Len hung up the comm. Evan wasn't coming; at least he wasn't coming yet. It was a fucking damned if you do, damned if you don't situation. In the end the doctor knew his brother had made the right choice. Brother, that was the only word he could think of for Evan. What do you call a man you love, who you trust with everything you hold dear, who also happens to be the husband of your ex-wife? Brother seemed like the best word. Evan would be there as soon as he could. And he was always just a comm away. He would take care of home so Len could take care of what was in front of him.

Brother, it was a word he used for the man in the black tube as well. "Christine! Carol!" The two women came running into the room. Carol still favoring her newly healed leg. "I need the two of you to be on call at all hours. There is a room down the hall with a full bath and a couple of beds. Go grab some clothes and come back as soon as possible. I'll requisition the room for your use. Please."

Carol was confused. "I understand why you need Christine, but why do you need me? Don't get me wrong, I want to help. I just don't know what I can do."

"The cryotube, I got him this far, but I need you to keep an eye on it. I won't be able to tell if there are minute changes that could cause issues to arise. I talked to Scotty on the way here. He says you are the best for this and I acquiesce to his expertise."

"I understand doctor. I'll be right back."

"It's Leonard. Please both of you, for now it's just Leonard."

Carol smiled as she left, but Christine didn't move. "Len, I need you to talk to me. Joseph is busy at the civilian hospital, so I'm all you've got. You aren't as sure as you want people to think, are you?"

McCoy flopped into the seat behind the desk. "Am I that obvious?"

"Not to most people. Just talk to me." She took the seat across the desk from him.

"I took a little over a pint of blood from the asshole. Don't worry, he's back in stasis. Right now, I'm breaking down the blood to try to manufacture a serum similar to the one I used on the furball."

"So, what's concerning you?"

"Jim's not a Tribble. "

"No, he's not. Let me grab some things from my apartment. I'll be right back. Len?" He had been looking down at his lap.

He looked up at her. "Hmmm?"

"You can do this, can't you?"

Len knew that in that moment she needed him to be Dr. McCoy, quiet and confident. "I can. I'll just need your help."

"I'll be right back doctor."

"Leonard!" He shouted after her as the door closed.

After she left, he took a few minutes to look around at the room Starfleet had put him in. Two of the walls were covered in monitors, one with windows, the last was blank; much like his mind at the moment. The PADD in front of him held all of his work regarding the serum he used on Scotty's tribble. With a few strokes the two walls came to life. All of his work came up; one calculation flowing into another, one molecule bonding with another until the string was formed. Arms crossed Dr. McCoy studied every formula looking for any possible deviations that might be necessary because, as he said, James Kirk was not a tribble.

A small hand rested on his arm near the elbow. "You need to get some food."

He kissed the top of her head. "I will Seri. I just want to go over these again."

"I thought you would say that." She pulled lightly on his arm. It was only then he noticed the food on the desk. He had been so engrossed in work that he didn't even feel his fiancé when she walked into the room. "You've been in here for hours. Imzadi, you haven't even showered. Please eat at least."

"I'll eat. And I promise I'll get cleaned up." He kissed her again before they both sat down to dinner. "I talked to Ev."

"I know I talked to Joce. She said they are coming as soon as they get the all clear. Now I need to tell you something and I don't want you to get the way you get."

"What did you do?" He sounded irritated.

"I called Rory and Owen about an hour ago. They are also coming."

He threw down his sandwich. "Why the fuck would you do that?! I don't need their help."

"Really? After the last time I thought…"

"You thought what?"

"You know what, you are being ridiculous. They are coming. You always do better with your family around and you know it. Be angry with me, I don't care. They are coming." With that she got up and left Len alone with his thoughts.

Seri walked down the hall to the room with two guards outside the door. "Dr. Seriana Targan." She handed the lieutenant her I.D.

"Yes doctor, let me get the door for you." He opened the door to an almost empty room.

"Thank you." The guard closed the door leaving Seri alone with the black tube and her fears. It took a few minutes before she could bring herself to walk over to the cryotube. What would she see when she got there?

It didn't take long to make it to the middle of the room. The tube looked like a casket to her. Before looking down she closed her eyes and tried to feel him, to feel anything. There was nothing. Maybe this was a casket. Then she looked down. He wasn't blue, he was sleeping. But he wasn't sleeping. If he were, she could feel him. "Jim please. I love you. Please baby, don't leave. Don't go." Shakily her hand ran over the window. It was cold to the touch, colder than it should have been.

"He hasn't gone yet." Len's hand rested on hers. "I'm so sorry Peaches. I'm so sorry."

With that she melted into the arms of her partner. Her sobs shook both of them as he let her fall apart, tears staining his chest. Seriana Targan never fell apart; except when she did. It took a while before she was able to compose herself. "I'm sorry, you don't need this."

Gently he raised her chin with his thumb then carefully kissed the tears away. "I do. I need to know that I am still a part of you. That we still are one. You cry to me, and I promise I'll always come to you."

"Deal. Len, I believe in you."

"Even if I'm not sure. I have gone over everything."

"Now you need to try it."

"Once I get enough synthesized."

"How long will that take?"

"At least a day if not two."

"Then you have time to wash and get some sleep."

He pulled back from the embrace, from the feeling of warmth. "I can't leave him. I can't."

"And after everything that you have gone through in the past twenty-four hours you need rest. Jim would want you to rest." Her hand caressed his cheek. "You are tired and filthy. Neither is conducive to you being at your best. Mama and Uncle George are coming soon. Joce is bringing Jo."

"I know. I don't know if I want my baby here."

"You may not, but you need her here. Also, she'll feel better if she is here. You know the munchkin, just like her daddy."

"Too much sometimes. Where do you propose I get some sleep? I gave the on-call room to Carol and Christine."

"Cal go us a couple of bungalows. There were a few on the other side of the campus that weren't destroyed. Len, you can't keep this up." Her eyes locked with his.

"He can't be left alone. I'm not leaving him." McCoy was determined. He had taken Jim this far and couldn't abandon him.

Seri could see the desperation in his eyes, even if he hid it from her in every other way. "Give me a few minutes. Did you finish dinner?" She placed her hands on his chest. He could block his thoughts and even his feelings, but he couldn't change his heart rate. Hell, even Spock couldn't do that in times of extreme stress or exhaustion. Steady, but with a slightly elevated rate. He definitely needed to walk out of the medical building and decompress.

"No, I was an ass and I needed to find you." His voice shook slightly; something no one who worked in the building would have thought possible.

"Len, I'm not going to leave you. You're tired and scared. For you that has always been a volatile combination. I haven't forgotten that first summer. But I appreciate the apology. Go eat. I'll take care of some things, then I'll join you." After he kissed the top of her head, Len left. As the door closed, Seri's attention went back to the man in the tube. "He'll kill himself to save you, if we let him." She took out her comm and placed a call. The doctor would need help if this was ever going to work.

Len looked at his plate. He wasn't hungry, but as a doctor he knew how important it was to eat. As he picked at the sandwich and ate the salad, he waited for Seri to join him. The past five years she had been his anchor. She was the principle reason he had excelled as CMO of the fleet's flagship. The best doctor on the best ship, that was what everyone said. What did they fucking know?

The position had become his by default; only experienced trauma surgeon left alive at the end of the Nero fiasco. He had a beating heart so Spock made him acting CMO. That by no means meant he would get the position after graduation, even with Jim begging the admiralty. Seri was the reason they considered him for the post. She kept him focused after Nero. When they came back from leave, she got his mind out of Georgia and back into Starfleet. He needed that or part of him would have been with Evan after the loss the man had suffered, with the rest of him running over "what if" scenarios in his head. At times the "what if's" were too horrific to entertain. No, without her his grades would have tanked and he would have been relegated to fixing skinned knees at the local clinic.

His fiancé had helped him fulfill his potential. As he thought about it all he was the best Starfleet had to offer; the best trauma surgeon, the best research physician. Would all of that be enough now that it was needed. "You need to stop doing that. Mama always said you overthink things."

"Hi sis." He stood as Caroline McCoy walked into the arms of her big brother. Len noticed her hair still smelled of honey, the way it did when they were back home. The admiral had informed him that his sister was safe, and he knew Seri had seen her; but until he held her, smelled her hair, felt her heart beat, he didn't believe she was unharmed. "God, it's good to see you."

Her hand rubbed up and down his back slowly as she clung to him. "I thought you were dead. We heard the reports as things were happening."

For the second time that day, Leonard McCoy held a woman he loved as she broke in his arms. The difference this time was the tears were for him. "I'm alright Cal, I've got you. I'm not going anywhere."

"No, you're not, you're not okay. Have you looked in the mirror?" She wiped her eyes on his shirt the way she did when they were children. Cal tried to laugh, but the sound only held the fear she hid from all but him. As she pulled back her eyes studied his face.

"I'm afraid to. Do you want to see him?"

She let go of her grip completely and steeled herself for the tableau in the room down the hall. "I need to see him. And you need me to stay with him. I can do this." Len knew the last sentence was less a statement of fact, and more a way for her to convince herself.

"I'm sorry? I don't understand."

"Seri called while I was walking over. It takes a little while to get across campus right now."

"I can imagine."

"I don't think you can. Anyway, she asked if I could stay with Jim so she could drag you to the bungalow for a shower and some sleep."

"Can't I just go back to your place?"

"Lenny, I don't have a place, not after this afternoon. The entire building is gone."

"Oh God Cal…I didn't realize…"

"It doesn't matter. I didn't even have a plant or a fish. Everything I had in there is replaceable." He noticed her playing with the silver anchor that hung around her neck ever since the day Jim gave it to her, and the diamond studs he had given her still sparkled against her skin. She still possessed the only material things she treasured.

"Grab some scrubs before they are gone. You'll need a change of clothes. Seri is meeting me here. I think she wants to make sure I've eaten."

Cal looked at the half-eaten tray. "She'll be mildly pleased. You amazing fiancé, who you don't deserve by the way, is setting up a schedule so Jim is never left alone." Len's eyebrows knitted together. "Sweetie, she is worried about you. We all are."

"Even Spock?"

Her smile was large and genuine. "Believe it or not, especially Spock. He is still being debriefed at headquarters, but I met him before he went in. Oh, you should take a look at his hand and maybe his right shoulder when you are both at the house tonight. I did manage to grab two so everyone would have a place to stay. They couldn't say no to the sister of the Enterprise's CMO. Sorry, but I did wear you rank to get them. Ben and Demora are staying in the second one. Ben grabbed some clothes, her portable cot, pictures, the kitten and its litterbox, and the fish. Still can't figure out how he managed the fish. Sorry, their building is largely standing, but there is a lot of structural damage. I gave him an access card. He said he'll try to grab more of their things later if he is allowed back in. But they are safe."

"How did you find him?"

He commed me when he saw my apartment go down. We have become very close, and he panicked. Len, he was half crying when I answered. He had just gotten the little one from daycare, something about her having a doctor's appointment. Baby, the daycare was destroyed less than an hour later."

"Move them to the house Spock and I are in."

"I'll call him. I'll put the crew in yours and family in the other. It would be best for all of you to stay as close to one another as possible." Sometimes Len forgot his little sister was becoming a very accomplished psychologist.

The door opened catching both of their attention. Seri walked in and smiled at Cal. "Hey sis. I set up the schedule so this one can get some rest. You have the next four hours then Pavel will relieve you."

The doctor looked concerned. "How long do you think I'm going to stay away?"

Seri stepped between him and Cal. Cal took that as her cue to leave. "I'll wait over here." She walked to the windows and looked out across the undisturbed area of the campus to the bridge.

"Len, you haven't slept in almost twenty-four hours. By the time you get back to the house and washed it will be longer than that. You said it will be at least a day if not two before the serum is ready for use. After that I doubt you will be getting much sleep. You need to rest now while you can. We have this, I promise you. I gave a list of authorized personnel to security and to the hospital. As more people arrive, we'll add them to the rotation. Jake and Mama will want to sit with him as soon as they get here. You need rest if you are going to be of any use later. Now you can rest knowing he won't be left alone."

"I'm not going to win this argument, am I?"

"No."

Len studied his finance then looked over at his baby sister. She looked a little lost as she stared towards the bay. "Are you ready?"

"Yes." To him, she didn't sound particularly convincing. "Let me grab a PADD." She took one from the conference table before joining her brother. "Let's go."

Seri waited outside Len's office door while the two walked to Jim's room. Security barely acknowledged them as they entered the room. The first thing that struck Cal was how much the tube looked like a black casket. In a way she reasoned, it was. Black and cold, the lights bounced off of its gleaming surface, a surface that drew her forward. It was a casket that held her world.

Len put his hand in the middle of her back as he slowly guided her to the cryotube. There was Jim. She looked through the window at his face. To her he looked no different than he did as he lay in bed after a hard day on the farm. "You can talk to him."

"Why? He can't hear me."

"We don't know that. I've been talking to him since we got him here. It may help."

She sat in the anti-gravity chair Seri had brought in. "Len?"

"Yes?"

"You think you can bring him back?" He could always read his sister. She needed him to say an unequivocal yes, but more than that, she needed him to tell her the truth. "I think I can, yes."

"So, you don't know?"

"Cal, I'm doing the best I can. Before you ask, there is no one I can consult. No one has done anything like this before. The serum will be ready in the next two days. After that I'll have a better idea. I wish I could tell you I'm positive it'll work, but Cal, I don't know."

She took his hand and kissed the top of it before holding it to her cheek. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"Not bullshitting me; trusting me. Len, I know you're doing your best. Now, I'm going to say something you may never hear me say again. Pay attention. Her green eyes looked up at him through thick black lashes. "You're the best. I watched you do your research when you lived at home; always buried in your PADD, hinging from dad. You were brilliant, still are. If you can't figure this out, no one can." She kissed his hand again; clinging to him, almost afraid to let go.

"thank you for that. I just don't want to fuck this up."

"You can't. Now go get some sleep, and please take a shower. You smell like a structure fire and sweat."

Len kissed her on the top of the head. "I love you too." The click of the door as he exited the room echoed off the walls and the windows.

For the first time since the galaxy tore into the quad, Cal was alone with her thoughts. She commed Ben and told him to move into the bigger bungalow and gave him the entry code. Then she was alone again. Avoidance when it came to looking at Jim wasn't working. She had seen him when Len brought her into the room, but she hadn't let the reality of the situation sink in, she couldn't. No matter how tangible it all was, it still seemed unreal.

The door felt cold against the doctor's back. He could see Seri as she waited for him. They were right, the women in his life usually were, he was exhausted. His head hung down as he allowed the exhaustion to wash over him. "Come on Imzadi; time to go to sleep." She moved his hair aside to kiss his forehead.

"Cal said I smell like a structure fire and sweat."

"She isn't wrong."

Len straightened up, put his arm around her shoulders and leg her down the hall. "Let's go."