Title: Asclepius Revisited
Author: Still Waters
Fandom: Star Trek TOS
Disclaimer: Not mine. Just playing, with love and respect to those who brought these characters to life.
Summary: 76 McCoy episodes. 76 McCoy-centric reflections, codas, and missing scenes.
Notes: "The Corbomite Maneuver" – another early episode with some off-key characterization, yet one moment really struck me. During the scene where McCoy comes up to the Bridge after Balok's message and tells Kirk that the whole ship heard it, watch DeForest Kelley's hands and eyes. He runs his hands over the command chair and railing, and his eyes are focused on the viewscreen the entire time, except for a very brief glance at Kirk….and Kirk's eyes are focused right on McCoy the whole time, as if reading something more in McCoy's actions. The way their eyes were in this scene almost mirrored an earlier moment in the episode, where McCoy and Kirk are talking on the turbolift and McCoy is telling Kirk that he may be pushing Bailey and the crew too hard. Again, McCoy is staring straight ahead, while Kirk looks right at him. Back in the later scene, after McCoy tells Kirk about the crew hearing Balok's message, Kirk gives this little, barely noticeable nod…..and then goes to the command chair to address the crew. It was as if there was a completely unspoken conversation, where Kirk suddenly became aware of the crew's fears through McCoy, and McCoy silently told him that they needed to hear their Captain's voice. Such subtle little things, yet they felt so meaningful. On the DVDs, these scenes are from 15:01-15:16 and 22:31-22:55, and so, continuing my apparent fascination with minutiae, this piece was born, based on approximately 29 seconds' worth of footage. Thank you for your continued support and patience – real life may slow the frequency of these updates, but the series will be completed. Thank you so much for reading!
"I don't need textbooks to know that you could've promoted him too fast. Listen to that voice." ~McCoy to Kirk, The Corbomite Maneuver (emphasis mine)
8.
There were moments Jim Kirk swore, were Leonard McCoy both deaf and blind, that the physician would still hear more than the rest of the crew combined.
Moments like now.
Overtired, stressed, facing yet another new threat, and with at least one crewmember teetering dangerously over that unknown precipice, Kirk's inner perfectionist raged – a deep-seated coping response. Set simulations. Give me 100%. He didn't even know that he was doubting his own actions regarding Bailey until McCoy told him right to his face; didn't hear that inner voice until a pensive Southern-tinged drawl voiced it aloud for him, along with a quiet, but firm reminder.
Listen to that voice.
Defiance raged against acknowledging that McCoy might have been right; embarrassment burned at the idea of not being able to see past his own surface responses. Yet, at the core of it all, Kirk was surprised - so surprised that he had to physically look at McCoy as the physician spoke, as if he couldn't believe the words without a visual confirmation. Or if not believe, at least sort of hear…and get annoyed.
But McCoy…McCoy wasn't even looking at him. The physician's eyes focused straight ahead, occasionally flickering up at the turbolift ceiling, occasionally to the sides, but never directly at Kirk. However, Jim didn't feel as if McCoy was ignoring his presence, or that his CMO was avoiding eye contact and the inevitable conflict therein. No, McCoy was so attuned to Kirk's every level that he didn't need to look at Jim, to visually process the lines of tension, to meet Jim's eyes and search for traces of doubt. Kirk figured the physician probably didn't even need to be in the same damn lift – he had already heard Jim loud and clear before coming up to the Bridge, already knew what he wanted to say, what Jim didn't even know he was saying to himself.
Put McCoy out in the void of space, deprived of sight, sound, and touch, millions of light years away from the Enterprise…and he would still hear her every thought. The man just couldn't help but listen - did it as naturally as breathing - and didn't need to process another voice or see another face to truly hear everything, to get to the core of those around him.
Listen to that voice.
Not to me, Jim.
Listen to your crew.
Listen to yourself.
Kirk, quite metaphorically, clapped his hands over his ears.
But somehow, at some unknown point, he did start to listen.
Because later, when McCoy came onto the Bridge after Balok's message, Kirk watched him. He saw the grip McCoy had on the turbolift, watched the physician's eyes briefly scan the room before locking on the viewscreen, unwavering blue as he moved to Jim's side. Saw McCoy's hand trail along the command chair, palm the railing, and land behind Kirk's back, just barely brushing the hem of his tunic, arms nearly touching.
And Kirk heard. Still needed his eyes too, but he heard. Heard the uncertainty, the fear, the panic at the sudden violent threat of mortality, the raw grounding need in the touch of familiar pulsing metal.
McCoy looked at him. Just a moment – a quick confirmation, an intuitive understanding that Jim needed to see in order to hear.
And it all came together.
McCoy's actions, that brief look…..and Kirk heard the crew. He heard their uncertainty, their fear, their panic as death loomed under the cold, alien voice of a form and a ship that those below decks had never seen. He heard hundreds of hands reaching for the familiar, a ground against the shock of a frightening new reality - heard it so clearly, he couldn't believe he hadn't heard it before.
Forgot that 430 expressions were written in the lines of his CMO's face.
430 emotions in those blue eyes.
430 voices spoken with a soft, Southern lilt.
…..Forgot that all he had to do was listen to McCoy.
The ship's humanity.
Jim suddenly remembered…and understood. McCoy, bless him, spoke anyway, the simple report seemingly irrelevant to anyone outside their silent conversation. But Kirk recognized the statement for what it was, heard the true, unspoken words behind McCoy's quiet voice: "Balok's message, it was heard all over the ship."
McCoy's eyes remained on the viewscreen as he went silent. But Jim had heard. Heard everything - McCoy's concern, the crew's needs, his own next step.
Listen to that voice.
He gave McCoy a barely perceptible nod and strode to the command chair.
Balok's disembodied voice had threatened his crew. McCoy's voice had spoken for their emotions. And Kirk's inner voice told him exactly what he needed to do.
So he listened to that voice. With silent thanks for his CMO's voice, he toggled the comm and offered another - a voice of acknowledgement, of familiarity, of promise, and comfort. A voice that said, "I hear you."
His voice.
Ship-wide communications blinked ready.
He took a breath.
"Captain to crew….."