For Author's note and Disclaimer, see chapter 1

Chapter 31

Nurse Chapel had obviously been waiting for them to announce Bones was ready for her ministrations. Figuring it was for the best at the moment Jim made use of the privileges owed him due to his rank. Asking for breakfast for them to be brought to his cabin by a Yeoman, Bones reaching eagerly for the coffee as soon as the mug was brought into his vicinity. Jim had requested stew for him, ill and injured were given the right for more of the real food than healthy crew members until it was enough for them all at all meals. He really doubted that his friend would have managed one of the dry tasteless nutrient bars at the moment though. Indeed he seemed to find the stew hard enough even if he ate fairly quickly. Chapel was waiting until he was done, insisting that he needed the food more at the moment. He did try to question her about how the first shift had progressed, making mental notes of who had come down sick and how they were progressing on the vitamin shots.

When he was done and she picked up the tricorder Jim took a step back. It was interesting to watch, Bones might be the patient but that did not mean he was not a doctor. He was conversing with Chapel the whole time, discussing the readout with her regardless if it was in his favor or not. Bones might want nothing more than get up and get back to work, and would no doubt argue that he should at any cost. Even so, he would not allow Chapel to have less than a full understanding of what the readout showed.

She might understand it, but a lot of what they said Jim felt was lost on himself. Unless he got a full explanation he would not know one way or another, even if he found it heartening that Chapel didn't reach for a hypospray the very instant Bones reached for his clothes.

"Care to fill me in?" he asked where he had been hanging back. He could say it was to offer some semblance of privacy, but it wasn't as if privacy was something they had at the moment.

"I don't have a lot to add at the moment," Chapel mused. "There is the chance that pneumonia will develop, but right now it's not really treatable. However since we caught it this early, if it does, we will be able to treat it right away so there is no danger in it. We just need to maintain a close observation."

"And that is all you will do?" he wasn't sure if he liked the sound of that.

"If we had the staff, I'd order him off duty," Chapel paused as she looked at her boss. "If he keeps staying in sickbay as he has this last time I'm pretty sure it will develop into full pneumonia, but we are short staffed, and we have very few competent doctors to handle any situation." She hesitated a little again and it struck Jim that it was odd that Bones was so quiet. Normally he wasn't, but maybe he was trying to give his head nurse a chance to gain more security in her actions. It was one thing she often lacked, she was very competent but she did not show it like Bones did. It would be just like Bones to nudge her into it with a situation where no one else would know or be affected by anything she got wrong. While it might be difficult for a doctor to argue his case as a patient McCoy could basically overrule her decision if he had reasonable cause. Now he was giving her the chance to grow in her own position if she was willing to take it.

McCoy had a way of handling those things that often took Jim by surprise given how subtle and effective he was.

"Best solution I can offer is to put you on call," Chapel decided. "We should be able to handle the routine injections well enough, and you won't be down in the cold, but you'll be available if we need you."

"Alright, that should work for now," Bones nodded and Jim figured there was something in it he did not fully like but he would not correct her about it. Either it meant he was going to overrule her and go down to sickbay, and did not want the Captain who could stop him to know about it. Or it meant he figured to adapt it a little more to his own preference later.

"Anything I need to know?" Jim put in, it wasn't too much for the Captain to ask to have any necessary information, was it?

"Keep an eye on him," Chapel urged. "If he develops a cough or fever, well, I'd say send him down to sickbay, but you might as well just make him examine himself."

"Alright, I think we can manage that," he nodded. It was good to know what to look for. The fact that Bones looked a little hesitant at that was also good to know. It meant that there might be things he prefered if they did not notice, and that in turn meant that Jim had to make sure he did notice them.

"Well, I'm going to get back down to sickbay," Chapel decided. "If we need you for something, we'll call you. If not, you make sure to take it easy and stay warm."

"We'll make sure he does, thank you Nurse Chapel," Jim smiled as he saw her out. Amused as he turned around and found Bones pulling on his boots and his uniform tunic. "Why do I get a feeling you're already planning disobedience?"

"A bit juvenile, don't you think?" Bones raised an eyebrow. "Fact remains that sickbay is overworked right now, and one doctor down is not going to help. Now, Christine is a very capable nurse, and I've got a couple of junior doctors that can generally handle the day to day stuff. That is generally Jim, not right now, not like we are now, and if I leave them for more than a day things will get worse down there if for no other reason than that there are too many things for far too few people to do."

"So what's your proposal to the problem?" Jim folded his arms across his chest. He would be damned if he let the man damn himself. "You figure to work yourself into a state of full pneumonia or just until you collapse from exhaustion? Did a pretty good job of that already, didn't you?" The words were more bitter and more biting than he had meant for them to be, but then he still remembered how scared he had been. Bones didn't look that much better as it was either. Weary and tired, and angry, eyes narrowed as he gritted his teeth and Jim knew he was keeping his temper in check by sheer will and determination.

For all he usually bristled, Bones could keep his temper quite well when he wanted to. It wasn't when he snapped he was mad, it was when he held himself together so tightly you saw the muscle tense but he was still quiet.

"My proposal, Captain, would be that I can quite easily handle all of the routine vitamin injections and I can do it somewhere up here, thereby relieving some of the pressure on the staff in sickbay and allowing them to focus on the more direct medical issues, sir."

"Alright, I deserved that one Bones," he sighed. "I didn't mean to sound like I blamed you, I know you haven't had much choice in the matter, but you have to understand how it scared me yesterday. I guess I'm more affected than I realized by it."

"We're both much the same Jim," now McCoy softened his tone. "We don't like making it easy for ourselves when the ones we're in charge of have to work. I always figured that was part of what made you a good captain. The problem is, we're still human whether we care to admit it to ourselves or not. I hate it when you go on one of your grand dashing and daring hairbrained schemes, even if I will admit you usually manage to pull them off. Every once in a while though you're gonna have to face that it's one of us that has to take the risk."

"And that is not something I'm good at," he sighed. "I know, I absolutely hate it actually. And having it being a friend does not make it easier. I can't help it Bones, not being able to do anything, it gets under my skin like crazy to just watch you."

"Then help me," McCoy urged. "At least in so much as that you try to understand me. Makes it a whole lot easier when I don't have to defend myself for doing what I have to, what I am here for. I can't ignore how thin they are stretched down there, not while I can still do something. I can't sit by and watch it getting worse when I can help them handle it. You couldn't and you should understand why I can't either. So don't fight me on it."

"I won't," Jim ran a hand over his face again, feeling drained. "Do what you think is best, you have my support."

"Thank you," Bones put a hand on his shoulder for a moment as he headed to the door. Bones didn't have to say that it was his trust he was thanking him for more than anything else. That was something that could remain unsaid between them and they both knew it. It was the way their relationship worked, built on mutual trust.

The doctor was right though, about them being a lot alike. In a way Jim figured it was why he objected so strongly to it. He knew that what he tended to do was not really a good thing and he knew that at some point he would likely pay for it.

Always trying to get back on duty before he was fully healed because the ship only had one captain and that meant in his book the captain should be on the bridge in charge of the ship. He always argued with Bones that he was fine and there was no need for him to recuperate. So did Spock, and they could both drive the doctor up the wall with it. He did it because he felt he had to, he was responsible for his ship. Being in sickbay or even in his quarters made him feel cut off. It was all fine and well to hand it over to the next shift when he knew they could call him in when they needed him. Handing it over for two days or more though, that grated on him and he tried to avoid it at all costs and so did Spock.

If he hated seeing Bones doing the same thing now though, then did he not at least owe it to him to be honest with himself?

The truth of the matter was Bones really was needed, ill or not the staff in sickbay needed their CMO if as nothing more than support. Setting up a small corner of the mess again where he took care of the routine vitamin injections took a lot of the strain of sickbay and made it that much easier for them. He also went down there several times but Jim was pleased to note that he came back up when he was done. Of course he also saw him shivering and rubbing his arms when he did, but either by his own volition or forced by Nurse Chapel he did come back up to where it was warmer.

Seeing no one else there at the moment Jim took a seat at the table, smiling as McCoy raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"Captain's got the right to take a break when he wants to, doesn't he?"

"Sure," McCoy nodded slowly, almost thoughtfully. "Generally I even encourage it, but when you actually do it without me harassing you, I know you're trying to be subtle about something."

"Will it do me any good to deny that?" he wanted to know.

"What do you think?" taking his friends arm Bones quickly injected a shot from the hypospray.

"You know, maybe the reason why I don't come around more often is because you keep doing that," Jim rubbed the spot on his arm even though he could not really say he minded all that much. Sometimes he wondered if any other captain was used to being injected with hypos at random times, but then he would also have to wonder if their CMO's perhaps didn't care enough to do it. Overall, he had to say he preferred the way Bones handled things. Quick and efficient, and without worrying about rank.

"If you didn't try to get out of it, I wouldn't have to keep doing that," Bones leaned back in his seat easily. "You were behind on your vitamin shots, now you're not."

"I suppose that's a good thing," Jim reminded himself that there were plenty of ships in the fleet that had medical officers that didn't care half as much as Bones did. Not even close to it and that was a scary thought. He felt sorry for the ones serving on them, even if they did not know what they were missing.

One thing he had to say for his own crew, they all complained about it and sometimes with some amount of good reason, but they knew they had a doctor who cared and they appreciated it.

"You know Bones, I keep thinking there aren't all that many ships in the fleet that would have been able to pull this off," he mused. "The kind of sacrifice we've had to ask everyone to do, not everyone would have."

"Sho'nuf," Bones nodded, like his friend thinking back to the ship they had both served on before and Jim eyed him closer at the southern accent. "They'll be all the stronger for it," Bones mused. "There's been friction, but they pulled through together and they know it. They'll remember they were able to do so, and they'll be stronger."

"Scotty thinks he'll be able to put some of our main systems back online tomorrow," Jim nodded. "Though he's keeping it on the quiet in case something goes wrong. Don't want to give everyone false hope."

"But you don't mind giving me false hope, do you," Bones snorted. "I can't wait for some real food, not to mention heat." He turned halfway around to cough and Jim frowned at the sound of it. Wet and painful if he was any judge of it. Bones however seemed undeterred by it.

"Was that what your nurse wanted me to keep an eye out for?" he wanted to know.

"Just about, and I've already been down to sickbay for it," Bones shrugged. "Then I got ordered back up again as if it wasn't 'my' sickbay."

"So, everything is under control then?" Jim queried hopefully.

"Sure, if you want to call hurding through space in an oversized tin-can with barely any power under control," Bones allowed and Jim had to admit he was glad to hear it. It was comforting in a way to have Bones complaining about the horrors and dangers of space travel.

"I think that one came with the job Bones," he grinned, clasping a hand on his shoulder as he stood again. "I'll come by again later, grab some food. You just keep doing what your nurse tells you to do, okay?"

"As if I had any choice," the doctor grumbled good naturedly behind him as he left. "She kicked me out…"

TBC

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