Title: Thankful for You
Author: Evenstar656
Summary: Away missions didn't wait for observed holidays and at least one of the senior physicians had to be on stand by if an away team was off the ship.
Spoilers: Star Trek Into Darkness, General AOS
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. Happy Thanksgiving.
Warnings: Slight McKirk if you squint.
I apologize for any mistakes, this was un-beta'd
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"Get outta here, Geoff, so that one of us might be able to make it to the mess hall before all the turkeys are gone."
"Are you sure? I don't mind waiting."
McCoy waved off the other surgeon. Away missions didn't wait for observed holidays and at least one of the senior physicians had to be on stand by if an away team was off the ship. Besides, McCoy wanted Christmas off so he volunteered to be on call for Thanksgiving to get the holiday he actually wanted. Jim had managed to get leave off at the same time and they were planning a guys trip to some planet Jim had found that promised lots of hiking and fishing.
"Want me to bring you back a plate?"
"Nah, I'm good. I told Jim I'd wait for him."
M'Benga looked at his colleague with a twinkle in his eye.
"It's not like that," McCoy scowled.
"Sure it is, Boss," Chapel appeared from a supply room.
"Both of you go," the CMO pointed to the door.
The two shared a knowing smirk before leaving for lunch. Jim had the galley secure several dozen actual turkeys to prepare themselves in order to celebrate a 'general day of crew appreciation' that coincided perfectly with the Terran holiday.
McCoy rolled his eyes hard as soon as the two left sickbay. It was just him and a corpsman to hold down the fort while the rest of the staff enjoyed a rare respite. All in all, waiting for the away team to finish up was boring. He managed to finish all of his charting and set up a few experiments to run in the lab before he got bored enough to tap into the bridge's communication feed.
The man spun around in his chair for nearly half an hour listening to routine comm chatter.
"Kirk to Enterprise."
McCoy straightened up; he'd know Jim's pained voice anywhere.
"Enterprise here sir."
"We need an immediate beam out. Take us to yellow alert. I want this shit hole planet far behind us as soon as we get back."
"Aye sir, initiating yellow alert now. Any injuries?"
The lights around the sickbay doors changed to yellow; McCoy leapt to his feet.
"Yeah. Two alphas - one head injury and one phaser hit to the chest. Three betas."
"Aye sir, beam out in sixty seconds. Stand-by."
The CMO ran to both ORs and initiated their sterilization cycles. The medical staff would be on their way to sickbay with the change in the ship's alert status.
"The away team?" M'Benga was on the heels of the returning nurses and corpsmen.
"Yeah. One head injury and one chest injury. Three minors."
McCoy sent nurses Chapel and Hayes to each OR to prepare while the two surgeons finished getting the main bay ready. They heard the boisterous away team before they burst through the sickbay doors. McCoy sighed at the sight of Jim upright with Sulu's arm slung around his shoulder. A security crewman was held up between a pair of her own teammates.
"Jim!"
"He's the head injury, Bones. Cortez took a shot to her chest."
McCoy helped Jim swing his helmsman up onto a waiting biobed. He saw M'Benga on top of things with Cortez at the neighboring biobed.
"You alright?" the CMO said to his captain's fleeing back.
The biobed alarms didn't let him linger over Jim's condition for long. Sulu was in rough shape. The nurses efficiently removed the lieutenant's filthy clothing as he inspected the angry wound on the side of the man's head.
"Geoff?" McCoy yelled over the frenzy as he had to step back for Sulu to be scanned.
"Not good," M'Benga directed his own hive of activity over the ensign's figure.
McCoy felt a rumble under his boots as the warp drive was engaged. They must've been hauling ass to feel this much of a shudder so far inwards on the ship. The scans were displayed on the board.
Shit.
"Move him now," McCoy ordered as he stared at the brain bleed.
"Leonard?"
"Damn brain bleed. You got things here?"
"For now," M'Benga spared a quick glance. "Get her to the OR."
McCoy sprinted to the scrub room behind the team rushing Sulu to surgery. He spared half a second to realize M'Benga hadn't joined him before he stepped into the OR.
"Ready?" McCoy tied his gown.
"Good to go," Chapel was at the IV pumps at the head of the biobed.
The bone laser was pressed up against the helmsman's exposed skull when the room lurched. McCoy was nearly thrown off his feet.
"Dammit. Get the stabilizers on."
Chapel was wide-eyed, "They are on."
The ship lurched again.
"Jesus H Christ."
The entire ship shuddered.
McCoy elbowed the comm panel, "McCoy to Bridge."
"Bridge here."
"Any chance we can get a smooth ride? I need to drill into Mister Sulu's skull."
"Bones, just hold it together a few more minutes. I'm doing what can," Jim must've walked over to the comm station on the bridge. "Fire pattern—"
The comm cut out.
"Just great," McCoy grumbled.
"ICP is spiking," Chapel called out.
"Jesus H Christ. Get me another set of hands in here."
McCoy didn't hear the woman's reply as he steadied his hold on the bone laser. Blessedly the ship's deck remained steady long enough for him to bore through the bone. He had to hold onto his tray of tools when the ship bucked wildly. Any more and he was going to be hurling onto his boots.
"Cortez?" McCoy already knew the answer if M'Benga had joined him.
"Aorta was shredded," M'Benga stepped up next to the CMO.
"Shit. I just now got through. Damn ship is bucking like a bronco."
Neither one of them realized that the ship's wild movements had been stopped for some time; they were so focused on controlling the bleeding in Sulu's brain. It wasn't until they finished a few hours later when M'Benga remarked that the stabilizers must've finally kicked in.
"They had been on," McCoy was equally confused as he scrubbed out next to the other surgeon.
"Hmm," M'Benga dumped his gown down a bio trash chute. "I'll go get him settled."
"Sorry your lunch was interrupted," McCoy followed M'Benga out.
Jim was hunched over the nurse's desk when McCoy made it out into the main bay.
"Bones, you guys alright?"
"Not the smoothest ride you've given me."
Jim's ears flushed.
"Sorry, kid," McCoy reddened when he realized how his words sounded.
Jim nodded, "Sulu?"
"We're going to try and wake him in a bit to assess any damage."
Jim's shoulders fell with defeat.
"What happened?"
"Cortez was hit and Sulu cracked his head on a rock tackling me out of the way."
Jim dropped his face into his hands.
"Hey, kid, you got him to me in time," McCoy moved to squeeze Jim's shoulder when he noticed the scorch marks and flecks of blood on the gold fabric.
McCoy's pulsed quickened, he could feel the tension vibrate from the captain.
"Fuck, Bones. No one was supposed to get hurt."
"Jim, turn around."
"What?" Jim looked up with red rimmed eyes.
"Turn around."
McCoy didn't wait for Jim to move on his own and grabbed him by the opposite arm.
"Dammit, Jim," the sugglishly bleeding and charred hole in his shoulder stuck out like a sore thumb.
"What?"
"You didn't notice?"
Jim looked down surprised, "Oh."
"'Oh'? That's all you have to say? Jim it's been hours!"
Jim tried to plant his feet as he was hauled and dumped onto the nearest biobed.
"Did you get shot?" McCoy peeled away the burnt edges of gold fabric to peer at the ugly wound.
"Guess so."
McCoy wanted to throttle the poor kid. He grabbed Jim's hand, "Can you feel this?"
Jim wiggled his fingers for emphasis, "Yeah."
"You're lucky. It doesn't seem like there's any nerve or bone damage," McCoy flexed all of the joints in Jim's hand and elbow.
"Yeah, lucky."
"Chris! I need a pair—"
"Right here," a pair of shears appeared next to his hand.
"Sulu?" Jim asked as McCoy took the scissors to the neck of his shirts.
"Stable, Captain. M'Benga and Hayes are with him now."
Jim nodded somberly as McCoy made quick work of slicing down the front of the shirt fabric. Chapel did the same from the back and pulled off the unmarred half.
"I ruined another shirt," Jim chuckled dryly.
McCoy had snapped on a pair of gloves and delicately pulled the fabric free of the wound before the rest of the shirt was slid from his arm.
"Line?" Chapel asked as she looked over the CMO's shoulder as he probed the tender flesh.
"Yeah. I want a round of flexotexamycin. 50 migs per kilo."
Chapel nodded and left to grab the supplies. McCoy pressed too hard and Jim finally hissed.
"Sorry, sorry," McCoy apologized quickly. "It's been open for a while. I need to clean it out well before I can seal it."
Jim nodded. McCoy waited until Chapel slipped an autostart over Jim's arm before doing anything further to the wound.
"This should help, darlin'," McCoy injected a load of pain medicine through the IV line.
Jim slouched with relief as the drugs hit his veins.
"Better?" McCoy eased the captain to turn and lie back onto the biobed.
Jim only nodded. Chapel slipped the man's boots off and covered his legs with a warm blanket after she finished setting up the antibiotic drip.
"Feeling alright?" McCoy brought a rolling stool over.
"Sure."
The captain was clearly in a foul mood and McCoy didn't want to push further, "I'll be as quick as I can. I do need to inject a local first."
McCoy took Jim's turn of his head as acceptance and quickly deposited the anesthetics all around the wound. The chasm of torn and burnt skin was ugly. The CMO winced a few times as he pulled bits of necrotic tissue and debris from the cavity. There was some minor vascular damage he ended up having to repair.
Jim remained silent through the entire ordeal, including when he was turned to his side so McCoy could flush the ever loving shit out of the wound with sterile saline.
"Almost done, kid," McCoy patted the area dry after they got Jim returned to his back.
"I'm sorry I ruined your Thanksgiving, Bones," Jim finally spoke while McCoy began to autosuture the deeper areas.
"Who said you ruined it?" McCoy briefly looked up.
Jim pursed his lips.
"No one was supposed to get hurt. We were all supposed to be back in time for everyone to get to enjoy lunch."
"I'm sorry, kid. For the record you didn't ruin it. I know what I signed up for. While I'll admit I was looking forward to a slice of pie, I'd rather have you back in one piece. More or less."
Jim remained silent while McCoy finished. The captain tried to sit upright when the doctor pulled away.
"Hold your horses. I'm gonna run a dermal regen while your antibiotics finish," McCoy easily pushed Jim back to the thin mattress.
"Sit me up and give me a data pad?"
McCoy looked at the remaining fluid in the IV bag, "Sure, kid."
Two dermal regenerators were placed over the newly sealed incision. The head of the biobed was raised and a data pad handed to the captain. McCoy left the man alone to finish charting while the IV finished.
"Ready to spring this joint?" McCoy appeared at Jim's side almost an hour later to free him from the IV.
He took Jim holding out his arm as an emphatic 'yes'. McCoy disengaged the IV and slipped it off before helping Jim swing his legs over the side. The dermal generators let out a brief whine after they were pulled free and before they were powered off. McCoy quickly covered the incision with a film bandage.
"Let me help. Don't lift anything or over extend your shoulder for a few days," McCoy threaded Jim's damaged arm through the sleeve of a t-shirt he'd retrieved.
"Can I see Sulu first?"
McCoy smoothed down the hem, "Yeah. I need to clean up and then we can go see if there's any pie left."
Jim got into his boots with McCoy's help before he headed to the familiar ICU room. The CMO let him have privacy while he pulled the linens free and dumped them down a laundry chute. McCoy had just finished tossing the used IV tubing and bags when Jim reappeared, albeit looking more exhausted.
"C'mon, kid."
"Let's just go hang out at my quarters, Bones. I don't want to be in the mess hall."
Jim didn't need to explain why he didn't want to be around throngs of people. McCoy nodded and keyed in the deck for Jim's quarters in the turbolift.
The captain plopped wearily on his sofa as soon as they arrived.
"What's this?" McCoy eyed the array of platters and dishes on the low coffee table.
"Huh, I asked the galley to save us a few plates," Jim kicked off his boots.
McCoy kicked off his own boots and fell onto the cushions next to Jim.
"You didn't have to do this, Jim."
Jim shrugged and handed the man a plate. McCoy was impressed at the spread. The galley had even left a small bucket of ice that contained a six pack of beer. The crew clearly loved their captain as much as he loved them.
"Here," McCoy handed Jim an opened bottle.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Bones," Jim held up his bottle.
"Happy Thanksgiving, Jim," McCoy clinked the bottle with his own.
The two men each took a long pull before turning to fill their plates. Each one would rank this as one of their top Thanksgivings years later.
"I'm thankful for you, Jim," McCoy looked Jim squarely in the eye after filling his plate.
"And I'm thankful for you too, Bones," Jim returned.
"Jesus H Christ, I'm starving. Some asshole got shot in the shoulder and made me miss lunch."
Jim's mouth twitched, "I know how you feel. Some asshole doctor took his sweet ass time in sickbay and made me miss mine."