Title: Deck the Halls
Author: Evenstar656
Summary: McCoy noticed Jim didn't have that boyish sparkle in his eye he usually had when talking about their first if it's kind mission.
Spoilers: Star Trek Into Darkness, General AO, Pre-Beyond
Disclaimer: The Star Trek franchise and its characters are property of Paramount.
Author's Notes: As always, although I am a doctor I'm not that kind so I happily practice with my fictional degree. Just something I pecked out quickly to be a follow up to the trip alluded to in the Thanksgiving story. Happy Holidays.
Warnings: Slight McKirk if you squint.
I apologize for any mistakes, this was un-beta'd
###
"Why aren't you packing, Bones?"
McCoy looked up from the computer terminal at his desk, "What do you mean?"
"Leave? The cabin? Hiking? Christmas?"
"Just because I requested leave for Christmas doesn't mean I'm going to leave you here on the ship while I go traipse around some alien mountain trails." McCoy turned back to his work.
"Why do you think you're going alone? We booked our hiking trip months ago."
"Jim, you can't be serious."
The doctor pushed away from his desk and cast a skeptical eye up and down the form of his captain. Said captain had a bulky force field brace around his knee that ran from mid thigh all the way down to his calf over his off duty attire. The fact that said captain was also leaning heavily on a cane didn't help the man make his point.
"Just because I can't hike doesn't mean we can't still go."
"Jim, your patella was the consistency of the crumbs you find at the bottom of a granola bar package."
Jim's eyes lit up, "You said 'was', Bones."
"And can you bend your knee, Doctor Kirk?" McCoy leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms.
"Details. C'mon, Bones. It's already passed the point when we can get the deposit back."
"Jim, I'm not leaving the ship just to take care of you somewhere else."
McCoy knew as soon as those words left his lips it was the wrong thing to say. Jim's smile deflated instantaneously.
"Gee thanks, Bones."
"That's not what I meant and you know it."
"I understand," Jim hobbled to the doorway.
McCoy saw the sag in the man's shoulders and hated himself. Jim had the best luck in the universe but the shittiest timing. Truth be told they could both use the down time, they were nearing the official halfway point of their mission and the thought that they were only halfway done churned his stomach. Jim would never admit it, but McCoy could tell the routine was getting to him.
"Fine you, brat. I need to finish charting from sick call and then I'll go pack."
"No worries, Bones," Jim tossed his free hand up as he left.
Jim didn't stop but he wasn't hard to catch up with either. McCoy grabbed his arm to stop the kid before he got too far into the main bay.
"Jim, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to be an asshole."
"I get it, Bones. No need to have to work on vacation."
"Jim—"
"Bones, it's fine. We'll reschedule. Plenty of other planets to hike on once you let me out of this damn thing."
"That damn thing is keeping your knee stable while all those freshly repaired ligaments strengthen."
McCoy didn't want to mention the hours he spent hunched over the operating table trying to pick out all the tiny shards of bone.
"Doubting your own handiwork now?"
"Jim, it's only been a couple of days. I don't need you trying to trip over a log and undoing all of my work."
"I promise no 'tripping over logs and undoing all your work'."
McCoy hated how easily he could forgive Jim.
"Well, the more you stand here yapping the longer it's gonna take for me to finish."
Jim looked like a kid in a candy store, "Out of your hair now, Bones."
McCoy let Jim hobble out of sickbay with only a low grumble.
"Every time, Boss," Chapel suddenly made her presence behind the nurse's desk known.
"Whatever, Chris," he left the woman with an absentminded wave of his hand.
###
"Are you sure Scotty is going to put us on stable ground?" McCoy eyed the chief engineer at the transporter console.
"Booones," Jim rolled his eyes hard and awkwardly stepped up on the platform.
"What?" McCoy, carrying both of their duffles, stepped up onto the platform.
"If you're going to be a grinch, I'm leaving you here."
"No you're not, just get on with it."
Jim nodded to Scotty.
"Transporting in a wee moment, Cap'n."
McCoy gritted his teeth at the familiar buzz that preceded his molecules dematerializing. He slammed his eyes shut before he could watch the transporter room fade away. The crisp fresh air hit his nose immediately.
"Holy shit, Bones."
The doctor peeked an eye open. The view was breathtaking. The rental cabin was situated a hundred meters from a crystal blue lake that sat in a valley surrounded by snow capped mountains.
"Damn."
Jim smacked McCoy with the back of his hand, "See, what did I tell you?"
"Damn," was all McCoy could get out.
"Is that all you're gonna say, Bones?"
McCoy was shaken out of his brain's furious attempts to sear the scenery into his memory.
"What? Yeah. C'mon, let's go drop the bags."
For a man with a cane and a limp, Jim had already made it to the door. He keyed in the temporary code to the door and the locks disengaged. He'd forgotten how much he missed normal doors that swung open and shut. The interior was a bit more plain than the scenery but it would be more than adequate, it wasn't like they were interior decorators anyways.
"Cozy," McCoy had caught up and was headed for the bedrooms.
Jim headed for a bookshelf with real paper books while McCoy threw a bag into each of the two bedrooms. They could trade later if they wanted. Jim was still pouring over the books when McCoy returned to hunt down coffee from the kitchen.
"Jim, there's not a replicator here?" McCoy opened the stocked cabinets.
"What?" Jim called out from around the brick of the fireplace that separated the kitchen from the living space.
"There's no replicator."
"Yeah, I know. You said you were tired of 'shit so processed it couldn't even be classified as food anymore'."
McCoy rolled his eyes but finally located the coffee maker and a bag of grounds. He peered in the stasis unit that was stuffed full while the machine gurgled and the carafe filled. Gods knew where the closest town was and the ship wouldn't be back by until later in the week.
"Looks like we have everything," McCoy located a well used mug. It wasn't the special non breakable kind they used on the ship.
"Huh?" Jim hobbled to the kitchen with a selection of books under his arm.
McCoy raised an eyebrow over the rim of his coffee mug.
"What? What the hell did you think I was going to do here?"
"I didn't say anything."
Jim plopped the books down on the small kitchen table and filled a coffee mug of his own. McCoy took a seat to paw through the information pad left by the rental service.
"C'mon, let's go explore outside, Bones," Jim drained his mug.
"Jim, I just sat down."
"Well get up then. You're really not the old man you think you are."
McCoy grumbled but acquiesced, draining the rest of his coffee. The weather was mild so they left their jackets in the cabin before heading towards the lake.
"Is it cold?" Jim asked as they neared the near turquoise waters.
"Actually no," McCoy stuck his hand into the water.
"That's weird with all the snowy mountains," Jim surveyed the expansive valley. "Probably something geothermal happening underneath. We'll have to thoroughly test it out tomorrow."
"Not if you want some tiny alien fish swimming up your dick. I've seen the literature, it happens."
Jim rolled his eyes, "Boooooones."
"What?" McCoy tossed up his hands.
Jim took his cane and hobbled a few meters to a set of chairs that had been placed close to the shoreline. It was awkward with a knee he couldn't fully bend, but he got into the low wooden seat. He closed his eyes and leaned back to soak up the sun's warmth. McCoy wasn't far behind him from the sound of the stones crunching under the man's boots.
"See, it was a good idea wasn't it?" Jim peeked an eye open to watch McCoy sink into the neighboring chair.
The grumble from the doctor was about as close as he ever got to being told he had been right. He leaned his head back again to bask in the reprieve from routine ship life had become. Now that the newness and excitement of the mission had worn off it seemed like an endless cycle of first contacts that inevitably never went as planned. It was getting old having Command have the last word with their hindsight.
"Think any harder and steam will come outta your ears."
Jim rolled his head to look at his CMO, "Just strolling down memory lane, Bones."
"This mission sure has been something hasn't it?"
"That's for sure."
McCoy noticed Jim didn't have that boyish sparkle in his eye he usually had when talking about their first if it's kind mission.
"Everything all right, Jim?"
"Yeah," Jim answered too quickly.
McCoy's eyebrow rose.
"Just ready for a break I guess."
"I'd toast to that but—" McCoy held up empty hands.
"Well seeing as your the best one to fix that—"
"Hint taken, you brat. I'm getting up."
"Always the best," Jim smirked as McCoy disappeared towards the cabin.
"The things I do for you," McCoy was back with a crate of beer.
"The things I do for you, Captain," Jim twisted off a cap and handed it to McCoy after he sat down.
"Easy there, who knows if that chair can take the weight of that ego."
Jim barked and took a deep pull from the bottle, "I'm sorry we're too far out for you to get to go home for Christmas."
McCoy toyed with the label, "I know what I signed up for. I sent Jo her presents when we last stopped so they'd get there in time."
Jim nodded, he'd done the same. He toyed with the bottle label as he stared at the glittering lake.
"What's got you all maudlin all of a sudden?" McCoy eyed his friend critically.
"Is that Doctor McCoy asking?"
"Does it need to be?"
"No, just wish we'd gone into the break with a little more success."
"What's not successful about having the record for the most first contacts?"
"Huh, thought you'd point out the fact that most of them end up becoming a shit show."
"I think I've just accepted it at this point. Besides, it's Christmas in two days, what's not to be jolly and merry about?"
Jim didn't answer. They sat in a companionable silence until the sun had been down for a while and the air had turned cold.
"We should head inside, it's getting colder than a witch's tit out here."
Jim was brought back to the present and shivered, "Yeah. I'm ready to eat."
"Of course ya are, you damn pig," McCoy let out an exaggerated groan as he pushed to his feet.
Jim realized that getting upright was going to be more difficult than he thought. His knee had gone stiff and had started to hurt from the cold. McCoy wordlessly helped Jim to his feet before it got to the point where he would have to ask for help.
"Thanks," Jim muttered as he headed back slowly up the shore.
"Sorry, I should've made us go inside earlier."
"It's fine, Bones," Jim was irritated at his body's reminder that it wasn't back to usual just yet.
McCoy was silent as they made their way to the cabin, albeit slower than expected. Jim was deposited at the kitchen table with a paring knife, and told to get to work on a pile of potatoes dropped in front of him.
"Dibs on the first shower," Jim dropped his washed plate onto a drying rack.
"Yeah, sure," McCoy leaned back in his chair, not quite ready to get up after eating.
"Uh, Bones?" Jim's voice carried down the small hallway.
"What?" McCoy asked without moving.
The answer was unintelligible so McCoy pushed away from the table.
"What is it?" McCoy neared Jim who stood in the bathroom's doorway.
"There might be a small problem—"
McCoy looked over Jim's shoulder at the high walled bath tub nestled against the wall of the bathroom. "Jim," he was not amused.
"How was I supposed to know I wasn't going to be able to bend one of my knees when I booked the place?"
McCoy ran a hand over his tired face, "Well strip down to your birthday suit, kid."
"I hate this," Jim's mood soured as he shucked off his shirt.
He had to sit on the side of the tub while it filled to remove the brace and his pants. Jim tossed the offending object to a corner. McCoy put it on the counter without a comment.
McCoy was not amused that Jim stood in his shorts next to the tub, "I highly doubt you have anything that could shock me at this point and that's coming from someone who had to do a physical on an Ashiri at the Academy."
"Wait, wasn't that the guy you said had four…"
"Yes he had four, Jim. Take those shorts off today, kid."
Jim grumbled but obeyed. McCoy did his best to give his friend some sense of dignity as they pivoted and shuffled him up and over the wall of the tub.
"I'm good from here," Jim said quickly as he sank into the hot water.
"Holler when it's time to get out," McCoy deposited Jim's toiletry kit on the side of the tub.
Jim shooed him away quickly and McCoy was happy to oblige. He took to snooping around the rest of the cabin. A few ratty looking boxes in the back of the closet in his bedroom caught his eye.
"Jim, I found the mother load!" McCoy's eyes twinkled at the bundles of glittery tinsel.
"What?" Jim yelled back from the bathroom.
"Shake a leg, I found boxes of Christmas decorations."
McCoy heard the tub begin to drain.
"We'll come help me out then."
McCoy burst through the door, "Can you stand?"
Jim's answer was a death stare.
"Don't get me all wet," McCoy leaned over the side of the tub.
The process of getting Jim up and out of the tub was equally miserable and ended up with McCoy nearly soaked.
"Sorry, Bones," Jim's ears flushed as he wrapped a towel around his waist.
"It's fine," McCoy peeled off his wet sweater. "Finish up so we can decorate."
McCoy returned to unboxing the decorations once he saw Jim was able to manage.
"What did you find?" Jim hobbled into the living room with the brace over his pajama pants.
"Like four boxes of stuff, and a decent sized fake tree," McCoy pointed to the bare tree he had assembled in the corner.
"I haven't decorated a tree since my mother decided to go back on missions," Jim pawed through the boxes of lights.
McCoy paused at the revelation Jim let slip, "It's like riding a bicycle."
"Which you said is a broken wrist waiting to happen," Jim unwound a string of lights.
McCoy rolled his eyes because he was sure he'd said that, "Just string the lights, kid."
Jim mimed a zipping motion over his lips and flicked on the battery pack at the end of the strand. McCoy took a quick glance to his side to see the lights twinkling in Jim's bright blue eyes.
"What's missin'?" McCoy stood back from the decorated tree with a puzzled look.
"Uh?" Jim scanned the twinkling and multicolored monstrosity.
They stared a moment longer before Jim hobbled out of sight.
"Jim?"
"Figured it out, Bones," the blonde returned with a festive parcel in his hands.
"I thought we said no presents?" McCoy watched Jim nestle the neatly wrapped silver package on the tree skirt.
"Oh please, go get mine then."
McCoy wanted to ask how Jim knew, but dutifully returned to place the present he'd wrapped for Jim next to his own under the tree.
"Better," Jim nodded approvingly.
"Better," McCoy agreed.
Jim took a closer look at the messy wrapping around the package McCoy laid under the tree, "Bones, I thought you said you had the steadiest hands on the ship."
"And? What's wrong with it?"
Jim nudged a loose flap with the end of his cane, "They let you suture with that kind of craftsmanship?"
"Dammit man, I'm a doctor, not a professional gift wrapper."