straightening.

Leonard glared at him ready to retort angrily when Young spoke.

"Look, it's practically the middle of the night and our friend is missing and injured, it's a simple question which I'm sure someone of even your stature is more than capable of answering." Her tone was light but held an edge that McCoy had never heard before.

The bartender huffed and glared. "Fine, but I see a lot of people, so don't expect me to know who you're talking about."

"Blond, blue eyes-"

"Black eye, bandaged wrist." Leonard finished anxious for an answer.

The andorian frowned. "Yeah I saw him, came and went like, thirty minutes ago maybe." He straightened. "That a good enough answer for you?"

"Do you know which way he went?" Young asked the slight edge still in her voice.

"He went out the way you came in, that's all I know."

"Thanks." Leonard said with a roll of his eyes turning, Young followed with an irritated glare at the andorian who gave her a look.

"Where else could he have gone?" She asked as they stepped back outside.

McCoy sighed looking up and down the dark street. Hell, he didn't know, he could be anywhere. "At this point, he could be anywhere," He shook his head and sighed feeling resigned. "His injuries aren't life threatening, guess I'll have to wait till he turns up."

"What about another bar?" She offered and he appreciated her opinion but…

"Yeah, I don't know he-"

There was a sudden blast of music as the door opened and closed again and a young woman walked out.

She was Orion, her skin green and hair dark. "You're looking for the blond right?"

They exchanged a quick look. "Yeah." Leonard said.

"I saw him, shared a few drinks actually, but he was real bummed, didn't seem to want to hang out," She looked 'bummed' too. "He only had one drink before those guys came."

"What guys?" Young asked shoulders visibly stiffening and if Leonard had to guess she was just as alarmed by the news as him.

"Dunno, but they seemed like trouble, your guy said he'd rather the trouble not start there, they followed him out."

Leonard cursed. "Did you see which way they went?"

"Left I think, hope you find him he was real cute." She said with a smile.

"Thank you uh?" Young searched for a name.

"Gaila." She offered.

"Gaila." Young nodded before they started down the street eyes peeled for anything.

"Course he would find trouble." Leonard grumbled. Hell, if anything else happened to Jim…

"This isn't your fault." Young said keeping pace with him a new energy to their search.

Damn she was perspective, though if there was one thing McCoy was good at, it was a guilt trip.

"Yeah, well, I sure as hell didn't help matters." He huffed stopping to look down a short dark alley before moving on.

"He got upset because you were right." Her words were soft, reassuring almost. He appreciated the support really, but what he'd said had still been harsh, he should've went about it differently, he just, wasn't always very tactful.

"Maybe, but I could've gone about it better." He muttered.

"Yeah, you could've." Ouch.

"It's not like I didn't try, he was being a stubborn ass and-"

"Leonard." He froze.

Young had stopped, staring into a dimly lit alley. He stepped up to her quickly, following her gaze.

"Jim." He breathed, before racing over to the still figure, laying on the ground.

His face was a mess of blood and bruises, swollen and ugly.

Leonard knelt quickly, saying the younger man's name again.

His heart fell further with no response. Young exclaimed softly as he pulled out his tricorder.

"Shit, how is he?"

"Not good, I need to get him out of here." He didn't tell her just how bad it was though. Internal bleeding, a rib dangerously close to puncturing a lung, severe concussion. Deep bruises everywhere. Jim had been beaten, badly. He quickly sent a message for help.

Young knelt on Jim's other side gaze full of worry.

"I sent for help." He said feeling anxious himself. Medical aid would be there in minutes but it felt to long. Carefully he felt Jim's pulse. Some would consider him old fashioned but he didn't like relying solely on his instruments.

Thready but there.

"How long till they get here?" She asked, gently grabbing the hand closets to her.

"Three minutes." He muttered keeping a careful eye on the tricorder.

Silence rained for a moment.

"Whoever did this to him…"

He looked over at her, seeing the same anger he felt brewing beneath his concern, in her eyes.

"They'll regret it." He muttered.

The tricorder let out a trill right before Jim's breathing changed.

Leonard cursed. Make that a punctured lung.

"Jim!" He snapped feeling helpless with no medical supplies. Where the hell was medical aid?!

"Come on Jim don't do this." He pleaded as the shrill sound of sirens could be heard in the distance.

A/N Reviews tempt my muse to stick around...