Chapter 6

There was not quite a bite to the air, but a hint of a chill as the alarm rang in the morning. Taking a deep breath of the cold air Jim figured it was best to face it head on and flung out an arm in a stretch to wake himself up fully.

The slap of flesh on flesh was followed by a grunt and an insistent rustle beside him. "What in the blue blazes is it with you and beating a fellow up every morning?!" Bones' angry voice growled as the doctor sat up rubbing his throat. "You trying to choke me or something?"

"Sorry Doc," he gave him an apologetic look as he sat up. "If it helps, at least I noticed you were there tonight, never knew anyone could have feet that cold." For a moment he had actually been worried when he felt the chill of the other man, Bones however appeared to have gone to sleep in some degree of comfort so he had figured there probably was no danger and he would warm up during the night.

"Well, that's hardly reason to go beating a fellow up every morning, is it? What in tarnation is that about anyway?" Bones demanded as he crawled out of bed.

"Tarnation?" Spock coming out of the bathroom according to their now seemingly established routine raised a questioning eyebrow.

"Yes, tarnation, as in what in tarnation is it with that man and beating up on everyone?" Bones demanded as he pushed passed the Vulcan into the bathroom.

"Don't look at me," Jim gave an easy smile as he stretched again. "I think maybe the good doctor woke up on the wrong side of the bed today."

"Illogical, as you and the doctor have been keeping to the same sides every night," Spock decided with a frown. "It would stand to reason either side is no more wrong, nor more right this morning than it was any other day."

"Alright, the good doctor is feeling somewhat cranky this morning," Jim grinned.

"Interesting, though I do not see how this information is new, or in any other way informative of a new situation," Spock mused as he reached for his clothes.

"It aint nothing new, an' that's the whole blamed thing!" the annoyed and rather indignant snappish growl came from the half closed door to the bathroom.

"Interesting, indeed," Spock raised his eyebrow as he tilted his head to gaze in that direction. "It does seem to have a negative effect on his syntactic ability. Would a further study on this and the effect be possible?"

Grinning to himself Jim pondered it for a second, given Bones' annoyance over the intrusion, and the fact he apparently was in the habit of stretching every morning… "I'm sure you'll have plenty of opportunity to do so," he allowed.

"Oh no!" Bones snapped as he came back out of the bathroom and Jim got up to take his turn. "I don't know what in Sam Hill you're going on about, but I tell ya right now that I ain't gonna stand for nothing like that!"

"Fascinating," Spock tilted his head to the side again, running his eyes up and down the man, taking in the elevated blood pressure, increased heartbeat and every other sign of agitation.

"It is, isn't it," Jim grinned in response. Patting Bones on the shoulder as he passed in the hope to calm him. As fun as it could be to get a bit of teasing in he did not want him to get 'too' mad. Bones riled pretty easily, but he usually calmed down just as fast unless you got him really mad. It was only if you got him mad to the point where he did not calm down that you had a problem on your hands. He wasn't one to carry a grudge, not really, but if something got to him, really got to him then he had a hard time letting it go.

Now as much as he bristled under the touch he obviously wasn't really mad and by the time Jim was done shaving Bones was pulling a uniform tunic over the black undershirt. Sitting down on the bed he paused for a moment as if considering things, then pulled a second pair of socks on over the ones he already wore.

Spock raised an eyebrow over this and Jim shrugged. "Given how cold it was when I was just passing by the sickbay yesterday, that's a smart move."

"I asked nurse Chapel to make sure everyone dressed warm," Bones stated. "Rotating them seemed to do it, mess is not too bad, and they can get back down fairly quick if we need an extra pair of hands." He had to struggle a bit to get the boots on, them being a little tighter over double socks.

"Just make sure you rotate yourself as well," Jim urged as he quickly dressed in standard uniform. He didn't like knowing how cold the staff down there was, but there wasn't much he could do. With the shape the ship was in, anything that was working had to come after what was not working. There was no real way to give sickbay more heat.

"We'll manage," Bones stated as the three of them left to try and choke down their share of the ration bars.

"I have every faith in you," Jim offered him a smile. He did, Bones would never put any of his staff at risk if he could avoid it.

There certainly were risks with the shape the ship was in. He had to send one of his navigators down to sickbay with a burn on his arm after touching a hot welding seam. Then one of the engineers suffered a minor electrical burn from replacing one wire and touching another while he was at it. With similar reports coming in from various other decks he decided it was time to make a tour around the ship and see how they were doing.

Scotty seemed to have everything more or less under control in engineering, it was actually rather hot and stifling in there. It was good to see that they were managing though, and he wasn't going to say one word about the fact that half of them were working in just their undershirts.

"Only trouble we've had in here sir is that half of them are scared stiff of having to go back to the doctor," Scotty scratched his head. "Couple of them even asked for extra ration bars and vitamin pills so they did."

"You know, I could be wrong," Kirk mused as he watched the men. "But I think that might actually be what McCoy was going for. He does have a point about it, a lot of the crew were trying to avoid the rations."

"Aye, he's got a point alright," the scotsman nodded. "Donnae mean I like having me lads looking over their shoulder, but it seemed to do the trick so it did. Ye don't think he'll still make them head up again, do ye?"

"I think he probably will," he decided. McCoy was very, very dedicated to his profession and would not take any risks where the crews safety was concerned. "But you know it'll go much smoother if they eat the rations and everything. Even so, on this I have to agree with him, better safe than sorry."

"Aye, I suppose so," Scotty nodded. "But ah don't get it, sir. I've seen Harrison go after a Klingon so I have, didn't think the man was scared of anything so I did, an' yet he's scared stiff off the doctor. Don't really make sense does it now?"

"Did the Klingon have a hypo spray?" Jim asked amused.

"Come to think of it, I donnae think so," Scotty decided. "Ye know Captain, that could really be what did it."

"I'm pretty sure it was," he mused. "Look Scotty, I won't tell you not to take it personally, because we both know how Bones are. He doesn't mean it, it's just his way, but right now it's also pretty cold down there. If you reminded your men about that, maybe it would be easier for them to show some understanding?"

"Aye, I cannae say it will, but I'll remind them," Scott promised softly. "Not much I ken do about it either, we're giving them all we can so we are."

"Don't worry about it," Jim urged though he had to admit he felt some concern himself. "You know Bones' he's not blaming you or carrying a grudge or anything. He's just a little bit grumpier than he usually is because they are cold and he's worried about his staff."

"Aye, I know," Scott nodded. "I'll be telling the lads to behave themselves."

"Thanks Scotty." Continuing to check in on sickbay he found more activity there than he had expected, and it was clear more than ever that regulation dress code had gone out the window, and Bones had probably been all too happy to wave it goodbye. Nurse Chapel was still wearing the same uniform pants he suspected to be Bones', but as they were only calves length he could see what was a pair of purple and pink striped leggings under them. A quite interesting combination. The same open necked sweater she had worn the day before this time had a blue uniform tunic showing at the hem, neck and cuffs. The garment just longer enough in the sleeves to peek through and show the stripes of a lieutenant commander.

She gave him a slightly amused smile and a shrug as she went to the cabinet for a spray bottle and some instruments that he could not be sure to identify. "The doctors in there, treating a couple of crewmen," she nodded over her shoulder as she studied the labels on a couple of bottles.

"Thanks," entering into the examination room Jim noted that there were three patients in the room, all three of them looking worried with bruises blooming on their faces. One on the examination table, one at the nurses desk and one on the shorter biobed by the door. That one was holding a bloody cloth to a cut on his hand while all the three of them cast sudden worried glances towards the captain.

"Darn blasted fools!" Bones fumed as he ran a scanner over the one on the examination bed. He might not look his most imposing Jim mused as he took in his appearance. The trousers and boots were uniform standard, but there it ended. He could see the uniform tunic, so apparently he hadn't given over 'all' he owned to the nurse. It looked more like an exchange for while he still wore the short sleeved scrubs, a dark green sweater with a golden spots pattern made up the middle layer between the two. Jim was actually willing to swear he had seen nurse Chapel wear that sweater a time or two at more relaxed occasions and he was almost surprised over how well it seemed to fit Bones.

"What's going on here?" leaning against the wall he folded his arms across his chest.

"Those thick headed mules decided to get themselves in a fight," Bones looked up at him. "As if we didn't have enough to do here." Using the spray bottle Chapel handed him he doused a cloth and rubbed it over a cut. The man gave a loud yelp and tried to pull away, only to have the doctor grab his wrist. "Oh, stop that childish nonsense. I ain't got no sympathy for anyone so daft so as trying to have a crack at his fellow crewmates. Now you sit still and be quiet or I'll have you hogtied if I have to."

Raising his hand to rub his chin Jim took in his tone of voice, annoyed, angered but not above reasonable. Being overly sympathetic with people who started fighting each other was not really a good thing. No, this was one time he was fairly happy to let Bones put the fear of God in them. One thing was for sure, the way the other two was fidgeting as they were waiting their turn they were scared half out of their mind and he had feeling that they might have tried to bolt if given half a chance. Of course he would have to do something himself about it, fights could not be tolerated, especially not at a time like this.

Morale was down it seemed, and something had to be done about it before it got worse.

"Sit still I said!" Bones snapped and Jim had to bite back a smile as the man jumped. "God dammit man, what are you? five?" the doctor demanded and all three of them seemed to shrink back as Bones closed the cut on his jaw, dousing it heavily with more liquid from the spray bottle and drying it less gently than he might have done otherwise.

Satisfied for the moment Jim watched as Bones grabbed up the hypo and jabbed it into his shoulder roughly before giving a grunt.

"Alright, I'm done with you," he stated.

"But Doctor, what about this?" the crewman pointed to a bruise on his cheek.

"That you can just keep as a reminder as just of why you don't go around trying to pick a fight with your crewmates, I told you I haven't got any patience for such stupidity, and I suggest you mind me. Now get off of my table so I can have a look at the next idiot fool," Bones half snapped and the man leapt of the table with alacrity.

"When you're done with them, let me know on the bridge," Jim told him and Bones nodded.

"I'll be glad to be rid of them," the doctor stated gruffly as he ran the scanner over the next man, checking for fractures and pulled tendons.

"I'll take care of it," he fixed the three of them with a firm look. "Until then I suggest the three of you have a good long think about what you did and why, because I'll want to hear that story. I'll also suggest you don't give Doctor McCoy any trouble, because I'd be willing to grant him permission to deal with it any way he wants."

"Uh, we won't cause any trouble, sir," one of them swallowed.

"Good, I'm glad to hear so," he stated as he left, glad to get out of the cold and head back up to where it was warmer. Making a note that he would make sure someone went down with some coffee for Bones and Chapel. He should probably let Spock deal with the combatants as he himself was annoyed enough with their behaviour to be too harsh on them. The fact that their foolish act forced the medical staff to stay in sick bay for a prolonged length of time was really what annoyed him the most.

He really should try and figure out if there was a way he could do something about that.

TBC

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