For Author's note and Disclaimer, see chapter 1
Chapter 19
By the time the alarm woke him and Jim threw out his hand in a stretch he thought things were looking up. Well rested, content and feeling secure in the knowledge his hurting ship was slowly being set to right again.
"Aw fer cryin' out loud, ya dang blasted gallinipper! What in tarnation is it with ya an being such a dang blasted idjit?!" the explosion beside him caused him to draw back sharply as Bones scrambled to sit up, fighting the blankets while glaring.
"I honestly don't know," he admitted sheepishly.
"Well I've just about had it," Bones flared. "Dawgone it, haven't ya got anything better to do?"
"Bones, I swear I'm not doing it on purpose," he held up his hands in front of himself, defensively.
"So ya keep saying, and yet every dang blasted morning it's the same dang blasted thing," Bones growled. "An don't look so smug, ya danged calculator," he turned towards Spock.
"Doctor, I assure you I have no cause to look smug, for any reason, but I must ask what a 'gallinipper' would be referring to?"
"It would be referring to that dawgone ham handed bully of a ship's captain, is what it would be referring to!" Bones flared as he stalked past the Vulcan.
"Captain?" Spock raised an eyebrow as the door to the small bathroom closed behind the doctor.
"I'm not sure exactly Spock, but I have a feeling it's something I'd rather not be referred to as," he mused as he took out a clean tunic from the drawer. "I think it's some form of animal, insect, maybe… I wouldn't recommend asking right now."
"Indeed," Spock mused. "I found the doctor seems in better mood this morning, his reaction time was only slowed by zero point one percent, compared to normal. As opposed to last night when it was far slower."
"Good to know," Jim mused. At least he had probably slept then, the nightmares the man was trying to keep them from noticing was weighing somewhat on his mind. Bones wouldn't be more inclined to carry a grudge this day than he had before, but he really did feel more and more guilty about it. If it persisted, he should offer the man to take the bed alone.
Bones wasn't long in shaving and had Spock took his turn after him. The doctor not looking overly happy though he said nothing more on it.
"Here," Jim handed him the tunic he had taken out before and his friend took it, studying the colour and the braids on the cuffs for a moment.
"Giving out promotions?" he mused.
"I imagine it's gonna be somewhat cold in sick bay, even if Scotty found the problem with the heat it's gonna be like before, and as far as I know you're just about out," he mused. How long did it take a man to go through three tunics?
"And Spock won't be trying to arrest me for impersonating a higher ranking officer?" Bones raised an eyebrow as he pulled on the garment. "Because that would really be making my day."
"I think the brig is closed off, so you're probably safe," Jim decided with a grin. Glad for the fact that while Bones could be quick to temper, he really did calm as fast as he flared up. Two seconds and the man could go from one end of the scale to the other. "Besides, I think it's obvious to anyone that is not proper uniform no matter how you look at it," he mused as the doctor added his scrubs over the tunic. "Colours work fairly well together though." the green of the tunic and the blue of the scrubs did make a nice contrast to each other. Bones soft blue eyes coming somewhere between the two. Cornflower blue, something that really fitted the southerner.
Bones gave him a questioning look as if he wanted to know why the captain should suddenly care about colours. Then sat down to pull on his socks, double still, which was much preferable when it was chilly in sick bay.
"At least there is a bright side," Jim mused. "We might not be taking our turn until the evening, but at least we know we're getting something more than ration bars today."
"The one bright note," Bones nodded slowly.
"Gotta take what you can get," Jim shrugged as he moved to take his turn shaving after Spock. Hopefully the Vulcan would be done with his studies for the morning rather than trying to provoke him into something just to see the reaction time. The way the Vulcan raised his eyebrow when he saw the doctor's attire was perhaps not the most confidence inspiring but he found to his relief when he was done they were not arguing.
"Gentlemen," he offered a smile as he made a light gesture to the door.. Reminding them that they both might like to have breakfast seemed like a good idea, even if Spock when he was in his complementive phases tended to ignore it, sometimes even for days. It drove McCoy up the wall when he did that, the doctor was appealed that someone did not eat. Given how he was equally upset because Jim did eat he sometimes felt there was no way to please the doctor.
Of course, sitting with a cup of coffee and one of the dry white cakes he found himself hard pressed to struggle through it. The first ones to partake of the stew were already sitting with their bowls and while Jim felt that as their captain, it was his duty to wait until the crew had got their share he had to admit it was hard not to long for it.
Spock naturally showed no such concern and was simply eating his dry ration and sipping his tea.
"They wouldn't be so bad if they weren't so dry," Jim mused as he tried to swallow a mouthful. No matter how much moisture he tried to work up in his mouth it felt like a mouthful of powder.
"I believe they are made the way they have to be in order for them preserve sufficiently," Spock allowed with the ever present logic he excelled at.
"All that a man needs to eat if a man can stand to eat 'em," Bones sighed. "I won't say I like them, but the way everyone is bellycaching about them you'd think they'd all gone coon from them."
"Gone coon?" Jim frowned, distracted from the dry nutrition he was trying to choke down. "That's a new one to me, what does it mean?"
"You'd think they were dying from it," Bones sighed. "They ain't, there's no worry about that, everyone's in as good health as can be expected during the circumstances, but well, supposedly it's better to have the men complaining than not at times like this."
"Why would complaints be good?" Spock raised an eyebrow. "If the crew is aware that while our situation is unfortunate there is nothing to be done about it, should not understanding be proper?"
"It's not that they don't understand, it's that they're showing they still got spirit," Jim tried to explain. "Supposedly, if the complaints stop, morale is so low no one can be bothered to care anymore, and that's when you're really in trouble."
"Fascinating," Spock allowed as he had another sip of his tea and Bones tried to force down the last of his nutrition bar with coffee. It was a good thing the brew was strong or it would have been powerless against the dry nutrition. His grandfather used to say that there was nothing you couldn't chase down with a good strong coffee, and if there was, a bit of whiskey added would sure do the trick. Of course when he asked to try it his mother got annoyed and would not allow it but his eagerness made his grandfather laugh. He even used to give him a bit of coffee now and again, sometimes watered down, sometimes not, and sometimes on special occasions with a few drops of the warm amber liquid in it. An old man with old beliefs and if there was one thing in his life he was proud of it was trying to live by his example.
Reminding himself that doctors, at least good ones, were opportunistic eaters he swallowed the last of his share. The coffee was getting cold, causing a shiver to run down his spine as he remembered the frozen coffee. It would take a while for that particular memory to fade. Especially given how embarrassing he had to admit he found it to have a piece of medical equipment frozen to your hand. They sure never covered that one in med school. Nor at the Academy, and those should have known enough about it to do give a man fair warning. It had only taken him about a month in service to figure out that there were a couple of them that didn't have the first clue of what they were talking about. Teaching men how to serve as medical officers on a starship was all fine and well, but when the same people had never sat foot on a starship, even in dry dock, then it was something else.
Sighing he put his mug down, running a hand over his scrubs, the borrowed tunic was too loose in the waist and bunched up uncomfortably.
"According to Scotty, it should be alright down there," Jim looked up as he pushed up from the table. "But if it's not, don't stay."
"Don't worry, I won't," he decided. "But we're going to be pulling double shifts for sure, and I don't know if we're going to have to do more." If they did, he would find some way to release his nurse. He'd rather stay longer than force her to do triple shifts. There was no excuse for that unless it was the most dire emergency. Chapel knew this, that when it was life or death you did what you had to do. Just to fill the rooster though, he wouldn't do that.
'Think you can clock out McCoy? Think you have the right to leave your post? You're done when I say you're done and so help me God if you try and leave before I give you permission…' The voice of his Academy instructor rang as loudly in his ears now as it did so many years ago. So cruel and harsh, his head pounding as it seemed to tear into his skull. Pain flaring, hands throbbing, back locking up in crippling agony as he strove to keep to his feet. The man was not so much an instructor as he was a bully and a brute. He said it was to prepare him for what was to come, to realise the severity of the situation he had signed up for but it was not. He knew enough of the regulations back then to know how many of them he broke. Striking a cadet, abusing those he was supposed to train, denying food and rest. Psychological and physical mistreatment to feel empowered. He had never told Jim any of it and he never planned to. The man had fond memories of the Academy, with the exception of one personal devil. Finnegan, well, that was just bad luck. Jim and Spock thought that the Academy was fair to all, treated everyone the same. Spock thought you were welcome even if you were from another planet, Jim thought it did not matter who you were or where you came from.
One thing he had learned right quick, there was no forgiveness in the medical department if you were ever fool enough to even once say y'all...
TBC
Thank you all who's read and reviewed, the Cricket is thrilled...
