Chapter 2: The Fall

LEDGE

Chapter Two: The Fall

Something didn't feel right.

Jim looked quizzically at the Orion in front of him before tracing his eyes around the surrounding terrain. He looked as though he was taking in the landscape and deep canyons in the distance when he was actually starting to critically scout out their position.

Why meet here? In the middle of nowhere? He suddenly felt cornered.

There was a ruffle of leaves to his right, but no gust of wind to accompany it. Not good.

He heard the nervous scuffle of feet in front of him and traced his eyes up to smile at the alien tradesman in mocked content. As his eyes traced the Orion though, he caught a glint of metal and a tense hand down by his hip.

Shit that's a weapon, really not good.

His adrenaline flushed through his veins as his heart rate picked up. They were about to get ambushed.

Kirk shot his eyes over to his first officer as he instinctually slid one foot back to establish a stable base of support. He was not going to allow his crew to get hurt on a freaking 'milk run,' as Barrett had put it when he issued the orders at 0800 this morning.

Jim gave Spock the smallest of nods before waiting to hear the distinct "energize" command come from his first officer's mouth. He kept his famous Jim Kirk grin plastered over his face as he felt his molecules begin to tingle from the beam out.

He looked to his CMO and chief security officer, then to Uhura and Spock to make sure they were all dissolving into nothing right as he felt a harsh hand shove him backwards. Rookie mistake, taking your eyes off the enemy.

Giotto shouted in anger and lunged towards him as Kirk lost his footing. He made a desperate reach for the Orion's sleeve, but his hand slipped off the silk fabric forcing him to spin around to face the edge of the cliff he suddenly found himself inches away from.

He bent down and reached at a stray root to try and stop his forward momentum from the shove. But right as he was grasping it, he looked up as a foot slammed down against the side of his hip and he went flipping sideways over the cliff's edge. He made one last effort to clutch the ledge, but his fingers slipped through the crumbling rocks beneath them.

Gravity took him from there.

He heard distant shouts for his name as he watched the ledge begin to shrink away from view. His stomach flipped in horror as he descended at an alarming speed. The wind was whipping at his back and past his ears as he kicked out furiously, trying to somehow prevent his horrible fate that was quickly approaching.

His hands and nails scraped into the mountainous edge, but he was moving too fast to keep his hold on anything substantial. He shouted in desperation. He then looked down to see how much time he had until he hit the bottom when he saw a small outcropping sticking out about a hundred meters below him.

His heart sank. I'm literally gonna explode if I hit that thing.

Kirk made another frantic attempt to grasp at the rocky cliffside, shouting out in fear. But just as he was accepting his fate, his hand somehow found purchase on a stray root and his heart leapt in his chest as he squeezed as hard as he could. The plant brutally cut up his hand but he held strong, gritting his teeth through the fleshy damage. He slowed himself to a less fatal speed, using his legs to scape against the crumbling cliff's side as well.

He was reaching for another vine when his foot scraped through a dried up bush and he felt a violent yank through his ankle, knee, and hip. The bush crackled and snapped sharply as Kirk's weight ripped it apart, but ultimately, the hold didn't break.

Jim screamed out when the vine abruptly stopped his plunge, dislocating his hip and snapping his leg apart in the process. His upper body continued its descent though and the last thing the captain saw, before utter blackness, was the rapidly approaching cliffside as his body swung down in an arc towards it.

He was knocked out cold upon impact.

He had no idea how long he'd been out for.

When he started to come to, he could feel blood trailing down his face. It was dripping off his chin and dropping into the air, falling to the deep ravine below. The pressure in his head was building before Jim realized he was hanging upside down.

But as he continued his climb towards awareness, it was his leg that was becoming a very rapid and agonizing problem. It was burning and searing in pain, climbing in intensity until he was sure he was going to pass out. He cried out before he could stifle the noise, desperately reaching up to grab purchase on one of the stray roots above. However, offloading the leg did nothing but cause him more agony and he gasped out in shock. "Arhhhh!"

Oh God, help!

He quickly wrenched his jaw shut and swallowed the next scream of pain before it surfaced out.

Calm down. Calm down!

Jim exhaled harshly, which sounded more like a sob than it did frustrated.

You call yourself a captain? Just breathe. You're alive… Now figure out what happened.

He opened his eyes to peer up into the sun lit canyon. His sight was blurred and he could taste and feel a coppery wetness on his lips. He shut and reopened his eyes a few times to clear his vision, which only helped some.

Jim slowly crunched upwards and grasped higher at a stray vine, tucking his chin in to stop the blood rush.

"Gahh–"

This amount of pain was panic inducing. He huffed through his nose several times before calming himself down enough to better assess his situation.

Okay, I fell, I remember that.

Kirk peered up at the dry and tangled bush that saved his life. I fucking hate you.

But his eyes narrowed and then shot completely open when they landed on his leg.

The captain whimpered out and let himself fall backwards slightly. "Oh God…"

That's disgusting…

The leg was visibly warped at his ankle, mid shin, and midthigh. He could also feel blood soaking through his pant leg near his hip. Now that he had a visual of the leg to connect with how it felt, it made the pain so much worse. Jim let his head fall back to give himself a moment when he felt something slide out of his pocket.

What was tha–

The realization clicked just as the small communicator dropped into the air. Kirk lunged after the small device like his life depended on it. It really did.

The comm unit bounced off his left hand, slid, clicked, and rebounded off the cliffside before it was caught shakily in his right, bloodied one. The captain dropped down before the root retightened around his shattered leg and he couldn't stifle the next scream the jerking had caused.

Argh! Fuck fuck fuck.

But he hugged the device to his chest with both hands and pressed his thumb to the button, speaking into it immediately. "Enterprise." He huffed out. "Beam me up now."

He heard a chorus of cheers and sighs through the scratchy comm unit and despite the anguish he was in, it was music to his ears. He let his eyes shut in relief as he clipped the comm to his neckline and reached back up to hold part of a root to prevent himself from hanging completely upside down.

Scotty's voice sounded through the device, confirming a beam out.

He whimpered in discomfort, but knew he was now only moments away from relief. Thank the stars.

His head continued to pound painfully, but his leg remained at the forefront of his mind. Oh, Bones was going to kill him when he sees this. Jim clenched his teeth together and stifled his next groan.

…Whenever you're ready, I'm fucking dying here…

As if on cue, Uhura's voice spoke through the link, explaining that they were trying to lock onto him now. He closed his eyes to try and calm himself before leveling his shaking voice. "Copy."

He reached up and switched his hand hold, which managed to jostle his entangled limb. He grunted in discomfort before he could suppress it. Gah! – Stay still!

Kirk glanced up towards the top of the cliff, but snapped his eyes shut when he unintentionally glimpsed at his distorted body part. Bile began to creep up his throat and he tried to switch his mind away from the grotesque leg to anything. But the pain was unignorable, and his mind couldn't make the switch. It was too much.

He exhaled hysterically, trying to keep the rising panic inside him at bay. But it wasn't working, he really needed help. His lips then moved on their own accord.

"Bones, you there?"

His friend answered him instantly, the panic in the man's voice pronounced and Jim felt a twang of regret at being the cause of his CMOs distress. "I'm right here Jim, what's going on? … Are you hurt?"

Jim took a moment to slow his breaths down. Panicking was going to cause him to go into shock, and then he'd die. He didn't wake up in agony just to die. No, he was going to live. Yes, he decided then and there, that he was going to live.

"Jim, you there? Are you okay?" McCoy spoke to him with open concern now.

Kirk's hand was slipping on the root he was currently holding which forced him to regrip and glance back up at his leg. Man, he couldn't believe that was his leg. He let out a hysteric chuckle and finally answered. "Not really." He shut his eyes and turned away from it in disgust.

"Not really? What in the hell does that mean?"

Bones…

Just then, his pinned foot shifted out of nowhere and he felt his body slip downwards before the root caught him. The drop was more alarming than painful since Kirk thought he was about to nose dive again, but he still yelped in alarm. He forced himself to take several deep breaths before he heard Spock say something about coordinates and his location.

He groaned but knew he had to answer. "I fell, I'm hanging–"

And then Jim's hand slipped off the vine causing his upper body to drop back. The jolt yanked at his leg and caused the root entangling it to squeeze tightly against all the broken bone pieces. He let out a guttural shout. FUCK!

Jim's vision whited out from pain for some time.

He eventually came back to awareness disoriented and to the muffled shouts of voices. He looked up and saw he was still pinned frighteningly by that same vine, and that he was hanging upside down. The pain jacked up again and his fear of falling to his death was revived in that moment. And then Uhura's voice reeled him back in. "…an you hear us?"

He licked his dry lips and shut his eyes. "I'm here." He managed to whisper out.

Bones' voice spoke up instantly, anchoring him back to the present. He was pleading for Jim to stay awake and help them locate his position.

Damn it Jim, you're a Starfleet captain. Earn those stripes and help your crew save you!

He tried to focus harder on what they were saying, but his hearing was coming in and out.

"…d you hear me?"

Even the words he could hear, he could barely process through the pain radiating from his leg. He just wanted Bones to stab him with a million hypos and knock him out cold… but he needed to be on his ship for that to happen.

"Ya. Need a beam out." He croaked.

He heard Spock's commanding tone coming through his communicator a moment later. "…tell us your location in relation to our last known position…" Kirk didn't hear the rest but looked up at the cliff's edge in the sunlight.

"Don't know." He grunted out first. His eyes squinted as he tried to estimate about how far down he was from that tiny ledge. Was that even the ledge there? He couldn't be sure. Ugh just guess.

"Bout ninety meters." He cleared his throat. "Straight down." He added as he couldn't remember if his crew knew that he was currently performing acrobatics on the side of a mountain or not.

Bones' voice boomed through his comm speaker in response. "Ninety meters? Good God Jim, how are you still alive?"

Ha, not sure how happy I am about that…

Before he could answer, Uhura spoke, asking if he had caught himself.

Good question, did this count as catching himself? He glanced up at the root locked around his leg and narrowed his eyes at it again. Fuck you.

"No." He answered as he dropped his head back and closed his eyes. But the move caused the vine to shift and his body fell several inches before it constricted around his leg and stopped him.

He cried out in distress.

"I'm slipping! I need a beam out now Enterprise!"

I can't do this, I can't do this, I can't –

"Jim, it's okay, relax kid, we'll get you…"

Stop. They're trying, just breathe and let them work, they're trying, they're trying, just calm down...

The next thing he heard was Bones asking him rapid fire questions. The Georgian always talked fast when he was nervous. "Jim, tell us what's going on. Give me a status report."

Jim glanced up at his leg for about the hundredth time and was appalled yet again by the sight of it. He scrunched his face in revulsion. "I'm stuck Bones." He wept out as he clenched and unclenched his stinging, cut up hand.

God, everything hurt.

"I'm beaming down to you." McCoy declared and Jim shot his eyes open at that.

"No, do not beam down." He countered breathlessly. "Just beam me up."

"…Kirk, what about a land extract? Can you hold on long enough for a shuttle?"

Jim looked around and then lost his gripping, yelping as he jostled his leg again. "Don't think so." He forced out. I think I'm gonna lose it in about thirty seconds actually…

There was further conversation on beaming down and Jim just couldn't take it anymore.

"No, no one can beam back down here!" He stated with more force behind his voice. Even with a torn apart leg, he knew the threat was not neutralized yet and he wasn't risking his people for some stupid rescue attempt.

"Jim this is not the time for your self-sacrificing heroics." Bones interrupted him. Jim shook his head in disagreement to McCoy's words. His adrenaline was waning and his leg and head were just about all consuming now.

"No, that's not it, there's just nowhere to beam down to, you can't." Kirk was getting frustrated.

"Bull shit, there are dozens of outcroppings. Just sit tight, we're coming to get you."

Jim started to panic, his friend was on a rampage.

"Scotty beam me down to…"

"Bones stop, I already looked!" He finally boomed out. He couldn't cage his emotions any longer. "I'm hanging by my fucking leg, and I'm going to fall!" His leg jerked within the root it was attached to and he shouted as he slid down another few inches.

Kirk reached up and gently rested his hand on his thigh, trying desperately to calm his breathing. Someone was talking to him but he couldn't hear anything through the pain.

"S-straight down from the beam out. Check eighty to ninety meters straight down, you have to get me now, I'm here!" He was panting now.

Bones' southern accent soothed him and brought Jim somewhat back to reality as he encouraged and calmed his hysterics with his reassurances. Jim honestly didn't know what he would do without his best friend sometimes.

He tried to breathe as he was instructed, but his exhalations were still harsh and forced.

"Tell me about your leg." McCoy's voice came through again.

Kirk's brow scrunched as he reluctantly looked up towards it. It was just as he had left it, just as distorted as it had been when he had first looked at it… just as horrible.

He dropped his head back down. He was exhausted and his whole body was shaking in fatigue now. "It's bad…" He swallowed dryly, "Really bad."

I'll never walk again. "God, I hope you can fix this."

The CMO answered him immediately. "I can bring you back from the dead Jim. I'll be able to fix it, don't worry."

Jim let out a soft chuckle at that. Oh Bones, I wish you were here to stab me in the neck with a million hypos.

"Are you bleeding anywhere?"

Jim scrunched his eyes shut and felt dry blood on his temple and lip sting and crack as they opened, bleeding more freely.

"Think my face is." He supplied.

"Okay, what about your leg?"

Drop it Bones…

Jim couldn't look at it again, he knew the answer to the question but he was getting nauseous just thinking about it. "Can we talk about something else?"

But Bones was never one to back down, especially when he was in doctor mode, and continued to push. "Jim, come on, this is important, just yes or no, is your leg bleeding?"

Jim moaned as he swallowed down the bile building in his throat. "Yes."

Alright, no more questions about my contortionist leg.

"Okay, how do you feel?"

Jim's eyes flew open.

How do I…

He grabbed the communicator on his chest and yanked the device on his uniform towards his mouth before yelling into it.

"I feel like my leg's gonna fall off, Bones! What the hell do you mean 'how do I feel'?!"

Jim's outburst ignited the fire through his right side and he clenched his teeth together.

"I mean are you hot? Cold? Heart racing?" His friend clarified quickly and Kirk tried his best to take stalk on 'his feelings.'

"I'm dizzy." He admitted, his vision had never fully cleared up since he had come to. He had to take another breath before continuing. "And can't catch my breath."

Apparently his friend was satisfied with his report because he switched gears to something slightly more helpful. "Okay, are you pinned or are you holding yourself up right now?"

Jim focused in on his clammy hand which was firm on the root above him but could feel the tight hold the branch had around his leg.

"Both."

He wanted out now. Speaking of, what the hell was taking his crew so damn long.

Everyone's getting demoted.

"I've got his position! Locking on now, ten seconds…!"

Okay, everyone's getting promoted.

Matthews' voice joined in on the conversation and told Kirk to get himself as flat as possible. Jim's eyebrows furrowed as he glanced up at his inverted position, he was technically flat vertically… did that count? He wondered how bats could sleep like this for hours without feeling like their heads would explode… cause his was about to… maybe their heads were too small, or… wait. Focus. What else?

The transport tech continued, warning Kirk that he was going to get dislodged on beam out and that he could fall again, so he needed to hang on tight. There was something else about pain.

"I know, I'll hang on." Jim was so tired.

A flash of neon green grazed above his shoulder and the rocks exploded where the blast had just hit. Jim startled alert as he rapidly blinked his eyes to try and clear them.

You've got to be kidding me.

Jim pulled his head down to make his body smaller, narrowly avoiding the next blast that struck inches above his blonde hair.

"Shit! They found me… they're shooting at me!"

More rocks exploded as pieces of stone flickered through the air at Jim's already battered body. He grunted in pain as several rock shards penetrated his skin.

"Beam me up! … Gah! Do it now!"

"Beaming up now…"

"Captain, hang on to something!"

Kirk reached up with both his hands, clasping tightly onto the broken roots dangling above him. The comm unit was activated on his chest as he began to feel his molecules break away into nothing.

Finally…

But then came the pain.

It was getting worse, and worse, and worse. He couldn't take this.

He cried out just as he felt his upper body hit a hard surface a moment before his leg did. When the mangled limb crashed down to the ground with him, a sharp stab in his thigh ignited all the nerve endings in his body and he watched blood spurt out from the previously small hole in his thigh.

Kirk instinctively clapped his hands down against the bleeder, grimacing in agony. But the pressure of the blood easily squeezed its way between his fingers and began to stain the floor beneath him at a concerning rate. The weight of his burned and bleeding hand flinched reflexively on contact. He couldn't provide the right amount of pressure for this, he was definitely going to die.

"Bones!" He shouted, needing his friend's help and panicking at the massive amount of blood expelling itself from his thigh. … that's a lot of blood… it's coming out too fast, way too fast, too much… Bones, where are you? I need you –

"Don't touch him!" Came a muffled, but distinct, voice to his left.

Bones?

"…edical assist down here now!…"

He instantly felt a presence next to him, and then like the answer to a prayer, Bones was there, shoving his own hands off the newly acquired hole in his leg and replacing the pressure with something close to inhuman strength.

Jim's head lolled on the floor before he opened his eyes to see the true form of his friend beside him, leaning over him. He closed his eyes in relief before looking down to see how slow the bleeding had gotten. But his eyes widened in fear when the puddle in front of him continued to grow rapidly, even with McCoy's practiced hands.

"Bones…" Jim exhaled in dread as he reached out for him.

"I know, you're okay. Just stay still." He soothed, but Jim could see the fear in his hazel eyes.

The next thing he heard was his CMO barking orders at the other occupants in the room. "I need that med kit!"

Somehow, the pressure of McCoy's hands on his, shattered, thankyou, leg doubled, and Kirk couldn't help but shift away from him.

Ow! Christ!

Bones shouted something at him along the lines of 'stay still,' but the voices were starting to come in and out again. He saw another figure blur to his left but paid no attention to it.

"…Jim stop mov… to stay still…" He was getting about half of his friend's words but tried to settle down so the man could save his life… again.

"…pock! Hold him dow… leed out in a sec… moving like thi…"

Jim felt a thick puddle soaking him by his hip and thigh before his shoulder and side were suddenly pinned down to the ground by even stronger hands than McCoy's. He had no energy left to fight them off.

He was completely depleted, but his body wouldn't let him lose consciousness, leaving him panting on the ground of his beloved Enterprise. The pain in his whole right side was gnawing away at his psyche and his heart hammered into his chest from the agony of it all.

Muffled voices faded in and out all around him. But McCoy's was the loudest, and the closest to him, and he tried to focus on his voice.

"…ultiple leg fractures, some compou…"

Jim felt his body start to go numb and he felt a disconnect, as the pain began to ebb some. He didn't like this feeling though. This didn't feel like approaching unconsciousness, it was something else, and it was scaring him.

And then Bones' voice pierced through the fog as he felt his friend shake him. "Come on Jim, stay with me." McCoy's hands tightened on his leg and Jim blindly reached out for them, trying to push them away.

Oww Bones, where's your damn hypo collection…

"…r kit's on the way…something for the pain… ust hang on…"

His cheek was pressed to the floor and his eyes were becoming heavier and heavier.

There was a sudden increase in volume as he watched a blurry Bones turn away from him and shout something over his head. A moment later, there was a blur of activity around him as several figures crowded in close to them.

He felt the weight of the strong hands against his rib cage release and he gasped for air when the stability of that hold was removed.

Jim tried to clear his vision and focus on what was happening around him when he recognized the white uniforms of several medical officers passing instruments and commands above him. His leg was jostled by unknown hands causing his anxiety to spike. He didn't want to be awake for whatever they were about to do to him.

He chanced a look down by his leg, and the horrible sight of it pulled his fears back to the present.

He was never going to walk again, God, what did he do to deserve this…?

McCoy was barking out orders around him, the man sounded scared.

Jim reached out for his friend's hands and clamped weakly around one of his wrists, looking desperately up at him from the floor. He was so scared.

"Bones…"

The frenzied doctor looked down and connected his gaze with Jim's, and his eyes instantly softened.

"Hold on." McCoy shook his head at someone to his left and knelt down closer to Jim's face.

Jim stammered out the words. "You can fix it… right? The leg?" He was petrified at the answer he would receive.

But Bones bent even closer towards him, speaking like a parent would to their scared child. "Ya Jim. It looks worse than it is. You're gonna be okay." He looked away for a brief second before settling his eyes back on Jim's. "We're gonna put you out now, I'll see you when you wake up."

Jim stared back at his friend, unable to form a response, as he felt a cold pressure press into his neck. He instantly felt the drug soften his limbs as a painless bliss began to creep through his whole body.

Before he knew what was happening, his eyes drifted shut, and the pain was finally gone.

TBC