(Hello my beautiful people! This is our last chapter *sigh*, and it is full of fluffy hurt/comfort. This fic was so fun to write! And I can't wait to do more! My in progress stories will both be updated soon! Here is the lovely little cheat sheet, (Y/N)= your name, (h/c)= hair color, (e/c)= eye color. Once again I only own the plot, and OCs. If I owned Star Trek, oh goodness the things I could do! Anywaaayyyssss you to anyone, and everyone who took the time to read, and review! Your support is very appreciated! On with the story!)
You were vaguely aware of the arms that were holding you tightly, protectively, as you came to.
You groaned, and tried to sit up. Hands held you tightly though until you settled. Your head lolled to the side, and was met with something warm and soft. You cracked your eyes open and were met with the sight of science blue. You breathed as deeply as your throbbing side would allow, and the scent of soap, coffee, and cologne hit your nose. Somewhere you heard voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. Nor did you really care because of how tired you suddenly were. Deep in your brain it registered that all of the scientists were women, so they wouldn't be wearing men's cologne. That left only one person who would be holding you, Bones.
"Come on, darlin'," a thick southern accent drawled.
The voice seemed much closer this time, and jolted you into awareness. You gasped in pain, and tried to sit up once again to preserve some of your dignity. Panting you were horrified when you realized how this must have looked to your crew. Gods above, you were their leader, and here was their CMO cradling you to his chest. You must have looked so weak, and this angered you. You had to get up.
"Hey, woah, stay still. You're safe, you're safe, it's ok," Bones said, holding you more tightly to keep you from injuring yourself further. He continued to whisper reassurances to you as your breathing evened out, and relaxed as much as possible with the infected hole in your side.
"Wha' h'ppened?" You slurred, very much feeling the effects of the toxin, and antidote simultaneously.
"You collapsed. We got the antidote in you, and waking up so soon after getting the hypo is a good sign. Goddamnit (Y/n), why didn't you tell me you were hurt? You know the risks of not getting the antidote within a few minutes, the survival chances," Bones began ranting, but the last part was barely a whisper," I can't lose you."
"I did'n' even realize," You mumble, the ability to speak properly slowly coming back. A wave of nausea hit you, and your surroundings began to spin. A small groan escaped your lips without your permission, and you leaned your head back against Bones.
"What's wrong?" Bones asked, obviously concerned.
"Dizzy," was all you managed to grind out before the nausea overwhelmed you again.
"Nauseous too?" Bones pressed, taking an educated guess. You simply nodded in response. "Hang on, I can help with that."
He laid you down on the cold stone ground, and you shivered immediately missed his warmth. You new similar toxins to the one in your bloodstream had the side effects of dizziness, and nausea. But you both knew there were some other extremely unpleasant side effects as well, seizures, fever, difficulty breathing, nerves being set a fire from the inside, massive internal bleeding, and eventually death if the medicine couldn't give the person a fighting chance. Couldn't give you a fighting chance. The small sting, and hiss of the hypospray brought you back to reality. He picked you back up, but you didn't have the energy to fight. Plus he was warm in the cold cave, so very warm. You snuggled into his chest feeling protected as the meds began to take effect.
"How're we coming on contacting the Enterprise, Ensign?" Bones asked one of your team, Ensign Andre Williamson. He had been trying to establish better communication signals to contact the ship with Ensign Romanoff.
"We are making progress. It will take us a bit more time to make contact though. ETA is roughly 15 minutes," Ensign Williamson responded.
"Hear that darlin'? Almost there, you just gotta hang on a little longer. Think you can do that?" He hesitated, and then added," For me?"
You nodded against his chest, and took a deep could feel your strength coming and going, but overall you did feel a bit better. Though something about his words made you wonder.
"Why did you say that?" You asked, looking up at him.
"Say what?" he looked at you confused, and maybe a little concerned.
"You asked me to hang on for you," you explained, taking a few seconds to breathe through the pain before continuing," Earlier you said you couldn't lose me. Why?"
Bones sighed looking away for a moment, trying to get his composure back as a blush crept onto his cheeks. Even in your drugged state this sent waves of curiosity, and worry through you. He had to tell you, it was now or never.
"Because… I love you. Have for a while now," he confessed, looking you in the eyes.
Your heart began to beat faster, and you couldn't believe what you were hearing. It had to be the drugs. Or maybe you misheard him? Were you hallucinating? And if you weren't, why would he love you of all people? You spoke before you could stop yourself.
"Why? Out of all the people on this ship, why would you love me?" You asked incredulously, body stiffening, and breathing speeding up.
"Because you bug me, woman. You know exactly what to say, how to say it, and what to do. God, no one has ever pushed my buttons the way you do. You're brave, strong, and brilliant. Loyal to a fault, and brutally honest. Not to mention gorgeous. You know how to make me laugh, you can actually talk Jim out of his hairbrained suicide missions, and help Spock understand emotion. You're perfect (Y/n)," Bones said. His words were soft and quiet, but full of so much love.
You wanted to respond, but suddenly you couldn't move. You wanted to tell him you loved him too, you wanted to tell him so bad. Your body just wouldn't respond, and began to twitch. A horrible, all encompassing, fear grabbed hold of you in a vice like grip as you saw Bones yelling something, but couldn't hear what. Then the world went black.
An insistent, and obnoxious beeping filled your ears. It irritated you as it drug you out of the pits of sleep. You took a deep breath, and cracked your eyes open. Beautiful, blessed vibrant light hit your pupils, and you were never happier to be blinded. This kind of light was only known to one place, Medbay. The sound of voices hit your ears, they said something about poison causing a seizure, and surgery. Were the voices talking about you? You suddenly were aware of 3 blurry figures moving around the room. You blinked a few times attempting to rid yourself of the film over your eyes.
When your vision finally returned you were surprised to see Spock standing at the end of your bed. Unsurprised to see Jim poking his nose where it definitely didn't belong, and Bones swatting Jim's overly curious hands away from things. Your smile faded into a grimace as your side gave a particularly painful throb. A low groan escaped your lips, and everyone turned to look at you.
Bones immediately shooed Spock, and Jim out of the room; reassuring them they could come back whenever he had examined you, but after everything that had happened they didn't want to overexert you. They begrudgingly left, and Bones was next to you instantly looking you over with those beautiful eyes of his full of agonizing worry.
"I love you too," the words came out so fast you weren't sure if he would understand what you said," I love you so much. I have for the longest time, but I didn't think you-"
Bones quickly cut you off by tenderly grabbing your face, and pressing his lips to yours. At first it shocked you, but then you relaxed into his touch. You entangled your fingers in his hair, and pulled him in deepening the kiss. It felt so perfect, so right. You held tight to each other unwilling to let go; terrified if you let go the other would disappear. Unfortunately all good things must come to an end, and you both had to breathe.
"Bones," you whispered, hands coming to rest on his cheeks, and love burning bright in your eyes.
"Don't you ever scare me like that again, ya hear?" Bones whispered, leaning his forehead to press against your.
"I'll try," you smiled. You looked into his eyes, and just wanted him closer. You scooted over, pulling the blanket with you, giving him enough room to climb in next to you.
"Darlin'," he began to try and reason as to why it was a bad idea to share a bed while you were still recovering.
"Leonard McCoy, you are the CMO of this ship, you can break your own rules. I almost died, humor me, please? Come here," you stated in your best commander voice, and patted the bed.
He eventually gave in, and climbed in next to you. His presence was so comforting, and you felt completely safe when you were with him. He wrapped his arms around you pulling you into a tight embrace while you snuggled into his side. Resting your head on his shoulder you began to feel sleep pull your eyes closed.
"Sleep darlin', you need it after you went through today. I'll be here when you wake up," he whispered, stroking your beautiful (h/c) hair.
"Promise?" You asked, voice barely a whisper, and seeping with exhaustion. You were afraid to lose him. Afraid you would wake up in that cold cave again. Afraid it was all just a dream.
"Promise," And just like that your fears were gone, and sleep claimed you. As it soon did Bones; he was just as tired.
Jim poked his head in the door, but decided not to disturb his lovebird officers. He chuckled though and looked at Spock.
"And he said nothing good happens in caves."